International Shorts: Conflicts of the Heart

Walter Salles (Central Station; Motorcycle Dairies) adapts the 2015 memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, an account of a family torn apart by the "disappearance" of a former congressman at the hands of the military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971.

In a spacious home, preparations are afoot for an extravagant party—which quickly becomes a pressure cooker of longstanding familial strife. An entropic symphony of domestic existence, this is a film whose luminous surfaces yield only deeper enigmas.

This uplifting documentary follows a curling team from Maple Ridge as they navigate the uncertainties of their teenage years and strive to become Canadian Junior Curling Champions with coaching from three of their moms, who are former Olympians.

Mathyas abruptly quits his marketing job in Montreal and goes to France with the romantic notion of becoming a shepherd. He's in for a rude awakening... Sophie Deraspe’s film is an elemental epic of personal growth.

When their kids start going blind, Edith and Sébastien Pelletier take their family on a globe-trotting adventure to see the world before they lose their sight. An inspirational journey of reflection, self-discovery, and heartwarming family connection.

Harvey is a lonely, overweight man who discovers new self-esteem when he submits a photo to Cherub, a gay magazine “For big men and their admirers.” A gentle, ambient character study about the healing power of being admired.