Poland, Singapore, Taiwan2024104 minMandarinToronto Premiere2slgbtq+, Directed By Women, First Feature, Sports

Trouble seems to follow Jie and his family. Training to be a competitive fencer, Jie is lost, haunted by the childhood memory of a near-drowning incident with his menacing older brother Han. Years later, a teenage Han is imprisoned after killing a competitor during a fencing match (by accident, he swears). Meanwhile, Jie's mother has been spiteful and distant ever since, with no love to give her younger son. So when Han is finally released from prison, Jie is desperate to have some family love restored — and eager for some helpful fencing and boyfriend dating tips, too. But is Han’s reformed presence for real?

Director Nelicia Low draws on her experience as a competitive fencer to set this simmering pulp thriller of attacks, parries, and ripostes amidst a familial drama, while presenting a dilemma on forgiveness: How far do you extend your familial love to those who cause harm?

– Aram Siu Wai Collier

Germany, Poland201984 minPolish, Vietnamese with English subtitlesDrama, Family, Family-friendly, Open Captions, Women Filmmakers

What does a hot bowl of lovingly prepared soup remind you of? The taste of home? The warm embrace of a loved one? For Long, a widower and cook at a Vietnamese restaurant in Warsaw, his famous pho is his pride, and his grade-school daughter Mia is his joy. But their world changes when the restaurant is sold, forcing Long to learn to make sushi. Meanwhile, Mia is frustrated by her father's caring but old-fashioned ways, while fearing he is moving on from the memory of her late mother.

Japan-born, Polish-educated director Mariko Bobrik’s first feature tells a tender and bittersweet look at an intergenerational immigrant family with a confidently light touch from (perhaps) an unexpected Eastern European source. While Poland is their home, Long and Mia both must navigate what the idea of home means for them when dealing with change, while finding a better understanding of each other.

– Aram Siu Wai Collier