2026 Grand Rapids Film Festival

This year’s Grand Rapids Film Festival (GRFF) was an unmitigated disappointment. The programmed feature films were, as a whole, of an embarrassing quality. There were a few standouts, good and bad; I spent most of my weekend shuffling back and forth from my bed and my living room, so uninspired by the programmed titles that I opted to watch the screeners instead of pushing myself to the in-person screenings.

GRFF ran Friday, Sept. 11 through Sunday, Sept. 13, screening at Muse and the Grand Rapids African American Museum.

I’ve been around for a handful of GRFF weekends, and this was the worst so far. It may be the worst festival I’ve covered as a film critic. 

Many of the films were made in Michigan and by Michiganders, or even in Grand Rapids and by Grand Rapidians. As a local critic, it’s not my intent to lambaste incredibly small productions and early career artists. I also believe that the local film industry needs no coddling. To respect the films and these filmmakers requires not glazing them simply because they frequent the same theater chains, but actually holding them to the same standards as I would any other film. That said…

The most noteworthy title was “Behind the Beard: Making Santa Real.” Brandon Rice’s film was never going to be for me, and that was obvious from the title: it's a kitschy Christmas documentary on the same wavelength as Frankenmuth about the cultish world of professional Santas—as in, the people who dress in red and white, put on a big beard and belt and let kids sit on their laps in the mall. They share stories in a series of talking-head interviews of their own Christmas “miracles,” their most memorable encounters playing Santa and what jolly old St. Nicholas means to them. 

Even if one can see past the tawdry holiday tack, “Behind the Beard” works overtime to remain tasteless. Several images are obviously AI-generated (or, to be generous, imitating the style of AI slop), including a few images of children. Somehow, in this documentary about mall Santas, there is even a (unreflective) moment where one of the men romanticizes his time as a soldier in Vietnam. It was there that he got to be “Santa in the rice patties of Vietnam.” Rice treats every Santa like a saint, even wartime Santa, because, I guess, Saint Nicholas is a saint? 

Maybe I’m too much of a Grinch, but there's something creepy about this whole Santa business that the film refuses to acknowledge: the normalization of children sitting on the laps of unknown adult men as their parents lie about Christmas. At a minimum, a heavier thematic emphasis on children's physical safety would have gone a long way. 

“Behind the Beard” is not for me. It is difficult to imagine who it might be for.

Continue reading at The Rapidian for reviews of Byeeee, Reel Conversations, Infernus, Shouldering Sanctuary: Chicago’s 2025 Battle with ICE, Graveyard Gremlins, Humanity (1984/2026), and Can This Be Reel?