Canada202397 minUrdu, English with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Directed By Women

When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.

Through Azra and Mariam’s shared love for the inimitable Bollywood star, Sharmila Tagore, director Fawzia Mirza tells a story that illuminates layers of a deep and complex bond between generations of women who live in starkly different times yet negotiate their freedoms and desires in strikingly similar ways. With outstanding performances by an all-star cast spanning continents, Mirza invites us all to celebrate unlikely bonds and the unifying power of cinema in this energetic, polychromatic, and unforgettable feature debut.

– Mariam Zaidi

Canada202378 minEnglishToronto Premiere2slgbtq+, Directed By Women, Documentary, First Feature, Social Issue/Justice

The Good Guise is an artist collective in Toronto formed to spark conversations around healthy masculinity. From photography and beat-boxing to poetry and martial arts, these talented artists share their unique lived experiences with inspiring confidence and welcome others to join in their mission of finding radical alternatives to shame and punishment. As each of them grapple with upheavals in their personal lives, their resolve is further tested by a dire lack of resources and the burden of racialized discrimination.

An intimate and deeply compassionate feature debut by director Chrisann Hessing, We Will Be Brave is an evocative glimpse into a narrative shift around masculinity. Unafraid to express vulnerabilities, the group’s affirming work recognizes healing as non-linear and our worth as inherent. A bond held together by an extraordinary commitment to do right by their communities, the collective and the documentation of their work promises to leave an impact in the Toronto arts landscape for years to come.

– Mariam Zaidi

UK202375 minEnglishCanadian Premiere

Chloe Abrahams’ debut feature, is an enveloping, hypnotic, urgently personal meditation on family, memory, identity, violence, and love. At its centre are three extraordinary women: the director’s mother, Rozana; her grandmother, Jean; and the director herself. Their stories, by turns difficult and jubilant, testify to the entangled and ever-changing nature of inheritance and the ways in which we both hurt and protect the ones we love.

What emerges is a delicately layered, personal and collective portrait of coping with physical and sexual violence, the damage of grief and estrangement, and the possibilities of hope, joy, healing, and reconciliation.

Japan202390 minJapanese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, History, Romance

You rarely couple poop and romance together, but Okiku and the World does it effortlessly in the most genuine and adorable way.

Set near the end of the Edo period, the film presents a fresh take on the time and on samurai culture. Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is the daughter of a fallen samurai. The two of them now live in a tenement far from luxury. One day, she meets Chuji (Kanichiro) and love blooms. The problem is that Chuji is a manure man who collects excrement to sell to farmers. Despite the downfall of samurais, there is still a social gap between them. Will this come between the Edo-period Japanese Romeo and Juliet?

Junji Sakamoto uses a stationary camera and black and white cinematography to create picturesque, painting-like scenes. Audiences may be grateful for this choice, too, as it helps reduce any repulsion for the less glorified scenes of the toilets. Sprinkled with colour and bitter humour, the film gives us a breath of hope within despair. Although life can be sh*tty, spring will surely come.

– June Kim

Canada, Pakistan202398 minUrdu with English subtitles First Feature

Mariam, a medical student, is dealing with her grandfather’s passing, her grieving mother, and preparing for upcoming exams. When an estranged and suspiciously helpful uncle re-enters their lives and promises support with their property and finances, Mariam senses trouble. At school, she meets a charming fellow student who presents a tempting option of marriage and financial security, a supposed avenue of freedom and autonomy. When Mariam begins to feel haunted by the presence of men around her and the spirits of those long gone, escape starts to seem elusive.

In this chilling feature debut by director Zarrar Kahn, Mariam’s story evokes the sharply suffocating experience of gendered oppression that’s situated in but nowhere near unique to Pakistan. A visceral and unsettling yet ultimately triumphant narrative, and the first South Asian horror film to premiere at Cannes, In Flames is a remarkably bold and unwavering portrayal of how women navigate and conquer countless forms of violence and control in patriarchal societies.

