GLORIA GAYNOR: I WILL SURVIVE

USA/Spain | 2023 | 99

Gloria Gaynor’s radiant spirit shines in this inspiring portrait of the great disco queen of the ’70s. Overcoming one hurdle after another – a crippling back injury, an abusive husband, a murdered sister – Gaynor roars back with her Grammy-winning gospel album.

FRESH KILLS

USA | 2023 | 119

Join us for post-screening Q&As with director Jennifer Esposito and others on January 6, 7, 8 and 10.

Jennifer Esposito’s electrifying debut as writer-director centers on the women behind the men of a mafia family in 1980s Staten Island, and how teenager Rose Larusso forges her own path to break free from a life of fear and violence.

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY OWN

USA/Sweden | 2023 | 97

This playfully inventive, historically rich documentary illuminates the life of Southern-raised folk artist Nellie Mae Rowe, whose funky, magical creations were championed by a rich, eccentric Jewish gallerist who opened the world’s eyes to Rowe’s singular visions.

THE PERFORMANCE

USA | 2023 | 112

While on a European tour in 1937, American Jew and accomplished tap dancer Harold May (Jeremy Piven) is scouted by a German attaché (Robert Carlyle) to headline an exclusive performance in Berlin for a VIP guest: Adolf Hitler.

BLAGA’S LESSONS

Bulgaria/Germany | 2023 | 114

Director Stephan Komandarev (The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner, PSIFF 2010) completes his trilogy on social problems and moral ills in contemporary Bulgaria with this cautionary drama about an older woman duped by a telephone scam.

KIDNAPPED

Italy/France/Germany | 2023 | 134

Based on the true story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Italian Jewish boy seized from his family by papal authorities in 1858, this enraging drama lays bare the tyranny, bigotry and abuse of power in the Catholic church at the time.

FREUD’S LAST SESSION

USA | 2023 | 118

As air raid sirens blare in wartime London, the aging Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins) and the Christian convert C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode) engage in a sparkling debate about God, life and sex in this surprising imaginary encounter between two intellectual giants.

THE ZONE OF INTEREST

United Kingdom/Poland/USA | 2023 | 106

In Jonathan Glazer’s haunting masterwork, an Auschwitz commandant and his wife maintain an idyllic domestic life with their family in a house and bucolic garden, an existence standing in stark contrast to the sounds coming from the nearby death camp.

MAD ABOUT THE BOY: THE NOËL COWARD STORY

United Kingdom/USA | 2023 | 91

Featuring a wealth of archival material and waspish witticisms, this fascinating portrait of a 20th-century great digs into the contradictions that marked the life of actor, singer, playwright, lyricist, style icon, closeted homosexual and British intelligence operative Noël Coward.

BYE BYE TIBERIAS

Palestine/France/Belgium/Qatar | 2023 | 82

In this poignant personal documentary, the daughter of accomplished Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass (The Visitor, Lemon Tree, HBO’s Succession) travels with her mother to their ancestral home as the pair contemplate issues of family, immigration, homeland and exile.

AMAL

Belgium/France | 2023 | 107

A Brussels literature instructor tries to inculcate a love of reading and freedom of expression as well as a sense of cohesion among her diverse class, but some of the students come from a fundamentalist background.

MÚSICA!

USA | 2023 | 72

Four gifted Cuban student jazz musicians are at the center of this joyous new film by two-time Oscar® winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Follow them from music school to their first trip to the U.S. in this musical feast.

SOLITUDE

Iceland/Slovakia/France | 2023 | 75

Circumstances lead taciturn farmer Gunnar to settle in Reykjavík where he gradually develops a friendship with Ari, the precocious 10-year-old paperboy next door, in this poignant and surprising take on the two-lonely-strangers-forge-an-unexpected-bond tale.

THE BURDENED

Yemen/Sudan/Saudi Arabia | 2023 | 90

In this powerful drama from Yemen, a couple with three children grapple with an unplanned fourth pregnancy at a time when healthcare costs soar and their country’s conservative abortion laws back them deeper into a corner.

TIGER STRIPES

Malaysia/Taiwan/Singapore/France/Germany/Netherlands/Indonesia/Qatar | 2023 | 95

Twelve-year-old Zaffan is the first in her class to undergo physical changes in her body. She’s singled-out, taunted and stigmatized. As her transformations start to correlate with rumors of a campus demon, Zaffan decides to embrace her monstrosity.

CONCRETE UTOPIA

South Korea | 2023 | 130

A massive earthquake rolls through Seoul, upending every apartment complex – except one. With refugees at their doorsteps, the residents of the remaining Imperial Palace apartment decide to wall out the rest of society, and an apocalyptic showdown becomes inevitable.

DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD

Romania/Luxembourg/France/Croatia | 2023 | 163

In this blistering satire of a corporate world that prizes profits over humanity, radical Romanian provocateur Radu Jude takes us on a wild ride as he follows an overworked production assistant tasked with filming the victims of a workplace accident.

