Best of the Fest

FHFF Best of the Fest | Friday, July 17 at 7 PM • San Juan Island Library & Lopez Island Library What does it mean to truly communicate? It's a question we rarely pause to ask — and one that Parrot Kindergarten, the 2025 FHFF Audience Choice Winner for Best “Things to Consider” Feature Film, answers in ways that are by turns surprising, moving, and quietly revolutionary. Jennifer Taylor O'Connor and Ellie, her Goffin's cockatoo and research collaborator. The film screens fr

Free screening of The Snake and the Whale — June 26 at 7 PM at San Juan Island Library and Lopez Center. Six-time Emmy Award winner John Carlos Frey examines the Lower Snake River dams and their cascading impact on Idaho's salmon runs and the 74 Southern Resident Orcas whose survival depends on them.

Four events. Six documentary films. One urgent story. The Orca Action Month Film Series brings free documentary screenings to San Juan Island throughout June 2026, celebrating the Southern Resident killer whales and the ecosystems they depend on to survive. The series concludes June 26 with a simultaneous screening on Lopez Island as part of FHFF's Best of the Fest.

A Vietnam vet. A giant manta ray. A 19-year friendship. Free screening of The Last Dive — May 22 at 7 PM in Friday Harbor and on Lopez Island.

Two extraordinary documentaries. One free evening. On April 24 at 7 PM, FHFF's Best of the Fest screens Sitka's Hidden Wonders and From Sea to Shining Sea on San Juan and Lopez Islands simultaneously — followed by a live Q&A with director John de Graaf. No tickets or RSVP required.

Each month through September, FHFF brings audience-favorite documentaries from the 2025 festival back to the screen — free of charge — on San Juan and Lopez Islands. Three full houses down, six great films to go. Come see what everyone's talking about.

Filmmaker Claire Sandberg knew she had to tell Ramba's story the moment the last circus elephant in Chile was finally cleared for transport to sanctuary. In this director's statement, Sandberg reflects on the journey, the people who made it possible, and what she hopes audiences take away from The Ramba Effect.

Free Screening – March 27 at 7 PM San Juan Island Library & Lopez Center for Community and the Arts Friday Harbor Film Festival invites you to experience The Ramba Effect , the 2025 FHFF Audience Choice Winner for Best “Tales from the Heart” Feature Film, returning to the San Juan Islands as part of the 2026 Best of the Fest series. Ramba was an Asian elephant who spent roughly five decades in captivity—much of it as the last circus elephant in Chile—living in isolation and p

Winner of the 2025 FHFF Audience Choice Award for Best “Explorers & Adventures” Feature Film, Girl Climber follows elite climber Emily Harrington as she pursues a career-defining free ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan. A gripping, intimate portrait of ambition, resilience, and vulnerability, screening free on San Juan and Lopez Islands as part of the 2026 Best of the Fest Series.

The short documentary Lina. offers an intimate portrait of a six-year-old Ukrainian child and her family after their rescue from a Russian-occupied village. Screening January 30 at the San Juan Island Library and January 31 at the Lopez Island Grange, the film is paired with Checkpoint Zoo. The January 30 screening includes a special meet-and-greet with Executive Producer Silke Johnstone of The Humanity Funds.

Kick off Friday Harbor Film Festival’s 2026 Best of the Fest Series with a free double feature of Checkpoint Zoo and Lina., Audience Choice Award winners from FHFF 2025. Join us January 30 at the San Juan Island Library with filmmaker Silke Johnstone in person, and January 31 at the Lopez Island Grange with a special interview with director Joshua Zeman. Two powerful films, one unforgettable weekend.