In China, Mrs. Li thought her personal life was on solid emotional ground, only to discover that her husband was having an affair with a younger woman. Unmoored, she hires an agency to help save her marriage without her husband’s knowledge. Unfolding like a novel, Mistress Dispeller provides intimate details with remarkable candor; the filmmaker’s […]
Directed by Geeta Gandbhir, The Perfect Neighbor is a haunting exploration of a neighborhood tragedy in Ocala, Florida. Through unfiltered police bodycam footage, the film chronicles the escalating tensions between Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, and her white neighbor, Susan Lorincz, culminating in a fatal shooting. The documentary delves into the complexities of […]
Through home videos and voicemails, a young Filipino-American soccer player relives her team’s historic World Cup win—culminating in a return to her roots and a journey that is both personal and profound. The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Reina Bonta. All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request […]
NYC PREMIERE Mass media brought the unvarnished violence of the Vietnam War into homes across the globe. No singular photo was as devastatingly impactful as the harrowing image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, known as Napalm Girl. Photographer Nick Ut received a Pulitzer Prize, but did he actually take the photo, or was it a […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE In the tradition of the Tibetan religion Bon, a lama’s son inherits his title. In Lubra in northern Nepal, where a large population of Bon followers reside, an aging lama awaits his son’s return from the US—and fears the extinction of his culture. In a fast-globalizing world that demands assimilation, a community […]
NYC PREMIERE Collaging together home videos and phone conversations with her late father, filmmaker Karla Murthy creates a portrait of an immigrant who left everything familiar in pursuit of the American Dream. It is also a singular story of a specific kind of love, distinctive in its special joys and grief. A personal memorial but […]
NYC PREMIERE A dystopic aftermath of China’s one-child policy is a lopsided gender ratio. In a society with more men than women, a male loneliness epidemic looms as men struggle to find wives in a cutthroat dating market. As women find love in AI boyfriends, men—often of lower social class—hire dating coaches who, through their […]
US PREMIERE A complex power structure of casteism, oppression, and corruption governs the lives of Dalit poppy farmers. Vardibhai, older and traumatized by casteist abuse, believes the way out is through hard work and resilience. Her son Mangilal chooses the political route to organize and agitate toward a resistance. The Hot Docs Best International Feature […]
WORLD PREMIERE An ode to the enduring love and raw humor between a sharp-tongued, famous Korean cook and her devoted youngest son. Told from his autobiographical perspective, the film moves fluidly across time, weaving memories, caregiving rituals, funeral rites, and art into a lyrical meditation on grief. With tenderness and wit, it reveals how loss […]
NYC PREMIERE Tadashi Nakamura’s film about his father, pioneering filmmaker Robert A. Nakamura, is both historically resonant and rooted in personal experience. In charting his father’s legacy as a filmmaker and activist, the younger Nakamura confronts his struggles with identity. More than a biopic of a great man, this is a story of a resilient […]