BLACK SUNFLOWERS

BLACK SUNFLOWERS

Resilience
97 min
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NYC PREMIERE On front lines and urban back streets, 10 young Ukrainians, ages 18 to 26, grapple with the impact of war. Youthful dreams have been interrupted, but passions, creativity, and optimism persist. On breaks from combat, life continues in favorite haunts: underground raves, illicit nighttime car drifting, or pastoral country idylls. Filmmaker James Marcus Haney finds a series of stunning, searing images that, combined with a kaleidoscopic score, create a hypnotic and somber texture. This impeccable war film asks us not to forget. – Jaie Laplante

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director James Marcus Haney.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

Director: James Marcus Haney
Producer: Pedram Rezaee, Vlad Bolyelov, Mikayla Jean Miller, Yevhenii Zdorovylo, Samy Mosher, Eric Maldin, Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Yatsenko
Executive Producer: Jay Bush, Cameron Bush, Vlad Bolyelov, Adam Tudhope, Anna October, Dianna Agron, Sean Penn
Cinematographer: James Marcus Haney, Misha Lubarsky
Editor: Olaf Woldan, Gary Forrester
Composer: Brad Oberhofer, Koloah
Language: Ukrainian, Russian, English
Year: 2026
International
Music
Programmer: Jaie Laplante, Artistic Director
War and Conflict
Youth

Event details

In-Person Date

Wednesday, November 11, 2026 7:15 PM

Venue

SVA Theatre

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Online Dates

Thursday, November 12 - Sunday, November 29, 2026

Venue

Online Screening

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NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Within the war that is ravaging Gaza, a friendship is born. Palestinian photographer Suhail Nassar is documenting the effects of war on the children of the city. He also works as a witness for French journalist Charles Villa, who is trying to report on the atrocities but is not allowed into the territory. What starts as a working relationship becomes a visceral portrait of a journalist determined to keep himself and his community alive, and of the unexpected bonds that can emerge across distance. - Murtada Elfadl

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Elie Dupont and Mathias Hillion and producer Karim Landauski.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

NYC PREMIERE Beatriz, the mother of filmmaker Carolina Gonzalez Valencia, provided for her children in Colombia by working as a house cleaner in the US. Decades later, when the filmmaker and her mother look back at their past, they employ elements of play to ease the pain that marks both their lives. What results is a glittery, mischievous, and playful film that experiments with the documentary form. - Bedatri D. Choudhury

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Carolina Gonzalez Valencia, producer Brenda Avila-Hanna, executive producer/protagonist/Domestic Workers Alliance president Ai-jen Poo, and protagonist Beatriz Valencia.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

WORLD PREMIERE How does one remember a dictatorship experienced as a child? After years in Spain, filmmaker Carolina Astudillo gathers friends who, like her, grew up amid Augusto Pinochet’s violent regime, when families learned that survival could depend on secrecy and silence. The women revisit fragmentary memories and consider how those early experiences shaped who they became. Poetic, gentle, and quietly revealing, the film transforms personal recollection into collective memory, tracing how political violence reverberates across friendships, identities, and generations. - Ruth Somalo

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director/producer Carolina Astudillo.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.
WORLD PREMIERE The Khawaja Saras of Pakistan have a distinct gender identity and a long cultural presence, having once served as advisors in the courts of Mughal kings. With queer life in the country suppressed by colonialism, the community has been driven to the social margins. Set in Rawalpindi, the film follows three exuberant Khawaja Saras, who defiantly forge their lives with dignity as they run a café that becomes a community mainstay and sanctuary. - Bedatri D. Choudhury





The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director/producer Khaula Malik, producer Brit Fryer, and protagonist Bubbly Malik.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

US PREMIERE Gabriel has spent his life enduring the excruciating pain of sickle cell disease alongside a healthcare system that repeatedly doubts the severity of his suffering. Facing a shortened life expectancy, he undertakes an experimental stem cell treatment that could finally soothe his pain. Through one man's remarkable journey, The Sickling exposes how racial bias shapes whose pain is believed and treated, while offering a moving testament to survival, medical possibility, and inequity’s consequences in healthcare. - Ruth Somalo

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director/producer/protagonist Gabriel Badejo.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

US PREMIERE In this moving portrait of resilience, a Palestinian woman is determined to have a child with her husband as he serves a life sentence in an Israeli prison. Following this seemingly ordinary woman and her attempt to smuggle out her husband’s sperm, the film brings a human dimension to daily life without basic freedoms. For Life explores how one can go about pursuing what many take for granted—a marriage, a family, and access to healthcare—within the restrictions of occupation. - Murtada Elfadl

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Ahmet Seven.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

NYC PREMIERE In this provocatively honest film, Kenya-Jade Pinto examines how surveillance systems and military technology control the global refugee crisis and decide who gets rescued and who’s allowed to die. The film goes behind the daily headlines of border crossings to show how algorithms control human mobility. With a pulse-pounding rhythm and an astute cinematic approach, this film shows how the surveillance war was lost and who is paying the price with their lives. - Murtada Elfadl

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Kenya-Jade Pinto and composer Robbie Teehan.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

NYC PREMIERE In rural Turkey, a group of women sets their sights on entering a local shooting competition, challenging expectations of who belongs on the range. As they practice, their unlikely endeavor creates a space for friendship, confidence, and newfound independence within their community. Warm, humorous, and hopeful, 32 Meters finds something quietly transformative in these women's determination, capturing how a seemingly simple shared pursuit can become an assertion of possibility and a joyful expression of female solidarity. - Ruth Somalo

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Morteza Atabaki, producer Murat Ones, co-producer Leila Fathi, and cinematographer Zeynep Seçil.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.