Sands: International Film Fest of St Andrews -
Pre-release screenings of Lionsgate's Power Ballad and AGBO's Citadel Season 2, Episode 1 with Oscar winning producer and Avengers director Joe Russo.
Sands: International Film Festival of St Andrews 26 kicks off on Friday, 17th April, bringing a rich programme of films and events that entertain, inspire and inform to the heart of Fife and Tayside.The weekend-long festival runs to Sunday 19 April and gets underway with a screening of feel-good blockbuster Power Ballad (15) from Lionsgate, more than a month before it goes on general release. And there's an advance screening of Season 2 Episode 1 of AGBO's Citadel in the company of co-founder Joe Russo and Angela Russo-Otstot. The Russos have supported the Sands from the beginning. Anthony and Joe Russo helm indie AGBO and are the Academy Award Winning producers of Everything Everywhere All at Once and directors of four Marvel blockbusters including Avengers: Endgame with Avengers: Doomsday currently in production.
Take a look at the Prime Citadel S2 trailer.
Discover the full programme and book at https://sands-iff.com/.
Now in its fifth year, Sands 26 brings film professionals, students and enthusiasts together in St Andrews and gives them the op
portunity to hear directly from world renowned industry leaders.
Produced by the Byre Theatre, part of the University of St Andrews and founded in partnership with the Russo Brothers’ independent studio AGBO, the boutique festival has quickly established itself as a distinctive meeting point for filmmakers, artists and audiences.
This year, the fifth edition builds upon the festival’s reputation, welcoming back founding sponsors Joe Russo and Angela Russo-Otstot alongside acclaimed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, poet Eva H.D, Scottish composer Craig Armstrong – the man behind instantly recognisable scores including Moulin Rouge! And Romeo + Juliet, independent producer John Sloss, Oscar and BAFTA-winning production designer James Price and pioneering feminist scholar and filmmaker Laura Mulvey.
And in addition to the opening night film Power Ballad, this year’s festival includes eight expertly curated film screenings to provoke discussion and reignite your love of cinematic storytelling.
This year also marks the first time Sands is teaming up with St Andrews venue T-Squared Social. The North Street site will play host to two screenings during festival weekend, The North (15) and DJ Ahmet (PG).
Festival Director Ania Trzebiatowska says, “Sands is a celebration of storytelling and its power to bring people into shared emotional and imaginative spaces… creating moments of connection where films become catalysts for conversation, understanding, and inspiration.”
Here are just a few highlights to look out for…
In Conversation
An Afternoon with Craig Armstrong
Saturday 18 April, 5.00pm
Pay What You Can £24.00 / £21.00 / £18.00
Craig Armstrong, the legendary composer behind the music of Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, The Great Gatsby, and Love Actually is coming to St Andrews.
Join us and hear Armstrong reflect on how music shapes storytelling and creates some of cinema's most memorable moments, in a conversation hosted by Fife’s own broadcaster Edith Bowman. The event will also include a live music performance of Armstrong’s scores, brought to you by the University of St Andrews’ music scholars and associate teachers.
In Conversation
Telling Stories with Joe Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, and Special Guests
Saturday 18 April, 7.00pm
Pay What You Can £24.00 / £21.00 / £18.00
Founding sponsors of the Sands: International Film Festival of St Andrews and the superpowers behind several Marvel blockbusters, Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Grey Man, Joe Russo and Angela Russo-Otstot will be reflecting on their work and the landscape of film alongside a very special guest.
Mike Fleming Jr., author and Co-Editor-In-Chief of Deadline, hosts the conversation here at the Byre Theatre.
(This event is live captioned | Running time TBC)
In Conversation
Sunday 19 April, 5.00pm
Pay What You Can £24.00 / £21.00 / £18.00
Can images be poetic? Is there storytelling in a poem? How does poetry speak the language of the unconscious? Join writer and director Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and writer Eva H.D. (The Natural Hustle, How to Shoot a Ghost) for an anarchic, free-ranging conversation. Art, politics, stagnation, creative inspiration – all is up for discussion.
This event is live captioned.
Event
Laura Mulvey presents Crystal Gazing (15)
Friday 17 April, 3.00pm
Pay What You Can £18.00 / £16.00 / £14.00
Pioneering feminist scholar, filmmaker and Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews, Professor Laura Mulvey attends Sands 26 in person to introduce her rarely screened landmark film Crystal Gazing. The iconic film follows a group of young Londoners – a science fiction illustrator, a busking saxophonist, a doctoral student – navigating work, art and relationships during the early 1980s recession. Professor Mulvey transformed the way audiences and filmmakers think about cinema with her groundbreaking essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. The screening is followed by an extended Q&A – your chance to put your burning questions to her.
Hear from the experts in THIS MUCH I KNOW
Sands’ signature This Much I Know… series this year includes discussions with producer John Sloss (Boyhood, Green Book, The Fog of War and Boys Don’t Cry), Chief Creative Officer at AGBO Angela Russo-Otstot and Oscar-winning production designer James Price (Bugonia, Poor Things and The Iron Claw).
