Long a champion of the marginalized, Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom, Exiles) fashions a sumptuously visual and typically musical docudrama from 94-year-old French Resistance veteran Stephane Hessel’s surprise anti-capitalist best-seller Indignez-vous! Gatlif melds real protest scenes with the plight of an unwanted African immigrant in France in this impassioned cri de coeur.

Inspired by 1967’s Far From Vietnam that united a variety of filmmakers “to knit together imagery of the war, interviews, intellectual styles, fictional incursions and documentary footage in a bid to counter… the intensive media coverage and propaganda manipulated by the American government,” John Gianvito (Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind) leads a diverse group in this timely and critical omnibus.

While vacationing by the sea, a teenage boy becomes attracted to his aunt…

Already beset by social and economic hardship, a Bangladeshi brothel island now finds its very existence threatened by rising sea levels and devastating storms. Initially an unflinching account of the island’s ostracized but remarkably spunky women and children, Giovanni Giommi’s unforgettable documentary gradually evolves into a humane but Breughelian vision.

This could have been just a documentary about a house being transported to a new location, but stunning visuals give life to an engaging character’s dangerous journey.

Senegalese kora and western trumpet make fabulous music together! Volker Goetze’s enthralling documentary melds dazzling visuals and haunting songs to serve up a feast for the senses. Griot introduces us to Goetze’s own soulful trumpet stylings and the extraordinary voice and calabash harp artistry of Ablaye Cissoko. We were so impressed that we’re bringing them to town for a special live concert performance on Friday Sept. 28, 9:00pm, at the Vogue!

During a taxi ride, an immigrant driver tries to break through to his sullen passenger by telling of the tragic events that led him to flee Iraq during the war.

A Nazi newspaper, found in the Tel Aviv apartment of the director [Arnon Goldfinger’s] grandmother after her death at 98… promises plenty of surprises… about Goldfinger’s grandparents and their long-standing relationship with a high-ranking SS propaganda minister… [But] it’s the helmer’s relationship with his denial-cloaked mother, Hannah, that increasingly takes centerstage. Fascinating…—Variety

Gloriously lyrical, sumptuously shot, occasionally funny and unabashedly romantic—Miguel Gomes’ (Our Beloved Month of August) latest "moves from modern-day Lisbon to a rapturous evocation of romance in colonial Africa. But no plot description can do justice to the idiosyncratic poetry of director Miguel Gomes."—Sight & Sound. Winner, FIPRESCI prize, Alfred Bauer Prize for Innovation, Berlin 2012.

Two strangers struggle for an honest connection in a chance, and brief, encounter at a café.

In a tightly knit Cree community, 16-year-old Alyssa’s plans to become a mom begin to unravel.

Phil Grabsky’s visually sumptuous and aurally ecstatic studies of Mozart and Beethoven were big hits with VIFF audiences; now he’s turned to the man both Mozart and Beethoven considered their inspiration, Joseph Haydn. As beautifully made as Grabsky’s earlier efforts, this is "very good indeed… a bracing and refreshing experience."—Guardian

As Haida Gwaii’s residents gather and prepare food for the winter, Benjamin Greené celebrates their sacred relationship with the land and praises their vital environmental stewardship. Rhythmic and sensitive, Greené’s film gradually assumes the form of a ceremonial prayer: poetic, lilting and magical. With Nangchen Shorts, three new short films by Bari Pearlman documenting life in Tibet—at elevation 14,000 feet. Plays with: Nangchen Shorts

Parents aren’t always the best at talking about sex. Based on a true story, a mother’s plan backfires, and opens up an uneasy conversation. (YouthCO, Reel Youth)

The avant-garde Russian art collective "War" has been a persistent thorn in Putin’s side, and Andrey Gryazev’s immersive documentary on these political provocateurs more than shows why. "An oddly stirring, gripping and thought-provoking piece of work about a group of artists… whose art-actions have exposed them to arrest and beatings, and attracted the support of fellow artists from Brian Eno to Banksy."—Screen

Four medium-length films by four masters: Ann Hui’s powerful transsexual tale My Way; Kim Tae-yong’s intense drama You Are More Than Beautiful; Gu Changwei’s experimental urban puzzler Long Tou; and Tsai Ming-liang’s mini-masterpiece The Walker, which features the slowest red-garbed walking monk in cinema.

China’s commercial cinema is still capable of surprises. Guan Hu’s latest frenzied comedy sets an absurd murder mystery in a distant legendary village, where a clownish trickster (Chinese star Huang Bo) subverts, with Rabelaisian gusto, every tradition he can find. Fast, funny, anarchic and just plain weird.

While searching for a friend who’s gotten herself mixed up in dirty dealings, filmmakers João Pedro Rodrigues (To Die Like a Man) and João Rui Guerra da Mata lose themselves in Macao’s architectural jungle, as well as its history and mysteries. "A provocative cinematic poem in the tradition of the late Chris Marker…"—Indiewire

Do we really need phone books? An animation. (Reel Youth/Environmental Youth Alliance)

Recounting the origins of Brazil’s immense Xingu National Park, Cao Hamburger’s breathtaking epic charts two key journeys in the lives of the renowned Villas-Bôas brothers: their bold trek to the remote central Amazon in 1943 and subsequent transformation from callow adventurers to passionate activists for indigenous people’s rights. "Compulsive viewing."—Screen Daily