Eye For Film >> Festivals >> NDNF >> 2021 >> New Directors/New Films 2021
View other New Directors/New Films Films by strand: New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective
Pebbles and Apples
Aleph
(Country: US, Croatia, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Iva Radivojevic; Writer: Iva Radivojevic; Stars: Anne Waldman, Guillermina Pico, Bouamama BenFareh, Zarko Lausevic, Irina Giri, Nara Rakchang, Desire Marea, Alicia Labraga, Boudaoud Zaoui, Masa Dakic, Namita Kandel, Masande Nthato Masekwameng, Dimitris Kantzoglou)
The director takes a puzzle-like approach, inspired by the writings of Jorge Luis Borges
All Light, Everywhere
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Theo Anthony; Stars: Keaver Brenai, Keaver Brenai)
An exploration of the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice. As surveillance technologies become a fixture in everyday life, the film interrogates the complexity of an objective point of view, probing the biases inherent in both human perception and the lens.
All The Light We Can See
(Country: Mexico; Year: 2020; Director: Pablo Escoto; Writer: Pablo Escoto)
Guided by mythic storytelling traditions, the film, set during some indeterminant past, begins as the tale of a woman who runs off into the forest when forced to marry a bandit.
Apples (Mila)
(Country: Greece, Poland, Slovenia; Year: 2020; Director: Christos Nikou; Writer: Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis; Stars: Aris Servetalis, Sofia Georgovassili, Anna Kalaitzidou, Argyris Bakirtzis, Kostas Laskos, Babis Makridis, Kimon Fioretos, Costas Xikominos, Alexandra Aidini, Nota Tserniafski, Konstantinos Papatheodorou, Electra Sarri, Natalie Chavez, Akis Benardis, Simos Vogiatzoglou)
A man caught up in an amnesia pandemic tries to construct a new life for himself.
Azor
(Country: Argentina, Switzerland, France; Year: 2021; Director: Andreas Fontana; Writer: Andreas Fontana, Mariano Llinas; Stars: Fabrizio Rongione, Stéphanie Cléau, Juan Pablo Geretto, Elli Medeiros, Yvain Juillard, Gilles Privat, Carmen Iriondo, Pablo Torre Nilson, Juan Trench, Alexandre Trocki)
Thriller set in the world of high finance.
Mighty Flash and Gull
Bebia, À Mon Seul Désir
(Country: UK, Georgia; Year: 2021; Director: Juja Dobrachkous; Writer: Juja Dobrachkous; Stars: Anastasia Davidson, Anushka Andronikashvili, Guliko Gurgenidze, Alexander Glurjidze, Ana Chiradze, Anastasia Chanturaia)
A young woman must cross the Georgian countryside to attend her grandmother's funeral.
Bipolar
(Country: China; Year: 2021; Director: Mengqiao Li; Writer: Mengqiao Li, Gosha Wen; Stars: Leah Dou, Kailang He, Al Di, Leah Dou, Kailang He, Al Di)
A young singer-songwriter, reeling from a recent, mysterious trauma, suddenly finds kinship with a rainbow lobster on display in a tiny aquarium in her hotel lobby.
Dark Red Forest
(Year: 2021; Director: Jin Huaqing)
Documentary portrait that details the annual retreat of thousands of Tibetan nuns to small wooden houses on the vast Tibetan Plateau.
El Planeta
(Country: US, Spain; Year: 2020; Director: Amalia Ulman; Writer: Amalia Ulman; Stars: Amalia Ulman, Ale Ulman, Nacho Vigalondo, Zhou Chen, Saoirse Bertram)
Amid the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction.
Faya Dayi
(Country: Ethiopia, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jessica Beshir; Writer: Jessica Beshir)
A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations – and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop today. A tapestry of intimate stories offers a window into the dreams of youth under a repressive regime.
Azor and Faya Dayi
Friends And Strangers
(Country: Australia; Year: 2021; Director: James Vaughan; Writer: James Vaughan; Stars: Emma Diaz, Victoria Maxwell, David Nash, Fergus Wilson, Greg Zimbulis)
The story pivots on the failed attempts of a freelance videographer Ray to woo the disinterested Alice during an impromptu camping trip, and the fallout back in Sydney.
Gull (Gal-mae-gi)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Kim Mi-Jo; Writer: Kim Mi-Jo; Stars: Jeong Ae-hwa)
Drama about the aftermath of a middle-aged woman's rape.
Liborio
(Country: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Nino Martínez Sosa; Writer: Pablo Arellano, Nino Martínez Sosa; Stars: Vicente Santos, Karina Valdez, Ramón Emilio Candelario, Fidia Peralta, Fausto Rojas, Freddy Ginebra, Jeffrey Holsman, Gabriel Medina, Iván Mejia, Anderson Mojica)
Tale of a farmer who disappeared from his village near the beginning of the 20 century, only to be resurrected as a figure of spiritual healing and political rebellion.