SUMO DIDI

India | 2023 | 118

Based on the incredible life of Hetal Dave, India’s first and only professional sumo wrestler, this rousing biopic follows Dave as she sets out for Japan to endure rigorous training and discover a potential she never knew she had.

THE GOLDMAN CASE

France | 2023 | 116

The sensational 1975 trial of radical leftist activist and armed robber Pierre Goldman – accused of murdering two pharmacists – inspired this electrifying courtroom drama in which the mesmerizing hero (or antihero?) takes on French antisemitism, the police, and even his own lawyer.

GOODBYE JULIA

Sudan/Egypt/Germany/France/Saudi Arabia/Sweden | 2023 | 120

Tensions between Northern and Southern Sudanese communities erupt into violence, forever changing two families in this moving story of an unlikely bond between two women as they confront issues of class, gender and race.

POWER ALLEY

Brazil/France/Uruguay | 2023 | 100

When a young volleyball player searches for a solution after an unwanted pregnancy threatens to derail her international career path, she becomes the target of the conservative community, igniting a spark of solidarity and sisterhood from her teammates.

20,000 SPECIES OF BEES

Spain | 2023 | 125

Eight-year-old Lucía spends a summer in the country with the family’s widowed matriarch when questions about her gender identity arise, leading each woman in the family to face her own doubts and fears.

WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MODERN

Czech Republic/Slovakia | 2023 | 117

In this masterfully mounted drama about privilege, prejudice and gender identity, the discovery of a dead intersex infant amid the rubble of a factory town in 1937 sends shock waves through a society fixated on only one kind of progress.

HESITATION WOUND

Turkey/Spain/Romania/France | 2023 | 84

This engrossing Turkish drama focuses on a public defender who oscillates between her ailing mother’s bedside and the courtroom, where her young client is accused of murder, and finds herself caught in an impossible moral dilemma.

LISTEN UP!

Norway | 2023 | 86

In this warm and lively family comedy exploring identity, gender and class, the Mahroofs are a Pakistani household living in East Oslo who don’t quite fit in, and whose lives are about to change when a family secret is revealed.

CHASING CHASING AMY

USA | 2023 | 95

Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy was the movie that saved 12-year-old Sav Rodgers’ life. Now a filmmaker, Rodgers embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he seeks out Smith and the cast to explore the 1997 film’s controversial legacy.

QUARTET

United Kingdom/France | 1981 | 101

In this opulent adaptation of Jean Rhys’ semi-autobiographical novel, a twisted relationship between a wealthy English couple and a young woman they take in plays out during the extravagant Golden Age of 1920s Paris.

PARIS IS BURNING

USA | 1990 | 76

This chronicle of New York’s drag scene in the 1980s focuses on balls, voguing, and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.

HOLLY

Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg/France | 2023 | 104

This intriguing drama about an uncanny Flemish high school student, who seems to have predicted a deadly school fire, becomes a parable for humankind’s ability to exploit and destroy any precious resource.

HAJJAN

Saudi Arabia/Egypt/Jordan | 2023 | 117

Two young Bedouin brothers beat the odds to become top jockeys in the cutthroat world of camel racing in this thrilling, David-and-Goliath tale set in the Saudi Arabian desert.

MR. BLAKE AT YOUR SERVICE!

France | 2023 | 110

John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant headline this breezy comedy in which a widowed British businessman decides to stay at the chateau where he met his late wife – a stay that will change him in ways he never expected.

MEMORY

USA/Mexico | 2023 | 100

The structured life of social worker Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is thrown into disarray when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home after their high school reunion. Something terrible happened in their youth, but revisiting painful memories leads both toward unexpected healing.

DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY

USA | 2022 | 101

Join us for two encore screenings of PSIFF 2023's DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY in celebration of the film making the Oscar© Shortlist for Documentaries! There will be a post-screening Q&A with producer Susan Margolin and Michael Childers on January 7.

No Oscar®-winning film captured its tumultuous time as indelibly as 1969’s X-rated Midnight Cowboy. Rich with interviews and archival footage, this ambitious documentary chronicles not just its unlikely creation, but the cultural, sexual and political undercurrents that fueled John Schlesinger’s classic movie.

MERCHANT IVORY

USA | 2023 | 110

Here is the definitive chronicle of the filmmaking collective behind such beloved, groundbreaking films as A Room with a View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day and Maurice, spearheaded by director James Ivory and his producer and partner Ismail Merchant.

STOLEN

India | 2023 | 94

In this nail-biting thriller, two sophisticated city boys, having witnessed a kidnapping, find themselves embroiled in a harrowing adventure when they try to help the destitute mother find her abducted baby.

GUARDIANS OF THE FORMULA

Serbia/Slovenia/Montenegro/Macedonia/France | 2023 | 120

This engrossing period thriller fuses Cold War politics with medical history, following a group of Yugoslav physicists trying to create nuclear fission who are accidentally irradiated and smuggled to France for treatment, leading to the first human bone marrow transplant.

