Dirt Road Salt Taste
Poet-turned-filmmaker Raven Jackson uses elegant vignettes, minimal dialogue, and immersive environment to explore the lives of black women in the rural South. The story follows Mike (Charlene McClure) across decades, bringing together the slices of her life into a risky, beautifully realized film. —Karin James
Cassandro
Gael García Bernal as groundbreaking lucha libre wrestler Saúl Armendáriz, whose performance is filled with cheeky humor, tenacity and aggressive confidence – not to mention some amazing quick moves. Roger Ross Williams’ confident narrative is an exhilarating exploration of fearless queer identity in a machismo environment. — David Rooney
Deepest breath
Laura McGann’s documentary about record-breaking free film is full of mind-blowing Jaw-dropping visuals, thrilling races, and a cleverly presented love story A diver and a heroic safety diver whose lives intertwine. Think of Free Solo drops with shades of Fire of Love and you’ll have a tense and tense feeling to go with it Take this heart-pounding dive with the occasional exhilarating rush. — Daniel Feinberg
Mother Earth
Olympic volleyball player Savannah Leaf makes her first feature-length narrative about a pregnant mother The story of an attempt to regain custody of a child. Starring Tia Nomore as the cinematographer’s assistant, Gia, Leaf digs into the familiar image of a black mother confronting an oppressive legal system and extracts the most meaningful insights from it. The unexpected and the most personal details. It’s a quiet film, but never looses its grip, using an intimate tone that speaks to the characters rather than talking about them. — LOVIA GYARKYE
Eileen
Thrilling Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway Playing, at her most commanding, the complex, darkly impulsive employees of a juvenile prison in Massachusetts, adapted from William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth ) Ottessa Moshfegh novel. This twisty and captivating thriller rips with sly humor and bold use of tropes for classic Hitchcockian suspense. — DR
Eternal memory
In The Mole Agent