Playlist
<p>Three generations of one Dutch family, along with the neighbours they encounter, questions their lives, from their relationships and the value of their existence to their concerns for the future, in the second film by writer-director Aaron Rookus (Goodbye Stranger, IFFR 2023).</p>
<p>An intimate look at a theatre production and the transformation that happens when creativity meets care.</p>
<p>In a bustling train station, Sonja struggles to get help to take care of a baby she claims has been abandoned. But is there another mother, or is this Sonja's baby?</p>
<p>An ambitious owlet yearns to fly above the clouds despite his shortcomings but keeps falling short, only to find that all he needed was an unexpected glide down the mountainside.</p>
<p>Lucy’s wild imagination gets the best of her as her mother tries to find the perfect bedtime story.</p>
<p>Seeking to retreat while on a noisy train, a passenger dons his headphones and escapes into a vibrant world where a chance encounter might change his life.</p>
<p>One day, when he is older, this kid will look back at his life wondering how he came to be the gay man he is today and ultimately what's next.</p>
<p>In the snowy heart of Yakutia little girl Nyukku embarks on her first Munkha, Sakha relic traditional fishing. Filled with excitement and armed with her "magical" mittens, she dreams of catching a big pile of fish. However, her brother Michil is quite skeptical about the “magic” of her mittens and teasingly predicts that she will lose them. Nyukku's enthusiasm is undiminished, so she challenges Michil to a bet.<br /> Unfortunately, her adventure leads to an unexpected chaos and failure, and Nyukku loses the bet. Through this experience and guided by their father's wisdom, Nyukku and Michil learn a valuable lesson: the true magic lies in the strength of family bonds and mutual support. As a result, the children save the catch, and miraculously, Nyukku gets her lost mitten back.</p>
<p>With the sea and an urban Algarve as backdrop, we follow the complete life cycle of a special mollusk called percebes. From its formation to the plate, we traverse different contexts that allow us to better understand this region and those who live here. Alexandra Ramires returns to Curtas after winning the Best Animation Award in the International Competition with “Tie” (2020).</p>
<p>In a society where kissing is punishable by death, a lonely woman shops compulsively in a department store where she becomes fascinated by an unsuspecting salesgirl.</p>
<p>Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, a university professor coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.</p>
<p>After being stood up, Renee takes comfort in a sweet ice cream man who sings her praises. Could he truly be one of the nice guys?</p>
<p>Dove, a gender-shifting warrior, uses their Indigenous medicine, Inkwo, to protect their community from an unearthed swarm of terrifying creatures.</p>
<p>Forced to flee Sudan for East Africa following the outbreak of war, five citizens of Khartoum — a civil servant, a tea lady, a resistance committee volunteer and two young bottle collectors, re-enact their stories of survival and freedom through dreams, revolution, and civil war.</p>
<p>Employing a series of old Halloween masks, a husband slowly draws his wife out of a long-standing catatonic state.</p>
<p>A tween girl struggles to navigate the tempestuous world of social media with her self-esteem intact as she transitions into becoming a teenager.</p>
<p>A princess’ impossible demand sparks an endless war until a mysterious suitor emerges, claiming to be the one to satisfy her pride.</p>
<p>A first date between a man of Cherokee heritage and a Caucasian woman goes downhill when the woman relates a surprising fact concerning her grandmother.</p>
<p>A wintry poem of Nordic nature. The sun is low, days shorten. Birds fly South, porcelain animals and insects hide from the freezing wind and snow.</p>
<p>A young policewoman is recruited to infiltrate the terrorist group ETA and dismantle one of their dangerous commandos. The 2025 Goya Award winner for Best Film recreates an unknown, shocking, and terrible true story that offers a testimony to dark and violent times that still ripple through today’s Spain.</p>
<p>Smartphone news may be shallow, but there’s enough to drown us, as expressed through watercolors and cut-out animation.</p>
<p>It's easy to get lost when you're married and mad at each other, even if you have a map.</p>
<p>Frankie returns home to her toxic community and must tap into her dark side to survive unscathed.</p>
<p>An eye-opening look at the resident “gizmologist” behind one architecture firm’s innovative work in kinetic design.</p>
<p>After swallowing a caterpillar in a tequila shot, Tristan falls into a coma. Now he’s alone with his thoughts: that cute girl, the annoying nurse, his overbearing mother, and, of course, his social media presence.</p>
<p>Join Eden and Dula on an awe-inspiringly animated journey toward belonging and self-acceptance, based on the powerful poem by Dean Atta.</p>
<p>In the end, our bodies are as fragile and ephemeral as pictures drawn in sand. Who will care for them when our time is over?</p>
<p>The New Year That Never Came is a tragicomedy whose action takes place in a single day, before the Revolution of 1989, in which the characters search for normality, safety, love, freedom and meaning, in an absurd world fueled by fear.</p>
<p>A Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker named Souleymane has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency.</p>
<p>The untold, storied history behind one of America's most elite youth basketball programs and its humble beginnings in Seattle's Central District.</p>
<p>A bear named Grizzy engages in slapstick battle with a group of mischievous lemmings with unintended but hilarious consequences.</p>
<p>Ada spends one last day with her mother…underwater.</p>
<p>Xiaonan does not like smelly or messy places, but he is willing to brave his aunt’s chicken hatchery to make sure his egg friend Silly Head hatches.</p>
<p>The Time Machine goes Time Bandits in a meta-universe comedy fantasy of the year from the Shakespeare Sisters. Best friends Ruth and Megan run the vintage bric-a-brac shop Cha Cha Cha in Muswell Hill, London. Stumbling across a time machine, they embark on trips to the past to stock their emporium with quirky artefacts with no idea of the irreparable damage they’re causing to the fabric of the universe. After one excursion too many, an interdimensional fissure appears and Ruth must free Megan from The Unreason, a monstrous netherworld where convoluted gaming is played for all eternity.</p>
<p>After fleeing Vietnam for the Philippines, Hoa Thi Lê and Hue Nguyên Chế recount their experiences as background extras during the filming of Apocalypse Now (1979).</p>
<p>What Katie and her mates think will be a carefree summer chilling out on their Dublin housing estate turns more complicated when they push toward an adulthood they are ill-prepared for in Claire Frances Byrne’s debut feature.</p>
