Films

This energetic documentary explores the cultural impact of the iconic American Girl doll brand that shaped generations of Americans in the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. Featuring an exclusive, rare interview with founder Pleasant Rowland.

A determined sommelier dreams of opening her own wine bar, but life has other plans. Gabe Klinger's charming São Paulo story is a witty, bittersweet toast to reinvention and second chances.

In this striking neo-noir debut, a fiercely independent Lagos taxi driver’s careful life is upended when she becomes the driver for a group of glamorous, reckless sex workers—including her long-lost childhood friend.

A mother’s grief becomes a fight for justice when Lorena Gutiérrez takes her daughter’s story to Mexico’s highest halls of power, refusing to let Fátima’s memory disappear.

Nearly a half-century of Iranian political repression and resistance unfolds through one family’s experience, illustrated by home movies and other archival materials in this highly personal documentary from expatriate Pegah Ahangarani.

“Big business, it don't like you, it don't like the things you do. You got no money, so you got no power.”   In this selection of short-form films, protagonists assert their power and try to rewrite the narrative against powerful forces they face.  In Maia Wikler’s documentary WILD EAST (Canada/US 2026, 36 min), environmental activist Gabi Paun risks his life to expose illegal logging in Romania’s ancient forests, taking on timber mafias and IKEA while revealing the hidden cost of the world’s appetite for cheap furniture. In the fictional FLESH IMPACT (US 2026, 17 min), director Maggie Gyllenhaal assembles a notable cast (Ellen Burstyn, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard) to tell a revisionist history of Marilyn Monroe, who faces down studio pressure to assert her voice and influence, in a speculation on a career that might have been.  Then in FREE JOAN LITTLE (US 2025, 38 min), award-winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen excavates a groundbreaking true-life 1975 case that galvanized Black Power activists, feminists, and prison reformers around one young Black woman’s historic fight for justice and the right to defend herself against sexual violence.  Be sure not to miss this memorable, eclectic trio of legends and their stories. —Michelle Svenson

Director Maggie Gyllenhaal tells a revisionist history of Marilyn Monroe (Dakota Johnson, Ellen Burstyn), who faces down studio pressure to assert her voice and influence, in a speculation on a career that might have been.

Award-winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen excavates a groundbreaking true-life 1975 case that galvanized Black Power activists, feminists, and prison reformers around one young Black woman’s historic fight for justice and the right to defend herself against sexual violence.