Luzzu
(Country: Malta; Year: 2021; Director: Alex Camilleri; Writer: Alex Camilleri; Stars: Michaela Farrugia, Jesmark Scicluna, Michaela Farrugia, Jesmark Scicluna)
A struggling Maltese fisherman faces tough choices about the future.
Madalena
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Madiano Marcheti; Writer: Tiago Coelho, Thiago Gallego, Madiano Marcheti, Thiago Ortman, Helena Vieira; Stars: Joana Castro, Mariane Cáceres, Rafael de Bona, Lua Guerreiro, Natália Mazarim, Chloe Milan, Lucas Miralles, Nadja Mitidiero, Antonio Salvador, Pâmella Yulle)
Three characters’ lives are affected in different ways by the death of Madalena, a trans woman.
We're All Going to The World's Fair and Radiograph Of A Family
Mighty Flash (Destello Bravío)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Ainhoa Rodríguez; Writer: Ainhoa Rodríguez; Stars: Guadalupe Gutiérrez, Carmen Valverde, Isabel María Mendoza, Guadalupe Gutiérrez, Carmen Valverde, Isabel María Mendoza)
Docufiction portrait of a community in Spain's Extremadura.
Moon, 66 Questions
(Country: Greece, France; Year: 2020; Director: Jacqueline Lentzou; Writer: Jacqueline Lentzou; Stars: Lazaros Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Peter Rundle, Nikitas Tsakiroglou, Lazaros Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Peter Rundle, Nikitas Tsakiroglou)
When a grave illness strikes down her father Paris, Artemis decides to return home to Greece after an absence of some years and the pair embark on a new beginning.
Pebbles
(Country: India; Year: 2021; Director: PS Vinothraj; Writer: PS Vinothraj; Stars: Chellapandi, Karuththadaiyaan, Chellapandi, Karuththadaiyaan)
The tale of an impoverished, alcoholic man and a young boy on a long walk together.
Radiograph Of A Family
(Country: Norway, Iran, Switzerland; Year: 2020; Director: Firouzeh Khosrovani; Writer: Firouzeh Khosrovani; Stars: Soheila Golestani, Christophe Rezai, Farahnaz Sharifi)
The director's dual portrait of her parents.
Rock Bottom Riser
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Fern Silva; Writer: Fern Silva)
Essay film that traverses geology, ethnography and astronomy.
El Planeta and Taming The Garden
Short Vacation (Jong chak yeok)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Min-pyo Kwon , Seo Han-Sol; Writer: Seo Han-Sol)
Together, four school friends journey to explore the unknown outskirts of the big city of Seoul, equipped with an old-fashioned analogue camera and a film that only has 27 pictures. The task sharpens their view of the familiar and opens their eyes to themselves and each other.
Stop-Zemlia
(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Kateryna Gornostai; Writer: Kateryna Gornostai; Stars: Maria Fedorchenko, Arsenii Markov, Yana Isaienko, Oleksandr Ivanov)
Drama follows a shy teenager and her friend as they navigate their 16th year.
Taming The Garden
(Country: Georgia; Year: 2021; Director: Salomé Jashi; Writer: Salomé Jashi)
A poetic ode to the rivalry between men and nature.
This Is My Desire (Eyimofe)
(Country: Nigeria, United States; Year: 2020; Director: Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri; Writer: Chuko Esiri; Stars: Emmanuel Adeji, Mary Agholor, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Lala Akindoju, Kalibe Akinkugbe, Ivy Akinyode, Jude Akuwudike, Jacob Alexander, Temiloluwa Ami-Williams, Ashia, Ejike Asiegbu, Chiemela Azurunwa, Sadiq Daba, Derby, Cynthia Ebijie)
The struggles of two people in modern Lagos.
We (Nous)
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Alice Diop; Writer: Alice Diop; Stars: Ethan Balnoas, Marcel Balnoas, Pierre Bergounioux, Ndeye Sighane Diop, Bamba Sibi, Ismael Soumaïla Sissoko)
Documentary revealing stories around the RER B, an urban train that traverses Paris and its environs from north to south.
Luzzu and Aleph
We're All Going to The World's Fair
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jane Schoenbrun; Writer: Jane Schoenbrun; Stars: Anna Cobb)
A teenage girl becomes immersed in an online role-playing game.
Wood And Water
(Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Jonas Bak; Writer: Jonas Bak; Stars: Anke Bak, Theresa Bak, Ricky Yeung, Anke Bak, Theresa Bak, Ricky Yeung)
A German woman (played by the filmmaker’s own mother) dreams of spending time with her grown children, including her uncommunicative and elusive son.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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