MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Narrative Feature | USA | 2025 | English | 145 minutes

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In a bold new cinematic presentation of the Tony Award®-winning musical filmed across multiple performances during its sold-out run in July 2024, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG invites audiences into the heart of the beloved story—not just watching it unfold, but inhabiting it.

Spanning two decades, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG traces the complex, often heartbreaking unravelling of a once-unbreakable friendship between composer Franklin Shepard (Jonathan Groff) and his two closest friends—playwright-lyricist Charley (Daniel Radcliffe) and writer Mary (Lindsay Mendez). But this is no ordinary story. Told in reverse, the story winds backwards through time, beginning in fractured adulthood and journeying back to the bright-eyed optimism of youth—when everything still seemed possible.

Long considered a cult classic ahead of its time, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG features some of Stephen Sondheim’s most personal and piercing songs. Shot with intimacy and immediacy, this film places viewers on stage and inside the action, offering a deeply immersive experience that reveals the emotional truth of the piece in a way no theatre seat ever could. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

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Directed by
Maria Friedman

Produced by
Sonia Friedman, David Babani, Patrick Catullo, F. Richard Pappas, Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick

Executive Produced by
Meredith Bennett, No Guarantees Productions, Scott Abrams, Jonathan Corr, Mary Maggio, Jeff Romley, Tony Yurgaitis, Andrew Cohen, Amanda Lipitz, Henry Tisch, Stephanie P. McClelland

Written by
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by George Furth, Based on the Original Play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart

Featuring
Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clarke, Reg Rogers

Interests
Drama, Aging, Hollywood, Comedy, Dance, Industry, New York Stories, Music, Romance

NOUVELLE VAGUE
105 minutes

Academy Award® nominee Richard Linklater’s love letter to the spellbinding magic of French cinema reimagines the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s revolutionary French New Wave classic BREATHLESS. As critic-turned-director Godard makes and breaks the rules, a mix of fresh faces and daring talents—including an incredible Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg—bring his spontaneous, electric film to life. Capturing the youthful dynamism and creative chaos at the heart of one of the world’s most beloved and influential movies, NOUVELLE VAGUE transports us to the streets of 1959 Paris for an ode to the power of cinema to transform our lives. A Netflix release. 

HAMNET
East Coast Premiere

Narrative Feature | UK | 2025 | English | 125 minutes

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Academy Award®-winning writer/director Chloé Zhao (NOMADLAND, HIFF 2020) returns with the powerful story of love and loss that likely inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece Hamlet. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel of the same name, HAMNET follows William Shakespeare (Academy Award nominee Paul Mescal, AFTERSUN) and his wife Agnes (Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley, WOMEN TALKING) from their early courtship to their unimaginable loss, and how their all-consuming grief influenced the writing of a masterpiece. With immersive and textured cinematography, Zhao’s latest work is an emotional testament to the healing power of art. A Focus Features release. 

Directed by
Chloé Zhao

Produced by
Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes

Executive Produced by
Kristie Macosko Krieger, Chloé Zhao, Laurie Borg

Written by
Chloé Zhao, Maggie O”Farrell

Featuring
Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn

Interests
Drama, Women’s Stories, Grief, Family Dynamics, Romance

TRAIN DREAMS
101 minutes

Based on Denis Johnson”s beloved novella of the same name, TRAIN DREAMS is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton, in a magnetic lead performance), a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing American West of the early 20th century. Academy Award®-nominated writer-director Clint Bentley (JOCKEY, HIFF 2021) and Academy Award® nominated co-writer Greg Kwedar (SING SING, HIFF 2024) craft a sweeping and visually lush epic of one man’s place in American history, featuring fantastic supporting turns from Felicity Jones, William H. Macy, and Kerry Condon. A Netflix release. 

THE CHORAL
113 minutes

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As World War I rages on the Western Front, the Choral Society in Ramsden, Yorkshire has lost most of its men to the army, leaving a ragtag group of women, elderly men, and boys too young to enlist. Determined to press ahead, the Choral’s ambitious committee hires a new chorus master, Dr. Henry Guthrie (Academy Award® nominee Ralph Fiennes)—driven and uncompromising, but controversial due to his many years working in Germany. In the face of uncertainty, sacrifice, and loss, Guthrie sets out to help the community cope with the chaos laying waste to their lives through the power of music. A Sony Pictures Classics release. 

Please note the start time for this film is 2:15 PM.

A PRIVATE LIFE
107 minutes

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Academy Award® winner Jodie Foster (NYAD, HIFF 2023) stars in this playful and thrilling mystery from French director Rebecca Zlotowski. Lilian (Foster) is a renowned American psychiatrist living in Paris. Deeply troubled by the sudden death of one of her longtime patients (Virginie Efira), Lilian teams up with her ex-husband Gabriel (French film star Daniel Auteuil) to investigate what she believes is foul play. Foster and Auteuil light up the screen in this delightful Cannes hit, which merges titillating pursuits, whodunit intrigue, and even experimental hypnosis with the sophistication of French arthouse cinema. A Sony Pictures Classics release. 

SENTIMENTAL VALUE
134 minutes

SENTIMENTAL VALUE reunites Renate Reinsve with director Joachim Trier (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, HIFF 2021) in this Cannes Grand Prix winner. After the loss of their mother, Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) reconnect with their estranged father, the charismatic, once-renowned filmmaker Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård). When Nora turns down a role written for her in Gustav’s ambitious, highly personal new film, she soon finds he has instead given her part to an eager young Hollywood star (Elle Fanning). With masterfully rendered emotion, Trier delivers a stirring portrait of a family grasping for connection through grief and art when ordinary language fails. A NEON release. Norway’s entry in the Academy Awards® race for Best International Feature Film. 

 

BUGONIA
East Coast Premiere

Narrative Feature | UK | 2025 | English | 118 minutes

Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (LA LA LAND) and nominee Jesse Plemons (THE POWER OF THE DOG) star in this explosive psychological thriller about a high-powered pharmaceutical CEO (Stone) who gets kidnapped by two conspiracy-obsessed young men (Plemons and newcomer Aidan Delbis). Convinced she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth, the pair hold her hostage in hopes of disrupting her sinister plans. Academy Award winner Yorgos Lanthimos (POOR THINGS, THE FAVOURITE) returns to HIFF with this pitch-black comic window into our modern age of madness. A Focus Features release. 

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Directed by
Yorgos Lanthimos

Produced by
Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Ari Aster, Lars Knudsen, Miky Lee, Jerry Kyoungboum Ko

Executive Produced by
Yoon Sang Hyun, Khan Kwon, Mark Byrne, Chistian Vesper, Seb Shorr, Jang Joon Hwan, Handae Rhee

Written by
Will Tracy

Featuring
Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone

Interests
Drama, Comedy, Bees, Honey, Thriller

REBUILDING
95 minutes

Writer-director Max Walker-Silverman (2020 HIFF Screenwriters Lab alum) returns with this gently humanist story of the American West. Dusty (Josh O’Connor, CHALLENGERS) is a divorced father whose ranch burns down in a devastating wildfire. Living in a government-run trailer campsite with nearly nothing left, he seeks a way forward by reconnecting with his young daughter Callie-Rose (Lily LaTorre) and ex-wife Ruby (Emmy Award® nominee Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus) and by finding common ground with his new neighbors. Filmed against the rapturous backdrop of southern Colorado, REBUILDING is a ruminative, moving portrait of resilience and human connection in the wake of loss. A Bleecker Street release.