29th Philadelphia Film Festival Program

Philadelphia native Tommy Oliver follows the efforts of Mike Africa Jr. to exonerate his parents, both incarcerated members of the revolutionary group MOVE.

From Oscar-winning documentarians Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar, this rousing film delves into the little-known but impactful legacy of the working women’s movement.

Nothing goes quite as planned when a lovestruck young man decides to pursue the object of his affection to Southern France with his best friend in tow.

A family that’s spent decades living in a vast, abandoned water reservoir on the outskirts of Bucharest is uprooted and forced to acclimate to a new life in the city.

No CGI in sight in this unearthed high-octane 80s VHS-era relic about two FBI agents protecting a woman from nefarious gangsters with enough one liners and stunts to make Vin Diesel blush.

After joining up with a group of anti-fascist activists, a young woman finds herself increasingly drawn to the group’s most radical faction in this German thriller.

Greek filmmaker Christos Nikou’s absurdist yet poignant debut imagines a world in which a mysterious plague robs people of their memories, forcing them to construct new identities from scratch.

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The Robin Hood of the art world strikes again when a recently-sold work self-destructs, providing new clues to the possible identity of the most infamous artist of the century.

 

One of the most iconic music groups of the 20th Century, the best-selling family act gets an in-depth, toe-tapping portrait in this captivating doc.

This engaging documentary highlights the surprisingly pivotal role of the Philadelphia Orchestra in bringing Western classical music to China.

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This warm-hearted French comedy follows an out-of-work actor whose career takes an unexpected turn when he begins giving acting lessons to prison inmates.

An endlessly inventive and playful yet twisted drama finds Aubrey Plaza as an actress-turned-director retreating to a couple’s secluded country home to write her next script.

Two adolescent boys are kidnapped and brought to a strange house in the middle of nowhere. Fighting against all odds, they try to escape to freedom.

The strained relationship between two sisters is tested when one is forced to come to the other’s rescue after a diving excursion goes terribly wrong in this survival thriller.

 

THE CAPOTE TAPES seeks to form a better understanding of Truman Capote’s larger-than-life persona while shedding light on his struggle to follow up his success of In Cold Blood.

Revered filmmaker Agnieszka Holland returns with the stranger-than-fiction true story of a Czech healer who treated millions through his decidedly unorthodox methods.

 

A desperate mother awaiting a custody ruling kidnaps her own children for a vacation, leaving their home country of Sweden to travel to the Canary Islands.

From legendary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, this epic doc chronicles the efforts of Boston’s city government to meet the needs and demands of the city’s people.

A researcher’s discovery that widely used AI programs fail to accurately recognize the faces of women and people of color leads her down an alarming rabbit hole with disturbing implications.

A troubled young woman joins a mysterious sleep study but gets much more than she signed up for in this dreamy, insidiously creepy sci-fi thriller.

Sujata Day’s delightful dramedy follows a former spelling bee champ still struggling to make good on her childhood promise while contending with a complex family life.

In 1962, during the reign of Taiwan’s White Terror, two students navigate their terrifyingly transformed school’s hallways filled with disturbing surprises as they search for their missing teacher in this period horror melodrama.

An aging farmer battling to preserve his way of life finds his hermetic existence upended when his estranged son shows up at his door in this moving and topical Greek drama.

In a society that prioritizes male-centric sex education, Maria Finitzo’s crucial documentary seeks to demystify and educate on female desire, anatomy, and sexuality.

The emotional fallout of a tragic accident sets the stage for Pablo Larraín’s electrifying and intimate character study of a professional dancer who aims to set the world on fire.

Braden King’s Appalachia-set drama is a soulful look at a nursing home aide and part-time drug dealer whose carefully balanced life is upended by the return of a childhood friend.

 

Ekwa Msangi’s debut feature is a beautifully observed look at an Angolan family finally reunited nearly two decades after being separated.

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In this spellbinding drama, an off-the-grid California marijuana farmer approaching her twilight years faces a threat to her livelihood after the drug’s legalization.

Blending gore-splattered action and barbed satirical comedy, this delightful zombie film follows what happens when a plague turns Taiwan’s lawmakers into bloodthirsty monsters.

An isolated roadside stop leads to a night of suspense for a truck driver when a young woman appears seeking refuge after allegedly escaping her kidnapper.

 

The seemingly unremarkable daily activities of a pig and other barnyard animals are endowed with unexpected drama and depth in this gorgeously filmed documentary.

One of the most successful and crafty bank heists (and films) in Argentina’s history is made when a stoner savant and his eclectic team of pros ingeniously plan one last job.

Escaping an abusive partner and left without a stable home, an Irish single mother decides to take up the task of building a home for herself and her daughters.

Struggling through her parents impending divorce, a young Korean girl takes on the role of parent in more ways than one in this beautifully drawn portrait from director Ga-eun Yoon (THE WORLD OF US).

Rachel Brosnahan (THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL) stars as Jean, a young woman forced to go on a perilous journey with her baby after her criminal husband betrays his boss in this ‘70s-set crime drama.

A young woman struggling to make social connections finds hope, and possibly love, in the form of a 70-foot thrill ride named Jumbo in this French psychological drama.

During a trial separation, a husband is a ticking time bomb as he desperately tries to keep his family — and self — together after discovering his wife is already seeing someone.

Rare, recently recovered interviews with elusive cinema maestro Stanley Kubrick form the backbone of this rousing tribute to one of cinema’s greatest innovators.

In this sci-fi satire set in a strikingly relatable alternate present, a man who is struggling to support himself and his ill brother takes a bizarre job in the gig economy field.

