Cinema

When British aid worker Hana returns to the ancient city of Luxor, she meets former lover Sultan.

The coexistence of four friends is menaced by a young couple who, feigning to be lost, slowly insinuate themselves into their lives.

Middle-aged Magdalena (Mercedes Hernandez) has lost contact with her son after he took off with a friend from their town of Guanajuato to cross the border into the U.S., hopeful to find work. Desperate to find out what happened to him—and to know whether or not he’s even alive—she embarks on an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous journey to discover the truth.

An extraordinary trial is taking place in a residential courtyard in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. African citizens have taken proceedings against such international financial institutions as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whom civil society blames for perpetuating Africa's debt crisis, at the heart of so many of the continent's woes.

Shah’s award-winning and energizing film charts a vital national protest movement.

This Midwestern Gothic Americana story is, in the words of Jane Smiley for The New York Times, “an excellent American parable about the consequences of our favorite ideal, freedom.”

“[A] dark Coens-esque farce.”