MVFF47 - RSVP Guide

In her latest film, director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank; Cow, MVFF44) returns to the hardscrabble lives of Brits that established her career. Protagonist Bailey (newcomer Nykiya Adams) is a 12-year-old girl forced into beyond-her-age maturity by ill-equipped parents. Her dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan, Saltburn, MVFF46), is focused on his upcoming wedding while her mom lives in a seedy part of town with an abusive boyfriend. Bailey’s favorite activity is wandering the countryside, filming animals, especially birds, on her phone. When she meets a free spirit in a skirt looking for his parents and coincidentally named Bird (Franz Rogowski; Undine, MVFF43), a bond forms and an adventure begins. Adams shines in the lead role, veering from petulance to empathy with grace, and Arnold deftly develops Bailey’s burgeoning friendship with Bird to explore various tensions within adolescent life, most importantly the guidance and nurturing that folks on the cusp of adulthood need.

Initiative: Mind the Gap
Country: UK, US, France, Germany

A woman discovers the corpse of her uncle, a man who caused her considerable pain, in this darkly funny portrait of Zambia’s matriarchal society that grippingly explores the younger generation’s desire to break free from the sins of the past.

Death and secrets permeate writer-director Rungano Nyoni’s dazzling second feature, the winner of Best Director in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival. Driving through the night after a party, Shula (Susan Chardy) happens across the corpse of her Uncle Fred. That she’s learned that he’s dead isn’t shocking—that she doesn’t care at all is. A portrait of Zambia’s matriarchal society and the lingering emotional scars left behind by sexual abuse, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl combines dark comedy and bruising drama—absurdism and stripped-down realism—to investigate lies that have smothered Shula’s family for years. The filmmaker of 2017’s equally stellar I Am Not a Witch continues to demonstrate an ability to craft modern parables that grapple with both history and a younger generation’s desire to break free from the sins of the past. Funerals have rarely been so cathartic. —Tim Grierson

Rungano Nyoni

Iranian writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof won the FIPRESCI Prize and a special jury award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this gripping drama about the paranoia that slowly eats away at one Tehran family. Misagh Zareh stars as Iman, a seemingly honorable man recently promoted to investigating judge, which brings with it a hefty raise and a bigger apartment for him, his wife, and daughters. But he soon realizes he’s made a Faustian bargain—his new job requires him to sign the death warrants of protesters—which angers the women in his family. Meticulously building in tension until it becomes a harrowing thriller, the film is the latest act of defiance from Rasoulof (There Is No Evil), jailed several times by Iranian authorities for his politically outspoken films. (In fact, he fled the country to avoid imprisonment prior to Sacred Fig’s premiere.) The filmmaker’s fury and sorrow suffuse his latest stunner, which brilliantly details how an oppressive regime obliterates the souls of its citizens.

The brutal impact of climate change drives Bay Area filmmaker Natalie Zimmerman's intense documentary. Focused on the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati, the film weaves breathtaking natural footage with the struggles of people navigating an environment that is slipping away.

The brutal impact of climate change drives this beautiful, intense documentary from Bay Area filmmaker Natalie Zimmerman. As sea levels rise, the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati faces predictions that it will be uninhabitable by 2030. Oceania weaves breathtaking natural footage with the struggles of people navigating an environment that is slipping away. Koyaanisqatsi director Godfrey Reggio executive produced this urgent film that takes the devastating measure of change on the island over eight years. We follow along as the population wrestles with indisputable scientific data and struggles with the emotional dimensions of this fast-moving emergency. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the fragmented histories and disparate experiences of the people affected by the calamity. Highlighting the overwhelming truths all around, the film asks serious questions and ponders realistic calls to action as a community struggles to stay afloat.

Iris (Isabelle Huppert) is a woman abroad in Seoul, teaching French and English in an idiosyncratic fashion. Linguistic collisions are Hong’s stock in trade and the revelations that unfold over conversations in artificially constructed circumstances are a delight to behold.

