The Magistrate of an isolated frontier settlement on the border of an unnamed empire looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of Colonel Joll, whose task it is to report on the activities of the ‘barbarians’ and on the security situation on the border. Joll conducts a series of ruthless interrogations, which leads the Magistrate to question his loyalty to the empire.

Q&A on Sunday, June 28, at 7pm ET/4pm PT, featuring producer Reggie Nadelson and renowned author and music critic Will Friedwald. The Q&A is FREE to all. Register here

Ella Fitzgerald was a 15 year-old street kid when she won a talent contest in 1934 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Within months she was a star. “Ella: Just One of Those Things” follows her extraordinary journey over six decades as her sublime voice transforms the tragedies of her own life and the troubles of her times into joy.

The film uses never-before-seen images and unheard interviews to bring Ella Fitzgerald to life and to tell the story of her music. - a black woman who makes her career in the face of horrifying racism.

Here is an Ella the world never knew – tough, thoughtful, funny, a dazzling musical innovator. The film also uncovers Ella’s commitment to the battle for Civil Rights; and it explores the conflicts that always haunted this intensely private woman: the struggle to reconcile her hunger for adoring audiences with her longing for a domestic life with her husband and son. At a time when she was the biggest singing star in the world, her pianist and friend Oscar Peterson said Ella was “the loneliest woman in the world”. But as Jamie Cullum says “her music is one of the reasons it’s worth being on this planet”.

A locked-room mystery with a twist: A slickly successful businessman wakes up next to his dead lover and becomes the chief suspect. His defense lawyer’s never lost a case, but can even she help him? “When I woke up, the nightmare began.” So begins the account of Adriano Doria (Riccardo Scamarcio), a wealthy Italian entrepreneur, describing the murky events of the worst night of his life, when he discovers himself in a resort hotel room with a nasty cut on his forehead and the lifeless body of his young mistress, Laura (Miriam Leone), lying on the floor amidst a pile of scattered banknotes. Though he protests his innocence, Adriano is the obvious prime suspect. With just hours to go before his arrest, he arranges a meeting with Virginia Ferrara (Maria Paiato), a notoriously tough attorney who has never lost a case, to plan his defense strategy and find evidence to exonerate him.

In Italian with English Subtitles

Largely told in flashback, this noirish thriller from director Stefano Mordini recreates the days of intrigue that lead up to that terrible night as guilt-ridden Adriano, still in love with his wife, tries to break off the affair with Laura while on a clandestine trip to the mountainous Trentino region—until fate intervenes and forever alters their lives. As more facts are coaxed out by Virginia, the characters’ motivations begin to blur until no one is quite who they first seemed, leading to a pulse-pounding conclusion that will leave audiences guessing until the final shot. (SIFF 2019)

Join a Q&A via Zoom with Director Boaz Yakin and key cast on the dates below. - SIGN UP NOW - spaces are filling up fast!

- Saturday 20th June at 7PM EST
- Sunday 21st June at 4pm EST

“Aviva” is a uniquely sexy dancing in the streets, sheets and bars impressionistic take on a movie romance, set in a New York world of gender-fluid and frequently fully unclothed bodies. Director Boaz Yakin ‘s (“Fresh,” “Remember the Titans,” “A Price Above Rubies”) dreamy film, with choreography from former member of Israeli dance company Batsheva Dance Company and co-star Bobbi Jene Smith, tells a story that is timeless, universal and yet up-to-the-moment.

The character of Aviva, played by both Zina Zinchenko (and at times by Or Schraiber), is a young Parisian who develops an online romance with Eden, played by Tyler Phillips (and at times Bobbie Jene Smith), a New Yorker. After a long courtship they meet in person and fall in love, settling into an intimate relationship that leads to marriage, but one, as many are, laced with conflicts. Incorporating exuberant dance sequences, and featuring a pair of principal characters played by four different actors daringly expressing both masculine and feminine sides, “Aviva” captures a restless and changing today where who we are as women and men, and how we navigate the world, is up for grabs.

Lise (16 years old) is accused of murdering her best friend. As the trial starts, her parents stand right by her side. But once her secret life is revealed in court, the truth becomes indistinguishable.

“I love you” means nothing. Everyone says “I love you”. A young girl called to the witness stand casually drops these disarmingly simple words that are enough to give one chills. That is a recurring feeling throughout this unusually precise courtroom drama, where words and their power are at the center of attention. In this case, the legal proceedings become the ritual of a society putting its own youth on trial.

The fervent attraction between Georgie (Kelly Macdonald), a woman stuck in a loveless relationship, and Lu (Garrett Hedlund), a musician with a tragic past, gets the better of them when secrets are uncovered that will change their lives.

Based on the critically acclaimed novel by iconic Australian writer Tim Winton, Dirt Music is a tale of love and redemption, set against the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Australian West.

Unwilling to sacrifice his principles, Auguste Topaze (Peter Sellers), a poor but proud French schoolmaster, loses his job after he refuses to alter the failing grades of one of students. Seizing the opportunity to exploit his well-known honesty, actress Suzy Courtois (Nadia Gray) convinces her lover, the corrupt city council member Castel Benac (Herbert Lom), to hire Topaze as a managing director for one of his shady businesses. But when Topaze learns he is being used, he cunningly turns the tables on Benac and makes off with all the money.Seller’s first and only credited directorial feature, MR. TOPAZE displays the British comic genius at the peak of his powers alongside his future Pink Panther nemesis Herbert Lom and a stellar supporting cast that includes Nadia Gray, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw and Michael Gough. Long considered a “lost” classic, MR. TOPAZE was digitally restored from the lone surviving 35mm prints in the BFI National Archive at the request of the British public.

Synopsis
Cody is a sweet, sensitive boy who doesn't always fit in easily with other kids his age. He's not bothered by spending the summer in an unfamiliar New York town while his mother, Kathy, cleans out the house left behind by his recently deceased aunt, trying to ready it for sale. As Kathy--estranged from her reclusive sister for years--learns how much she didn't know about the woman, Cody strikes up a surprising friendship with the gruff Korean War vet who lives next door. Nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, DRIVEWAYS is a beautifully observed, bittersweet drama about our lifelong search for a sense of community. With a genuine script and impeccable acting from Hong Chau (Downsizing) and Brian Dennehy (First Blood), this little gem doesn’t coax tears, but earns them.