Genre: Family Affairs

Three men and one woman, all older, gather on the floor in a Thai temple, flowers placed before them.

9 Temples to Heaven

DirSompot Chidgasornpongse

Receiving a disturbing prophecy regarding his elderly mother, Sakol piles the family into a van and sets out on a pilgrimage to reverse the bad karma.

New Directors Competition

Al Baraneya

DirAshgan El-Hamus

When a developer offers to buy her family’s land in a village outside Cairo, pregnant Amal dreams of a very different kind of life in the big city.

Illustration of a woman in a colorful headwrap using a vintage poloroid camera to take a picture in an outdoor city scape.

Animate!Black Perspectives

Ana, en passant

DirFernanda Salgado

Following her grandmother’s death in Paris, a young woman travels to Brazil where she encounters her exact double in this lyrical animated drama.

A man and a woman walk through a sprawling rocky desert. The woman wears a red dress and has short brown hair, the man wears sunglasses, a black windbreaker and gray pants. They both have serious expressions as they walk.

Spotlight

The Beloved El ser querido

DirRodrigo Sorogoyen

When a legendary filmmaker (Javier Bardem) offers his estranged daughter a role in his latest film, tensions percolate and old wounds are reopened.

A woman in purple stands with her arms crossed and a serious expression amid a large rural crowd, baskets and drapings of colorful clothing stand out against a hazy sky.

Black Perspectives Departures

Ben’Imana

DirMarie-Clémentine Dusabejambo

In this stunning, intimate portrait of defiance and forgiveness, a Rwandan genocide survivor’s convictions are tested by her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy.

A bald, bearded man in a yellow shirt and green jacket sits behind many houseplants, peering though.

Spotlight

A Bit of Light Kami Nour

DirAli Asgari

After deciding to end it all, Arash spends a final day with his family in this moving expression of life’s mysterious beauty and its ability to puncture despair.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair stands tensely in a modern home, looking troubled, while a blurred man watches from a hallway behind her.

Spotlight

Bunker

DirFlorian Zeller

When an architect (Javier Bardem) is recruited to design a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire, his wife (Penélope Cruz) begins to question their marriage.

A man and woman stand outside at night dressed in upscale attire, the couple is smiling warmly and behind them is greenery and string lights.

Black Perspectives International Competition

Clarissa

DirArie Esiri, Chuko Esiri

Adapting Mrs. Dalloway to modern Lagos, this evocative drama captures post-colonial class tensions, memory, and desire across a single momentous day.

A group of young adults in a crowded nightclub, a man and woman energetically dance together in the center amid the haze and colored lights.

Comedy Opening Night OutLook

Club Kid

DirJordan Firstman

A hard-partying New York City club promoter sees his whirlwind lifestyle upended by the arrival of the 10-year-old son he never knew he had.

A woman with blonde hair smiles warmly, looking off into the distance.

New Directors Competition

A Common Story

DirAnna Foglietta

In this elegiac, emotionally rich drama, empty-nesters Erika and Mauro must navigate relationships and desires anew, as they face an unfamiliar future.

A bride and groom shout and celebrate as they bike along a busy city street, the groom wears an olive suit and the bride a simple wedding dress.

Black Perspectives Spotlight

Dao

DirAlain Gomis

Parallel timelines weave together a contemporary French wedding and an ancestral funeral in Guinea-Bissau for a West African diasporic family.

A man wears a chef coat and sharpens a knife while lit from the back in a dark moody setting.

City & State Documentary

Ever After

DirFrankie Nasso

Michelin-star chef Curtis Duffy launches a new world-class restaurant during a pandemic in the relentless pursuit of culinary perfection and a personal reckoning.

A woman in a ruffled white blouse and braids with hair jewelry performs into a microphone on stage, she stands before a brick wall and a poster that says Riddles Comedy Club.

Black Perspectives City & State Comedy Community Cinema Documentary

Finding Your Laughter

DirArlieta Hall, Brittany Alsot

In this joyful, moving documentary, Chicago comedian Arlieta uses improv comedy techniques to care for her father as he battles Alzheimer’s.

Two women stand before a city backdrop at dusk, they look solemnly in opposite directions, one in a red graphic shirt and necklace, the other in a tank top.

New Directors Competition

Forever Your Maternal Animal Siempre soy tu animal materno

DirValentina Maurel

Home from studying in Europe, Elsa returns to Costa Rica to find her family in disarray and feels compelled to help those who have no desire to be saved.

Two women, one older, sit closely together in a dimly lit room. The younger woman wears blue and her hair down, sadly speaking as the older woman in a brown blouse holds a drink and listens.

Special Presentation

Gentle Monster

DirMarie Kreutzer

Concert pianist Lucy (Léa Seydoux) must protect her son after her husband is accused of an unspeakable crime in this thriller about trust and survival.

Two young girls play dress-up. One girl in a cropped red shirt wears earrings and necklaces, she looks into the distance. The other girl in a blue floral shirt examines one of the necklaces; she wears beaded bracelets, earrings, and a necklace of her own.

Documentary Competition

The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer La ilusión de un verano sin fin

DirAlessandra Sanguinetti

Filmed over 25 years, this profound study of female intimacy tracks two Argentine cousins as their days of adolescent wonder give way to sobering adulthood.

Illustration in the style of a watercolor painting, a young boy on a bicycle waves goodbye to two other children, one standing next to their bicycle and another sitting in a cell phone tower at dusk amid a meadow and cloudy sky.