<p>The Choctaw Nation of southeastern Oklahoma fights against cultural displacement and the developers who wish to dam and divert the Kiamichi River, one of the most ecologically diverse bodies of water in the state, in this call to action from SIFF 4th World Media Lab alum Colleen Thurston.</p>
<p>A sudden loss catalyzes an unlikely bond between two migrants in the Chinese community of Queens. Navigating lives far from home and the painstaking labor that supports them, they journey through grief together in hopes of finding family.</p>
<p>A Ukrainian family of four on vacation in the Canary Islands become refugees overnight when Russia’s ongoing occupation of Ukraine turns into a full-scale invasion, in Damien Kocur’s tense and timely sophomore feature.</p>
<p>Ani DiFranco shook the ‘90s alternative music scene and remains an unmistakable talent today. In this vulnerable look at her life today, she struggles to balance artistry with the demands of family.<br /> <br /> After the Premiere: A special performance by Ani DiFranco.</p>
<p>After she is confronted at church and misunderstood by her dad, a queer Black teen searches for self-acceptance and belonging in community.</p>
<p>Edward is a queer, up-and-coming novelist forced to balance press commitments with caring for his aging mother. Pressure to go on a US book tour is mounting. But when his three closest friends, desperate to feel young and carefree again, go off on an impromptu Pride holiday, they leave their ageing mothers in Edward’s care. Thornton’s film is a funny and heartwarming comedy drama.</p>
<p>Nina, an OB-GYN, faces accusations after newborn's death. Her life undergoes scrutiny during investigation. She persists in her medical duties, determined to provide care others hesitate to offer, despite risks.</p>
<p>On a remote volcanic island that everybody wants to leave, little Nana learns to stay. Her mother, Nia, went into exile right after she was born and Nana grows up in the family of her father. One day, the family learns that Nia is ill. Nana begins to develop high fevers and is sent to the foot of a volcano for treatment. There she encounters a world steeped in magical realism, between dreams and reality. Later, when Nana is a teenager, her mother Nia finally returns to the island.</p>
<p>A high school girl, still reeling over the death of her father, develops the last of his film, only to uncover an intimate secret he kept from her in Divine Sung’s heartfelt and gorgeously shot coming-of-age feature debut about first loves.</p>
<p>In a near-future world, strangers’ lives intertwine as they grapple with technology’s impact on relationships and identity, exploring profound questions of human connection amidst alienation.</p>
<p>Anxious teenager Ūla is taken on an unexpected adventure during her swimming practice, through which she grows up and learns to see her body anew.</p>
<p>After being diagnosed with terminal insomnia after a failed experiment to achieve eternal life, Cillian attempts to find another way to connect with his past.</p>
<p>After stumbling upon a mysterious ritual in the woods, a bold girl and an anxious boy come together to cast a spell while navigating something much scarier than any witch's ritual—friendship.</p>
<p>For her directorial debut, acclaimed actress Embeth Davidtz (Schindler’s List, The Morning Show) draws on her South African roots to powerfully adapt Alexandra Fuller’s memoir of life in a white farming family in the Rhodesian government’s waning days.</p>
<p>Two friends hold space for each other in a moment of need.</p>
<p>A road trip traces a transition from grief to acceptance through valleys, junctions, and detours.</p>
<p>Ángela, a deaf woman, is expecting a child with her hearing partner, Héctor. The baby’s arrival causes a crisis in their relationship, forcing Ángela to face the challenges of raising her daughter in a world which is not made for her.</p>
<p>Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least.</p>
<p>On the cusp of success/failure, two unhinged female filmmakers decide to break up with their boyfriends, and for once, make a bold decision with their lives.</p>
<p>Two Iranian women face their fears by going to a protest, and connect across the world with a photo that brings them hope for a better tomorrow.</p>
<p>Overwhelmed and isolated on his wedding day, a closeted immigrant speaks to his family on the phone moments before walking down the aisle.</p>
<p>In this lush, metatheatrical crowdpleaser that was a box office smash in its native Italy, SIFF favorite Ferzan Özpetek gathers 18 of his country’s greatest actresses to tell the story of a Rome-based tailoring shop that makes costumes for the big screen.</p>
<p>In the neon-lit streets of Chongqing, Wei desperately searches for his estranged daughter Fa, while Hong Kong gallerist Ren grapples with her ailing stepmother Sabine in Paris. Their lives collide in a virtual reality world, where a mystical deer reveals hidden truths, sparking a journey of discovery and connection.</p>
<p>A terminally ill woman returns to the beach of her youth and remembers her first love in this emotional tale of magic, love, and sacrifice.</p>
<p>Single mother Sofie starts a new career as a caretaker for the elderly, only to be humbled by the toll it takes on her physical and mental state, in this authentic and rewarding glimpse at the uncelebrated world of healthcare workers from SIFF alum Frelle Petersen.</p>
<p>Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else.</p>
<p>Meet the adventure seekers who gather in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to compete in the annual Northwest Glass Quest and the beautiful treasures they seek.</p>
<p>When her Iron Age village’s well mysteriously dries up, only Éiru is small enough to descend into the belly of the earth to bring the water of life back to her people.</p>
<p>In Diciannove (translating to Nineteen), Giovanni Tortorici’s elegant, heartfelt, and daring debut, a curious student learns that the road to self-discovery is worthwhile, if not necessary, no matter how unfamiliar or daunting the path.</p>
<p>Elyria thinly veils her anger at the rules imposed by her strict Albanian father until her desire for rebellion explodes into an act of revolution.</p>
<p>The idealistic prison guard Eva faces the dilemma of her lifetime when a young man from her past is transferred to the prison where she works. Without revealing her secret, she asks to be moved to his block, the toughest and most violent in the prison. And so begins an unsettling psychological thriller in which Eva’s sense of justice puts her morality and her future at stake.</p>
<p>Two worlds collide when a woman rides a horse through her city and into a showdown.</p>
<p>A boy journeys through a nightmarescape searching for a cure, as a dancing curse descends upon the city, in this dark fable.</p>
<p>In the year 2000, Nevenka Fernández, the Finance Councillor of Ponferrada Town Council, is relentlessly hounded by the mayor, a man used to getting his way both politically and personally. Nevenka decides to report him, knowing that it will cost her dearly. A story based on true events turning its lead character into a forerunner of the #metoo movement due to being the first person to take an influential politician to court for sexual and labour harassment.</p>
