Director Bruno Carboni’s debut feature is a shocking look at class conflicts and social media and was a festival favorite at the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia. “A compelling moral maze.” –James Luxford, Dirty Movies

A tense rural thriller that recalls films by John Boorman or Sam Peckinpah, but with a modern twist and a surprising narrative structure, The Beasts swept nine prizes including best film, director, and original screenplay at 37th Goya Awards (Spain’s Oscars). –Alissa Simon

Nicaraguan filmmaker Laura Baumeister’s moving study of a mother and daughter scraping out a living next to a landfill was a standout at the Discovery programme at the Toronto International Film Festival. The first fiction feature directed by a Nicaraguan woman, Daughter of Rage is an instant classic, a searing portrait of lower-class life and the unbreakable spirit of children.

Best of Fest Encore Screening

Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent) returns to MSPIFF with this compassionate story of Augusto and Paulina, a loving, elderly couple struggling with Alzheimer’s. 

Special introduction by Boriken Cultural Center including a music and dance demonstration

Noelia’s cancer has returned and, exhausted by years of treatments, she chooses to retreat to Vieques, an island in Puerto Rico. Poisoned by contamination from the U. S. Army, the whole island seems to suffer, and with Hurricane Irma coming, Noelia seeks answers, and a sort of grace. 

Flamin’ Hot is the inspiring true story of Richard Montañez, the Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican American heritage and upbringing to turn the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into a snack that disrupted the food industry and became a global pop culture phenomenon. –Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

This stunning visual portrait of Mexico’s indigenous communities fighting against modernization has no interviews or dialogue, just rich black-and-white cinematography and revealing close-ups. “In its calculated and careful filming and editing, this documentary speaks to the fascinating nature of the human experience.” –Zaki Lawrence, Vox

A fun and irreverent Spanish dramedy about a devoted churchgoing grandmother who stumbles across an explicit website and finds herself exploring long buried desires. Director Patricia Ortega’s debut feature is a fantastic story about retaking control of one’s life – important at any age!

When Iris, one of a pair of twins, decides to leave the family’s precious and isolated island to go to the city in search of her father, life will never be the same in Ana Cristina Barragán’s evocative portrait of a reclusive family and their elemental relationship to the natural world.

Director Jasmin Mara López attending.

In this stunning and poetic autobiographical documentary, director Jasmin Mara López explores generations of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her grandfather, a Baptist minister. Generously allowing viewers along on this personal, cinematic journey, López bravely reveals a beautiful grace in the process of healing.

Director Laura Citarella Attending.

Laura Citarella’s ambitious, 260-minute, two-part feature perplexed and delighted audiences at the The Venice Biennale, and cemented Argentine director Laura Citarella’s place in the pantheon. “[W]ill send pulses racing like the best of cinema does.” –Zhuo-Ning Su, The Film Stage