Awards season kicks into high gear this November. A host of films by and about women — prestigious biographical films, Oscar hopefuls, and blockbusters alike — are set to premiere.
One awards contender is “Harriet” (November 1), the first biopic about Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman, directed by “Eve’s Bayou” helmer Kasi Lemmons and starring Cynthia Erivo. Another is Marielle Heller’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (November 22), which sees Tom Hanks playing beloved icon Mister Rogers.
Director Alma Har’el helps bring Shia LaBeouf’s semi-autobiographical script to life with “Honey Boy” (November 8), her first narrative feature. It follows a child star and his fraught relationship with his alcoholic father, the latter of whom will be portrayed by LaBeouf. Agnès Varda’s final film, “Varda by Agnès” (November 22), sees the trailblazing director reflecting back on her life and work. A national rollout is planned, as is a touring retrospective in December.
There will also be several female-fronted action flicks this month. Linda Hamilton returns to the role of Sarah Connor for “Terminator: Dark Fate” (November 1). Mackenzie Davis joins the cast as an enhanced-human fighter, sent back to help Sarah prevent humanity’s annihilation.
Then, there’s Elizabeth Banks’ “Charlie’s Angels” reboot, out November 15. Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska star as the new Angels, and Banks pulls double-duty playing their boss, Bosley. Also debuting on that date is the war epic “The Warrior Queen of Jhansi.” It follows a 19th-century Indian freedom fighter as she rebels against the British Empire.
Meanwhile, Netflix is releasing some titles in theaters first, before they’re available online. These include “Earthquake Bird” (November 1), a thriller starring Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough, and “Atlantics” (November 15), Mati Diop’s Cannes-winning love story set against the backdrop of the refugee crisis.
November also marks the start of the most wonderful time of the year, with many holiday films releasing. Among them are “Last Christmas” (November 8), a rom-com centered on a disillusioned young woman working at a holiday-themed shop, and Disney+’s “Noelle” (November 12), a comedic tale about Santa’s daughter.
Here are all of the women-centric, women-directed, and women-written films debuting this November. All descriptions are from press materials unless otherwise noted.
November 1
“Harriet” – Directed by Kasi Lemmons; Written by Kasi Lemmons and Gregory Allen Howard
“Harriet”: Focus Features
Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, “Harriet” tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s (Cynthia Erivo) escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
“Terminator: Dark Fate”
“Terminator: Dark Fate”: Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures
More than two decades have passed since Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) prevented Judgment Day, changed the future, and re-wrote the fate of the human race. Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) is living a simple life in Mexico City with her brother and father when a highly advanced and deadly new Terminator — a Rev-9 — travels back through time to hunt and kill her. Dani’s survival depends on her joining forces with two warriors: Grace (Mackenzie Davis), an enhanced super-soldier from the future, and a battle-hardened Sarah Connor. As the Rev-9 ruthlessly destroys everything and everyone in its path on the hunt for Dani, the three are led to a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Sarah’s past that may be their last best hope.
“Light From Light” (Opens in NY; Opens in LA November 8)
“Light From Light”: Grasshopper Film
Gifted with sometimes-prophetic dreams and a lifelong interest in the paranormal, Shelia (Marin Ireland) is asked to investigate a potential haunting at a Tennessee farmhouse. It’s there she meets Richard (Jim Gaffigan), a recent widower who believes his wife may still be with him. The investigation that ensues — which eventually pulls in Shelia’s son, Owen (Josh Wiggins), and his classmate Lucy (Atheena Frizzell) — forces them to confront the mysteries of their own lives.
“Earthquake Bird” (Available on Netflix November 15)
“Earthquake Bird”: Netflix
A psychologically unsettling and atmospheric thriller set in 1989 Tokyo, “Earthquake Bird” follows Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander), an enigmatic ex-pat haunted by a painful past, who enters into an intense relationship with Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi), a handsome yet similarly troubled local photographer. Lucy’s imperturbable exterior begins to crack when a naive newcomer, Lily Bridges (Riley Keough), becomes entangled in their lives and ends up missing — suspected dead.
“American Son” (Available on Netflix)
“American Son”: Netflix
Based on the acclaimed Broadway play, “American Son” tells the story of Kendra Ellis-Connor (Kerry Washington), the mother of a missing teenage boy, as she struggles to put the pieces together in a South Florida police station. Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, and Eugene Lee also reprise their roles in the adaptation which presents four distinct viewpoints, while also navigating the unique dynamic of an interracial couple trying to raise a mixed-race son.