<p>Lati, a first-generation Malian migrant, turns to rap to overcome the death of her father. Determined to overcome her fears of performing and to confront her mom’s opposition, a new world opens up when she learns how to tap into her frustration and anger to create empowering, liberating rhymes.</p>
<p>A young girl is transported back in time upon finding her late Spanish abuela’s old recipe book.</p>
<p>It’s blackmail in the third dimension, as a television crime show researcher (Edward G. Robinson) frames his colleague (John Forsythe) for murder. This 1953 noir is newly restored by the 3-D Film Archive from the original 35mm camera negatives.</p>
<p>British photographer Jack Davison's oeuvre effortlessly embraces digital, analogue, black and white and colour photography. His works depict the human figure, architecture, animals, objects, landscapes and townscapes; yet his subject is always photography itself.</p>
<p>Adam is looking forward to the annual gay Passover seder with his chosen family, but bringing along his new lover Charlie could prove to shake tradition.</p>
<p>A young ’80s activist cements himself as a Disneyland history hidden gem when he stands up against the Magic Kingdom to lift the park's ban on same-sex dancing.</p>
<p>A rural mechanic muses on life, death, and his immigrant experience while resurrecting cars near a mysterious cemetery.</p>
<p>Life is full of unexpected twists. Ane and Thomas (Trine Dyrholm and David Dencik at the top of their craft) must redefine the parameters of their relationship when, just as they are about to finalize their divorce and tell their two daughters, she suffers a stroke.</p>
<p>In rural Canada in the 1990s, a Korean family – a widower, his teenage son, and young daughter – attempt to find their way in a new land while navigating the darkness of their grief</p>
<p>"In a future where no one can die and no one wants to live anymore, two space pirate brothers must destroy an evil messiah to break the curse of immortality and deliver humanity to its final resting place. This film contains strobe effects."</p>
<p>Leonard Peltier, one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction. A new generation of Native activists is committed to winning his freedom before he dies.</p>
<p>Set on the alien planet Thra, The Dark Crystal follows Jen, a young Gelfling who embarks on a quest to heal the Dark Crystal by restoring a missing shard. This act is prophesied to end the tyranny of the evil Skeksis and bring balance back to the world. The film is renowned for its groundbreaking puppetry and dark fantasy elements</p>
<p>The wind bellows and glides across golden blades of grass in the sun-drenched valleys of Xinjiang, on the northern border between Kazakhstan and China. Arsin is a young Kazakh boy with a deep passion for the flora and fauna around him, giving keen attention to plants and all of their beguiling details. When he meets Meiyu, a spirited Han Chinese girl, she evokes the same feelings of enchantment that he experiences with the botanical beauty that surrounds him. What unfolds between Arsin and Meiyu is a magical-realist fantasy that speaks volumes about our ephemeral and ethereal ties to our wondrous world. In his directorial debut, Jing Yi engages a cast of non-actors and a real-world setting to produce a spellbinding representation of a forgotten land and its people, whose deep connection with nature offers meaningful lessons to live by. —Jordan Klein</p>
<p>One might think that Czech and Slovak filmmakers have already said all there is to say about the period around 1968 in Czechoslovak history. As Jiří Mádl’s latest outing shows, however, this crucial era in our modern history still has forgotten stories to offer that are worthy of our attention. The film revolves around the international news office at Czechoslovak Radio, a place full of talented individuals possessing broad insight, linguistic skills, and above all a commitment to honest journalistic work with a focus on the truth. An epic, dynamically shot, rewarding film, which embraces uncommon heroism in the face of an oppressive regime, the strength of fraternal ties, and the eternal themes of love, betrayal, morality, and hope.</p>
<p>Sam Riley (Control) stuns in this biopic about South African dancer and choreographer John Cranko, who overcame self-destructive habits and homophobic persecution as he whipped the 1960s Stuttgart Ballet into an internationally renowned dance company.</p>
<p>A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.</p>
<p>What is the cost of sustainability on the land, people, and culture when one form of fuel is simply replaced for another: green energy.</p>
<p>Upon retirement, a man reflects on the joys, opportunities, monotony, and loneliness of his new life stage and contemplates on what comes next in this poetic Irish animated film.</p>
<p>In Jon Blåhed’s claustrophobic 1930s-set drama, the first film to be made using the minority language Meänkieli, a Christian woman trapped in her husband’s sectarian movement quietly fights to protect her family from his bizarre and increasingly dangerous worldview.</p>
<p>In a world where everyone wears a mask, Peter must decide if abandoning his individuality is worth the rewards of conformity.</p>
<p>Paradise Man searches for meaning in an unknowable universe.</p>
<p>An adoptee raised in the Netherlands, Mieke’s life is very different from the one she might have led if her Korean family had not been pressured to give her up as a baby. When her birth parents track down the adult Mieke, their reunion unleashes a whirlwind of guilt, joy, regret, and ambivalence. Through non-linear storytelling we witness the family’s journey towards reconnection in this unique story of home, acceptance, and the power of forgiveness.</p>
<p>In this pulse-pounding neo-western thriller set in the cutthroat artisanal mining industry in the deserts of northern Chile, 16-year-old Carola must take control of the family business and stave off greedy, gold-seeking rivals after her father gets seriously injured.</p>
<p>Set in 1995 Corsica, 15-year-old Lesia’s (Ghjuvanna Benedetti) coming-of-age summer is interrupted when she must abruptly depart to the home of her crime boss father, Pierre-Paul (Saveriu Santucci). When danger erupts around them, she is forced to confront the role her father plays in a violent underground war now spinning out of control. Director Julien Colonna’s family crime drama gripped Cannes with his nuanced exploration of the parent-child bond. Thrillingly shot and deftly acted, THE KINGDOM tells the story of a family struggling to come together while the path they have chosen threatens to tear them apart. A Metrograph Pictures release.</p>
<p>An astronomer looks to the stars to find comfort in the darkest of places.</p>
<p>Preeminent West African curator and scholar Funmilayo Akechukwu’s magnum opus, , leads her to the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, drawing a journalist into a journey that shatters her understanding of consciousness and time.</p>
