USA
Director: Chinonye Chukwu

alaskaLand tells the story of Chukwuma, an Alaska-raised Nigerian struggling to balance his cultural heritage with the pressures of the larger world around him. After a family tragedy forces a two-year estrangement from his younger sister Chidinma, the siblings reconnect in their hometown. Although their time apart has created new frictions, they find their reconciliation bringing them closer to each other and to their roots in this gorgeous, knowing debut film.

English, 75 min

Northern Ireland / USA
Director: Valeri Vaughn

Out of the heart of a violently divided region rose a unique form of expression that has given voice to two groups of people on opposing sides of a centuries-old conflict. Narrated by Vince Vaughn, this eye-opening documentary examines how the street art of murals tells the story of Northern Ireland’s history and the violent Troubles through interviews with muralists, political figures, art historians, and people who live and work in the region.

English, 73 min

USA
Director: Clayton Brown Monica Long Ross

In 1989, the future of energy production seemed at hand, when Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced to the world the discovery of “cold fusion.” Garnering sensational media attention, their fast-rising reputation quickly faded when nobody could reproduce their claimed results. The Believers is not only the story of a quirk in the history of science, but a personal tale of belief, integrity, disappointment, and acceptance.

English, 80 min

Germany / Uruguay
Director: Alicia Cano

The Bella Vista tells the story of a onetime soccer team’s clubhouse in Uruguay. Left abandoned for years, the house is revived as a brothel for the town’s transvestite prostitutes, raising the ire of residents who seek to reclaim the building for a Catholic chapel. In capturing the opposing sides of this conflict over a rather small, mundane building, director Alicia Cano creates a lyrical, intimate portrait of a provincial city.

Spanish with subtitles, 73 min

USA
Director: Leslie Zemeckis

The Hilton sisters’ incredible story begins in England in the early 1900s when their mother, after discovering she had given birth to conjoined twins, sold the babies to a woman who viewed the girls exclusively as “cash cows.” Their new caretaker/manager put the young pair on display in the back of pubs, eventually taking them on tour in carnivals and circuses. When the twins came to America, they instantly became a gigantic success, but the 23-year-old sisters were unable to cope with the dishonest agents and managers that would exploit them over and over again throughout their lives. Leslie Zemeckis’ compelling documentary explores the colorful, tragic lives of the world’s most famous conjoined twins.

English, 91 min

Denmark
Director: Katrine Wiedemann

Harsh and bitter, apartment caretaker Per despises everyone and everything around him until he comes across a mysterious naked girl in an empty apartment. She doesn’t know how to talk, walk, or even eat - she just smiles broadly. Per soon discovers that she has miraculous sexual powers. Perhaps just as startling, he finds himself caring deeply for this beautiful cypher in a perverse, unexpected fairy tale about love, possession, and generosity.

Danish with subtitles, 87 min

USA
Directors: Ken Burns and Sarah Burns and David McMahon

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. Each spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before the actual criminal’s confession led to their exonerations. This powerful documentary from the great Ken Burns (The Civil War) explores this horrific crime and the appalling, racially-fraught miscarriage of justice that followed in its wake.

English, 119 min

Serbia
Director: Maja Milos

A brutally honest, unflinching portrait of the intensely sexualized cell-phone generation, Clip follows the beautiful teenage Jasna as she and her friends attempt to use their bodies to gain attention and affection from their mostly indifferent, violent male counterparts. Featuring remarkably open and assured performances from its young cast, director Maja Miloš’ feature debut announces the arrival of a major cinematic talent.

Serbian with subtitles, 102 min

Austria
Directors: Sabine Hiebler and Gerhart Ertl

In their 80s, Rosa and Bruno meet and are suddenly reminded what it means to love and live fully. The two - knowing that their time together is limited - discover a new lust for life and run off together, leaving much and many in their wake. This unconventional romantic drama paints a powerful portrait of love and loss by turns stark, passion-filled, and heartbreaking.

German, 90

Japan
Director: Miwa Nishikawa

The lives of married couple Kanya and Satoko are turned upside down when they lose their restaurant in a fire. Depressed and desperate, the couple concocts an unlikely confidence scheme to pay the bills: Kanya marries and swindles lonely spinsters. Successful as they are, the fraud wears on the couple, driving an even greater wedge between them.

Japanese with subtitles, 134 min

USA
Director: Kris Swanberg

When new mom Jenny inherits a cabin in Montana, she sees an opportunity to leave behind the drab routine of her stay-at-home life in Chicago. Baby in tow, she embraces a life of independence while she waits for her husband to join her. Her idyllic life takes an unsettling turn when she begins a relationship with a local handyman in this subtle, beautiful film from actor-filmmaker Kris Swanberg.

English, 70 min

Netherlands
Director: Sacha Polak

Since the death of her mother, Hemel has been very close with her father Gijs, her only other consolation being an endless series of men. Gijs has gone through a number of romances with beautiful women, and, similarly, none of them were serious enough to threaten the father-daughter relationship. When Gijs meets Sophie, however, Hemel feels like her close bond with her father is in serious danger in this powerful, erotic melodrama.

Dutch with subtitles, 80 min

Austria
Director: Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala

Outrageous, funny, contentious, and talented, prolific Austrian actor and filmmaker Peter Kern is a sheer force of personality. Though Franz and Fiala set out to create a straightforward portrait of the aging artist, the mercurial Kern berates the filmmakers (and anyone else within earshot) every step of the way, and can’t help but assert his own sensibilities onto a film in which he is ostensibly the subject.

German with subtitles, 98 min

Israel
Director: Maya Kenig

In this bittersweet family comedy, shy teenager Libby moves back to Israel to live with her hapless father Shaul, unexpectedly finding herself without a home as war breaks out around them. Shaul devises a creative solution: posing as refugees, they are taken in by a wealthy family in Jerusalem. Finally in a “normal” household, Shaul and Libby begin to build their father-daughter relationship, but their false identities can’t last forever.

Hebrew with subtitles, 86 min

South Africa
Director: Sara Blecher

In the tumultuous South Africa of the late 1980s, young Otelo looks for freedom wherever he can find it. When he and his friends are introduced to surfing, they swiftly take to the sport, a welcome reprieve from pressures both societal and parental. As the group rises in skill and fame, tensions and egos inevitably develop, further flamed by Otelo’s romantic interest in his friend’s sister and the escalating political conflicts around them.

Zulu with subtitles, 95 min

Switzerland
Director: Ursula Meier

Twelve-year-old Simon lives with his jobless, aimless sister in the industrial valley below a luxury ski resort. A small-time thief who preys on the rich tourists up above, Simon longs to escape from the drab poverty of his home life. As his schemes grow more grandiose, they also become more complex and risky, complicating his already fraught relationship with his sister in this bleak but tender coming-of-age story.

French with subtitles, 97 min

Lebanon
Director: Rania Stephan

One of the most revered actresses in Middle Eastern cinema, Soad Hosni was a staple of the Egyptian screen in the 1960s and 1970s. This unconventional, lovingly crafted tribute recreates Hosni’s life story exclusively through her fictional performances, mined from VHS tapes that preserve this rich period of Egyptian film history.

Arabic with subtitles, 70 min

Germany
Director: Nina Grosse

Based on a novel by Bernard Schlink (The Reader), The Weekend follows Jens as he leaves prison 18 years after being arrested as an RAF terrorist in Germany. Back with his family, friends, and ex-comrades, including his former lover Inga, Jens’ unexpected arrival disrupts their lives, forcing them to re-examine the violent idealism of their youth, especially as he insists on learning who had betrayed him to the police years before in this intense, gripping drama.

German with subtitles, 97 min