Build your festival experience with these great films…
Friday 17 April, 7.00pm
Pay What You Can £18.00 / £16.00 / £14.00
When Rick (Paul Rudd), a past-his-prime wedding singer, meets fading boy-band star Danny (Nick Jonas) during a gig, the two bond over music and a late-night jam session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves – even if it means risking everything he cares about. From writer-director John Carney (Sing Street, Once), Power Ballad is a feel-good story about music, self-respect, friendship, and the price of ambition.
Join Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, and Ania Trzebiatowska, Sands Festival Director, as they welcome us to the festival ahead of this very special opening night screening.
Dir: John Carney | 2025 | Ireland, United States | 15 | 1h 38m
Friday 17 April, 2.00pm
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
The first of two Sands screenings at T-Squared Social, The North follows former roommates Chris and Lluis, who after 10 years apart, reunite in Scotland to retrace a journey that once defined their friendship. Setting out to walk the West Highland Way and the remote Cape Wrath Trail, they hope that 30 days on the path might help them reconnect with each other – and with the people they used to be.
Dir: Bart Schrijver | 2025 | Netherlands | 15 | 2h 11m
Shown in English, Spanish and Dutch with English subtitles.
Saturday 18 April, 11.00am
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
Follow a group of artists and activists who challenge the polite language of living together by confronting the fractures beneath it. Balancing laughter with difficult truths, Coexistence, My Ass! is both entertaining and thought-provoking, inviting us into moments of candour, conflict and unexpected humour.
Dir: Amber Fares | 2025 | USA, France | N/C 15 | 1h 35m
Shown in English, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.
Laundry (Uhlanjululo) (N/C 15)
Saturday 18 April, 2.00pm
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
Running a small laundry in a whites-only district of apartheid Johannesburg, one Black family’s survival relies on a rare and precarious state exemption. Enoch sees the business as their only protection against the system, while his son Khuthala dares to dream of a future in music. As pressure from the regime intensifies, the household is pulled between ambition, duty and the instinct to endure. This inspiring and visually captivating film is followed by a Q&A with director Zamo Mkhwanazi.
Dir: Zamo Mkhwanazi | 2025 | Switzerland, South Africa | N/C 15 | 1h 46m
Shown in Zulu with English subtitles
Saturday 18 April, 3.00pm
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
In a remote Yörük village in North Macedonia, 15-year-old Ahmet is caught between duty and desire. At home, his father’s expectations loom large; beyond it, a conservative community sets clear limits on who he can be. But through music, Ahmet finds a sense of freedom – and a voice of his own. As he experiences first love with a girl already promised to another, his world begins to shift in unexpected ways.
Warm, funny and full of energy, DJ Ahmet is an uplifting coming-of-age story that celebrates resilience, self-expression and the transformative power of music. Set against the striking landscapes of rural North Macedonia, the film captures a rarely seen community with warmth and authenticity. Winner of the Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award, it’s a vibrant crowd-pleaser with a distinctive cultural voice.
Dir: Georgi M. Unkovski | 2025 | North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia | 1h 39m
Shown in Turkish, Macedonian and English with English subtitles
Two Women (Deux femmes en or) (N/C 15)
Saturday 18 April, 9.00pm
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
Two women. One Montreal apartment block. One unplanned encounter. Two Women (N/C 15) follows Violette, navigating the demands of early motherhood, and Florence, stepping away from a career that suddenly feels unfamiliar. As their lives intersect, they begin to break open their routines, raising questions about fulfilment, desire and the freedoms they’ve set aside.
Dir: Chloé Robichaud | 2025 | Canada | N/C 15 | 1h 40m
Shown in French with English subtitles
Sunday 19 April, 11.00am
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
André is an Idiot. That’s the harsh verdict he gives himself after skipping a routine colonoscopy and being diagnosed later with stage 4 colon cancer. Rather than retreat, he turns the camera on his final chapter, documenting it with disarming honesty and gloriously irreverent wit. The result - a film that’s warm, candid and unexpectedly life-affirming. Come for the film, stay for a Q&A with director Tony Benna.
Dir: Tony Benna | 2025 | USA | 15 | 1h 27m
Cutting Through Rocks (N/C 15)
Sunday 19 April, 2.00pm
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
Academy Award-nominated documentary Cutting Through Rocks (N/C 15) follows Sara Shahverdi, an Iranian woman challenging tradition in her conservative village. Her reforms are practical and quietly radical – from opposing child marriages to encouraging girls to ride motorcycles and imagine wider futures. This “Stunning portrait of courage” (The Guardian) is followed by a virtual Q&A with directors Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki.
Dir: Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki | 2025 | Iran, USA, Germany | N/C 15 | 1h 35m
Shown in Azerbaijani, Turkish, Persian and English with English subtitles
Cactus Pears (Sabar Bonda) (N/C 15)
Sunday 19 April, 8.00pm
Pay What You Can £12.00 / £10.00 / £8.00
Closing this year’s festival, Cactus Pears is a quiet, tender portrait of two young men in rural India navigating love, grief and expectation within the rhythms of everyday life. Rooted in the textures of village life and the pull of family responsibility, the film unfolds with a gentle intimacy that allows small gestures and unspoken emotions to carry weight.
Dir: Rohan Kanawade | 2025 | India, UK, Canada | N/C 15 | 1h 52m
Shown in Marathi with English subtitles