“The Etruscan Smile” – Directed by Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun; Written by Sarah Bellwood, Michal Lali Kagan, and Michael McGowan
Rory MacNeil (Brian Cox), a rugged old Scotsman, reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory’s life will be transformed, just when he expects it least, through a newly found love for his baby grandson.
“Holiday in the Wild” – Written by Tippi Dobrofsky and Neal H. Dobrofsky (Available on Netflix)
To keep her spirits high when their son leaves for college, Manhattanite Kate Conrad (Kristin Davis) has booked a “second honeymoon” with her husband. Instead of thanking her, he brings their relationship to a sudden end; jilted Kate proceeds to Africa for a solo safari. During a detour through Zambia, she helps her pilot, Derek Holliston (Rob Lowe), rescue an orphaned baby elephant. They nurse him back to health at a local elephant sanctuary, and Kate extends her stay through Christmastime. Far from the modern luxuries of home, Kate thrives amidst majestic animals and scenery. Her love for the new surroundings just might extend to the man who shared her journey.
“The Portal” (Documentary) – Directed by Jacqui Fifer; Written by Jacqui Fifer and Tom Cronin (Opens in LA)
Created as part of an epic global vision to usher humanity into a new era, “The Portal” is an immersive, cinematic experience that answers the question: How can we really change the world? A genre-defining approach to personal change — with global implications — “The Portal” follows six people, and a robot, who transform their lives using stillness and mindfulness, providing inspiration as we embark on the next phase of evolution. Supported by insights from three of the world’s foremost futurists, this experiential project takes the viewer on their own mindfulness journey through a tapestry of technology, love, existentialism, human potential, brain hacking, stillness, and inner peace.
“Crepitus” – Written by Sarah Renner, Eddie Renner, and Haynze Whitmore (Available on VOD November 12)
Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth and her younger sister, Sam, are thrust into circumstances more terrifying than living with their abusive, alcoholic mother when they are forced to move into their deceased grandfather’s house. Frightened beyond belief, they begin to learn horrible things about their family history. Nevermind the ghosts in the house, there is something far worse that takes an interest in the girls — a cannibalistic clown named Crepitus.
“Bloody Marie” (Available on VOD November 11)
Marie Wankelmut (Susanne Wolff), once successful comic artist, lives among the prostitutes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Nowadays drunken and bold, she gets into one conflict after another. A gruesome sobering event at her neighbors forces her to take action.
November 8
“Honey Boy” – Directed by Alma Har’el
“Honey Boy”: Amazon Studios
From a screenplay by Shia LaBeouf, based on his own experiences, award-winning filmmaker Alma Har’el (“Bombay Beach,” “LoveTrue”) brings to life a young actor’s stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father and deal with his mental health. Fictionalizing his ascent to stardom, and subsequent crash-landing into rehab and recovery, Har’el casts Noah Jupe (“A Quiet Place”) and Lucas Hedges (“Boy Erased,” “Manchester by the Sea”) as Otis Lort, navigating different stages in a frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon. Har’el’s feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as medicine and imagination as hope through the life and times of a talented, traumatized performer who dares to go in search of himself.
“Last Christmas” – Written by Emma Thompson and Bryony Kimmings
“Last Christmas”: Universal Pictures
Kate (Emilia Clarke) harrumphs around London, a bundle of bad decisions accompanied by the jangle of bells on her shoes, another irritating consequence from her job as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. Tom (Henry Golding) seems too good to be true when he walks into her life and starts to see through so many of Kate’s barriers. As London transforms into the most wonderful time of the year, nothing should work for these two. But sometimes, you gotta let the snow fall where it may, you gotta listen to your heart — and you gotta have faith.
“The Kingmaker” (Documentary) – Written and Directed by Lauren Greenfield (Opens in NY and LA)
“The Kingmaker”: Lauren Greenfield
From the award-winning director of “Generation Wealth” and “The Queen of Versailles,” “The Kingmaker” explores and exposes the Marcos family’s long history of corruption, extravagance, and brutality, including Calauit Island, a safari park that favors the well-being of its exotic animals to the detriment of the people living there. Featuring unprecedented access, including one-on-one interviews and vérité footage with Imelda Marcos, “The Kingmaker” tells her story as a powerful female leader who left an indelible mark on history and divided a nation. From her current political project — guiding her son Bongbong in his bid for the vice presidency — audiences understand how at age 90, Imelda Marcos continues to influence the revival of authoritarianism in the Philippines.
