Directed by: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Emily Mitchell, Patch Darragh, Jeremy Strong, Martin Donovan, Maria Bakalova
Synopsis: The Apprentice is a dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump's ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.
Directed by: Aaron Schimberg
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, Renate Reinsve
Synopsis: Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.
Directed by: Nora Fingscheidt
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Saskia Reeves, Stephen Dillane
Synopsis: After living life on the edge in London, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands — where she grew up — hoping to heal. Adapted from the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot.
Directed by: Megan Park
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Maisy Stella
Synopsis: The summer before college, bright-yet-irreverent Elliott (Stella) comes face-to-face with her older self (Plaza) during a mushroom trip. The encounter spurs a funny and heartfelt journey of self-discovery and first love as Elliott prepares to leave her childhood home.
Directed by: David Schurmann
Starring: Jean Reno, Adriana Barraza
Synopsis: Inspired by the incredible true story of DinDim the Penguin, this enchanting adventure is about a little lost penguin who - after being rescued from an oil spill - transforms the life and soul of the heartbroken fisherman. The penguin and the fisherman become unlikely friends, so bonded that even the vast ocean cannot divide them.
Directed by: Harry Macqueen
Starring: Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth
Synopsis: Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of twenty years, are travelling across England in their old campervan visiting friends, family and places from their past. Following a life-changing diagnosis, their time together has become more important than ever until secret plans test their love like never before.
Directed by: Dawn Porter
Synopsis: LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH the documentary film, chronicles the story of a vocal virtuoso. Using a wealth of rarely seen archives, Luther tells his own story with assistance from his closest friends and musical collaborators including Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson and Roberta Flack. The film relives the many stunning moments of Vandross’ Grammy® award-winning musical career, while exploring his personal life, health struggles, and a lifelong battle to earn the respect his music deserved.
Directed by: Brett Story, Stephen Maing
Synopsis: On April 1, 2022 a group of ordinary workers made history when they did what everyone thought was impossible: they successfully won their election to become the very first unionized Amazon workplace in America. This feat would be extraordinary for any union, let alone the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), who did it with no prior organizing experience, no institutional backing, and a total budget of $120,000 raised on GoFundMe. Heralded as the most important win for labor since the 1930s, this highly cinematic documentary captures the ALU’s historic grassroots campaign to unionize thousands of their co-workers from day one of organizing.
Described by ALU President Christian Smalls as the “N.W.A. of the organizing world,” the group’s persona and strategies are highly unconventional: from wearing Money Heist costumes at press conferences to distributing free marijuana to workers. A core emotional arc arises out of the journey of these worker-turned organizers through a series of political battles, pivotal strategic events, and interpersonal tensions that test their commitments and their solidarity. Up against a corporate superpower and with legal protections at a drastic low for workers, all odds are against the ALU. Yet this rag-tag ensemble remains unswayed in their beliefs in collective action and the dignity and power of the working-class.
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Michael Shannon, Tom Hardy, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Norman Reedus
Synopsis: THE BIKERIDERS, starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy and Norman Reedus, follows the rise of a midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.
Directed by: Marco Bellocchio
Cast: Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, Filippo Timi, Fabrizio Gifuni
Synopsis: In 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education. Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly takes a political dimension. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power.
Directed by: Christopher Burke
Synopsis: FOR LOVE & LIFE: NO ORDINARY CAMPAIGN is an emotionally gripping documentary illustrating the power of love and determination in the face of adversity. The film follows the life of Brian Wallach and his wife Sandra in the aftermath of his ALS diagnosis at age 37. Exemplifying bravery, inspiration and hope, Brian and Sandra, continue to fight against a broken system for their own future, while seeking to build a brighter one for countless others.
Directed by: Paula Apsell, Kirk Wolfinger
Synopsis: “People have this myth stuck in their heads that Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter. But this is where the real story begins...Jews did not go as sheep to the slaughter... They fought back.” Professor Richard Freund We’ve all heard of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but most people have no idea how widespread and prevalent Jewish resistance to Nazi barbarism was. Instead, it’s widely believed “Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter.” Filmed in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel, and the U.S., Resistance – They Fought Back provides a much-needed corrective to this myth of Jewish passivity. There were uprisings in ghettos large and small, rebellions in death camps, and thousands of Jews fought Nazis in the forests. Everywhere in Eastern Europe, Jews waged campaigns of non-violent resistance against the Nazis.
