Synopsis

This powerful, poignant documentary follows the Beinin family, who find themselves ensnared in one of the defining political calamities of our times. On the morning of October 7, 2023, Liat Beinin Atzili and her husband Aviv were kidnapped from their kibbutz by Hamas militants, leaving Liat’s American-Israeli parents, Chaya and Yehuda, desperate to get their daughter back. Yehuda, who travels to Washington D.C. to advocate for his daughter’s release, is a die-hard leftist and long-time critic of Benjamin Netanyahu. But as the days turn into weeks and then months, tensions rise, leaving the family worried, angry, and divided.

Tense and affecting, the film chronicles the Beinin clan’s race against time to save their family members, while also rendering the conflicting ideologies of those caught in the quagmire with great nuance. Winner of the top documentary prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Holding Liat offers a profoundly moving story of a family in crisis and raises provocative questions about identity, faith, morality, and justice in a society thrown into turmoil by the war in Gaza.

Synopsis

Disruptions to the idyllic lives of the people in Remis, also known as the happiest town in Italy, are rare. But when Sergio, a former Judo champion with a tragic past, arrives to take over the school’s physical education program, his palpable pain puts him at odds with the town’s otherwise supernaturally cheerful inhabitants. Soon, he is initiated into Remis’s best-kept secret: once a week, the townspeople gather in a church to meet Matteo, a fifteen-year-old with some secrets of his own. His embrace promises to free its recipient of all their suffering, but this healing touch comes with consequences. Being the town’s savior is soul-crushing work and leaves little room for Matteo to live a life of his own or explore his blossoming queer desires. As the pressures on Matteo mount, Sergio searches for answers about this so-called angel, and the darkness inside his gift comes into disturbingly detailed focus.

Director Paolo Strippoli elegantly weaves a tapestry of contrasts and moral ambiguities that are mirrored in the film’s striking cinematography and production design. The Holy Boy thoughtfully contemplates the place of pain in our lives, matching its melancholic beauty with more than enough spine-chilling spectacle.

Synopsis

With her life crashing down around her, Linda (Rose Byrne) attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist. With the whiplash pace of a thriller, writer-director Mary Bronstein takes audiences into a breathtakingly inventive, unexpectedly funny, yet startlingly relatable fever-dream of parental anxiety. Rose Byrne gives a one-of-a-kind cinematic portrait of ultra-pressurized motherhood.

Synopsis

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess (Laura Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family—forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

Synopsis

After accidentally hitting a dog on the road, Eghbal arrives at a garage for a damage assessment. Mechanic Vahid is shocked to recognize the man as his torturer from his time as a political prisoner. Bent on revenge, he immediately springs into action. He follows Eghbal home, kidnaps him, and stows him away in his van. The only problem now: he can’t be certain of the man’s true identity. Over the next 24 hours, he enlists the help of friends and acquaintances who had been detained at the same prison. Although Vahid is desperate for retribution, he’s wracked with doubt.

Director Jafar Panahi, previously banned from filmmaking and imprisoned for his political views, injects his intricate revenge thriller with affecting personal detail. Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, It Was Just an Accident is a profound, brave rumination on the lasting effects of political trauma and the complex morality of recrimination.