Force of Habit follows different women in their confrontation with sexual harassment and power dynamics in their everyday lives. Written and directed by seven Finnish women in the wake of #metoo, this film is politically loaded as well as liberatingly humorous.
Vadym is a 25-year-old composer and a sound recordist living in Kyiv. Then he gets the chance to move to Canada -- provided he can record the voice of a very rare bird, which dwells only in the Transcarpathian mountains of Ukraine.
When Lola, a young transgender woman, can finally get her operation, her mother – who financially supports her – dies. To fulfill her mother’s last wish, Lola and her father travel to the Belgian coast, despite all their differences. Their journey, however, will not turn out as they imagined it…
Based on Joanna Rakoff’s coming-of-age memoir, My Salinger Year is transformed by newcomer Margaret Qualley and filmstar Sigourney Weaver into a wonderful portrait of the different generations and their ambitions – and the grande dame that is literature.
'Baghdad in My Shadow' is a fictional thriller about a group of Iraqi immigrants living in London: Amal (Ghandour), a wife in hiding, Taufiq (Haitham Ali), an unsuccessful writer, and Muhannad, a gay IT specialist (Waseem Abbas). The three meet regularly in a local cafe, until the author's radical cousin attacks them and turns all lives upside down.
Struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother, delivery man Ray takes a strange job in a strange new realm of the gig economy. Well crafted and confidently shot, this smart satire mixes 'Sorry We Missed You' with 'Black Mirror'.
Hernán (Tomás Raimondi), a young man full of hopes and dreams, gets a job at the Central Post Office. There, a colleague teaches him the code of conduct, but reality will force him to break the rules - for Yanina, the girl he loves.
Mona is trying to find her way through a life that is characterized in large part by her mother’s early death. Griet Op de Beeck’s bestseller is translated into an impressive, reverberating character study of the sensitive Mona.
Force of Habit follows different women in their confrontation with sexual harassment and power dynamics in their everyday lives. Written and directed by seven Finnish women in the wake of #metoo, this film is politically loaded as well as liberatingly humorous.
When a father (Goran Bogdan) is faced with the corrupt social services that want to take away his children, just because the family is poor, he sets out on foot across Serbia to appeal to the national ministry in Belgrade.
Seeking a partner through a video dating service, David discovers a strange VHS tape called Rent-A-Pal. Hosted by the charismatic Andy (Wil Wheaton), the tape offers him friendship. But Andy’s friendship comes at a cost, and David struggles to afford the price of admission.
Alessandro and Arturo want to end their relationship after more than 15 years. However, their lives take an unexpected turn when a sick friend of theirs suddenly visits them, asking if they can temporarily take care of her two kids.
In this VHS police training video from 1988, you are welcomed by Jim, a rookie cop whose steps are dictated by an omniscient Narrator. While Jim shows you the necessary training skills, things seem to be getting more and more out of hand. But it’s only a video… right?
Celia’s life is strongly shaken up when new classmate Brisa arrives at her Catholic school. Together, the two teenagers rebel against the strict school management. Their small acts of resistance have big consequences: seeing Celia’s new-found courage, her mother can also no longer stay silent…
A hot summer evening in Paris. Félix runs into Alma, and the two spend a magical night together. The next day, Alma heads off to the south of France, and in an impulse, Félix decides to follow her. A romantic road trip follows, in which nothing goes according to plan.
A terminally ill mother (a sublime Susan Sarandon) invites her family to their country house for one final gathering, but tensions quickly boil over between her two daughters (Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska). Roger Michell ('Notting Hill') tackles heavy topics with humor, curiosity, and a tremendous sense of humanity.
The stunning wide shots of the vast and virgin Alps take Renier and newcomer Abita’s acting skills to new, dizzying heights in this haunting and topical debut about Lyz, the fifteen-year-old trying to escape from her ski coach.
When Lola, a young transgender woman, can finally get her operation, her mother – who financially supports her – dies. To fulfill her mother’s last wish, Lola and her father travel to the Belgian coast, despite all their differences. Their journey, however, will not turn out as they imagined it…
When the mother of eight-year-old Max and his brother Leo is at work, their one-room flat changes into a mysterious place, where their biggest fantasies and adventures come to life. Los Lobos is brutally honest and yet poetic -- and full of hope.
International auditor Alain is tasked to appraise the airport of a small, isolated republic in the Caucasus to greenlight its eventual reopening. Through Edgar, a local boy running a make-shift business in the airport, Alain will risk all to help this territory open up.
Zed (Riz Ahmed), a young British rapper, is about to start his first world tour. However, a crippling illness strikes him down, and he is forced to move back in with his family. He tries to find himself between an international music career and Pakistani family traditions.
Pronck International Shorts is a celebration of the best shorts made all over the world. This session is full of bright filmmakers who want to share their vision, ideas or idiosyncrasies. You can come across all kinds of films, but one thing is clear: they all have a clear own voice. This session is sponsored by Pronck.
