2019 Festival Programme Recommendation Engine

37 Seconds

Directed by Hikari

A young Japanese woman with cerebral palsy is torn between her obligations to her family and her dream of becoming a successful manga artist, in director Hikari's Berlinale Audience Award–winning feature debut.

A Girl Missing

Directed by Koji Fukada

A home-care nurse’s relationship with the family she has spent years working for is threatened when her nephew is arrested for kidnapping their daughter, in Koji Fukada’s purposeful, tense, and suspenseful drama.

A Sun

Directed by Chung Mong-Hong

A family of four fractures under the weight of unmet expectations, unexpected tragedy, and uncompromising pride, in the latest from Taiwanese maverick Chung Mong-Hong (Godspeed).

A White, White Day

Directed by Hlynur Pálmason

The powerful new film by Hlynur Pálmason (Winter Brothers) centres on a grieving police officer in rural Iceland (Ingvar E. Sigurðsson) who turns his vengeful sights on a neighbour he suspects may have had an affair with his now-deceased wife.

Adam

Directed by Maryam Touzani

The lives of two vulnerable women in Casablanca — one pregnant, homeless, and shunned (Nessrine Erradi), the other widowed and bereft (Loubna Azabal, Incendies) — converge and transform in this heartwarming directorial debut from celebrated actor Maryam Touzani (Razzia).

And the Birds Rained Down

Directed by Louise Archambault

Acclaimed director Louise Archambault's elegaic and charming new film depicts three aging hermits in the Quebec countryside whose defiant need to live independently is increasingly endangered by nature, old age, and infirmity.

Antigone

Directed by Sophie Deraspe

Critically acclaimed Québécois filmmaker Sophie Deraspe’s provocative and timely adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy of the same name reimagines the story of a woman’s quest for justice as a commentary on the immigrant experience in contemporary Montreal.

Arab Blues

Directed by Manele Labidi

After years abroad, a woman (Golshifteh Farahani) returns to Tunis with the dream of opening up her own psychotherapy practice, in Manele Labidi’s charming feature debut.

Atlantics

Directed by Mati Diop

Marginalized young lovers in Senegal desperately seek a better life by any means necessary, in this highly anticipated, Cannes Grand Prix–winning feature debut from Mati Diop.

Atlantis

Directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych

A soldier suffering from PTSD befriends a young volunteer hoping to restore peaceful energy to a war-torn society, in director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s dystopian vision of Ukraine in the near future.

Bacurau

Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles

Teresa (Bárbara Colen) comes home to her matriarchal village in a near-future Brazil to find that its citizens have been sold as prey to bloodthirsty foreign hunters, in Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles' politically charged genre hybrid.

Balloon

Directed by Pema Tseden

In Tibetan director Pema Tseden's (Jinpa, The Search) new film, a family struggles against the conflicting dictates of nature, spirituality, politics, and free will.

Beanpole

Directed by Kantemir Balagov

Two tenacious women in the post-siege ruins of 1945 Leningrad struggle to rebuild their lives, in Kantemir Balagov's loose adaptation of Nobel Prize–winning author Svetlana Alexievich's The Unwomanly Face of War.

Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies

Directed by Edward Burns

A suburban wife and mother (Jennifer Ehle) longs to escape the monotony of her daily routine and the stress caused by her underwhelming adult children, in the latest character-driven drama from Edward Burns (The Fitzgerald Family Christmas).

Blow the Man Down

Directed by Danielle Krudy, Bridget Savage Cole

Two sisters in a small Maine fishing village try to cover up a violent crime and avoid running afoul of the suspicious and threatening proprietor of the local brothel (Margo Martindale), in Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole’s atmospheric debut feature.

Bombay Rose

Directed by Gitanjali Rao

This beguiling and topical animated feature written, designed, and directed by Gitanjali Rao follows multiple characters, each connected by a single red rose, as they navigate life and love in the sprawling Indian metropolis.

Castle in the Ground

Directed by Joey Klein

Two lost souls — one kicking her habit, one developing his own — befriend each other and grapple with the hard truths of addiction, in Joey Klein's exploration of the opioid crisis in Canada.

Chicuarotes

Directed by Gael García Bernal

Gael García Bernal’s second directorial feature follows two teenage friends whose desperation to escape their Mexico City shantytown leads them to exuberant — and increasingly unhinged — lawlessness.

Corpus Christi

Directed by Jan Komasa

Recently released from a youth detention facility, a young man hiding from his past poses as a priest in a small Polish town, where the healing he provides may not be enough to resolve his own test of faith.

Dogs Don't Wear Pants

Directed by J-P Valkeapää

A guilt-stricken widower discovers that a demanding dominatrix might be able to give him the therapy he needs, in audacious Finnish filmmaker J-P Valkeapää’s affecting and absurd dramedy.

Flatland

Directed by Jenna Bass

Following the murder of her husband, a young woman and her best friend flee across the South African Karoo, pursued by a police officer with demons of her own, in this neo-noir western feminist road movie grounded in the gender, racial, and class issues of contemporary South Africa.

Hala

Directed by Minhal Baig

Geraldine Viswanathan gives a breakout performance as an American Muslim teenager balancing her relationship with her protective Pakistani immigrant parents and her own independent desires, in Minhal Baig’s honest, touching, and assured coming-of-age drama.

Henry Glassie: Field Work

Directed by Pat Collins

The worldwide travels and unique cultural finds of renowned American folklorist Henry Glassie are enthrallingly chronicled in this portrait by director Pat Collins (Song of Granite).

Incitement

Directed by Yaron Zilberman

This rigorous psychological thriller by American-Israeli director Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet) depicts the lead-up to the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin through the worldview of his assassin, Yigal Amir.

Instinct

Directed by Halina Reijn

A veteran female psychologist (Carice van Houten) begins a position at a secure men's rehab facility and meets a charismatic, manipulative patient (Marwan Kenzari) with a violent history of sexual assault, in the directorial debut from Dutch actor Halina Reijn.

Jallikattu

Directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery

A bold new voice in Malayalam cinema, Lijo Jose Pellissery (Ee. Ma. Yau.) presents a portrait of a remote village in his hometown where a buffalo escapes and causes a frenzy of ecstatic violence.

Knuckle City

Directed by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka

An aging, womanizing professional boxer and his career-criminal brother take one last shot at success and get more than they've bargained for, in South African director Jahmil X.T. Qubeka's slick, gripping new film.

La Llorona

Directed by Jayro Bustamante

A once-fearsome but declining Guatemalan general is targeted for war crimes from another dimension, in writer-director Jayro Bustamante’s (Ixcanul) reimagining of the classic Latin American fable about an itinerant spirit.

