What's On
Hysteria
When a burned Quran is found on the set of a film, tensions rise between the filmmaker and the refugees recruited as extras for the shoot. As the conflict escalates, a young assistant finds herself drawn into a widening web of paranoia and conspiracy.
God Will Not Help
At the turn of the 20th century, a Chilean woman shows up in a remote Croatian community of shepherds, claiming to be the widow of the family’s eldest son who moved away years ago. Deeply buried tensions start to surface among the distrustful clan.
Image: © Kinorama
Half Moon: Kinan Azmeh
Syrian musician Kinan Azmeh questions how art and music can adequately confront the tragedy of war in this introspective documentary. A profound and celebratory meditation on art’s ability to build solidarity, community, and hope in the world.
How to Build a Library
Can a library be decolonized? How to Build a Library follows two visionary women on a quest to restore Nairobi’s McMillan Memorial Library and exorcise its colonial ghosts. A powerful documentary on archives, access, and reclaiming civic space.
News From Home
One part city symphony, one part introspective meditation, one part epistolary text, News from Home is a structuralist masterwork by Belgium’s genius of contemplation, Chantal Akerman.
Shifting Baselines
Towering rockets rise as wetlands vanish in this sly black-and-white documentary about SpaceX’s conquest of Boca Chica, Texas. With sci-fi aesthetics and observational calm, the film exposes how cosmic dreams begin with the quiet erasure of Earth.
Steal Away
Get Out meets Rosemary’s Baby in this surreal psychological thriller from award-winning director Clement Virgo (Brother, VIFF 2022), as a sheltered teenager (Angourie Rice) obsesses over the mysterious refugee her mother has taken in (Mallori Johnson).
Clan of the Painted Lady
Jennifer Chiu’s engrossing documentary explores the Hakka — a people, a language, and a culture that have been obscured for far too long. Tracing her own lineage back to from Canada to China, the director creates an illuminating, bravely personal film.
The Essence of Eva
Tragically dying years before she’d rise to global fame, Eva Cassidy was an uncompromising artist whose transcendent voice still resonates. With never-before-heard recordings and footage, this intimate portrait captures the person behind the legend.
