Sundance Film Festival 2015

*WINNER* U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Collaborative Vision

DIRECTOR Jennifer Phang
SCREENWRITER Jacqueline Kim, Jennifer Phang
CAST Jacqueline Kim, James Urbaniak, Freya Adams, Ken Jeong, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Kim

In a metropolis in the near future, Gwen Koh, a beautiful woman full of poise and grace, works as the spokesperson for the Center for Advanced Health and Living, a company that offers a radical new technology allowing people to overcome their natural disadvantages and begin life anew. But when a shift in company priorities threatens her job and her family, will Gwen undergo the procedure herself?

*WINNER* U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Excellence in Editing - Lee Haugen

DIRECTOR Rick Famuyiwa
SCREENWRITER Rick Famuyiwa
CAST Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, A$AP Rocky

Malcolm is a high school geek with a high-top fade, carefully navigating life in The Bottoms, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Inglewood, California. He and his fellow outcasts share a voracious appreciation for all things '90s hip-hop, opting to sport Cross-Colours and Z. Cavariccis at the risk of being clowned at school. He dreams of attending Harvard, but first he has to make it home every day. When a drug dealer takes a shine to Malcolm and invites him to his birthday party, Malcolm’s crew is swirled into a hilarious blender of offbeat characters and bad choices where redemption can only be found in Bitcoin.

DIRECTOR Adam Salky
SCREENWRITER Amy Koppelman, Paige Dylan
CAST Sarah Silverman, Josh Charles, Thomas Sadoski, Mia Barron, Terry Kinney, Chris Sarandon

Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. She has the perfect husband who plays basketball with the kids in the driveway, a pristine house, and a shiny SUV for carting the children to their next activity. However, just beneath the façade lie depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion. Only very real danger will force her to face the painful root of her destructiveness and its crumbling effect on those she loves.

*WINNER* U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
*WINNER* Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic

DIRECTOR Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
SCREENWRITER Jesse Andrews
CAST Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon

Greg Gaines is an awkward, self-deprecating high school student determined to coast through his senior year as anonymously as possible. Avoiding social interactions like the plague, Greg spends most of his time remaking wacky versions of classic movies with his only friend, Earl. Greg’s well-meaning mother intervenes, forcing him to befriend Rachel, a classmate who's been diagnosed with leukemia. Against his better judgment, Greg concedes. Both Greg and Rachel are surprised—even shocked—to find out that they actually like each other. Tentative at first, this unlikely duo becomes inseparable. But when Rachel gets sicker, Greg’s well-fortified world is changed forever.

DIRECTOR Jim Strouse
SCREENWRITER Jim Strouse
CAST Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Williams, Michael Chernus

From the moment graphic novelist Will Henry accidentally walks in on his wife, Charlie, with another man, his life officially begins to suck. Not only is he exiled from Brooklyn to a tiny studio apartment in Astoria and forced to see his adorable twin daughters only on weekends, but, according to Charlie, the separation is all his fault. As he muddles through single fathering and teaching college, a defeated Will sits up nights at his drafting table, illustrating his frustrations and loneliness—aptly symbolized by an ever-growing brick wall jammed between him and his family. When a student challenges Will to pursue new people, places, and things, his obsessions—both graphic and real—take new form.

DIRECTOR Andrew Bujalski
SCREENWRITER Andrew Bujalski
CAST Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker

Recently divorced, newly rich, and utterly miserable, Danny (Kevin Corrigan) would seem to be the perfect test subject for a definitive look at the relationship between money and happiness. Danny's well-funded ennui is interrupted by a momentous trip to the local gym, where he meets self-styled guru/owner Trevor (Guy Pearce) and irresistibly acerbic trainer Kat (Cobie Smulders). Soon, their three lives are inextricably knotted, both professionally and personally.