“Good Girls Get High” – Directed by Laura Terruso; Written by Laura Terruso and Jennifer Nashorn Blakenship (Also Available on DirectTV)
“Good Girls Get High”
With graduation looming, two academically gifted “good girls,” frustrated with their social standing in the high school hierarchy, get stoned on their last night of senior year. After their evening of experimentation goes hilariously awry, they ultimately learn that being “bad girls” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“A Dog Called Money” (Documentary) (Opens in the UK) (Also Available on MUBI)
“A Dog Called Money”: Seamus Murphy
The film documents director Seamus Murphy as he travels to Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Washington, D.C. with British musician PJ Harvey, and the subsequent making of her album “The Hope Six Demolition Project,” recorded as a live public sound-sculpture at London’s Somerset House.
“A Fish in the Bathtub” (Theatrical Re-Release) – Directed by Joan Micklin Silver (Opens in NY)
Sam (Jerry Stiller) and Molly (Anne Meara) are a classic bickering old couple, and their marriage has been 40 years of sparring. Yet, when Sam refuses to move the carp he’s keeping in their spare bathroom, Molly becomes fed up and unexpectedly leaves. Molly moves in with their grown son and starts dating an old friend. The couple’s daughter convinces Sam to try to win his wife back and rediscover his own sense of romance.
“Tokyo Twilight” (Theatrical Re-Release) (One Week Only in NY)
“Tokyo Twilight”
Yasujirô Ozu’s intense examination of family conflict, from 1957, follows two daughters, raised only by their father, emotionally struggling as adults with their own romantic relationships. Suddenly, a long-lost acquaintance appears. Could it be their mother?
“Mr. Toilet: The World’s #2 Man” (Documentary) – Directed by Lily Zepeda; Written by Lily Zepeda and Tchavdar Georgiev (Opens in LA; Opens in NY November 22)
To strangers, Jack Sim might come across as an eccentric entrepreneur who is obsessed with toilets, but to those who know him he’s “Mr. Toilet,” a crusader for global sanitation. Born in the Singapore slums, Sim knows first-hand the agonies of not having a proper loo. He uses humor as his weapon to fight an uphill battle against bathroom taboos. He founded the World Toilet Organization and spent the last 13 years lobbying 193 countries to raise awareness for proper sanitation. He even successfully lobbied the United Nations to create World Toilet Day. Now he is plunged into his biggest challenge yet when asked to secure six million toilets for the “Clean India” initiative. But with few resources and no help from the government, his epic project and reputation are in jeopardy. Jack’s once supportive staff begins to doubt him, and when his family bonds start to fray over his obsessive dedication, Mr. Toilet realizes there is a price to pay for being the world’s #2 man.
“Let It Snow” – Written by Victoria Strouse (Available on Netflix)
When a snowstorm hits a small midwestern town on Christmas Eve, a group of high school seniors find their friendships and love lives colliding thanks to a stranded pop star, a stolen keg, a squad of competitive dancers, a mysterious woman covered in tin foil, and an epic party at the local Waffle Town. Come Christmas morning, nothing will be the same.
“Love Is Blind” – Written by Jennifer Schuur (Also Available on VOD)
A funny and irresistible story of a young girl who literally cannot see or hear her mother, even though she is living with her under the same roof. With the help of an eccentric psychiatrist, and a local, accidental hero, our heroine has to grow up, but falls in love and eventually takes hold of her future — despite not being able to see what’s right in front of her.
“Ballet Blanc” – Written and Directed by Anne-Sophie Dutoit
An innocent-looking young boy mysteriously appears in a nondescript small town as some fear he’s set to unleash his reign of terror.
“Sunday Girl”
When independent, 20-something, carefree Natasha finds herself accidentally dating five men at the same time, she realizes that she must break up with four of them.
