Dum-dum
Direction. Jung Won Hee / South Korea
Tigers and Dragons Program
Ina’s mother lives with a mental disorder, a child grows up in a foster family, and the girl herself cannot pursue music due to everyday struggles. When an opportunity arises to enter a competition that could launch a Berlin DJ career, the hero secretly returns to the work they love most.
Juniper
Direction. Matthew Saville / New Zealand
Festival Cocktail Program
New Zealand, the 1990s. Seventeen-year-old Sam returns from boarding school unsettled and discovers that Ruth, his grandmother, is now living at their house. A former military photojournalist with a fondness for gin, Ruth becomes a catalyst for a tense clash between two eras and two generations.
Something Dirt
Direction. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead / USA
Wild Nights program
A sci-fi horror from the minds behind Paranormal and Edge of Time, following neighbors who witness strange events and decide to profit from them.
Similar Person
Direction. Semyon Serzin / Russia
Competition Russian premieres
A detective investigates what seems like a standard suicide, only to notice that every person he interviews describes the deceased in wildly different ways, as if there were multiple people. Like a Man marks the second film by actor and director Semyon Serzin, known for The Man from Podolsk. The cast includes Serzin herself, Victoria Isakova, Maxim Vitorgan, Taisiya Vilkova, and Lyubov Tolkalina.
Singing on the Roofs
Direction. Enric Ribes / Spain
Third Age Program
A documentary about Eduardo, a 95-year-old last performer in Barcelona’s Chinatown who continues to take the stage despite barely earning a living. When two-year-old Chloe enters his life, Eduardo sees a chance to start a family.
Decision to Leave
Direction. Park Chan-wook / South Korea
Closing movie
From the renowned director behind Oldboy and the revenge trilogy, the film follows a researcher who travels to a mountain village to solve a murder. There, a budding romance develops with the widow of the deceased, who becomes the principal suspect. Written by Park Chan-wook and Jung So-kyung, the duo previously collaborated on Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, I Am a Cyborg, But That’s Okay, Thirst, and The Handmaiden. Decision to Leave premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, earning the Best Director award.
Avec amour et acharnement
Direction. Claire Denis / France
Masters program
Claire Denis’s drama centers on a love triangle involving a woman and her two exes who remain close friends. Juliette Binoche leads the cast.
Heart of Parma
Direction. Anton Megerdichev / Russia
Opening movie
An adaptation of Alexei Ivanov’s novel about the expansion of Greater Perm under Moscow’s rule. The story follows Prince Mikhail and the witch Lamia Tichert as their paths intertwine in a forbidden romance. The cast features Alexander Kuznetsov, Elena Erbakova, Yevgeny Mironov, and Fedor Bondarchuk.
Stoyan
Direction. Roberto Ruiz Cespedes / Bulgaria, Spain
Wild Nights program
A Spanish-tinged detective tale with interwoven stories — the kidnapping of a child in the afterlife and the murder of a woman with a fixation on a tree. Wild Nights curators note that Stoyan appears to be connected to Terrence Malick’s True Detective project in some capacity.
21 Days of Age
Direction. Park Kang / South Korea
Tigers and Dragons Program
Woo Jin discovers his ex-girlfriend’s death and attends the memorial service despite his wife’s pleas. In this cultural context, families with a newborn are believed to avoid funerals, leading to a cascade of unsettling events. To shift the curse, Woo Jin must steal two items from a store and one thing from a stranger.