Les Misérables

Directed by Ladj Ly

When three cops of varying lawfulness cross paths with local toughs, the Montfermeil district of Paris violently descends into chaos, in Ladj Ly’s Cannes Special Prize–winning debut feature that ingeniously weaves the thematic threads of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece into an explosive contemporary narrative spotlighting France as a place of seismic political and social change.

Made in Bangladesh

Directed by Rubaiyat Hossain

When a woman attempts to organize her garment factory co-workers in Dhaka following a fatal fire, ugly walls of resistance arise in this piercing indictment of exploitative labour practices and the global trade apparatus supporting them.

Maria's Paradise

Directed by Zaida Bergroth

A teenage girl begins to question the teachings (and actions) of the fringe religious sect in which she has been raised, in Zaida Bergroth's (Miami) intelligent and chilling study of cults based on a real-life scandal that took place in Finland in the 1920s.

Mariam

Directed by Sharipa Urazbayeva

In Sharipa Urazbayeva's stunning directorial debut, Meruert Sabbusinova plays the titular character in a fictionalization of her own life, in which she fights for survival in a remote village on the Kazakh Steppe after her husband disappears and is presumed dead.

Nobadi

Directed by Karl Markovics

A grumpy old white man enlists the help of an Afghani migrant to bury his dead dog, and as the two dredge through prejudices to find common ground, their day takes an unexpected turn, in Karl Markovics' latest (Superwelt, Breathing).

Our Lady of the Nile

Directed by Atiq Rahimi

This bewitching yet unassuming adaptation of Scholastique Mukasonga's award-winning novel recounts the coming-of-age of a group of Rwandan schoolgirls at a Belgian-run Catholic boarding school.

Red Fields

Directed by Keren Yedaya

After her husband is injured during military service, a woman from Southern Israel moves to Tel Aviv in the hopes of a better life, in Keren Yedaya’s adaption of the surrealist, satirical rock musical Mami.

Resin

Directed by Daniel Joseph Borgman

The dangerous paranoia lurking beneath the seemingly idyllic existence of a family of hermits living on a remote island begins to come to the fore when their daughter starts to question her parents' worldview, in Daniel Joseph Borgman’s (The Weight of Elephants) bucolic and brutal drama.

So Long, My Son

Directed by Wang Xiaoshuai

A married couple attempts to deal with the untimely death of their young son in addition to the rapidly changing foundations of Chinese society, in this decade-spanning, highly personal, and ambitiously epic work from Sixth-Generation filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai.

Spider

Directed by Andrés Wood

Inés, Justo, and Gerardo were right-wing anti-Allende radicals in 1970s Chile, but Inés and Justo are now respected businesspeople, and Gerardo's lingering political conviction threatens to expose the trio's shared past.

Synonyms

Directed by Nadav Lapid

In this unpredictable, emotional new film from Nadav Lapid (The Kindergarten Teacher), Israeli ex-soldier Yoav (Tom Mercier) moves to Paris hoping to escape his national identity, but struggles to assimilate fully into French society.

Tammy's Always Dying

Directed by Amy Jo Johnson

Actor-turned-director Amy Jo Johnson's heart-wrenching second feature, starring Felicity Huffman and Anastasia Phillips, depicts a daughter's attempt to care for her ornery, ailing mother.

Terminal Sud

Directed by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche

The Algerian Civil War frames the sixth feature by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche (Story of Judas), in which a doctor (Ramzy Bedia) is kidnapped to care for a rebel leader and becomes a target for the army, sinking him deeper into the abyss of the conflict.

The Barefoot Emperor

Directed by Jessica Woodworth, Peter Brosens

An emperor is set to rule a rejigged, newly nationalist Europe, in Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens' (King of the Belgians) political satire.

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Kathleen Hepburn

One woman’s decision to comfort a stranger she finds crying in the street leads to a revealing and powerful conversation between two Indigenous women from very different circumstances, in this poignant collaboration from Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn.

The Climb

Directed by Michael Angelo Covino

A startling confession on a bike ride across the South of France becomes the hub for an episodic journey through the lives of two men, in Michael Angelo Covino's clever and honest comedy about a destructive, co-dependent, and inescapable friendship.

The County

Directed by Grímur Hákonarson

An Icelandic woman takes on the corruption of her local co-op and the outdated, exploitative system that supports it, in the latest from acclaimed filmmaker Grímur Hákonarson (Rams).

The Father

Directed by Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva

Bulgarian directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov's tender family drama depicts a day in the life of a dysfunctional father and his frustrated son, showing love's ebbs and flows and the hard work required.

The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão

Directed by Karim Aïnouz

Two sisters born in Rio de Janeiro make their way through life, each mistakenly believing the other is living out her dreams half a world away, in the latest melodrama from Brazilian auteur Karim Aïnouz.

The Last Porno Show

Directed by Kire Paputts

A man inherits his estranged father’s prized possession — a derelict porno theatre — in Kire Paputts’ second feature, about gentrification and finding love and compassion in unlikely places.

The Long Walk

Directed by Mattie Do

Decades after witnessing a fatal car accident near his isolated home in rural Laos, a middle-aged man is left alone with his regrets and the unsettled spirit who still walks the road where she died, in this hauntingly dramatic third feature from Mattie Do (Dearest Sister).

The Perfect Candidate

Directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour

Frustrated with the limits placed upon her because of her gender, a small-town Saudi doctor takes matters into her own hands and runs for local council, in this family drama from Haifaa al-Mansour (Wadjda, Mary Shelley).

The Wild Goose Lake

Directed by Diao Yinan

A wounded gangster recounts the bloody story of why he is on the run to a sex worker he’s not sure he can trust, in Diao Yinan’s ultra-violent, noir crime thriller.

Three Summers

Directed by Sandra Kogut

Over a trio of summers, a caretaker for luxury condominiums (Regina Casé) relies on her resourcefulness and her eye for opportunity to take advantage of whatever comes her way, in Sandra Kogut’s (Campo Grande) humourous and inventive episodic feature.

Verdict

Directed by Raymund Ribay Gutierrez

An abused wife looks for justice but finds the legal and bureaucratic institutions meant to protect her mired in loopholes and repressive patriarchal traditions, in Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s gripping feature debut.

White Lie

Directed by Calvin Thomas, Yonah Lewis

Having become a campus celebrity after a (fictional) cancer diagnosis, a young woman (Kacey Rohl) struggles to maintain her fabrication in this fearless and emotionally affecting new feature by Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis (Amy George, The Oxbow Cure, Spice It Up).

You Will Die at Twenty

Directed by Amjad Abu Alala

The daring feature debut from Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala follows a child — portended to die at age 20 — as he and his mother navigate the unchartered space between coming of age and facing the end.

1982

Directed by Oualid Mouaness

During the 1982 invasion of Lebanon at a private school on the outskirts of Beirut, 11-year-old Wissam tries to tell a classmate about his crush on her, while his teachers — on different sides of the political divide — try to mask their fears, in this poignant debut feature from Oualid Mouaness.

A Bump Along The Way

Directed by Shelly Love

When a fun-loving, middle-aged single mom accidentally gets pregnant, her prim teenage daughter is scandalized. But mother and daughter slowly reverse roles as the pregnancy progresses, in this delightful, insightful Northern Irish dramedy.

AFRICA

Directed by Oren Gerner

Director Oren Gerner ponders aging and family in a time of transition in this inventive quasi-factual feature about an elderly man (played by Gerner’s father) seeking purpose and meaning as the years tick by.

August

Directed by Armando Capó

Armando Capó’s socially charged debut borrows from the filmmaker’s own upbringing in rural Cuba during the height of the 1994 Balseros crisis, when mass illegal migration to the US compounded economic misery with social chaos.

Black Conflux

Directed by Nicole Dorsey

The seemingly separate lives of an anxious, disillusioned teen girl and a troubled, alienated man converge fatefully in this haunting exploration of womanhood, isolation and toxic masculinity, set in 1980s Newfoundland.

Bring Me Home

Directed by Kim Seung-woo

A dedicated mother in search of her missing son follows a tip that leads her to a fishing village where corrupt police officers might have the answers to her mystery, in Kim Seung-woo’s tense and thrilling debut.

Calm With Horses

Directed by Nick Rowland

When a former boxer is offered a gig as an enforcer with the local drug mafia, life seems on the uptick — but the demands weigh heavily as he makes inroads with his young son, in Nick Rowland's brooding yet tender crime film.

Certified Mail

Directed by Hisham Saqr

A new mother struggles with parenthood, adjusting to life with an imprisoned husband, and her own mental health, in Hisham Saqr’s delicate debut feature.

Comets

Directed by Tamar Shavgulidze

Three decades after their separation, Irina and Nana remain mesmerized by memories of earlier days. But when Irina returns to the small community she left — where Nana stayed to start a traditional family — the women must reconcile with the past and their complex feelings, in director Tamar Shavgulidze's emotive drama.

Disco

Directed by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen

When a champion dancer (Josefine Frida Pettersen) begins to slide, those in her orbit question her faith and cause her to search for more radical solutions, in Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s (Hoggeren) disturbing second feature.

Easy Land

Directed by Sanja Zivkovic

Director Sanja Zivkovic’s poignant debut feature follows a mother and daughter, Serbian refugees, as they struggle to navigate the many obstacles facing newcomers to Canada.

Entwined

Directed by Minos Nikolakakis

Minos Nikolakakis' enchanting, mystical debut tells the story of Panos, a doctor from the city who relocates to a remote village where he meets a spirit who will change his life forever.

Hearts and Bones

Directed by Ben Lawrence

Two men — an Australian photojournalist and a South Sudanese refugee — are forced to confront the twin horrors of war and grief, in director Ben Lawrence’s fiction-feature debut.

Hope

Directed by Maria Sødahl

The relationship between artist-partners Tomas (Stellan Skarsgård) and Anja (Andrea Bræin Hovig) is put to the test after Anja gets a life-threatening diagnosis, in this probing and affecting film from Maria Sodahl (Limbo, The 7 Deadly Sins).

Kuessipan

Directed by Myriam Verreault

Based on Naomi Fontaine’s acclaimed novel, two childhood friends from the same Quebec Innu community begin to realize that they face very different futures, in Myriam Verreault’s bittersweet portrait of the ties that bind people, places, and possibilities.

Lina from Lima

Directed by María Paz González

The issue of migrant labour gets a winningly light touch in this musical comedy — and debut fiction film — from documentarian María Paz González, about a Peruvian woman working as a domestic helper for a wealthy Chilean family, who prepares for a trip home to visit the son she left behind.

Love Me Tender

Directed by Klaudia Reynicke

Seconda (Barbara Giordano) has acute agoraphobia and is confined to her family apartment — until her routine suddenly changes and she is forced to fight for her independence, in Klaudia Reynicke's gripping second feature.

Murmur

Directed by Heather Young

An aging, isolated woman ordered to perform community service for a DUI discovers that adopting ailing pets to fill the void in her life can be its own obsession, in Heather Young’s bold debut feature.

My Life as a Comedian

Directed by Rojda Sekersöz

Novelist Jonas Gardell adapts his own bestseller about growing up in 1970s-era Sweden with its countless perils, heartbreaks, and shifting alliances, in this painfully savvy feature from director Rojda Sekersöz (Beyond Dreams).

Noura's Dream

Directed by Hinde Boujemaa

With her abusive husband in jail and a coveted divorce pending, hardworking Noura can almost grasp a happy, new life with lover Lassaad — but when the best-laid plans are upended, Noura must tap her unshakable will to fulfill her dream.

Pompei

Directed by Anna Falguères, John Shank

In this atmospheric, allegorical film from Anna Falguères and John Shank, Victor (Aliocha Schneider) and his little brother scrape by through the thieving of artifacts as part of a community of vagrant children.

Raf

Directed by Harry Cepka

A woman's deadbeat life changes when she meets her new BFF, in writer-director Harry Cepka’s debut film — a unique take on female friendship and the influence of class on contemporary relationships.

Sea Fever

Directed by Neasa Hardiman

A bizarre creature hitches a ride on a departing trawler, in this masterful genre film from Irish filmmaker Neasa Hardiman that leverages the mysteries of the sea to amplify the potential horrors of the unknown.

Simple Women

Directed by Chiara Malta

An epileptic director trying to make a film about the life of famed Romanian actor Elina Löwensohn discovers that her real-life subject bears little resemblance to the star she idolized, in Chiara Malta’s layered and innovative fiction debut.

Sole

Directed by Carlo Sironi

Two very different teens involved in a surrogate motherhood scheme learn how to live, in director Carlo Sironi’s poignant feature debut inspired by ordinary people facing extraordinary situations.

Son-Mother

Directed by Mahnaz Mohammadi

In this fiction-feature debut from documentarian Mahnaz Mohammadi (Mr. Vali), a widow who works tirelessly at a failing factory in sanctions-gripped Iran receives a marriage proposal that could mean financial security — but could also tear her family apart.

Stories From The Chestnut Woods

Directed by Gregor Bozic

In a decaying forest on the Yugoslav-Italian border in the years after World War II, a stingy, old carpenter and a lonely, young chestnut seller share imaginative memories of the past as they weigh fateful decisions for the future, in this touching homage to a lost way of life.