<p>When late-night locksmith Soung Kang is asked to lock a door forever, he discovers a dark secret that pushes him to extraordinary lengths to secure his five-star online review.</p>
<p>A 12-year-old motocross racer spends what seems like an average race weekend at the track with her father. But as things unfold, she’s faced with her identity, her deafness, and what it means to be a girl.</p>
<p>Flowers pulsate inside portraits appropriated from old films and magazines in this botanical fever dream.</p>
<p>A little shrew searches for Hope as she makes her way across a bombed-out city.</p>
<p>The Call is an eco-revenge film featuring unlikely instigators who were observed and filmed over three years at airports across the United States.</p>
<p>A mystical tale of cloaked identities, and insatiable consumption: The ecology burns, reclaiming its environs.</p>
<p>Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) is an ordinary person, who supports himself by reselling things on the internet. He carelessly earns grudges by people around him and, in the end, he is dragged into a desperate struggle that risks his life.</p>
<p>Former martial artist Sarah leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family. What sounds initially like a dream job soon becomes unsettling: the young women are cut off from the outside world and under constant surveillance. Sport doesn’t seem to interest them. So why has Sarah been hired?</p>
<p>In her debut film, Lakshmipriya Devi crafts a vibrant and poignant portrayal of childhood resilience following a schoolboy, Boong, as he defies borders and ethno-racial discord in Manipur to reunite his family.</p>
<p>Together with her sister Justė’s family, Ernesta, her husband Lukas, and their son Kristupas are spending their weekend at a country house after her husband’s victory in a mixed-martial arts tournament.</p>
<p>In this sincere and impeccably art-directed Wes Anderson-esque film based on Christophe Boltanski’s memoir “La Cache,” a nine-year-old boy and his quirky, artistic family experience the turbulence of 1968 Paris from the relative safety of their multigenerational home.</p>
<p>Labelled a terrorist and left disabled, a Sámi activist paid a brutal price in ??1982 while battling ??Norwegian authorities ????to protect his ancestral land. Masterfully blending archival footage and re-enactments, In My Hand retraces his battle and legacy, and challenges us to ask: Is it finally time to stop exploiting nature and start preserving it?</p>
<p>Set in early 20th century Midwest USA, a group of coal miners are going about their daily routines when they make an incredible discovery that takes them on a journey beyond space and time. "Mine!" examines the history and impacts of the extraction of fossil fuels by taking a humorous look at the interconnected people involved in operating one coal mine.</p>
<p>A people-pleaser recently back in the dating pool goes on an ill-advised date with a sexually submissive man to prove to her doubtful friends that she could totally be a dom.</p>
<p>Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.</p>
<p>Two intrepid Nairobi women decide to transform what used to be a whites-only library until 1958 into a vibrant cultural hub. Along the way, they must navigate local politics, raise millions for the rebuild, and confront the lingering ghosts of Kenya’s colonial past.</p>
<p>Through the lens of language and poetry, this short film is a moving meditation on the impacts of overconsumption on the environment.</p>
<p>Felina, a woman who can morph into a panther, falls in love with a pianist and tries to keep her true nature a secret.</p>
<p>When Liboria and Claudia stop for gas and a familiar stranger arrives, the pair get revved up to take revenge.</p>
<p><span data-sheets-root="1">The film centers on 13-year-old Marcielle, nicknamed Tielle, who resides with her family in a riverside community on Marajó Island in the Amazon rainforest. As she matures, Tielle becomes increasingly aware of the systemic exploitation and abuse affecting the women in her community, including her own family. Determined to protect her younger sister and alter their predetermined paths, she bravely confronts the oppressive structures that govern their lives.</span></p>
<p>In a society where beauty is revered like a deity, a doll seeks to find her place.</p>
<p>A glimpse into the life of Nikyle Begay, a nonbinary Navajo shepherd weaving together the preservation of their identity and their art one sheep at a time.</p>
<p>Feeling invisible and adjusting to life alone, a father faces a disturbing physical unravelling when he discovers something growing inside him.</p>
<p>Harsh brutalist architecture and oh-so-soft athleisure wear, ecstatic platitudes about consumer goods and bizarre one-liners, Bozo Over Roses plays out like a terrifying cult that nobody wants but that we all deserve. A dystopian transmission from a future humanity brought to the brink of extinction through endless streaming and next day shipping.</p>
<p>Convention and sexuality are explored through slugs, rituals, and the eating of an orange.</p>
<p>The universal Latina experience of forgetting to remove chicken from the freezer at her mother’s request comes to life with hilarious consequences.</p>
<p>A singer confronts inspiration porn, exploitation, and impostor syndrome in pursuit of a life on the stage without legs.</p>
<p>Cristina is a transgender Honduran woman who was separated from her mother Alma when she was a small child, an event that caused deeply rooted trauma for both mother and daughter. Twenty years later Cristina has managed to locate Alma and they will have the opportunity to reunite. Only since their separation, Cristina has affirmed her female gender. If she presents as her true self, will her mother embrace her?</p>
<p>Two actors rehearsing a raw and intense breakup scene over a Zoom call blur the lines between reality and performance.</p>
<p>Once Were Warriors stars Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis reunite for an action-packed epic about Aotearoa's first land war, when vastly outnumbered Māori fought against colonial soldiers.</p>
<p>A woman must watch a live video stream of household murders mysteriously broadcast to an old television or face dire consequences.</p>
<p><span data-sheets-root="1">When grief-stricken Mareta (Anapela Polataivao) takes a substitute teaching role at an elite prep school, she forms a choir to unite the privileged yet disconnected students. As they prepare for an all-school competition, her passion for life is reignited, transforming her students forever in this rousing crowd-pleaser.</span></p>
<p>A newly formed family confronts challenges while pursuing individual goals and facing the intricacies of modern life, relying on love, trust, and resilience to guide them.</p>
<p>As preparations for the wedding unfold, Faisal’s mother takes us on a heartfelt journey through his past, weaving together the memories, moments and birthday sweaters that have shaped him.</p>
