US PREMIERE In this intimate and often funny observational portrait, director Archana Phadke trains her camera on three generations of her family, all living together in the same home in Mumbai. As the household prepares for her brother Rohan’s wedding, Archana—determined, like her sister, to remain single—captures the rhythms of the ever-busy household. Coming into particular […]
2019 SHORT LIST: PRODUCING AWARD When Dayton, Ohio’s General Motors plant closed in 2008, thousands of blue-collar workers lost their livelihood in a community hard hit by the recession. Eight years later, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory on the same site, bringing back jobs and inspiring newfound hope—until Chinese labor practices clash with […]
WORLD PREMIERE This intimate film revisits director Cara Jones’ upbringing within the Unification Church of Reverend Sun Myung Moon—commonly known as the Moonies—where her parents are high-ranking members. Home videos reveal never-before-seen footage of the inner workings of the controversial movement, considered a cult by some. After Jones separates from the church, she must come to […]
2019 VIEWFINDERS COMPETITION WINNER US PREMIERE Documentary comedies are a rarity, even more so from China. But Weijun Chen has proven himself a master with such mirthful films as Please Vote for Me and The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World. Now he finds comedy in Wuhan, the biggest city in Central China. We watch over a year as […]
A biracial gay couple raises twin sons.
A profile of Japanese artist Azuma Makoto, who has sent his floral sculptures into space and sunk them to the bottom of the ocean.
WORLD PREMIERE Ganden is the most influential monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, likened by Buddhists to the Vatican. It is here where the Dalai Lama’s lineage began. For more than 500 years, monks lived in Ganden in simplicity and contentment, before a brutal invasion drove them from their beloved home to start anew in India. Embodying the […]
When the passenger ferry MV Sewol sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities. Courtesy of Field of Vision.
WORLD PREMIERE Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in Koshien, Japan’s national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include US baseball stars Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. As popular as America’s World Series, the stakes are beyond high in this single-elimination tournament. For Coach Mizutani, cleaning the grounds and greeting guests are equally […]
Banned from competing professionally, female sumo wrestler Hiyori faces the reality of forced retirement at the age of 21. Courtesy of Netflix.