Drama

Kevin Deeley (Max Deacon) has an intense passion for art and wants nothing more than to be a painter—though he unfortunately lacks the necessary talent. Broke, he is forced to steal, grift and lie to get by. He meets and forms a relationship with Olympia (Jacqueline Emerson), a gifted painter, over their shared love of art; but after his crimes catch up with him, he is thrown into the company of a convict (Chris Lazzaro) and an underworld figure (Lenny Clarke), who involve him in what will become the biggest art theft in modern history— and threatening his relationship with Olympia, his freedom, and even his life. Inspired by the true events surrounding the 1990 robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Art Thief delves into the art world in entertaining, thrilling fashion.

In Attendance: Arthur Egeli

In this lyrical, truly original coming of age story two women from different generations, have more in common than they are willing to admit. An empathic, young plant doctor gifted with extrasensory powers and an emotionally fragile, isolated artist must rescue each other to rediscover the essence of living. The two women have the potential to help each other, if they are open enough and see what’s right in front of them. Natalie McMahon’s gentle direction pushes the two main actress, and the others in the 100% female cast, to develop an equally gentle, strong rapport to explore their emotional connections with nature and each other.

Wracked by guilt after covering up a murder, Mona tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s southern Sudanese widow Julia, and her son Daniel, into her home. Julia’s and Mona’s lives are starkly different. Julia leads a precarious existence with an otherwise happy son and husband, while Mona is childless with a controlling spouse, albeit enjoying relative luxury. As unrest breaks out, heightened racial prejudices shatter Julia’s life. She comes to be hired as Mona’s domestic worker, but even as their relationship deepens into that of confidantes, hidden guilt and secret dreams threaten to surface and unravel. Set in Khartoum during the years prior to South Sudan’s independence and beautifully shot with a soft warmth and authenticity, Goodbye Julia deftly weaves the personal into complex sociopolitical contexts, delivering a thoughtful drama at once tender and tense.

Florida Premiere. Beth (Tessa Thompson, in a masterful performance) is a helpline volunteer – part of the small army that gets on the phone every night across America, fielding calls from all kinds of people feeling lonely, broken, hopeless. Over the last year the tide has become a tsunami. As Beth goes through her shift, the stakes rise: is this the night she will lose someone? Save someone? Eventually, Beth’s own story comes to light, revealing why she does it. All along we remain with her: listening, comforting, connecting – patching the world back together, one stitch at a time. Directed by veteran actor Steve Buscemi, The Listener is that rare chamber piece that is often as tense as a globe-trotting thriller. Beth not only has to talk down those who are about to end their own life, but also deal with creeps over the phone. Thompson is joined by a number of well-known voices on the other end of the line, including Rebecca Hall, Jamie Hector, and Alia Shawkat. With its emphasis on conversation, The Listener proves itself to be a stirring testament to the power of empathy.

In Attendance: Steve Buscemi

Florida Premiere. The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees moves into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope from master filmmaker Ken Loach, who at 87 announced this is his final film.

Florida Premiere. In an act of desperation, impulsive black sheep Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal) flees his home in Mexico. On the run from his unforgiving father, he ends up in New York City. There, he meets Jack, a pet store worker whose own, similarly wealthy family life is fracturing after his father (Willem Dafoe) betrays his mother (Emmanuelle Seigner). Together, the two young men enter a whirlwind romance, sending them into a dead-end world of passion, drugs, and depravity.With Pet Shop Days, first-time feature director Olmo Schnabel, son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, has crafted a gritty throwback to American independent cinema. (No wonder Martin Scorsese signed on as an executive producer.) Imbued with raw emotion and propulsive pacing and led by an explosive performance by Bernal (Gael’s half-brother) as the wild and wounded Alejandro, Pet Shop Days is a riveting portrait of lost young men in search of connection.

Grand Jury and Audience Award Winner, 2024 Slamdance Film Festival. Danny, a young man with muscular dystrophy who is disillusioned by failed relationships, steps out of his comfort zone and into the world of online dating. An unexpected match with Madi, an enigmatic photographer, challenges him to be vulnerable and sparks a profound journey of self-acceptance, discovering the extraordinary beauty of his unique body. Lead actor Danny Kurtzman, a physically disabled actor, model, entrepreneur, and advocate for the disabled community who was diagnosed with a muscular dystrophy at a young age, plays the fictional Danny and has never let his disability stop him from doing anything he put his mind to. Today his passion lies in making this world a more powerful place for all disabled individuals. Danny uses his platform to spread his disability pride and tell the world that despite being physically disabled that he says “there’s nothing wrong with my body. It is perfect.”