DIRECTOR Chloé Zhao
SCREENWRITER Chloé Zhao
CAST John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, Irene Bedard, Taysha Fuller, Travis Lone Hill, Eléonore Hendricks

High school senior Johnny is fixing to leave the Pine Ridge Reservation when the unexpected death of his rodeo-cowboy father complicates things. Reluctant to leave behind his 13-year-old sister, Jashaun, with whom he shares a special bond, Johnny must rethink his future. While Jashaun seeks out answers from her older half-brothers, Johnny's increasing inner conflict stands in the way of his departure, setting both of them on separate paths toward rediscovering the meaning of home.

DIRECTOR Nikole Beckwith
SCREENWRITER Nikole Beckwith
CAST Saoirse Ronan, Cynthia Nixon, Jason Isaacs, David Warshofsky

A young woman is reunited with her parents, Marcy and Glen, after being abducted 17 years earlier. Raised in a suburban basement and renamed Leia by her kidnapper, Ben, she was told the outside world had come to an end, and now she must completely reconceive her perception of it. The bright 22-year-old is also forced to reconcile her new life with parents who are virtual strangers and her past life of captivity with Ben, on whom she was completely dependent. As Leia’s growing alienation leads to her longing for Ben, Marcy slowly implodes in her attempts to reclaim her child, and the notion of what it is to be free is called into question.

DIRECTOR Bryan Buckley
SCREENWRITER Melissa Rauch, Winston Rauch
CAST Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan, Haley Lu Richardson, Cecily Strong

In 2004, Hope Ann Greggory became an American hero after winning the bronze medal for the women's gymnastics team. Today, she's living in her father's basement in her small hometown—washed up, largely forgotten, and embittered. Stuck in her past glory, Hope is forced to reassess her life when a promising young gymnast who idolizes her threatens her local celebrity status. Will she mentor the adoring, hopeful protégé, take her down, or both?

*WINNER* Special Jury Award for Excellence in Cinematography - Brandon Trost

DIRECTOR Marielle Heller
SCREENWRITER Marielle Heller
CAST Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Kristen Wiig

Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, The Diary of a Teenage Girl recounts the coming-of-age adventures of Minnie Goetze, a San Francisco teenager growing up in the counterculture haze of the 1970s.

Lonely and artistic, Minnie chronicles her trials through expressive drawings and painfully honest missives confided to a tape recorder. One fateful evening alone with her mother's boyfriend, Minnie is confronted with her burgeoning sexuality for the first time, and suddenly this precocious teen is in way over her head.

DIRECTOR Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
SCREENWRITER Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
CAST Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike White, Kyle Bornheimer

Dan Landsman is the overly enthusiastic head of his high school reunion committee and also the group's laughingstock. To impress his so-called friends, he vows to convince their most famous former classmate—Oliver Lawless, the star of a national Banana Boat TV commercial—to attend the reunion to increase attendance. Dan travels to Los Angeles and spins a web of lies, igniting an intoxicating excitement for the first time in his humdrum life. In exchange for Oliver's precarious friendship, Dan sacrifices his relationships with his wife, son, and boss, and loses himself in his obsession for approval and recognition.

DIRECTOR Patrick Brice
SCREENWRITER Patrick Brice
CAST Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godrèche

Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, have recently moved to Los Angeles's Eastside from Seattle. Feeling lost in a new city, they are desperate to find their first new friends. After a chance meeting with Kurt at the neighborhood park, they gladly agree to join family pizza night at his home. But as it gets later and the kids go to bed, the family “playdate” becomes increasingly more revealing as the couples begin to open up.

*WINNER* Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Award
*WINNER* Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic - Tim Talbott

DIRECTOR Kyle Patrick Alvarez
SCREENWRITER Tim Talbott
CAST Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, Olivia Thirlby

It is the summer of 1971. Dr. Philip Zimbardo launches a study on the psychology of imprisonment. Twenty-four male undergraduates are randomly assigned to be either a guard or a prisoner. Set in a simulated jail, the project unfolds. The participants rapidly embody their roles—the guards become power-hungry and sadistic, while the prisoners, subject to degradation, strategize as underdogs. It soon becomes clear that, as Zimbardo and team monitor the escalation of action through surveillance cameras, they are not fully aware of how they, too, have become part of the experiment.