<p>Touda is a Sheikha, a traditional Moroccan singer. Performing in the bars of her provincial town under the gaze of men, she plans to leave for the lights of Casablanca, to gain recognition and ensure a better future for her son.</p>
<p>Being a loving mother and full-time carer for her mentally and physically disabled son is Mary’s daily struggle. The authorities are anything but helpful and she is in danger of drowning in a sea of bureaucracy.</p>
<p>When a disgruntled music journalist accuses a global pop star of queerbaiting, the singer’s devoted fans descend on his remote cabin to wreak havoc and seek retribution.</p>
<p>In an attempt to get rid of her unibrow, Leyla accidentally makes things worse. Fortunately, the new girl at school offers to help.</p>
<p>A near-future Tokyo awaits destruction as the city is rocked by a series of foreshocks that predict a larger, more disastrous quake on the horizon. With the anxiety looming over them, a group of teenage best friends and musicians get into typical teenager trouble that tests the strength of their relationships.</p>
<p>When a very adult party takes an unexpected turn, the guests must decide on the next steps to take.</p>
<p>Harry is torn from tending to his bedridden mother by his erratic and sticky-fingered father, Bill, who takes him on a wild goose chase to kill a cow for Christmas supper.</p>
<p>Bryan embarks on a heartfelt quest to rewrite his future, confronting his closed-up father to break the chains of generational trauma and carve out a new legacy of love and growth.</p>
<p>Dormilón lovingly cares for the abandoned cinema he’s made a home. Every night he records his dreams, in which he is the star performer of the theater, rather than its former-janitor. On a stormy night, Dormi’s carefully crafted life is challenged when his nightmares accumulate and confront him. Dormilón will have to overcome his fears and embrace his insecurities to be a more complete version of himself.</p>
<p>Humantises are masters of deception. But can they hide from change? When one Humantis unexpectedly goes through a physical transformation, it struggles to adapt and grow into its new self.</p>
<p>André Masson, an auctioneer at the famous Scottie’s auction house, receives a letter one day stating that a painting by Egon Schiele has been discovered in Mulhouse at the home of a young worker. Very skeptical, he makes the trip and has to face the truth: the painting is authentic, a masterpiece gone missing since 1939, confiscated by the Nazis. André sees this discovery as the pinnacle of his career, but also the beginning of a struggle that could jeopardize it. Fortunately, he will be assisted by his ex-wife and colleague Bertina, and by his eccentric intern Aurore.</p>
<p>When a travel agent’s boyfriend suggests they open up their relationship to the wild world of polyamory, she is hesitant but joins him on a sojourn to an island-based party, only to fall for another woman, in this sex-positive dramedy.</p>
<p>Written and filmed during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Pavlo Ostrikov’s debut feature is a true wonder and a prescient reminder how important it is to connect with someone who understands during the darkest of times.</p>
<p>Something’s stalking Andrea, but nobody, not even herself, can actually see it. Twenty years ago, 10,000 kilometres away, the same presence terrorised Marie. Camila was the only person capable of understanding what was happening to her, but nobody believed them. On taking a stand against that oppressive threat, all three women hear the same horrific sound. Wailing.</p>
<p>The clock is ticking as an Alaskan Native subsistence community advocates for the salmon and the future of their people.</p>
<p>An eerie train journey. A father ensconced in a sanatorium in a state of decline. A world in limbo. And an elaborate maquette that hides a secret drawer that could provide answers to questions not asked. Shot in exquisite black and white, and shifting between live action and haunting stop-motion, this captivating film finds the ever-inventive Quay Brothers once again riffing on the work of Bruno Schulz.</p>
<p>A girl studying in New York City confronts an unexpected pregnancy as she figures out how to tell her mom.</p>
<p>"A meandering joke about three dreams. This film contains strobe effects."</p>
<p>In a post-apocalyptic future where food is scarce, the last descendants of a Black family of farmers who settled in Canada after the American Civil War must protect their homestead from an organized militia hell-bent on taking their land.</p>
<p>During the summer holidays, the paths of two ten-year-old girls cross in a hospital and they form an unexpected bond. Their connection leads them on a bittersweet journey of loss, farewells and quiet discoveries about life.</p>
<p>Things flow and stumble away incessantly in this ocean-motion picture with a psychedelic frenzy of color.</p>
<p>Three French journalists travel to Cambodia in 1978 after receiving an invitation from the Khmer Rouge regime, embarking on a perilous adventure.</p>
<p>Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers is a 1972 musical comedy that follows Eve Harrington, a small-town girl from Kansas who moves to New York City with dreams of becoming an actress. Along her journey, she encounters a series of eccentric characters, including wrestlers and health food enthusiasts, in a satirical exploration of fame and identity. The film is notable for its campy style and features a performance by Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn.</p>
<p>A group of Gen-Z/Millennial friends plan a goodbye for their friend, while coming face-to-face with, but pushing back at, patriarchal realities. Sahand Kabiri presents a personal portrait of middle-class young adult life in contemporary Tehran: vibrant and defiant.</p>
<p>The dream of a flood of trash in our modern cities leads to a dream of escape through flight.</p>
<p>After her mother’s death, a cultish ’80s après-ski club hijacks the funeral and everything seems totally normal.</p>
<p>Witness the good times and growing pains as a single father raises his daughter in their coastal town.</p>
<p>A bride, struggling with cold feet, finds herself at a crossroads moments before the ceremony.</p>
<p>Daniel, a widowed father in northern Martinique, lives with his 8-year-old daughter, Soraya. A fisherman and restaurateur, he struggles to survive in a town plagued by economic and social crises.</p>
<p>After a young Swedish perfumer is stung by a jellyfish in the South of France, an attractive older man comes to her aid. His intentions remain unclear as a sudden intimacy develops...</p>
<p>Alone in a laundromat at night, two strangers realize they'll never see each other again and decide to trade secrets.</p>
<p>An unexpected discovery sends a lonely lint creature on a quest for companionship.</p>
<p>In Sasha Chuk’s autobiographical coming-of-age drama, young Yuen struggles to adapt to her new surroundings and social class when she and her mother emigrate from Mainland China to 1990s Hong Kong to reunite with the family patriarch.</p>
<p>A minor accident in Jerusalem triggers a chain of events, where lies and unspoken truths sow division among a multifaceted patriarchal society.</p>
