BIRD is a coming of age story told from the perspective of 12 year old Bailey, who lives with her brother Hunter and her father Bug in a squat in northern Kent. Bug doesn't have much time to devote to them. Bailey looks for attention and adventure elsewhere.
Dir: Andrea Arnold
Runtime: 119 min
Tickets available via Celebration Cinema-Mt. Pleasant
Filmed over the course of four years, “BEIRUT FOREVER" documents the lives of four remarkable refugees navigating the complexities of life in Beirut, Lebanon.
The film follows their poignant journeys as they flee from their homes in search of safety and a brighter future while exploring themes of resilience, identity, and the human spirit's indomitable quest for hope.
Director: Patrick Hasso Kohl
Runtime: 85 minutes
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Azra (Amrit Kaur of MAX series The Sex Lives of College Girls) is worlds apart from her conservative Muslim mother. When her father suddenly dies on a trip home to Pakistan, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined; from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming- of-age in rural Canada.
Director: Fawzia Mirza
Runtime: 99 minutes
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In the early 1970s, the military dictatorship in Brazil reaches its height. The Paiva family - Rubens, Eunice, and their five children - live in a beachside house in Rio, open to all their friends. One day, Rubens is taken for questioning and does not return.. Winner of Best International Feature Film Oscar.
Dir:Walter Salles
Rated PG-13
Runtime: 135 minutes
Up against one of the most powerful companies in the world, a group of Amazon workers embark on a campaign to unionize their warehouse in Staten Island, NY. Led by the charismatic Chris Smalls, the diverse band of workers form the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), while navigating many roadblocks.
This film is sponsored by The Faculty Association at Central Michigan University.
Directors: Stephen Maing, Brett Story
Runtime: 100 min
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I AM GITXSAN follows Phoenix Apperloo, a recent high school graduate reconnecting with his Indigenous heritage in Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada. Inspired by encounters with residential school survivors, he writes a heartfelt letter to Prime Minister Trudeau about the injustices faced by his people.
The documentary highlights the impact of colonialism on the Gitxsan community, featuring insights from experts like Dr Gabor Maté and showcasing their resilience through protests and legal actions. It culminates with a moving message of hope and determination, emphasizing the power of the Gitxsan people's enduring spirit, the beauties of their culture, and their commitment to future generations.
Dir: Hossein Martin Fazeli
Two short films will precede the screening.
Wakanyeja Kin Wana Ku Pi (The Children Are Coming Home). Directed by Andy Wakeman. One of the Lakota Nation's most sacred places is Mato Paha, now part of Bear Butte State Park. The people’s access to Bear Butte was severed in the late 19th century, when the U.S. government seized the Black Hills and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation. In 2024, the nonprofit Cheyenne River Youth Project took a major step toward restoring that access when it purchased a nearly 40-acre tract of land adjacent to Bear Butte, which it calls Wakanyeja Kin Wana Ku Pi (The Children Are Coming Home).
Voices of the Grand River. Directed by Andrew Doyle. Ron Yob, chairman of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, seeks to gain federal recognition for his tribe from the federal government. Through Yob’s fight, he walks viewers through the historical evidence of the tribe's presence in Grand Rapids to understand why the tribes deserve their federal rights.
Total runtime of all three films: 89 minutes
This is a FREE SCREENING sponsored by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and the Ziibiwing Center
If the cowboy boot fits, wear it. The arrival of a stray horse triggers a series of events in Bernicia’s life that alters her world as she slowly takes on the persona of a cowboy. Through her journey, she must overcome several obstacles that threaten her newfound desires. EL VAQUERO is an uplifting drama about self-determination. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Director: Emma Rozanski
Runtime: 93 minutes
Joe is a lonely writer who longs to be the hero of his own story. When it becomes increasingly clear that that’s not the case, he finds himself retreating to a place where he can have anything he dreams of; fame, love, even superpowers. When his real life becomes too much to bear, Joe must reconcile his imagination with reality, before he loses his grip on it.
This film was was written, directed and produced by CMU students and starts CMU students and faculty.
Director: Alex Adam
Runtime: 90 minutes
In this 2011 Bollywood hit film, three longtime friends embrace the carpe diem spirit during a bachelor retreat in Spain. Somewhere between adventure sports, tomato fights and flamenco, they conquer their fears and unresolved issues.
