The question of which modern, living, working auteur most deserves a Criterion box set is not one I honestly wish to pose. (Would you intentionally open that can labeled “Worms”?) But I will suggest a sound logic in the recent anointment of Mike Mills, whose Beginners, 20th Century Women, and C’mon C’mon have been collected in the suggestively titled I’ll Remind You of Everything. More than pairing movies with germane extras on a few Blu-rays and 4K UHDs, this is a rounded-out physical complement to Mills’s cinema: everything from its cover (designed by the director and Osk) to booklet to menus operate in the associative, memory-laden key that places his work a step above their brethren.

Most directors given an enviable Criterion retrospective are no longer among us, which made unusual the opportunity to speak directly with Mills about this project. As our conversation reveals, the seeds for I’ll Remind You of Everything were planted as far back as Beginners, and this set’s significance initiated what the director calls “compartmentalized denial.” He nevertheless proves a game, generous conversation partner.

Mike Mills: How’s it going?

The Film Stage: It’s going well. It’s good to see you. 

Good to see you.

Where are you? This room is so impressive. Where are you calling from? 

[Laughs] That’s my little office in my house.

Oh, amazing. I guess I would expect your office to have a lot of framed photos. 

It gets better. [Stands up, opens door to reveal life-size Charlie Chaplin cut-out]

Oh, my god! So that’s like a little treat whenever you open the door?

Yeah. I would notice sometimes, when I’m doing a Zoom, “Wow, he’s really just hanging out right there.” But also [Turns camera to reveal Buster Keaton portrait] he’s right there.

Wow. Okay. I like that you don’t discriminate. It’s not one or the other. 

Oh, hell no. They party together. Come on. 

I mean, we’ve all seen Limelight. 

Yeah. 

Now your movie is in that canon of Limelight. Your three movies are in the canon of Limelight. 

That’s crazy. That’s very crazy. A lot of other movies, too. But yes, yes. [Laughs] I don’t have the self-love to totally accept that comment, but yes. 

Well, I appreciate the films. So one of us can. 

Cool. 

No, it’s really cool. Your work hasn’t exactly been lacking for circulation—it’s been seen, it’s been available—but this is an honor for any movie, certainly three. And it’s really cool how they’re all talking to each other more, I think, with this box set. 

Yeah. No, Kim Hendrickson—who’s my editor at Criterion from the beginning—started talking to me back when I just did Beginners, and then 20th came out and, “Oh, maybe it’s a duo.” And then C’mon came out, and she’s like, “Oh, maybe it’s a triptych.” And it was all unintentional, but I really loved that her eyes were on it for that time and she kind of saw it, and then the way that Criterion does things where it’s a lot of my shorter things, music videos, shorter films, documentary things. One of my very first things I ever made is on there—it’s Deformer, a portrait of Ed Templeton.

It’s [Exhales] so nice to have a house for all of it because it doesn’t really feel housed otherwise. [Laughs] Like, you’re just part of capitalism, right? And it’s not like capitalism’s super cozy with taking care of your work. So that feels really, really important and lovely. And then Kirsten Johnson did this long, really great interview. So I feel very seen and taken care of, yeah. And lucky. 

Mike Mills and Joaquin Phoenix on the set of C’mon C’mon

Well, I’ll tell you an anecdote that sounds made up.

Cool.

And it may sound like I’m just trying to get the conversation going, but I swear it’s completely true. 

Okay. 

I was sitting here and thinking, “What is it about Mike Mills’s movies, their ethos, that affects me so much, that I find so moving in ways that I can’t even articulate?” Me with my, you know, film studies degree and whatnot, I should know how to do this.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

I look down at the set and I see the words “I’ll remind you of everything.” 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Which, of course, is a line from one of your films, but those words to me—”I’ll remind you of everything”—feels like the driving, catalyzing emotional force of your work. 

Yeah. 

And maybe that’s a way of asking: what was it about that title? Is that part of what made it a fitting title for this box set, or was it something else? 

So Kim initiated this conversation of “What should it be titled? What’s the whole scope of it?” It’s really weird being you in this situation [Laughs] because often the author’s the last one to understand what they’re doing. And I’m, personally, not one to look back very much, weirdly, about my own stuff. So she just started this conversation, and it was a very basic conversation, but it was like, “What’s your stuff about?” “It’s like: people, places, memory, and how we co-create each other, right?” And that’s what led me to, “Oh, well, there’s a line in one of my movies that just kind of says that.”

That line really came from the emotion of being a father to a kid, and kids are kind of constantly erasing their hard drive as you go, but for you it’s just so fucking important, you know—like, the whole line. So I feel like there’s a few different strands that keep recurring in all the films, and memory is obviously one of them. All the films are kind of based on memories. And to remember, to me, feels like this very sacred, anti-capitalist, truly, deeply compassionate activity that I treasure in ways that I don’t really totally understand, and it just kind of keeps recurring. Why that’s so important to me, why that’s so nutritive to me, why that feels so… healing, you know? Like, to tell someone, “I’ll remember that.” To me, that’s the best thing you can say, in some ways.

But there’s that, and then I do really feel like there’s this thing of intersubjective co-creation. You know? In a Judith Butler sense—“there’s no ‘I’ without a ‘you’” kind of thing. I feel like that’s equally what my films are about: how I find myself with you through you, through your reaction to me? And then you could also say the films are all about parent-children or children and parent, and that means family. But to me, family is much more than just your biological situation. It’s the weird constellations that happen. I think all the families in all my films are broken in some ways. 

Right.

What happens once it’s broken? There’s something improvised and healing that is still family but not biological, and that’s the terrain of all those films, in a weird way. 

I was reading the interview that you and Kim Hendrickson did in the booklet, which is a great one. And there was a quote that I found pertinent, which suggested a second meaning to the title “I’ll Remind You of Everything.” And I have to throw your words back to you, if you don’t mind. 

Yeah, yeah. [Laughs]

While talking about the video for “Psycho Killer” and I Am Easy to Find, you refer to “an impossible overarching structure—it says, ‘I’m going to show you a whole world,’ which is impossible, and there’s something exciting about that failure to me. I like breaking things down to their composite parts, applying a rigid, clarifying form to the chaos of life that reveals it can never be clarified.” Which feels like it’s getting at the thing about making a box set of your work: it’s a container, but you’ll never get all of it. I’ll remind you of everything, but it’s not like everything is actually going to be here. 

Yeah. Well, “I’ll remind you of everything”—when I hear that I’m like, “Well, that’s impossible.” You know? Like, there’s some kind of grandiosity and funniness to that, right? You can’t remind someone of everything. So I find there’s something kind of tragic, funny, bragging in a way that’s not… actually cool [Laughs] in that title. And then with a box set… yeah, I can’t even look at that question straight, like, in making it. Yeah, to make something like this, you have to kind of deny it’s happening the whole time. Because it’s a little too good, and also: how do you ever fucking possibly really do that? Like, sum yourself up? This is probably… I’m not going to get another Criterion box set, right? This is a summation of the whole thing. And you just can’t think like that. Or if I did, I would just stop; I would get broken. So I just live in sort of, like, compartmentalized denial about that. 

This set has an Air music video for “All I Need,” but there’s not, say, “Kelly Watch the Stars.” Then I think I got one second—I mean, one second—into the video for “All I Need” before going, “Oh, I get why this is here.” 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.

I wonder if the shorts included herein comprise an idea about a line between fiction and documentary, about depicting some kind of truth in this somewhat abstract, narrativized way. Is that the attraction to what exactly went into the set? 

Oh, that’s really interesting. That’s really funny. I just did a whole bunch of interviews; no one brought that up, and that’s really true. I always thought I was going to be a documentary filmmaker. Or, like, I was really into the Charles and Ray Eames films when I started. Because I came out of art school, didn’t go to film school, and I kind of bumped into Frederick Wiseman as a concept—like, as a conceptual artist, really. You can just reduce everything to the institutions that hold people, you know? And then I found the Eames films and I kind of loved the Sesame Street educational quality of them as, like, a counter-move to all the heavy-theory art-school stuff I was involved with. And when I started I loved Stephen Shore, William Eggleston. Those were really primary ways that I approached cinema, was those kinds of photographers.

And there’s this whole idea that part of your art or your craft or the joy or the pleasure of the image that you’re making is a sensitivity to what’s there and the randomness of it, and somehow making that holdable, or somehow capturing that, right? All my first filmmaking stuff… I’ve always loved not lighting things, natural light. Not blocking things too much; having a bit of unplanned, documentary-like quality to the filmmaking. And then the “All I Need” video was a really pivotal thing for me because it’s all that—it’s documentary, those are real kids, nothing is scripted—but then because it’s real and because I had a connection to those kids while I was filming them, and imbued the set and the filmmaking process with that connection, it had this emotionality that just came out of being present, you know? That taught me a whole lot, and that’s why I was like—you know, when Kim was talking about different videos—“That one is actually pivotal to me. Let’s put that one in.”

And all the way through there has been, like, a weird documentary—either through using historical elements, like artifacts or news, or using events or using Koyaanisqatsi or using a Jimmy Carter speech or using Howl or using the history of the rainbow flag. Either having actual, lived events or all the kids talking in C’mon, who are sort of like different forms of lived events that are outside of my authorship that I bring in. It’s not until I have that element in the script or in my idea of the film that the film sort of hits catalyst—the salt hits the cooking or whatever. It becomes like, “Oh, okay—that’s a film.” 

Beginners

You’re talking about these influences, the way things feed into and come out. Recently you did an interview with Joachim Trier for Criterion’s Sentimental Value disc. He wrote a really nice essay about you here, and there’s also an interview with Kirsten Johnson. Trier and Johnson are not two filmmakers I think of as synonymous with each other. And I don’t necessarily think of you as synonymous with them. We don’t have to try to dissect your commonalities, but: is there a commonality in your conversations with filmmakers? Are there things that you all find yourselves focusing on and thinking about when you’re together? 

Well, there is a weird commonality. I never thought of this. I mean, they’re just people I met through different, weird, random ways, and they don’t know each other that I know of. And I’m more like friend-of-friends with Joachim. But they’re very smart people [Laughs] who really come from an analytic, history-based approach to their mediums—like, they know everything—and they’re both very therapized, emotional people. Really, both their films are pretty damn like, “I want to get to the main line of an emotional situation here.” But they’re coming at it from a very learned, intelligent, observational, analytic, history-of-the-craft-based perspective.

So I feel like they actually do share… they would have a great time together talking, I feel like. And they have a lot of self-awareness of the medium and their participation in the medium. Kirsten’s thing that ended up being in C’mon C’mon about the camera person—her essay about all the different layers of complicitness, you know, in what you’re filming—that’s a conversation that Joachim could really have, you know? His would be a little bit more about his relationship to his personal history and the history of people around him, I think. But I feel like they’d be great at a dinner party together. 

Well, one man has the power to make that happen. 

[Laughs] I’ll work on that, yeah. 

Truth be told, I could ask you a thousand questions. Because the box set is so great and there’s so much more to say about it, I will ask selfishly—as it’s now been five years since your last feature—if you find yourself in the headspace, in the direction of a new film. Or are you working on something else altogether? 

Yeah, no, I’ve been working, and if all the universe holds together, I will be in prep in October. And I can’t say more—it hasn’t been announced and all that—but I finally got casting and I’m all set. I’ve also been working on a documentary about P-22, you know, the mountain lion that crossed Los Angeles undetected and lived in Griffith Park for years. 

Oh, wow. 

