While millions of birds migrate freely in the skies, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon yearns for the ancestral homeland she is denied. She challenges Sarah, the Director, to find an ancient mulberry tree that stands as witness to her family’s existence—with only inherited memories, a blind man and a two-headed dragon as her guides. Along the way, Sarah meets with ornithologists whose observations on the homing instincts of the birds highlight the unresolved problems of the region. Spanning fifteen years, this story of a friendship that stays connected across a divided land and a fragmented people adopts a birds’ eye perspective to reflect on freedom of movement, exile and the hope of return. Preceded by FOREVER KHALID (2023, dir. Yousef Salhi, 9 min., Content warning: mental health struggles) and MAR MAMA (2023, dir. Majdi El Omari, 16 min.).

In 1992 Chicago, as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community. Directed by Chicago filmmaker Minhal Baig, the Chicago Tribune’s 2023 Film Person of the year, and hailed by critic Robert Daniels as “an unassuming character study set to poetic rhythms [that] makes for an empathetic study of Black life, full of resolve,” WE GROWN NOW is a delicate portrait of coming-of-age. 

In a once-thriving mining village in England, the Old Oak is the last pub standing, a symbol of the “good old days,” and serving as a place for the downtrodden citizens to gather. When a group of Syrian refugees moves into town, they are met with prejudices and distrust, but when an unexpected friendship forms between Old Oak proprietor TJ and refugee Yara, so too blooms compassion and understanding between the townspeople and their new neighbors. An unwaveringly humanistic filmmaker, two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach (THE WIND THE SHAKES THE BARLEY; I, DANIEL BLAKE), now 87, has announced THE OLD OAK—perhaps his most empathetic and hopeful film—will be his last. Film Center exclusive. 

In 1992 Chicago, as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community. Directed by Chicago filmmaker Minhal Baig, the Chicago Tribune’s 2023 Film Person of the year, and hailed by critic Robert Daniels as “an unassuming character study set to poetic rhythms [that] makes for an empathetic study of Black life, full of resolve,” WE GROWN NOW is a delicate portrait of coming-of-age.