NICKEL BOYS

USA | 2024 | 140

QUEER

USA/Italy | 2024 | 135

Daniel Craig delivers a career-high performance in director Luca Guadagnino's daring adaptation of William S. Burroughs' sex- and drug-addled novel, a love story in which the writer falls hard for a young American expat and seeks mind-expanding transcendence in the Mexican jungle.

SONS

Denmark/Sweden | 2024 | 100

In this superbly acted, atmospheric prison drama from the director of <i>The Guilty</i> (PSIFF 2019), Sidse Babett Knudsen (TV’s <i>Borgen</i>) delivers a remarkable performance as a compassionate corrections officer whose untoward interest in a new inmate sets the stage for a gripping thriller.

SEPTEMBER 5

Germany/USA | 2024 | 94 min

Set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, the film follows an American sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of a hostage situation. This decisive moment changed media coverage forever and continues to impact live news today.

BONJOUR TRISTESSE

Canada/Germany | 2024 | 110

In Durga Chew-Bose’s enchanting adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s classic novel, 18-year-old Cécile (Lily McInerney) navigates a sun-drenched summer at the French seaside with her charming father (Claes Bang) and his new lover, until the arrival of an old friend (a deliciously wicked Chloë Sevigny) disrupts their idyllic existence.

Note: Filmmaker Durga Chew-Bose is one of <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/variety-10-directors-to-watch-2025-1236213938/" target="_blank">Variety's 10 Directors to Watch for 2025</a>!

THIS IS A TEST

EMILIA PÉREZ

France | 2023 | 132

Fearsome cartel leader Emilia hires Rita, an unappreciated lawyer, to help fake her death so that Emilia can live authentically as her true self in Jacques Audiard's audacious musical crime drama featuring original songs and choreography.

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Congratulations to the <i>Emilia Pérez</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

FROM GROUND ZERO

Palestine | 2024 | 115

Featuring the collective work of 22 filmmakers, this omnibus offers a view of life in Gaza during the ongoing war with Israel. Showcasing unique perspectives – from non-fiction and narrative to animation and experimental forms – this collaborative effort yields an expansive and powerful result.

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Congratulations to the <i>From Ground Zero</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

SHAMBHALA

Nepal | 2024 | 150

In a stunningly beautiful polyandrous village, pregnant Pema faces harmful gossip when her main husband, Tashi, fails to return from a trading trip. Determined to set things right, she embarks on a journey with her other husband, the young monk Karma, to find him.

MY FAVOURITE CAKE

Iran/France/Sweden/Germany | 2023 | 96

A 70-year-old widow in Tehran disrupts her predictable routine by pursuing a relationship with a lonely taxi driver. As she embraces the possibility of new love, this unexpected meeting evolves into an unforgettable evening full of surprises.

MATADOR

Spain | 1986 | 110

In one of Pedro Almodóvar's earliest provocations, a former bullfighter (Nacho Martínez) and his pupil (Antonio Banderas) become entangled in a psychosexual game of perversion, false confessions, and murder. Notable for being one of the director's earliest collaborations with Banderas, <i>Matador</i> remains a subversive, essential erotic thriller.

TOKITO: THE 540-DAY JOURNEY OF A CULINARY MAVERICK

Japan | 2024 | 84

Michelin-starred chef Yoshinori Ishii and his team set out to transform a historic Japanese inn into the premier Tokyo destination for a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience, incorporating all aspects of traditional Japanese cuisine.

PAPER FLOWERS

USA | 2024 | 101

What would you do if you had six months to live? At 22, Peace Corps volunteer and USC graduate Shalin Shah (Kapil Talwalkar) chooses to make a difference. Based on a true story, Shah's viral manifesto urges people to cherish every moment, transforming his passion for life into a lasting movement.

SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON

India/USA | 2024 | 127

Based on the life of aspiring filmmaker Nasir Shaik, who, short on funds but driven by his love of movies, sets out to remake a classic, enlisting his pals as cast and crew while transforming his small town of Malegaon into an unlikely dream factory.

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Congratulations to the <i>Superboys of Malegaon</i> team on receiving the Young Cineastes Special Mention at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival!