But I really, first and foremost, am a dad, and I have learned that my films—no matter how fucking hard I try—take five, six years. This one’s going to take a little bit more. I’ve tried to rush it—it just doesn’t work—and then I’m like, “I enjoy my life.” And if all holds up, I’ll make maybe seven movies by the time I’m done—this will be five—and once I learned that I’m like, “Well, why rush? I’m not having an idea; I’m forcing it. I can’t figure it out. That’s what the universe is offering.” Also: I’m a big Fellini head. Fellini’s like, “You don’t control your creative process.” It’s like this planet that you court, and if you’re lucky, it’ll come towards you, you know?

So those two things are part of an answer. And then I had a really hard time casting this film, which I hope to be doing in the fall. And I was like, “You know, I’m not finding the right person. So maybe I just won’t make this film from this script that I’ve been writing for three years. Because why? It’s too hard to make a movie. Like, why start off with a project that you feel is kind of not quite right?” 

Yeah, sure. 

So I really blew everyone’s mind when I just kept saying “no” [Laughs] to all these different offers. I was like, “This just isn’t quite right.” And back in the day—between Beginners and 20th and 20th and C’mon—I was like, “Oh, my God, I want to make a movie every three years! What the fuck is the matter? That’s my life.” But it just doesn’t work out that way. I work on the movie the whole time.

Yes, of course.

It’s not like I’m sitting poolside. It’s not like I’m traveling and just enjoying life. I do enjoy being a dad. I like taking my kid to school. I like picking them up. I like knowing everything that’s happening. So that does change your life if that’s your priority. 

It’s good that you enjoy being a dad. Some people, it seems, make movies because if they don’t, they’ll just wither and die. It’s good that you have something else. 

Being a dad is by far the best thing that’s happened to me—the most enjoyable, meaningful thing. The most anti-depressant thing.

Very last question I’ll ask you. This is a quick one. I just have to know: how often do you listen to the Air song “Mike Mills”? 

[Laughs] Never. So that song… I mean, I love the Air guys. I just saw Nicolas [Godin] in France. I love my relationship with them, my friendship with them, and all the things I did with them—so important to me and fun and just a huge part of my life. I was doing Thumbsucker. I said, “I want you guys to do the score” or, “I want you to be part of the score.” And it took so long to make Thumbsucker. It took so long to get finance. Like, no one in the world wanted to make that movie, and they don’t write a whole lot, so they’re like, “Well, we have this song that’s been hanging around forever. We’re just going to put it on our record.”

And then they thought it was so funny to call it “Mike Mills” because, as two fancy French guys, “Mike Mills” is such a weird name to them. So they thought it was pretty funny to name it that. And of all their music, it’s not one of my favorite songs at all. [Laughs] Of course it’s a huge honor, but like… we’re friends. My gratitude towards them is much deeper than that. It’s that we connected and that we’re friends and that we’re art friends and human friends, and that we had this experience of kind of coming up together. But I don’t find that song to be very me. And they’re like, “Oh, it’s so you.” [Laughs] And I’m like, “Okay. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But that’s… right? That’s so art. That’s just so “of course.” 

It’s art. It’s also your humility. If Air named a song after me, I would listen to it every day, no matter the quality.

[Laughs] Really? I don’t know. That’s funny. Every once in a while someone will show me the song, send it to me, go like, “Oh, my God, did you know this?” And not thinking it’s me. You know? And I’m like, “Yeah, no, I know about that, yeah.” [Laughs]

I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills is now available from Criterion.

A decade after 13th opened the New York Film Festival, Ava DuVernay’s follow-up documentary 14th will world premiere as the Closing Night selection of the 64th edition. The Netflix-backed feature will be making its world premiere at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, October 9, with DuVernay and film participants in attendance, Film at Lincoln Center announced today.

Here’s the synopsis: “Ten years ago, filmmaker Ava DuVernay released her epochal documentary 13th (NYFF54 Opening Night), which argued that loopholes in the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amendment—the abolition of slavery—led to today’s mass incarceration of Black Americans. That film was released on the eve of Donald Trump’s presidency; since then, an alarming number of our democratic norms and principles have eroded, further disenfranchising Black Americans. In response to our distressing new reality, DuVernay has created a thrillingly expansive sequel of sorts, which passionately and persuasively details how the tenets of the 14th Amendment, ratified post–Civil War, are now under systematic attack. Building her case with an extraordinary chorus of voices—including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), current Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), legal minds Sherrilyn Ifill, Robert Chang, and Stacey Abrams, and social commentators like Donald T. Critchlow and Hasan Piker—DuVernay demonstrates how the 14th Amendment’s foundational principles of birthright citizenship, due process, equal protection under the law, and the prohibition for heads of state to engage in acts of insurrection all have been challenged to a dangerous degree in recent years. Drawing a direct line from the Reconstruction era to today, DuVernay’s film is a tough-minded reckoning with our moment of crisis. A Netflix release.”

“Exactly a decade after 13th opened the New York Film Festival, it feels especially meaningful to return with 14th as the 2026 Closing Night Selection,” said DuVernay. “NYFF has always been a place where films invite conversation rather than simply applause. To that end, 14th attempts to interrogate a promise powerful enough to change a nation—and controversial enough to divide it for more than 150 years. There’s no better place to begin that conversation than NYFF. I’m grateful to Dennis Lim and team for believing in work that asks difficult questions, and I’m honored to share this film with New York audiences first. On behalf of everyone who worked to tell this story, we hope it leaves people debating, questioning, and, above all, imagining what is still possible.”

“We are honored to close this edition of the New York Film Festival with Ava DuVernay’s supremely timely follow-up to 13th,” said Dennis Lim, NYFF Artistic Director. “14th is a movie for the moment that sees through the fog of the present. The great gift of this urgent and essential work is its clarity: Ava has made a film that shows us precisely what led us here, and what is at stake right now.”

The 64th New York Film Festival, which opens with James Gray’s Paper Tiger, takes place September 25 through October 12, 2026 with passes on sale now.

As moments for holding your attention go, July 2026 is not making it easy. The first summer World Cup of the TikTok age, much to the awful delight of FIFA, is surely in the running for most-eyeballed event in human history, and with a certain Homeric epic currently commandeering the cinemagoing imagination, you’d be forgiven for not clocking that one of the world’s great film festivals had just held its 60th edition. 

The Karlovy Vary Film Festival began in earnest in 1946, just a few weeks after the first such shindig in Cannes. This year, it celebrates the big 60, having been a biennial event up until the 1990s. In that time, the Velvet Revolution came and went; the Soviet Union then swelled and collapsed, and the country in which this grand old festival was situated changed its name and parameters roughly three and a bit times. Lionel Messi might still be banging them in at 39, but the diminutive Argentine has a long way to go to match that kind of longevity and perseverance. 

To appropriately celebrate this milestone, the festival had been busy at work: adopting a bold-red color scheme on its merch and posters and drawing in an impressive roster of stars and familiar-looking critics. Film-wise, a one-off sidebar called 60/80 (a reference to the year’s edition and vintage) was introduced to offer an eclectic mix of favorites from over the years, including the lesser-seen Australian classic Captain Thunderbolt and Ken Loach’s Kes, two of the rare films from capitalist countries to screen at the festival during its time as a cultural arm of the USSR.

20 years from now, when it comes time to put together an 80/100, it’s difficult to say if any new film from this year’s crop will be up for consideration. If I had to guess, the most likely would be Miroslav Terzić’s 3 Weeks After—a memorable piece of work, if only in the same way that you might remember an ingrown toenail or a stomach ulcer. Indeed, 3 Weeks After is barely a film for the stout of heart, let alone the faint, but it certainly sticks with you—even if Justin Chang’s competition jury (which awarded the main prize to Aung Phyoe’s Fruit Gathering, a gorgeous-looking film from Myanmar that I thought was hampered by an erratic lead performance) apparently disagreed.

3 Weeks After premiere. Photo courtesy Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary.

The story follows a group of Serbian teenagers on a school trip that goes awry, forcing the group and their two hapless teachers to seek refuge in a remote hotel. Up to that point, Terzić’s film has been a powder keg of adolescent tension that only barely manages to stay dry in the film’s nerve-shredding opening act. Much of this takes place on the coach ride, where an insular young man named Zoza (Jovan Ginić) appears to be using every ounce of his being not to draw the attention of a rowdy group down the back. Things only get more daunting for him when, behind his teachers’ back, one of the girls manages to sneak a stowaway on board: a skinhead named Milos (Andrija Markovic) who is also Zoza’s chief tormentor.

No other film at Karlovy this year inspired quite so much chatter, with critics mostly split on its nihilism and cruelty. Terzić’s film isn’t subtle by any means, but I will say that it makes its point basically without showing a single frame of gratuity or violence. Naturally, you’re reminded of the recent Netflix sensation Adolescence (another product of what I’m starting to think of as Millennial Panic), but there’s just as much aesthetic DNA of Gus Van Sant’s Elephant or the work of Gaspar Noé here. The camera is forever stalking the characters or viewing them from afar, all the better to hammer home Tozkic’s helplessness in a world that no longer has the will or even the language to save him. It’s a ruthlessly provocative film about bullying, Balkan history, and maybe fascism, and one I’d cautiously recommend seeing.

Another is the Colombian film Five Years, Four Months—similar title, zero relation—which follows a bereaved mother’s attempts to locate the body of her disappeared son. This is a topic that’s inspired no shortage of stories in recent years (you’ll find variations on the theme in as far-flung places as Emilia Pérez, I’m Still Here and the TV show Say Nothing), but few have made their point with as much brevity, grace and creativity as directors Juan Miguel Gelacio and Esteban Hoyos García have managed here. This is a film about grieving, of course, but it’s just as much about community, solidarity and ghosts: a film in which tough setbacks are usually followed by acts of kindness, and where the sun is generally shining, regardless of the solemn mood. It’s 83 minutes long, yet it quickly locks you in and convincingly strings you along to one of the best denouements I’ve seen all year.

In the six years that I’ve come to the festival since 2018, I still find myself thinking about Radu Jude’s Crystal Globe winner from that year, We Will Not Go Down in History as Barbarians, a film that in one fell swoop changed Jude’s status from eccentric black sheep of the Romanian New Wave to perhaps the country’s most exciting filmmaker. Funnily enough, Jude appeared in the best film I saw in KVIFF this year, too: Arthur Harari’s The Unknown—in which Jude gives a pretty convincing performance as a bereaved father who enjoys quoting Marcus Aurelias. 

Much excellent work has been written on this fascinating film already (not least by my esteemed colleague Savina Petkova), but I will say that Harari’s precarious jettisoning of certain themes (the ones you would expect to find in a contemporary body switch fable) struck me as less a bug than a feature, resulting in a film that feels refreshingly light on its feet—one with less interest in subtext, perhaps, than cinematic texture and sensation. At its best, it’s a gripping film (dare I say shades of ‘90s Polanski) that offers ideas and visual flourishes at a rate you won’t find, I think, in any other film this year.

The Unknown

KVIFF did have one notable film that we didn’t manage to cover in Cannes this year: Emmanuel Marre’s A Man of His Time—a film about Vichy France that splits the difference between Armando Iannucci and The Zone of Interest. Swann Arlaud stars as the real-life Henri Marre, the director’s great-grandfather and a man whom the film positions as conceited and naive but not entirely despicable while showing him going about various tasks as a cog in the Ministry of Labour—up to and including signing the kinds of documents that landed hundreds of people on trains to the worst kinds of places. 

The director peppers his film with recurring anachronisms (ring lighting, ’80s synth music) that for some reason struck me as less redundant than the ones we’ve gotten used to in recent period pieces. Arlaud is also consistently excellent in a role that puts his natural likability to the test. With a busy script and 155 minutes to sit through, however, it’s a film that asks a lot of one’s time and attention, but the fact that Marre has chosen to explore a shameful part of his own family history in such a candid, curious and unvarnished way was enough to keep me intrigued. When Marre won Best Screenplay in Cannes this year, my suspicion was that the award was for having the “most” screenplay, but now I think the jury was right. 

