On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, sixteen-year-old Kaito (Nijiro Murakami) discovers a young woman’s body floating in the sea. His girlfriend Kyoko (Jun Yoshinaga) attempts to help him make sense of this mystery while also coming to terms with her shaman mother’s terminal illness. Toge...

Misako (Ayame Misaki) is a passionate writer of film versions for the visually impaired. At a screening, she meets Nakamori (Masatoshi Nagase), an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesight. Misako soon discovers Nakamori’s photographs, which strangely bring her back to her past. Togeth...

After leaving the Special Forces, container truck driver and single father Hùng (Alexandre Nguyen) dedicates his life to raising his six-year-old daughter. But when she gets kidnapped and assaulted, Hùng relies on his martial arts training and combat skills to hunt down the twisted millionaire re...

Operating under a pseudonym which means "no boundaries", North Korean defector Sun Mu doesn't just paint about his troubled life in the world’s most reclusive and repressive state – he paints images of hope. Sun Mu's work is imbued with nuance and heartbreak, political pop art that inverts the pr...

Having just moved from Beijing, elderly tai chi master Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) struggles to adjust to life in New York, living with his Americanized son Alex (Ye-tong Wang). Chu immediately butts heads with his put-upon white daughter-in-law, Martha (Deb Snyder), a writer who seems to blame him for...

Tsai Ming-liang's sophomore feature, VIVE L'AMOUR, follows three lonely souls sharing a Taipei apartment. Beautiful realtor May Lin (Yang Kuei-mei) brings her lover Ah-jung (Chen Chao-jung) to the vacant unit, unaware that it is secretly occupied by suicidal funeral salesman Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-...

Li Dong and Li Chun are brothers with completely different temperaments. Though they both live in Beijing, the two have been estranged for many years. One day, while reconnecting at a Japanese restaurant nestled within the busy streets of the city, they reminisce about their beloved childhood sw...

Struggling graduate student Zhang Guangsheng (Ding Xinhe) loses his professor’s dog and enlists his deadbeat dad (Yu Hai) to help retrieve the missing pooch before his careless mistake jeopardizes both his graduation and future career.

The feature debut from Chinese writer/director Jiang Jiache...

Toichi (Akira Emoto), an aging ferryman in a remote Meiji-era community, lives a peaceful, cyclical existence, given meaning by the essential role he plays in transporting people, livestock, and goods across the water, connecting villages and lives. When news arrives that a bridge is being built,...

Upon learning that his younger brother had an accident and has slipped into a vegetative state, Tibetan monk Tenzin Banjue leaves his monastery and embarks on the long walk back to his home village. Once there, he finds himself caught between faith and desire when his mother encourages him to sta...

International superstar Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love) embodies tragic screen siren Ruan Lingyu, known as the "Greta Garbo of China," in this unconventional biopic by Hong Kong New Wave master Stanley Kwan (Rouge). Praised for her moving and emotive onscreen presence, Ruan’s private life, w...

Abigail Harm (Amanda Plummer) reads books to the blind and lives alone on the outskirts of the city. Keeping her eyes turned away from everyone, she secretly watches, listens and hopes. One day, Abigail recalls an old story about a woodcutter who saves the life of a mystical deer and is granted h...

Investigative filmmaker Yuko (Kumi Takiuchi) is putting together a piece about the bereaved families connected with a bullied schoolgirlʼs suicide. Determined to shed light on the truth, Yukoʼs uncompromising nature brings her in conflict with the conservative-minded management at her television ...

While vacationing with his wife at a seaside resort, Kenji, a struggling writer (Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car), becomes fascinated with a mysterious couple he notices by the pool. Later, from outside their hotel room window, he witnesses the older man (Takeshi Kitano) methodically filming th...

32-year-old Ichiko (Sakura Ando, Shoplifters) lives at home in self-indulgent grunginess with her parents and recently divorced younger sister. One morning, after a particularly heated argument, Ichiko decides to leave for good. With few options to support herself, she finds a job at a 100 yen sh...

Following his Cannes Jury Prize-winning drama HARMONIUM, director Koji Fukada returns with “another emotionally palpable tale of perception” (IONCINEMA). Ichiko (Mariko Tsutsui) is a private home nurse who has worked for the elderly matriarch of the Oisho family for years. Unexpectedly, her quiet...

During the Ming Dynasty, a Buddhist abbot charged with protecting the sacred scroll of Tripitaka prepares to name his successor. An aristocrat and a general arrive at his secluded mountaintop monastery promising to help in his search, but are in fact scheming to secure the scroll for themselves. ...

Set against the backdrop of the Philippines government's crackdown on illegal drugs, a SWAT-led police force launches an operation to arrest Abel, one of the biggest drug lords in Manila. Police Officer Espino and Elijah, a small-time pusher turned informant, provide the intelligence for the oper...

Alliance of Women Film Journalists Selection! Read an excerpt from Margaret Barton Fumo's AWFJ review: "Cathy Yan’s 2018 film DEAD PIGS is a dazzling debut ahead of her better-known followup, the blockbuster superhero film BIRDS OF PREY (2020). DEAD PIGS premiered at Sundance, where it won a Spec...

Alliance of Women Film Journalists Selection! Read an excerpt from Liz Whittemore's AWFJ review: "At the suggestion of her niece, lonely middle-aged Setsuko takes English lessons. When her plucky teacher John goes missing, Setsuko gets on a plane to California in search of love and a life-changin...

Burmese immigrants sneak into Thailand on a well-trafficked route across the Mekong River, down quiet country roads and past bribed police checkpoints. Along this treacherous path to Bangkok, Lianqing (Wu Ke-Xi) and Guo (Kai Ko) meet, and their fates become entwined. After finding work, the coupl...

From acclaimed Japanese auteur and 2018 Palme D'Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda (SHOPLIFTERS, LIKE FATHER LIKE SON) comes one of the most critically acclaimed dramas of 2017, earning a New York Times Critic's Pick and Village Voice Choice designation, and Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Dwelling ...

When high-powered attorney Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama) takes on the defense of murder-robbery suspect Misumi (Kōji Yakusho), he does so with reluctance, knowing that the man already provided a full confession and had been previously convicted of murder thirty years earlier. But as he digs deepe...

Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) sees his seemingly ordinary life take an ominous turn when Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano), a mysterious friend from his past, arrives unexpectedly. Recently released from prison and in need of a helping hand, Toshio gives him a job and generously takes him in to live with his wi...