‘Pass The Popcorn’ Omaha Film Fetival celebrates 20th anniversary

March 5th, 2025

In 2024, 569 studio movies were released in the United States and Canada. But chances are, you can only name a handful of them.

This is Christine Burright, graduate of the UNO MFA in screenwriting program, filmmaker and aspiring TV writer, for Pass the Popcorn for KVNO’s Arts Desk.

Films released in theaters and on streaming rely on marketing campaigns in order to get views. Even with all the advertising we’re exposed to on a daily basis, and the most sophisticated of algorithms, you probably missed most of those releases. I know I did.  

But today, I’m going to give you a peek at four special screenings coming soon to Omaha. 

The Omaha Film Festival (known as OFF) starts March 11th. The six-day festival will screen around 100 films, including four special screenings.  

The special screenings are studio films that haven’t been released in theaters yet, so festival audiences get an exclusive look at what’s going to be hitting screens later in 2025 and 2026.  

And really, who doesn’t love getting the inside scoop on new and exciting things before anyone else?  

HOLLAND – is showing Tuesday, March 11th on opening night. This film features Nicole Kidman as a teacher whose life with her husband in Holland, Michigan, tumbles into a twisted tale when she and her colleague become suspicious of a secret. 

ERIC LARUE – screens on Saturday, March 15th. This adaptation of Brett Neveu’s 2002 dramatic play stars Judy Greer and Alexander Skarsgård as parents struggling to move on from an act of violence that frayed their community.  

40 ACRES – this film screens Sunday, March 16th and is about the last descendants of African American farmers in a famine-decimated near future, who now struggle to safeguard their farm against a raiding party. 

And lastly: 

THE ASSESSMENT – is showing on Sunday, March 16th and is the closing night film. The Assessment is a sci-fi thriller set in a future world destroyed by climate change, and a couple must pass an assessment before they are allowed to have a child in this sci-fi thriller starring Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen. 

Tickets are available to individual screenings, or festival passes can get you into all 100 films. To get a deeper look at these four special screenings and the other 96 OFF films I didn’t have a chance to tell you about, visit omahafilmfestival.org. 

By Christine Burright for Pass the Popcorn for KVNO’s Arts Desk.