Synopsis

When 17-year-old Lucas (Paul Kircher) finds his blithe teenage world suddenly shattered, his sense of self and place dissipates into overwhelming pain. As he turns inward, his worried mother (Juliette Binoche) finds it difficult to connect with, much less console, her once affectionate son. She agrees to send him to Paris to stay with his career-driven older brother (Vincent Lacoste) to help him find a way out of his despair. Left to his own devices and in search of solace, Lucas plunges into the sea of excitement, possibility, and anonymity of the city with near reckless abandon. Love and hope—the stakes of Christophe Honoré’s (Love Songs, Sorry Angel) stirring and profoundly personal tale could not be higher.

Synopsis

Acclaimed documentarian Alice Diop turns to narrative fiction with this powerful and subtly devastating courtroom drama. Traveling to the northern French town of Saint-Omer to research her new book, Rama observes the trial of Laurence Coly, a Senegalese woman accused of infanticide; Laurence has confessed to the crime but maintains her innocence, arguing that she was under the influence of powerful sorcerous magic at the time. The disturbing facts of the case, uncovered piece by piece, trigger in Rama a cascading flood of memories about her own childhood and mother. Nuanced and patient, this profound character study is also a poignant examination of cultural memory, inherited trauma, and unspoken violence.

Winner

58th Chicago International Film Festival Silver Hugo: Best Screenplay. Learn more…

Synopsis

In this tense and timely drama, idealistic literature professor Lucio (Juan Minujíin) leaves behind university life to accept a position teaching high school in the working-class community where he grew up. Returning to the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Lucio is intent on making a difference in the lives of his students, but just as he begins to connect with his class, a drug smuggling operation is uncovered inside the school. Learning that the local drug cartel threatens one of Lucio’s promising young pupils, the educator must decide how far he’ll go to protect the boy’s life. Celebrated for the nuance and humanism with which he imbues his work, award-winning Argentine filmmaker Diego Lerman (A Sort of Family, Refugiado) returns to the Festival with this powerful piece of social realism.

Synopsis

A mesmerizing, elliptical vision of declining colonial enterprise and imperialist corruption, Pacifiction swelters and sways in the heat of its Tahitian setting. France’s top man in the region, De Roller (Benoît Magimel) is an affable chameleon-like operator, equally adept at schmoozing with the indigenous population and navigating the political machinery of his home country. He’s lately become paranoid, as the mood on the island is shifting amid rumors of military destruction and gentrification. As he drifts through his days, attempting to keep everyone—himself included—on an even keel, tensions continue to rise. A film of mysterious, uncommon power.

Synopsis

In early 1980s Paris, Élizabeth (Charlotte Gainsbourg) struggles to keep her family connected following a divorce. Uneasy about her own future, the naturally shy single mother of two begins to take steps to rebuild her life, embarking on a new relationship and landing a job at a late-night call-in radio show, where she encounters a cast of drifters and lonely souls, including a down-on-her-luck young woman whom she welcomes into her home  Altogether, these choices profoundly impact Elizabeth, shaping her destiny for years to come. Sublimely sympathetic and steeped in an introspective grace, Passengers of the Night chronicles the many small moments that, in toto, give rise to a full, nuanced life.