NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Ithaka documents John Shipton, father of Julian Assange, in his tireless efforts to stop the British government from extraditing his son to the US to face espionage charges. While Assange’s health deteriorates in a British prison, Shipton wages a fight both political and personal as he works to build support so his […]
U.S. PREMIERE Now in his 70s, Ken Smith has lived off-grid in a cabin near Loch Treig, “the lonely loch,” in the Scottish Highlands. The spirited hermit spends his days making wine, fishing, and taking 27-mile walks to drop a letter to a friend. With his advancing age, Ken reflects on the trauma that initiated […]
WORLD PREMIERE After the death of her mother 18-year-old Sahar is left in charge of her poor, mentally disabled father in an isolated village in Iran. Sahar dreams of attending university and becoming a doctor, but extended family insist she play the role of caretaker unless her father remarries. This warm and intimate observational portrait […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Three children from the impoverished Venezuelan district of Las Brisas channel their pain and joy into music as part of a unique, government-sponsored orchestral music program, El Sistema. For ten years, as her native Venezuela gradually collapsed in the background, director Marianela Maldonado followed the students, developing an intimacy that gives their […]
WORLD PREMIERE In Santiago de Cuba, rival conga bands scour the sparse marketplace for materials to create show-stopping numbers for the annual Carnival competition. O’Reilly’s film follows young, innovative Lázaro, who is determined to beat “the Shark,” his older and more establishment-favored competitor. Tensions build and tempers flare as the government restrictions and scarcity of […]
US PREMIERE As a suicidal 16-year-old Marusya Syroechkovskaya falls in love with a humorous grunge kid named Kimi. Fueled by drugs and music, the inseparable couple films the euphoria, anxiety and misery of their precarious existence under the shadow of their oppressive government. Captured over 12 years, this raw, exuberant, and moving love story, provides […]
US PREMIERE Leonie is a rising teen influencer living on the outskirts of Berlin. As her fame grows, her parents see the economic opportunity of social media and become her managers. The pressure to create content and appease brands soon blurs the lines of their relationship, however, as it begins to dominate all of Leonie’s […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE A group of young Ukrainian actors, each with psychological scars of the war in Donbas, are cast in an experimental theatrical production of Hamlet. As they confront Hamlet’s famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, the actors process their own dilemmas, mere months prior to Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of their country. […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE With every outbreak in the epidemic of gun violence we are left to wonder: what would we do if a mass shooting breaks out where we are? Filmmaker Tal Inbar helps us imagine the unthinkable by skillfully weaving together raw footage from closed-circuit cameras at the infamous 2016 terrorist attack in Tel […]
WORLD PREMIERE With the devastating economic impact of the pandemic and city redevelopment, Chinatowns in New York, Montreal and Vancouver search for innovative ways and resistance to keep their communities thriving. With lush verité footage of bustling Lunar New Year celebrations and warm social gatherings, filmmaker Karen Cho celebrates the vibrance of Chinatown communities. – […]