If I Go Will They Miss Me

Twelve-year-old Lil Ant struggles to connect with his father when he begins to see surreal, almost spectral visions of boys drifting around his neighborhood. Their presence reveals a link between father and son, laying bare the threads that bind family, legacy, and place.

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]

The Audience Award: NEXT presented by Adobe

Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place.

Balloon Animals

Two grocery store employees have an unexpected, helium-fueled encounter with a late-night customer.

BURN

When runaway teen Ju-Ju is embraced by a tribe of misfit youths in Kabukicho, she finds belonging for the first time — until betrayal and despair twist her haven into a prison, and she’s left with one way to take back control.

Birds of War

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact Winner

The love story of a London-based Lebanese journalist and a Syrian activist and cameraman as told through 13 years of personal archives across revolutions, war, and exile.

The Incomer

NEXT Innovator Award

On a remote Scottish isle, siblings Isla and Sandy hunt birds and talk to mythical beings while fighting off outsiders. Their lives change when Daniel, an awkward official, arrives to relocate them.

Birdie

In 1970, a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee in Virginia tries to keep her family together when a newcomer draws her sister away.

Soft Boil

Lulu takes a job as a nanny only to discover that her new boss isn’t who she expected.

DON’T TELL MAMA

A Montenegrin father takes his teenage daughter on an unforgettable dinner date.

Albatross

Maria, burdened with caregiving for her sick husband, gets invited to a party.

The Creature of Darkness

Darkness settles over Little Egypt. Brielle, Karri, and Nunu wander among the limestone outcrops and sandstone spires. In a cave that hid freedom seekers along the Underground Railroad, their uncle shares a story of a creature that stirs at night.