Subway Cars. Graffiti. Comedy Clubs. Cocaine. Skate Parks. Dog Parades. This is our New York. Celebrate the faces, places, and stories of our city, through the eyes of these New York filmmakers.

LESFF will open its 15th year with the New York Premiere of The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick, directed by Pete Ohs (Love and Work) and starring Zoë Chao (Nightbitch), Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play on Broadway, Zola), Callie Hernandez (La La Land), and James Cusati-Moyer (Maestro). The film follows a weekend retreat gone unsettlingly wrong—homemade meals, parlor games, and an ominous tick bite that unravels reality.

After the film, the Village East Cinema transforms into our Opening Night Party. Ticket includes film + party with open bar from our sponsors, Live DJ, special guests, and party favors. 

LESFF 2025 filmmakers, this one’s for you! Our Annual Filmmaker Reception is an afternoon of complimentary light bites and bevs at Georgie’s, the sun-drenched, Hong Kong-inspired café perched above VITAL climbing gym on Broome & Clinton.

LESFF 2025 Filmmakers attend FREE (you fancy - we’ll send you a RSVP link), and tickets are available to the public. Come hang!

Subway Cars. Graffiti. Comedy Clubs. Cocaine. Skate Parks. Dog Parades. This is our New York. Celebrate the faces, places, and stories of our city, through the eyes of these New York filmmakers.

The New York Premiere of Battersea, from filmmakers T.J. Sandella and Jad Adkins, starring Nancy Kimball and Jesse Howland. Siblings reconvene at their childhood home, where they spend a precarious weekend drinking and talking—uncovering the narratives and secrets that have shaped their lives. 

Our classic genre-bending shorts showcase of mind f*ckery is back! Equal parts vulgar, feral, kinky, trippy, and kinda buddy-comedy-road-movie-death-y.

LESFF Alum, Joel Vargas’ feature directorial debut! Rico's summer involves pursuing girls and selling homemade cocktails at Orchard Beach. His girlfriend Destiny stays with his family, leading to complications that disrupt his carefree lifestyle.

Unrequited lust, three-somes, chance encounters, and dates-gone-blowjob - we’ve all been there…? Fall in love with these flirty, steamy, awkward, provocative shorts.

LESFF proudly presents the New York Premiere of Micro Budget, a deliriously sharp, no-rules comedy from director Morgan Evans (MTV’s Bugging Out), written by Evans and Patrick Noth (Late Night with Seth Meyers). This micro-budget gem is stacked with big laughs and even bigger personalities—featuring Brandon Micheal Hall, Nichole Sakura, Bobby Moynihan, Chris Parnell, Maria Bamford, Kate Flannery, Carla Jimenez, Jon Gabrus, and Mike Mitchell.

LESFF is thrilled to present the Marquee Spotlight screening of For Worse -  The New York Premiere of Amy Landecker’s (Transparent) sharp, hilarious, and unfiltered directorial debut, which she also wrote and stars in.

Featuring an all-star cast—Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Nico Hiraga (Booksmart), Missi Pyle (Galaxy Quest), Gaby Hoffmann (Girls), and Ken Marino (Party Down)—this is a story about what happens when your midlife reinvention slams into a Gen Z wedding.

Lauren, a newly sober, newly single mom, is feeling herself again after jumping into her first acting class… and into bed with her much younger scene partner. But one chaotic night sends her spiraling into cringey bridesmaid behavior, existential dread, and, ultimately, a new kind of clarity.

Get ready to feel it all. These fearless filmmakers dive deep into what it means to feel - love, loss, joy, hope, and everything in between.

LESFF kicks off Doc Day with Ali Eats America, a feature documentary about Ali Allouche, who spent his junior year of high school in chemotherapy, and his quest to visit restaurants across the United States.

Tired of hospital food, Ali and his mom, Lt Col Jen Danko, became obsessed with Food Shows and Documentaries. Particularly inspired by Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, Ali and Jen plotted a map of restaurants across the United States they would visit when Ali was medically cleared. To make their dream a reality, Jen launched a successful GoFundMe campaign, meeting their initial goal with the last $3600 coming from Bourdain himself.

Completing chemo, Ali was ready to eat and see the world and the culinary community opened both their hearts and menus. From pit-masters to pizzerias. Bed and breakfasts to greasy spoons. The Grand Canyon to New York City. Ali was welcomed by the best restaurants and chefs from across the country-- including José Andrés and Wolfgang Puck.

Ali Eats America is a tearful, funny and honest story about living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis.

Prankster activists, off-the-grid explorers, prolific puzzlers, and iconic artists — these short docs peek into the wild, untold lives of visionary storytellers.

Films include: Far West, Adidas Owns the Reality, Livestreams with Grandma Puzzles, Martin Wong's Hidden New York

Filmmakers in attendance for Q&A to follow.

Doors open 30 minutes before scheduled screening time.

A haunting documentary, Not One Drop of Blood unravels a decades-long mystery of unexplained cattle mutilations in rural Oregon—reigniting conspiracy theories, local fear, and a relentless search for answers.

The film marks the debut Stay Indie Project Spotlight from LESFF, launched in collaboration with BFD Productions, a direct pipeline to connect bold, independent filmmakers with development, financing, and production support—and to make sure their stories actually make it to the screen.

Not One Drop of Blood, the directorial debut from filmmakers Jackson Devereux, Lachlan Hinton, with producers Anna King, Tony Castle and Roxy Hunt, will screen (out of competition) at LESFF following its World Premiere at Filmfort and East Coast Premiere at the Florida Film Festival.

In 2011, LESFF had the honor of hosting the New York premiere of the little-known indie documentary Catfish in our pop-up storefront on Norfolk Street, our very first year. The film not only coined the term 'catfishing' but also helped catapult the true-crime documentary into a defining genre of modern non-fiction filmmaking. Join us for the 15th Anniversary screening, plus a special conversation with Nev Schulman as we look back at the film’s legacy, its ripple effects, and the internet phenomenon it launched.

Filmmakers in attendance for Q&A to follow.

Doors open 30 minutes before scheduled screening time.

A haunting documentary, Not One Drop of Blood unravels a decades-long mystery of unexplained cattle mutilations in rural Oregon—reigniting conspiracy theories, local fear, and a relentless search for answers.

The film marks the debut Stay Indie Project Spotlight from LESFF, launched in collaboration with BFD Productions, a direct pipeline to connect bold, independent filmmakers with development, financing, and production support—and to make sure their stories actually make it to the screen.

Not One Drop of Blood, the directorial debut from filmmakers Jackson Devereux, Lachlan Hinton, with producers Anna King, Tony Castle and Roxy Hunt, will screen (out of competition) at LESFF following its World Premiere at Filmfort and East Coast Premiere at the Florida Film Festival.

LESFF wraps it’s 15th year with NY Premiere of The Big Johnson, director Lola Rocknrolla’s electrifying documentary about NYC legend Dean Johnson—drag queen, rock star, LGBTQI activist, junkie, genius, escort then…John Doe. This glam-punk, rock-doc explores the incredible highs and the crushing lows of Dean Johnson’s life and untimely death. Was it an accident, or something more sinister? What is for sure is that Dean and “the Big Johnson” changed New York City and everyone who knew him forever.

Following the NY Premiere of The Big Johnson, we take the wild, glam-punk film beyond the screen, and close out LESFF 2025 at the iconic Lower East Side institution - The Slipper Room. Closing Night Party features a live DJ, special guests, and open bar. LESFF Winning films will also be announced!