*WINNER* Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic - Robert Eggers

DIRECTOR Robert Eggers
SCREENWRITER Robert Eggers
CAST Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson

A colonial family leaves plantation life and attempts to reap their harvest on a fledgling farm at the edge of an imposing ancient New England forest. Soon, superstition and dread set in as food grows scarce, a family member goes missing, and the children's play takes on a frenzied and menacing undercurrent. As they begin to turn on one another, the malevolent machinations of an ethereal presence from within the woods exacerbate the growing corruption of their own natures.

DIRECTOR Kris Swanberg
SCREENWRITER Kris Swanberg, Megan Mercier
CAST Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean, Elizabeth McGovern

Samantha is a high school science teacher at a low-income school about to close, and she has just found out she's pregnant. Though her boyfriend, John, proposes and is thrilled to begin a new life together, Sam struggles with the idea of halting her career to be a full-time mother. Simultaneously, one of Sam's brightest students, Jasmine, has also become pregnant. Sam makes it her mission to get Jasmine into college and bonds with her over their impending motherhood. Unbeknownst to Sam, Jasmine is wiser than she gives her credit for, and when things don't go exactly according to Sam's plan, she must reexamine what is best for herself and for the people she loves.

DIRECTOR Craig Zobel
SCREENWRITER Nissar Modi
CAST Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, Chris Pine

In the wake of a disaster that wipes out most of civilization, a young woman who believes she is the last human on Earth meets a dying scientist searching for survivors. Their relationship becomes tenuous when another male survivor appears. As the two men compete for the woman's affection, their primal urges begin to reveal their true nature.

Canada
DIRECTOR François Delisle
SCREENWRITER François Delisle
CAST Sébastien Ricard, Fanny Mallette, Pierre Curzi, Genevieve Bujold

When the remains of their eight-year-old son are discovered 10 years after his disappearance in Montreal, a separated couple is brought back together. Each has been living in solitude—Christophe in a hut on the beach in Mexico, Irène retreating into the sanctuary of singing in an ancient music choir. Haunted by the unresolved mystery of their son for almost a decade, they are now faced with their biggest losses: the unfathomable tragedy of their son and the demise of their relationship. Together yet separately, they methodically close compartments from the past and move toward acceptance of the future.

Italy
DIRECTOR Lamberto Sanfelice
SCREENWRITER Lamberto Sanfelice, Elisa Amoruso
CAST Sara Serraiocco, Ivan Franek, Giorgio Colangeli, Anatol Sassi, Piera Degli Esposti, Andrea Vergoni

Seventeen-year-old Jenny lives in Ostia, a seaside town near Rome, and dreams of being a synchronized swimmer. But after her mother's death and her father's ensuing nervous breakdown, her family is forced to relocate to a remote mountain village, where Jenny drops out of school to work as a maid at a nearby ski resort to support her younger brother. Sneaking into the hotel pool, she clings to some semblance of her dream, but with her father showing no sign of recovery, Jenny’s "temporary" circumstances appear increasingly permanent.

*WINNER* World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting - Jack Reynor

Ireland
DIRECTOR Gerard Barrett
SCREENWRITER Gerard Barrett
CAST Jack Reynor, Toni Collette, Will Poulter, Michael Smiley

A young south Dublin cabdriver, John (Jack Reynor) barely makes ends meet. He shares social housing with his mother, Jean (Toni Collette), an unwavering alcoholic who is systematically drinking herself to death. Hospitalized after another overdose, Jean’s best hope is a costly, private rehab clinic. Desperate and without money or insurance, John takes a shady job from the ambiguous criminal element he’s loosely connected to.