Isabelle Huppert is Iris, a woman abroad in Seoul, teaching French and English in an idiosyncratic fashion that allows her to pursue her own philosophical and personal interests. Through four encounters over a single day, Iris probes students and strangers for information about poetry, their own histories, and their relationship to their egos. Director Hong Sang-Soo’s delight in repetition is in play as Iris’s pedagogical catechism takes almost the same form in the first two sequences but deepens when she takes her tutelage outdoors with a married couple and visits a younger man with whom she shares an apartment. Huppert, in her third collaboration with Hong, is puckish and sprightly as the open-eyed and questioning Iris, supported by an impeccable group of performers whom her character knocks up against. Linguistic collisions are Hong’s stock in trade and the revelations that happen here as people converse in artificially constructed circumstances are a delight to behold.

Middle-aged widow Rosa lives a quiet life dominated by the ghosts of her long ago marriage. As she makes a new life for herself, jarring revelations force her to face facts about her past and who she is today.

Amidst a suburban existence, a woman struggles with the ghosts of her troubled marriage in this quiet but emotional and full-bodied indie. Rosa is a middle-aged widow living on her own with her beloved dog Coquita but still in thrall to her former life. The story starts quietly, in an unassuming way that mirrors Rosa herself—except there is turbulence deep below the surface. Her incarcerated son Sergio refuses her visits, while her daughter-in-law Alejandra won’t see her or allow her near her grandson Sebas. Rosa’s life receives an unexpected spark when a friend introduces her to the world of tango, igniting a passion she shares with recent acquaintance Juan. Along the way, there are fissures that hint at truths Rosa has buried deep. And as so often with life, things flip. Rosa receives jarring revelations about the people around her but, ultimately, the biggest surprise is what she learns about herself.

En medio de una vida suburbana, una mujer enfrenta los fantasmas de un matrimonio problemático en esta sutil pero profunda película independiente cargada de significado emocional. Rosa es una viuda de mediana edad que vive sola con su amada perra Coquita, pero todavía es esclava de su vida anterior. La historia comienza de una manera modesta, como la propia Rosa, pero hay turbulencias muy por debajo de la superficie. Sergio, su hijo encarcelado, rechaza sus visitas, y su nuera, Alejandra, no la ve ni le permite acercarse a su nieto Sebas. La vida de Rosa cambia inesperadamente cuando una amiga la introduce al mundo del tango, encendiendo una pasión que comparte con un recién conocido, Juan. Con el tiempo, se hace evidente que hay verdades que Rosa ha enterrado profundamente. Y, como tantas veces ocurre en la vida, todo cambia. Rosa hace un descubrimiento estremecedor sobre las personas que la rodean, pero, en última instancia, la mayor sorpresa es lo que aprende sobre sí misma.

Expected In Person Guest

With shades of Joseph Losey’s The Servant and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite in his scintillating directorial debut, Jianjie Lin invites us into a middle-class household in Beijing

In his scintillating directorial debut, Lin Jianjie invites us into the home of a middle-class Beijing family, where an alteration to routine disturbs the equilibrium, revealing a microcosm of socio-political intricacies in a post-one-child China. The only son of well-to-do urbanites, Wei befriends Shuo, a mysterious classmate. As the young man’s enigmatic persona leaves a strong impression on Wei and his parents, a bond forms between Shuo and the family. In particular, Wei’s cell biologist father is taken by the boy’s apparently studious nature, so different from his slacker son’s. As the relationship between Shuo and the family deepens, he begins to integrate into their household dynamic in the most precarious of ways. With shades of Joseph Losey’s The Servant and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Lin embarks on a microscopic examination of the infiltration of a familial cell within a larger national membrane.

Two boys, their parents, and staff struggle for redemption after a mysterious incident at school in this drama that unveils secrets with chilling precision. A gripping exploration of parenthood, perception, and the unknown.

