The Five Are Marching In 

From its visually stunning opening credits, which show women dancing through a forest to musical rhythms that sound almost primal, to its quiet, heartbreaking final frame, Mona Fastvold’s historical rendering of the Shaker religious movement is an experience that will stay with me for a long time.

A fun-loving story focused on surviving middle school and tailor-made for its target audience. "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" follows the paradox of finding true friendship and securing popularity no matter what it takes.

White audiences saw Peola’s mixed-race passing as a Black woman’s struggle to be white. Black audiences saw it as the rebellion of a Black woman trying to gain privileges only given to white people.

Alongside A Drowning Man, I Signed The Petition, 3 Logical Exits, and A World Not Ours, A Man Returned continues to paint a realistic portrait of the Refugee Crisis that eschews the Western gaze and stereotype. These are real portraits painted by a director with lived experience, cultural connection and an amazing eye for visuals.

Baggage’s experimental mixed formats visualized a woman’s brave inner journey of visiting the museum of her fragmented memories.

Madres takes place in the 70’s following a Hispanic married couple who move to a migrant farming community. Diana, who is pregnant, starts to become suspicious of their new environment after she and the women around her develop strange symptoms. Could it be a curse, a sickness, or something else?