Why Harari left empty-handed is less clear. At time of writing, The Unknown looks to me like the film of the year.

A highlight from last year’s New Directors/New Films, where it made a North American Premiere, Lorena Alvarado’s poetic debut feature Lost Chapters (Los capítulos perdidos) has been picked up by Several Futures for a release this week. The acclaimed Venezuelan film will open on Friday, July 24, with an exclusive engagement at the IFC Center in New York, followed by a rollout in select U.S. cities. Opening-weekend screenings at IFC Center will feature Q&As with filmmaker Lorena Alvarado, and a portion of the box-office proceeds will be donated to victims of the recent earthquakes in Venezuela. Ahead of its release, the new trailer has arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “Lost Chapters follows Ena, who returns home to Caracas after years spent living abroad. Upon her arrival, she finds herself caught between two worlds in transition: her grandmother is rapidly losing her memory, while her father spends his days searching for rare and forgotten Venezuelan books for his bookstore. Ena’s trajectory changes when she discovers a mysterious postcard hidden among the shelves, prompting her to embark on a journey through the city in search of a long-forgotten writer.”

See the trailer and poster below:

Premiering at last year’s Tribeca Festival to much acclaim, Paula González-Nasser’s debut The Scout follows a day in the life of an NYC location scout. With a cast featuring Mimi Davila, Rutanya Alda, Max Rosen, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Sarah Herrman, Alex Goldberg, Peter Mills Weiss, Jackson Devereux, Jesse Ruuttila, Lisa Haas, and Otmara Marrero, the film is now set for a release beginning at NYC’s Film Forum on September 25 and DTLA’s Alamo Drafthouse on October 2, followed by a nationwide rollout from Greenwich Entertainment. Ahead of this, the new trailer has arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “Sofia works as a location scout for a TV pilot filming in New York City. It’s her job to find the homes, businesses, and exteriors where the show will be filmed. Driving around the city’s different neighborhoods, she enters the private spaces of strangers to photograph their cozy apartments and eclectic shops, stepping into the fabric of their lives while trying to satisfy the demands of her erratic employers. Over a day filled with these encounters, Sofia witnesses moments of curiosity, vulnerability, and quiet tension until her work takes a sudden, personal turn. Drawing from her own experience as a location scout, writer-director Paula González-Nasser captures the poetry and costs of being a young creative. Her celebrated directorial debut THE SCOUT crafts a contemplative exploration of urban disconnection, following one woman’s journey through other people’s worlds as she struggles to find her own.”

Michael Frank said in his Tribeca review, “González-Nasser invites an openness from these characters, each given one scene with Sofia, to banter with her, make her uncomfortable, or some combination of the two. And the young location scout just takes it all in stride, as though she’s been in these situations countless times, as each apartment is a part of her job she doesn’t love, but also doesn’t mind. She might even relish it on one or two occasions, the opportunity to sit on someone’s couch and hear their story or to find a new hack to delete her mountain of parking tickets.”

See the trailer and poster below:

Madoka (Marika Itô) is a Shimokitazawa-based playwright putting the finishing touches on her latest work to be performed by her and Shiho’s (Riko Fujitani) troupe at the Good Heavens bar above a Chicago vintage clothing shop. Kazuma’s (Kai Inowaki) band in Sangenjaya is struggling to stay afloat with a lead guitarist (Shintaro Kanamaru’s Mikoshiba) who refuses to practice. Their ruts see both acting on a recommendation to watch a movie everyone says is great.

It’s an effective Hollywood-romantic-comedy premise ripe for a meet-cute wherein Madoka and Kazuma fatefully cross paths at the same film to find the epiphanies necessary to fix their troubles and, perhaps, find love. This isn’t Hollywood, though. And writer-director Makoto Ueda isn’t interested in clichéd convention. As in his scripts for Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and River, the Europe Kikaku founder hatches up another gimmick for his directorial debut.

The title says it all: You Are the Film. When Madoka sits down in the theater next to Good Heavens, she watches Kazuma as he remembers the previous night’s drinks at his band’s usual bar (also above a Chicago vintage clothing shop) before finding his own way to that same theater. When he sits, however, he doesn’t get to watch her intro as we did. How could he? The film had already begun. All Kazuma sees instead is Madoka staring back at him from the same seat.

Instead think “meet strange,” the two providing a good chunk of silence before Kazuma finally comments aloud that this film is boring. Madoka’s response? “That’s what I was going to say.” In great comedic fashion, neither questions the absurdity of this impossible conversation; they’re too busy growing frustrated with the other for not living up to the promise of an interesting story sold to them. Cue the inevitable conflict.

Madoka’s bombshell discovery is that her actors (Oshiro Maeda’s Kanbayashi and Hinako Kikuchi’s Yuna) are quitting. Kazuma’s is an accusation from two gangsters: Mikoshiba stole money from them and he’s on the hook for it if he can’t find him to bring to justice. Neither knows what to do about their problem, but both do wonder if the other might be able to help. Because if they are actually in a movie, perhaps the camera has captured footage they haven’t seen.

Ueda has thus left the time loop behind to play with mechanics of the medium itself. Sure, there’s some multiverse theatrics with Madoka and Kazuma existing in the same place yet not. And there’s a meta “repairman,” à la Don Knotts in Pleasantville, trying to fix the anomaly while asking that neither filmgoer-star deviates from their respective scripts (gleaned from pamphlet synopses). But the real draw is how each uses film language to uncover secrets.

Because they see what we do: flashbacks; lingering closeups; cutaways. Kazuma doesn’t know where Mikoshiba went, but Madoka does. Madoka doesn’t know how both her lead actors would be quitting at the same time for different reasons, but Kazuma has an inkling. So they decide to help the other out and confront their drama directly, with the confidence to lay their cards on the table and give their dreams one last go.

While You Are the Film is only 68 minutes, you might wonder how it isn’t shorter—most chaos seems solved pretty early. Don’t fret, though: Ueda hasn’t concocted this science fiction conceit just for his lead characters to deal with simple problems like ulterior motives and conflicting ambitions. While you can probably guess how Kazuma’s tale will snowball into insanity, I’ll let the bonkers reveal in Madoka’s story speak for itself.

The result turns into a fun little romp, the film adding more layers without ever leaning towards a cop-out reset. There’s no snap of the fingers to wake everyone back up, and any solution to Madoka and Kazuma’s dilemma doesn’t mean the other characters aren’t still trapped in the artifice of the anomaly. The film doesn’t just end if its leads find an escape hatch. Supporting players must simply take up the mantle left behind for themselves.

Itô and Inowaki are super-endearing as our protagonists. Their angry rapport when confronted with an implausible “trick.” Their desperation upon realizing this wild situation was real. Their incredulity once their trajectories take left turns into pure cinematic excess. Both are forced into experiencing what it truly means to be the “star of their own lives” before discovering it’s not all it’s cracked up to be once rewrites go off the rails. It’s much safer to just watch.

You Are the Film screened at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Ahead of the Toronto International Film Festival running its 51st edition from September 10—20, they’ve now unveiled a first wave of features with its Gala, Special Presentations, and Platform programs.

This year’s sections feature films from nearly 30 countries, with work by Pedro Almodóvar, Danny Boyle, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Lee Chang-dong, Jesse Eisenberg, Gael García Bernal, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Mike Leigh, John Madden, Rachel Morrison, Cristian Mungiu, Chris Rock, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Florian Zeller, Andrey Zvyagintsev, and more.

Explore the lineup below.

2026 Gala Presentations (in alphabetical order):

*previously announced

A Talent for Murder | Anton Corbijn | United Kingdom, Italy
World Premiere

All About Corinne | Marc Fitoussi | France
North American Premiere

Always Lalisa | Sue Kim | USA
World Premiere

Atonement | Reed Van Dyk | USA
North American Premiere

Babies | Lauren Miller Rogen | USA
World Premiere

*Being Heumann | Siân Heder | USA
World Premiere
Opening Night Film

Bunker | Florian Zeller | France, Spain
North American Premiere

Diary of a Mad Old Man | Wayne Wang | USA
World Premiere

Evil Genius | Courteney Cox | USA
World Premiere

Girl Group | Rebel Wilson | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story | Adrian Buitenhuis | Canada
World Premiere

Misty Green | Chris Rock | USA
World Premiere

Onwards and Sideways | John Madden | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Pretenders | Joss Crowley | United Kingdom
World Premiere

*Prima Facie | Susanna White | Australia, United Kingdom
World Premiere

Run Terry Run | Sean Menard | Canada

Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor | Nguyen Phan Quang Binh | Vietnam
International Premiere

Tenzing | Jennifer Peedom | USA, Australia
Canadian Premiere

*The Assassin(s) | Hur Jin-ho | South Korea
World Premiere

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd | Tim Blake Nelson | USA
World Premiere

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York | Noah Segan | USA
Canadian Premiere

Up Against It | Trudie Styler | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend | Yan Lanouette Turgeon | Canada
World Premiere
Closing Night Film

2026 Special Presentations (in alphabetical order):

*previously announced

A Long Winter | Andrew Haigh | Canada, United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

All of a Sudden | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | France, Japan, Germany, Belgium
North American Premiere

All That She Wants | Scarlett Bermingham, Andrew Rhymer | USA, Canada
World Premiere

*Alpha Gang | David Zellner, Nathan Zellner | USA
International Premiere

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo | Takashi Miike | USA, United Kingdom, Japan
World Premiere

Bitter Christmas | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain
North American Premiere

Clarissa | Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri | Nigeria, USA
North American Premiere

Club Kid | Jordan Firstman | USA
Canadian Premiere

Coward | Lukas Dhont | Belgium
North American Premiere

Elsinore | Simon Stone | United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

Everest: The Other Side | Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | USA
Canadian Premiere

Everybody Wants To F*** Me | Jonathan Schey | United Kingdom, France, USA
World Premiere

Faith | Paul Andrew Williams | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Fjord | Cristian Mungiu | Romania, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark
Canadian Premiere

Gentle Monster | Marie Kreutzer | Austria
Canadian Premiere

*Glaxo | Benjamín Naishtat | Argentina, Brazil
World Premiere

Growth of the Soil | Hans Petter Moland | Norway
World Premiere

Happily Ever After | Feng-I Fiona Roan | Taiwan
World Premiere

Hombre al agua | Gael García Bernal | Mexico
North American Premiere

I Play Rocky | Peter Farrelly | USA
World Premiere

In Alaska | Jaap van Heusden, Vinnie Karetak | Netherlands, Canada
World Premiere

Ink | Danny Boyle | United Kingdom, France, USA
Canadian Premiere

Josephine | Beth de Araújo | USA
Canadian Premiere

La Bola Negra | Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi | Spain, France
Canadian Premiere

Le Faux Soir | Michaël R. Roskam | Belgium, France
World Premiere

Look Back | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan
North American Premiere

*Love of Your Life | Rachel Morrison | USA
World Premiere

Minotaur | Andrey Zvyagintsev | France, Germany, Latvia
Canadian Premiere

Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? | Shinya Tsukamoto | Japan
North American Premiere

Paradise Lost | Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea
World Premiere

Phoolan | Richie Mehta | India
World Premiere

Possible Love | Lee Chang-dong | South Korea
North American Premiere

Tender Loving Care | Mike Leigh | United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

The Age of Goodbyes | Edmund Yeo | Taiwan, Malaysia
World Premiere

The Beloved | Rodrigo Sorogoyen | Spain
North American Premiere

The Debut | Jesse Eisenberg | USA
International Premiere

*The Housewife | Ben Shirinian | USA
World Premiere

The Julia Set | Niki Byrne | USA
World Premiere

The Man I Love | Ira Sachs | USA
North American Premiere

The Stunt Driver | Michael Dowse | Canada
World Premiere

The Unknown | Arthur Harari | France
North American Premiere

Whatcha Want | Mina Shum | Canada
World Premiere

*Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother | Bassam Tariq | USA
World Premiere

2026 Platform programme (in alphabetical order):

Angh | Theja Rio | India
World Premiere

Set in the remote jungles of Nagaland near the Indo–Burma border in the early 1960s and shot in richly textured 16mm, Angh follows Anghba, the last surviving chief of an abandoned Indigenous Naga village, who lives in isolation with his ailing wife and mute young son after being deserted by his people.

