Synopsis

Inspired by a folktale about a young boy who is turned into a stork by his father, the new film from the Oscar-nominated director of Honeyland tells a heartwarming story of family, farming and sustainability in North Macedonia. Set in a region with one of the densest stork populations, the film parallels the children’s fable with the real-life story of charming elderly farmers Nicola and Jana. Facing mounting economic pressures that force his family into working in exile, Nicola stays behind, unsure whether they should sell the farm altogether. When the veteran farmer rescues an injured stork from a nearby landfill, he finds new meaning and hope in the nurturing of his feathered friend.

So skillfully crafted that it feels as much like a cinematic parable as a documentary, The Tale of Silyan features captivating storytelling and visually stunning cinematography, exquisitely capturing both the rural landscape as well as the majestic storks. Both personal and poetic, the film relates a cautionary tale of ecological imbalance. Perhaps the storks have something to tell us all.

Synopsis

It’s summertime on the Danube River, and teenager Dídac and his tight-knit family are enjoying the pastoral beauty on a bicycle trip together. Memories swirl in the river’s waters, as Dídac’s parents reminisce over their first trials with love in their youth. Dídac’s own curiosity around romance and desire begins to stir when he encounters a mysterious boy who seems to appear and disappear from the river’s waters. As the two boys circle into closer and closer orbit, the growing pains of young love begin to widen the emerging cracks between Dídac and his family.

The boundaries between the waking world and dreaming flow freely like the river itself in Jaume Claret Muxart’s sensuous and ethereal feature debut, where longing conjures the ghosts of past and future. Set against a sunny, verdant landscape shot on 16mm, Strange River explores the freedom of blossoming youth with remarkable tenderness.

Synopsis

On a public housing estate in 1984 Dublin, eleven-year-old Bobby aspires to be a detective like his TV hero, Kojak. Recruiting best friend Nell as his sidekick, the pair are ready to find clues and follow leads, wherever they appear. Hints of a far more sinister mystery draw them in once items go missing from Bobby’s family home. The sense of urgency is compounded when his brother disappears following a bitter family fight. The two children set out in search of answers, embarking on a journey that threatens to take them into the darkest corners of the city.

Evocatively recreating details of life in Irish public housing during the era, filmmaker Brian Durnin fashions a unique coming-of-age story that’s by turns charming and harrowing, viewing the heroin epidemic that raged in the Irish capital at the time through a child’s eyes. As the curious leads, young stars Cillian Sullivan and Naoise Kelly demonstrate a wisdom and subtlety beyond their years, bringing tenderness and honesty to the roles of working-class preteens forced to grow up too soon.

Synopsis

Nestled in the heart of a university campus in Germany, a majestic gingko tree stands tall. Bearing silent witness to the school’s history and the lives of the people that have passed through its halls, the stately plant serves as a kind of nexus that connects three characters across time: in 1908, the college’s first female student observes hidden patterns in plant life through photography; in 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by observing and cataloging the behavior of a geranium; in 2020, a neuroscientist (Tony Leung) in Covid lockdown begins a series of unexpected botanical experiments. Could the trees be watching us?

Seamlessly toggling between time periods, Silent Friend is a century-spanning exploration of humanity’s fascination with nature’s greatest mysteries. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast and a winsome sense of wonder, the film is a thoughtful meditation on longing, belonging, and what it means to be human.

Synopsis

Fresh off a best director win at Fantasia for Hadrah Daeng Ratu, the prolific horror filmmaker at its helm, The Book of Sijjin and Illiyyin brings gross-out gore to an Indonesian story of black magic revenge that tips the scales on the delicate balance between good and evil.

In the Islamic faith, the Book of Sijjin tallies transgressions while the Book of Illiyyin keeps track of pious deeds. In this blood-soaked tale of a stepdaughter’s brutal retribution against the family that tormented her for twenty years, the once-meek Yuli transforms from docile servant to hell-bent destructress. When her stepmother’s death leaves her at the mercy of her even crueler stepsister, Yuli seeks the help of a shaman who instructs her in a ritual that will send a powerful jinn after Yuli’s tormentors. One by one, the family members die horrific deaths. Only the devout granddaughter stands in the way of the force of black magic as the narrative culminates in a fierce battle between heaven and hell, religion and folk tradition.

With striking cinematography that captures in detail every blood splatter and dirt smear, The Book of Sijjin and Illiyyin offers genre fans ample imagery to delight and disgust.