– Mariam Zaidi

South Korea202395 minKorean with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, First Feature, Sports

Ho-jun, a flailing actor, has found relative success as a social media influencer, hawking fishing hacks. He preps his live stream at his preferred fishing spot, only to be disrupted by an obnoxious stranger whose bad vibes are ruining the morning. The stranger is Director Nam, a hotshot (and hot-headed) independent film director about to shoot his first commercial feature. He’s invited rising actress Hee-jin for a quiet pondside chat to convince her that his film will be a star-making breakout role—only Hee-jin isn’t sure about Director Nam’s film, or his ulterior motives. As the day progresses, links between Ho-jun, Director Nam, and Hee-jin entwine and unravel to reveal each character’s ambition, pettiness, and pathos as they try to reel in their respective dreams.

In an impressively lean and resourceful production, Small Fry director Joongha Park and co-writer Howon Kim (who also stars as Ho-jun) have crafted a funny, biting, and heartfelt meta film commentary about the strains on artistic process and purpose, especially when confronted with the demands of the commercial industry.

– Aram Siu Wai Collier

Japan202382 minJapanese with English subtitlesToronto Premiere

From the team behind Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Reel Asian Official Selection, 2021) comes Junta Yamaguchi’s latest time loop comedy, River. Set in a quaint inn along the Kibune river near Kyoto—a one-street village wedged between a riverbed on one side and mountains on the other—staff and guests find themselves stuck in a continuous two-minute time loop. Mikoto, a waitress, returns to the river bank after each loop, plunging into a relentless cycle of perplexing scenarios. Her coworkers, the cook, and the mystified guests all grapple with mounting confusion. Despair and disorientation engulf those at the inn, as the uncanny sensation of repeatedly returning to the same moment leads to a frantic quest for answers.

Powered by sweeping takes, pulsating performances from a dynamic ensemble cast, and the distinctively vibrant visual style of creative duo Yamaguchi and Makoto Ueda, River offers a punchy yet fascinating window into the human yearning for solace, love, and ritual, mirroring the cyclical nature of everyday existence with the enigmatic loop of time itself.

– Nicolas Uribe

Lebanon, USA202393 minArabic, English Canadian PremiereDirected By Women, Documentary, Drama, First Feature

Jude Chehab, a Lebanese American cinematographer and filmmaker, has always known her mother and grandmother to be women devoted to their Muslim faith. During a trip to Lebanon, Chehab is propelled by a curiosity to understand the quest for love, acceptance, and meaning that brought three generations of women in her family to pledge loyalty to a secretive matriarchal religious order operating clandestinely in the country.

Deftly balancing a delicate and determined approach to uncovering and documenting her family’s reflections, Chehab illuminates the unspoken ties and long-lasting consequences of loyalty that have not only bonded the women in her family, but left an unshakeable sense of longing and ostracization—for some, years after leaving the religious order. Utilizing incisive imagery and rich aural textures to evoke the sublime, Chehab asks us to question the line between love and devotion in this commanding and precisely crafted debut feature.

– Mariam Zaidi

Malaysia2023 95 minMalay with English subtitlesToronto PremiereHorror

Free-spirited 12-year-old Zaffan is the first of her friends to get her period and experience the body-changing horrors that come with puberty and menstruation. Set in a kampong, or a Malaysian village, structured around patriarchy and religious expectations, she tries to conceal her pubescent traits out of fear of ostracization. Panic spreads in the village when a monster or demonic spirit is rumored to be roaming the surrounding jungle. Exposed by her peers, Zaffan eventually learns to embrace herself in the face of exclusion and cultural condemnation. A coming-of-age body horror that playfully weaves elements of Southeast Asian folklore, Tiger Stripes is a roaring celebration of embracing monstrosity and otherness.

– Sarah Barzak

USA202375 minMandarin, English Canadian Premiere

Starring Jerry as Himself shakes up notions of traditional storytelling in a genre-bending mystery that centres on Jerry Hsu. Jerry is a loving father of three, a recent divorcé, and has been keeping a secret. The Taiwanese immigrant and Orlando resident has been accused by the Chinese police of being an accomplice in an international money-laundering scheme. In an effort to clear his name, Jerry agrees to help the police with busting the operation. Hiding his role in the investigation from his family, Jerry’s world begins to unravel with each step he takes deeper into the conspiracy. Mixing elements of documentary along with psychological thriller, the story raises suspicion about the credibility of the characters while also undermining the confidence of the audience’s own perceptions.

– Kevin Lim