Recap: The six movies I watched at the 2025 Cinetopia Film Festival

I'm in a Cinetopia Film Festival hangover today, meaning I watched six movies this weekend (really like 5.5; you'll see why below) and missing both that and Ann Arbor. I've been attending the festival since 2014—it was on hiatus from 2020-2023, then came back last year and this year. This was the first year that the festival was only five days, though, from Wednesday through this Sunday. I was in Indianapolis for work through Thursday, and needed a "recovery day" (plus had to work) on Friday, so I went in Saturday morning for it and left yesterday around 5:30pm. 

I would say that you will be able to find some of the below on streaming at some point—with festival movies, some I see everywhere afterwards, and some of them I never see again on streaming/etc., which is always interesting.

What I watched, and my reviews:

1. The Spin: This was a great movie to start off the festival with—it was an Irish comedy about two friends who own a records store together (and are about three months behind on the rent ...) and they take a road trip to purchase some records that, "unbeknown to the seller, are worth a small fortune." Basically it was a very cute buddy comedy / road trip movie, with some ups and downs during it. It had great Irish music and friendship themes throughout, and I'd give it 4/5 stars.
2. Vulcanizadora: One of only three "U.S. narrative" movies at the festival, and unfortunately I fell asleep during the middle 1/4 or 1/3 or so, so I can't rate it. However, it's a Joel Potrykus movie (local Michigan filmmaker) starring Joshua Burge, and I knew going into it, it was going to be an oddball: I've seen Buzzard and other films by him, also at Cinetopia and starring Burge, and they were definitely memorable but not entirely up my alley. The beginning of this one started off kinda slow—it's about two friends who go into the woods together, "each carrying dark intentions," per the synopsis. From what I saw, I would be interested in catching it on streaming sometime. 
3. My Sunshine: This was a Japanese film that I very much enjoyed, about a young ice hockey player (who isn't very good...) who transitions to figure skating, and has a crush on his partner, Sakura. "However, as the winter progresses, unspoken secrets begin to emerge, complicating their relationship," says the synopsis, and I thought this meant drama between the two of them; instead (trying to remain spoiler-free), it has to do with a different character in the film. I originally was thinking 4/5 for this one, but I still have some questions about the ending, so I may go with a 3.5/5. 
4. Where the Wind Comes From: A friend and I were deciding between this or Sister Midnight for our (apropos) midnight screening, as this started at 9:15pm and the other started at 10pm. I'm really glad we chose this one, because it ended up being one of my favorites at the festival. It's from Tunisia, as is in French; it follows childhood friends Alyssa and Mehdi, and Alyssa wants to leave Tunisia. She finds out about an artist contest where the winner gets to go to Germany for six months, and Mehdi is a talented artist, so she enters Mehdi into the competition, thinking she could go with him if he wins. The film had beautiful cinematography—I found out later that the director, Amel Guellaty, is also a photographer, so that makes sense—and it had a little bit of surrealism too. There was also a good amount of humor in the movie, amid some serious scenes, and I would give it 4.5/5 stars—it's definitely worth searching out on streaming. 
5. Queens of Drama. The Cinetopia director said something like "you've stumbled across one of the weirder ones of the fest" and he was not incorrect—this was a wild one, but I'm still thinking about it today (I saw it Sunday). It takes place in France (and is in French), and is "an outrageous lesbian pop musical satire that charts the rise and fall of pop star Mimi Madamour and her fiery, rage-fueled affair with punk icon Billie Kohler." The film starts in 2055, technically, and then goes back to 2005, when all of this was starting to happen (Nokia flip phone, anyone?). I was thinking 3.5/5 for this but I may up it to 4/5, because the music was fabulous in it; the movie reminded me a bit of Sunset Boulevard, but I've read interviews with the director where they said they were going for more of A Star is Born vibe, which I could also see. I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator of the movie, though ("SteevyShady," basically a YouTube influencer), who was obsessed with Mimi, but their obsession did lead to some interesting scenes and commentary. 
6. The Dating Game. This one sounded very promising but ultimately was a little disappointing for me. It's set in China, where men outnumber women by over 30 million, and focused on three bachelors whom attend a seven-day dating camp led by Hao, who is a dating coach. It was interesting to see dating from the "other side" (aka men who are trying to woo women, as I'm a woman) but IMO the movie lost focus a lot, and was slow—it went on a tangent where we saw women who had "virtual boyfriends" (aka games on their phones or tablets), and a few other scenes. I was going to give it 3/5 but upon further reflection, might give it 2.5/5. It's still worth seeking out at some point if you are interested in the subject matter, but it was too slow for me, unfortunately.

Have you ever attended a film festival? If so, what was your favorite film from it?