Norway
DIRECTOR Anne Sewitsky
SCREENWRITER Ragnhild Tronvoll, Anne Sewitsky
CAST Ine Marie Wilmann, Simon J. Berger, Anneke von der Lippe, Silje Storstein, Oddgeir Thune, Kari Onstad

Effervescent Charlotte leads a comfortable life, dating her best friend's brother and teaching young children to dance, but she aches for an affection she feels her cold mother and ailing alcoholic father have never offered. After learning that Henrik, the half-brother she's never met, has moved to Oslo, Charlotte tentatively initiates contact. As the pair sketch out a tenuous bond, a relationship initially based on make-believe wish fulfillment soon deepens into a self-destructive sexual attraction that threatens to upend both their lives.

Turkey
DIRECTOR Tolga Karaçelik
SCREENWRITER Tolga Karaçelik
CAST Nadir Sarıbacak, Özgür Emre Yıldırım, Hakan Karsak, Kadir Çermik, Osman Alkaş, Seyithan Özdemiroğlu

After months without pay, the already disgruntled crew on a Turkish cargo ship arrives in an Egyptian port and learns that the port authority is foreclosing on them. Ordered to anchor offshore, the remaining skeleton crew has their passports seized and must maintain the vessel until its owner's debts are paid. Tensions quickly arise between the authoritarian Cypriot captain, his devoutly religious second-in-command, an affable cook, and a trio of newcomers to the ship—a pair of druggie ne'er-do-wells and the near-mute, hulking Kurd. As months pass, food and entertainment dwindle, alliances shift, and the men take out their raw frustration on one another.

*WINNER* World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography - Germain McMicking

Australia
DIRECTOR Ariel Kleiman
SCREENWRITER Ariel Kleiman, Sarah Cyngler
CAST Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara

The charismatic Gregori (Vincent Cassel) saunters into a hospital maternity ward and charms new mother Susanna. Eleven years later, she and her son Alexander live in Gregori’s closed community, sheltering vulnerable women and their brood in a haven isolated from the outside world. Alexander is Gregori’s prize pupil, eldest son, and star employee in the cottage industry—in which the kids are trained to run dangerous errands to provide for the group—but Gregori feels threatened by the boy’s inquisitive nature, struck by the fear that his child might not love him anymore. Meanwhile, Alexander begins to think for himself.

Israel
DIRECTOR Tali Shalom Ezer
SCREENWRITER Tali Shalom Ezer
CAST Keren Mor, Shira Haas, Ori Pfeffer, Adar Zohar Hanetz

Adar, an androgynous 12-year-old girl, lives in a small apartment with her mother, Alma, and her young stepfather, Michael. The three co-exist in an unconventional and intimate way, with Adar often slipping into bed to sleep with Alma and Michael. While Alma is at work, Adar’s close relationship with the unemployed Michael has taken a dark turn, involving gender-bending role-playing games that turn fantasy into violation. As Adar’s home life turns increasingly intrusive, she begins to search for help outside, but discovers she must retreat into a new friendship with Alan, a waifish boy who looks startlingly like her, in order to cope.

*WINNER* World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic

United Kingdom/New Zealand
DIRECTOR John Maclean
SCREENWRITER John Maclean
CAST Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Caren Pistorius, Rory McCann

Jay is a lovelorn 17-year-old Scottish aristocrat who travels to the American West at the close of the nineteenth century to track down his former lover. Confronted with the harsh realities of the frontier, he falls in with a rough and mysterious traveler named Silas (Michael Fassbender), who soon discovers that the focus of Jay’s affection has a price on her head. Together, the two navigate a vast, untamed wilderness while attempting to stay one step ahead of a bloodthirsty posse and colorful bounty hunter. Their search leads to a bloody confrontation where Jay’s romanticism is the first of many casualties.

