DIRECTOR Brandon Kramer

In the weeks unfolding after Liat is kidnapped, her father resists efforts to use her captivity to justify escalating violence in Gaza, exposing political and emotional rifts within his family as they struggle to find a way to bring her home.

DIRECTOR Deborah S. Esquenazi

At turns riveting true crime, an exposé of anti BIPOC and LGBT bias in the American justice system, and emotional catharsis, NIGHT IN WEST TEXAS is a probing look at the cracks in the American justice system and how one innocent man so easily slipped through them. At once both harrowing and deeply affecting, the film shows how a young gay Apache man was vilified as a minority but also how a community rallied around him to battle for the justice he deserved.

DIRECTOR Juan Pablo Di Pace, Andres Pepe Estrada

Argentine filmmaker Matias struggles to finish a movie about his unrequited first love—a boy that was expelled from his boarding school. 25 years later, an unexpected invitation that arrives from this boy's family gives Matias the chance to reconstruct his memories, revisit his past, and perhaps even find a new ending to the story.

DIRECTOR Jen Markowitz

SUMMER QAMP is a documentary following a group of LGBTQ+ youth at an idyllic lakeside camp in Alberta. The campers enjoy the traditional summer camp experience in a safe, affirming environment.

DIRECTOR Raphael Sbarge

Laemmle Theatres, the beloved 84-year-old arthouse cinema chain in Los Angeles with deep ties to the history of Hollywood, is facing seismic change and downward pressure. Yet the family behind this multigenerational business—whose sole mission has been to support the art of film—is determined to see it survive.

DIRECTOR Ramona S. Diaz

Motherland takes us into the heart of the planet’s busiest maternity hospital in one of the world’s poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. The film’s viewer, like an unseen outsider dropped unobtrusively into the hospital’s stream of activity.

DIRECTOR Jessica M. Thompson
Assistant Director Carlo Velayo

Bonnie—a young, successful Latina architect (Stephanie Beatriz)—is walking home in Brooklyn when she is sexually assaulted. She attempts to keep it a secret from her boyfriend, as she tries to deny the impact of what has happened to her, but in the end must fight to take back control and regain intimacy in her life.

DIRECTOR Nanfu Wang

The danger is palpable as intrepid young filmmaker Nanfu Wang follows maverick activist Ye Haiyan (a.k.a Hooligan Sparrow) to southern China to protest the case of six elementary school girls who were sexually abused by their principal.

DIRECTOR Ferne Pearlstein

A feature documentary about what is taboo for humor, seen through the lens of the Holocaust and other seemingly off-limits topics, in a society that prizes free speech.

DIRECTOR Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley

Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight.

DIRECTOR Jeffrey Schwarz

How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters' cinematic muse and an international drag icon.

DIRECTOR Aurora Guerrero

From writer/director Aurora Guerrero comes the story of two 15-year-old Chicanas growing up in Huntington Park. Focused on college, sheltered Yolanda is an only child to older, immigrant parents. Street-wise Mari hustles to help her undocumented family stay above water. Desipte Yolanda and Mari’ contrasting approach to survival, their forged friendship proves more complex and sensual than anticipated.

DIRECTOR Javier Fuentes-Léon

In this unique ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside, a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions.