40 Steps

An orthodox school in southern Tel Aviv is divided in half for a new secular elementary school. In a shared playground, both schools must coexist, while the identity of different communities are put to the test.

A Night of Knowing Nothing

L’s letters to her lover, who left her, expose the deep faultlines in Indian society—faultlines students try to skip over on their way to a free and liberated future. A mixture of texts and authentic and staged footage gives this story a dreamlike, surreal, and spellbinding feel.

A Taste of Whale

“The Grind,” the traditional whale hunt of the Faroe Islands, has activists enraged. The locals, who see whale delicacies as part of their identity, denounce the demands as hypocritical, and it turns out both sides have thought-provoking arguments.

Bukolika

A mother and her daughter live in almost complete seclusion in a rundown house in rural Poland. The seasons dictate the rhythm of their lives, and their deep connection to nature is fertile soil for dreams and visions. Despite the hardships, the two find much satisfaction and happiness in their way of life.

Charm Circle

The New York house where the director’s parents live is small and so very neglected. Can they once again return to being the young, optimistic couple smiling at her from the old home videos? And will love and laughter be enough to help her dysfunctional family regain the intimacy they have lost?

Children of the Mist

School has given her a glimpse of the outside world and its progressive values, but in her insular community, in the misty mountains of North Vietnam, the tradition of child bride kidnapping is still alive. 12-year-old Di is about to face the divide between tradition and her dreams.

Crows Are White

Director Ahsen Nadeem leads a double life. To find a solution for his problem, he travels to a remote Japanese monastery on a scenic mountaintop—home to an ancient, secretive sect of Buddhist monks who perform extreme acts of endurance. Will he find answers there, or are they inside him already?

Dark Red Forest

Each winter, 20 thousand nuns embark on a journey through the snowy expanse of the Tibetan Plateau. This mesmerizing intimate film follows them through one hundred very cold days of physical and spiritual tribulations, as their inner landscapes become one with the Tibetan wilderness.

Dirndlschuld

The Dirndl—a colorful traditional dress typically associated with the postcard-idyllic Austrian landscape—hides a dark, complicated, history and a heavy burden of guilt.

H2: The Occupation Lab

Segregated, highly surveilled, heavily filmed and intensely guarded: H2 uncovers the ways in which a single neighborhood in Hebron fuels the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 54 years of military occupation, told through the story of a one-kilometer long street.

Lost Angeles - Documentary Musical

In Kiryat Malachi, Los Angeles' twin city, dreams were left behind. Yosef Hurriye is 60 years old: with mounting debts and looming local elections, he decides it’s time to fight for the town and his life.

Midwives

Hla and Nyo Nyo, a Buddhist and a Muslim, run a small, makeshift women's health clinic in Myanmar, where the Muslim minority is violently persecuted. In five years of personal and political upheaval, the two women’s unique relationship is often put to the test.

My Name Is Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray was there before (almost) all the others. A poet, lawyer, activist, scholar, and Black queer person, Murray paved the way for the big civil rights and women’s rights revolutions in the US. Julie Cohen and Betsy West paint the portrait of a true luminary.

Nothing Compares

The crystal voice and haunting eyes that had paved Sinéad O’Connor’s path to stardom did her no good when she insisted on raising that voice in protest. She was labeled “disturbed” and sidelined. Archive footage, music, and interviews with her reveal a different O’Connor: thoughtful, sharp, and more interesting than ever.

Strigov

When grandma dies, those who are left in the tiny, slowly disappearing Slovakian community join the emotional farewell journey.

Words That Remain

Six people recall the languages that cradled their childhoods: Judeo-Spanish or Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian. Today, the languages themselves are dying but they left traces that still affect those who heard them as children.