Synopsis
Eva, a young Rwandan woman, dreams of attending medical school. But her aspirations are interrupted when she is kidnapped by a group of men as a part of the Guterura rite of enforced marriage. Abandoned by her family, she struggles to cope with the grim reality of her new life with her new husband Silas and his cousin. While Silas is away working, the two young women form a tender connection as they spend their days doing household chores, beading, making tea, and swapping family histories and memories of the genocide. Despite this newfound ally, Eva contemplates running away to a life of freedom.
Rendered with a quiet naturalism and brimming with humanity, The Bride is both a profound portrait of friendship amid dire circumstances and a calm contemplation of the ghosts of Rwanda’s past.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Kivu Ruhorahoza, Myriam U. Birara
- Myriam U. Birara
- Bora Shingiro
- Sandra Umulisa, Aline Amike, Daniel Gaga
- Urugori Films
Sponsors
Black Perspectives Program Sponsors
New Directors Program Sponsors
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
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Sweet Dreams
Synopsis
Indonesia, 1900. In the waning days of the colonial era, Dutch sugar plantation owners Jan and Agathe lord over an estate simmering with imminent rebellion. When Jan suddenly drops dead, Agathe forces their son and his pregnant wife to travel from the Netherlands to take over the family business. But when she discovers that Jan has left the estate to his Indonesian concubine Siti and their young son, both sides of the estate will go to extremes in order to survive.
Featuring scathingly sharp performances and set against a lush visual landscape with indelible metaphoric images, Sweet Dreams is an incisive and surreal satire that marvels at the absurdity of the colonial nightmare.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Erik Glijnis, Leontine Petit; co-produced by: Erik Hemmendorff, Kristina Börjeson, Martien Vlietman, Mandy Marahimin
- Ena Sendijarević
- Lot Rossmark
- Emo Weemhoff
- Renée Soutendijk, Hayati Azis, Lisa Zweerman, Florian Myjer, Muhammad Khan, Hans Dagelet, Rio den Haas
- Martial Foe
- Judy Tossel, Laurent Médéa, Ena Sendijarević
- Lemming Film, Plattform Produktion, VPRO, Film ï Vast, Tala Media
Sponsors
New Directors Program Sponsors
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
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Solitude Tilverur
Synopsis
Forced off of his cherished farm and lifelong home in the remote reaches of rural Iceland, Gunnar arrives in the bustling heart of the city. Adrift in this unfamiliar urban landscape and lacking the social skills to connect, his days are spent in quiet observation of the city’s people and its myriad spaces. Then he’s confronted by an endlessly inquisitive neighborhood paperboy, Ari, who insinuates himself into Gunnar’s life. Together, these two misfits forge a unique cross-generational bond that confounds everyone around them.
Palmadóttir’s gentle and moving debut is a potent tale about the transformative power of friendship and the profound impact of the connections we forge, regardless of age or stage in life. Protests advocating for a refugee denied asylum form a pivotal backdrop to Gunnar’s journey, offering a stark reminder of the world’s complex and often unjust realities and the need for genuine kindness.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Lilja Osk Snorradottir, Hlin Johannesdottir, Elli Cassata, Rúnar Rúnarsson
- Rúnar Rúnarsson
- Ivor Sonje
- Dusan Husar
- Throstur Leo Gunnarsson, Hermann Samuelsson, Anna Gunndis Gudmundsdottir, Hjortur Johann Jonsson, Joel Saemundsson
- Pegasus Pictures, nutprodukcia, Jour2Fête, Halibut
- https://www.thepartysales.com/movie/solitude/
Sponsors
New Directors Program Sponsors
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
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Sisterhood HLM Pussy
Synopsis
Fifteen-year-olds Amina, Djeneba, and Zineb have been an inseparable trio since childhood. When one of the girls is the victim of a predatory incident, an emboldened Amina posts a video of the assault on social media as a means of denouncing the assailant. The video unexpectedly goes viral, eliciting both widespread support and backlash from their community and the internet at large. Amina’s actions force a wedge into this formerly invincible friendship, shedding light on the divides in the girls’ race, class, and cultural privilege.
A poignant commentary on the act of speaking out in the age of the viral internet, Sisterhood takes a critical closer look at the complex factors at play that, all too often, force women and girls into silence in the face of gendered violence.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Philippe Gompel
- Nora El Hourch
- Quentin Jourde d'Arzac
- Maxence Lemonnier
- Léah Aubert, Médina Diarra, Salma Takaline, Oscar Al Hafiane, Bérénice Bejo, Mounir Magroum
- Clément Tery
- Philippe Gompel
- Manny Films, La Prod
Sponsors
New Directors Program Sponsors
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
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Synopsis
In an act of desperation, impulsive black sheep Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal) flees his home in Mexico. On the run from his unforgiving father, Alejandro ends up in New York City. There, he meets Jack, a pet store worker whose own, similarly wealthy family life is fracturing after his father (Willem Dafoe) betrayed his mother (Emmanuelle Seigner). Together, the two young men enter a whirlwind romance, sending them into a dead-end world of passion, drugs, and depravity.
With Pet Shop Days, first-time feature director Olmo Schnabel, son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, has crafted a gritty throwback to American independent cinema. (No wonder Martin Scorsese signed on as an executive producer.) Imbued with raw emotion and propulsive pacing, and led by an explosive performance by Yazbek Bernal (Gael’s half-brother) as the wild and wounded Alejandro, Pet Shop Days is a riveting portrait of lost young men in search of connection.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Galen Core, Alex Coco, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Gabriele Moratti, Marie Savare de Laitre
- Jack Irv, Olmo Schnabel, Galen Core
- Sophie Corra
- Hunter Zimny
- Jack Irv, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard, Maribel Verdú, Jordi Mollà, Camille Rowe, Emmanuelle Seigner, Louis Cancelmi
- Eli Keszler
- Giovanni Corrado, Raffaella Viscardi, Moreno Zani, Malcom Pagani, Renato Ragosta, Livio Strazzera, Theo Niarchos, Aimone Ripa Di Meana, PJ Van Sandwijk, Peter Brant Jr., Michel Franco, Reka Posta, Jeremy O. Harris, Martin Scorsese
- TWIN, MeMo Films, Storyteller Productions, Tenderstories, 3 Marys Entertainment, ELA Films
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