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Runtime: 155 minutes
Join us to watch a selection of diverse international short films, including:
Polemos (Ukraine)
Square (France, Russian Federation)
Aunque es de noche (France)
Exception (Canadian)
Runtime: 77 minutes
The Smith family's much-needed vacation to the remote Swedish island of Svalta takes a dark turn when they arrive during preparations for a mysterious local festival that celebrates a dark history. Unsettled by the unfriendly locals and strange rituals, they try to make the best of their trip, stubbornly enjoying the island's isolation and natural beauty. However, as the festival looms closer, the family realizes something far more sinister is unfolding--especially when they discover that a serial killer is on the loose.
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Rated R
Director: Steffen Haars
Destined to be remembered as one of the great films about the meaning, texture, and experience of food, this sumptuous, exceptionally well-crafted work, set in late 19th-century France, stars Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel (married, decades ago, in real life) as Eugénie, a cook, and Dodin, the gourmet chef she has been working with for 20 years. As they reach middle age, they can no longer deny their mutual romantic feelings, which have so long been concentrated in their passionate professionalism. This simple narrative—based upon Marcel Rouff’s 1924 novel La passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet—sets the table for a sublime, sense-heightening exploration of pleasure, in which the play of sunlight across a late-afternoon kitchen is as meaningful as the image of a perfectly poached pear or the crisp of a buoyant vol-au-vent. Director Trân Anh Hùng won the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his bravura, scrupulously deployed feat of epicurean cinema.
Directed by Anh Hung Tran.
In French with English subtitles
Rated PG-13
Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in NY. As time runs out on his work visa, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country.
Directed by Julio Torres.
Rated R
NONSENSE - Dir. Strahinja Mlađenović (Serbia)
FOR ROY - Dir. Vivian Cheung (Canada)
ECOSPHERE - Dir. Vito Pistone (Belgium)
WEAVE OF CULTURE - Dir. Santhosh Ram (India)
DOMESTIC - Marcial Ruiz Lasida (Spain)
CARAVAN - Szonja Szabo (Hungary)
THE HEAVIEST ORDER - Peter Böving (Germany)
MASCARADA - Ana Maria Ferri (Spain)
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 Thea Sharrock.
Rated R
Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
PERFECT DAYS was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Directed by Wim Wenders. Starring Kôji Yakusho (Named Best Actor at Cannes)
In Japanese with English subtitles
Rated PG
Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons narrates RELENTLESS, the fascinating true story told in a procedural style about remarkable people tackling an exotic species invasion that nearly destroyed the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth: the Great Lakes. The silent predator devastated jobs and businesses, threatening the survival of cities, towns and indigenous communities across the region.
The film traces how tenacious scientists identified the menace then struggled to control it. Their work continues to influence the Great Lakes region’s economic fortunes and sounds a warning about how invasive species threaten the future of vital natural resources and the prosperity of millions around the world today.
Directed by Thomas Lindsey Haskin.
CAMP RICSTAR is a new documentary feature film about the dramatic story behind a one-of-a-kind camp for people with disabilities. For over 20 years, the Eric ‘RicStar’ Winter Music Therapy Summer Camp in East Lansing, Michigan has impacted the lives of thousands of music lovers with disabilities — and their families — by allowing them to participate in group music therapy. CAMP RICSTAR is ultimately an affirmation of the joys of music, the power of community, and the need for inclusion of a population too often left out.
Girls Will Be Girls follows the journey of 16 year old Mira, whose sexy, rebellious coming of age is disrupted by her young mother who never got to come of age herself.
Directed by Shuchi Talati.
In English and Hindi with subtitles
Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. Filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses to fill in their absence.
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania.
In Arabic and French with English subtitles
Sponsored by Mid Michigan College as part of their Global Projects and Studies co-curricular programming for studying the Middle East. Free admission for all Mid Michigan students with student ID.
A lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman's life in Mississippi, the feature debut from award-winning poet, photographer and filmmaker Raven Jackson is a haunting and richly layered portrait, a beautiful ode to the generations of people and places that shape us. The New Yorker called it “the directorial debut of the year.”
Directed by Raven Jackson.
Rated PG-13
Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in NY. As time runs out on his work visa, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country.
Directed by Julio Torres.
Rated R
