An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.

After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press, 20 Days In Mariupol is Mstyslav Chernov’s first feature film. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.

Atlantic Canadian Premiere

Our society is a work society. From childhood we are taught to be result oriented and competitive. As automation and artificial intelligence exceed human capacity, we will be forced to rethink the role work plays in our lives: the majority of jobs that exist today could vanish in a few decades. The debate about the consequences of this has been dominated by technology experts and economists and often painted as a sci-fi dystopia. What is absent is the human perspective, a look at what this will mean to us as human beings. With characters and narratives across four continents, the film seeks an existential answer to what work means today, what things could be like in the future and what will happen to us when we don’t work.

Bombay fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system – a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods, while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology. Against The Tide is a tale of friendship and rising resentment between two men as close as brothers, against the backdrop of an adoring sea which is increasingly turning hostile due to climate change.

Atlantic Canadian Premiere

Filmed over the course of four consecutive years during record low annual precipitation in northern Kenya, Between the Rains is a feature collaboration with the Turkana-Ngaremara community that seeks to understand the experiences of a childhood caught within a traditional culture that is a casualty of climate change.

Love her or hate her, almost everyone has a Barbie story. Even if they don’t have a story, there’s a story as to why they don’t have a story. In this film, we tell the story behind the first Black Barbie, because yes, she has a story too. It started with the filmmaker’s 83-year old aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell and a seemingly simple question, “Why not make a Barbie that looks like me?”

Atlantic Canadian Premiere

In Boil Alert, an indigenous woman goes on a journey through First Nations reservations to shine a light on the devastating struggle for clean water and discovers herself in the process. This poignant exploration illuminates the human dimension of the water crisis in indigenous communities, as well as the impact it is having upon Native identity.

Atlantic Canadian Premiere

The immersive and intimately-crafted documentary Carlos catapults us into rock icon Carlos Santana’s life and musical trajectory. Filmmaker Rudy Valdez bolsters this personal narrative with pulsating, never-before-seen footage — guided by Santana himself, and in his own words.

Director Penny Lane’s decision to become a “Good Samaritan” by giving one of her kidneys to a stranger launches her on an unexpectedly funny, intimate, and provocative quest to understand why everyone seems to think she’s crazy.

Atlantic Canadian Premiere

Directed by Matthieu Rytz, this exquisite fly-on-the-wall environmental doc is also a gripping and up-to-the-minute tale of geopolitical, scientific, and corporate intrigue that exposes the destructive machinations of a secretive organization empowered to extract massive amounts of metals from the deep seafloor. Narrated by Jason Momoa, Deep Rising illuminates the vital relationship between the deep ocean and sustaining life on Earth.

Atlantic Canadian Premiere

The life of Olfa, a Tunisian woman and mother of 4 daughters, oscillates between light and shadow. One day, her two eldest daughters disappear. To fill their absence, director Kaouther Ben Hania calls upon professional actors and sets up an extraordinary film mechanism to unveil the story of Olfa and her daughters. An intimate journey full of hope, rebellion, violence, intergenerational transmission and sisterhood, which will question the very foundation of our societies.