When six-year-old Armand is accused of crossing boundaries with his best friend Jon at school, it sets off a chain of events that drags parents and school staff into a gripping battle for redemption. Winner of this year's Caméra d'Or at Cannes, Norwegian writer-director Halfdan Ullmann Tondel, grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, masterfully constructs a narrative that slowly unveils its secrets as the incident remains shrouded in mystery. No one truly knows what happened between the boys, and as perceptions shift, the story keeps you on the edge of your seat, observing every subtle expression and gesture. Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in The World) delivers a stunning performance as Armand's mother. With perfect pacing and a foreboding atmosphere, Armand is a captivating exploration of human nature and the complexities of parenthood. Enhanced by an evocative score and striking cinematography, this stylistically gripping debut promises to leave you breathless.

Expected In Person Guest

A political thriller, character drama, and clarion call to action, this riveting documentary portraying resistance to Hungary’s authoritarian ruler Viktor Orbán is perfectly relevant for this political moment.

Tracking the parallel struggles of a politician, a journalist, and a medical professional, all female, in their resistance to the authoritarian regime of Hungary's autocratic leader, Viktor Orbán, director Connie Field's (The Whistleblower of My Lai, MVFF41) riveting documentary is part political thriller, part character drama, and part clarion call to action. While there are a lot of big ideas at play, Fields expertly knows when to narrow her focus and when to broaden it, allowing for an absorbing experience that feels painfully real and exceedingly personal while never losing sight of the larger stakes for the country should these women fail. What makes Democracy Noir especially effective is its universality. The situation in Hungary isn't an abstract thing that occurred in the distant past. It's happening right now, and as the film makes clear, it could happen anywhere. Democracy Noir feels especially relevant for this particularly fraught political moment, all while pointing out larger social truths that remain timeless. —Zaki Hasan

Connie Field

Expected In Person Guest

Brimming with insight, French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop’s imaginative and pointed hybrid documentary depicts the story of 26 antiquities returned to Benin by France, the country’s former colonizer.

French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop follows up her sensational narrative debut Atlantics with this imaginative and pointed hybrid documentary about artistic repatriation and colonialism that took the top prize at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. In presenting the story of 26 antiquities returned to Benin (which contained the Kingdom of Dahomey) by its former colonizer, France, the film sensuously details the packing up and shipping of these cultural artifacts in coruscating fashion. There’s the work of the curators in both countries sending, receiving, and detailing the work; there’s Beninese students’ impassioned reaction to this “too-little-too-late” French apologia; and then there’s the imagined dialogue from one of the pieces, a magisterial wood-carved statue of King Gezo, as he travels back to his homeland. Brimming with insight and inferred hope for future reparations, Diop memorably depicts this perhaps small but nevertheless singular moment of cultural exchange and apology.

Crafted with visual poetry and empathy, MVFF Mind the Gap Award honoree Payal Kapadia’s drama shines a light on three nurses as they negotiate love and life in teeming Mumbai.

Crafted with visual poetry and emotional empathy, this 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner from MVFF Mind the Gap Award honoree Payal Kapadia shines a light on three nurses as they negotiate love and life in the teeming Mumbai metropolis. Prabha has a husband living overseas, her younger roommate Anu is carrying on a secret relationship with a Muslim boy, and Parvati plans to leave the big city after her husband dies. Without the support of men, these women forge bonds of mutual support while dispensing much-needed information and advice to their female patients. Cinematographer Ranabir Das tracks their days from work to home with a shimmering beauty, especially in the nighttime scenes. As the film moves from city to country in its second half, the women’s relationships shift and deepen as Kapadia finds the small but wondrous epiphanies in everyday lives.

Expected in person guest.

Filmmaker Michael Premo follows three impassioned right-wing activists through the 2020 election, the January 6 Capitol riot, and beyond. With unexpected nuance and intimacy, he captures his protagonists’ combustible blend of delusional cosplayer, stalwart patriot, and potential threat.

