The Evening Hour / USA (Director: Braden King, Screenwriter: Elizabeth Palmore; Principal Cast: Philip Ettinger, Stacy Martin, Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Trotter, Kerry Bishé, Lili Taylor). Cole, a popular, young health aide at a nursing home living in rural Appalachia, makes ends meet by redistributing excess medication from townies to local buyers. Among a community low […]

Luxor / Egypt/United Kingdom (Director and Screenwriter: Zeina Durra. Principal Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Karim Saleh, Michael Landes, Sherine Reda, Salima Ikram, Shahira Fahmy).         Hana is seeking mental peace and physical respite after an overwhelming period spent working at a clinic in Ramtha, on the Jordanian-Syrian border, where she specialised in treating victims wounded in […]

Amulet/ United Kingdom (Director and Screenwriter: Romola Garai; Principal Cast: Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton, Angeliki Papoulia).  Following an accident that leaves him homeless in London, former soldier Tomaz is brought to the rotting home of Magda, a lonely woman in desperate need of help as she looks after her dying mother. Though at […]

Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness / Iran/France/Germany/Switzerland/Luxembourg (Director and Screenwriter: Massoud Bakhshi; Principal Cast: Sadaf Asgari, Behnaz Jafari, Babak Karimi, Fereshteh Sadr Orafaee, Forough Ghajebeglou, Fereshteh Hosseini). Maryam is a young woman who has been sentenced to death for murdering her husband, Nasser. Iranian law allows for the victim’s family to forgive her and spare […]

Summer White (Blanco de Verano) / México (Director: Rodrigo Ruiz Patterson; Screenwriters: Rodrigo Ruiz Patterson, Raúl Sebastián Quintanilla; Principal Cast: Adrián Rossi; Sophie Alexander-Katz; Fabián Corres). Rodrigo is an introverted 13-year-old who spends much of his time alone—except when he is with his mother, Valeria, who happens to be his best friend, his protector, and […]

The Nowhere Inn / Director: Bill Benz; Screenwriters: Carrie Brownstein, Annie Clark; Principal Cast: Annie Clark, Carrie Brownstein). Annie Clark’s musical persona, St. Vincent, is a shapeshifting anomaly of sounds, styles, and acclaimed artistic ingenuity. But what about Clark offstage? “We snack on radishes,” says a bandmate. “Anything that tastes like dirt. We go to […]

Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares) / México/Spain (Director: Fernanda Valadez; Screenwriters: Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero; Principal Cast: Mercedes Hernández, David Illescas, Juan Jesús Varela, Ana Laura Rodríguez, Laura Elena, Ibarra Xicoténcatl Ulloa. Magdalena hasn’t heard from her son in months—not since he left their town to cross the border into the United States. The […]

Epicentro / Austria/France/U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Hubert Sauper). Waves crashing over a breakwater at the edge of the sea—this dramatic opening image conveys the vital spirit of a place that has withstood decades of external pressure. On the streets of Havana, residents of all ages share their views on living under such impositions by outsiders, […]

Never Rarely Sometimes Always / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Eliza Hittman; Principal Cast: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, Sharon Van Etten). Autumn, a stoic, quiet teenager, is a cashier in a rural Pennsylvania supermarket. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and without viable alternatives for termination in her home state, she and her […]

The Night House / USA (Director: David Bruckner; Screenwriters: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski; Principal Cast: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Stacy Martin, Evan Jonigkeit, Vondie Curtis-Hall). Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep […]