Ernest Cole: Lost and Found directed by Raoul Peck and narrated by Lakeith Stanfield
When: November 22, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: This French-American documentary from Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck follows the late South African photographer Ernest Cole’s efforts to expose the horrors of apartheid. After fleeing the country for New York in 1966, the image-maker drew parallels between his home country and the United States in the immediate aftermath of segregation with a striking and expansive body of work.
Know Before You Go: The film is released only seven years after 60,000 negatives, thought to be lost forever, were located in a Swedish bank.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
When: November 27, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Set in Tehran, Mohammad Rasolouf’s study of political and domestic paranoia premiered swiftly after the director was sentenced to eight years in prison, prompting him to flee from Iran to Germany ahead of his attendance at the Cannes Film Festival, where he won the Special Jury Prize.
Know Before You Go: The thriller includes real footage of Iranian protests alongside the fictionalized aspects of the film, which follow the political divides of a family living through student uprisings.
Queer directed by Luca Guadagnino
When: November 27, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: This star-studded film reunites director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, who began work on the project in the midst of filming Challengers. Set in 1950s Mexico City, where a coterie of gay Americans have made a refuge, William Lee (Daniel Craig) finds himself drawn to the young Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) while in the throes of drug addiction.
Know Before You Go: William S. Burroughs—the author of the novella that inspired Gudagnino’s film—wrote Queer while awaiting trial for accidentally shooting his wife while drunk in Mexico City, the city to which he would later flee to avoid prosecution.
Maria directed by Pablo Larraín
When: November 27, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín returns with yet another female-led biopic (following Spencer and Jackie), this time taking on iconic opera singer Maria Callas as she retreats from the chaos of life in the limelight to Paris in the 1970s. Angelina Jolie takes up the titular role, and was reportedly moved to tears during an eight-minute standing ovation at the film’s Venice premiere.
Know Before You Go: While the majority of the singing in the film is comprised of Callas recordings, Jolie trained her voice for seven months in preparation for the role. She can be heard singing solo in the film’s final act.
Armand directed by Halfdan Ullman Tøndel
When: November 29, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: The directorial debut of Norwegian director Halfdan Ullman Tøndel follows the aftermath of a questionable altercation between two 6-year-old boys. When parents and teachers are called in to deal with the incident, questions of what really happened, and who is to blame, prove difficult to answer. Renate Reinsve, who stole the screen in 2021's The Worst Person in the World, plays one of the boys' mothers.
Know Before You Go: The film won the Golden Camera at Cannes and was entered as the country’s nomination for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.
The End directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
When: December 5, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Joshua Oppenheimer’s apocalyptic musical is like nothing you've seen before. First love, Tilda Swinton, paranoia, and the end of the world converge in a salt-mine-turned-bunker for one well-off family who managed to survive the end days.
Know Before You Go: Yes, George Mackay, Tilda Swinton, and Michael Shannon all have song and dance numbers. It’s an interesting turn for a documentary director who has captured the real-life horrors of communist purges and Indonesian death-squads with brutal honesty.
Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader
When: December 6, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Forever hunk Richard Gere joins Gen-Z hunk Jacob Elordi in a distorted retelling of one man’s life in filmmaking after draft-dodging in Canada during the Vietnam war. Michael Imperioli, playing a documentarian, attempts to capture the man’s story before he succumbs to illness, but old secrets come to the fore as we flit between present-day Gere and his younger self, played by Elordi.
Know Before You Go: Oh, Canada is based off of Russell Banks’s novel Foregone, marking the third collaboration between the author and the director, following their work on American Gigolo and Affliction.
Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh
When: December 6, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: The British film follows Pansy, played by BAFTA-winner Marianne Jean-Baptiste, a woman whose temper has isolated her from all but her endlessly patient sister Chantal. It is Jean-Baptiste’s first reunion with Mike Leigh in the nearly 30 years since the critically-acclaimed Secrets & Lies.
Know Before You Go: The film—centered around an extended family in London—is part comedy, part drama, and a lot of second-hand frustration. At the center is an investigation of why, sometimes, life itself can be hard to enjoy.
Vermiglio directed by Mauro Delpero
When: December 6, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Set in a stunningly stark Alpine village, Vermiglio follows a family through the final days of World War II, interrupted by the sudden introduction of a Sicilian soldier who has escaped the army. As romance ensues and spring breaks, the newcomer upends a small town set in its ways.
Know Before You Go: The Italian drama won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was selected as Italy’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards.
Nightbitch directed by Marielle Heller
When: December 6, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Somewhere between black comedy and magical realism, Marielle Heller’s surreal reimagining of the werewolf trope shatters expectations of body horror, motherhood, and just how far Adams, who plays a stay-at-home mom turned neighborhood stray, will go on screen.
Know Before You Go: Rachel Yoder, the author of the novel on which the film was based, collaborated with Heller on the screenplay. Nightbitch is a recent addition to the list of projects narrowly saved from a straight-to-streaming fate with this theatrical release by Searchlight.
The Room Next Door directed by Pedro Almodóvar
When: December 20, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Again with Tilda Swinton. Here, she plays a best-selling author who reconnects with an old war journalist friend, played by Julianne Moore. The two writers, separated by time and career, are joined under bizarre yet tender circumstances in a film that lets its masterful leads showcase what they do best.
Know Before You Go: Pedro Almodóvar’s feature-length English-language debut won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, a first for a film by a Spanish director.
The Brutalist directed by Brady Corbet
When: December 20, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: After his arguably most lauded role in 2002’s The Pianist, Adrien Brody returns to the World War II era in this film, shot between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hungary. The project follows a Holocaust survivor, architect László Toth, in his pursuit of the American Dream. After settling in Pennsylvania, one wealthy client recognizes the architect’s talent—but in this country, nothing is offered for free.
Know Before You Go: The Brutalist, shot entirely on film, won Brady Corbet the Silver Lion at Venice. A competitive bidding war followed, with indie powerhouse A24 as the victor.
