Synopsis

From unforgettable chance encounters to complex lifelong relationships, these powerful films from visionary auteurs explore the depth of human connections, the transcendent nature of shared language, and the ways life’s twists and turns can strengthen — or challenge — those bonds. Featuring works by Adebukola Bodunrin, Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Tara Shehata, Rúnar Rúnarsson, and Alkis Papastathopoulos.

In We Are Not Alone (Canada, United States), a young Nigerian immigrant enlists the help of a stranger to communicate with an extraterrestrial vessel approaching Earth that promises to take her away from a lonely world. A man who lives in the forest may be the cause of a series of disasters plaguing a small village in Vox Humana (Philippines, United States, Singapore). Alone with You (Lewahdena) (Egypt) explores the weight of cultural expectations on an Egyptian couple in their thirties. A lonely man struggles to hide his alcohol addiction during an important reunion with an estranged loved one in O (Iceland, Sweden). And in Honeymoon (Greece, France, Cyprus), a road trip is troubled by transphobic violence against two best friends, and the fluctuating emotions between them.

Synopsis

Shopping under the pseudonym “Claude,” an older woman finds solace in isolation by buying secondhand lamps online. When a seller abruptly rescinds their offer, however, Claude is determined to possess the lamp by any means necessary.

This film screens as part of the Comedic Shorts: Doing the Most program.

Synopsis

In this surreal vision of the not-too-distant-future, the official language of Canada is now Farsi. Against this oddball background, three slice-of-life stories emerge: Two young friends venture to retrieve money found frozen in a block of winter ice. A man quits his painfully bureaucratic government job and returns home. And a peculiar tour guide shows off some of Winnipeg’s dullest attractions to a group of discombobulated tourists. Taken together, these deadpan stories create a picture of life in the “heart of Canada” that’s both hilarious and heartwarming. Featuring masterful production design with an eye toward the absurd, director Matthew Rankin (The Twentieth Century) describes his second feature as “a love letter to Iranian cinema,” combining the soulfulness of Abbas Kiarostami with the visual whimsy of Wes Anderson to create an appealingly unusual odyssey.

Synopsis

Aicha lives in Tunisia’s isolated north with her husband and youngest son. Following the departure of their oldest boys to fight alongside ISIS in Syria, the family exists in a state of fear and uncertainty. Then Mehdi, her oldest, reappears unexpectedly with a mysterious, pregnant bride, and a creeping panic begins to take hold of the family and surrounding community. Mehdi’s return seems to trigger strange happenings around the village, and an unseen darkness lurks around every corner. Shot with stunning intimacy, director Meryam Joobeur deploys breathtaking close-ups that turn faces into landscapes. Charged, wordless gazes and an unsettling, dreamlike atmosphere deepen the sense of mystery as Aicha quietly struggles between her instinct to protect her family and her moral commitment to root out the truth.

Synopsis

An eccentric documentary crew treks across the vast roadways of Alberta, Canada to document monuments, museums, and other roadside curios. Armed with only a loose idea of the project’s final form, the wayward director struggles to manage a slew of messy personal entanglements and rivalries embroiling her collaborators. They look for meaning in the landscape, but their search turns inward as they’re inspired to reckon with their own lives.

Directed with a light touch, this charming cross-country odyssey is part revisionist Western and part road movie. Punctuated by moments of extraordinary tenderness and unexpected violence, it invokes poetry, magic, and prayer to imagine a radical, caring form of wildness on the Canadian frontier.