<p><span data-sheets-root="1">In this endearing dramedy, two childhood friends receive an opportunity to keep their seafood restaurant in the picturesque Westfjords open year-round. When one comes out as a trans woman, their long-standing friendship is tested, revealing new perspectives on life and identity.</span></p>
<p>A cultural snapshot of turn-of-the-millennium Toronto with subtle comic energy and a great cast, Sook-Yin Lee’s adaptation of Chester Brown’s autobiographical 2011 graphic novel is a movie only Lee could make… because it’s her story, too.</p>
<p>A Montréal copywriter sets out to reinvent himself as a sheep herder in the French Alps despite knowing literally nothing about the centuries-old craft, in this adaptation from director and co-writer Sophie Deraspe.</p>
<p>A suburban millennial woman is dating an Edwardian ghost, but recently their relationship has been on the rocks and she can't figure out why.</p>
<p>In 1850, the Fox sisters hold a séance for a wealthy couple who want to speak with their deceased son. However, when the girls' parlor tricks backfire.</p>
<p>A new app that tracks each global citizen’s CO2 emissions seems harmless—until people find out what happens when they reach their limit.</p>
<p>A young Black woman is on a quest to obtain the last tub of her mother's favorite hair product, Doo Grease, in a world where hair care is becoming increasingly commercialized.</p>
<p>In 1928, an anxious and naïve boy accompanies his father to participate in the family's ancient rite-of-passage tradition.</p>
<p>A boy transcends into a dreamlike state of ecstasy, only to discover the fragility of his control as the lines of dream and reality start to blur.</p>
<p><span data-sheets-root="1">When Eden's brother tragically dies, her grief spirals into obsession after discovering his secret girlfriend. A haunting exploration of love, loss and fixation with stunning visuals.</span></p>
<p>A day in the life of a young man who's determined to reach an impossible dream.</p>
<p>Their shared passion for rodeo and the weight of their family’s legacy in the sport bind together mother-daughter duo Kanesha and Kortnee.</p>
<p>A group of friends reminisce about the good times as they tackle their grief over the loss of their friend, Isaac.</p>
<p>In a rapidly changing Kowloon City, one Hong Kong family struggles to keep their traditional dessert shop open in the face of illness, generational desires, and gentrification in Vincent Chow Wing’s wistful, nostalgic family drama.</p>
<p>An imaginative look back at the founder of one of Seattle’s first openly gay spaces, told through archival footage, animation, and detailed recreations.</p>
<p>Erma searches Little Haiti for the man in a portrait painted by her son.</p>
<p><span data-sheets-root="1">As a centuries-old way of life fades in Mongolia, a herdsman leads a dual existence – tending his ranch by day and performing horse tricks for audiences by night. This intimate, award-winning drama is inspired by lead actor Saina’s real-life journey between the horse show world and his own personal challenges.</span></p>
<p>Five cousins are determined to use their creativity and tenacity to successfully cross the creek behind their grandpa’s house to see what happens on the other side.</p>
<p>A man selling bread to support his family is threatened when his sister-in-law opens a rival bakery.</p>
<p>Xi Jinwen storms out of her mother’s English tutoring session when she is unfairly blamed for a scuffle between students, leading to an unanticipated visitor at the door.</p>
<p>Two poets, one incurable cancer diagnosis. Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley go on an unexpectedly funny and poignant journey through love, life, and mortality.</p>
<p>Comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi creates a personal and political one-woman show about the struggle for equality in Israel/Palestine. When the elusive coexistence she’s spent her life working toward starts sounding like a bad joke, she challenges her audiences with hard truths that are no laughing matter.</p>
<p>Seattle loves its sushi, but did you know the cuisine’s North American popularity is thanks to a man named Hidekazu Tojo? Learn the story of the chef who changed the world after moving from Japan to Vancouver in the 1970s, staying true to his traditions despite all odds.</p>
<p>Fifty years after Tobe Hooper's THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE shocked the world and forever changed the face of global cinema and popular culture, CHAIN REACTIONS charts the film's profound impact and lasting influence on five great artists - Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King, and Karyn Kusama - through early memories, sensory experiences, and childhood trauma. By crafting a dynamic dialogue between contemporary footage and never-before-seen outtakes, and delving into personal impressions triggered by distinct dialogue formats (16mm, 35mm, VHS, digital), CHAIN REACTIONS goes to the heart of how a scruffy, no-budget independent film wormed its way into our collective nightmares and permanently altered the zeitgeist.</p>
<p>In this feel-good doc expanded from a SIFF 2019 short, filmmaker Jonathan Napolitano snuggles up with Bruce and Terry Jenkins, an aging Floridian couple who’ve decided to spend their last days running a retirement home for senior and aging cats.</p>
<p>Emerging from rural Ireland, Edna O’Brien broke multiple taboos with her sexually provocative literature and equally adventurous love life. Here, she opens up about her past with additional perspectives offered by Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosely, and others.</p>
<p>In this compassionate yet disturbing documentary, director Lawrence Côté-Collins inspects the life of former filmmaking friend Billy Poulin, now in prison for murder, through his own stockpile of video footage and deconstructs the effects of untreated schizophrenia.</p>
<p>Don Hardy (Pick of the Litter, SIFF 2018) returns to Seattle with this perfect cocktail of a documentary, focusing on students participating in the Culinary Institute of America’s BAR (Beverage Alcohol Resource) 5-Day Program, hoping to be some of the world’s greatest mixologists.</p>
<p>Nearly 30 years after Gail abandoned her newborn son in the woods and returned to her conservative Christian life, the police came and arrested her for infanticide. From Tribeca-winning documentarian Jessica Earnshaw (Hulu’s “Jacinta”).</p>
<p>Finding the right mate, the right place and the right time to create a family is the most critical quest in nature. This miraculous tale follows the Caribbean Flamingos through the most delicate period of their existence. Over nine years in the making, this film breaks new ground in natural history storytelling, blending unique narration with humor and breathtaking imagery. Narrated by Julieta Venegas and featuring a soundtrack by Bryce Dessner, it promises a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience.</p>
<p>An Indigenous Maya Chuj couple make a treacherous thousand-mile journey across Guatemala and into Mexico to demand the emancipation of their niece, who was wrongfully imprisoned during her intended migration to the United States.</p>
