The Most Beautiful Boy In The World and Sabaya
Faya Dayi
(Country: Ethiopia, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jessica Beshir; Writer: Jessica Beshir)
A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations – and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop today. A tapestry of intimate stories offers a window into the dreams of youth under a repressive regime.
World premiere
Flee
(Country: Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen; Writer: Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
Amin arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Denmark from Afghanistan. Today, he is a successful academic and is getting married to his long-time boyfriend. A secret he has been hiding for 20 years threatens to ruin the life he has built.
World premiere. Day One Film
Inconvenient Indian
(Country: Canada; Year: 2020; Director: Michelle Latimer; Stars: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Nyla Innuksuk, Thomas King, Gail Maurice, Kent Monkman, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Nyla Innuksuk, Thomas King, Gail Maurice, Kent Monkman)
An examination of Thomas King's brilliant dismantling of North America's colonial narrative, which reframes history with the powerful voices of those continuing the tradition of Indigenous resistance.
World premiere. Removed from the schedule
Misha And The Wolves
(Country: Belgium, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Sam Hobkinson; Writer: Sam Hobkinson)
A woman's Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.
World premiere
The Most Beautiful Boy In The World
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2021; Director: Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri; Writer: Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri; Stars: Björn Andrésen)
Swedish actor/musician Björn Andresen's life was forever changed at the age of 15, when he played Tadzio, the object of Dirk Bogarde's obsession in Death in Venice – a role which led Italian maestro Luchino Visconti to dub him "the world's most beautiful boy".
World premiere
Taming The Garden and Misha And The Wolves
Playing With Sharks
(Country: Australia; Year: 2021; Director: Sally Aitken; Stars: Valerie Taylor)
Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon – a marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chainmail suit, using herself as shark bait, changing our scientific understanding of sharks forever.
World premiere
President
(Country: Denmark, US, Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Camilla Nielsson)
Zimbabwe is at a crossroads. The leader of the opposition MDC party, Nelson Chamisa, challenges the old guard ZANU-PF led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as "The Crocodile." The election tests both the ruling party and the opposition – how do they interpret principles of democracy in discourse and in practice?
World premiere
Sabaya
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2021; Director: Hogir Hirori)
With just a mobile phone and a gun, Mahmud, Ziyad and their group risk their lives trying to save Yazidi women and girls being held by ISIS as Sabaya (abducted sex slaves) in the most dangerous camp in the Middle East, Al-Hol in Syria.
World premiere
Taming The Garden
(Country: Georgia; Year: 2021; Director: Salomé Jashi; Writer: Salomé Jashi)
A poetic ode to the rivalry between men and nature.
World premiere
Writing With Fire
(Country: India; Year: 2021; Director: Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas)
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India's only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India's biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
World premiere