Animation Shorts
Babi Yar. Context
The perpetration and subsequent cover-up of one of the 20th century’s worst mass murders are examined in detail in Sergei Loznitsa’s remarkable archival collage.
Bach-Hông
A young Vietnamese-French woman is faced with the communist takeover of Saigon on 30 April 1975.
Captains of Zaatari
This ode to sport and friendship takes us to the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp, where two soccer-obsessed teens see the game as their way out.
Dear Comrades!
A Soviet official finds her loyalty to the regime tested when her daughter goes missing in the aftermath of a massacre.
Gaza Mon Amour
Great Freedom
In this achingly romantic postwar-set film, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, a man imprisoned for his sexuality finds that love offers sweet release.
Moffie
This bruising, tender queer drama reminiscent of Beau Travail explores homophobia and repressed desire in the Apartheid-era South African military.
New Order
Winner of the Silver Lion at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, this shocking, dystopian thriller is an incendiary indictment of class, racism and power that speaks to our times.
Notturno
From the director of Golden Bear winner Fire at Sea comes an achingly poetic, humane meditation on life in the shadow of war and the Islamic State.
The Painted Bird
This winner of multiple Czech Lion awards as well as Venice’s UNICEF Award is a stunning, utterly harrowing indictment of humanity at its worst.
Paper City
Three elderly survivors of the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo fight against bureaucracy and indifference to ensure that the event and its victims are not forgotten.
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Nominated for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Oscars, this extraordinary account of a 1995 Bosnian massacre is powerful, essential viewing.
Sabaya
This daring Sundance Directing Award winner tracks a band of volunteers out to rescue ISIS sex slaves from an infamous Syrian border camp.
Step Into the River
This DOK Leipzig Silver Dove for Short Documentary and Animated Film winner grapples with China’s one-child policy through a story about two friends.
This Rain Will Never Stop
Winner of Best First Appearance at IDFA 2020, this formally bold documentary traces a Kurdish-Ukrainian young man’s experiences of an endless cycle of war and peace.
When Pomegranates Howl
On the streets of Kabul, a child dreams of making it big. Will a chance encounter with a foreigner bring his shot at stardom closer?
Wife of a Spy
Kiyoshi Kurosawa makes his first foray into period filmmaking with a twisty, Hitchcockian tale of love and betrayal in WWII, which earned him a 2020 Silver Lion.