New Directors/New Films 2018
Until The Birds Return Until The Birds Return
Until The Birds Return and Makala
3/4 (Three-Quarters) (Country: Bulgaria; Year: 2017; Director: Ilian Metev; Writer: Betina Ip, Ilian Metev; Stars: Mila Mihova, Nikolay Mashalov, Todor Veltchev, Simona Genkova, Kaloyan Georgiev, Alexander Kurtenkov)
The lives of a father and his two children.
New York premiere
An Elephant Sitting Still (Da xiang xi di er zuo) (Country: China; Year: 2018; Director: Hu Bo; Writer: Hu Bo; Stars: Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Uvin Wang, Congxi Li, Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Uvin Wang, Congxi Li)
The lives of four people cross over the course of a day in China.
North American premiere
Ava (Country: Iran, Canada, Qatar; Year: 2017; Director: Sadaf Foroughi; Writer: Sadaf Foroughi; Stars: Vahid Aghapoor, Parnian Akhtari, Sarah Alimoradi, Mona Ghiasi, Houman Hoursan, Mahour Jabbari, Bahar Noohian, Leili Rashidi, Shayesteh Sajadi, Vahid Aghapoor, Parnian Akhtari, Sarah Alimoradi, Mona Ghiasi, Houman Hoursan, Mahour Jabbari)
A youngster in Iran begins to rebel.
New York premiere
Azougue Nazaré (Country: Brazil; Year: 2017; Director: Tiago Melo; Writer: Tiago Melo)
Falstaffian character Tiao, Valmir do Coco leads a nonprofessional cast of authentic Maracatu practitioners in a tale told through dance, music, and the supernatural.
North American premiere
Black Mother (Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Khalik Allah)
Jamaica-set documentary.
New York premiere
3/4 3/4
3/4 and The Guilty
Closeness (Tesnota) (Country: Russia; Year: 2017; Director: Kantemir Balagov; Writer: Kantemir Balagov, Anton Yarush; Stars: Darya Zhovner, Olga Draganova, Veniamin Kats, Artem Tsypin, Nazir Zhukov)
A family struggle to raise the ransom after a kidnapping.
New York premiere
Cocote (Country: Argentina, Germany, Dominican Republic; Year: 2017; Director: Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias; Writer: Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias; Stars: Vicente Santos, Yuberbi de la Rosa, Enerolisa Núñez, Judith Rodriguez Perez, Pepe Sierra, Ricardo Ariel Toribio)
Alberto, an evangelical gardener, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father, murdered by an influential man. To mourn the dead man, he is forced to participate in religious celebrations that go against both his will and his beliefs.
New York premiere
Djon África (Country: Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde; Year: 2018; Director: João Miller Guerra, Filipa Reis; Writer: João Miller Guerra, Pedro Pinho; Stars: Bitori Nha Bibinha, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Miguel Moreira, Patricia Soso, Bitori Nha Bibinha, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Miguel Moreira, Patricia Soso)
A Cape Verdean in Portugal, Miguel Moreira, also known as Djon África, travels back home to look for his birth father. Documentary.
North American premiere
Drift (Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Helena Wittmann; Writer: Helena Wittmann, Theresa George; Stars: Theresa George, Josefina Gill)
Two women spend a weekend in the North Sea. One of them will soon return to her family in Argentina, whereas the other one will try to come a step closer to the ocean.
US premiere
The Guilty (Den Skyldige) (Country: Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Gustav Möller; Writer: Emil Nygaard Albertsen, Gustav Möller; Stars: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi, Johan Olsen, Jakob Ulrik Lohmann, Katinka Evers-Jahnsen, Jeanette Lindbæk, Simon Bennebjerg, Laura Bro, Morten Suurballe, Guuled Abdi Youssef, Caroline Løppke, Peter Christoffersen, Nicolai Wendelboe, Morten Thunbo)
After he takes a call from a woman in a desperate situation, an emergency operator feels unable to let go.
New York premiere
Milla Milla
Milla and Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras) (Country: Brazil, France; Year: 2017; Director: Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas; Writer: Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas; Stars: Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee, Felipe Kenji, Nina Medeiros, Neusa Velasco, Gilda Nomacce, Eduardo Gomes, Hugo Villavicenzio, Adriana Mendonça, Germano Melo, Naloana Lima, Clara de Cápua)
A lonely nurse is hired by a wealthy woman as a nanny for her unborn child, but one night has unexpected consequences.
New York premiere
The Great Buddha + (Country: Taiwan; Year: 2017; Director: Huang Hsin-yao ; Writer: Huang Hsin-yao; Stars: Cres Chuang, Bamboo Chu-Sheng Chen, Leon Dai, Shao-Huai Chang, Kuo-Lin Ting, Na-Dou Lin, Yi-wen Chen, Mei-Hsiu Lin, Evelyn Yu-Tong Cheng)
A night security guard and his colleague get more than they bargained for when they start watching the car dash camera of one of their bosses.
New York premiere
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: RaMell Ross; Writer: Maya Krinsky)
An exploration of coming-of-age in the Black Belt of the American South.