In Attendance: Executive Producer Steve Way (April 7 only)

World Premiere. Ne’er do well Alan returns to his small Florida hometown to find his sister Quinn all grown up. But when he discovers that their overbearing mother is sheltering Quinn because of her autism, he hatches a plan for them to run away together so that Quinn can pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer. Set in a small church community somewhere in the middle of the state, director Vitro Trupiano weaves an original story befitting from this fresh location to explore the ideas of faith, suicide, and chasing your dreams minus the spoon-feeding. Hellbent On Boogie is a refreshing look at mental disabilities told with drama, humor and charm.

In Attendance: Vito Trupiano, Director

A 13-year-old refugee from Afghanistan living in an emergency shelter in Germany joins a Christian boys’ choir to save his father who was left stranded in Hungary, and clashes with the strict choir master.

Geeble, begins his journey in America. He must earn extra money to help cure his Sisters rare condition. Along the way, he hopes to connect with people, in his unique way.

One cold winter day, a little girl decides to make a new scarf for her friend, the local mailman, but she soon discovers what is truly troubling him deep inside.

From the Academy Award winning team behind Curfew, The Helping Hand explores the ties between technology and a growing family. With a new baby at home, young parents adopt a hi-tech monitoring system. Will it be an answer to their woes or have they invited a monster into their home?

In the near future, when all labor works are replaced by humanoids, a Chinese chef, Pu (60s) is ordered to pass on his cooking skill to a humanoid robot William and to teach him Chinese cooking. Designed to satisfy his owner, William tries to follow Pu’s every instruction, but his robotic demand for precision and perfection is essentially contradictory to Chinese cooking. At the same time, the protests against AI replacing the human labor are more and more intense. Qiang, Pu’s apprentice is also one of the protestors. Since Qiang disappoints Pu time and time again in cooking, Pu starts to get closer with William, which pushes him to the opposite of human beings. Pu becomes at a loss in this dilemma.

Winner of the Golden Leopard for Best Film and Best Actress prizes at the Locarno Film Festival, and an official selection of the Sundance, New York and Toronto Film Festival, Vitalina Varela is the masterful new film from Pedro Costa, the acclaimed director of Horse Money, Colossal Youth, In Vanda’s Room and Casa de Lava. Vitalina Varela, 55-year-old, Cape Verdean, arrives in Lisbon three days after her husband’s funeral. She’s been waiting for her plane ticket for more than 25 years.

There is a bond formed when four orphans meet at a crematorium where their parents are being turned to ash and the respective funerals are being held. Soon they decide to turn their anger, grief or loss into expression by forming a band. The group soon has fans, reviews, criticism and a social media reputation. However, seeing that they are left alone in life they push to forge their own path and not be followers.

Two men sit across each other in a bunker. Their sons were killed that day at their wedding. Gary believes they should be outside, fighting the militias that have laid siege to their town. Robert argues that there was never a good time to take up arms, and now it’s way too late. As mortars draw ever closer, the two bond over the memory of their sons and remember how they sweet they were in the moments before they died.

Eduardo (Tavinho Teixeira) has a mysterious disease in his body. The appearance of crabs everywhere in the tropical city of Recife may have something to do with it.

Evelyn lives isolated in a cabin in the woods haunted every night by monsters of unknown origin. One day she finds a dying man in the forest and decides to help him. Unable to trust him to stay or exile him into a certain death, she ties the stranger up inside the house and becomes entranced by him, struggling between her safety and her sexual desires.

Alice has been blacking out and craving things she dare not name. When her girlfriend’s dog goes missing, Alice wonders if it could be inside her.

A year after his wife’s death, Daniel sees her impact on every place and face in his small Cuban community.

Screen time alert! Marco, 11, is obsessed with his electronics — his iPad, his Xbox, his VR headset — and hardly leaves the house. But when his grandmother dies and his grandfather moves in, Marco’s life is turned upside-down and he’s forced…to go play outside. “Nonno” (Grandpa) introduces him to bocce — the world’s oldest game — and to the neighborhood crew of old Italian men who play daily at the local court. With sport, laughter and love, Marco finds connection to other people “in real life” and rounds up a team of neighborhood kids to take on his grandfather and his pals. Learn more at www.teammarco.movie or get full details at www.meetborofive.com/team-marco-festivals

Racial injustice and cultural erasure weigh on a black man marrying into a white family.

Comedians Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani star in this dark comedy, in which a happy couple realizes their love is truly all encompassing when they are met with a supreme challenge. After accidentally involving themselves in the murder of a stranger, the two are led into a series of events that force them to solve this mystery and grow more familiar with one another than they have ever been.

A young boy, at his high school talent show is trying to play the piano when suddenly he comes face to face with his stage fright. It is then up to the boy to try and find the confidence to overcome his fears.

While visiting a home for children, a little girl meets Joseph, a boy whose only dream is to have a yellow umbrella. This unexpected encounter awakens his memories of the past.