Synopsis

Michigan-based filmmaker Joel Potrykus has built his career on chronicling the comedic routines and surprisingly complex inner lives of slacker dudes. And Vulcanizadora is no exception. The difference here is that Potrykus’ characters, like the filmmaker himself, are getting older. That means that, for Marty Jackitansky (Josh Burge) and Derek Skiba (Joel Potrykus), the consequences of their actions are getting harder to avoid.

The moment when eternal adolescence slams against the brick wall of mortality is the theme of Potrykus’ latest, a spiritual sequel to his film Buzzard (ChicagoIFF 2014). This is a movie that benefits from knowing as little as possible going in, so just take Potrykus’ word for it when he says that this is his “most personal” as well as his “bleakest” film to date.

Synopsis

New Zealand,1954. Friends Nellie, Daisy, and Lou make mischief together at an institution for delinquent girls that has recently relocated to a remote island. A strict and devout matron lords over the girls’ education, working to shape them into pious, obedient, “civilized” young women. But it’s hard to reform girls who don’t believe they need reforming.

When the matron approves experimental forms of punishment set to take place in the dead of night, the trio’s rebellion soon becomes an urgent plot to escape by whatever means possible. We Were Dangerous beautifully juxtaposes a charming wit and playfulness against the grim reality of the girls’ life on the island, crafting a love letter to fierce and disobedient young women past and present.

Synopsis

Spanning one sunset to another, When the Light Breaks is a whisper-quiet rumination on love, beauty, and human perseverance in the face of disaster. Two lovers, Una and Diddi, look toward the horizon at the end of a long Icelandic summer day. Una, a passionate performance art student, dreams of the future, which begins with the two lovers announcing their well-kept secret relationship to their friends. Then a sudden, devastating tragedy befalls Reykjavík, and Una and her friends are forced to reckon with a broken new reality. Visionary director Rúnar Rúnarsson (Sparrows, 2015) deploys a haunting score while training his expressive, incisive camera on a talented young cast to create an intimate, hushed examination of loss and grief.

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

Luciana, a trusted Italian astrologer, promises her clients a way to make their dreams come true: All they need to do is take a special birthday trip to a destination determined by their astrological profile. Sitting behind her computer, Luciana quickly types in some data. Out comes a client’s wish-fulfilling location, be it Taipei, Beirut, or Alaska. As Luciana’s customers — from fun-loving twins to an elderly woman — venture out, they discover fulfillment in the unlikeliest of places.

Mixing deadpan wit and bittersweet poignance, Slovak director Péter Kerekes (ChicagoIFF winner Cooking History) returns to the Festival with a wondrously stylized documentary that is as surprising and idiosyncratic as its central psychic. No matter what you think of Luciana’s practice, Wishing on a Star offers an authentically sensitive and universal portrait of the human desire for happiness—and the lengths people will go to find it.