Directed by: Nicolas Philibert
Synopsis: The Adamant is a one-of-a-kind place: a floating refuge on the Seine River in the heart of Paris that offers day programs for adults with mental health disorders. Its attendees come from across the city and are offered care that grounds them in time and space, helping them achieve recovery and stability. Through a blend of therapy, education, and culture rooted in music and the arts, the Adamant offers a hopeful vision of what a humanistic approach to mental health care could look like.
The community on the boat is thoughtfully constructed and maintained by both the staff and the people receiving care, each group treated with the same respect and dignity. Their meetings and conversations reveal the camaraderie and collective humanity of a group of people whose similarities far outweigh their differences. This affecting, enlightening documentary from nonfiction master Nicolas Philibert (To Be and to Have, In the Land of the Deaf) invites viewers to come aboard the Adamant and witness the transformational power of art and community.
Phoenix Film Society membership includes tickets and fun perks for the annual Phoenix Film Festival each year!
This year’s 11 day celebration of film included over 270 film screenings, filmmaking panels, parties, student workshops and much more all at the Harkins Scottsdale 101.
It’s the perfect place to find your new favorite movie.
Directed by: Thea Sharrock
Starring: Olivia Colman, Anjana Vasan, Joanna Scanlan, Malachi Kirby, Lolly Adefope, Gemma Jones, Timothy Spall, Jessie Buckley, Eileen Atkins
Synopsis: When people in Littlehampton--including conservative local Edith--begin to receive letters full of hilarious profanities, rowdy Irish migrant Rose is charged with the crime. Suspecting that something is amiss, the town's women investigate.
Directed by: Julio Torres
Starring: Catalina Saavedra, Julio Torres, Greta Lee, Tilda Swinton, RZA, Isabella Rossellini, James Scully
Synopsis: Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador, struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realize his dream.
Directed by: Pawo Choyning Dorji
Starring: Tandin Wangchuk, Tandin Phubz, Pema Zangmo Sherpa, Tandin Sonam, Choeying Jatsho, Deki Lhamo, Harry Einhorn
Synopsis: In 2006, the Kingdom of Bhutan is about become a democracy. As the unexpected transition approaches, government officials organize a mock election as a training exercise. In the town of Ura, an old lama orders a monk to get a pair of weapons to face the imminent change in the kingdom. Meanwhile, an American antique weapons collector lands in Bhutan in search of a valuable rifle that falls into the monk's hands.
Directed by: Christian Carion
Starring: Line Renaud, Dany Boon, Alice Isaaz, Jérémie Laheurte, Gwendoline Hamon, Julie Delarme, Hadriel Roure, Thomas Alden, Christophe Rossignon, Elie Kaempfen, Christian Carion, Léonie Carion, Philippe Beautier, Meryl Mourey, Nadir Legrand, Sylvie Audcoeur, Tom Hudson, Juliette Steimer
Synopsis: Madeleine, 92 years old, calls a taxi to take her to the retirement home where she will be living. Charles, a disillusioned driver with a tender heart, agrees to drive by the places that affected Madeleine's life. Through the streets of Paris, her extraordinary past is revealed. They don't know it yet, but they will forge a friendship during this drive that will change their lives forever.
Directed by: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel,
Freya Kreutzkam, Ralph Herforth, Max Beck, Ralf Zillmann, Imogen Kogge, Nele Ahrensmeier, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Christopher Manavi, Stephanie Petrowitz, Julia Polaczek, Johann Karthaus, Zuzanna Kobiela, Daniel Holzberg, Lilli Falk, Sascha Maaz, Luis Noah Witte
Synopsis: The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Starring: Melanie Hyams
Synopsis: The past collides with our precarious present in Steve McQueen’s bravura documentary Occupied City, informed by the book Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945) written by Bianca Stigter. McQueen creates two interlocking portraits: a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted city, and a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest. What emerges is both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on memory, time, and where we’re headed.
Phoenix Film Foundation
7000 E. Mayo Blvd., #1059
Phoenix, AZ 85054 480-513-3195
Questions? Contact us.
The Phoenix Film Society is a program under the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Phoenix Film Foundation, and is a sibling of Phoenix Film Festival, International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, IFP/Phoenix, Arizona Student Film Festival, Peoria Film Fest and Phoenix Critics Circle. The Phoenix Film Foundation is dedicated to promoting diversity and education in the arts, elevating underrepresented voices, and driving the growth of independent film in Arizona. Through film showcases and accessible educational initiatives, we cultivate a vibrant, inclusive cinematic community, utilizing it as a catalyst for personal growth, creative expression, and positive social change.