Closing gala. New York premiere
Makala (Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Emmanuel Gras; Stars: Kabwita Kasongo, Lydie Kasongo)
A young peasant makes a difficult journey in the hope of creating a better life for his loved ones.
New York premiere
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (Country: US, UK; Year: 2018; Director: Stephen Loveridge; Stars: M.I.A.)
Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.
Opening gala. New York premiere
Ava Ava
Ava and Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
Milla (Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Valérie Massadian; Writer: Valérie Massadian; Stars: Severine Jonckeere, Luc Chessel, Ethan Jonckeere, Severine Jonckeere, Luc Chessel, Ethan Jonckeere)
Meditation on young motherhood and the vagaries of growing up.
New York premiere
Nervous Translation (Country: Philippines; Year: 2017; Director: Shireen Seno; Writer: Shireen Seno; Stars: Jana Agoncillo, Jana Agoncillo)
A stylised evocation of a child’s fanciful interpretation of the world around her.
North American premiere
Notes On An Appearance (Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Ricky D'Ambrose; Writer: Ricky D'Ambrose; Stars: Zia Anger, Michael M. Bilandic, Bingham Bryant, Kathryn Danielle, A.S. Hamrah, Sky Hirschkron, Madeleine James, James N. Kienitz Wilkins, Tallie Medel, Eleanore Pienta, Jessica Pinfield, Keith Poulson, Lorelei Ramirez, Zia Anger, Michael M. Bilandic)
After a young man disappears, his friends try to find him.
North American premiere
The Nothing Factory (A Fábrica De Nada) (Country: Portugal; Year: 2017; Director: Pedro Pinho; Writer: Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo, Pedro Pinho, Jorge Silva Melo; Stars: Carla Galvão, Dinis Gomes, Américo Silva, José Smith Vargas)
One night, a group of workers realizes that the administration is stealing machines and raw materials from their own factory, forcing the staff to take a stand.
New York premiere
Our House (Watashitachi no ie) (Country: Japan; Year: 2017; Director: Yui Kiyohara; Writer: Noriko Katô, Yui Kiyohara; Stars: Nodoka Kawanishi, Yukiko Yasuno, Mei Fujiwara, Masanori Kikuzawa, Mariwo Ohsawa, Nodoka Kawanishi, Yukiko Yasuno, Mei Fujiwara, Masanori Kikuzawa, Mariwo Ohsawa)
Parallel stories of an adolescent girl and her mum, and an amnesiac given refuge unfold under the same roof.
North American premiere
An Elephant Sitting Still An Elephant Sitting Still
An Elephant Sitting Still and Those Who Are Fine
Scary Mother (Country: Georgia, Estonia; Year: 2017; Director: Ana Urushadze; Writer: Ana Urushadze; Stars: Nato Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Ramaz Ioseliani, Avtandil Makharadze, Anastasia Chanturaia, Lasha Gabunia, Darejan Kharshiladze, Lili Khuriti, Nana Khuriti, Luka Nachkebia, Nato Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Ramaz Ioseliani, Avtandil Makharadze, Anastasia Chanturaia)
Manana, a 50-year-old Tbilisi mother abandons her duties as a wife and mother to pursue an obsessive and hermetic life of writing poetry.
New York premiere
Those Who Are Fine (Dene wos guet geit) (Country: Switzerland; Year: 2017; Director: Cyril Schäublin; Stars: Sarah Stauffer, Nikolai Bosshardt, Fidel Morf, Sarah Stauffer, Nikolai Bosshardt, Fidel Morf)
A call centre worker begins to work a scam on the elderly.
New York premiere
Until The Birds Return (En attendant les hirondelles) (Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Karim Moussaoui; Writer: Maud Ameline, Karim Moussaoui; Stars: Aure Atika, Hania Amar)
Algeria today. Past and present collide in the lives of a newly wealthy property developer, a young woman torn between the path of reason and sentiment and a neurologist whose past catches up with him.
New York premiere
A Violent Life (Une vie violente) (Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Thierry de Peretti; Stars: Cédric Appietto, Paul Garatte, Jean-Marc Michelangeli, Jean-Étienne Brat, Marie-Pierre Nouveau, Henri-Noël Tabary, Dominique Colombani, Anaïs Lechiara, Délia Sepulcre-Nativi)
New York premiere
Winter Brothers (Country: Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Hlynur Palmason; Writer: Hlynur Palmason; Stars: Michael Brostrup, Anders Hove, Elliott Crosset Hove, Jannik Jensen, Lars Mikkelsen, Stefan Mølholt, Peter Plaugborg, Simon Sears, Victoria Carmen Sonne, Birgit Thøt Jensen)
Two brothers embark on a violent feud with another family.
New York premiere
Winter Brothers Winter Brothers
Winter Brothers and Closeness
Young Girls Vanish (Des jeunes filles disparaissent) (Year: 2017; Director: Clément Pinteaux; Writer: Clément Pinteaux, Marie-Stéphane Imbert, Hania Ourabah, Baptiste Pinteaux)
Explores the echoes of violence in Essonne, France, where dozens of girls were killed by wolves in the 1600s. Centuries later, young women begin disappearing again.
North American premiere. Screening with Notes On Appearance.
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