NARRATIVES: INTERNATIONAL
Benediction
Terence Davies (UK 2021, 137 min)
U.S. Premiere
Fri, Apr 29 4:00 PM BAMPFA
Sat, Apr 30 3:00 PM CASTRO
Terence Davies separates man from myth in his masterly portrait of acclaimed antiwar poet Siegfried Sassoon, employing archival footage, gleefully catty dialogue, and an artful crosscutting between the different eras of his subject’s fraught and complex life.
Both Sides of the Blade
Claire Denis (France 2022, 116 min)
Sat, Apr 23 8:00 PM CASTRO
Master director Claire Denis reunites with Juliette Binoche to tell the passionate story of a woman torn between two men. Co-starring Vincent Lindon and Grégoire Colin, the film is scored by Denis regular Stuart Staples.
The Box
Lorenzo Vigas (Mexico/USA 2021, 93 min)
Sun, Apr 24 5:00 PM ROXIE
A simple trip to recover his father’s remains evolves into an eye-opening introduction to the insidious world of factory labor for teenager Hatzin when he meets local promoter Mario.
Costa Brava, Lebanon
Mounia Akl (Lebanon/France/Spain/Sweden/Denmark/Norway/Qatar 2021, 106 min)
Sun, Apr 24 12:00 PM VOGUE
Sat, Apr 30 5:30 PM BAMPFA
Set in the near future but reflecting on current crises in present-day Lebanon, this tense debut portrays three generations of the Badri family, who have retreated from the chaos of Beirut to a rural homestead.
The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
Francisca Alegría (Chile/France/USA/Germany 2022, 93 min)
Thu, Apr 28 8:30 PM ROXIE
In her debut feature, director Francisca Alegría creates a magical realist tale of familial legacy and loss, set against a backdrop of environmental decline.
The Employer and the Employee
Manolo Nieto (Uruguay/Argentina/Brazil/France 2021, 110 min)
Sun, Apr 24 8:30 PM VICTORIA
In this slow-burning drama, the dynamics of money and power play out between two young fathers in the wake of a tragedy on a Uruguayan farm.
Fire on the Plain
Zhang Ji (China 2021, 113 min)
Sun, Apr 24 8:45 PM VOGUE
Thu, Apr 28 8:00 PM BAMPFA
The son of a local gangster and daughter of a factory worker conspire to flee their desperate lives as a serial killer runs rampant in this Chinese social realist neo-noir.
The Gravedigger’s Wife
Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (Finland/Germany/France 2021, 83 min)
Sun, Apr 24 8:00 PM ROXIE
A loving husband takes to the road to ask for financial help from extended family when chronic kidney disease threatens his wife’s life in this warm and humanistic drama.
Happening
Audrey Diwan (France 2021, 100 min)
Fri, Apr 22 7:00 PM BAMPFA
Sat, Apr 23 6:00 PM VICTORIA
A bright literature student in 1960s France refuses to let an unwanted pregnancy shatter her life, and seeks an illegal abortion in this powerful drama adapted from Annie Ernaux’s memoir.
Hatching
Hanna Bergholm (Finland 2021, 87 min)
Wed, Apr 27 8:45 PM ROXIE
A young gymnast copes with her mother’s overwhelming demands by caring for a large, mysterious egg. When it hatches, things quickly get out of hand.
The Hill Where Lionesses Roar
Luàna Bajrami (Kosovo/France 2021, 83 min)
Sat, Apr 23 2:45 PM VOGUE
A trio of lifelong Kosovar friends facing dead-end futures hatches a wild plan that promises an ecstatic moment of freedom and maybe much more in this luminous coming-of-age tale.
Hit the Road
Panah Panahi (Iran 2021, 94 min)
Fri, Apr 22 8:30 PM VOGUE
Sat, Apr 23 5:30 PM BAMPFA
In Panah Panahi’s auspicious feature debut, an eccentric family takes a road trip through sun-drenched Iranian landscapes as they accompany their eldest son to a mysterious destination.
Întregalde
Radu Muntean (Romania 2021, 104 min)
Wed, Apr 27 8:45 PM VICTORIA
Sat, Apr 30 7:45 PM BAMPFA
Wryly funny and suspenseful, this Cannes hit portrays a trio of Romanian aid workers whose SUV gets stuck on a logging road in remote Transylvania.
Lo Invisible
Javier Andrade (Ecuador/France 2021, 85 min)
Sat, Apr 30 9:15 PM VICTORIA
In her opulent home in the Ecuadorian countryside, Luisa sinks further and further into a forlorn state brought on by a bout with postpartum depression.
Klondike
Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine/Turkey 2022, 100 min)
Fri, Apr 22 8:30 PM VICTORIA
Sun, May 1 7:00 PM BAMPFA
Armed conflict hits home in the most vivid way imaginable when mortar fire decimates one wall of the farmhouse belonging to married Ukrainian couple Irka and Tolik in this striking drama based on real events.
Mars One
Gabriel Martins (Brazil 2022, 115 min)
Fri, Apr 22 8:45 PM ROXIE
Sat, Apr 23 7:45 PM BAMPFA
Featuring four vibrant characters from working-class Brazil, this tender film is a delightful portrait of a mutually nurturing family who dares to dream.
Neptune Frost
Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams (Rwanda/USA 2021, 105 min)
Sat, Apr 23 8:45 PM ROXIE
Wed, Apr 27 7:00 PM BAMPFA
Replete with mind-altering visual and sonic imagery, this Afrofuturist mélange of music, poetry, and resistance is hypnotic and visionary in its depiction of a genderqueer community of hackers and techno poets.
Private Desert
Aly Murituba (Brazil 2021, 121 min)
Mon, Apr 25 8:30 PM VICTORIA
In this passionate melodrama reflecting on toxic masculinity, a police officer from southern Brazil facing brutality charges travels north to find his internet love Sara, only to be shocked by her flesh-and-blood reality.
Sonne
Kurdwyn Ayub (Austria 2022, 88 min)
Sat, Apr 30 5:00 PM ROXIE
When three teenage girlfriends make a home music video to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion,” their moment of uninhibited camaraderie becomes an unexpected viral sensation in Vienna.
Sublime
Mariano Biasin (Argentina 2022, 97 min)
Sat, Apr 23 9:00 PM VICTORIA
Irresistible garage rock enhances this winning coming-of-age tale as teenage bass player Manu, swept up in a cascade of emotions and hormones, falls in love with his BFF and bandmate Felipe.
Sun & Daughter
Catalina Razzini (Bolivia/Spain/Germany 2021, 84 min)
Sat, Apr 23 12:00 PM VOGUE
At Lake Titicaca in the mountains of Bolivia, 10-year-old Lucia concocts a mythical reunion with her father, who is away working in La Paz.
Utama
Alejandro Loayza Grisi (Bolivia/Uruguay/France 2022, 87 min)
Sun, Apr 24 3:00 PM VICTORIA
Thu, Apr 28 6:00 PM BAMPFA
A long drought parching their Bolivian highlands homeland endangers an elderly Quechua llama herder and his wife’s way of life in this intricate examination of the relationship between land and humanity.
Wet Sand
Elene Naveriani (Switzerland/Georgia 2021, 115 min)
Sat, Apr 30 12:00 PM VICTORIA
A granddaughter returns to her reclusive grandfather’s seaside village in Georgia after his suicide to organize his funeral only to discover his long-suppressed secret love in this meditative drama about small-town prejudice.
