Synopsis

In 1987 suburban Tokyo, sensitive eleven-year-old Fuki is faced with her father’s terminal illness without much in the way of emotional support from her overwhelmed mother. Left to her own devices, she retreats into her own imagination, developing an interest in telepathy and a penchant for phoning into a dating agency. Seeking out adventures, she begins to navigate the difficult terrain of early adolescence, all the while trying to process the tremendous loss looming on the horizon.

Reaching back to a formative chapter from her own life, Festival alum Chie Hayakawa (Plan 75) fashions an impressionistic sketch of a girl adrift. The irrepressible presence of gifted newcomer Yui Suzuki animates every frame—she delivers a mesmerizing performance of richness and complexity beyond her years, transforming Renoir into a moving, episodic character study filled with illuminating insights and beautiful imagery.

Synopsis

Set in modern-day Tokyo, Rental Family follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.

Synopsis

An audacious, ambitious vision from master filmmaker Bi Gan (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Resurrection is a whirlwind love letter to cinema unlike any before. Set in a future where society has lost the desire to dream, a clandestine set of rebels called “Fantasmers” continue to indulge in fantasy and imagination. A curious creature, armed with a device able to extract their fading dreams, attempts to catalog these illusions. The result is a mesmerizing, maximalist masterpiece that toggles between a dizzying array of film styles and aesthetic modes—from a Méliès-inspired silent film to a slick story about playing card-toting con artists, as well as a bloodsoaked, red-filtered modern vampire romance.

To watch this layered, daring work is to experience five or six films in one. Replete with eye-popping production design, expertly choreographed long takes, and a constantly shifting rollercoaster of a narrative, Resurrection uses its sci-fi-inflected premise to ponder an art form’s past as it imagines its future.

Synopsis

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a university researcher, is on the lam. He holes up in the seaside city of Recife, hoping to reconnect with his young son before ultimately escaping the country. Fearing for his life, he assumes an alias to avoid attracting the attention of Brazil’s military dictatorship. As he awaits his opportunity to flee, mysterious forces beyond his control start to close in around him.

Director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Pictures of Ghosts) offers an urgent, entertaining political thriller replete with international intrigue, mistaken identities, and red herrings galore. The film is at once a loving snapshot of a place in time and a timely fable about greed, power, and forces beyond our control. Winner of both the Best Actor (Wagner Moura) and Best Director prizes at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, The Secret Agent captivates with its twisting, turning plotlines and colorful ’70s flare.

Synopsis

In the wake of their mother’s passing, sisters Nora and Agnes are reunited with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned filmmaker. Never without an agenda, Gustav offers Nora, a talented but tortured stage actress, a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. After Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given the part to an eager young Hollywood star. As the film takes shape, the two sisters begin to see the echoes of their own stories in this work of supposed fiction, and they must confront their family’s complicated past before they can move forward.

Continuing to explore the emotional depths of human relationships with signature grace, Joaquim Trier (The Worst Person in the World) returns with this poignant family drama that draws the very best from its veteran cast, which includes Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning. Within the bright rooms of the family home—a protagonist in itself—Trier crafts a living stage in which cinema and the performance of generational wounds might offer hope of healing.