Sweetness in the Belly

Directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari

Dakota Fanning stars in this vivid adaptation of Camilla Gibb’s bestseller, set in England and Ethiopia, about an altruistic and devout young woman with a nomadic past seeking to reconnect with the man she loves.

The Antenna

Directed by Orçun Behram

The inhabitants of an apartment building are caught in a living nightmare when a radical, new communications technology goes horribly awry, in Orçun Behram’s frightening and visceral feature debut.

The Audition

Directed by Ina Weisse

A stern, particular violin teacher (Nina Hoss) becomes fixated on the success of one of her pupils at the expense of her family life, in this subtle, forceful, and meticulously arranged visual concerto from acclaimed German actor Ina Weisse.

The Giant

Directed by David Raboy

A teenager’s small town life is changed forever when a series of murders begin on the same night that her missing boyfriend suddenly reappears, in David Raboy’s dark, challenging, and suspenseful thriller.

The Good Intentions

Directed by Ana García Blaya

In this subtle and charming drama, an aging slacker finds his comfortable status quo and family dynamic disrupted when his ex-wife and her current partner decide to move from Argentina to Paraguay and take his children with them.

The Lost Okoroshi

Directed by Abba Makama

Haunted by dreams of an ancestral Okoroshi masquerade, a disillusioned security guard wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a mute, purple spirit, in Abba Makama’s surrealist romp through the sprawling city of Lagos.

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson

Directed by Ali LeRoi

A gay African American teenager is forced to relive the last day of his life over and over again — and his subsequent, repeated deaths at the hands of police — in Ali LeRoi’s incisive and urgent feature debut.

The Rest of Us

Directed by Aisling Chin-Yee

A single-mother welcomes her ex-partner’s wife and daughter into her life, leading to a new, sometimes tense, family dynamic and an unlikely female friendship, in Aisling Chin-Yee’s humorous and heartbreaking debut.

Two of Us

Directed by Filippo Meneghetti

Pensioners Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades, but their bond is put to the test when they are suddenly unable to move freely between each other's apartments, in Filippo Meneghetti's bold, lustrous debut feature.

ZANA

Directed by Antoneta Kastrati

Haunted by her long-suppressed past and pressured by family to seek treatment from mystical healers for her infertility, a Kosovar woman struggles to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality, in documetarian Antoneta Kastrati’s deeply personal feature debut.

A Hidden Life

Directed by Terrence Malick

The conscience of a pious Austrian farmer is severely tested as war blankets Europe and Nazi ideology spreads, in this enveloping, spiritual epic from master Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life).

About Endlessness

Directed by Roy Andersson

The latest from influential Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson (A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, A Swedish Love Story) weaves together multiple visually arresting vignettes into a powerful larger narrative exploring our personal lack of awareness.

Devil Between the Legs

Directed by Arturo Ripstein

Geriatric sex and other hazards plaguing aging lovers get a candid, unflinching, and darkly hilarious spin in the latest from legendary Mexican director-screenwriter duo Arturo Ripstein and Paz Alicia Garcíadiego (Bleak Street).

I Was at Home, But...

Directed by Angela Schanelec

The award-winning new feature from German auteur Angela Schanelec (The Dreamed Path) hinges on the mysterious disappearance (and reappearance) of a 13-year-old boy, which sets in motion a cubist narrative that oscillates between precision and enigma, headiness and sensuality.

It Must Be Heaven

Directed by Elia Suleiman

In a series of darkly comic vignettes shot in international locales, Palestinian director Elia Suleiman investigates the meanings of being in exile, and the absurdities of nationalism, normality, and identity.

Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger

Directed by Alanis Obomsawin

Alanis Obomsawin’s remarkable 53rd film documents the story of a young boy forced to spend all five years of his short life in hospital while the federal and provincial governments argued over which was responsible for his care, as well as the long struggle of Indigenous activists to force the Canadian government to enforce “Jordan’s Principle” — the promise that no First Nations children would experience inequitable access to government-funded services again.

Sorry We Missed You

Directed by Ken Loach

From socially conscious director Ken Loach and longtime collaborator Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake) comes a wrenching portrait of a hardworking English couple sliding deeper into debt and despair, despite toiling in all-consuming jobs.

The Traitor

Directed by Marco Bellocchio

Marco Bellocchio's (Vincere) dynamic drama profiles real-life mafia boss turned informer Tommaso Buscetta, whose whistleblowing on his former colleagues led to the largest prosecution of the Sicilian mafia in Italian history.

The Whistlers

Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu

In this neo-noir tale from Romanian auteur Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective, 12:08 East of Bucharest), a corrupt cop — under surveillance while participating in a mob plot in the Canary Islands — must communicate with his accomplices in an Indigenous language based on whistling.

To the Ends of the Earth

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

In the latest film from Kiyoshi Kurosawa — part travelogue, part showbiz satire — a tv-show host on location with her crew in Uzbekistan abandons her assignment and sets out on her own journey of self-discovery.

Zombi Child

Directed by Bertrand Bonello

This daring, cross-genre film from director Bertrand Bonello (Nocturama) spans 1960s Haiti and a boarding school in contemporary France to tell a story of how colonialism and cultural appropriation refuse to die.

Blood Quantum

Directed by Jeff Barnaby

Jeff Barnaby’s astutely-titled second feature is equal parts horror and pointed cultural critique. Zombies are devouring the world, yet an isolated Mi’gmaq community is immune to the plague. Do they offer refuge to the denizens outside their reserve or not?

Color Out of Space

Directed by Richard Stanley

In director Richard Stanley's adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's classic horror short story, a meteor falls to earth and lands on the property of a New England family — its increasingly unhinged patriarch played by the one-and-only Nicolas Cage — with insidious, delirious, and psychedelic results.

Crazy World

Directed by IGG Nabwana

In the latest from Uganda’s gonzo action auteur Isaac Nabwana, a gang of child-snatching mobsters make a fatal mistake when they kidnap the Waka Stars, a team of pint-sized kung-fu masters who soon turn their cunning wits and deadly skills upon their captors.

First Love

Directed by Takashi Miike

A doomed boxer and a haunted drug addict find themselves inadvertently caught in the crosshairs of two warring gangs, in the latest from Midnight Madness provocateur Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition).

Gundala

Directed by Joko Anwar

In this exhilarating actioner from writer-director Joko Anwar (Folklore), Indonesia’s preeminent comic book superhero (and his alter ego Sancaka) enter the cinematic universe to battle the wicked Pengkor and his diabolical squad of orphan assassins.

Saint Maud

Directed by Rose Glass

This psychological horror film from first-time director Rose Glass follows a pious nurse who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.