Rio is a London-based writer and director from Nagaland, India. He wrote and directed the short films Checkpost (2018), Angh (2021), Remains (2024), and Ade (On a Sunday) (2024). Angh is his feature directorial debut and an expansion of his short by the same name.

Brace Your Heart | Amanda Kernell | Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria
World Premiere

Kernell’s luminous third drama is a quietly devastating portrait of love, resilience, and the enduring strength of Sámi women.

Kernell was born in Umeå, Sweden, to a Sámi father and Swedish mother. She holds a degree from the National Film School of Denmark. Her directorial credits include the short film Stoerre Vaerie (Northern Great Mountain) (2015) and the features Sami Blood (2016), which played the Festival, and Charter (2020).

Children Untold | Miwa Nishikawa | Japan
World Premiere
Opening film

A longtime collaborator of Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nishikawa adapted Children Untold from her own unpublished novel. It follows a 12-year-old girl who disguises herself as a boy to survive in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Tokyo. Featuring Ami Koyae, Fumi Nikaido, and Koji Yakusho.

Nishikawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. Her writing and directing credits include the feature films Wild Berries (2003), Dear Doctor (2009), and the Festival Official Selections Dreams for Sale (2012) and Under the Open Sky (2020).

Djinn Wedding | Ferit Karahan | Turkey
World Premiere

Set in a remote Anatolian village, Karahan’s Djinn Wedding is an impressive family drama that unravels family secrets and conflicts across three periods of time. Carried by a supreme cast including Demet Özdemir, Kaan Yildirim, İlhan Şen, and Sarp Bozkurt, the film swings between belief, hope, and dissolution.

Karahan was born in Muş, Turkey. His writing and directing credits include The Fall from Heaven (2013), Brother’s Keeper (2021), which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale, and The Death of Black Horses (2025).

Idda | Irene Dionisio | Italy
World Premiere

This is Dionisio’s sophomore feature, which she co-penned alongside Marco Borromei. Idda takes an epic approach to unearthing the packed layers of a stewing friendship. When childhood friends Adele and Sofia reunite to fulfill the broken promise of climbing Mount Etna, they realize that like the mountain, old wounds loom over everything.

Dionisio was born in Torino, Italy. She is a filmmaker and visual artist whose credits include the short films Le storie che saremo (2020) and Murmur (2025). Her feature-length films include the documentaries The factory is full (2012) and Shores (2015), and the fictional feature Pawn Street (2017).

In the Heart of the South | Nyla Innuksuk | Canada
World Premiere

A surprising and exciting swerve away from Innuksuk’s 2022 debut feature Slash/Back. In the Heart of the South is what Single White Female would be if it were set in Toronto, with an Inuk protagonist and a dash of supernatural elements, starring North of North’s Anna Lambe as Yura Ivalu, the latest darling of the Toronto art world, whose virtual reality piece promises to blow your mind.

Innuksuk was born in Igloolik, Nunavut, and studied film at Toronto Metropolitan University. She co-wrote and co-produced the short film Kajutaijuq (2015), which screened at the Festival and was named to Canada’s Top Ten. Her other directorial credits include the short film Breaths (2016) and debut feature Slash/Back (2022).

Masc | Bertil Nilsson | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Nilsson’s debut feature is a tender, unflinching portrait of self-performance, identity, and learning to exist as oneself in an often prescriptive world. The film draws on the filmmaker’s experiences as a neurodivergent gay man navigating the contradictory demands of masculinity.

Nilsson is an award-winning Swedish artist and filmmaker based in London. He has directed numerous short films, including Repair (2023) and Alfie’s Island (2023), and has exhibited internationally with solo shows in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA.

On Behalf of My Son | Gabriel Martins | Brazil
World Premiere

Anchored by a deeply affecting performance from Rejane Faria, Martins’ moving drama follows a grieving mother seeking forgiveness from the families of a tragic bus accident, unfolding as a profoundly humane meditation on guilt and whether forgiveness is even possible.

Martins is a Brazilian writer-director and co-founder of Filmes de Plástico. His debut feature Mars One (2022) was Brazil’s selection for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards. He also directed the shorts Nada (2017), In the Heart of the World (2019), and Pelas Mãos (2021).

Silenced Nights | Lawrence Fajardo | Philippines
World Premiere

For some, staying silent is the only way to survive. Fajardo’s bleak sociopolitical drama Silenced Nights follows a witness to an extrajudicial killing in a Philippines slum as he seeks to make the truth known. The film takes a raw cinema verité approach and echoes the director’s previous works, including The Hearing.

Fajardo is a Filipino director from Bacolod City in the Philippines. His writing and directing credits include Amok (2011), Posas (2012), and Invisible (2015), which screened at the Festival.

The Smell of Apples | John Trengove | South Africa, Netherlands, Chile
World Premiere

In Trengove’s relentless third feature, a sheltered 11-year-old white South African boy gradually comes to realise the horrors of the apartheid system. Adapted from South African writer Mark Behr’s 1993 bestselling novel of the same name.

Trengove is an award-winning South African writer and director who holds an MFA from New York University. His features include The Wound (2017), which was South Africa’s selection for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, and Manodrome (2023).

The World Before | Yoon Dan-bi | South Korea
World Premiere

In her second narrative feature, Dan-bi (Moving On) turns her attention from childhood to adolescence with a tender, sharply observed portrait of first love and growing up. This coming-of-age story follows two teenagers, childhood best friends, who reunite for a summer on a small rural island in Korea.

Dan-bi is a South Korean filmmaker who holds a BFA in Theatre and Film from Kookmin University. Her film credits include the short film Fireworks (2015) and the feature film Moving On (2019), which debuted in Busan and won the NETPAC and DGK Awards.

Wild Wild East | Jan Holoubek | Poland
World Premiere

Set in occupied Poland in the middle of the Second World War, Holoubek’s tour de force is part suspenseful western, part gritty wartime noir.

Holoubek was born in Warsaw, Poland. His directing credits include the series The Mire (2018–2024) and High Water (2024), as well as the feature 25 Years of Innocence (2020).

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 10–20, 2026. The inaugural edition of TIFF: The Market takes place the first week of Festival, September 10–16, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

What if two members of Baltimore’s Wham City Comedy took drugs and time traveled to the lo-fi, experimental underground cinematic heyday of Maya Deren to craft a surreally and absurdly bonkers riff on the Ship of Theseus paradox, wherein a sad sack snaps after his girlfriend dumps him because he realizes he cannot escape the self-destructive patterns that have ruled his entire life—not even after he’s been reinvented as a hypnotically gyrating fiend?

The answer is Robby Rackleff (who also writes and edits) and Alan Resnick’s (who also shoots, edits, and provides special effects alongside Eris Deo) Dance Freak. It’s 100 minutes of pure irreverent nonsense in a gorgeous visual package that utilizes what appears to be old-school compositing, direct animation, and trippy transitions to augment some gnarly distortions, repurposed glue guns, and an out-of-body skin suit that’s as much a prison as it is a home.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say those hundred minutes felt like a thousand with the strobing and prolonged gags causing patience to wane. If someone were to nod off, you wouldn’t be missing much during those lapses—there’s rarely anything important going on. Not when the dialogue feels ripped from cringe comedy skits, with characters fawning over a political candidate, professing posthumous love for a mentor, and vicariously enjoying someone else’s old game show appearance.

We meet Obie (Rackleff) as he stumbles through a birdhouse hobbyist lesson before racing across town for his date with Dorty (Megan Koester). We learn a bit about his abandonment issues and desire to force joy into his life through the comfort of routine rather than fun via a dream-like collage of memories before seeing how overcome by fear he is upon being cornered by some of this rapidly disintegrating town’s more unsavory characters.

It’s a who’s-who of alt-comedy faces, whether Bad Prostitute (Jury Duty: Company Retreat‘s Rachel Kaly) and her Upset Man pimp (Never Change!‘s Nate Varrone) or a trio of Salad Boys that includes Saturday Night Live‘s Sarah Sherman. They hassle Obie until he’s even more despondent and perfectly primed to endure Dorty’s “let’s still be friends” speech that inexplicably brings the titular Dance Freak (also Rackleff) into the fold.

His moves are mesmerizing. It’s like Elaine Benes if her constantly flailing appendages put you in a trance rather than a state of revulsion. He not only does it because he loves music, but because the effect makes it easier to kill his prey. Whether it’s the dance itself that melts their insides or a product of him bashing their faces in (depending on your interpretation of onscreen “reality”), this monster’s connection to Obie is unavoidable.

Enter the cops (David Rhodus’ Det. Arsonist and Jamel Johnson’s Det. Gittit), a sympathetic scientist (Sheila Mears’ Dr. Dilly Gorgul, a name you can’t forget since the filmmakers decide to superimpose it onto the proceedings three separate times despite never putting anyone else’s name up), and a belligerent boss (Stavros Halkias’ Megaman) for Obie to contend with and Dance Freak to target. Are they the same person or doppelgängers? Why not both?

Rackleff and Resnick are moving to the beat of their own drum en route to simultaneously homage avant-garde cinema and send it up. Because while the plot is insane and the characters veritable cartoons, there is a real emotional through line for Obie’s journey towards understanding who he is and what he has to offer his loved ones—even if the best thing he can do for them is erase himself from this world.

But wait. I thought this whole thing was a science experiment gone wrong? You know, parallel dimensions and whatnot? (This phrase is always hilariously responded to with silence before conversation recommences as though it was never uttered.) Sure, I guess you could buy that. I guess Gorgul might be a key component to the story and not just another piece of the puzzle to help Obie see beyond the “nice guy” persona he so fervently implores others to believe. Why not?

The whole thing was apparently crowdfunded three-and-a-half years ago (the list of names is as disorienting as the film, with some being repeated five times in a row) and shot on a $40,000 budget with twice as many pick-up days as the actual shoot. All that time might not have conjured comprehension, but it absolutely facilitated an awesome aesthetic. Would I watch it again? No. Should you watch it once? As long as you’re prepared to wonder whether you’ve had a stroke.

Dance Freak screened at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Criterion Channel’s mass-addition of restorations marked a watershed moment for Hong Kong cinema’s exposure in the United States, but—as with seemingly all else in cinema—there’s always more. Beefing up their collection of Ringo Lam films, then, is an August-bound series that includes the previously programmed City on Fire, Prison on Fire, Prison on Fire II, and School on Fire (arguably his masterpiece) with Wild Search, Victim, and Full Alert, probably the definitive action film about the 1997 handover. Further in the month’s directorial retrospectives are two films by Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA and American Dream), an eleven-feature set on the perpetually underrated Julien Duvivier, and three shorts by Neo Sora. Highlighting another artist, albeit one who never stepped behind the camera, is the succinctly titled James Baldwin On-Screen: I Heard It Through the Grapevine, James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket, and three shorts.