Hard-working widow Leila is faced with a heartbreaking decision. Will she give in to bus driver Kazem’s marriage proposal to give her family financial security, even if it means saying goodbye to her twelve-year-old son? The gripping portrait of a mother in modern-day Iran.
When a truck crashes inside a tunnel, people on their way home for Christmas are brutally trapped in a deadly fire. With a blizzard raging outside, and the first responders struggling to get to the accident, it’s every man for himself.
Jess is thrilled to be the surrogate for her best friend and his husband, but when the results of a prenatal test comes back, it creates a moral dilemma that threatens their friendship.
In a Quebec Innu community, Mikuan and Shaniss struggle to maintain their close friendship when they clash over their increasing differences and diverging ambitions. Based on Naomi Fontaine's novel of the same name, 'Kuessipan' is a story about family, friendship and connection.
The Macaluso Sisters follows five Italian sisters through three different stages of their lives. Their happy childhood is disrupted when one of them suddenly dies. The relationship between the sisters builds on this incident as they try to live with this trauma.
In this hilarious and uncomfortably real debut, we become acquainted with Danielle’s Jewish family for one very long day, during which she runs into her secret sugar daddy - as well as her way-too-successful ex-girlfriend after the funeral of a mutual friend.
In this beautiful yet unconventional romance, Daphne and Maxime must spend a couple of days together in the stunning French countryside despite not knowing each other. As they chat about their memories, the film tells an overarching story about the messiness of love.
This honest and sensitive drama by Maria Sødahl tells the story of Anja (Andrea Bræin Hovig), who has just received the news that she has a terminal brain tumor. Together with her partner Tomas (Stellan Skarsgård), she tries to come to terms with this life-changing message.
Ruth (Jessica Barden) joins a scrap metal crew to try and pay her way through college. Against the bleak, snowed-in backdrop of a once thriving industrial town in Ohio, it soon turns out that the cost of an education for a girl like her might be more than she bargained for.
A group of military wives starts a choir to cope with the absence of their husbands, who are fighting in Afghanistan to serve their country. The women are quickly noticed by the media and the choir is asked to sing on television. A special friendship develops between the women.
Asia is the single mother of 17-year-old Vika (Shira Haas, Unorthodox). But when Vika’s health starts deteriorating, Asia has to find her voice as a mother and embrace and cherish their time together in this award-winning drama.
Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci)'s relationship of 20 years is put to the test as they visit places from their past to help with Tusker early-onset dementia, and find out their future together is not so certain. Tender, heartbreaking, drama with explosive acting.
When the mother of eight-year-old Max and his brother Leo is at work, their one-room flat changes into a mysterious place, where their biggest fantasies and adventures come to life. Los Lobos is brutally honest and yet poetic -- and full of hope.
In this warm comedy-drama, medical transport driver Vic is torn between his promise to get his elderly relatives to a funeral and his desire to help Tracy, a headstrong young woman in a wheelchair. During the ride, he encounters a wealth of amusing characters and situations.
In this VHS police training video from 1988, you are welcomed by Jim, a rookie cop whose steps are dictated by an omniscient Narrator. While Jim shows you the necessary training skills, things seem to be getting more and more out of hand. But it’s only a video… right?
During the 1982 invasion of Lebanon at a private school on the outskirts of Beirut, 11-year-old Wissam tries to tell a classmate about his crush on her, while his teachers on different sides of the political divide, try to mask their fears.
Seeking a partner through a video dating service, David discovers a strange VHS tape called Rent-A-Pal. Hosted by the charismatic Andy (Wil Wheaton), the tape offers him friendship. But Andy’s friendship comes at a cost, and David struggles to afford the price of admission.
In a Quebec Innu community, Mikuan and Shaniss struggle to maintain their close friendship when they clash over their increasing differences and diverging ambitions. Based on Naomi Fontaine's novel of the same name, 'Kuessipan' is a story about family, friendship and connection.
A young Brooklyn couple (Sunita Mani, John Reynolds) heads to an upstate cabin to unplug from their phones and reconnect with each other. Blissfully unaware of their surroundings, they are left to their own devices as the planet falls under attack.
In this beautiful yet unconventional romance, Daphne and Maxime must spend a couple of days together in the stunning French countryside despite not knowing each other. As they chat about their memories, the film tells an overarching story about the messiness of love.
Two lifelong pals (Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin) test the boundaries of their friendship when a woman comes between them. 'The Climb' uses the complicated bond between two friends to dissect male friendships in an engaging and often hilarious manner.
Three officers are tasked with escorting an illegal immigrant to the airport, where he will be forced onto a plane and sent back to his homeland. But when they find out the truth, they have to make a difficult choice.
The young Iranian Parvis finds his way through multicultural Berlin. Exciting, critical, romantic. We present this beautiful debut film at LIFF together with our friends from the International Queer & Migrant Festival.
2038: George Almore is working on a true human-equivalent AI. His latest prototype is almost ready. This sensitive phase is also the riskiest, especially as he has a goal that must be hidden at all costs: being reunited with his dead wife.