The Platform

Directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

In a future dystopia, prisoners housed in vertically stacked cells watch hungrily as food descends from above — feeding the upper tiers, but leaving those below ravenous and radicalized — in Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's profound parable about the socio-political potency of genre cinema.

The Twentieth Century

Directed by Matthew Rankin

Winnipeg’s Matthew Rankin (The Tesla World Light) doubles down on his signature mode of gonzo history films with this bizarro biopic of William Lyon Mackenzie King, which reimagines the former Canadian Prime Minister’s early life as a series of abject humiliations both professional and sexual.

The Vast of Night

Directed by Andrew Patterson

In the twilight of the 1950s, two youths seek the source of a mysterious frequency that has descended upon a town in New Mexico, in Andrew Patterson's pitch-perfect sci-fi thriller.

The Vigil

Directed by Keith Thomas

A man providing overnight watch to a deceased member of his former Orthodox Jewish community finds himself opposite a malevolent entity, in writer-director Keith Thomas’ electrifying feature debut.

Anne at 13,000 ft

Directed by Kazik Radwanski

Anne — played by Deragh Campbell, in one of the year’s most staggering performances — is a volatile young woman challenged by everyday social and professional encounters, in the latest from Kazik Radwanski (Tower, How Heavy This Hammer).

Martin Eden

Directed by Pietro Marcello

Closing Night Film, Platform

Based on the Jack London novel of the same name, Pietro Marcello's latest features a sailor (Luca Marinelli) trying to remake himself as a writer, in this passionate and timeless story of class consciousness and failed ideals.

My Zoe

Directed by Julie Delpy

A recently divorced mother is driven to extremes in this seventh film by writer-director-actor Julie Delpy — a suspense drama unlike anything she has done before.

Proxima

Directed by Alice Winocour

Alice Winocour (Disorder, Augustine) builds on her meticulously crafted body of work with this incisive drama, in which an astronaut and mother (Eva Green) grapples with her commitment to her daughter as she undergoes gruelling physical training for a one-year stint in space.

Rocks

Directed by Sarah Gavron

Opening Night Film, Platform

British director Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane, Suffragette) returns with this intimate, honest portrait of a teenage girl who suddenly finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her younger brother.

Sound of Metal

Directed by Darius Marder

Darius Marder establishes a strong cinematic voice with his debut feature, about a heavy-metal drummer (Riz Ahmed) who starts to lose his hearing and consequently begins to re-evaluate his place in the world.

The Moneychanger

Directed by Federico Veiroj

Leading auteur Federico Veiroj (Belmonte) takes us to 1970s Uruguay in this swift, deadpan, confident film about a man (Daniel Hendler) who throws himself into the world of buying and selling currency, and becomes increasingly compulsive along the way.

The Sleepwalkers

Directed by Paula Hernández

Tracking the tandem voyages of a mother and daughter into fraught emotional terrain, the latest from Argentine director Paula Hernández (Rain) examines the ways desire and expectation clash when familial pressures push women to their limits.

Wet Season

Directed by Anthony Chen

A teacher and student at a Singapore high school form a special, self-affirming bond in writer-director Anthony Chen’s (Ilo Ilo) highly anticipated second feature.

Workforce

Directed by David Zonana

In the electric debut feature from David Zonana, a construction worker in Mexico City falls to his death tragically — and suspiciously — while on the job, prompting his brother and widow to seek justice on their own terms.

Black Bitch

Directed by Rachel Perkins, Darren Dale, Miranda Dear, Rachel Griffiths

A local Indigenous politician (Deborah Mailman) is recruited to the senate by the Australian Prime Minister (Rachel Griffiths) after a contentious video goes viral, in Rachel Perkins' drama about systemic injustice and the complexities of political change.

Briarpatch

Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, Steven Piet

A Washington political fixer (Rosario Dawson) returns to her hometown to unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's death and comes face-to-face with old acquaintances carrying new agendas.

Limetown

Directed by Rebecca Thomas

American Public Radio host and journalist Lia Haddock (Jessica Biel) obsesses over a mysterious case involving a mass disappearance in the television adaptation of Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie's popular podcast.

Mrs. Fletcher

Directed by Nicole Holofcener, Liesl Tommy

A single mother (Kathryn Hahn) rediscovers her sexuality after her son heads off to college in the highly anticipated new series from Tom Perrotta (The Leftovers), adapted from his bestselling novel of the same name.

Savages

Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

On the verge of an historic election victory, an Arabic candidate for the French presidency sees his ambitions threatened by a perfect storm of religious, cultural, and family politics, in this enthralling series from Rebecca Zlotowski and Sabri Louatah.

The Sleepers

Directed by Ivan Zachariáš

In this spy thriller, Marie (Tána Pauhofová) and her husband Victor (Martin Myšicka) return from exile to Czechoslovakia on the cusp of the Velvet Revolution — but when the couple gets in a car accident, Marie wakes up from a coma to find her husband mysteriously gone.

A Herdade

Directed by Tiago Guedes

Portuguese filmmaker Tiago Guedes looks at the political, economic, and social history of Portugal from the vantage point of a family line of wealthy homesteaders on a Tagus River estate.

American Son

Directed by Kenny Leon

Kerry Washington reprises the role she originated on Broadway in Kenny Leon's adaptation of Christopher Demos-Brown's play about an interracial couple whose 19-year-old son may have died at the hands of police.

Bad Education

Directed by Cory Finley

Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, and Ray Romano star in this fact-based dramedy directed by Cory Finley (Thoroughbreds), about an infamous school-larceny scandal that rocked Long Island in the early aughts.

Clifton Hill

Directed by Albert Shin

Tuppence Middleton stars in Albert Shin’s psychological thriller, which follows a troubled young woman returning to her hometown of Niagara Falls, where the memory of a long-ago kidnapping quickly ensnares her.

Coming Home Again

Directed by Wayne Wang

A Korean American man cares for his ailing mother while trying to master her traditional cooking in the latest from Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club), based on Chang-rae Lee's New Yorker short story.

Deerskin

Directed by Quentin Dupieux

The latest from outrageously offbeat filmmaker-musician Quentin Dupieux (Rubber) follows a troubled man’s (Jean Dujardin) disengagement with reality as his relationship with a strange deerskin jacket deepens.

Dirt Music

Directed by Gregor Jordan

The stunning landscape of Western Australia is the backdrop for an impassioned tale of love and grief in Gregor Jordan’s adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Tim Winton, starring Kelly MacDonald, Garrett Hedlund, and David Wenham.

Dolemite Is My Name

Directed by Craig Brewer

Eddie Murphy leads this hugely entertaining period piece from Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) with his hilarious and finely honed turn as comedian Rudy Ray Moore, who became a legend in midlife with his outlandish 1970s Blaxploitation character Dolemite.

