New Directors/New Films 2024
Malu Malu
Malu and Hesitation Wound
All, Or Nothing At All (Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Jiajun Oscar Zhang; Writer: Ying Bian, Jiajun Oscar Zhang; Stars: Yu An, Xiaoyi Chen, Yanqi Chen, Cuishan Liang, Ruguang Wei)
The fustrated realities of Generation Z in unforgiving contemporary China.
North American premiere
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (Country: Georgia; Year: 2023; Director: Elene Naveriani; Writer: Elene Naveriani, Nikoloz Mdivani based on the novel by Tamta Melashvili; Stars: Eka Chavleishvili, Temiko Chinchinadze, Anka Khurtsidze)
The story of a 40something in a dead-end town who discovers love for the first time.
New York Premiere
Blaga's Lessons (Urotcite na Blaga) (Country: Bulgaria, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Stephan Komandarev; Writer: Simeon Ventsislavov, Stephan Komandarev; Stars: Eli Skorcheva, Gerasim Georgiev, Rozalia Abgarian, Ivan Barnev, Stefan Denolyubov, Ivaylo Hristov)
A woman's moral compass starts to slip after she is conned out of her savings by a phone scammer.
New York Premiere
Cu Li Never Cries (Cu Li Không Bao Giờ Khóc) (Country: Vietnam; Year: 2024; Director: Pham Ngoc Lan; Writer: Pham Ngoc Lan, Nghiem Quynh Trang; Stars: Minh-Châu, Xuan An Ngo, Ha-Phuong, Kieu-Trinh, Phí-Linh, Cao Sang, Hoàng-Hà, Hien Thanh, Van Thai Nguyen, Quôc-Tuân, Thuong Tin)
After inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband, a woman clings to dwindling ties to her past while her niece prepares for her wedding and worries about the future.
North American premiere
The Day I Met You (Country: Brazil; Year: 2023; Director: André Novais Oliveira; Writer: André Novais Oliveira; Stars: Renato Novaes, Grace Passô)
Microportrait of two school colleagues.
New York Premiere
A Different Man A Different Man
A Different Man and Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
A Different Man (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Aaron Schimberg; Writer: Aaron Schimberg; Stars: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Owen Kline, Adam Pearson, Marc Geller, Lawrence Arancio, Billy Griffith, Eleanore Pienta, John Keating, Juney Smith, Sergio Delavicci, Miles G. Jackson, Martin Ewens, Neal Davidson, Trenton Hudson)
Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical trial to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare.
New York Premiere
Dreaming & Dying (Hao jiu bu jian) (Country: Singapore, Indonesia; Year: 2023; Director: Nelson Yeo; Writer: Nelson Yeo; Stars: Peter Yu, Doreen Toh, Kelvin Ho)
Three middle-aged friends reunite for the first time in years. Each of them sets out to confess unexpressed feelings, but their vacation takes a surprising turn.
North American premiere
Exhibiting Forgiveness (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Titus Kaphar; Writer: Titus Kaphar; Stars: André Holland, Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jaime Ray Newman, Matthew Elam, G.L. McQueary, John Earl Jelks, Tia Dionne Hodge, Chip Carriere, Ian Foreman, Martha Morgan, Daniel Michael Barriere, Justin Hofstad)
Utilising his paintings to find freedom from his past, a Black artist on the path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, a recovering addict desperate to reconcile. Together, they learn that forgetting might be a greater challenge than forgiving.
New York Premiere
Explanation For Everything (Magyarazat Mindendre) (Country: Hungary, Slovakia; Year: 2023; Director: Gábor Reisz; Writer: Gábor Reisz, Éva Schulze; Stars: Adonyi-Walsh Gáspár, István Znamenák, András Rusznák, Rebeka Hatházi, Krisztina Urbanovits, Eliza Sodró, Lilla Kizlinger, Dániel Király, Gergely Kocsis, Tamás Fodor, Péter Tarján, Zsuzanna Szager, Péter Szeiler, Tóth Péter, Tünde Bacskó)
A high school student's graduation exams spark scandal.
New York Premiere
Foremost By Night (Sobre Todo De Noche) (Country: Spain, Portugal, France; Year: 2023; Director: Víctor Iriarte; Writer: Isa Campo, Víctor Iriarte, Andrea Queralt; Stars: Lola Dueñas, Manuel Egozkue, Ana Torrent, María Vázquez)
When Vera was young, she wasn’t able to take care of her son and had to give him up for adoption. Years later, when she tried to find him, the institutions told her that her file did not exist. She has continued to look for him ever since. When Cora was young, her doctor told her that she could not have children and that only by adopting could she start a family. Cora has dedicated her life to teaching piano lessons and caring for her adopted son, Egoz, about to turn 18. Now, the paths of these three characters are about to cross.
New York Premiere
Blaga's Lessons Blaga's Lessons
Blaga's Lessons and Omen
Good One (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: India Donaldson; Writer: India Donaldson; Stars: James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy, Sumaya Bouhbal, Lily Collias)
On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.
