A Palestinian man, Mustafa (Ali Suliman, “Paradise Now,” “Jack Ryan”), and his wife live 200 meters apart…
International Spotlight
Sponsored by Trio Foundation of St. Louis
Directed by Jonas Carpignano
The Guerrasio family and friends gather to celebrate Claudio and Carmela’s oldest daughter’s 18th birthday…
Directed by Isidore Bethel & Francis Leplay
When his older boyfriend loses interest in him, filmmaker Isidore Bethel looks for a way forward.…
Directed by Nadav Lapid
In “Ahed’s Knee,” which debuted at Cannes, Nadav Lapid (“Synonyms,” “The Kindergarten Teacher,” “Policeman…
Directed by Lucy Harvey & Danielle Kummer
“Alien on Stage” tells the unlikely story of a unique crew of Dorset bus drivers whose amateur dramatics…
Directed by John J. Valadez
Brothers Manuel and Valente Valenzuela both volunteered and fought in Vietnam. Now, 50 years later, they…
Directed by Hamy Ramezan
At the outset of “Any Day Now,” 13-year-old Ramin Mehdipour and his Iranian family are living in a refugee…
Directed by Felix Dufour-Laperrière
The animated essay film “Archipelago” is partly documentary but mostly fiction, with poetry perhaps the…
Directed by Niccolò Castelli
Telling a straightforward story in an intriguingly nonlinear fashion, “Atlas” follows Allegra, a lively…
Directed by Radu Jude
Schoolteacher Emi (Katia Pascariu) finds her career and reputation under threat by her peers and the…
Directed by Martin Garde Abildgaard
“A Beautiful Curse” — the grand-prize winner at this year’s Cinequest film festival — explores an…
Directed by Andy Cohen & Gaylen Ross
“Beijing Spring” tells a story about underground filmmaking, radical art, and censorship that’s…
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Written and directed by multiple Academy Award® nominee Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast” — winner of the People’…
Directed by Levan Koguashvili
“Brighton 4th” — which won a trio of awards at the Tribeca Film Festival, including best international…
Directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
In a remote village in Costa Rica, Clara, a withdrawn 40-year-old woman, experiences a sexual and mystical…
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Cinema St. Louis continues its year-long Golden Anniversaries series during SLIFF by featuring a half-…
Directed by Andrea Arnold
A documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Andrea Arnold (“American Honey,” “Fish Tank,” “Red Road”), “Cow” is…
An examination of the life and conservation of animals across the globe.
A program that captures the wisdom, the humor, and the pain that comes with age.
Glimpses of labor in its many forms and the sense of catharsis it can bring.
Harrowing stories of coming and going — by choice, by force, or by necessity.
Shorts that examine the impact of the most significant current events facing our modern world.
An exploration of the challenges and experiences of real people living with a disability.
Children are the future, and their present experiences captured in these shorts demonstrate what that future…
Directed by Mo Scarpelli
“El Father Plays Himself” chronicles expat filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand’s return to Venezuela to make a…
Directed by Michael Pearce
In “Encounter” — which debuted at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals — former Marine Malik Khan (…
Directed by Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri
A triumph at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, the revelatory debut feature from co-directors (…
Directed by Adam Sjoberg & Seanne Winslow
“The Falconer” thrillingly recounts a larger-than-life adventure, but at its core the film tells an…
Directed by Inés Toharia
Why are we still able to watch moving images captured more than 125 years ago? As we move ever further…
Directed by Christopher Chambers
“A Fire Within” documents a U.S. court case brought by a trio of Ethiopian women against the man who…
Directed by Wang Lina
With lush imagery and touching naturalistic performances, “A First Farewell” finds poetry in the minutiae…
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
“Flee” — winner of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary section — tells the story…
Directed by Bruno Dumont
Set in contemporary Paris, “France” — the latest from SLIFF alum Bruno Dumont (“Slack Bay,” “The Life of…
Directed by Ramon Zürcher & Silvan Zürcher
As her roommate Lisa prepares to move out of their apartment, Mara contemplates the end of an era.…
Directed by Gabriele Fabbro
When Roxanne (Lidia Vitale), a gruff, middle-age pipe-organ restorer, begins working with her new 20-year-…
Directed by Sebastian Meise
In postwar Germany, Hans is imprisoned again and again for being homosexual. Due to the infamous anti-gay…
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
In “A Hero” — the latest from Ashgar Farhadi, acclaimed writer/director of “The Past,” “The Salesman,” “…
Directed by Panah Panahi
A chaotic, tender family is on a road trip across a rugged landscape, but to where? In the backseat, Dad…
Directed by Blerta Basholli
In the searing drama “Hive,” Fahrije lives with fading hope and burgeoning grief since her husband went…
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
Based on real events, ‘Huda’s Salon’ — directed by two-time SLIFF alum Hany Abbu-Assad (“Omar,” “Rana’s…
Directed by Jordy Sank
Ella is not your average 98-year-old. Her magnetic personality makes her past even more surprising. “I Am…
Directed by John Clayton Doyle
An offbeat, heartwarming portrait of the world’s least likely rock star, this documentary-narrative hybrid…
Directed by Hong Sangsoo
With “In Front of Your Face,” prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo suggests that perhaps the most…
Directed by Antoine vans
In “The Insurer,” an energetic comic thriller, a young female insurance-fraud investigator pairs up with…
Directed by Hong Sangsoo
For his 25th feature as director and his first as cinematographer, Hong Sangsoo offers a simple tale — in…
Directed by Ana Rocha
In the outskirts of London, Portuguese couple Bela and Jota, the parents of three, struggle to make ends…
Directed by Han Wanfeng
“The Lonely Man” tells the story of frontline gas-station employee Wang Chongqing, who has been working…
Directed by Alex Camilleri
A hardworking Maltese fisherman, Jesmark is faced with an agonizing choice. He can repair his leaky “luzzu…
Directed by Gerda Leopold
Inspired by Arthur Schnitzler´s “La Ronde,” the episodic “A Matter of Perspective” explores 10 people, 10…
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
The latest meditative wonder from Palme d’Or-winning Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (“Tropical…
Directed by Peggy Callahan & Louie Psihoyos
“Mission: Joy” — co-directed by Oscar winner Louie Psihoyos (“The Cove”) and Peggy Callahan — provides…
Directed by David Dufresne
Journalist David Dufresne’s first documentary is a devastatingly timely investigation of the place of…
Directed by Eva Husson
“Mothering Sunday,” which premiered at Cannes, begins on a warm spring day in 1924, when house maid and…
These animated stories offer insight into rural life, religion, war, and mortality.
