NYC PREMIERE DEFIANT is a defining survey of the Ukrainian experience during the first 18 months of the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion. With Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as a central figure, DEFIANT tracks the Ukrainian fighting spirit in both diplomatic circles and on the front lines as ordinary civilian life is turned upside down by […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE After an explosion in the port of Beirut destroys a large part of Lebanon’s capital, a crew of filmmakers decides to continue to shoot their film in a life-affirming effort of resistance. Working against all odds, amidst the collapse of the city and the collapse of the economy during Covid, this chosen family […]
US PREMIERE In Mexico City, a group of teenage gangsters collectively call themselves “Ernesto.” The camera shadows them elegantly, preserving their anonymity as they go about daily life, both victims and perpetrators all at once. Immersive, engaging, and brilliantly unsettling, the narrative exposes the mechanisms and entanglements that allow these worlds of violence to thrive […]
NYC PREMIERE In his 2011 Oscar-nominated Pina, the legendary Wim Wenders employed stunning 3D camerawork to cinematically approximate the creativity of the great German choreographer Pina Bausch. Twelve years later, Wenders gives us an even more breathtaking 3D look into the world of visual artist Anselm Kiefer, focusing not only on his expansive canvases and […]
NYC PREMIERE Hailing from the African nation of Cape Verde, and gifted with an indisputable talent, singer-songwriter Cesária Évora rose to global fame later in life. Peppered with colorful anecdotes of this generous, down-to-earth, fiercely independent “Barefoot Diva,” this charming documentary follows “Cize” at home on her native island of São Vicente, backstage with beloved […]
Russian political candidate Alexei Navalny helped galvanize opposition to Vladimir Putin in mass street demonstrations. Then in August 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent and almost died on a flight from Siberia. Filmmaker Daniel Roher follows Navalny in real time as he teams with investigative journalists to identify his would-be killers and crack […]
In Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau community organizes to defend their land against a network of Brazilian farmers intent on colonizing their protected territory. Filmmaker Alex Pritz teams with members of the Uru-eu-wau-wau to capture the frontlines of a battle that has global consequences for the climate crisis. “No recent film captures the immediacy […]
NYC PREMIERE A rundown halfway house in Ukraine houses the country’s most vulnerable—children cramped between precarious homes and the foster care system. Simon Lereng Wilmont documents fast-disappearing childhoods amidst ever-worsening political strife with great intimacy and access. As the film records how children suffer and survive violence and abandonment, the “orphanage” becomes a metaphor for […]
US PREMIERE Students across the African continent come together for an annual contest of oratory skills and knowledge of the law. The film follows diverse teams of law students as they prepare for this prestigious, high-stakes mock trial, the African Human Rights Moot Competition. In her feature film debut, former lawyer-turned-filmmaker Shameela Seedat gives us […]
NYC PREMIERE A drum master from Japan and a Korean adoptee from Minnesota boldly convene an all-female troupe to perform Taiko, the Japanese drumming art that has been off-limits to women for centuries. As the early menace of Covid rumbles in the background, the group faces down hurdles to prepare for a historic performance in […]