Tony and Emmy Award® winner Jeffrey Wright stars in this biting comedy as Thelonius “Monk” Ellison, an under-appreciated author fed up with the state of Black literature in America. When he uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, he is propelled into the hypocritical madness he claims to disdain.

Griffin Dunne (THE DISCOVERERS, HIFF 2012) stars as Peter Pearce, a New Yorker reeling from his parents’ recent divorce and his own wife (Rosanna Arquette, reuniting with her AFTER HOURS co-star) leaving him after 35 years. When he crashes his son Nick’s (James Norton) bachelor party in Tulum, Peter soon realizes he’s not the…

In showcasing David Hempstead, Sr.'s journey from slavery to freedom on Long Island's East End, this insightful short also follows the Plain Sight Project, uncovering legacies of people of color in the…

In her debut as a writer-director, actress Jennifer Esposito (''Blue Bloods,'' SUMMER OF SAM, CRASH) brings late 1980s Staten Island to vivid life through the lens of Rose Larusso (Emily Bader), an inquisitive young girl who discovers her father (Domenick Lombardozzi) is an emerging mafia kingpin. Rose’s growing desire to break…

Happy the elephant was captured as a baby and has been confined for the past 40 years. An historic court case examines the question: is she also a…

This definitive portrait of Paul Simon follows the Grammy Award®-winning musical artist inside the studio as he makes his new album ''Seven Psalms,'' while also looking back on his unparalleled six-decade career. Six-time HIFF alum and Academy Award® winner Alex Gibney (TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, CITIZEN K, CRAZY NOT INSANE)…

Academy Award® nominee Bradley Cooper takes up the complicated life of legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper), digging beyond his musical brilliance to tenderly chronicle his lifelong relationship with Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Academy Award nominee® Carey Mulligan).

Mary Heilmann ranks amongst the most influential American abstract painters of her generation, revered for her unique approach to color and form. Now in her 80s, Heilmann still questions how her creative practice coexists within a highly commercialized art world. Director Matt Creed offers an intimate and vivid experience that…

Simon is unexpectedly summoned to his grandmother’s house to meet her new boyfriend, Merv (Hal Linden), who upends Simon’s understanding of love, loss, and Chinese…

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,…

For generations of New Yorkers, no three words evoke iconic live music like 'Ron Delsener Presents'—the words that preceded the name of every major act playing New York, from the Beatles at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium to David Bowie at Carnegie Hall and Patti Smith at the Palladium. Director Jake Sumner pulls back the curtain…

A passionate baklava baker encounters a savvy ladoo maker on the streets of…

Feminist sex educator Shere Hite created controversy with her 1976 bestseller ''The Hite Report,'' an expansive survey of women revealing intimate details about their sexual pleasure. From filmmaker Nicole Newnham (CRIP CAMP) and narrated by Dakota Johnson (FIFTY SHADES OF GREY), the documentary admiringly dives into Hite's…

A pedestrian sets off on a nine-day walk from Brooklyn to…

Burgeoning muralist Jay (Billy Mayorga Reyes) lives in Brentwood, NY, where his neighborhood of Salvadoran immigrants offers a rich tapestry of stories, traditions, and perspectives that have often been marginalized and overlooked. At age 15, he is involved in a local youth program aimed at both healing generational trauma and…