“After The Hunt”
Luca Guadagnino, the Oscar-nominated director of “Call Me by Your Name” and “Suspiria,” turns to the halls of academia for this North American premiere. Starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny, Cherry Jones, and Bill Camp, the story follows accusations that fracture professional and personal lives. Guadagnino’s signature sensuality and intensity suggest a morally ambiguous thriller that is as much about power as truth.
“Father Mother Sister Brother”
Jim Jarmusch crafts a triptych of familial stories that span continents and generations. Starring Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Mayim Bialik, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat, Tom Waits, and Charlotte Rampling, the Centerpiece film promises dry humor, melancholy, and tenderness. Jarmusch, known for “Paterson” and “Broken Flowers,” continues to refine his minimalist, meditative style into something haunting and humane.
“A House of Dynamite”
Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director of “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” delivers a North American premiere thriller about a looming missile crisis. Idris Elba anchors the ensemble with Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Greta Lee, Jonah Hauer-King, and Jason Clarke. Bigelow’s talent for procedural urgency and kinetic tension suggests a film that doubles as both spectacle and systemic critique.
“Kontinental ’25” and “Dracula”
Radu Jude, Romania’s great satirist of bureaucracy and media, arrives with two bold works. “Kontinental ’25” follows a bailiff evicting a homeless man, starring Eszter Tompa and Gabriel Spahiu, and promises Jude’s blend of deadpan humor and biting social critique. “Dracula” reimagines the classic myth in a 170-minute collage that merges labor unrest, pop culture, and technology, starring Adonis Tanța, Oana Maria Zaharia, Gabriel Spahiu, Ilinca Manolache, Alexandru Dabija, and more. Together, they reaffirm Jude as a filmmaker who thrives on provocation.
“The Fence”
Claire Denis, whose career has ranged from “Beau Travail” to “Both Sides of the Blade,” sets her latest in West Africa. Starring Isaach de Bankolé, Matt Dillon, Alex Descas, and Béatrice Dalle, the U.S. premiere dramatizes a demand for justice after a workplace death. Denis’ elliptical storytelling and tactile imagery promise a film charged with grief, guilt, and colonial echoes.