November 12
“Noelle” (Available on Disney+)
“Noelle”
Kris Kringle’s daughter, Noelle (Anna Kendrick), is full of Christmas spirit and holiday fun, but wishes she could do something “important” like her beloved brother Nick (Bill Hader), who will take over from their father this Christmas. When Nick is about to crumble like a gingerbread cookie from all the pressure, Noelle suggests he take a break and get away — but when he doesn’t return, Noelle must find her brother and bring him back in time to save Christmas.
“Lady and the Tramp” – Written by Kari Granlund and Andrew Bujalski (Available on Disney+)
In this timeless re-telling of the 1955 animated classic, a pampered house dog (voiced by Tessa Thompson) and a tough, but lovable stray (voiced by Justin Theroux) embark on an unexpected adventure, and despite their differences, grow closer and come to understand the value of home.
November 13
“Mickey and the Bear” – Written and Directed by Annabelle Attanasio (Opens in NY; Opens in LA November 22; Opens in Wide Release November 29)
“Mickey and the Bear”: Utopia
It’s April in Anaconda, Montana, and headstrong teenager Mickey Peck (Camila Morrone) is doing what she can to keep her single, veteran father (James Badge Dale) afloat, navigating his mercurial moods, opioid addiction, and grief over the loss of his wife. Secretly, Mickey fantasizes of going to college on the west coast and finally living life on her own terms. When Hank’s controlling, jealous behavior turns destructive, Mickey must decide between familial obligation and personal fulfillment as she puts everything on the line to claim her own independence.
“Shakira in Concert: El Dorado World Tour” (Concert Documentary)
Shakira is a truly global superstar who, by the age of 18, had taken Latin America by storm, before conquering international markets at 24 with her crossover hit “Whenever Wherever.” Since then, she has continued to break barriers and records around the world with her unique blend of Latin sounds, rock and roll, and world music. Now, she celebrates her triumphant return to the stage in 2018 with a thrilling concert film documenting her acclaimed El Dorado World Tour. Following the hugely successful release of her album “El Dorado,” Shakira returned to the world stage with her most celebrated show yet, performing recent smashes such as “Chantaje” and “La Bicicleta” as well as hits from her 20+ year repertoire, including “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” and “Estoy Aqui”, to sold out stadiums and arenas across the planet.
November 15
“Charlie’s Angels” – Written and Directed by Elizabeth Banks
“Charlie’s Angels”: Chiabella James
Elizabeth Banks takes the helm as the next generation of fearless Charlie’s Angels takes flight. In Banks’ bold vision, the Angels (played by Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska) are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally. With the world’s smartest, bravest, and most highly trained women all over the globe, there are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys taking on the toughest jobs everywhere.
“The Warrior Queen of Jhansi” – Directed by Swati Bhise; Written by Swati Bhise, Devika Bhise, and Olivia Emden
“The Warrior Queen of Jhansi”
“The Warrior Queen of Jhansi” tells the true story of the legendary Rani (translation: Queen) of Jhansi (Devika Bhise), a feminist icon in India and a fearless freedom fighter. In 1857 India, this 24-year old General led her people into battle against the British Empire earning the reputation as the Joan of Arc of the East. This real-life Wonder Woman’s insurrection shifted the balance of power in the region and set in motion the demise of the notorious British East India Company and the beginning of the British Raj under Queen Victoria.
“Atlantics” – Directed by Mati Diop; Written by Mati Diop and Olivier Demangel (Available on Netflix November 29)
“Atlantics”: Netflix
Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada (Mame Bineta Sane), 17, is in love with Souleiman (Traore), a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hopes of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned.
“To Kid or Not to Kid” (Documentary) – Directed by Maxine Trump (Opens in NY and LA)
“To Kid or Not to Kid”
There is still a myth that living childfree is weird, selfish, or somehow wrong. In a world where you’re threatened for speaking openly about living childfree, two women search for ways to support each other in making the decision to live without kids.
“The Hottest August” (Documentary) – Directed by Brett Story
“The Hottest August” gives us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place?
“Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops” (Documentary) – Directed by Jenifer McShane (Opens in NY and LA) (Premieres on HBO November 19)
Director Jenifer McShane follows two members — Ernie and Joe — of the San Antonio Police Department’s 10-person Mental Health Unit, who are helping to change the way police respond to mental health calls. Their jail diversion work is humane and desperately needed to improve not only the health of the mentally ill, but also of their families. Ernie and Joe head a special team that looks to treat mental health calls as opposed to the traditional policing tactics. The two officers and their colleagues in this unique department provide hope and inspiration at a time when we need it most, and show that great ideas and inspiration can come from any corner of the country.