Animate!

Iron Boy Le Corset

DirLouis Clichy

In this dreamy ink and watercolor animation, music and romance provide escape from rigid family obligation for an imaginative child in an iron back brace.

A woman, man, and young girl stand in an elevator. The woman holds the young girl, who has her arms wrapped around the woman's neck and shoulders, the man glances at the girl tensely.

Departures

Josephine

DirBeth de Araújo

Channing Tatum delivers a knockout performance as a father struggling to manage the fallout after his young daughter witnesses a brutal assault.

A woman in all black, bags slung over both shoulders, briskly walks away from a group of people who are also all dressed in black formal wear. They follow her with concern through a rain-soaked residential neighborhood on a tree-lined street.

Special Presentation

Rita (Carrie Coon), a mother escaping a harrowing past, finds solace in a female empowerment cult led by the charismatic Ricki (Lily James). But when Rita’s daughters arrive, she must choose between the freedom she’s found and the life she left behind.

Two Black women sit outside on a porch; the older woman in a brown patterned shirt gazes ahead while the younger woman next to her in a collared gingham tank looks down smiling.

Black Perspectives Departures

Liz Here Now

DirSterling Macer Jr.

Aunjanue Ellis Taylor mesmerizes as a devoted caregiver shielding two white children from domestic dysfunction in this deeply affecting 1960s-set drama.

Shot upside down, a man in a heavy fur lined coat lies solemnly in the snow with his eyes closed.

Spotlight

A Long Winter

DirAndrew Haigh

In 1950s Colorado, a family in an isolated mountain home is rocked by tragedy just as snow squalls and plummeting temperatures descend for the season.

An older woman and a young girl stand inside a drained pool, they use many colors of chalk to draw on the walls of the pool, the girl focuses on her drawing as the older woman looks up, a set in her jaw.

Departures

Love is the monster Amor es el monstruo

DirNeto Villalobos Brenes

In a tropical dystopia ruled by fear and inequality, a woman trying to right wrongs with her young granddaughter faces dangerous choices.

A man, woman, and their son sit at a long wooden dinner table at night, behind them is a dark forest seen through large windows. They converse among their plates of food and wine glasses, the teen and woman happily interact as the man at the head of the table sits tensely with his hands folded at his mouth.

Spotlight

Minotaur

DirAndrey Zvyagintsev

A Russian businessman’s comfortable life is thrown into chaos when he begins to suspect his wife of infidelity in this dark, sardonic moral fable.

Two young girls sit on a rocky cliff surrounded by trees at midday and make flower crowns out of dandelions, the first girl in a striped shirt and overalls looks down as she works, the other in a pink bathing suit watches her quizzically.

Centerpiece Special Presentation

Mouse

DirKelly O’Sullivan & Alex Thompson

The latest gem from the talented Chicago filmmaking duo (Ghostlight) follows teenager Minnie, who forms a complicated relationship with her best friend’s mother.

In the entrance of a warmly-lit 1980's home a suited man takes the hand of a woman with curly blonde hair, there is a second man standing in the doorway dressed casually in a collared shirt, behind the man and woman are two young boys standing on a staircase.

Special Presentation

Paper Tiger

DirJames Gray

Adam Driver and Miles Teller deliver standout performances as brothers who get entangled with the Russian mafia in James Gray’s intense family drama.

A woman with dark hair and bangs in a leather jacket holds a figurine of a saint with a grin on her face. She faces a man, his shoulders and back of head are visible, behind them a stone building with many windows.

New Directors Competition

Saints Sants

DirMikel Gurrea

While reluctantly caring for her dying mother, Lali finds a new purpose when she joins a band of misfit thieves who steal religious artifacts.

In a warm home with colorful framed pictures a young boy in faint blue eyeshadow and blush smiles wide, he wears a bright muticolored collared shirt and beaded necklace. Around him are other children with facepaint and an older woman with red hair, they all share happy smiles.

New Directors Competition OutLook

Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul

DirBruno Santamaría Razo

Filmmaker Bruno recalls the hazy memories from his eleventh year, reconciling his budding queerness with his father’s diagnosis with HIV.

A family of four and a dog gather around an elegant table in a front lawn. The small table is set perfectly, food set out, and they pose smiling in warm sunlight. Behind them ivy, stairs, and a mansion frame the yard.

International Competition

The Spiral L'Estranea

DirPaolo Strippoli

A Faustian bargain sends a once-perfect family on a harrowing downward spiral in this twisted fable from The Holy Boy director.

In black-and-white animation two people embrace in a backyard garden, in front of them vegetables and flowers grow, behind them stands a fence obscuring homes and trees, a cloudy sky with streaks of light.

Animate!OutLook

Tangles

DirLeah Nelson

A young queer woman grapples with her vibrant mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis in this charming and deeply moving animated memoir.

Three women stand in a kitchen, one in cheetah print holds a kitchen towel and leans against the counter, an older woman stands next to her in a dress and burgundy cardigan, she smiles at the woman in cheetah. The third woman stands slightly at a distance, she wears a striped sweater and her hair in a bun, she leans agasint the counter, reserved.

Special Presentation

Tender Loving Care

DirMike Leigh

Legendary British filmmaker Mike Leigh returns with a profoundly moving story—filled with humor, hardship, and compassion—about how we look after each other.