Canada202479 minEnglish, FarsiToronto PremiereDrama, First Feature, Romance

Amir is an aspiring chef trying to get ahead, but he can’t seem to break out and meet his own expectations or those of his parents, while his favoured younger brother Mahyar can seemingly do no wrong. When news from Iran arrives that a family friend has died and passed his entire inheritance solely to Mahyar, the mystery of the gift’s provenance begins to unravel the family's story, the image of their parents, and the relationship between the two brothers.

Alireza Shojaei gives a simmering performance as the self-destructive Amir against Parham Rownaghi’s flashy Mahyar, while Gus Tayari and Mitra Lohrasb give a loving but weary weight as their parents. Set within Toronto’s significant Iranian community, Meelad Moaphi’s first feature is a measured study in shifting family roles and perceptions when the past comes calling, especially for first-generation families whose ties to other lives and lands are so far but carried closely every day.

– Aram Siu Wai Collier

France202355 minUyghurCanadian PremiereAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama, First Feature

Dilber is 27 years old, preparing for her younger sister Rena’s wedding while contemplating her own future. Despite the recent nuptials in the family, their mother continues to put pressure on Dilber to find a husband soon, responding to the heightened anxiety during a time when Uyghur people are being arrested without process or reason. Dilber's friend in Paris convinces her to marry a young Uyghur man in France, a proposition that feels very attractive. But will it work out?

Crafted with a powerful subtlety, Nikah is a beautiful, haunting tale of caution that masterfully portrays the immense tragedy of internment through a brief glimpse into the lives of one family and the decisions with which they must grapple. Told with a delicate restraint, including a closing sequence that quietly underscores the enormity of the moment, Nikah is a poignant portrayal of how quickly the unimaginable can become reality.

– Mariam Zaidi

Canada, Chile2024100 minEnglish, KoreanComedy, Romance

After a mysterious encounter leaves her daughter Sumi in a coma, Sara rushes from South Korea to Winnipeg to be by her side. As Sumi heals, Sara begins to unpack details of her life that her daughter never shared with her. On a mission to find a husband to take care of Sumi when she wakes, Sara ventures into the daunting unknowns of dating apps and Winnipeg winters, and finds out more about herself than she planned.

Triangulated somewhere between K-drama, telenovela, and rom-com is Johnny Ma’s feel-good film about a mother becoming her own woman again, unshackled by the roles of “wife” or “mother." After festival-favourite dramas Old Stone (2016) and To Live To Sing (RA 2019), Ma swerves into cross-cultural zaniness while grounding his characters with the same soul of his previous films, and shows us it’s never too late to explore oneself.

– Aram Siu Wai Collier

USA202460 minEnglishToronto PremiereAvailable Online, Documentary, History

Through the lens of directors Tadashi Nakamura and Quyên Nguyen-Le, this compelling documentary captures the bold journey of visionary artist-activist Nobuko Miyamoto. From her upbringing in a Japanese American internment camp to her breakthrough as a performer in films and on Broadway, Miyamoto reflects on how her personal encounters with racial injustice inspired her blending of artistic endeavours with Asian American advocacy. Her thoughtfully created music, dances, and theatre productions carry on to bridge cultural divides and facilitate mutual support among BIPOC communities.

Interweaving intimate interviews and rare archival materials with evocative cinematography, Nakamura and Nguyen-Le tell the remarkable story of Miyamoto not only as a resilient community “artivist," but also as a loving friend, partner, and mother. This heartfelt recount is timely, encouraging the audience to reinforce collective resistance and solidarity amidst ongoing systemic racial oppression.

– Steffi Ng

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

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