HANAMI

Switzerland/Portugal/Cape Verde | 2024 | 95

Weaving between the natural and magical worlds, young Nana lives on a remote volcanic island from which everyone eventually departs. Abandoned by her mother shortly after birth, she spends her days seeking the answer to the lingering question: Should she stay or should she go?

TRANSFERS

Argentina/Uruguay | 2024 | 90

With the intrigue of a detective story, this poignant documentary combines testimonials, archival material, animation, and reenactments to explore a dark chapter in Argentina's history: the infamous "death flights" carried out by the country's brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship, in which 30,000 people were disappeared.

BRING THEM HOME

USA | 2024 | 86

A small, determined group of Blackfoot people strive to restore their land's ecology, cultural roots, and spiritual connection by reintroducing buffalo to Blackfeet territory, a century after the species' near-extinction. Narrated by Oscar®-nominee Lily Gladstone, this evocative and moving film captures a powerful, community-led journey toward renewal and healing.

THROUGH ROCKS AND CLOUDS

Peru/Chile | 2024 | 83

An eight-year-old alpaca shepherd, elated by Peru's potential qualification for the 2018 World Cup, finds his world in peril when a mining company threatens to poison the water, destroy the region's delicate ecosystem, and jeopardize the future of his community.

HOMEGROWN

USA | 2024 | 110

Startlingly intimate, this verité immersion into the lives of three fervent Trump supporters culminates at the January 6 insurrection. Illuminating, unsettling, and surprising, this purely observational document lays bare its swaggering subjects and the movement challenging the foundations of American democracy.

SUNSHINE

Philippines | 2024 | 91

Just days before her team’s tryouts for the Olympics, dedicated young gymnast Sunshine (a powerful Maris Racal) discovers she is pregnant. In a country where abortion is illegal, she must embark on a desperate and risky journey to fight for her autonomy.

TO KILL A MONGOLIAN HORSE

Malaysia/Hong Kong/South Korea/Japan/Saudi Arabia/Thailand/USA | 2024 | 97

As a centuries-old way of life fades in Mongolia, a herdsman leads a dual existence – tending his ranch by day and performing horse tricks for audiences by night. This intimate, award-winning drama is inspired by lead actor Saina’s real-life journey between the horse show world and his own personal challenges.

SPACE COWBOY

USA | 2024 | 98

This is the high-flying story of Joe Jennings, a pioneer of skydiving cinematography and Hollywood's go-to man for gasp-inducing aerial stunts. A man most at home free-falling through space, he attempts the one stunt that has eluded him throughout his death-defying life.

A TRAVELER’S NEEDS

South Korea | 2024 | 90

In this enigmatic comedy, a mysterious French woman (Isabelle Huppert) drifts through Seoul, blending into the everyday and vanishing into the background. Struggling without money or means, she finds solace in makgeolli (Korean rice wine), and takes up work as a French teacher for two Korean women.

ARMAND

Norway | 2024 | 117

Winner of the 2024 Cannes Best First Feature award, this complex yarn, directed by the grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, centers on the parents of two kindergartners and their fraught interactions with school authorities after 6-year-old Armand is accused of sexual abuse.

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Congratulations to the <i>Armand</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE

Denmark | 2024 | 115

Gritty realism meets bold expressionist design in this true-crime drama set in WWI-era Copenhagen, following a factory worker, fired after becoming pregnant by her boss, who finds succor with a woman running an underground adoption agency for unwanted babies.

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Note: Filmmaker Magnus von Horn is one of <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/variety-10-directors-to-watch-2025-1236213938/" target="_blank">Variety's 10 Directors to Watch for 2025</a>!

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Congratulations to the <i>The Girl with the Needle</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

KNEECAP

Ireland | 2024 | 105

Based on a politically charged true story, two young Irish men join forces with a local teacher to form the hip-hop group Kneecap, sparking a movement around the Irish language. Featuring the real-life Kneecap members playing themselves, this riotous anthem crackles with ripped-from-the-headlines energy and rebellious spirit.