Ema

Directed by Pablo Larraín

After a terrible accident fractures her family and her marriage, a woman sets out on a risky quest to reset her life, in this incendiary drama about art, desire, and family from Chilean director Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Neruda).

Endings, Beginnings

Directed by Drake Doremus

An idealistic woman (Shailene Woodley) attempts to get her life on track financially and romantically, but gets caught in a love triangle with a free-spirited bad boy (Sebastian Stan) and his more stable, scholarly best friend (Jamie Dornan), in this tender exploration of love and heartbreak from Drake Doremus (Like Crazy).

Frankie

Directed by Ira Sachs

An aging actor (Isabelle Huppert) summons her idiosyncratic extended family on a fateful holiday, in Ira Sachs’ thoughtful dramedy co-starring Marisa Tomei, Brendan Gleeson, Jérémie Renier, and Greg Kinnear.

Greed

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

Festival favourite Michael Winterbottom skewers the fast-fashion industry in this scathing farce about a retail billionaire (Steve Coogan) whose lavish birthday plans are thrown into disarray by a nearby refugee camp.

Guest of Honour

Directed by Atom Egoyan

A father (David Thewlis) and daughter (Laysla De Oliveira) attempt to work through their complicated relationship, secret histories, and personal demons, in Atom Egoyan’s latest exploration of unresolved personal trauma and its unintended consequences.

Guns Akimbo

Directed by Jason Lei Howden

A nerdy video game developer (Daniel Radcliffe) becomes the next contestant in an illegal live-streamed death match, in this hilariously dark, viciously violent, and chillingly prescient sci-fi thriller.

Heroic Losers

Directed by Sebastian Borensztein

When some neighbours in rural Argentina are swindled out of their savings by an unscrupulous lawyer and bank manager, they join forces to plan an elaborate heist and take back what’s theirs.

Hope Gap

Directed by William Nicholson

A together-forever couple (Annette Bening and Bill Nighy) unpack the many complications of splitting up, in Oscar-nominated writer-director William Nicholson’s razor-sharp drama.

How to Build a Girl

Directed by Coky Giedroyc

A working-class teenager (Beanie Feldstein) tries to reinvent herself as a hip London music critic, in this unconventional coming-of-age story based on British author Caitlin Moran’s semiautobiographical novel. Also starring Chris O'Dowd, Emma Thompson, and Paddy Considine.

Human Capital

Directed by Marc Meyers

The lives of two families become fatefully intertwined following an impulsive business deal and a tragic hit-and-run accident, in Marc Meyers' (My Friend Dahmer) adaptation of Paolo Virzi's award-winning 2014 drama, starring Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei, Peter Sarsgaard, Maya Hawke, and Alex Wolff.

I Am Woman

Directed by Unjoo Moon

Opening Night Film, Special Presentations

This uplifting biopic tells the story of Helen Reddy, the fiercely ambitious Australian singer behind the 1971 megahit anthem that became the rallying cry of the women’s liberation movement.

Jojo Rabbit

Directed by Taika Waititi

Taika Waititi directs a riotous cast — including Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Thomasin McKenzie, and newcomer Roman Griffin Davis — in this daring, touching, and comedic satire about a young German boy who discovers a Jewish girl hiding in his home and consults with his imaginary best friend, Adolf Hitler (Waititi).

Judy

Directed by Rupert Goold

Oscar winner Renée Zellweger delivers a note-perfect performance as Judy Garland during the last year of her life, in Rupert Goold’s (True Story) moving adaptation of the stage play End of the Rainbow.

Jungleland

Directed by Max Winkler

Stanley (Charlie Hunnam) manages his boxer brother Lion (Jack O'Connell) but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.

Knives Out

Directed by Rian Johnson

Director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper) assembles an all-star cast — Daniel Craig, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, and LaKeith Stanfield — in this intelligent whodunit about a famed southern detective (Craig) who joins forces with local police to investigate a group of eccentric suspects following the murder of a wealthy crime novelist (Christopher Plummer).

La Belle Époque

Directed by Nicolas Bedos

In this high-concept comedy from Nicolas Bedos (Mr. & Mrs. Adelman), a luddite cartoonist suffering an existential crisis hires a VR company to recreate a happier time in his marriage, as he tries to reconcile the golden-hued past with an inescapable digital present.

Lucy in the Sky

Directed by Noah Hawley

After returning to earth, an obsessive astronaut (Natalie Portman) begins to question her place in the universe — including her relationships with her gentle husband (Dan Stevens) and her alluring crewmate (Jon Hamm) — in the debut feature from accomplished television showrunner Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion).

Lyrebird

Directed by Dan Friedkin

In Dan Friedkin's directorial debut, a soldier and member of the Dutch resistance (Claes Bang) investigates stolen art in the wake of the Second World War, including a Vermeer sold to the Nazis by a flamboyant forger (Guy Pearce).

Marriage Story

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate portrait of a marriage breaking up, and a family staying together, stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, and co-stars Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta.

Military Wives

Directed by Peter Cattaneo

With their partners away serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir and quickly find themselves at the centre of a media sensation and global movement, in this feel-good story from Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty).

Mosul

Directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan

In 2016, in one of Mosul's especially decimated zones, Kawa (Adam Bessa) has his life saved by the Nineveh SWAT and joins them in their fight against ISIS, in this directorial debut by screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan.

Motherless Brooklyn

Directed by Edward Norton

Edward Norton wrote, directed, produced and stars in this 1950s-set crime drama, about a private detective living with Tourette syndrome who ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend — a mystery that carries him from the gin-soaked jazz clubs of Harlem to the slums of Brooklyn to the gilded halls of New York's power brokers.

No.7 Cherry Lane

Directed by Yonfan

Set in the politically charged Hong Kong of the 1960s, iconic Chinese director Yonfan's animation debut is an atmospheric story of an English literature student who enters into a love triangle with the woman he is tutoring and her middle-aged mother.

Ordinary Love

Directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa, Glenn Leyburn

Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville star as a long-standing couple facing a potentially life-changing cancer diagnosis, in this drama scripted by Northern Irish playwright Owen McCafferty.

Pain and Glory

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

An aging filmmaker (Antonio Banderas) grapples with an uncertain future and the circumstances that shaped his successful but troubled life, in Pedro Almodóvar’s self-reflexive consideration of identity and desire.

Parasite

Directed by Bong Joon-ho

A family of cunning derelicts scheme to enter a wealthy household's employ in this genre-bending, Palme d'Or–winning thriller of class struggle from South Korean master Bong Joon-ho (Okja, Snowpiercer).

