Albert Tholen

Happyend

A near-future city in Japan awaits destruction as the it is rocked by a series of foreshocks that predict a larger, more disastrous quake on the horizon. With the anxiety looming over them, a group of teenage best friends and musicians get into typical teenager trouble that tests the strength of their relationships.

Siesta

Ramona cares for a wealthy Argentine family in the US: a sick young girl named Cindy and her pregnant mother. On the day of the mother’s baby shower, Cindy’s jealousy toward her unborn baby brother reaches new heights. In an effort to mitigate the child’s envy, Ramona tells Cindy a cautionary tale from her childhood. But when Cindy’s jealousy escalates, Ramona’s premonitions begin to intensify in parallel, reviving ghosts from her past and testing her love for the child.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus

"Ars longa, vita brevis" – art is long, life is short. This is one of Japanese music icon Ryuichi Sakamoto's favorite quotes, and the message that he leaves for viewers at the end of his final concert film, shot before he succumbed to cancer in March 2023. Consisting of only Sakamoto and his piano, Opus features the final live performances of 20 songs that Sakamoto meticulously curated to encapsulate his distinguished 40-year career.

Bruiser

During summer break, 14-year-old Darious explores the boundaries of his manhood through tumultuous interactions with Malcolm his strict father and a burgeoning mentorship with mysterious drifter Porter.

Bruiser

After his father gets into a fight at a bowling alley, Darious begins to investigate the limitations of his own manhood.

The Chicken

On an unseasonably hot day in November, Hiro, a Japanese immigrant in New York City, decides to butcher a live chicken for dinner. While showing his visiting cousin Kei around, the pair encounter a medical emergency on the street. After they mishandle the situation and end up causing more harm than good, Hiro cannot bring himself to kill the chicken. Throughout, Kei observes his cousin’s new lifestyle as Hiro and his pregnant wife prepare for their move to Chinatown. As the day wears on, Hiro and Kei’s actions highlight how their lives are complicit in the structural violence that surrounds them.

The Three Men You Meet at Night

A young woman walking home alone encounters three different types of men. Whom can she trust?

Desert Mourning

As President Trump’s decision to drastically shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is held up in courts, three people with deep ties to the monument — a Paiute grandfather who helped determine its original boundaries, a Mormon rancher whose livelihood is entwined with the land and a former backcountry ranger who found solace in its vast folds — contemplate what’s at stake.

Grim All Day

After accidentally inflaming her failing relationship, a performance artist searches for comfort and intimacy in unexpected places.

The Inconceivable Mountain

In 1930s Europe, Ulrike and her faithful dog, Müzzi are climbing The Inconceivable Mountain. Ulrike meets a handsome soldier and discovers that all is not as it seems. Müzzi, for her part, descends into paranoia.