Courageous South Korean pastor Seungeun Kim acts as a guide for those risking their lives to flee the oppression of North Korea, a land they grew up believing was a paradise. When a family of five—including small children and an elderly grandmother—contacts Kim for help, he embarks with them on a treacherous journey into the…

Directed by Academy Award® winner Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (DRIVE MY CAR, HIFF 2021), EVIL DOES NOT EXIST is an empathetic, simmering slow burn. In the rural Japanese village where Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) and his young daughter live, tensions rise when two agents arrive with plans to build a glamping site for tourists. As villagers…

A loving grandma (halmoni) reluctantly agrees to buy pot for her grandson. But pay full price?…

With unprecedented access to Taiwan’s sitting head of state, director Vanessa Hope investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan. Thorough, incisive and bristling with tension, INVISIBLE NATION is a living account of Tsai’s tightrope walk as she balances the hopes and dreams of her…

When young Minato (Kurokawa Soya) starts to behave strangely, his mother Saori (Ando Sakura) searches for an explanation. She demands answers from her son’s school, and in the process unwittingly discovers an unexpected dynamic between the teachers and their students. Winner of the Award for Best Screenplay at this year’s…

Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are torn apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea to Canada. Two decades later, with Nora in a long-term relationship with Arthur (John Magaro), they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny,…

Legendary Academy Award®-nominated director Wim Wenders (PARIS, TEXAS; WINGS OF DESIRE) returns to HIFF with his latest poetic meditation on everyday beauty, following Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), a toilet cleaner living a restrained, structured life in Tokyo. His quiet routine—guided by his appreciation for music, books, and the…

The Lee family’s grandfather passes away, leaving behind a country house, an inheritance that turns out to be anything but…

Xiaohui lives with his grandfather, a mother cow and her calf in a Chinese village. When Grandpa intends to sell the calf, Xiaohui goes to great lengths to hide the pair in the…