After graduation and a hard breakup, Annie is ready for a new life and a new city. She plans to spend the summer packing up her apartment and saying goodbye to friends, but a chance meeting with an alluring duo makes Annie begin to question her decision to leave. They quickly become entangled in a precarious love triangle, filled with toxic habits and unspoken words. Chestnut, director Jac Cron’s feature debut, is a slow-burning exploration of the desire to belong and the pain of loneliness. Natalia Dyer, Rachel Keller, Danny Ramirez, and Chella Man come together to create this intimate character study with great empathy and sincerity.

In this witty father-son story, we are introduced to Varun, a former scammer, and River, a trans drag performer, as they venture on a road trip across South Africa to rescue River’s long-lost mother from a rehab clinic in eSwatini. River’s only worry is missing Her Vajesty’s Drag Competition and the opportunity to win the prize money to pay for his top surgery. With secrets bubbling to the surface and a competition to win, their relationship will be tested like never before. Ian and Gabe Gabriel, the family duo behind “Runs in the Family”, bring us a heartfelt story about acceptance, community, and unconditional love. There is nothing stronger than familial love, whether biological or chosen!

An eight-year-old child struggles with the fact that people keep addressing her in confusing ways; her birth name feels very wrong, and her nickname Cocó doesn’t feel quite right either. During a summer in the Basque Country among the beehives, she explores her name and identity alongside her mother and the women of her family, who at the same time reflect on their own lives and desires. Much like a beehive, 20,000 Species of Bees examines a space predominantly run by women, exploring with great care, the incredible complexity of gender identity.

When Countess Irma is sent by her mother to a women-only commune in Greece to act as companion to Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, she is captivated by the eccentric recluse. She is put to the test by the Empress, also known as Sisi, with sadistic tests of athleticism and a diet of laxative teas and cocaine extracts but once she is accepted, the two women become very close. All good things may come to an end, however, when a return to Vienna threatens their routine. Set to a soundtrack that includes Portishead and Le Tigre this is the 19th century like you’ve never experienced it before.

In the aftermath of a devastating rumor, Iman and his family were forced to flee Iran. As refugees, Iman, his wife Maryam, and their two daughters end up in a run-down hotel in northern Sweden. When Maryam learns she is pregnant and there is still no movement in the immigration process Iman wants to do whatever it takes to protect his family. As a wrestler who once represented Iran at the Olympics, a local wrestling club may be the solution to their problem but as wrestling, and one sparring partner in particular, bring up old feelings, Iman must choose between his own desires and the safety of his family.