A young married couple attempts to remember their love after a memory loss-inducing ailment sweeps the world in this romantic, dreamy drama.

From the twisted mind of Quentin Dupieux, this oddball romp follows simple-minded friends who happen upon a gigantic fly and attempt to train it.

 

Offbeat and endlessly endearing, Robert Brock is the lone man pulling the strings of a landmark Lancaster marionette theater, until COVID-19 threatens to drop the curtains for good.

One of the most insightful and unique films ever to explore life in the West Bank, this documentary follows the charismatic mayor of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

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Recorded at the historic Bucks County Playhouse, this one-man performance captures radio host Michael Smerconish’s very personal take on the nation’s partisan divide.

Lee Isaac Chung’s sweeping Sundance award-winner follows the ups and downs of a Korean-America family adjusting to life in rural Arkansas.

A closeted young man in 1980s New York City struggles to reconcile his strict Russian Jewish upbringing with his burgeoning sexuality in this intimate coming-of-age drama.

 

Director Miles Hargrove revisits the events surrounding the kidnapping of his humanitarian father by Colombian guerillas, vividly captured in home video recordings.

 

In this searing and timely doc, newly declassified files reveal the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King Jr. at the height of the civil rights movement.

A playwright with writer’s block cares for her terminally ill brother while dealing with her own marital issues in this touching and compassionate tale of family bonds.

 

A Polish single mother becomes comically entangled in a wealthy Swiss family’s laundry list of drama when she is employed to care for their patriarch.

Julie Delpy writes, directs, and stars in this audacious and emotionally devastating drama about a woman whose love for her daughter pushes her to extreme lengths.

 

Mexican provocateur Michel Franco’s startling, conversation-starting thriller imagines a society left hemorrhaging after a bloody class warfare and coup d’etat.

In this awe-inspiring ode to storytelling, an inmate at an Ivorian prison where rival gangs vie for power must continue telling a tale until sunrise to avoid certain death.

Stuck in a bizarre and devastating time loop, a black, gay teenager is forced to relive a day where, no matter what he tries, he is unarmed and shot by the police.

 

A brand new pick-up awaits the last person left standing with their hand on it in this bleak, gripping drama inspired by a real East Texas contest.

 

Despite her country’s slow move towards gender equality, a Saudi Arabian doctor discovers that she still faces immense obstacles and sexism when she runs for local office.

A young woman struggling with an anxiety disorder leaves college and goes to live at home with her parents in this quirky coming-of-age gem from newcomer writer and director Kelly Oxford.

A 40-year-old neurosurgeon leaves her prestigious job in America to follow the man she loves back to their home city of Budapest. When she gets there, the man claims they’ve never met.

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A young woman desperate to piece together her own history, seeks out her birth mother, who hesitantly reveals a dark piece of her and Rose’s past, setting them both on the path to reckoning.

 

A young lothario romances several women as he seeks purpose and the acceptance of his father in Philippe Garrel’s exquisitely crafted black and white ode to young love.

Set at America’s largest retirement community, this sensitive, surprising doc follows four residents for whom this ‘Disneyland for seniors’ isn’t the fairytale they’d imagined.

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A shocking family secret is discovered after an ambush on Tunisia’s border leaves a young boy in critical condition and his parents desperate for answers.

Riz Ahmed delivers an astonishing performance as a rock drummer coping with the sudden deterioration of his hearing in this searing, sensitive drama.

Young filmmaker Suzanne Lindon emerges as a major cinematic talent with her debut film, in which she stars as a precocious teenager encountering first love with a much older man.

 

An aimless film school student goes on an ambling road trip across China in a rickety old Jeep in this charming, deeply personal road movie.

 

François Ozon vividly captures both the rush of first love and its devastating aftermath in this shapeshifting, 1980s-set tale of a passionate but doomed gay love affair set in sunny, coastal France.

 

This subversive, postmodern satire finds an upstanding cop in a police-training VHS beginning to overstep his jurisdiction when confronted with the thin blue line.

Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha star as young people in love with music and each other in this sweeping drama, which nods to the golden era of movie romances.

This year’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner explores the dramatic effects of Iran’s capital punishment laws through four stunning vignettes.

The lasting effects of infidelity haunt an Italian family over decades as they learn past decisions cannot be forgotten, unless forgiven, in this emotional tour-de-force melodrama.

The adoptive parents of a young boy in kindergarten have their lives turned upside down after they are contacted by a woman claiming to be the birth mother.

Two women who have hidden their romance from their families for decades find their relationship tested when they’re no longer able to meet in secret.

After being released from prison, an aging ex-yakuza member faces a society that has no use for him as he struggles to find work and track down his estranged mother.

 

Christian Petzold’s lush contemporary fable follows a woman named Undine who becomes consumed with the tale of the mythical water nymph who shares her name.

A lapsed Orthodox Jewish man tasked with keeping watch over a dead member of his former community is faced with a malignant force in this distinctive, hair-raising chiller.

A popular young woman carries on an elaborate deception of pretending to struggle with cancer to rally her university behind her as she raises money “for treatment” in nail-biting anti-hero thriller.

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This devastating documentary tells the story of a Pennsylvania couple whose teenage son was convicted to life without parole for the killing of his younger brother.

After being charged with the murder of her much older husband, a young woman goes on a popular Iranian reality show to plead for forgiveness and escape execution.

This fascinating and comprehensive documentary provides insight into the many sides of Frank Zappa, one of modern music’s most popular yet uncategorizable artists.