Programmers' Picks: Kimberly Dinehart on SIFF 2026
Opening Night Shorts
A couple of my favorite shorts this year are playing in our opening night program, including Oh Whale, a documentary about the infamous whale explosion in Oregon in 1970, and Nobody Knows the World, an immersive portrait of what it means to come of age on the outskirts of society.
Spacing OUT
Our queer shorts program this year has one of my favorite shorts I have ever seen as its centerpiece, Skin on Skin. I am absolutely seated for everything director Simon Schneckenburger does from here on out.
Brave New World
I love dystopian fiction, and this shorts program is no exception. Two of my favorites--Plague Season, a horror-adjacent short from Ecuador drawing on some familiar experiences, and Acid City, an animated, documentary-style trip through a futuristic city in the middle of a toxic wasteland.
Reality Check
Every documentary short is a brief window into someone else’s life, another part of our world that few get to see. In 90 minutes, you’ll travel to rural Michigan, Russia, California, China, and La Palma and meet veterans, a ghost hunter, and many people just trying to get by. One of my favorites as a former 4-H kid is Children & Animals.
The Baker’s Hotline, before The Big Cheese
My heart was leavened by this short about the wonderful people who run King Arthur Baking’s Baker’s Hotline.
Nuisance Bear
This was an amazing documentary short from 2021, distributed by The New Yorker. It is so exciting to see the final, expanded project as a feature length documentary.
The Best Summer
The 90s are back! Or maybe they never left. So many of my favorite artists, as we’ve never seen them before. Also as a former history major, archival stuff is the best.
EIGHT BRIDGES
Slow cinema at its best challenges audience members to focus, be patient, and discover for themselves what meaning is held within each shot. What do you see when you really take the time to look?