September 25, 2025
MY ARMENIAN PHANTOMS (MES FANTÔMES ARMÉNIENS)
DescriptionBiosContactDescription U.S. Premiere Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, screenwriter and producer Tamara Stepanyan. Personal memoirs and collective cinematic nostalgia converge in Tamara Stepanyan’s tender love letter to her late father and a faded past of Soviet Armenia. Triggered by the sudden passing of her father — distinguished Armenian actor Vigen Stepanyan...
September 25, 2025
MY FATHER’S SHADOW
DescriptionBiosContactTrailerDescription Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Akinola Davies Jr. History, memory and nostalgia blends into a vividly realized work of autofiction in Nigeria’s first ever Cannes selection and winner of the Caméra d'or Special Mention. It is June 12, 1993 — the first election of the country since a...
September 25, 2025
MY WONDERFUL LIFE
DescriptionBiosContactTrailerDescription Screens as part of SHORTS PROGRAM: AFTER DARK Grace Lee, an overworked mom in Singapore, collapses at work. She gets admitted into the hospital where she finds newfound freedom as a patient. Bios Calleen Koh is a Singaporean BAFTA-nominated animation filmmaker, writer and artist currently pursuing her MFA in Experimental Animation at the California...
September 25, 2025
MR. OGRE’S CASTLE
DescriptionBiosContactTrailerDescription World Premiere Screens as part of SHORTS PROGRAM: AFTER DARK A group of teenagers enjoys an illicit stay at a luxurious villa while the mysterious owner is away. Their party gets spoiled when a CCTV camera operator calls to inform the police. Bios Maxime Chudeau is a French animation filmmaker based in New York...
September 25, 2025
MURMURATION (ZWERMEN)
DescriptionBiosContactDescription North American Premiere Screens as part of SHORTS PROGRAM: ANIMATION 2 An elderly man realizes that he’s suddenly turning into a bird. Bios Janneke Swinkels and Tim Frijsinger are a Dutch animation and filmmaking duo. They first met while attending the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design where they studied video. Their newest...
September 25, 2025
MIROIRS NO. 3
DescriptionBiosContactTrailerDescription In their fourth collaboration to date, director Christian Petzold and actress Paula Beer forge an enigmatic depiction of haunting loss and mysterious connection. After surviving a car crash that kills her boyfriend, Laura (Beer), a music student at university, is taken in by Betty (Barbara Auer), an older woman who witnessed the accident. Betty...
September 25, 2025
MORTE CUCINA
DescriptionBiosContactDescription North American Premiere Screening to be followed by a conversation with actor Bella Boonsang. Twenty-five years after his second feature 6IXTYNIN9 (AFI FEST 2000) screened in a sidebar of New Wave gems, Thai filmmaker Pen-Ek Ratanaruang returns to AFI FEST with his latest film since 2017. MORTE CUCINA is a deliciously tense, decades-spanning tale...
September 25, 2025
MEMENTO MORI (ZINC)
DescriptionBiosContactDescription Screens as part of SHORTS PROGRAM: DOCUMENTARY 1 As rhythmic machines press zinc sheets into coffins, factory workers reflect on their own mortality. Does daily contact with death heighten their awareness of life’s impermanence? Bios Ainara Vera is a Spanish filmmaker and editor whose work has captivated audiences at renowned festivals such as Locarno...
September 25, 2025
MERMAIDS (GORGONES)
DescriptionBiosContactTrailerDescription International Premiere Screens as part of SHORTS PROGRAM: LIVE ACTION 2 Summer holidays in Greece. Under the scorched sun, a flirt pushes two opposite friend groups on a journey of sexual discovery, lust, consent and complete transformation. Bios Dimitris and Lida are a directing duo whose short films have traveled to and been awarded...
September 25, 2025
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
DescriptionBiosContactDescription Screening to be followed by a conversation with director Maria Friedman. This filmed version of the Tony Award®-winning 2023-2024 revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s cult 1981 stage musical stars Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, formerly the best of friends and artistic collaborators, now in various stages of disappointment and burnout....
