Directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’ Sujo, Grand Jury Prize Winner for Dramatic World Cinema at Sundance 2024, chronicles the struggles of Sujo, who is only four years old (Kevin Aguilar) when his cartel gunman father is killed, as he grows into a man (Juan Jesús Varela). A shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside, where he lives with his aunts Nemesia (Yadira Pérez) and Rosalia (Karla Garrido) and cousins Jai (Alexis Varela) and Jeremy (Jairo Hernandez) until he finds out that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable.
Director Bartek Bala’s Swarm (Rój) had its United States Premiere at Cinequest 2023. Isolated from society for over a decade, a family has self-exiled on a remote island at the command of its patriarch (Eryk Lubos). But when his wife (Roma Gasiorowska) desires to return to the world they are hiding, the family’s foundation will be tested. Requiring over nine months of pre-production to plan a brutal 33-day shoot on a remote section of the coast of Poland that has since been lost to erosion, the soundtrack for this gut-wrenching thriller features over 60 highly specialized musicians and atavistic vocalists.
The documentary features include:
Director Paul Levatino’s Bastards of Soul (West Coast Premiere) had its World Premiere at Sun Valley Film Festival 2024. They won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Dallas International Film Festival and the Audience Award Winner at the Hill Country Film Festival. The band Bastards of Soul emerged from the local Dallas music scene at break-neck speed, generating buzz suddenly cut short by the unexpected death of their charismatic frontman, Chadwick Murray. The film captures their raw essence in the limelight of imminent global fame during the studio sessions and electrifying stage performances that turn out to be their last, “where a band, music, and people reveal the importance of the soul in life and provide a soul for living.” (Film Threat).
Mare
Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind of Wilderness, Grand Jury Prize Winner for Documentary World Cinema at Sundance 2024 and Documentary Competition Award Winner at Seattle International Film Festival 2024 finds a family seeking a wild and free existence on a small farm in the Norwegian forest. However, after a tragic event changes everything, they are forced from their idyllic life to conform to the expectations of modern society.
Directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev’s Porcelain War— Grand Jury Prize Winner for Documentary at Sundance 2024; Golden Space Needle Award Winner for Best Documentary at Seattle International Film Festival 2024; and Special Jury Prize Winner for Best Documentary Feature at Telluride Mountainfilm 2024—is a stunning tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. Embodying the passion and fight that only artists can put into a world crumbling around them, Porcelain War uses extraordinary footage filmed by ordinary civilians in war-torn Ukraine for a much bigger story…a story about all of us.
