Cicada

Matthew Fifer’s directorial debut CICADA is a heartfelt and refreshingly hopeful tale that tackles complex subjects with grace, delicacy and uncompromising honesty. Based on Fifer’s personal experiences, the film launched at Outfest and has played to wide acclaim around the world, including the BFI London Film Festival. Matthew Fifer and Sheldon D Brown were nominated for Best First Screenplay at the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Thirty-something New Yorker Ben (Matthew Fifer) is stuck in life - between meaningless hook-ups and awkward sessions with his free-spirited therapist, Sophie (Cobie Smulders, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER). Things change when he meets Sam (Sheldon D Brown), a handsome stranger with whom he forms an immediate connection. As the pair while away balmy summer nights getting to know each other intimately, their layers begin to peel away, revealing the secrets and fragilities they must share if they are to truly let the other person in.

Torn

Widely hailed as the greatest mountaineer of his generation, Alex Lowe was a towering figure in the world of outdoor sports. But he loomed even larger for his oldest son, Max, who was only 11 in 1999 when Alex was buried by an avalanche along with cameraman David Bridges while attempting to ski the north face of Mount Shishapangma in the Tibetan Himalaya. Seventeen years after their deaths, Lowe’s and Bridges’ bodies were found by two climbers attempting the same route, and in the following months, Lowe’s family journeyed to the remote mountain to recover them. In the powerful and deeply moving new documentary TORN, director Max Lowe examines the long-buried feelings this unearthed for him and his family, including his mother, Jennifer; his younger brothers, Sam and Isaac; and his stepfather, Conrad Anker, Alex’s climbing partner and best friend.

Nightmare Alley

When charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York Society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.

A Journal For Jordan

Directed by Denzel Washington and starring Michael B. Jordan with a screenplay by Virgil Williams, A Journal for Jordan is based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King (Jordan), a soldier deployed to Iraq who begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son. Back at home, senior New York Times editor Dana Canedy (Chanté Adams) revisits the story of her unlikely, life-altering relationship with King and his enduring devotion to her and their child. A sweeping account of a once-in-a-lifetime love, the film is a powerful reminder of the importance of family.

Memory Box

Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.