Pelican Blood

Directed by Katrin Gebbe

A mother’s idyllic country life is threatened when her newly adopted second daughter turns from shy and charming to menacing and dangerous, in Katrin Gebbe's dramatic thriller.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Directed by Céline Sciamma

Hired to paint a portrait ahead of a prospective marriage, an artist in 18th-century Brittany finds herself falling for the reclusive would-be bride, in the Cannes Queer Palm–winning fourth feature from writer-director Céline Sciamma (Girlhood).

Saturday Fiction

Directed by Lou Ye

In 1941, a Chinese actress returns to Japanese-occupied Shanghai, ostensibly to star in a play, but her true motivations become complicated as she learns of the imminent Pearl Harbor attack and struggles to differentiate friend from undercover enemy.

Seberg

Directed by Benedict Andrews

This biopic of actor Jean Seberg features a searing performance by Kristen Stewart in the titular role, and tells the story of an artist destined for fame — and crushed by notoriety.

Sibyl

Directed by Justine Triet

A psychologist who longs to be a writer but lacks inspiration begins borrowing source material from a real-life patient and imperils both women in the process, in French director Justine Triet’s sultry, stylish psychodrama.

SYNCHRONIC

Directed by Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson

New Orleans paramedics Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan) stumble upon a bizarre plot involving a series of drug-related deaths, in Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's (Spring, The Endless) stylish and genre-bending new film.

The Elder One

Directed by Geetu Mohandas

Indian writer-director Geetu Mohandas presents an unsparing yet inspiring vision of Mumbai through the story of two small-town siblings, each with their own reason for escaping to the big city, in this urgent drama pondering gender, sexuality, violence, and tolerance.

The Friend

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Based on the award-winning Esquire article of the same name, a man (Jason Segel) puts his own life on hold to move into the family home of his best friends (Dakota Johnson and Casey Affleck) and support them through a terminal cancer diagnosis.

The Laundromat

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas star in Steven Soderbergh's guided tour through the corrupt and secret world of financial crime that was exposed by the infamous Panama Papers leak.

The Lighthouse

Directed by Robert Eggers

Shot on 35mm black-and-white film, this psychological thriller from Robert Eggers (The Witch) follows the slow descent into madness of two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) on a remote New England island at the turn of the 19th century.

The Other Lamb

Directed by Malgorzata Szumowska

A girl (Raffey Cassidy) born into an all-female cult led by a man in their compound (Michiel Huisman) begins to question his teachings and her own reality, in this haunting, English-language debut from acclaimed Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska (The Body, Mug).

The Painted Bird

Directed by Václav Marhoul

A young Jewish boy encounters the worst of humanity as he wanders Eastern Europe during World War II, in director Václav Marhoul’s adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s infamous Holocaust novel.

The Personal History of David Copperfield

Directed by Armando Iannucci

Director Armando Iannucci (The Death of Stalin) brings his sardonic wit — and a stellar cast that includes Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Capaldi, and Ben Whishaw — to Charles Dickens' classic autobiographical novel.

The Report

Directed by Scott Z. Burns

In this searing political thriller from screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (Contagion), Adam Driver stars as a dogged investigator who’s tapped by the US Senate to probe the CIA’s use of torture tactics after 9/11.

The Truth

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda's (Shoplifters, Like Father, Like Son) first film made outside his native Japan stars Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche as a mother and daughter in the film industry whose professional collaboration triggers long-buried resentments.

The Two Popes

Directed by Fernando Meirelles

In 2013, progressive incoming Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce) and conservative outgoing Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) debate the best path forward for the Catholic Church, in this surprisingly funny chamber piece from Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles (City of God).

Uncut Gems

Directed by Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie

From acclaimed filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie comes an electrifying crime thriller about Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), a charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score. When he makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime, Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides, in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.

Wasp Network

Directed by Olivier Assayas

Starring Edgar Ramírez, Penélope Cruz, and Gael García Bernal, this political thriller from Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria) follows the increasingly complex lives of Cuban dissidents during the country’s 1990s post–Soviet Union economic collapse.

Waves

Directed by Trey Edward Shults

Cracks begin to show in the perfect façade of a young athlete’s life, in this palpable and unexpected drama from Trey Edward Shults (It Comes at Night, Krisha).

Weathering With You

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

In the highly anticipated follow-up to his 2016 anime box-office hit Your Name, Makoto Shinkai returns with the story of a runaway teenager who meets a girl with the fantastical ability to stop the rain and clear the sky.

While at War

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar

Set in the first months of the Spanish Civil War, this riveting and timely chamber drama from acclaimed writer-director Alejandro Amenábar (The Others) tracks the country’s slide into nearly four decades of fascism under dictator Francisco Franco.

And We Go Green

Directed by Fisher Stevens, Malcolm Venville

Professional drivers on the international Formula E circuit — like Formula One, but with eco-friendly electric cars — race for victory across 10 cities, in this white-knuckle documentary from filmmaker Malcolm Venville, Oscar-winning director Fisher Stevens (The Cove), and producer Leonardo DiCaprio.

Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator

Directed by Eva Orner

The spectacular rise and scandalous fall of hot-yoga evangelist Bikram Choudhury is chronicled by documentary filmmaker Eva Orner (Chasing Asylum) through archival footage and extensive insider interviews.

Citizen K

Directed by Alex Gibney

This latest film from Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) considers the strange case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky — once believed to be the wealthiest man in Russia — who rocketed to prosperity and prominence in the 1990s, served a decade in prison, and became an unlikely martyr for the anti-Putin movement.

City Dreams

Directed by Weijun Chen

Weijun Chen's lively new film documents the struggles of Wang Tiancheng, an elderly and cantakerous street vendor in Wuhan, China, whose business is threatened by the development of a new retail district.

Collective

Directed by Alexander Nanau

Director Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Sports Gazette as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians — and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.

Coppers

Directed by Alan Zweig

Award-winning documentarian Alan Zweig returns to the Festival with an honest, hard-hitting, and humane look at the careers of retired police officers, as described in their own words.

Cunningham

Directed by Alla Kovgan

The iconic Merce Cunningham and the last generation of his dance company is stunningly profiled in Alla Kovgan's 3D documentary, through recreations of his landmark works and archival footage of Cunningham, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, and more.

Dads

Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard

Director Bryce Dallas Howard teams up with her father, Ron Howard, to explore contemporary fatherhood through anecdotes and wisdom from famous funnymen such as Will Smith, Jimmy Fallon, Neil Patrick Harris, and more.