For themed series, the also-succinct Rock Biopics That Don’t Suck, curated by Bandsplain‘s Yasi Salek, features some of the genre’s best-known least-shamefuls (I’m Not There, Velvet Goldmine, 24 Hour Party People, Control); I’ll make a special recommendation for The Hours and Times, which I suspect captures John Lennon better than any of Sam Mendes’ four upcoming biopics. Pairing nicely (as far as sweat and sexual tension go) are Desert Trips and Southern Gothic: the former is most exciting for giving a streaming platform to Antonioni’s perpetually underrated Zabriskie Point, the latter is a good opportunity to discover Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll, and both feature Wild at Heart. In the meantime, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have curated their own Adventures in Moviegoing.

August’s Criterion Editions are Med Hondo’s West Indies, Nagisa Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth, Luis Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire, Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, Kasi Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou, and Douglas Sirk’s Written on the Wind; no less notable is the out-of-print Carrie Criterion arriving alongside. For recent films making streaming debuts, there’s the magnificent Blue Heron, Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), and Cactus Pears, while a restoration of I Heard It Through the Grapevine is joined by Ebrahim Golestan’s Brick and Mirror and three anthology features (Quartet, Trio, Encore) adapting W. Somerset Maugham. Finally, a special notice to George Armitage’s Miami Blues, a film whose profile has risen in recent years but is still not high enough.

See the full lineup below and more at the Criterion Channel:

24 Hour Party People, Michael Winterbottom, 2002

Amadeus, Miloš Forman, 1984

American Dream, Barbara Kopple, 1990

The American Ruling Class, John Kirby, 2005

Baby Doll, Elia Kazan, 1956

The Beguiled, Don Siegel, 1971*

Brick and Mirror, Ebrahim Golestan, 1965

The Buddy Holly Story, Steve Rash, 1978

Cactus Pears, Rohan Kanawade, 2025

Cape Fear, J. Lee Thompson, 1962*

Cape Fear, Martin Scorsese, 1991*

Carrie, Brian De Palma, 1976

The Chicken, Neo Sora, 2020

Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements, Gorman Bechard, 2011

Control, Anton Corbijn, 2007

Dream Lover, Nicholas Kazan, 1993

Encore, Pat Jackson, Anthony Pelissier, and Harold French, 1951

Eve’s Bayou, Kasi Lemmons, 1997

La fête à Henriette, 1952

Full Alert, Ringo Lam, 1997

The Hours and Times, Christopher Munch, 1992

I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Pat Hartley and Dick Fontaine, 1982

I’m Not There, Todd Haynes, 2007

James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket, Karen Thorsen, 1989

Lisztomania, Ken Russell, 1975

The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman, 1973

Love & Mercy, Bill Pohlad, 2015

Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), Joel Alfonso Vargas, 2025

Miami Blues, George Armitage, 1990

Nico, 1988, Susanna Nicchiarelli, 2017*

The Night of the Hunter, Charles Laughton, 1955

Nowhere Boy, Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2009*

The Paperboy, Lee Daniels, 2012*

Quartet, Ken Annakin, Arthur Crabtree, Harold French, and Ralph Smart, 1948

Rockers, Theodoros Bafaloukos, 1978

The Runaways, Floria Sigismondi, 2010*

Sugar Glass Bottle, Neo Sora, 2022

That Obscure Object of Desire, Luis Buñuel, 1977

Through the Night, Loira Limbal, 2020

Trio, Ken Annakin and Harold French, 1950

Velvet Goldmine, Todd Haynes, 1998

A Very Straight Neck, Neo Sora, 2025

Victim, Ringo Lam, 1999

Wild Search, Ringo Lam, 1989

Zabriskie Point, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970

*Available in the U.S. only

Janus Films has acquired the 4K restoration of René Laloux’s final feature, Gandahar—a notable-enough effort in micro, and more significant for the distributor now possessing rights to all three of the visionary Frenchman’s features. Unfair though it is to set expectations, one can hope for a Criterion set comprising Fantastic Planet, The Time Masters, and this lesser-seen curtain call, known (if at all) stateside for a bowdlerized, Harvey Weinstein-directed English-language dub translated by Isaac Asimov. The less said about that, the better when Janus will begin rolling out the original, uncut French edition on August 28 at New York’s IFC Center, and with which comes a new trailer and poster.

Here’s the official synopsis: “An entire civilization must confront its destiny in alternative-animation pioneer René Laloux’s final feature, a cult classic of mind-bending science fiction. In a distant world, a merciless army of automata attacks Gandahar, turning its peace-loving people to stone. Hoping to discover the source of these Men of Metal, a council of matriarchs enlists the brave yet inexperienced warrior Sylvain (Pierre-Marie Escourro), who, while journeying through his planet’s outer regions, teams up with the Deformed, a race cast out from Gandahar after failed science experiments rendered them mutants. Soon, Sylvain learns that a gargantuan brain called Metamorphis (Georges Wilson) is responsible for his utopian society’s strife and—together with the beautiful Airelle (Catherine Chevallier)—travels through time to defeat him, in the process risking their lives and Gandahar’s very existence. Featuring stunningly surreal creatures and wondrously bizarre environments designed by renowned comic-book artist Caza, Gandahar is a visceral, visionary head-trip in which animation opens a gateway to the furthest reaches of the imagination.”

Find preview and poster below:

We’re delighted to exclusively announce the lineup for the 28th annual Sidewalk Film Festival, taking place in Birmingham, Alabama, from August 24-30. Set to open with John Wilson’s feature debut The History of Concrete and close with Kenya-Jade Pinto’s The Sandbox, the lineup also features Tamra Davis’ The Best Summer, Maya Annik Bedward’s Black Zombie, Nico Lopez-Alegría and ZZ’s Earth to Michael, Rustin Thompson’s The Last Picture Shows, Andrew H. Brown and Bea Wangondu’s Kikuyu Land, Rob Rice’s Ponderosa, a 100th-anniversary screening of Buster Keaton’s The General with a live score, and much more.

This year, Spotlight attractions occur during the week (including an Animation Masterclass by the legendary Bill Plympton), leading up to a weekend filled with film premieres, encores, and parties. Eleven walkable venues will connect the 15,000 attendees and filmmakers to more than 250 screenings, panels, and special events happening throughout Downtown Birmingham’s Historic Theatre District.

You can get tickets here and view the lineup below.

The History of Concrete (Opening Night Film)

Directed by: John Wilson | Country: USA

The hilarious directorial debut from John Wilson follows our eponymous hero on a journey through a Hallmark writing class, to filming New York potholes, to visiting the oldest street in America on a mission to know more about concrete. From Vimeo Staff Picks to HBO’s How To with John Wilson, we now find John documenting mysterious characters and urban locations (as only he can) to help us uncover more clues to one of life’s great mysteries.

A Mess of Memories

Directed by: Ebony Blanding | Country: USA

Siblings who’ve drifted apart are brought together in an effort to prevent the eviction of their mother from their family home due to her obsessive hoarding. As they deal with the physical mess, they are forced to confront their own issues on a journey of reconciliation and healing.

A Woman’s Work

Directed by: A.R. Ephraim | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

A remarkable story of an Appalachian community. A Woman’s Work shares the natural beauty of the region while focusing on the hard-working people and their daily struggles. A stirring portrayal of a female coal miner working to support her sisters while dreaming of a life with her secret girlfriend. This film truly makes you feel for these characters and the beauty and sadness of their daily lives.

Adam’s Apple

Directed by: Amy Jenkins | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

A transgender teen and his family document the two-decade transitioning process with care and honesty. A counterpoint to the hostility often shown towards those in transition, this film shows the family and the thoughtful way they communicate their needs and their love of one another.

Admission Possible

Directed by: Bowie Alexander and Matthew Syrett | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Tender, urgent, and hopeful, Admission Possible follows seven New York City high school seniors applying to college as first generation students. Guided by their determined and caring college admissions counselor, they grapple with the complex cultural, social, and political factors influencing higher education today. Debates over testing, legacies, and family loyalty muddy the waters of their decisions.

All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea

Directed by: Jeanie Finlay | Country: UK | Premiere: US Premiere

For centuries, Stan Rennie’s family has worked the same stretch of coastline in northeast England. When a tide of poisoned crabs and lobsters washes up like a biblical plague, all signs point to an industrial development along the River Tees that empties into the once-teeming waters. Stan becomes a reluctant spokesman for his community, with a cool head and a heart of rage.

Amazing Live Sea Monkeys

Directed by: Aaron Schock and Mark Becker | Country: USA

In a David-and-Goliath fight over one of the world’s most recognizable toys, the widow of the Sea-Monkeys creator battles for control of her husband’s legacy. What starts as a quarrel over quality control uncovers an unexpected history and the troubling affiliations buried beneath the packet of instant pets.

The Ark

Directed by: Viacheslav Rakovskyi and Jeremy Chilnick | Country: USA

A film that shows love and kindness in action for animals displaced by the Ukrainian War with Russia. It starts with one soldier heading to war asking his friends to take in his 37 goats. They do and their home quickly becomes a refuge for hundreds of animals in need. Their home opens up to include cows, sheep, pigs, peacocks, even a crocodile and a sweet donkey.

As Goes the South

Directed by: Brian “B+” Cross and Eric Coleman | Country: USA

As a means to reframe outdated half-truths, this vibrant narrative illustrates a new chapter of Birmingham’s legacy. This story aims to linger beyond our stained reputation by highlighting the people and places that embody the essence of what makes this city “Magic.”

The Best Summer

Directed by: Tamra Davis | Country: USA

Evacuating the 2025 California wildfires, director Tamra Davis unearthed long-lost tapes from 1995, featuring concert footage and backstage interviews she had shot of the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Bikini Kill, and many others. This time capsule offers a rare glimpse of bands on the edge of fame.

Beyond The Vote

Directed by: Marshall “P” Pollard | Country: USA | Premiere: World Premiere

A story about what freedom could look like–beyond the vote: 145 relational organizers mobilize millions of Black voters in Eastern North Carolina, reclaiming “woke” as a call to action to build lasting community power.

Birmingham’s Front Lawn

Directed by: Michele Forman | Country: USA

Birmingham’s Front Lawn explores the creation of Railroad Park in the heart of Downtown Birmingham. Watch as the park, which has become an integral part of life downtown, transforms from unassuming acreage to a lush urban green space and hear from the park’s champions who turned their dream into a reality in order to uplift Birmingham.

The Birds Tell Me All There is to Know

Directed by: Aidan Cronin | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

An older man with dementia befriends a grieving young woman as their lives intersect in unexpected ways. While both are overwhelmed with relationships past and present, their lives in upstate New York reflect each others’ struggles with loss, ennui, and acceptance. Through the hypnotic visual texture found in Video8 footage and starring members of his own family, this ambient meditation on life and its universal anxieties sees director Aidan Cronin arriving at his debut feature with an original filmmaking language all his own.

Black Zombie

Directed by: Maya Annik Bedward | Country: Canada/USA

One of cinema’s greatest subgenres also has one of its most complex histories: the origin of the Zombie. Through the lens of cinema history, this doc chronicles the advent of the horror trope from spiritual Haitian Vodou rituals through the evolution of contemporary Hollywood horror. The film dispels rumors and attaches significance to the entity of the walking dead.

Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu

Directed by: Michael LaHaie | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

“Hey everybody, it’s Bob and David!” From Mr. Show to movie and TV stardom, witness two legendary comedians risk their lives, careers, and friendship to hike one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Will they survive? Will they achieve clarity? Will they argue over bedding? Yonder lies adventure!

The Bulldogs

Directed by: Noah Dixon and Ori Segev | Country: USA

After being forced to evacuate after a train carrying carcinogenic chemicals derails in the small community of East Palestine, Ohio, community members return to their homes with lingering doubts and questions about what their already struggling community will be like.