A LOOK THROUGH HIS LENS

USA/France/Ireland/UK | 2023 | 103

Oscar®-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot offers a master class in image making, with insightful examples from his work on Diva, Hope and Glory, A River Runs Through It, Dangerous Liaisons, Interview with the Vampire and many more in this cineaste’s delight.

IN FLAMES

Pakistan/Canada | 2023 | 98

After the death of the family patriarch, a young medical student struggles to prevent her mother from making impetuous, life-altering mistakes, all while being surrounded by supernatural forces she can’t understand.

TERRESTRIAL VERSES

Iran | 2023 | 77

Banned in Iran, this brilliant and biting satire presents a series of darkly comic vignettes – encounters that offer acerbic commentary on the indignities facing Iranians as they navigate absurd government bureaucracy.

OBSESSED WITH LIGHT

USA/France/Netherlands/Spain/Iceland | 2023 | 90

The groundbreaking early-20th-century dancer and performance artist Loie Fuller was a plump Chicago girl who conquered Paris with her astonishing spectacles of light, fabric and dance, and whose visionary creations have influenced everyone from Toulouse-Lautrec to Taylor Swift.

BORN HUNGRY

Canada/India | 2023 | 89

In this inspiring story of grit and determination, a runaway child from the streets of India is adopted by a Canadian family and becomes the chef-owner of Sash, one of Toronto’s trendiest restaurants.

HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON

Canada | 2023 | 92

This charming, funny and stylish play on the traditional vampire tale tells the story of Sasha, a young vampire who can’t bring herself to kill. Facing starvation, she meets a young depressed man who could help solve both their problems.

ALL ABOUT THE LEVKOVICHES

Hungary | 2024 | 85

After his wife's death, a stubborn boxing coach agrees to allow his estranged Orthodox Jewish son from Israel to sit shiva, as long as he brings the grandson he has never met, in this heartwarming dramedy set in contemporary Budapest.

SLEEP

South Korea | 2023 | 94

When her husband’s strange sleeping habits escalate from disruptive to disturbing, Soo-jin is forced to take desperate measures to protect herself and her newborn. Director Jason Yu’s startling, genre-hopping debut will keep you guessing till the very end.

EMPIRE

Denmark | 2023 | 95

Director Frederikke Aspöck depicts the dark legacy of a distant relative – and her country – in this St. Croix-set, 19th-century drama about two women of color: one a free woman and mistress of the colony’s governor, and the other a slave in their household.

A NORMAL FAMILY

South Korea | 2023 | 116

In this simmering pressure cooker of a thriller, two brothers – one a doctor, the other a criminal defense lawyer – must put aside their ideological differences and work together after unearthing a shocking discovery concerning their teenage children.

LET THE DANCE BEGIN

Argentina/Spain | 2023 | 98

Carlos and Margarita were once the most famous tango couple of their time. When Carlos receives word that Margarita has passed, he embarks on an unexpected road trip where old resentments surface, decades-old secrets are revealed, and old flames rekindle.

FAIRYLAND

USA/France | 2023 | 115

Based on Alysia Abbott’s memoir, a teenager (Emilia Jones) reflects on coming of age in San Francisco in the 1970s and ’80s while being raised by her widowed bisexual father, poet and activist Steve Abbott (Scoot McNairy).

FANCY DANCE

USA | 2023 | 90

Desperate to locate her missing sister, Native American swindler Jax (Lily Gladstone in a tour-de-force performance) hits the road with her teenage niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) for the Oklahoma state powwow in director Erica Tremblay’s unpredictable and moving debut feature.

LIES WE TELL

Ireland | 2023 | 89

Adapted from Sheridan Le Fanu’s revered gothic novel, this taut 19th-century thriller pits a smart but stubborn orphaned heiress (Agnes O’Casey) against her scheming guardian uncle, his odious son, spoiled daughter and a sinister governess.

MAESTRA

USA | 2023 | 88

Move over, Tár! In this musical documentary, aspiring women conductors gather in Paris for a career-making competition. We get to know these remarkable young women – from Atlanta, Poland, France, Greece and Ukraine – in a grand demonstration of the art of conducting.

BONUS TRACK

United Kingdom | 2023 | 98

An underachieving teenager navigates the rocky road through high school by immersing himself in music. His dream of winning the school talent show seems attainable when he pairs up with a famous musician’s son who understands his music – and his heart.

SLOANE: A JAZZ SINGER

USA | 2023 | 96

Worshiped by jazz musicians and critics but largely unknown to the general public, Carol Sloane’s brilliance as a jazz singer is abundantly clear in this affectionate portrait which finds her in her 80s, preparing for a crowning comeback performance at Birdland.

THE GREEN DESERT

USA | 2023 | 85

As reservoir levels dwindle, farmers in the desert valleys of Yuma, Imperial, and Coachella dependent on the Colorado River to produce their winter vegetables are racing to conserve. In a time of unprecedented scarcity, can this country’s agricultural mainstay survive?

THE MISSING

Philippines/Thailand | 2023 | 90

When mouthless young Eric learns that his uncle has passed away, he begins to hallucinate of an alien visitation – a shadowy figure from his hazily remembered childhood.