Viewing: August 09,2025
Watch Trailer
Director: Tomm Moore
Awards: Osacr - Best Animated Feature (nom)
Song of the Sea, the second film in Tomm Moore’s “Irish Folklore” trilogy, is the story of a young Irish boy named Ben who learns that his mute sister Saoirse is actually a “selkie” — a mythological creature that can shapeshift from human form to that of a seal. The two children are the son and daughter of a lighthouse keeper’s wife who disappeared after giving birth to the girl and is presumed to have died. Ben has always believed that Saoirse was at fault for their mother’s death and is resentful; however, when the duo run away from their Granny’s house to return to their lighthouse home, they have an adventure beyond their wildest imaginations: Saoirse is tasked with using her magical power of song to save all the world’s mythological beings from the evil witch Macha, and, in the process, restore the wholeness of her family’s broken home.
Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up
This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce
93 
Starring newcomers Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez, this new film from writer/director Minhal Baig has already won the Changemaker Award at TIFF and the Audience Choice for Best New US Feature award at the Chicago International Film Festival.
From filmmaker Thea Sharrock (Call the Midwife) and comedian Jonny Sweet, Wicked Little Letters is the perfect breath of hilarious fresh air that lets its two leads off the leash to do what they do best.
Carter Sickels is the author of the novel The Prettiest Star, winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Fiction, the Southern Book Prize, and the Weatherford Award, and selected as a Kirkus Best Book of 2020 and a Best LGBT Book by O Magazine. His debut novel The Evening Hour was adapted into a feature film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020. His writing has appeared in publications includingThe Kenyon Review, The Atlantic, Oxford American, Poets & Writers, BuzzFeed, and Guernica. Carter is an assistant professor of creative writing at North Carolina State University.
Vera is a gender-questioning youth growing up in Smallville, Kansas in a dystopic world overseen by Batman. They’re a huge fan of improv comedy and hope to someday join the cast UCB Live, a comedy troupe whose show is a big hit. When they finally grow up and move to the big city of Gotham, Vera gets a shot at becoming part of the team. However, a computer designates them as a male Joker and puts limits on the type of comedy they are permitted to enact. This prompts Vera to join up with other outlaw comedians to try and start their own troupe. An encounter with “Mr. J”, a transgender comedian, leads Vera to finally recognize that she has the power to buck the system and identify as a transgender woman.