A Matter of Trust

In 1968 Czechoslovakia, a small-town notary refuses to join the Communist Party. Inspired by director Beata Parkanová's own grandparents, The Word depicts the intimate lives of Václav and Věra and their bond in the face of political intimidation.

In a remote alpine village, Anna, a young mother, falls in love with Marco, a strong and silent farmhand. After they get married, Marco’s behaviour grows erratic, leading up to a transgression that threatens to tear their family apart.

In the Dominican Republic, Yarisa works as a maid and a nanny for a wealthy, powerful family. When she suffers a personal tragedy, she must re-evaluate the last two decades of her life and her relationship with the family to whom she has given so much.

High in the Bolivian Andes, a llama farmer confronts his own mortality and the impending demise of an ancient way of life in this visually expressive, strikingly authentic Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner.

From the window of a Parisian apartment willed to her by a late friend, a young woman begins a series of video correspondences with two filmmakers to process her grief. A collaborative meditation on the vital role of community in healing.

Yamada, an ex-con dealing with the sudden death of his estranged father, makes a fresh start by moving to a small fishing village, and into an old apartment building populated by a group of quirky misfits. Based on director Naoko Ogigami's own 2019 novel.

Lynn (Yao Honggui), a 20-something looking forward to a career as a flight attendant, has a pushy, patriarchal boyfriend and a mother deep in debt. When she finds herself pregnant, she decides to sell her unborn child to her mother's debtors.

In a near future Japan, seniors aged 75-plus are encouraged to voluntarily euthanize themselves for the good of society. While the plan seems to solve the dilemma, everyone involved questions the morality of it.

When their seemingly happy four-year-old son stops talking, Haleh and Amir consult a series of experts, but it's not long before their own relationship begins to suffer. This superbly acted, spare, empathetic film is completely transfixing.

Novelist Junhee is taking a break from writing, going on a daytrip to a small town where her encounters with friends, both old and new, causes her to reconsider an idea she has been mulling over: what if she were to write and direct her own film?

An engineer becomes entranced by the lure of the Alps, abandons his job, pitches his tent high above the snow line, and explores. This simple but remarkable movie goes high and deep. It will inspire and infuriate according to your taste for adventure.

Veteran Hong Kong star Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs) has a field day here as a terrible actor (actually a retiree who works as an extra) whose unwaveringly sunny disposition makes him a natural for WeFamily, a rent-a-mom-and-pop operation.

Recovering from a suicide attempt, a neurodiverse Cape Breton teen is drawn into the orbit of a genderqueer hospital volunteer who hails from Shanghai. Despite their disparate backgrounds, the pair operate on identical idiosyncratic frequencies.

In one summer afternoon in Denmark, lives are irrevocably changed. A Matter of Trust features five unrelated stories which are seamlessly woven as characters discover trust and mistrust between strangers and those with whom they are closest.

David Ondříček's thoroughly winning biopic tells the story of the legendary long distance runner Emil Zátopek, still the only man to have won Olympic gold medals in the 5000m, 10,000m, and the marathon in the same year (1952).

Timid foley artist Eva's latest project, creating sound effects for a medication commercial starring a dark bay horse, releases her inhibitions and transforms her physical form beyond the realm of possibility.

Richly erotic and deeply moving, Maryam Touzani’s queer-themed film takes us to urban Morocco and into the lives of three beautiful souls. Halim is a master tailor; Mina is his loyal wife; Youssef is the man who slowly comes between them.

An Iranian doctor returns to her home country after 30 years upon learning of her estranged father's death, bringing her young autistic son with her. Nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay at the 2022 Fajr Film Festival.

Veering away from the standard biopic, Paolo Taviani's latest film follows the ashes of celebrated Italian writer Luigi Pirandello on their journey back to Sicily, then ends with a blunt adaptation of one of his short stories.

Aditya Vikram Sengupta explores the depths and vagaries of the human condition through an agoraphobic recluse, a young man working in a chit fund, and a TV host striking out for a new life against the backdrop of a crumbling, nostalgia-mired Calcutta.

Already enduring microaggressions and inept attempts at wokeness from her Manhattan employers, a Senegalese immigrant must also contend with supernatural figures manifesting in both her dreams and waking world. A haunting tale of immigration's realities.

Using tinted archival footage and shot in lush, saturated colours, Scarlet is a romantic coming-of-age period tale about a young woman who is ostracized by her small French village. Featured in 2022 Cannes Film Festival's Directors’ Fortnight.

These shorts from seven of Hong Kong’s best filmmakers is an elegiac tribute to the city's past—and a subversive commentary on its present. From kung fu to the cultural politics of cuisine, the filmmakers mine their city's history with wit and poignancy.

Fernanda returns to her hometown of Goiás, Brazil, to scatter her adoptive mother's ashes and to learn the truth about her origins. In scenes infused with magical realism, she learns her disturbing family history and the limits of her strength.

Steely and determined tequila factory owner María Garcia (played by Teresa Sánchez) fights an uphill battle against nature, chance, and the impending global takeover of the local economy in Juan Pablo González' first narrative feature.

Based on a true story, Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man living in 1942 Berlin, forges passports for Jewish people to escape the country. Instead of hiding, he impersonates military personnel so he can live life, risking discovery by the Gestapo.

In this thriller about a French couple starting a new life in rural Galicia, Spain, director Rodrigo Sorogoyen presents the feral underbelly of country life where tensions between foreigners and locals, educated and uneducated, brutally come to the fore.

Faced with the challenge of making movies under quarantine conditions, Andrew Bujalski came up with six two-handers, and shot each actor separately in this series of wry conversation pieces—a technical feat he carries off with casual elan.

A flashy new neighbour transforms the life of aging couple Meir and Tova, initially in ways that promise renewal, in this sharp Israeli comedy of manners, the Audience Award winner at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Sasson Gabay (The Band's Visit) stars.

In the aftermath of a young woman’s bloody murder in Paris—her identity shrouded in mystery—detective Jules Maigret (Gérard Depardieu) begins to unravel the strange details surrounding her life and death.

Waleed struggles with depression, married life, and writer’s block. Upon learning that his cocky new neighbour Jalal is indebted to some dangerous men, he starts tagging along for Jalal’s shake-downs, ostensibly as research for a crime novel.