Christian and his two cats, Katjuscha and Marmelade, are inseparable. In an attempt to ensure future companionship, Christian breeds Marmelade with a spry tomcat. Tender moments between owner and pet compose this short and lighthearted examination of aging and connection.

In the Midwest, against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic and rising incarceration rates, three women navigate the challenges of mothering their children from prison. With poignant sensitivity, this film follows them as they prepare to reunite with their families and rebuild relationships after years of separation.

From a single stage and with a collection of intricately designed puppets, Frank Karbstein delivers his ultimate performance of the activist work that led him to be imprisoned in the German Democratic Republic during the 1980s. Using memory and theater to explore the lingering question of who among his pacifist group betrayed him, Frank searches for answers through art.

A young journalist couple changes the breaking-news landscape as they take to the Los Angeles skies in their helicopter, capturing some of the city’s most pivotal moments as they unfold on the streets below, including the 1992 riots and the O.J. Simpson pursuit. Featuring extensive footage from their archive, Whirlybird reflects on their extraordinary success and the personal consequences of living with the pressing impulse to get to the story first.

Multiple worlds coexist in the Royal Danish Library in this observational film. Collections spring to life and crisp cinematography renders a lucid portrait of library staff and users, revealing how the library’s day-to-day work moves beyond the pages of a book or the walls of an exhibition to extend conversation and culture to Copenhagen, and beyond.

Luis, an undocumented Guatemalan teenager living in New York City, has prioritized work over school to help support his family back home. Judy, a Cuban-American ICE agent in the Bronx, is grateful for a stable job but struggles with changing priorities in her longtime line of work. With outstanding access and character development, their stories come together in this nuanced account of immigration in the United States today.

The annual Ultra Maratón Caballo Blanco, a spectacular fifty-mile race in Mexico’s Copper Canyon, was created as a way for indigenous Rarámuri endurance runners to preserve their culture. With stunning cinematography and access on all sides, The Infinite Race employs personal testimonies to examine the underbelly of an event marred by appropriation and exploitation.

Farmers and shepherds in the Alps rely on a distinct communication style, a steady stream of call and response that echoes off the mountainsides. A condensed pictorial symphony, this short offers a glimpse into a blissful form of connection far removed from the reaches of technology.

In this short, sensitive personal essay, a Brazilian-born filmmaker grapples with the physical, and emotional, distance between her life in Germany and her family back at home. Saudade, a Portuguese word that cannot be translated into any other language, is the thread that ties familial generations together and explores what it means to long for home.

Affable and spirited Boniface Mwangi (nicknamed “Softie”) is running for political office in Kenya. Through longitudinal access to the election’s lead-up and Softie’s life at home, this beautifully edited journey engages with what it means for a man of integrity to choose between fighting for country or for family. The film excels in illustrating the joys and pains of an activist’s push for real change.