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Congratulations to the <i>Kneecap</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

LIZA: A TRULY TERRIFIC ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY

USA | 2024 | 104

Liza Minnelli tells her own story in this fabulous salute to an iconic talent. It's all here: her childhood in mother Judy Garland's shadow, her bonds with mentors Kay Thompson, Charles Aznavour, and Bob Fosse, her up-and-down marriages, and the triumphs of Broadway and Cabaret.

VERMIGLIO

Italy | 2024 | 119

The arrival of a young army deserter from the South during the final year of World War II sends ripples through a remote mountain community, profoundly impacting the extended family of a local school teacher in this intimate drama that garnered multiple awards at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

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Congratulations to the <i>Vermiglio</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

DAHOMEY

Senegal, Benin, France | 2024 | 68

In 2021, 26 looted treasures traveled from France to Benin, West Africa, where they are displayed in a high-tech museum. The latest from Mati Diop (</i>Atlantics</i>, PSIFF 2020) is a thought-provoking, multi award-winning hybrid documentary that explores how the return of these powerful pieces is received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence.

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Congratulations to the <i>Dahomey</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

MY SWEET LAND

Jordan/USA/France/Ireland | 2024 | 86

Through an intimate, child's-eye view of war, 11-year-old Vrej, raised in an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan, faces upheaval as conflict erupts. Forced to flee with his family, he wonders if he'll ever play in the fields of his "sweet land" again.

AGENT OF HAPPINESS

Bhutan/Hungary | 2024 | 94

In this heartwarming, multi-layered study, Amber Kumar Gurung collects data for the Gross National Happiness Index by going door to door in the Bhutanese Himalayas. Along the way, he uncovers a complex portrait of life experiences that mirrors his own struggles and quest for happiness.

LIFE

Turkey | 2023 | 193

Winner of Best Feature at Malta’s Mediteranne Film Festival, this epic tale of fate and human frailty unfolds in Istanbul after a forced engagement drives Hicran (Miray Daner) to flee her home. When her fiancé tracks her down, the confrontation forces them to face their true feelings and desires.

THE DIAMOND KING

USA | 2024 | 90

For over 20 years, Dick Perez was the official artist of the Baseball Hall of Fame, painting the game's history and every Hall of Famer – a project he continues into his 80s. Director Marq Evans (<i>Claydream</i>, PSIFF 2022) tells the fascinating story of this childhood immigrant whose portraits transformed the commemoration of America's most iconic pastime.

LOST LADIES

India | 2023 | 123

This delightful adventure follows two young brides from arranged marriages who are mistakenly swapped during a chaotic train ride, and find their lives flipped upside down when, upon arrival, they lift their veils, revealing that each husband is now with the wrong wife.

AUDREY

Australia | 2024 | 97

When her spoiled teenage daughter Audrey falls into a coma, a delusional, washed-up soap star seizes the opportunity for a second chance by assuming her identity, hurling the wildly dysfunctional Lipsick family into a whirlwind of deceit, absurdity, and uproarious revelations.

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Canada | 2024 | 89

In this whimsical ensemble comedy, two kids find a banknote frozen in ice, a tour guide leads baffled visitors, and a government drone returns home to uncover something amiss with his family, creating a mosaic of wintry Winnipeg that’s both comically surreal and profoundly human.

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Congratulations to the <i>Universal Language</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

MALDOROR

Belgium/France | 2024 | 153

Based on a notorious real-life case, this gripping Belgian noir follows a young maverick policeman's obsessive pursuit of justice against an international pedophile ring. His quest puts him at odds with his superiors, his family and, ultimately, the law itself.

SANTOSH

United Kingdom | 2024 | 120

After inheriting her late husband's position as a police constable, Santosh (Shahana Goswami) is drawn into a high-profile case where police corruption makes justice elusive for the lower classes. Thankfully, she finds guidance from the magnetic feminist Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar).

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Congratulations to the <i>Santosh</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

OLD FOX

Taiwan | 2023 | 111

In this thought-provoking drama, an affluent landlord nicknamed Old Fox teaches an 11-year-old boy the ways of wealth. But will these skills prevail over the values of kindness and generosity instilled by his economically struggling father?