New York Premiere
A Good Place (Ein Schoner Ort) (Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Katharina Huber; Stars: Voodoo Jürgens, Andreas Schneiders, Clara Schwinning, Céline de Gennaro, Julian Sark, Jannik Mioducki, Mik Quantius, Jamal Albashaan, Leonard Harms, Andreas Oestern, Maria Lorenzen, Meryem Erkus, Dolunay Gördüm, Julia Suermondt, Nicole Wegner)
The chickens are suspicious, the relationships are dubious, and the businesses are shady. Margarita and Goodness wonder where and why people are disappearing. Meanwhile the radio is persistently sending messages and the world is awaiting the launch of a rocket that will take humans to the edge of the solar system.
North American premiere
Hesitation Wound (Country: Turkey, France, Romania, Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Selman Nacar; Writer: Selman Nacar; Stars: Tülin Özen, Görkem Ipek)
A criminal lawyer faces difficult moral and emotional choices.
New York Premiere
Intercepted (Country: Canada, France, Ukraine; Year: 2024; Director: Oksana Karpovych; Writer: Oksana Karpovych)
The destruction caused by the war against Ukraine is shown in lengthy tableaux. Intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families set up a parallel world.
North American premiere
A Journey in Spring (Country: Taiwan; Year: 2023; Director: Peng Tzu-Hui, Ping-Wen Wang; Stars: Kuei-Mei Yang, Jieh-Wen King)
An old man has depended on his wife over the years, when she suddenly passes away, he puts her into an old freezer and goes on living a seemingly peaceful life. But the arrival of his son and daughter-in-law brings change.
North American premiere
Intercepted Intercepted
Intercepted and Stress Positions
Lost Country (Country: France, Serbia, Luxembourg, Croatia; Year: 2023; Director: Vladimir Perisic; Writer: Vladimir Perisic, Alice Winocour; Stars: Boris Isakovic, Jasna Djuricic, Marija Skaricic, Jovan Ginic)
The sensorial, emotional and political formation of a boy born at the beginning of the Eighties in Tito's Yugoslavia, growing up in a Yugoslav Communist family as the political system around him radically changes.
New York Premiere
Malu (Country: Brazil; Year: 2024; Director: Pedro Freire; Writer: Pedro Freire; Stars: Yara de Novaes, Juliana Carneiro da Cunha, Carol Duarte, Átila Bee, Marcio Vito, Marina Provenzzano, Felipe Haiut)
Malu - a mercurial, unemployed actress living with her conservative mother in a precarious house in a Rio de Janeiro slum - tries to deal with her strained relationship with her own adult daughter while surviving on memories of her glorious artistic past.
New York Premiere
Meezan (Country: Canada, Iran; Year: 2023; Director: Shahab Mihandoust)
A portrait of the fishing industry in Iran’s Khuzestan province - home to Abadan, the first oil company-town in the Middle East
US premiere
Of Living Without Illusion (Und dass man ohne Täuschung zu leben vermag) (Country: Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Katharina Lüdin; Writer: Katharina Lüdin; Stars: Godehard Giese, Wolfgang Michael, Jenny Schily, Lorenz Hochhuth, Anna Bolk, Unica-Rosa Blaue-Poppy, Pauline Frierson, Marvin Clausen, Oska Melina Borcherding)
Suburban summer heat. Merit, Eva, Lion, Rose and David cautiously wind around their conflicted relationships.
North American premiere
Omen (Augure) (Country: DRC; Year: 2023; Director: Baloji; Writer: Baloji, Thomas van Zuylen; Stars: Marc Zinga, Lucie Debay, Eliane Umuhire, Yves-Marina Gnahoua, Marcel Otete Kabeya)
When a man who was cast out as a child after being considered a sorceror returns home, he faces prejudice.
New York Premiere
Good One Good One
Good One and A Journey in Spring
Otro Sol (Country: Chile, Belgium, France; Year: 2023; Director: Francisco Rodriguez Teare; Stars: Iván Cáceres, Claudio Palape, Juan Pizarro, Thomas Quevedo, Teresa Ávalos)
The maybe-true tale of thief Alberto Candia, who stole priceless ancient artifacts from a cathedral in Cádiz, Spain.
North American premiere
The Permanent Picture (La imatge permanent) (Country: Spain, France; Year: 2023; Director: Laura Ferrés; Writer: Laura Ferrés; Stars: María Luengo, Rosario Ortega, Saraida Llamas, Claudia Fimia, Mila Collado, Dolores Martínez)
In rural Southern Spain Antonia, a 15-year-old mother, disappears in the middle of the night. 50 years later and much further North, Carmen, an introverted casting director, is looking for people to share their experiences when arriving in a new city. In her search, she meets Antonia, whose impulsiveness intrudes into Carmen’s solitude. Who said time heals all wounds?
North American premiere
The Rim (La Parra) (Country: Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Alberto Gracia; Writer: Alberto Gracia; Stars: Alfonso Míguez)
A man who is scraping by becomes the inexplicable victim of mistaken identity.
US premiere
Stress Positions (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Theda Hammel; Writer: Faheem Ali, Theda Hammel; Stars: John Roberts, John Early, Theda Hammel, Amy Zimmer, Faheem Ali, Qaher Harhash)
Terry Goon is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s Brooklyn brownstone while caring for his nephew - a 19-year-old model from Morocco named Bahlul - bedridden in a full leg cast after an electric scooter accident. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the model.
New York Premiere
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