Desert One

Directed by Barbara Kopple

Using new archival sources and unprecedented access to key players on both sides, master documentarian Barbara Kopple (Miss Sharon Jones!, Harlan County, USA) reveals the true story behind one the of most daring rescues in modern US history: a secret mission to free hostages captured during the 1979 Iranian revolution.

I Am Not Alone

Directed by Garin Hovannisian

The 2018 Armenian revolution fuels Garin Hovannisian's gripping documentary about a modern-day political power struggle and the citizen activists who refused to accept it.

Ibrahim: A Fate to Define

Directed by Lina Al Abed

In this provocative and personal documentary, director Lina Al Abed searches for traces of her disappeared father: a seemingly ordinary Palestinian family man who was actually a secret member of a militant splinter faction and vanished when she was just a child.

Letter to the Editor

Directed by Alan Berliner

Independent filmmaker Alan Berliner considers the power of photography and what may be lost as daily newspapers face extinction, in this documentary exploring his near-lifelong obsession with clipping and indexing photos.

Love Child

Directed by Eva Mulvad

This new film from veteran Danish documentarian Eva Mulvad (The Good Life) offers a poignant portrait of a family of asylum seekers desperate to start a new life, but stalled in bureaucratic limbo.

My English Cousin

Directed by Karim Sayad

This keenly observed documentary by Karim Sayad follows the director's cousin, Fahed, who left Algeria for England in 2001 and, now, contemplates returning to his place of birth.

Paris Stalingrad

Directed by Hind Meddeb

Documentarian Hind Meddeb takes her camera through the streets of the French capital’s Stalingrad district and meets many of the refugees struggling to make a home for themselves there, in this eye-opening exploration of the perils and perseverance that shape the migrant experience.

Ready for War

Directed by Andrew Renzi

Andrew Renzi’s heartfelt and hard-hitting documentary sheds light on the lives of three of the estimated thousands of immigrants who volunteer for service in the American military, yet find themselves deported from the US once their tours of duty are over.

Red Penguins

Directed by Gabe Polsky

The latest documentary from Gabe Polsky (In Search of Greatness, Red Army) recounts American go-getter and consummate salesman Steve Warshaw's attempt to transform post-Soviet Russian hockey from a sleepy event to the hottest ticket in town.

Sing Me A Song

Directed by Thomas Balmès

As the Internet finally arrives in tiny Bhutan, documentarian Thomas Balmès is there to witness its transformative impact on a young Buddhist monk whose initial trepidation gives way to profound engagement with the technology.

The Australian Dream

Directed by Daniel Gordon

Daniel Gordon's new film is a portrait of the struggles and triumphs of Australian footballer Adam Goodes — a hero on and off the field, as both a decorated sportsman and an Indigenous-rights activist.

The Capote Tapes

Directed by Ebs Burnough

Newly discovered interviews with friends of Truman Capote made by Paris Review co-founder George Plimpton invigorate this fascinating documentary on the author (and socialite) behind Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, while situating Capote in the 20th-century American literary canon.

The Cave

Directed by Feras Fayyad

Director Feras Fayyad (Last Men in Aleppo) returns to his native, wartorn Syria to follow a dedicated team of female doctors tirelessly treating casualties in an underground hospital, while battling systemic sexism.

The Cordillera of Dreams

Directed by Patricio Guzmán

Acclaimed Chilean director Patricio Guzmán finishes his geographic trilogy about his home country with this ode to the Andes, a majestic crossing point for him and many others.

The Kingmaker

Directed by Lauren Greenfield

Acclaimed documentarian Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) aims her lens at Filipino politician and former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who, despite disgrace, remains unbowed and enmeshed in her nation’s politics.

There's Something in the Water

Directed by Ellen Page, Ian Daniel

Ellen Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in her home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.

This Is Not a Movie

Directed by Yung Chang

The groundbreaking and often game-changing reporting of legendary foreign correspondent and author Robert Fisk is profiled in the latest from acclaimed documentarian Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze).

Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema

Directed by Mark Cousins

As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic revisionist history of the cinema focuses on women’s integral role in the development of film art.

143 Sahara Street

Directed by Hassen Ferhani

Hassen Ferhani's quiet documentary about an off-the-grid café in the Sahara Desert is an intimate portrait of its proprietor and her guests — as well as the landscape, and Algeria.

Endless Night

Directed by Eloy Enciso

Working with non-actors and a script sourced from excerpted plays, memoirs, and letters penned by political prisoners, Galician filmmaker Eloy Enciso explores the mood and texture of life in Franco-era Spain in the materialist tradition of Straub-Huillet and Pedro Costa.

Fire Will Come

Directed by Oliver Laxe

A former arsonist (Amador Arias) returns to his family home in the mountains in this work from acclaimed director Oliver Laxe (Mimosas).

Heimat is a Space in Time

Directed by Thomas Heise

In this immersive film essay, master documentarian Thomas Heise (Fatherland) delves into four generations of his own family archives to trace the profound cultural and political upheaval of Germany’s last century.

Krabi, 2562

Directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong, Ben Rivers

An innovative exploration of the Thai tourist community, Anocha Suwichakornpong and Ben Rivers’ visually elegant and conceptually creative documentary is an ambitious reflection on time, place, and memory.

Liberté

Directed by Albert Serra

Visionary Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra (The Death of Louis XIV) returns to the Festival with another period-piece provocation, which follows an ensemble of libidinous 18th-century French aristocrats who embark on an extended night of woodland cruising to live out their sexual fantasies and explore their philosophy of libertinage.

State Funeral

Directed by Sergei Loznitsa

Part of his informal trilogy of historical correctives, Sergei Loznitsa's latest compiles unique, unseen, or long-forgotten archival footage of Joseph Stalin's 1953 funeral, and is the director’s most visually stunning film to date.

The Fever

Directed by Maya Da-Rin

Brazilian writer-director Maya Da-Rin juxtaposes the beauty of the natural world against the utility of the industrial one in this drama about a father and daughter facing a separation — and maybe interference from mystical forces.

Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another

Directed by Jessica Sarah Rinland

Artist-filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland's sumptuous, hypnotic new work tracks the production of a lab-engineered elephant tusk, in a reflection on conservation, fabrication, and authenticity.

Un Film Dramatique

Directed by Éric Baudelaire

Acclaimed French artist and filmmaker Éric Baudelaire's latest is a collective project with students at a junior high school in a Paris suburb, about friendship, emancipation, trust, and the act of filmmaking for a generation raised by selfies and YouTube.

Vitalina Varela

Directed by Pedro Costa

The latest from Portuguese auteur Pedro Costa (Colossal Youth) refracts and expands an episode from his previous feature Horse Money, in which a Cape Verdean woman navigates her way through Lisbon, following the scanty physical traces her deceased husband left behind and discovering his secret, illicit life.

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