Clovers

Directed by: Jacob Hatley and Tom Vickers | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Glimpse into the lives of several regulars of Clovers, a strip-mall casino in Asheboro, North Carolina. The film follows a community grappling with their material conditions and the hope for a better future. With an incredibly honest portrayal of its subjects, the film presents a judgment-free, nuanced exploration of family, community, and the enduring pursuit of an ever-unreachable American Dream.

Clutch Gang

Directed by: Daniel Jarvis and John Kassab | Country: Australia, USA | Premiere: World Premiere

The film follows Compton’s Clutch Gang mini-bike club after the death of their beloved leader in an illegal street race. Left fractured and grieving, the group’s unlikely hope rests with the club’s homeless black sheep, who must step forward if they are to stay together and compete in the GTS — the biggest mini-bike tournament of the year.

Cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood

Directed by: Yukimitsu Ina | Country: Japan

The debut feature from Yukimitsu Ina, Cocoon combines the gracefulness of Miyazaki animation with the emotional impact of Grave of the Fireflies. War rages in Japan, and even children can’t escape it. When friends San and Mayu are forced into a war zone, their loyalties to one another are tested.

Crime & Parody

Directed by: Will Thwaites | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

When an Ohio man builds a fake Facebook profile mocking his local police department, the joke lands him in real legal trouble, escalating to the Supreme Court. To his rescue comes The Onion, a group familiar with parody, resulting in a legal brief so ridiculous that it became a legend.

Demonwarp

Directed by: Emmett Alston | Country: USA

TVs of Terror RETURNS to Sidewalk Film Festival with a wild lost video store artifact – DEMONWARP! A group of teens embark on what’s supposed to be a cozy woodland retreat, but after being warned off by an unsettling local, they’re besieged by a bloodthirsty Sasquatch. And it only gets weirder from there! Buckle up for the ride of the summer (of 1988) as Sidewalk and TVs of Terror join forces for a truly nutty night at the movies!

Don’t Come Upstairs

Directed by: Mike Lobel | Country: Canada | Premiere: US Premiere

Mike Lobel of Degrassi: The Next Generation fame makes his directorial debut with this true crime tale about his own family. Lobel sets out to uncover the truth about his father that his parents kept hidden for 35 years. During his entire childhood, Lobel’s family had two major rules: Don’t ask what Dad does for a living and never go upstairs when he’s working.

Earth to Michael

Directed by: Nico Lopez-Alegría and ZZ | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

For those who couldn’t get enough of the successful Artemis II mission, comes a space documentary unlike any other. Director Nico Lopez-Algeria invites us along on a deeply personal journey and a look behind the curtain of what families of career astronauts experience when their loved ones dedicate their lives to space exploration.

Echoes of the Forks of Cypress

Directed by: Frederick DeShon Murphy | Country: USA

Film director, Sidewalk alum and mental health therapist Frederick DeShon Murphy brings together families of both the enslavers and enslaved connected to the Forks of Cypress plantation in Florence, AL, to share their deeply personal histories and to create an opportunity for community and reconciliation.

Fork in the Road

Directed by: Jonathan Nastasi and Vivian Sorenson | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Come along with Nick Offerman as he visits farms, gardens, and fisheries across the United States to engage with those who work daily to keep fresh food on our tables. With an affable spirit and an intelligent eye, the benefits and innovations of independent farming are contrasted with the inherent perils of mass-produced, ultra-processed foods in a palatable, easy-to-digest manner, serving as a call to action as well as an appreciation of the best versions of the salad or burger on your dinner plate.

Frogtown

Directed by: Costa Karalis | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

How powerful is childhood imagination? Costa Karlalis’ Frogtown draws us into a world where myth is reality. Set in a small Southern town, this feature reminds us about the art of collective dreaming. In this film, you’ll see complex family dynamics along with a reverence for the mystery of the natural world. Suspend your disbelief and amplify the amphibian!

Game

Directed by: John Minton | Country: UK

Produced and co-written by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow and starring post-punk duo Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson. A car crash turns one man’s night of clubbing into a claustrophobic fight to stay alive. Alone in the wreckage, injured and trapped, he has to outlast the elements, the dark, and whatever’s watching just outside the light, raising the question of who’s really game.

The General: 100th Anniversary (with Live Score)

Directed by: Buster Keaton | Country: USA

Honoring the Centennial of “The General” and the heritage of independent film, the Alabama Chapter of the American Theatre Society along with Sidewalk Film Festival presents a celebratory screening of what is considered Keaton’s greatest film. Presented with Live Organ Accompaniment with original score by Tom Helms, the film is presented much as it would have been in 1926 with the Alabama Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer.

Ghost in the Machine

Directed by: Valerie Veatch | Country: UK | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

A sharp take on AI’s dark side—where eugenics fears and human worth clash in a tech-driven world. It dares us to ask: What happens to people’s value when those who build AI decide who matters? The risks of AI go far beyond what most expect.

Glorious Summer

Directed by: Bartosz Szpak and Helena Ganjalyan | Country: Poland

Filled with stunning, sun-soaked cinematography and big questions about what it means to be a girl in the world, GLORIOUS SUMMER conjures an atmosphere of curious serenity—a series of perpetually peaceful summer days in which three young girls live, play, and commune in a crumbling idyll. Amid this visual poetry, however, tensions surface.

The Happiest Day of My Life (O Dia Mais Feliz da Minha Vida)

Directed by: Vicente Alves do Ó | Country: Portugal | Premiere: World Premiere

The prismatic colors of Portugal in 1982 contrast the tensions that are the pulse of this film. 10-year-old Vasco is caught between childhood’s wonders and adulthood’s miseries. His mother is struggling to stay afloat, social pressures keep him from knowing his father, and he simply wants to understand it all.

Heaven Above Rowen

Directed by: Alice Voena | Country: USA | Premiere: World Premiere

Director Alice Voena’s mumblecore feature is a luscious journey through the mind of a queer cult leader consumed by psychedelic visions of a prophesied doomsday. Told in a series of poetic monologues narrated by Rowen Amadeus Camor (Alice Voena) and a hallucinated deity named Promise (John Cameron Mitchell), Rowen searches for meaning and identity as the revelation approaches.

Human Theories

Directed by: Jess Zeidman | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

In this directorial debut from Jess Zeidman, we watch people living in New York City, walking with them through their day-to-day interactions. Human Theories immerses us in the colorful tapestry of the city while enticing us to reflect on our own relationships and explore how far-reaching our connections could be with passing strangers.

Hunky Jesus

Directed by: Jennifer Kroot | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are known for inserting bawdy humor and zany satire into unique queer activism. Explore this entertaining closeup on their San Francisco origins and following a riveting set of campy nuns during an over-the-top Easter in the Park 2023 celebration set against a beautiful sunny afternoon backdrop in Dolores Park.

I Got Bombed at Harvey’s

Directed by: Amy Bandlien Storkel and Bryan Storkel | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

In 1980, a gambler who’d lost a fortune at a Lake Tahoe casino decided to get revenge, forcing his two sons to help him build a bomb and hold the casino hostage for millions. What they assembled in the family garage became the most diabolical device the FBI had ever seen.

In Love, In Memory

Directed by: Shalon Buskirk and Drew Swedberg | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

A parent and a poet convene to build a vulnerable vignette about grief, remembrance, and the future of their ever-changing environment. Linking the topics of gun violence and housing injustice, they highlight the impacts of displacement and the desire for communal stabilization.

INTERACTION

Directed by: Dallas Richard Hallam | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Set in a town that could be anywhere, USA, “Interaction” follows a woman who works as an independent housekeeper. In addition to cleaning houses, she has a passion for spying on her clients, eventually coming in contact with someone who is equally as depraved as her. Directed by Dallas Richard Hallam, who grew up in Birmingham, “Interaction” is a very well made psychological suspense horror film that you will not forget, for better or for worse.

Jaripeo

Directed by: Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig | Country: Mexico, France, USA

Jaripeo offers a nuanced exploration of queer identity within the deeply traditional world of hypermasculine Mexican rodeos. Set in rural Michoacán, the film captures the eclectic lives of rancheros that navigate this secret subculture which both honors and defies the rigid cowboy mythology. Lensed beautifully on Super 8, Jaripeo is the feature directorial debut of Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig.

Joybubbles

Directed by: Rachael J Morrison | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Meet the charming Josef Carl Engressia Jr, an early hacker aka a “phone phreak” from the 1960s, who although blind, could whistle with perfect pitch to make long distance phone calls for free. While definitely illegal, it enabled him to chat with and inspire people all over the world. (Audio description and captioning devices available upon request.)

Kikuyu Land

Directed by: Andrew H. Brown and Bea Wangondu | Country: Kenya

The central highlands in Kenya is one of the most verdant, fertile agricultural lands in the world. A land rights dispute attracts Kenya-based journalist Bea Wangondu to uncover the depths to which multinational corporations have exploited this veritable “Garden of Eden” and its inhabitants. The secrets she uncovers and the struggles she documents reveal the undying legacy of a wicked past.

The Last Picture Shows

Directed by: Rustin Thompson | Country: USA

Bittersweet love letter to small town movie theaters in the American West. Beautiful visuals and enchanting music underscore the stories of the struggles of independent cinemas. If you love going to the movies, don’t miss it.

Last Shot

Directed by: Andy Palmer | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Filmed right here in Birmingham, Last Shot follows 12-year-old basketball player Caden Isaacs as he navigates an unexpected and sudden tragedy. Forced to move to a different city to live with his previously absent, workaholic mother, Caden learns that his actions have consequences as he tries to fit in with a new basketball team while Lexi juggles family and work responsibilities.

Latin Clowns Evolution

Directed by: Jacob Koestler and Michael McDermit | Country: USA | Premiere: World Premiere

Latin Clowns Evolution chronicles an annual weeklong convention where Latino clowns gather in South Los Angeles. The documentary seamlessly juxtaposes their joyful performances with stories of immigration, sacrifice, and resilience. As they learn new tricks and share deeply personal backstories, these artists remind us that spreading joy and laughter is a radical healing force.

Leaving Angola

Directed by: Andrew Kukura | Country: USA

Leaving Angola follows Justin Singleton, a man serving life without parole for murder at Louisiana’s infamous state penitentiary, and Derek Moss, a young father preparing for early release who he has taken under his wing. When Derek returns home, he must put Justin’s life lessons to the test as both of the men’s lives take unexpected turns. Filmed over seven years with rare access inside America’s largest maximum-security prison, this film is a powerful exploration of family, redemption, and the realities of reentry in America’s most incarcerated state.

Lilly

Directed by: Rachel Feldman | Country: USA

When Lilly Ledbetter discovered that she was being paid much less than male co-workers doing the same job at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, she sued, taking the case all the way to to the US Supreme Court. Patricia Clarkson portrays Lilly in this 2024 film, showing the personal risks and emotional costs of that fight.

Lunar Sway

Directed by: Nick Butler | Country: Canada | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

In a remote desert town called Moon Crest, Cliff, a young man struggling with his love life, takes an unexpected turn when he encounters his estranged birth mother, whose hidden past draws him into an unexpected adventure, challenging his hopes for connection, identity, and love.

Moonchild: The Life and Music of Yusuf Salim

Directed by: Kenny Dalsheimer and Rafael Samanez | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

An endearing look at Jazz musician Yusuf Salim through his voice and the artists he inspired over the years. Salim was the core force behind the development of a beautiful music community in Durham North Carolina. A community built on connection and support which shows the power of music.

