2026 FESTIVAL FILMS
This enchanting semi-autobiographical drama recreates the vibrant Mediterranean city of Casbah of the late 1950s - early 1960s. Passionate filmmaker Antoine travels to his birthplace, Algiers, with his young son to present his new film: an account of his childhood in mid-20th century Algeria during the country’s civil war.
Assi, an aspiring actor, returns home after completing reserve duty during the war. Though he dreams of becoming a successful performer, reality finds him teaching theater at the local high school and putting on a nightly cabaret show at the community center. An unexpected turn of events suddenly thrusts him into the spotlight—but not for the reasons he had hoped.
An animated film about the biggest lie ever told: Jews are plotting to take over the world. Filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin employs a host of talented voice actors, including Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Jason Alexander, and Ben Shenkman, to connect the dots of hate and fear, walking us through almost 250 years of antisemitic ideology, focusing on how times of uncertainty give rise to anxieties in marginalized populations.
Andrew Shear has crafted a classic kind of family dynamic film for this smart, dialogue-driven comedy, but shows a great deal of promise in carefully keeping the inherent drama beneath the surface. Perfectly casted, these characters and their deep anxieties and life problems feel very real.