A NICE INDIAN BOY

USA/Canada | 2023 | 99

In this hilarious rom-com, Naveen (Karan Soni) introduces his white fiancé Jay (Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff) to his conservative Indian parents, who must reconcile their traditional values with their son’s love while planning the perfect traditional Indian wedding to honor two gay men.

DRIVE BACK HOME

Canada | 2024 | 103

Inspired by a true story, this 1970s-set dramedy follows a gruff New Brunswick plumber (Charlie Creed-Miles) as he reluctantly drives to Toronto to bail his estranged, gay brother (Alan Cumming) out of jail. Forced together, the brothers face their differences on an unforgettable journey home.

DRIVE BACK HOME

Canada | 2024 | 103

Inspired by a true story, this 1970s-set dramedy follows a gruff New Brunswick plumber (Charlie Creed-Miles) as he reluctantly drives to Toronto to bail his estranged, gay brother (Alan Cumming) out of jail. Forced together, the brothers face their differences on an unforgettable journey home.

BUN TIKKI

India | 2024 | 123

Sanu is a child learning to navigate the challenges of identity and belonging as he struggles to fit into society's norms and build a loving relationship with his father. Meanwhile, his grandmother, harboring secrets of her own, teaches him to embrace his uniqueness.

ADRIANNE & THE CASTLE

Canada | 2024 | 86

As a monument to their whirlwind romance and boundless creativity, Alan and Adrianne St-George hand-built a lavish 63-room castle in the Illinois countryside. Now, as Alan faces a future without the love of his life, he channels his grief into art, preserving the extravagant home as a shrine to their real-life fairy tale.

THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME

Romania | 2024 | 138

This slyly funny tragicomedy explores the 1989 fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu through the interconnected stories of six ordinary citizens. The feature debut of 2019 Palm Springs ShortFest Best of the Festival winner Bogdan Mureşanu is a thrillingly confident work full of wit, irony, and empathy.

SHELF LIFE

USA/Japan/Switzerland/Georgia/England/Egypt/Spain/Wales | 2024 | 76

Take a quirky, globe-trotting journey through the world of cheese, and explore the craft of aging and its surprising parallels to human life. Eclectic – and eccentric – cheesemakers and mongers reflect on mortality and the art of perfection in this philosophical culinary delight.

JEAN COCTEAU

USA | 2024 | 94

The director of wonderful documentaries on Cecil Beaton and Diana Vreeland turns her keen eye to the astonishing Jean Cocteau – artist, filmmaker, poet, novelist, designer, opium addict, and proud lover of men – who mastered every art form of the 20th century.

RIOJA, THE LAND OF A THOUSAND WINES

Spain | 2023 | 96

This sumptuous documentary invites viewers to savor the artistry of winemaking in La Rioja, showcasing stunning imagery and insights from winemakers, sommeliers, and award-winning enologists. Discover the rich variety of Spain’s most celebrated wines and the hidden secrets behind them.

PINK LADY

Israel/Italy | 2024 | 104

In an ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem, Bati leads a seemingly perfect life with her husband and three children. But her world begins to crumble when her gentle husband is blackmailed over a secret affair with his male Torah study partner.

IGUALADA

Colombia/Mexico/USA | 2024 | 81

This intimate portrait chronicles the life of Francia Márquez, an Afro-Colombian political leader and activist who, through her presidential campaign, transformed the derogatory term "Igualada" into a symbol of defiance, and inspired a nation to envision a more equitable future.

THE WAY, MY WAY

Australia | 2024 | 98

Stubborn and cantankerous Australian director Bill Bennett adapts his own bestselling memoir chronicling his experience walking the 800-kilometer Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail across northern Spain just months before his 60th birthday.

I’M STILL HERE

Brazil | 2024 | 136

From director Walter Salles (<i>The Motorcycle Diaries</i>, PSIFF 2005) comes his most personal and powerful film, telling the true story of a mother of five who reinvents herself as an activist after her family endures an unspeakable act of violence during Brazil's dictatorship.

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Congratulations to the <i>I'm Still Here</i> team on making the shortlist for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards!

Dinner Inspired by: RIOJA, THE LAND OF A THOUSAND WINES