NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE For archivists, the world of avant-garde theater and cinema in early 1970s NYC is a rich cauldron of no-safety-net experimentation and creativity—the time of legends such as Jack Smith, Jonas Mekas, and David Johansen—and Theater of the Ridiculous. The latter was particularly well-documented by the Argentine photographer Leandro Katz. Now very late […]
US PREMIERE Following acclaimed Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh as he travels from Beirut to Amsterdam to NYC, Half Moon examines the role of art in times of crisis. As Syria’s devastating displacement looms in the background, Kinan collaborates with fellow musicians and mentors, reflecting on exile, identity, and music theory. Featuring stunning performances and intimate […]
US PREMIERE This year’s opening night film invites us into a world where sensitive, passionate people gather not just to participate in a public competition but to be seen, to connect, and to honor a shared craft. At the Masters of Musical Whistling festival in Hollywood, founder and force-of-nature Carole Anne Kaufman (aka the Whistling […]
WORLD PREMIERE When COVID-19 quarantine restrictions force the 2020 cancellation of Lincoln Center’s annual holiday production of The Nutcracker for the first time since 1964, a group of unemployed New York City Ballet dancers find an unexpected haven at a fairy-tale estate in the Hudson Valley. With an original staging for a masked and largely […]
US PREMIERE Renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel partners with Coro de Manos Blancas, a choir of deaf performers in Venezuela, to stage Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. As the choir prepares for their innovative performance, the film follows them through auditions, rehearsals, and personal stories of resilience in the face of anti-deaf discrimination. With music expressed through sign […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Pedro, a claims adjuster navigating Mexico’s corrupt insurance industry, spends his days probing tragedies while resisting pressure to manipulate the truth. Seeking escape, he turns to contemporary art and theater, befriending artist Miguel Calderón, only to confront a parallel world of vanity and deceit. Blurring observation, reenactment, and performance, the film intertwines […]
NYC PREMIERE A tenacious Atlanta music teacher creates the first youth orchestra for undocumented and mixed-status families, providing a place to find community, beauty, and hope in the face of increasing adversity. – Anita Raswant The first and second screening will be followed by a Q&A with co-directors Monica Villavicencio and Stephanie Liu. All in-person […]
WORLD PREMIERE With the support of her fellow thespians, an actress navigates the mental and physical challenges of performing after enduring a traumatic event. – Karen McMullen The first, second, and third screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Ken Pham. All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. […]
WORLD PREMIERE Told through striking animation, one woman’s powerful account of surviving a fire in Tehran’s Evin prison captures resistance; an urgent, creative act rooted in the Iranian Woman! Life! Freedom! movement. – Murtada Elfadl The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Hoda Sobhani. All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Blurring performance and reality, an actor posing as an AI-created photographer sharply and self-reflexively exposes fragile truths about identity, labor, and authorship in an increasingly simulated world. – Murtada Elfadl The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Ali Heraize. All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon […]