2024 Critics' Week

<p>After being released from a juvenile detention center, Wellington finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of S&atilde;o Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. During a visit to a porn theater, he encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion, oscillating between exploitation and protection, jealousy and complicity.</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>As the star player at an elite tennis academy, Julie&rsquo;s life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club&#39;s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet&hellip;</p>

<p>As the 2019 Hong Kong protests erupt across the strait, Zhong-Han, a silent twenty-nothing in Taiwan, leads a double life - working at a family restaurant by day, and running with a group of local gangsters by night. But when the ownership of the restaurant changes hands, it sets off an unexpected chain reaction that forces Zhong-Han to witness and confront the corrupt power games of his country.</p>

<p>Willy and Jojo are childhood friends who never leave each other&#39;s side. Training at the motocross track is their way to beat boredom. One evening, Willy discovers Jojo&#39;s secret.</p>

<p>In a remote conservative village in the South of Egypt, a group of disenfranchised Coptic girls rebel by forming an all-female street theater troupe. They dream of becoming actresses, dancers and singers, challenging their families and the villagers with their provocative performances. Shot across four years, this coming-of-age story focuses on those girls, as they transition from childhood to womanhood.</p>

<p>Simon is 21 years old. He introduces himself as a mover&#39;s helper. He claims not to know how to cook or clean the bathroom, but he does know how to make a bed. Recently, he seems to have become a different person&hellip;</p>

<p>In contemporary Ethiopia, a farming community&#39;s exodus is disrupted when the patriarch of a prominent family disappears from his grave. Tessema, his son, begins to question the church&#39;s divine explanation, forcing him to launch his own investigation.</p>

<p>In a dystopian world, a girl breaks her ceramic pot, which holds a secret within. The breaking of the pot opens portals to a parallel universe and the girl enters a time of transformation in which the creation of a new world is finally possible.</p>

<p>Lourdes and Lana met telepathically using &ldquo;sensory pills&rdquo;, a technology that allows access to other people&rsquo;s sensations from a distance. After months of relationship, Lourdes decides to visit the country house of her parents, Vicente and Carl, and introduce them to her girlfriend.</p>

<p>Nothing seems to be moving in Athens and the people are as still as statues. But elsewhere in the city, a caryatid escapes the museum and a small groupuscule demands the destruction of all antiquities. Perhaps filming is the only way to avoid turning into stone.</p>

<p>Throughout a night out in downtown Tijuana, Laura waits for her destiny to arrive.</p>

<p>On a beautiful autumn day, in Montsouris Park in Paris, Jacques and Nathan are looking for interesting people to shoot their documentary. They chance upon Pierre and Martin, two odd dodos about to have an unusual experience.</p>

<p>Mert, a 30-year-old male, is employed at an abandoned-looking amusement park. He is grappling with an internal duality, while sensing a lurking identity bent on undermining him. Throughout the film, Mert interacts with various people and creatures, struggling to understand what&#39;s going wrong with his mental health. Despite his persistent pursuit of answers, Mert confronts a daunting struggle to delve into the depths of his psyche, hindered by a hesitancy to fully confront the mysteries within.</p>

<p>A young rookie from a bizarre chicken-dance group faces a heckler after being the worst dancer at a performance -- leading him to a series of strange events that reveal what the group does to their weakest link.</p>

<p>Having crept into a tent, a young girl steps out of it grown and strangely dressed as a bunny rabbit. An inner journey through which the young woman tries to understand the drama at the root of all her suffering.</p>

<p>After the fall of communism in 1989, colour TVs are no longer a luxury good in Poland. The screens in many Polish homes are beginning to look more like the reality outside the window. But is reality truly colourful?</p>

<p>Hamid, is part of a secret group pursuing the Syrian regime&rsquo;s fugitive leaders. His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer whom he must confront. Based on true events.</p>

<p>Nour, 27, immigrated illegally to Marseille. With his friends, he makes a living as a small-time dealer, leading an unconventional, festive life&hellip;Meeting Serge - an unpredictable, charismatic cop - and his wife No&eacute;mie, turns his life upside down. From 1990 to 2000, Nour loves, matures, and clings to his dreams.</p>

<p>2055. Steevyshady, an overly botoxed Youtuber tells their idol&rsquo;s mad destiny: we follow pop diva singer Mimi Madamour from the very peak of her career in 2005, all the way down to the pits of hell, a downfall brought about by her love story with punk icon Billie Kohler. For half a century these drama queens have sung their passion and their rage high upon a stage.</p>

<p>Camargue, France - Infamous for its traditional bull race, an exhilarating and graceful challenge of agility and respect between man and beast. Surrounded by men, 22-year-old Nejma trains hard to fulfill her dream of winning the upcoming annual competition, but news of a rogue and violent bull on the loose terrifies the community. Young men are being murdered everywhere, and the beast is nowhere to be seen.</p>

<p>Mature women talk about their wedding, their first time, their intimate relationship with sex. In repeating these age-old rituals, the director questions her own condition as an unmarried woman with no children, and therefore the end of a mother-daughter chain-relationship.</p>

<p>1996, 16-year-old Solveig longs for her first kiss...</p>

<p>Sauna Day invites you into the world of Southern Estonian men who go to the dark-intimate space of a smoke sauna after a hard day&#39;s work. Beneath their tough exteriors lies a desire for connection, veiled in secrecy.</p>