Sundar Prize Film Festival announces 2025 edition, April 10 to 13

Second-annual event opens with Mahesh Pailoor’s Paper Flowers and closes with Enrique Vázquez’s Firma Aquí (Sign Here)

SPONSORED POST BY Sundar Prize Film Festival

The second-annual Sundar Prize Film Festival, taking place from April 10 to 13, will showcase a compelling lineup of films that reflect the festival’s theme, Life in Motion: Journeys of Growth and Discovery. Held at the SFU Surrey Campus and Landmark Cinemas Guildford, the festival will feature a diverse slate of 54 films, panels, and special events that spotlight underrepresented voices and celebrate the transformative power of storytelling.

Following a highly successful inaugural year, the 2025 edition of the festival boasts an impressive 70 percent Canadian content, with 57 percent of selected films originating from B.C. The festival also continues to champion diversity, with 54 percent of films directed by women and 67 percent by IBPOC filmmakers.

The festival’s opening night and networking reception takes place at the SFU Surrey Campus on April 10 from 5:30 pm onwards, featuring L.A.-based director Mahesh Pailoor’s Paper Flowers and catering services. At 22, Shalin Shah had it all—a supportive family, the love of his life, and a promising future. Filled with ideas of changing the world, he heads to Peru to serve in the Peace Corps. The 2024 film has already earned accolades, including Best of Fest at Palm Springs International Film Festival, an Academy Award-qualifying event.

The festival will close at Landmark Cinemas Guildford on April 13 with Mexican director Enrique Vázquez’s Firma Aquí (Sign Here). Love forever is a thing of the past, which is why there’s now an algorithm that matches couples every four years. When Fran meets Roque, she feels something unimaginable—perhaps enough to dare stay together longer than four years.

Current Vancouver Canucks hockey player Arshdeep Bains (left) in *Mareya Shot, Keetha Goal (Make the Shot).* Photo by Alister Eagle

There’s much more in store, including a special Vaisakhi screening of Baljit Sangra’s inspiring documentary Mareya Shot Keetha Goal (Make the Shot), which sheds light on South Asian hockey hopefuls on the West Coast. The lineup also includes Ryan David Lee Dickie’s Tea Creek, about an Indigenous entrepreneur who turns his family farm into a centre for food sovereignty; and in the 2SLGBTQIA+ spotlight, there’s Regan Latimer’s Bulletproof: A Lesbian’s Guide to Surviving the Plot.

For tickets and more details, visit the Sundar Prize Film Festival.

Post sponsored by Sundar Prize Film Festival.

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