A selection of many of the absolute best of this year's shorts submissions, ranging from an experimental…
A hilarious collection whose subjects range from pregnancy to virtual learning, restaurant etiquette to taboo…
Demented clowns, matchmaking kids, and a poker night highlight our second comedy program.
A slate of films that explore the art of dance, the passion of music, and the power of poetry.
A sampler of films with diverse subjects, including the pandemic, divorce, and puppetry, but similar themes.
Stories from around the globe, including the Netherlands, Romania, and China, both demonstrate our common…
SLIFF's third dramatic program grapples with topics such as prison, capitalism, and the patriarchy.
Explorations of both body and mind that are only possible through experimental film.
Science-fiction shorts that explore the timely and the timeless.
Directed by Mano Khalil
In a Syrian border village in the early ’80s, as little Sero attends school for the first time, a new…
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Set near the end of the society-convulsing Cultural Revolution, “One Second” follows a nameless…
Directed by Jacques Audiard
In “Paris, 13th District” — which debuted at Cannes — three girls and a boy become friends, sometimes…
Directed by Grégory Magne
In the lively French comedy “Perfumes,” Anne Walberg (Emmanuelle Devos) is a celebrity in the world of…
Directed by Céline Sciamma
In “Petite Maman,” Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to her critically lauded “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” 8-…
Directed by Iuli Gerbase
In this prescient Sundance thriller — written in 2017 and shot in 2019 — “Pink Cloud” eerily evokes the…
Directed by Jianhua Yang
A film of quiet beauty and honor, “Promise Through Lifetime” celebrates the heroic efforts of the teachers…
Directed by Farid Bentoumi
In this ecological thriller based on true events, Nour Hamadi (Zita Henrot) returns to her small hometown…
Directed by Abraham Lim
SLIFF viewers with long memories will recall Abraham Lim’s first work as a director, “Roads and Bridges,”…
Directed by Chloé Mazlo
Celebrated animator Chloé Mazlo makes her feature debut with this strikingly original film inspired by her…
Stories of kindness and bravery highlight this collection aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds.
Perfect for 9- to 12-year-olds, this collection features both discoveries from the past and explorations of…
Directed by Pernille Rose Groenkjaer
“Solutions” offers important insight into the visions and concrete ideas that will pave the way for…
Directed by Mehdi Barsaoui
When driving home from southern Tunisia, Fares and Meriem's car is hit by a stray bullet during an ambush…
Directed by Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
Everyone likes to be a winner, but how far would you go to prove yourself worthy? A dissatisfied, bored…
Directed by John Schlesinger
Cinema St. Louis continues its year-long Golden Anniversaries series during SLIFF by featuring a half-…
The surrealist movement — started by Guillaume Apollinaire and eventually led by André Breton — had its roots…
Directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi & Matteo Zoppis
In the framing story of this bifurcated film, which premiered at Cannes and recently screened at the New…
Directed by Muslim Sahin
In the early-20th-century Ottoman Empire, Ali returns from France, where he was sent by the state to…
Directed by Pamela Tanner Boll & Lindsay Richardson
Climate change is huge, scary, and highly politicized, and the relentless bad news can prove overwhelming…
Directed by Leon Lee
Based on true events, “Unsilenced” follows Wang, a Chinese…
Directed by Radu Jude
In 1981, chalk slogans written in uppercase letters started appearing in public spaces in the Romanian…
Directed by Anita Rivaroli
In the smart, joyous “We Are the Thousand,” a handful of Foo Fighters fans in Cesena, Italy, led by band…
Directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Spin the “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” and discover an unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction, and…
Directed by Nisan Dag
Fehmi, a 19-year-old aspiring rapper from a rough neighborhood of Istanbul, is addicted to bonzai, a cheap…
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
The first in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing trilogy of films set in the northern Iranian village…
Directed by Igor Drljaca
In a rundown Sarajevo suburb, Alipasino Polje, Faruk is an orphan who lives with his ill grandmother. He…
Directed by Dandren Wanggyal
Based on famed writer A Lai's novel "Dog Boy Gera" and produced by well-regarded screenwriter Lu Wei (“…
Directed by Hong Sangsoo
The 24th feature from Hong Sangsoo, “The Woman Who Ran” follows Gamhee (Kim Minhee), who has three…
Directed by Rossana Díaz Costa
Julius — an upper-class child in 1950s Lima, Peru — lives in a mansion with his aristocratic family and a…
Directed by Joachim Trier
The third film (with “Reprise” and “Oslo, August 31st”) in Joachim Trier’s unofficial Oslo trilogy, the…
