Programmers' Picks: Stan Shields

Àma Gloria

Marie Amachoukeli’s second feature is a beauty to behold, a disarming charmer that slowly opens up to reveal an honest, clear-eyed look at the unadulterated intensity of a child’s affection for their mother, even when that person is not their biological parent.

City of Wind

The spark of young love forces a teenage shaman to wrestle with a choice between rural tradition and urban modernity in this fascinating coming-of-age story from Mongolia.

Ghostlight

Unassuming at first, directors Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s feature capitalizes on the built-in dynamics of a real-life family (and an excellent Dolly de Leon) to produce a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking family drama.

Grasshopper Republic

Welcome to the hazardous, lucrative world of Ugandan grasshopper harvesting. Over the course of three seasons, this immersive documentary follows a local grasshopper-trapping team as they seek their fortune by capturing this elusive prey.

Luther: Never Too Much

The career of the supple and ethereally voiced Vandross has long been due for a documentary, and Dawn Porter’s elegant testament to his life and talent captures both his powerhouse talent and his uphill battle against the prevailing cultural and industry forces of his time.

A New Kind of Wilderness

A “small” doc about big themes: coming to terms w/ grief, and defining “home” for yourself, on your own terms. Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance.

Porcelain War

Juxtaposing idyllic, pastoral scenes and striking, immersive drone and bodycam footage, a Ukrainian artist couple struggles to maintain ties to their bucolic, artistic life while also repelling invaders on the front line as they resist the Russian invasion. Winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance this year.

Slow

A beautiful, intimate, and rare love story that’s a deeply observed (and deeply sensual, in unexpected ways) look at two people teaching each other new ways to love.

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

A true filmmaking feat, Johan Grimonprez’s dense, kaleidoscopic, and syncopated treatise explores how music and geopolitics collided when a number of jazz greats were enmeshed in the UN and CIA’s efforts to undermine the newly independent Congo and its leader Patrice Lumumba.

Young Hearts

I mean…what’s not to love here? Simply stated, this warm Belgian coming-of-age story has set a new ideal for me: capturing the delicacy and tempestuousness of young Elias’ new emotions (beautifully portrayed through actor Lou Goossens’ performance) as he slowly finds his way toward embracing his true path.