Nuclear Boy

Directed by: Joren Molter | Country: Netherlands | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Aike is a 17 year old boy from the Netherlands who builds a nuclear reactor in his shed. I guess you could call him Aikenheimer! Nuclear Boy is a charming, quirky, beautifully shot coming of age film with an eerie musical score about a precocious teen trying to find their place in the world.

Our Body Electric

Directed by: Dana Reilly | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

As three elite female bodybuilders pursue their dream of a Ms. Olympia title, they confront the difficult realities of a male-dominated sport. Balancing physical demands with relationships, careers, and motherhood, they each question what sacrifices are worth it and how much space to take up in a world that tries to keep women small.

Penny Lane is Dead

Directed by: Mia’Kate Russell | Country: Australia

Set in the sweltering Australian summer of 1986, Mia’Kate Russell’s survival thriller debut feature follows Penny and her best friends celebrating university acceptance at a remote beach house. The ‘no dick event’ spirals into a blood-soaked nightmare when an uninvited cousin, Kat, and a crew of dangerous men crash the party.

Pigeon Religion

Directed by: Troy Vetri | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

New York City has about five million pigeons and eight people who really truly love them. Some race their pigeons. Others rescue sick and hurt ones, while a few just think pigeons are beautiful, even though most people call them dirty. This movie shows why they care so much.

Ponderosa

Directed by: Rob Rice | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

After the Ponderosa buffet closes, an older regular, George (Bill Camp), tries to become a surrogate father figure to Zeke, the aimless son of a single mother who works at the restaurant. As Zeke searches for a sense of self against a backdrop of generational expectations and half-formed ideological notions of masculinity, George is drawn into his own distorted attempt at self-recognition.

Possum Town

Directed by: Daniel Christian | Country: USA

Through the lens of prolific photographer O. N. Pruitt, Possum Town introduces us to Columbus, MS during the Jim Crow era. Nearly a century later, the citizens of Columbus’ lives are juxtaposed against the images of the past and the perspectives of today as we are guided through Pruitt’s photographic archive. This film invites us to engage with history, its preservation and its influence on the present.

PUNKIE

Directed by: Audrey Olsen | Country: USA

You may know Punkie Johnson from several seasons on SNL, but PUNKIE creates a raw, behind the scenes portrait of a stand up comedian and Saturday Night Live star as she deals with life, touring on the road, trying to protect her artistic voice, and true self.

Riverkeeper

Directed by: Jason Goldman | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Award-winning, lifelong environmental activist Dr. Jackie Echols is dedicated to protecting Atlanta’s South River, the largest freshwater system in the state. When planned construction of “Cop City” (the largest police training facility in America) threatens the ecosystem and forest that serves predominately Black communities, activism and politics intersect into a story of environmental defense and grassroots activism. This observational documentary shows how environmental issues affect us all while also serving as a call for immediate action.

Saber

Directed by: Matthew Wiatt | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Star Wars fandom meets competitive fencing in this moving documentary. Part underdog sports story, part celebration of fandom, part touching story of friendship through competition. The best time you will have watching nerds whack each other with glowsticks.

Saving Etting Street

Directed by: Amy Scott and Dena Fisher | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Carpenter Shelley Halstead trains a group of three young, Black women in construction skills by rehabbing vacant and abandoned houses in West Baltimore, challenging generations of racism and sexism in housing. When tensions arise within the diverse group of young women she’s teaching to build and a suspicious fire destroys one of her buildings, Shelley is forced to rethink her vision of community.

Seized

Directed by: Sharon Liese | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

The Marion County Record in Marion, Kansas was raided by the police in 2023 for very dubious reasons. “Seized” examines the events of that day along with the fallout, including personal tragedy. It’s a story of small town politics resulting in an international look at press freedom and journalistic ethics.

Sell Your House

Directed by: Eric Alexander Foss and Brandon Pickering | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Two enthusiastic dreamers with practically no cash set out on what’s sure to be a brilliant venture. James, fueled by his ever-present ambition, bets his entire house on Francis’ indie film—because who needs stability when you could be a cinematic legend? But of course, such reckless pursuits tend to blow up in your face, reminding us that sometimes, having endless ambition is just a fancy way of shooting yourself in the foot.

SELMA: Songs of the Crossing

Directed by: Jean-Jacques Cunnac | Country: France | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

A lost New York artist visits Selma, Alabama searching for himself and inspiration. He explains his experiences, explorations, and the history to his son while he visits the town for the Jubilee highlighting the contrasts of the city’s past and history to current daily life.

Sender

Directed by: Russell Goldman | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Julia grapples with her wavering sobriety and unemployment when the first unordered package arrives. It’s her lipstick – which she knows she didn’t order – in the package that marks the start of the mysterious deliveries that bombard her new rental home. In her hyperfixated search for the sender, Julia spirals in and out of her paranoia.

She Keeps Me Young

Directed by: Doron Max Hagay | Country: USA

Meaningful story about self discovery and learning to stand up for yourself. It also explores the complexity of friendships, especially questioning if they are genuine. The ending is thought provoking and leaves you wondering if Michelle finally recognizes the truth about her so-called friendship with Kelly.

Show Me the Line

Directed by: Kelsey Ianuzzi | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

When an Alabama court jeopardizes access to IVF and her own embryos, artist Abbey Crain refuses to surrender her creative power. In this triumphant tour de force, Crain and a group of fertility patients reckon with the threats to their family future, unearthing hope from an unsettled legal landscape.

Sincerely, Ric

Directed by: Jesse Carfield | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Ric Routledge covered the dog-show world for a living, mailing subscribers a VHS tape from every ring on the circuit, decades before streaming. When he died, his old friend Jesse Carfield inherited the entire archive and assembled the story of Ric’s rise and fall, told in Ric’s own voice.

Snake Oil Song

Directed by: Micah Van Hove | Country: USA

In the outskirts of the Amazon, Chino spends his days hunting down anacondas. When an American journalist hires him for a mysterious job, his life on the river goes downstream.

Sons of Detroit

Directed by: Jeremy Xido | Country: USA | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Director Jeremy Xido does the near-impossible by constructing an autobiographical film with a detective story about his own upbringing while delving deep into the last gasp inside Detroit’s working class of the 1960s and ‘70s. An honest conversation 20 years later about family and race develops as he digs deep after returning home to a community gripped with conflict, silence and clouds of mystery.

TheyDream

Directed by: William David Caballero | Country: USA

After a series of successful short films, director William David Caballero has evolved his storytelling techniques and crafted a unique debut feature that doubles as an ode to his own family. Centered around his own Puerto Rican parents’ struggles with loss and acceptance, this hybrid animated documentary is unlike anything else you will see this year. Deeply personal stories are rarely told with such imagination, and TheyDream is a shining example of creating as an act of healing.

Three Black Men

Directed by: Sienna McLean-LoGreco | Country: USA | Premiere: US Premiere

Three Black men retrace the harrowing slave route, walking through sites of historical suffering and resilience. As they confront the lingering brutality of colonialism, they retrieve lost stories and power, transforming generational trauma into pride. Along the way, they connect with communities, honor their ancestors, and forge a vibrant, revitalized sense of connection and identity. Their journey evolves into a powerful act of remembrance, healing, and cultural affirmation.

Voyager

Directed by: Trevor Mastro | Country: USA | Premiere: World Premiere

Embie, an aspiring concert photographer, embarks on a tour with an intergalactic band that challenges his own perceptions of success and responsibility. An animated micro-feature five years in the making, Trevor Mastro has independently crafted and produced a personal, one-of-a-kind psychedelic experience (with an excellent soundtrack) that you are unlikely to forget.

Warla

Directed by: Kevin Alambra | Country: Philippines | Premiere: US Premiere

WARLA is a crime-drama based on the true story of the Warla Gang, a group of transgender women who kidnap foreigners for ransom money to fund their gender-affirming surgeries. The film examines the struggles and treatment of marginalized individuals searching for acceptance.

Warriors

Directed by: Leland Hall | Country: USA | Premiere: World Premiere

Warriors reveals the story of Mobile’s 2009 Davidson High School football team which featured the first high school duo drafted by the same NFL team, Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt. The reminiscences of the players, coaches, and family members of this dynamic team overlap to reveal the combined pressures of young athletes doing everything to follow their NFL dreams.

We Are The Shaggs

Directed by: Ken William Kwapis | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

After a father in rural New Hampshire is inspired by his own mother’s prophecy that his three daughters will be world famous rock stars. The problem was that the daughters, Dorothy, Betty, and Helen Wiggin, had no interest in playing music. This did not stop their father who bought them their own recording studio which produced music that was once called the worst band in rock history.

We Name Ourselves

Directed by: Alejandra Alcala and Alex Garcia Martinez | Country: Mexico | Premiere: Southeast Premiere

Once a grim prison, now a Malawi migration camp. Asylum seekers convert hardship into inspiration, which is meant to crush the human spirit. The camp, on fire with resistance against inhumanity, empowers young people to host a vibrant festival that draws tens of thousands. Spoken word speaks truth to power, weaving strength and unity. Even in oppression, dreams are reborn and an unbreakable sense of community flourishes, defying every hardship.

When We Were Live

Directed by: John Spottswood Moore | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Go back in time to when Austin, Texas was weird and its public access television in the 1980s was even weirder in the best ways possible. When We Were Live is a collection of the actual footage that helped give a voice to a colorful assortment of Austinites.

Wood Street

Directed by: Caron Creighton | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

Award-winning director Caron Creighton gives an inspiring look into Oakland, California’s largest unhoused encampment. The film follows John and LaMonté, two of the encampment’s residents, as they work to organize their neighbors against the state and local governments’ efforts to displace their community.

You Fuckers Figure It Out: A Jason Molina Story

Directed by: Tommy Nickoloff | Country: USA | Premiere: Alabama Premiere

As a songwriter who gave us, in his own words, “one continuous thread” throughout his work, Jason Molina (1973-2013) meant so much to so many people. This film gives us the beginning of a haunted legend and quietly leaves us in the middle of his story, one that only his friends and collaborators can help decipher. “Every night pain comes from a different place,” indeed.

The Sandbox (Closing Night Film)

Directed by: Kenya-Jade Pinto | Country: Canada

One journalist. One man seeking a better life. One tragedy. Experience the hidden connections between surveillance technology and migration, greedy corporations and corrupt governments exploiting the lives of vulnerable people. These events reflect a wider pattern of exploitation and tragedy in a system focused on profit rather than on protecting asylum seekers. As borders tighten and technology becomes more invasive, human rights are eroded, and compassion fades. This film aims to expose this profit-driven system, but a question remains: What will it take for the world to see migrants’ humanity?