“Sequestrada” – Written and Directed by Sabrina McCormick and Soopum Sohn (Opens in NY)
“Sequestrada” follows Kamodjara (Kamodjara Xipaia) and her father, members of the Arara, an Amazonian indigenous tribe. When they leave their reservation to protest a dam that will displace their people, Kamodjara is separated from her family and kidnapped by traffickers. Roberto (Marcelo Olinto), an indigenous agency bureaucrat overseeing a report that could change everything, is under pressure to support the dam’s construction. Thomas (Tim Blake Nelson), an American investor in the dam, makes his way to Brazil to sway Roberto’s opinion. The film tells the story of how these three lives intertwine against a backdrop of geopolitics and environmental disaster.
“Radioflash”
When a nuclear device causes an electromagnetic pulse that kills power to more than 200 million people, a teenage girl (Brighton Sharbino) must help lead her family to survival in a dark new world.
November 19
“Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power” (Documentary) – Directed by Nancy Lang and Peter Raymont (Available on Hulu)
“Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power”: White Pine Pictures
For a year, a film crew had exclusive access to Margaret Atwood and her late partner, Graeme Gibson, as they traveled to speaking engagements around the world, as well as to the set of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The film also delves into Margaret Atwood’s “backstory,” growing up in the Canadian wilderness, her early days as a poet at Harvard where she met and married a classmate, later meeting her life-partner Graeme Gibson and writing “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Atwood’s major works are explored and threaded through the film, revealing the personal and societal factors that inform her stories. Stories are shared by closest friends and family and, of course, directly by Atwood herself. It also shows her as she completed the final chapters of her much-anticipated sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale” — a rare glimpse into the writer’s practice, as she wrote on planes, boats, and on the road.
November 21
“The Knight Before Christmas” – Directed by Monika Mitchell; Written by Cara J. Russell (Available on Netflix)
“The Knight Before Christmas”: Netflix
After a magical sorceress transports medieval knight Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) to present-day Ohio during the holiday season, he befriends Brooke (Vanessa Hudgens), a clever and kind science teacher who’s been disillusioned by love. Brooke helps Sir Cole navigate the modern world and helps him discover how to fulfill his mysterious one true quest — the only act that will return him home. But as he and Brooke grow closer, Sir Cole begins to wonder just how much he wants to return to his old life.
November 22
“Frozen II” – Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck; Written by Allison Schroeder
“Frozen II”
Why was Elsa (Idina Menzel) born with magical powers? What truths about the past await Elsa as she ventures into the unknown to the enchanted forests and dark seas beyond Arendelle? The answers are calling her but also threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna (Kristen Bell), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Olaf (Josh Gad), and Sven the reindeer, she’ll face a dangerous but remarkable journey. In “Frozen,” Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In “Frozen II,” she must hope they are enough.
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” – Directed by Marielle Heller
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”: TriStar Pictures/ Lacey Terrell
Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. After a jaded magazine writer (Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor.
“Varda by Agnès” (Documentary) – Written and Directed by Agnès Varda (Opens in NY)
“Varda by Agnès”
This final film from Agnès Varda is a characteristically playful, profound, and personal summation of the director’s own brilliant career. At once impish and wise, she acts as our spirit guide on a free-associative tour through her six-decade artistic journey, shedding new light on her films, photography, and recent installation works while offering her one-of-a-kind reflections on everything from filmmaking to feminism to aging. Suffused with the people, places, and things she loved — Jacques Demy, cats, colors, beaches, heart-shaped potatoes — this wonderfully idiosyncratic work of imaginative autobiography is a warmly human, touchingly bittersweet parting gift from one of cinema’s most luminous talents.
“Hala” – Written and Directed by Minhal Baig
“Hala”: Apple TV+
Meet 17-year-old Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan), who struggles to balance being a suburban teenager with her traditional Muslim upbringing. As she comes into her own, Hala finds herself grappling with a secret that threatens to unravel her family.
