The Republic of Love

Director: Deepa Mehta

Year: 2012

“Born in the hour of India’s freedom. Handcuffed to history.” Midnight’s Children is an epic film from Academy Award-nominated director Deepa Mehta, based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Salman Rushdie. At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, as India proclaims independence from Great Britain, two newborn babies are switched by a nurse in a Bombay hospital. Saleem Sinai, the illegitimate son of a poor Hindu woman, and Shiva, the offspring of wealthy Muslims, are fated to live the destiny meant for each other. Their lives become mysteriously intertwined and are inextricably linked to India’s whirlwind journey of triumphs and disasters.

Director: Fenn O'Meally

Year: 2026

Grace is born of dual heritage: she has a white British mother and a Black Jamaican father. As she reaches her early teens, Grace takes her identity into her own hands and begins to navigate how to exist as a young woman, fully Black, fully white. Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2026 - International premiere

Director: Juja Dobrachkous

Year: 2026

In a decadent Venetian hotel, general manager Eva is drawn to the mysterious Contessa. Once a sanctuary from the outside world, the hotel has become a haunting cage, and both women long to escape. Enigmatic Eva is a manager – or rather, a universal fixer – at a hotel in Venice. For her, it’s not just a job. The decadent Venetian palazzo, with its labyrinths and strangers, has become both a refuge from her demons and a haunting cage she longs to escape. When Eva meets the mysteriously unhinged Contessa, who also seems trapped within the hotel, she’s seduced by the possibility of a radical change. Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026 - World premiere