WORLD PREMIERE This insightful documentary delves into the life and work of Art Spiegelman, the Queens-raised artist who revolutionized comics by exploring dark, complex themes. Shaped by his Holocaust-survivor parents and inspired by MAD magazine’s irreverent satire, Spiegelman’s most famous work, MAUS, is a poignant Holocaust narrative that redefined the medium. The film showcases his […]
NY PREMIERE Armenian fairy tales often start with the same sentence, “There was, there was not,” suggesting an existence that is as present as it is absent. In the Republic of Artsakh, four women live their lives in the shadowy twilight of war and peace, past and present, remembrance and oblivion. Each chooses her own […]
Stories that command attention about those who fight for a better future for all. Banned Book Club | Director: Sinead Keirans | Producers: Em Shapiro, Mary-Elizabeth EsquibelNEW YORK PREMIERE In central Texas, high school students read books banned from the library shelves in hopes of fighting for their return. – DD (USA, 16 MIN) The Menstruation […]
WORLD PREMIERE With the help of golden retrievers and palomino horses at an animal therapy retreat, a group of Ukrainian children who had been abducted by the Russian army and rescued by their family members get a chance to heal. Deep in a forest by the Baltic Sea, the families portrayed in this tender and […]
US PREMIERE Choreographer and dancer Hadar Ahuvia interrogates the Zionist mythologies she learned as a child using Israeli folk dance-inspired contemporary dance as a point of entry. Seeking to understand the meaning behind traditional dance, which can be weaponized to oppress and marginalize, Hadar explores the complexities of the Palestinian and Israeli relationship with the […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE The hopes and dreams of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians are sprung anew in the generation represented by an ebullient 11-year-old boy named Vrej, as charismatic a documentary subject as there ever was. Yet the dark clouds of historic conflict rumble again over Vrej’s beloved homeland, and his idyllic childhood is interrupted when his family […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE French-born journalist Feurat Alani narrates this animated documentary about his complicated connection to Iraq, the country of his parents. With gripping storytelling and startling images, director Léonard Cohen and writer Alani present the Middle Eastern perspective on US military involvement in the region, from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to America’s incursion […]
NY PREMIERE The extreme mental and physical rigor required of US Navy SEALs takes its toll post-service. This film follows a cohort of veterans, skilled at navigating the danger and adrenaline of deployment, but struggling in civilian life. Plagued by PTSD, survivor’s guilt, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, and depression, the men try an experimental, […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE A poetic and haunting film about the daily struggles of a group of children who grew up in war-torn Kosovo. A dark coming of age story filmed over a period of 15 years, which solemnly observes and reflects on the long-term repercussions of war. Birgitte Staermose expertly introduces performative interludes that highlight […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Two young Kurdish men make their living by smuggling goods across the treacherous border between Iraq and Iran. First-time filmmaker Arash Rakhsha conjures a poignantly cinematic perspective out of this intriguing and previously untold story. Elevating the stirring narrative with striking images, patient observation, and astute insight into the people and the […]