Australia/Ireland
DIRECTOR Kim Farrant
SCREENWRITER Fiona Seres, Michael Kinirons
CAST Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, Hugo Weaving, Lisa Flanagan, Meyne Wyatt, Maddison Brown

New to the remote Australian desert town of Nathgari, the Parker family is thrown into crisis when Catherine and Matthew discover that their two teenage kids, Tommy and Lily, have mysteriously disappeared just before a massive dust storm hits the town. With Nathgari now eerily smothered in red dust and darkness, the locals join the search led by local cop David Rae. With temperatures rising, and the chances of survival plummeting with each passing day, Catherine and Matthew find themselves pushed to the brink as they struggle to survive the uncertainty of their children’s fate.

*WINNER* World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting - Regina Casé and Camila Márdila

Brazil
DIRECTOR Anna Muylaert
SCREENWRITER Anna Muylaert
CAST Regina Casé, Michel Joelsas, Camila Márdila, Karine Teles, Lourenço Mutarelli

Val is the kind of live-in housekeeper who takes her work seriously. She wears a crisp maid's uniform while serving perfect canapés; she serves her wealthy São Paulo employers day in and day out while lovingly nannying their teenage son whom she's raised since toddlerhood. Everyone and everything in the elegant house has its place until one day, Val’s ambitious, clever daughter Jessica arrives from Val’s hometown to take the college entrance exams. Jessica’s confident, youthful presence upsets the unspoken yet strict balance of power in the household; Val must decide where her allegiances lie and what she's willing to sacrifice.

*WINNER* Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic - Alanté Kavaïté

Lithuania/France/The Netherlands
DIRECTOR Alanté Kavaïté
SCREENWRITER Alanté Kavaïté
CAST Julija Steponaitytė, Aistė Diržiūtė

Seventeen-year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. Afraid of heights, she has never dared to even enter one of the cockpits. At a summer aeronautical show near her parents’ lakeside villa, she meets Auste—a local girl who, unlike Sangaile, lives her life to the fullest with creativity and bravery. As the two girls grow closer, Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret, and finds in her teenage love the only person who truly encourages her to fly.

*WINNER* Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic

India
DIRECTOR Prashant Nair
SCREENWRITER Prashant Nair
CAST Suraj Sharma, Tony Revolori, Smita Tambe, Adil Hussain, Rajesh Tailang, Prateik Babbar

As a young boy, Ramakant watches his beloved older brother Udai leave their small Northern Indian village for the much-vaunted “Umrika” in search of something bigger and better. Over the years, Udai’s letters breathe life into Jitvapur, inspiring new traditions, sparking community debate, and even providing the impetus for Ramakant to learn how to read. After a family tragedy, Ramakant uncovers a long-held deception about Udai’s whereabouts. He sets out for Bombay, determined to trace his brother’s path and unexpectedly finds himself charting his own. All the while, Ramakant inherits the tradition of inventing the letters detailing Udai's adventures in America.

DIRECTOR Diego Ongaro
SCREENWRITER Diego Ongaro, Courtney Maum, Sasha Statman-Weil
CAST Bob Tarasuk, Matt Gallagher, Polly MacIntyre, Winthrop Barrett, Nathaniel Gregory

Bob, a 50-something farmer with a soft spot for golf, gangsta rap, and the trees he knows so well, has hopes of bettering his station in life. When a large wood lot goes on sale for a good price, Bob sees the investment as an opportunity to come out on top. That night, however, on a neighboring farm, a skunk bites a pig, giving it rabies. The incident forces the authorities to quarantine the farm, which puts a scare into the entire town. This is only the first turn of events that will plague Bob’s once quiet, content life in rural Massachusetts.

DIRECTOR Charles Poekel
SCREENWRITER Charles Poekel
CAST Kentucker Audley, Hannah Gross, Jason Shelton, Oona Roche

For a fifth consecutive December, a heartbroken Noel returns to New York City to work the night shift at a sidewalk Christmas tree lot. Devoid of any holiday spirit, he struggles to stay awake during the long, chilly nights in his trailer, while the daytime traffic keeps him from getting any real rest. As he slowly spirals into despair, he comes to the aid of a mysterious young woman in the park. Her warming presence, matched with some colorful customers, helps rescue him from self-destruction.

