In an early preproduction meeting, Day Zero director Bryan Gunnar Cole, writer Robert Malkani and producer Anthony Moody sat down to mussel out the film's issue for themselves. If they were called to a military draft, what would each do? The opinions split straight down three ways--Cole as the pacificist, conscious objector, Malkani as the call-to-arms patriot and Moody as the indecisive moderate. In reflection, this conversation imprinted greatly on the Tribeca-premiered feature, each of the filmmakers' thoughts seeped into trio protagonists George Rifkin (Chris Klein), Dixon (Jon Bernthal) and Aaron Feller (Elijah Wood). While the film directly addresses socio-political issues, Day Zero is ultimately a film about the journey of self-discovery, and as such Cole shapes his work with a finesse that lacks moralizing or didacticism. Rather it's a film of purposeful reflection, highlighting each of its characters--and actors--in their most humane and human moments.

In the wake of one loss, Noé Santillán-López studied another. As a memorial to his grandfather, Santillán-López's developed Si Tú No Estás (If You're Gone) with an unselfconscious pathos. Just as a grieving father and husband learns to accept the death of his wife, Santillán-López celebrates the life of a man who shaped his, making for a film as turbulent as it is gentle and hopeless as it is hopeful. Based on Carlos Rivas Larrauri's poem Por Qué Me Quité del Vicio, it's a short of lyricism, romanticism and the bitterness that comes with the unwelcome unexpected.

Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit is the sort of truimph that doesn't declare itself in manipulative throws of either the heartbreaking or inspirational. As it studies the intersection of Israeli and Egyptian cultures, Kolirin's debut feature traces lines of humor and poignance without a beat of emotional falter. It's the type of film to see, see again and yet again, noting with each iteration a truth about man's beauty, loneliness and communion.

"...a richly detailed, moving, laugh-out-loud film of captivating social truth and perceptive political commentary. It's the type of film that joys as it yearns, inspires as it educates and reaches out universally while it tells one very personal story.