“Shooting the Mafia” (Documentary) – Directed by Kim Longinotto (Opens in NY and LA)
“Shooting the Mafia”: Cohen Media Group
Sicilian Letizia Battaglia began a lifelong battle with the Mafia when she first dared to point her camera at a brutally slain victim. A woman whose passions led her to ditch traditional family life and become a photojournalist, she found herself on the front lines during one of the bloodiest chapters in Italy’s recent history. She fearlessly and artfully captured everyday Sicilian life — from weddings and funerals to the grisly murders of ordinary citizens — to tell the narrative of the community she loved forced into silence by the Cosa Nostra. “Shooting the Mafia” weaves together Battaglia’s striking black-and-white photographs, rare archival footage, classic Italian films, and the now 84-year-old’s own memories, to paint a portrait of a remarkable woman whose bravery and defiance helped expose the Mafia’s brutal crimes.
“Judy & Punch” – Written and Directed by Mirrah Foulkes (Opens in the UK and Australia)
“Judy & Punch”: Cornerstone Films
This visceral and dynamic live-action reinterpretation of the famous 16th-century puppet show follows famous puppeteers Judy (Mia Wasikowska) and her husband, Punch (Damon Herriman), who live in the peculiar and unforgiving town of Seaside — a place gripped by a frenzy of witch hunts and hangings. The townspeople revel in the drama and brutality of the trials and executions, while Judy and Punch endeavor to use their show to escape, with their new baby, to loftier means. However, temptation can be found in every dark corner of Seaside, and the charismatic Punch succumbs to the seduction of the local tavern, and the women, ale, and adulation that await him there. Despairing at her husband’s weakness, Judy forces the hungover Punch to focus on his responsibilities and leaves him to mind their baby for a morning, the repercussions of which are disastrous for all. The brutal consequences see Judy saved by a band of outcast heretics in the depths of the nearby forest. It is here she plots her vengeance on Punch and the town of Seaside, and puts the legend of Punch and Judy to rest, once and for all.
“Ophelia” – Directed by Claire McCarthy; Written by Semi Chellas (Opens in the UK)
“Ophelia”: IFC Films
Something is rotten in medieval-era Denmark, where political intrigue swirls around the imperial court like dark magic. Amid it all, the queen’s brightest lady-in-waiting, Ophelia (Daisy Ridley), finds herself drawn to Hamlet (George MacKay), the charismatic and elusive crown prince. As their secretive love affair takes flight, betrayal strikes the court, threatening to derail their union and devastate the royal family for good. Caught between her desires and her loyalty, Ophelia has to decide where her devotion will ultimately lie.
“Here for Life” (Documentary) – Directed by Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Adrian Jackson (Opens in the UK)
An uncommon story told on common ground by 10 Londoners. All have lives shaped by loss and love, trauma and bravery, struggle, and resistance. They grapple with a system stacked against them. They dance, steal, and eat together; agree and disagree; celebrate their differences and share their talents. The lines between one person’s story and another’s performance are blurred and the borders between reality and fiction are porous. Eventually coming together on a makeshift stage, “Here for Life” marks the culmination of a long collaboration between filmmaker Andrea Luka Zimmerman and theater-maker Adrian Jackson, a group of Londoners, and a dog.
“Permission” (Opens in the UK)
“Permission”: Noori Pictures
Afrooz (Baran Kosari) is the captain of the women’s futsal-soccer team in Iran. After 11 years of hard work, her dream comes true: Iran is in the final of the Asian Nations Cup. But when she embarks for Malaysia, she learns that her husband forbids her to leave the territory. In Iran, a woman needs her husband’s permission to travel.
“The Courier” (Also Available on VOD)
A courier in London discovers that one of the packages she’s transporting is a bomb.
November 27
“Queen & Slim” – Directed by Melina Matsoukas; Written by Lena Waithe
“Queen & Slim”: Andre D. Wagner/Universal Pictures
During a Tinder date, Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) are accosted by the police with Queen ultimately killing the police officer. After fleeing the scene, they hit the road and devise a plan to leave the country.
November 29
“Ximei” (Documentary) – Directed by Gaylen Ross and Andy Cohen (Opens in NY)
Ximei is a young peasant woman from rural Henan Province who contracted AIDS when the local government encouraged farmers to sell their blood plasma for money, literally bleeding people for profit with contaminated equipment. Risking her own life and freedom, she confronts the local authorities head on, demanding that her fellow patients receive medical treatment in the rural areas of her county where hundreds of thousands have been infected. Her courageous actions and fiery character transform the tragedy of Henan’s HIV-infected outcasts into lives of hope and dignity.