DIRECTOR Michael J. Larnell
SCREENWRITER Michael J. Larnell
CAST George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski

Louis (George Sample III) and Jack (Zurich Buckner) have been friends since forever, so how could anything as lame as adulthood change that? But Louis’s first adorable attempts at grown-folk business are increasingly at odds with Jack’s ceaseless quest for new fucks not to give. One hot summer day, Louis makes plans with his new friend Andrew (Brian Kowalski), and Jack refuses to get left behind, both metaphorically and literally. Twenty-four hours later, everything has changed.

DIRECTOR Rick Alverson
SCREENWRITER Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker
CAST Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek

An aging comedian tours the California desert, lost in a cycle of third-rate venues, novelty tourist attractions, and vain attempts to reach his estranged daughter. By day, he slogs through the barren landscape, inadvertently alienating every acquaintance. At night, he seeks solace in the animation of his onstage persona. Fueled by the promise of a lucrative Hollywood engagement and the possibility of rekindling a relationship with his daughter, he trudges through a series of increasingly surreal and volatile encounters.

DIRECTOR Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia
SCREENWRITER Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia
CAST Robin Bartlett, Rebecca Dayan, Will Janowitz, Julian Gamble, Roger Robinson

In Troy, New York, two women, both named Helen, carry on seemingly complacent existences with their respective partners. Middle-aged Helen lives with husband Roy and finds comfort from a "reborn" baby doll. Meanwhile, successful young artist Helen is expecting a child with her noncommittal partner. Foreboding signs begin to appear: a meteor reportedly crashes nearby; people go missing; and inexplicable, life-altering changes spiral the Helens’ inert realities into a terrifying journey through unknown terrain.

*WINNER* Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe

DIRECTOR Josh Mond
SCREENWRITER Josh Mond
CAST Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon, Scott Mescudi, Mackenzie Leigh, David Call, Ron Livingston

James White (Christopher Abbott) is a troubled twentysomething trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. As he retreats further into a hedonistic lifestyle, his mother's battle with a serious illness faces a series of setbacks that force him to assume more responsibility. With the pressure on him mounting, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely.

DIRECTOR Sebastian Silva
SCREENWRITER Sebastian Silva
CAST Sebastian Silva, Kristen Wiig, Tunde Adebimpe, Alia Shawkat, Mark Margolis, Reg E. Cathey

Brooklyn artist Freddy (Sebastian Silva) is baby obsessed. His new project centers around newborns, and he and his boyfriend, Mo, have recruited their best friend, Polly (Kristen Wiig), to help them have a baby. On top of dealing with the stress of opening an art installation and the complications of conceiving a child via artificial insemination, the three begin to be harassed by The Bishop, a mentally ill neighborhood man. An escalating series of incidents threaten to derail the comfortable lives these people have built for themselves.

DIRECTOR Matt Sobel
SCREENWRITER Matt Sobel
CAST Logan Miller, Robin Weigert, Josh Hamilton, Richard Schiff, Ursula Parker, Azura Skye

Ryder, an artsy teenager, travels from California with his parents, Don and Cindy, for a family reunion in Nebraska. Upon their arrival, Ryder's impish nine-year-old cousin, Molly, leads him to a barn to show him a bird’s nest. What happens behind barn doors makes Ryder the sudden target of suspicion and unearths a long-buried family secret. Ryder and his parents are ill-equipped to handle the fallout; Cindy, in particular, does her best to remain positive. Ultimately, Ryder must come to terms with the truth on his own.

DIRECTOR Sean Baker
SCREENWRITER Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
CAST Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan, Alla Tumanian, James Ransone

It's Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn't been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.