<p>Sixty years ago, a 30-year-old waitress and single mother, was persuaded to engage in psychotherapy sessions on film, with three of the most influential Theorist-Psychologists of the 20th century. Reeves newest dual-projection film breaks down and expands this widely viewed work “Three Approaches to Psychotherapy” with an intricate superimposed montage of scenes from Gloria’s unguarded sessions and numerous film artifacts of her lifetime: newsreels, home movies, commercials, a beauty pageant, cold war propaganda, and educational films from the 1930s-1970s.</p> <p>Sixty years ago, a 30-year-old waitress and single mother, was persuaded to engage in psychotherapy sessions on film, with three of the most influential Theorist-Psychologists of the 20th century. Reeves newest dual-projection film breaks down and expands the seminal film series Three Approaches to Psychotherapy with an intricate superimposed montage consisting of material from Gloria’s unguarded sessions and numerous film artifacts of her lifetime: newsreels, home movies, commercials, a beauty pageant, cold war propaganda, and educational films from the 1930s-1970s.</p> <p>The Gloria of your Imagination immerses audience members in an unabashed patriarchal, nationalistic era which many U.S. conservatives are working tirelessly to recreate. Social and legal limitations of that era, which formed Gloria and the struggles of her generation, remain unacknowledged in the sessions. While the therapists seem progressively non-judgmental about Gloria’s active sex life, there is no mention that contraceptives are actually illegal for her to take. Reeves’ original intertitle script fills in missing context and introduces Gloria’s greater life and self: from her Polish-Catholic upbringing to marriage straight from high school to an ever-evolving single parent on a spiritual journey, living by her own principles, until an untimely death at 46 years of age.</p> <p>By projecting films that Gloria could have seen in their original 16mm format, on top of portions from Gloria’s psychotherapy sessions, viewers absorb the culture of that era directly. Original 16mm shot by Reeves, and footage doctored with her signature Direct-on-film techniques, bring about viewers’ subjective experiences and visceral connections to Gloria’s inner experience. The “three Glorias” put on display by therapists with vastly divergent methods and conclusions, are displaced by the Glorias viewers experience, and perhaps by the courageous and determined individual imagined by the filmmaker.</p> <p>Director Biography - Jennifer T Reeves</p>
<p>Amid the surge in anti-trans legislation that Chase Strangio battles in the courtroom, he must also fight against media bias, exposing how the narratives in the press influence public perception and the fight for transgender rights.</p>
<p>Jean Cocteau possessed a staggering breadth of talent; he achieved fame as a poet, playwright, visual artist, choreographer, set designer and filmmaker. When he died in 1963, he was one of the most celebrated figures in France. Though many in Montparnasse were jealous of the “aura” that surrounded him and which seemed to assure his success in every new endeavor, his life was full of failures, betrayals, and reversals. He responded to these setbacks with a manic work ethic and non-stop artistic output. This feature documentary will explore the give-and-take between his life and his art.</p>
<p>In this amazing slice of film herstory, learn the legacy of women directors who have fought to be seen and heard and have their films preserved…and how to not let the next generation get lost in the same inequitable and homogenized system.</p>
<p>As an unprecedented wave of book banning is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond, librarians under siege join forces as unlikely defenders fighting for intellectual freedom on the front lines of democracy.</p>
<p>As avant-garde multihyphenate genius Meredith Monk approaches her final project, the immersive “Indra’s Net,” she and her greatest protégés and collaborators relive and reinterpret her storied career’s most enduring works.</p>
<p>Part road movie, part living biography, part documentary, Paul Anka: His Way is a remarkably candid film, offering an intimate look at one of the most prolific artists in music history and his seventy-year journey through stardom. The film goes behind-the-scenes with Paul Anka today as he continues to perform in sold-out concert venues around the world, cut against stunning archival footage of his historic career and including performances by the legendary artists who have recorded his music like Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Tom Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Linda Ronstadt, Michael Jackson, Drake and more. A master of reinvention, Anka engages with all genres of music, from quietly penning the theme to “The Tonight Show” to surprise posthumous hits with Michael Jackson, and even a swing reworking of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”</p>
<p>“This land I was raised on…it feels heavy.” Nevadan track star Kutoven Stevens runs with the weight of his ancestors on his shoulders. His great-grandfather Franklin ran away from the Stewart Indian School three times, escaping an abusive boarding school that sought to erase Indigenous culture through re-education. As Ku trains for scholarships and accolades, he wrestles with the legacy of colonialism, searching for a response to his family’s enduring pain.</p>
<p>Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. Her films TRIUMPH OF THE WILL and OLYMPIA stand for perfectly staged body worship and the celebration of the superior and victorious. At the same time, these images project contempt for the imperfect and weak. Riefenstahl's aesthetics are more present than ever today - but is that also true for their implied message? The film examines this question using documents from Riefenstahl's estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters. It uncovers fragments of her biography and places them in an extended historical context. How could Riefenstahl become the Reich's preeminent filmmaker and keep denying any closer ties to Hitler and Goebbels? In personal documents, she mourns her "murdered ideals". Riefenstahl represents many postwar Germans who, in letters and recorded telephone calls from her estate, dream of an organizing hand that will finally clean up the "shit-hole state. Then, her work would also experience a renaissance, in a generation or two this time could come - what if they are right?</p>
<p>Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure was a secret. Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, reveals their hidden romance and the sacrifices that accompanied their 27 years together.</p>
<p>An exploration of Black generational farmers in the American South reveals the fragility of legacy and the significance of owning land.</p>
