First-time director Sara Nodjoumi teams with her husband and co-director Till Schauder to uncover the story of her father, seminal modern artist Nickzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi, who fled Iran after the vandalization of his 1980 exhibition criticizing the Iranian Revolution. Decades later, with Iran once again embroiled in protests,…

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…

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…

Esteemed documentarian Hilla Medalia (TO DIE IN JERUSALEM, DANCING IN JAFFA) returns to HIFF with her newest work, which follows the fates of three Israeli and Palestinian families intertwined by a vicious cycle of violence in the city of Lod, Israel. In depicting the complex mixture of anger, grief, love and forgiveness that…

Legendary, two-time Palme d’Or-winning British director Ken Loach (I, DANIEL BLAKE, SORRY WE MISSED YOU) returns to HIFF with what may be his final film, a timely and deeply affecting drama set in a once-thriving mining village in northern England. The Old Oak is the last pub standing, a gathering space for a community that has…