DIRECTOR Kenny Riches
SCREENWRITER Kenny Riches
CAST Robert Lorie, Paul Chamberlain, Ashly Burch, Patrick Fugit, Lisa Banes

Beef is a beefy Cuban man who believes that he is The Strongest Man in the World. He doesn’t want children, but he wants to tell his grandchildren about his life as The Strongest Man in the World. His best friend is a slight Korean man named Conan. Conan makes him think about things he normally doesn’t think, like the fact that Beef thinks in Spanish, rather than English. Illy, the adopted daughter of a rich art collector, brings out an anxious side in Beef. But it is when his prized possession—a solid gold BMX bicycle—is stolen from him that Beef finds and loses so much more than he thought he could.

DIRECTOR Ken Kwapis
SCREENWRITER Rick Kerb, Bill Holderman
CAST Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Nick Offerman, Kristen Schaal

When an aging travel writer sets out to hike the 2,100-mile-long Appalachian Trail with a long-estranged high school buddy, the duo learn that some roads are better left untraveled.

DIRECTOR John Crowley
SCREENWRITER Nick Hornby, based on the book of the same title by Colm Tóibín
CAST Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters

Set on opposite sides of the Atlantic, John Crowley’s Brooklyn tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City. The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and Eilis must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.

DIRECTOR Joe Swanberg
SCREENWRITER Jake Johnson, Joe Swanberg
CAST Jake Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick

Young married couple Tim and Lee have planted the seeds of a family in their East L.A. duplex. Three years after the birth of their son, they’re still adjusting to the joy and pain of life with kid, navigating potty talk at the dinner table, disagreeing over preschools, and putting off doing their taxes. For a change of pace, they decide to house-sit for one of Lee’s Westside yoga clients. Once there, Tim discovers something suspicious in the yard that gets the wheels in his head turning, and Lee, worried that he will become obsessed with digging deeper, decides to drop their toddler off with her mother for a much-needed night out on the town. Sans-wife, Tim invites his buddies over, and a “boys-will-be-boys” scenario ensues, full of drinking, awkward joint-passing, and perhaps getting a bit too close to a girl who isn’t the mother of his child.

DIRECTOR Jared Hess
SCREENWRITER Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
CAST Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement, Amy Ryan, Danny McBride, Leslie Bibb, Will Forte

Don Verdean is a man of faith who has devoted his life to biblical archaeology, scouring the globe in search of artifacts that back up the teachings of Jesus Christ. Now, traveling from town to town, he and his devoted assistant, Carol, spread the gospel by peddling books and DVDs out of his shabby RV, while his Holy Land contacts, Boaz and Shem, do the digging from afar. When evangelical preacher Tony Lazarus offers to bankroll Don’s modest roadside operation, the escalating pressure to find increasingly significant relics leads Don and his team down a less-than-righteous path. With more than just the word of God on the line, Don finds himself in the midst of a spiteful feud between two opposing congregations, leaving him to question what is truly important in life.

DIRECTOR Michael Almereyda
SCREENWRITER Michael Almereyda
CAST Peter Sarsgaard, Winona Ryder, Jim Gaffigan, Kellan Lutz, Taryn Manning, John Leguizamo

In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted the "obedience experiments" at Yale University. The experiments observed the responses of ordinary people asked to send harmful electrical shocks to a stranger. Despite pleadings from the person they were shocking, 65 percent of subjects obeyed commands from a lab-coated authority figure to deliver potentially fatal currents. With Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram’s Kafkaesque results hit a nerve, and he was accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster.

DIRECTOR Paul Weitz
SCREENWRITER Paul Weitz
CAST Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, Laverne Cox, Sam Elliott

Elle, a onetime successful poet, abruptly breaks up with Olive, her girlfriend of four months. But before she gets a chance to get overly sentimental, her granddaughter, Sage, unexpectedly shows up with an emergency that requires money. With the clock ticking, the two set out in a vintage Dodge and drop in on Elle’s old friends and flames, asking for help but instead ending up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets. As they kick up a storm all over town, Elle’s tough front reveals she is still reeling over the loss of her longtime partner, Vi, who recently passed away.