An unexpectedly nuanced cinema verité portrait emerges in Michael Premo’s look at three impassioned right-wing activists. Having won their trust in the lead-up to the 2020 election, the Brooklyn filmmaker follows them through election night, the January 6 riot, and beyond. Contradictions abound—Thad (from Texas) attends Trump rallies with Black Lives Matter activist Jacarri; Chris (from New Jersey) participates in a “Back the Blue” march yet charges the line of police defending the Capitol—but their commitment to a particular red, white, and blue vision of America can’t be denied. Each is a combustible mix of delusional cosplayer, stalwart patriot, and potential threat, with the line between blood and bluster further blurred by cameos from Enrique Tarrio and Roger Stone. For all its madness, January 6 isn’t the film’s climax but a turning point in its protagonists’ political and personal evolutions. Yet the chant echoes: “I am a Western chauvinist/And I refuse to apologize/For creating the modern world/We’re all Proud Boys.”

Expected In Person Guest

In 1992, amidst Lima’s political turmoil, two sisters and their mother prepare to flee Peru while their estranged father seeks reconciliation.Klaudia Reynicke’s poignant drama beautifully blends coming-of-age intimacy with powerful socio-political commentary.

Experience a poignant journey through the eyes of a family living under the shadow of Alberto Fujimori’s authoritarian regime in 1992 Lima, Peru. The film delves deep into the emotional bonds within a matriarchal family, presenting an intimate, dazzling portrayal of two adolescent sisters and their mother as they prepare to leave the country amidst the turbulence while their estranged father attempts to reconnect with his daughters before their departure. Filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke masterfully weaves her childhood memories into the narrative, showcasing a meticulous reconstruction of history-laden domestic worlds as the story transitions seamlessly between a touching coming-of-age tale and a powerful socio-political commentary. With strong performances, exceptional art direction, and evocative costumes, this film stands out as a delicate and moving drama that captures the essence of personal and collective struggle. Don’t miss this compelling story that resonates with both heart and history, highlighting the resilience and strength of women in times of adversity.

Haga un viaje conmovedor a través de los ojos de una familia que vive bajo la sombra del régimen autoritario de Alberto Fujimori en 1992, en Lima, Perú. La película profundiza en los lazos emocionales dentro de una familia matriarcal, presentando un retrato íntimo y deslumbrante de dos hermanas adolescentes y su madre mientras se preparan para abandonar el país en medio de la turbulencia a la vez que su distanciado padre intenta volver a conectarse con las hijas antes de su partida. La cineasta Klaudia Reynicke entrelaza magistralmente los recuerdos de su infancia en la narrativa, ofreciendo una reconstrucción meticulosa de un mundo doméstico cargado de historia. A medida que la película avanza, se convierte en un conmovedor relato sobre el paso a la madurez y un poderoso comentario sociopolítico. Con excelentes interpretaciones, una dirección de arte excepcional y un vestuario evocador, esta película se destaca como un drama delicado y conmovedor que captura la esencia de la lucha personal y colectiva. No se pierda esta cautivadora historia que resuena tanto con el corazón como con la mente, destacando la resiliencia y fortaleza de las mujeres en tiempos de adversidad.

Expected In Person Guest

In Oscar® winner Steve McQueen's brilliant drama, a young boy sent to the country to wait out the WWII Blitz runs away, determined to make it back home to London.

With a gripping visual prelude, Oscar®-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, MVFF36) brilliantly captures the on-the-ground drama of WW2 London during the Blitz. As the bombardments escalate, young mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn, MVFF38; Lady Bird, MVFF40 ) makes the painful decision to evacuate her nine-year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan making an indelible screen debut) to the English countryside for safety. Only the lad will have none of that, jumping off the train to find his way back home and reunite with his mum and beloved piano-playing granddad Gerald (musician Paul Weller). In an adventure increasingly fraught and filled with danger, he navigates the war-torn streets and Underground tunnels of London—complete with characters reminiscent of Dickens. Rita, meanwhile, frantically searches for her wayward child. With an impeccable sense of time, place and humanity, McQueen turns his attention to the perils everyday British civilians faced in the chaos and violence of the War with stunning, unforgettable results.