Lwando (Lawrence Maleka) and Tara (Kristen Raath), a young couple in Cape Town’s grim near-future, take a time-travelling holiday to 1647. But what starts out as a romantic getaway soon becomes a battle for a better future for South Africa in director Jenna Cato Bass’ TIFF-debuting reckoning with genocidal history.

Rendered in desolate black and white and unfolding like a folk tale, Rose follows a woman who fought disguised as a man during the Thirty Years' War. Seeking a life of her own in a remote Protestant village, she discovers peace harder won than war.

A luminous exploration of one of Germany’s greatest authors captured in a brief vignette - Thomas Mann’s 1948 return to Germany from exile in America. His much-anticipated pronouncement on what should be the prevailing principles for the now divided Germany is contrasted to the relationship with his despairing son, Karl. As the daughter of Mann and sister of Karl, Sandra Hüller is magnificent - as is all the cast.

River (Mia Barret) wants to run away from it all, following the tragic death of her mother. But when she falls in with bad boy Marcus (My Brilliant Career’s William McKenna), his insistence on ‘no strings attached’ actually leads the way to a place of hope and healing for both wounded souls.