DIRECTOR Justin Kelly
SCREENWRITER Justin Kelly, Stacey Miller
CAST James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Emma Roberts

In 2007, Michael Glatze, the gay-rights advocate who embodied queer identity, shocked his friends and followers when he publicly renounced his homosexuality. What could have led to such an extreme change of belief?

Justin Kelly’s piercing exploration is as compelling and complex as Michael’s transformation. The film depicts the years when an idealistic Michael, with his long-term partner, empowered a new generation of gay youth through their writing and films. When a nerve-racking brush with death triggers his need to reconcile faith and sexuality, Michael embarks on a zealous search for answers that eventually leads him to Christianity and the absolute conviction that "homosexuality is death."

DIRECTOR Brett Haley
SCREENWRITER Brett Haley, Marc Basch
CAST Blythe Danner, Martin Starr, Sam Elliott, Malin Akerman, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman

Carol is a retired schoolteacher and a longtime widow in her 70s. She enjoys a tranquil routine playing cards with close friends, keeping up her garden, and relaxing with a glass of wine. When her beloved dog dies, there’s a mournful vacuum that draws new experiences and attachments into her world. She forges a friendship with her pool guy and allows a pal to drag her to a speed dating shindig. And then there’s the gravelly-voiced, exuberant gentleman, Bill, who comes out of nowhere.

DIRECTOR Rodrigo Garcia
SCREENWRITER Rodrigo Garcia
CAST Ewan McGregor, Tye Sheridan, Ciarán Hinds, Ayelet Zurer

Director Rodrigo Garcia reimagines Christ’s last days of fasting in the desert as he walks back to civilization. In the midst of the harsh landscape, fatigued and hallucinating, Christ is met by the Devil, who is eager to test and tempt the weary traveler. Their profound ruminations on faith and truth demonstrate Garcia’s power as a screenwriter and McGregor’s determination to portray Jesus in a different light. By focusing on Christ's fallibility and innocence, new dimensions of the prophet and the man create a fascinating character study. But Christ’s real test comes when he befriends a family on his travels and is caught up in a dispute that forces a powerful confrontation with his own fate.

DIRECTOR Charles Stone III
SCREENWRITER Patrick Gilfillan
CAST Viola Davis, Jennifer Lopez, Shea Whigham, Julius Tennon, Chris Chalk, Andre Royo

When teenage Stephon is killed in a drive-by shooting, his mother, Lila, slips into a paralyzing grief. She joins a support group for women who have lost children to crime and meets Eve, a woman whose little girl was killed the same night as Stephon. Lila and Eve form a friendship, and Lila begins to crawl out of her depression. She develops a burning desire to find justice for her son, and she presses the authorities for answers, but they are slow-moving and ineffective. It’s Eve who has the idea first—join together, find the drug dealers who shot Stephon dead, and bring them to justice themselves.

DIRECTOR Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden
SCREENWRITER Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden
CAST Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Sienna Miller, Analeigh Tipton, Alfre Woodard, Robin Weigert

Gerry is a talented poker player, but his gambling habit is getting the best of him. One day, he meets a charismatic young traveler named Curtis. Deeming Curtis his lucky charm, Gerry convinces him that they should hit the road together. As they gamble their way down South toward a legendary high-stakes poker game in New Orleans, the trip’s highs and lows unveil the duo’s true character and motivation, and an undeniable bond forms between them.

DIRECTOR Noah Baumbach
SCREENWRITER Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
CAST Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke

Tracy, a lonely college freshman in New York, is having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke—a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town—she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes. Mistress America is Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's new comedy about dream-chasing, score-settling, and cat stealing.