Nickel Independent Film Festival celebrates 25 years of independent filmmaking in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2025.
Press Conference
Wednesday, June 11th, 10:30 a.m. at the LSPU Hall Cox and Palmer Second Space, 3 Victoria Street, St. John’s. Come see a preview of this year's festival program and hear from Chair of the Board Ane Christensen, Executive Director Elling Lien, as well as local filmmakers Duncan Major and Kenneth J. Harvey
Press Release
The 2025 Nickel Independent Film Festival celebrates its 25th year with more than 80 films from 19 countries over 7 nights at the historic LSPU Hall in downtown St. John’s.
We're delighted to announce that all three of our feature films are by Newfoundland and Labrador filmmakers this year, including Cherub by Devin Shears, The Bear Inside a Whale by Kenneth J. Harvey, and Skeet by Nik Sexton. Shears' debut feature has been earning praise at festivals across the country and worldwide. Sexton's feature most recently picked up the People's Pick Award at the 2025 Canadian Film Festival and a nomination for Best Lead Performance at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards. All three of these feature filmmakers will be present at each screening for a post-show Q&A as well as our special in-depth masterclass series. We're also always so thrilled to feature short films by Newfoundland and Labrador filmmakers, and this year’s new films include Imprint by Duncan Major, 73 Seconds by Stacy Gardner, Kneaded by Stephen Coombs, Above, Above, Below, Below by Vaida Nairn, Hang in There! by Ian Foster, I Need to Get This Off My Chest by Elizabeth Hicks, and more.
As a filmmaking festival as well as a film festival, our workshop highlights this year include our Film School in a Day series at the LSPU Hall on June 22 featuring: Directing with Jamie Miller, Costume Design with Melanie Mooney (Skeet), Sound with Andrew Staniland (Skeet), and Visual Storytelling with Vaida Nairn (Above, Above, Below, Below). The LSPU Hall Cox & Palmer Second Space will be an open-to-the-public workspace for many days in festival week, with experienced mentors collaborating with attendees on film-related projects, featuring filmmaker mentors Ruth Lawrence, Justin Oakey, Heather Rumancik, and Duncan Major.
And, of course, the Nickel wouldn't be complete without a community film challenge. The always creative results of the DIY SCI-FI film challenge will screen Sunday, June 22, to close out the 2025 festival week.We are committed to making independent film work accessible to everyone. All of our tickets are pay what you wish, with a minimum price of $10 for our feature-length films and a minimum of $0 for our shorts collections. Our workshops also have free registration, thanks to the generosity of our funders. All of this would be impossible without the support from our sponsors and funders. Our 2025 funders this year include ArtsNL, Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador — Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, the Government of Canada — Department of Canadian Heritage, Picture NL, TELEFILM Canada and the City of St. John's.
For our full film schedule and detailed info on our workshop series, check out our website: www.nickelfilmfestival.com
For more information contact
Mike Fardy
Director of Programming and Communications
mike@nickelfestival.com
