Synopsis

Early 1700s. Venice. The Ospedale della Pietà orphanage has a storied reputation for the distinguished musical education of its residents. The young women’s ensemble performances attract the attention of audiences, patrons, and even suitors, who become enchanted by their talent, believing their training will make them more virtuous wives. Cecilia, a virtuoso violinist, has been promised to a decorated army official upon his return from the battlefield. It is with the arrival of a new musical director—the ambitious composer Antonion Vivaldi—that she is awakened to the power of her musical gift and its possibilities for joy and emancipation.

Celebrated opera and stage director Damiano Michieletto crafts a stunning cinematic work with this story of Vivaldi, underappreciated in his time, through the lens of a young muse, who herself is transformed by music as she finds the inspiration to rewrite her own destiny. Sumptuous costumes and production design are further elevated by an inspired score bringing vibrancy and immediacy to a stirring centuries-old tale.

Synopsis

The Chilean desert, 1982. It is rumored that a single loving gaze between two men is how the plague spreads—an illness both mysterious and lethal that is tearing through a remote mining town. At the center of the paranoia is a community on the margins: a home where eleven-year-old Lidia grows up among a fierce and loving queer family. As fear and violence begin to spread even faster than the plague, Lidia sets out to find the truth about this mythical epidemic to protect her beloved kin.

With sensuous magical realism and poetic tenderness set against the harsh desert backdrop, director Diego Céspedes draws us into a pivotal moment in queer history as lived by its most marginalized and misunderstood protagonists. An ode to the care and resilience of trans family, this breathtaking debut never loses sight of the power of love in the face of dire circumstances.

Synopsis

Weekending in the countryside, Laura’s life is turned upside down by a violent car crash. She survives, and though she miraculously suffers only minor physical injuries, the accident leaves her dazed and adrift. A local woman who witnessed the incident offers to take her in while she regains her bearings, tending to her with motherly dedication. Over time, the woman’s husband and son, initially skeptical of the unconventional arrangement, come to see this stranger as a member of the family. Soon, though, the ghosts of the past come calling, forcing Laura toward a reckoning.

Veteran auteur Christian Petzold (Transit, Undine) offers a filmic puzzle that plumbs the depths of human psychology and poses questions about the transitory nature of identity. Actress Paula Beer imbues Laura with an enigmatic, elusive depth, while a hauntingly beautiful score suggests that mystery and menace lurk beneath the warm glow of the sun-dappled landscapes.

Synopsis

If Invasion of the Body Snatchers traded pods for human pyramids and took place in a Japanese high school, it would be New Group.

Ai is an ordinary schoolgirl easily swayed by the opinions of her peers. But her worldview begins to change with the arrival of nonconformist newcomer Yu, who returns from living abroad just in time to witness a series of unexplained events taking hold in their community. The bizarre phenomenon begins with a student freezing on all fours in the middle of a soccer field; soon, others join in, positioning themselves alongside and on top of him. Before long, the entire town is overrun with human pyramids. In a world where no one is safe from these random gymnastic formations—or the self-styled fascist leadership aligning itself with these “new groups”—Ai and Yu must renounce individualism and assimilate or face destruction.

A disarming and strange second feature from director Yûta Shimotsu, New Group takes body horror in grotesque directions to create an eerie new entry in the contemporary J-horror canon. The uncanny contortions gleefully captured by the filmmaker’s kinetic camera are both funny and disturbing—but the film’s astute commentary on the rise of authoritarianism in today’s world is what’s most unsettling.

Synopsis

Nouvelle Vague is Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater’s love letter to the spellbinding magic of French cinema, reimagining the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s revolutionary Breathless, which ultimately cemented Godard as a pioneer of the French New Wave. As critic-turned-director Godard makes and breaks the rules, as a mix of fresh faces and daring talents—including Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Guillaume Marbeck as Godard himself—bring his spontaneous, electric film to life. Capturing the youthful dynamism and creative chaos at the heart of one of the world’s most beloved and influential movies, Nouvelle Vague transports us to the streets of 1959 Paris for an ode to the power of cinema to transform our lives.

Screening in 35mm.