Narrative Feature
Spotlight
117 min
East Coast Premiere
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.
Directed By Cord Jefferson
Narrative Feature
Spotlight
98 min
North American Premiere
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…
Directed By Noah Pritzker
Documentary Short
Short Films
27 min
World Premiere
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…
Directed By Sam Hamilton, Julian Alvarez
Narrative Feature
Spotlight, Views from Long Island
119 min
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…
Directed By Jennifer Esposito
Documentary Short
Compassion Justice & Animal Rights, Short Films
22 min
US Premiere
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…
Directed By Laura Rindlisbacher
Documentary Feature
Centerpiece
209 min
New York Premiere
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)…
Directed By Alex Gibney
Narrative Feature
Closing Night
127 min
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).
Directed By Bradley Cooper
Documentary Feature
Views from Long Island
73 min
World Premiere
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…
Directed By Matt Creed
Narrative Short
Short Films
22 min
East Coast Premiere
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…
Directed By Sam Roebling
Narrative Feature
Special Screenings
106 min
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,…
Directed By Celine Song