SHORT FILMS

Alabama Docs: From River to Clay

• The Mayor of Rasslin’ — Directed by Layla Khan-Hickman (United States)
• Are You Listening? Poetry in the Magic City — Directed by Juliana Eberhardt, Sophie Estrada, Amelia Velaski (United States)
• HYPERSCALED — Directed by Maya Estrera (United States)
• Final Press — Directed by John Haley (United States)
• Monograph: David Brower — Directed by Christopher E. Holmes (United States)
• Memory Work — Directed by Jada Brielle Ceaser (United States)
• Ādi — Directed by Sukanya Subramaniyan (India)
• The Chukker: Nation of Misfits — Directed by Nate Billings, Charlotte Gale (United States)
• Wall of Sound — Directed by Anissa Latham-Brown (United States)

Alabama Narratives: Made in Alabama

• Picklish — Directed by Jori Parson, Clea Collins
• Job Search — Directed by Lewis Bruce
• Growing Up in the 4th Dimension — Directed by Dylane Thomas Hurd
• Scrambled in Space — Directed by Lih Cunha Rohleder
• “Bleeds Through” by Noah Praise God — Directed by Julian Clark
• A Shot in the Dark — Directed by Grantland Thomas Earle, Regan Arnett
• Cause of Death — Directed by Benjamin Johnson
• Mr Jesus — Directed by Emily Best
• Man and Mattress — Directed by Andrew Reisfeld

Animated Shorts: Cel-ular Delight

• Church Hat — Directed by Miceál Og O’Donnell
• FIRSTBORN — Directed by Olivia G Porrill
• Sundays — Directed by Ashley Gerst
• Living with a Visionary — Directed by Stephen P. Neary
• To Have and To Hold — Directed by Julianne Martin
• Idle Hands — Directed by Ellie Roberts
• Deep in the Folds of My Mind — Directed by Mac Muggeo
• Dormilón — Directed by Olivia Marie Valdez
• Snow Bear — Directed by Aaron Blaise
• Captain Zero: Into the Abyss Part II — Directed by Z Cher-Aimé

Animated Shorts: Colors of the World

• Chip — Directed by Pete Ireland
• One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six — Directed by Yingdan Lai
• 113 Words for You Today — Directed by Bo Qing Tang, Lan Zeng
• Blessed — Directed by Birute Sodeikaite
• Snake Soup — Directed by Zack Demirtshyan
• On Saint Nicholas’ Eve — Directed by Robin Emy Mirel Ivasca
• A Sparrow’s Song — Directed by Tobias Eckerlin
• The Nest — Directed by Aurélien Coquery, Léa Kermanach, Soline Mauguin, Abel Tixador, Jean Baounon, Romane Selter-Fiette
• Dreamwalker — Directed by Luca Schenato, Sinem Vardarli
• Éiru — Directed by Giovanna Ferrari

Black Lens Shorts: More Than a Monolith

• Capriccio — Directed by Kiah Clingman
• Lemon — Directed by Beth Curry
• A Mystical Ornithology — Directed by Jeremy Seifert, Benjamin James Roberts
• God Sleeps On Sundays — Directed by Naishe Nyamubaya
• Eternal — Directed by Joshua Jeffrey Miller
• Spilled Milk — Directed by Jared Leaf

Crime Docs: Beyond the Bars

• That Night — Directed by Hoda Sobhani
• Correspondence — Directed by Paul K. Oh
• Investigator — Directed by Jennifer Grausman
• Sites of Memory — Directed by Antonio Tarrell, Castel V Sweet, Michael Fagans
• Free Joan Little — Directed by Yoruba Richen

Doc Shorts: Expanding Horizons

• What’s My Name? — Directed by Yuge Zhou
• Within Me — Directed by Sherlyn Reyes Zamora
• Freedom of the Press — Directed by Pablo Quintero
• Rolling Film, Rocking History, Al Maysles Captures the Beatles — Directed by Bart Weiss
• The Day Is Not Lost — Directed by Kay Hannahan
• The Theory of Spice — Directed by Gilly Barnes
• Zastava Brothers — Directed by Pep Stojanovic

Doc Shorts: Legacies

• ERUCTATION — Directed by Victoria Trow
• Houdini II: A Beautiful Day to Die — Directed by Daniel John
• Hwy 101 Yard Sale — Directed by Andrew Johnston, Jackson Townsend
• Fred’s Basement Bijou — Directed by Michael T Vollmann
• BUCKSKIN — Directed by Mars Verrone
• Submitting Tigers — Directed by Luke Kellerhouse

Doc Shorts: The Extra-Ordinary

• Monograph: Ajene Williams — Directed by Matthew Grcic
• Oh Whale — Directed by Winslow Crane-Murdoch
• From Rodeo to Polo: The First HBCU Polo Team — Directed by Kendi King
• Roots & Relics — Directed by Matthew Josiah Avant
• A New Inferno — Directed by Nita Blum, Jonathan Pickett

Environmental Docs: This World We Call Home

• Discarded — Directed by Jason O’Brien
• Constellations of the Sea — Directed by Addie Akina Knoll
• Where the River Flows — Directed by Emily Rabbideau
• UNDERMINED — Directed by Lily Huffman
• Willie and His Pigs — Directed by Emily Cooper
• Invasive Florida — Directed by Stephen DeVries
• A DERAILMENT — Directed by Nathan Truesdell

Family Shorts: Forever Young

• Blu’s — Directed by Rajesh PK
• Reel Birmingham — Directed by Daniel Munoz, Brandon Grant
• Forever Home — Directed by Ashley Wong
• Dawn — Directed by Gary Telly Jeannot
• Like Father — Directed by Jared Callahan
• Armadillo Olympics — Directed by Bae Allen
• Snow Bear — Directed by Aaron Blaise
• Two Tears — Directed by Josefina Pieres

Family Shorts: Kid at Heart

• Doggozord — Directed by Kelsey Norden
• Chasing Dreams — Directed by Gerald Crummie
• Sunspark — Directed by Danny Bourque
• Symphony in the Skies — Directed by Nathan Winston Burrell
• Jamie’s Cosmic Chase — Directed by Gabrielle Foret
• Creep — Directed by Daniela Abarca
• The Epic of Enkidu — Directed by Mike A Smith
• Flick: A Fingerboarding Story — Directed by Graham Abney
• The Ottoman — Directed by Mike Stamm

Genre Shorts: A Midnight Dreary

• Run From It — Directed by Racha Kongsommart
• It’s a Wonderful Night of the Living Dead — Directed by John Bell, Dan Bell
• The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much — Directed by Eric Jackowitz
• “Ye Kou Si Kuo” by Naive New Beaters & Star Feminine Band — Directed by Lola Lefèvre
• Dirty Fuzz — Directed by Daniel Chimes
• The Knowing — Directed by Marcus January
• NEEDLE — Directed by Sofie Somoroff
• 99 GHOSTS — Directed by Gonzalo Francisco Torrens Thevenet

Genre Shorts: More Things in Heaven & Earth

• Please and Thank You — Directed by Hal Kirkland
• Ultra Juice — Directed by Carl Conway Maguire
• Aptitude — Directed by Natasha Mynhier
• “Take Me To Your Leader” by My Mom Is Here — Directed by Benjamin Rummans
• The Humbug — Directed by Cole Paviour
• Ape Shit — Directed by Dahlia Jane Kressler
• Headphones — Directed by Steven Arriagada
• Closing Hour — Directed by Tim Smink
• Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting — Directed by Alexander Thompson

Life & Liberty Shorts: Claiming Space

• From Fields to Flight — Directed by Ipshita Bhattacharyya
• Faithful Defenders — Directed by Barbara Jean Hall
• White Nine — Directed by Nilou Safinya
• Oceanbone — Directed by Lani Cupchoy
• HER BABY DIDN’T BLOCK HER JUMP SHOT — Directed by Emily M Lobsenz

Life & Liberty Shorts: Freedom in Practice

• Sea Song — Directed by An-Phuong Ly
• Honor Song — Directed by Ryan Begay
• 60 Years of Selma — Directed by Jori Parson
• The Other Roe — Directed by Wendy Eley Jackson
• Projecting Protest — Directed by Thomas Clement

Narrative Shorts: In Frame

• Reflections — Directed by Stephen DeVries
• The Repetition for Love — Directed by Kyungrok Kim
• Gary — Directed by Tim Cofield
• Timelessness — Directed by Sasha Timan
• Leica — Directed by Sagi Kahane-Rapport
• Pinball, Brooklyn — Directed by Geoffrey Levy
• The Ride — Directed by Slava Denisov

Narrative Shorts: In Translation

• THE SENTRY — Directed by Jake Wachtel
• “Tell ‘Em” by Terry Blade — Directed by Terry Blade
• Paloma — Directed by Raul Martinez Liera
• Unwanted — Directed by Roman Sinitsyn
• Max — Directed by Adrien Boublil
• Escudo Invisible (The Invisible Shield) — Directed by Maximilian Barrón

Narrative Shorts: Never Alone

• The Boy with the Dinosaur Head — Directed by Imran J Khan
• Leo Lets It Rain — Directed by Jasmin Prophete
• DISC — Directed by Blake Rice
• “dirt” by emory — Directed by Julia Fernandez
• Terrarium — Directed by Morgon Dickerson
• Mary the Widow — Directed by Ryan Noufer
• Vital — Directed by Amir Zargara
• I Think About Killing You — Directed by Ran Ran Wang

Narrative Shorts: To Make You Smile

• Loco — Directed by Eddie Mujica
• The Sisters of Scott County — Directed by Courtney Hoffman
• Stop to Stop — Directed by Samantha Massell, Asher Grodman
• A Night In — Directed by Eduardo Olmos
• Big Little Love — Directed by Liesa Cole
• UN-DEAD — Directed by Bo Webb
• Another Day in the West — Directed by Matthew Sliger
• The Method — Directed by Luke Howe

SHOUT Shorts Docs: Exploring Community

• Love Birds — Directed by Elliott Kennerson, Angel Morris
• Rainbow Rider — Directed by Georgia Krause
• There’s a Small Hotel — Directed by Michael Grodner
• Drag Me To Church — Directed by Isabella Sullivan

SHOUT Shorts Narratives: Slice of Life

• The Chimney — Directed by Michael McFarland, AP Boland
• Tomorrow — Directed by Christian Meola
• The Burial of the Black Cat — Directed by Maryam Esmaeli
• I Am The Prize — Directed by Sai Karan Talwar
• Cottonmouth — Directed by Ama Anane
• Sofia — Directed by Camila de Ilhéus

SHOUT Shorts: Almost After Dark

• Evergreen — Directed by Luke McCormick Gardiner
• Tuna Tartare — Directed by Lena Greene
• something still — Directed by Ariel S Mahler
• Scissors — Directed by Hannah Alline
• Cockroach — Directed by Justice Maya Singleton, Liliana Padilla
• The Bone Grinder — Directed by Danny Rhodes

Teen Shorts: Tomorrow’s Filmmakers

• Love You — Directed by Davy Forrester
• Time Will Tell — Directed by Peyton Cooper
• MIME — Directed by Gabri Blankson
• Dualists — Directed by Worthy Culverhouse
• Grow Up — Directed by Dari Justin
• Magnacamp — Directed by Landon Zimmer
• CHAD — Directed by Maria George, Silverr King
• Rocket — Directed by Luke Ashton Beall
• The Prime Candidate — Directed by Joseph Pickens, Graham Cason
• Dwell — Directed by Luke Ashton Beall
• No Small Matter — Directed by India Anne Mitchell
• Instant — Directed by Hudson Hillin
• Draupadi — Directed by Rishan Sathiyaa

Unless you’re living in the cave of Polyphemus, you are surely aware that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey arrives today. With it, Ludwig Göransson’s 23-track, two-hour score—concluding with an end-credits collaboration with Travis Scott and James Blake—is now available to stream.

As the composer revealed to Time, no orchestra was used for the score, and instead he “rented 35 bronze gongs of varying sizes, experimented, recorded them with synths, and began sending the director songs.” Göransson notes, “It’s not like the orchestra existed back then. It was a challenge and also an opening to try to make something unique.”

Nick Newman said in his review of The Odyssey, “The Odyssey‘s A-list ensemble tends to play material at a morose even keel—stone faces, teary eyes, throaty whispers. Only certain outside-the-line colorings smuggle revelation. Most evident is Robert Pattinson’s take on the antagonistic Antinous as (keeping up with Nolan’s script by putting this in the parlance of our times) a crazy white boy whose stated inspiration (James Woods in Casino) was neither sensed in the moment nor shocking to learn ex post facto. The energy inflected by one spitting of wine or crookening of smile can’t help begging questions about his relative-to-Spider-Man sidelining, though I suppose that query at last stretches back to Homer, and we cannot consult him.”

Listen below and pick up the vinyl edition here.