<p>Legendary NASA robotics engineer and best-selling science fiction author, Gentry Lee, has spent a lifetime seeking an answer to the ultimate cosmic question: Are we alone in the universe? At age 82 he has come to a revelatory conclusion.</p>
<p>In September 1975, Sara Jane Moore fired two shots at President Gerald Ford on a crowded sidewalk in San Francisco’s Union Square. Moore holds the center of this fleet and compelling nonfiction drama from protean filmmaker Robinson Devor, who lends it the feel of a 1970s thriller.</p>
<p>With testimonials by former prisoners, relatives and experts, extensive archive material, animations and moving re-enactments, Traslados completes the jigsaw of witnesses, science and coincidences that prove the existence of the most cruel and effective way of killing and disappearing people executed by Argentina’s last Civic-Military Dictatorship in 1976-1983: the Death Flights.</p>
<p>In this investigative documentary ripped from the headlines, follow the creation and devastating impact of a digital advertising fraud operation, the likes of which enriches companies like Google and Facebook at the cost of everybody else…and democracy itself.</p>
<p>Fusing rigorous reportage with innovative cinematic subjectivity, this bold documentary from veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil is a uniquely intimate portrait of a Deaf person’s experience of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p>Range rider and “wolf-protecting cowboy” Daniel Curry and cattle rancher Jerry Francis try to find common ground between their conflicting interests in the forests of northeastern Washington, just 20 miles from the Canadian border.</p>
<p>Angelo dreams of being an adventurer and zoologist. He takes the road with his family to visit his beloved grandma, who is very sick. His parents forget him on a motorway rest area and leave without him. Abandoned, Angelo decides to cut through the forest to find his family. He sinks into this dark and mysterious territory populated by strange beings.</p>
<p>In this stop motion marvel from the Czech Republic based on the stories of author Arnošt Goldflam (“The Zookeeper’s Wife”), three young children visit their late grandmother’s house, where they take turns spinning fantastical tales to better understand loss, compassion, and empathy.</p>
<p>In the sequel to SIFF 2023 Golden Space Needle Best Film winner Dancing Queen, young hip-hop-dancing Mina and her dance partner Markus head to Los Angeles in hopes of starring in a music video, only for her to get the chance to be in a major motion picture!</p>
<p>As a senior in high school, Joan Huang idolizes winning Prom Queen as the embodiment of popularity, beauty and the ultimate form of acceptance into American life. In her relentless pursuit for the crown, she undergoes an experimental racial transformation to become White and win Prom Queen. However, what she thought was a dream come true soon reveals itself to be an emotional and physical nightmare. “Slanted” offers a searing and unapologetically satirical view on race and the uncomfortable journey of learning to love yourself and your culture.</p>
<p>In Spokane-based Jared Briley’s directorial debut featuring a treasure trove of local talent, young Eve (Darby Lee-Stack) and James (Edouard Philipponat) come of age as they road trip across the Evergreen State in this Washington-set love story.</p>
<p>In this soulful family drama shot in and around the Cascades, a young adult in rural America must confront her family’s numerous hardships—addiction, incarceration, poverty—and find the grace in life’s most fragile moments.</p>
<p>A woman swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair.</p>
<p>Following the passing of his wife, a devoted father is learning to raise his son with Down Syndrome as a single parent. While adjusting to their new reality, the two embark on a journey through Metro Atlanta to attend their first baseball game.</p>
<p>Familiar Touch is a coming of (old) age film.<br /> <br /> It follows an octogenarian woman's transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.</p>
<p>Annapurna Sriram writes, directs, and stars in this campy, vividly pastel-colored romp about a woman who embarks upon a sex worker odyssey through Trashtown with her nonbinary friend to break a terrible curse that has befallen her. SXSW Special Jury Prize winner.</p>
<p>After a wildfire takes the family farm, a rancher seeks a way forward.</p>
<p>First-time director Siobhan McCarthy put together a cast and crew of almost entirely trans, nonbinary, and queer people to make this Bottoms-esque teen satire about two seniors who pretend to be trans during their last week of high school, only for one of them to find it suits them just fine.</p>
<p>Two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely bromance.</p>
<p>Sperm have to overcome the odds of 1 in 300 million to reach the egg and fertilize it. Sperm must be prepared for any situation through daily survival learning and training. Simon, the very happy sperm living in the testicles of the boy Jens, sets out on a journey that risks his life when Jens attempts to have sex with Lisa for the first time on a camping trip. Will Simon, along with the other sperm risking everything for fertilization, be able to reach the egg and fertilize it, avoiding the attacks of spermicides on the long and difficult journey to the womb? Spermageddon, a collaboration between Dead Snow's Tommy Wirkola and animation director Rasmus A. Sivertsen, stands out for its ingenious imagination, portraying the harsh competitive world of sperm through an action-adventure drama. The comical action adventure of the sperm, the coming-of-age romance between Jens and Lisa, and the musical sequences with dancing and singing provide great fun not to be missed. The tip that condoms are not the ultimate solution for contraception is a bonus.</p>
<p>In this rock ’em, sock ’em, kick-’em-in-the-face-while-dancing midnighter, ex-police officer Dylan Gamble must join forces with a low-level crook to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend and take down the deadly Styles Syndicate once and for all!</p>
<p>Good Boy started with a simple high concept: a haunted house film, where the main character is the family dog–and the only one who can see the forces that haunt us. Our canine hero, Indy, finds himself on a new adventure with his human—and best friend—Todd, leaving city life for a long-vacant family home in the country. After moving in, Indy is immediately vexed by empty corners, tracks an invisible presence, perceives phantasmagoric warnings from a long-dead dog, and is haunted by visions of the previous occupant’s grim death. When Todd begins succumbing to the dark forces swirling around the house, Indy must battle a malevolence intent on dragging his beloved Todd into the afterlife!</p>
<p>A lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man, but their whirlwind affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him through madcap scientific experiments, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.</p>
<p>Three women in a Marseille apartment gets stuck in a heat wave. They find themselves trapped in a terrifying affair and longing for freedom.</p>