Cinema has long been a mirror to the world, but for third-culture audiences especially, nothing rings quite as true as stories by filmmakers who look like us and share our experiences. More and more, these stories tackle the profound and often complicated journey in straddling multiple cultures—and, more and more, we’re seeing global audiences relate. Just look at the reaction to last year’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, All We Imagine as Light and I’m Still Here, all of which were recent Golden Globe Award nominees.
To get ahead of the game this year, here’s a look at five of the most anticipated and upcoming third-culture films, each of which highlights the transformative power of personal narratives and platform-diverse casts. By centring voices that bridge cultural divides, they remind us of the universal quest for identity and connection.

1. Alireza Khatami’s The Things You Kill; January 24
Alireza Khatami, the visionary filmmaker behind Terrestrial Verses and Oblivion Verses, returns with The Things You Kill. The haunting drama unfolds in Turkey, where Ali, a university professor, is haunted by the suspicious death of his sick mother. Obsessed and convinced his father had something to do with it, he plots with his gardener to take brutal revenge. The cast includes Turkish stars Ekin Koç (Burning Days), Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü (The Wild Pear Tree) and Ercan Kesal (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia).
In a statement in Variety, Khatami shared, “[The film] captures the pulse of my generation as we grapple with our fathers’ profound mistakes. Set against the volatile backdrop of the Middle East, the film is a personal and collective journey to break free from a legacy of violence — a journey that demands we take a brutally honest look at ourselves … This is my boldest film yet, both artistically and personally, as I revealed myself in ways I had never done before.”

2. Katarina Zhu’s Bunnylovr; premiering at Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25
Topical in themes and singular in its breaking and melding of genre, star, writer and director Katarina Zhu’s Bunnylovr is a darkly comedic exploration of online dating, fetishization and identity. It tells the story of a Chinese-American cam girl (Zhu) who struggles to navigate an increasingly toxic relationship with one of her clients while rekindling her relationship with her estranged and dying father.
The booked, busy and very funny Rachel Sennott not only co-stars in the film, but produces. Later this month, the film will make its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. A New York-based second-generation Chinese-American herself, Zhu often explores love and loss as a filmmaker pulled in two directions and by two cultures.

3. Shatara Michelle Ford’s Dreams in Nightmares; screening at the Berlin International Film Festival in February
Born in Arkansas and raised in Missouri, Shatara Michelle Ford gained prominence with her 2019 breakout film Test Pattern, a sharp and striking drama centred around an interracial couple whose relationship is tested after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and her white boyfriend drives her to the hospital. It was nominated for multiple Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards, positioning Ford as a filmmaker to watch.
Six years later, she is finally set to drop her highly anticipated sophomore film, Dreams in Nightmares, which follows three Black queer femmes in their mid-30s as they road trip across the Midwestern U.S. in search of their friend who seems to have disappeared. The cast includes Denée Benton (The Gilded Age), Mars Storm Rucker (A Strange Loop), Dezi Bing (Wig Out!) and Sasha Compère (Single Drunk Female). Based on early reviews after the film premiered at the 2024 BlackStar Film Festival last summer, Dreams in Nightmares is set to offer a new spin on the classic American road movie, and how one trip with your best friends can have you questioning not only your future but your identity and what you demand from the world.

4. Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet; April 18
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A modern reimagining of Ang Lee’s underrated 1993 classic, Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet offers a contemporary take on the intricate dynamics of family, identity and acceptance. While the original told the story of a gay Taiwanese immigrant marrying a Chinese woman to help her get a green card, this time around, the story focuses on a lesbian woman exchanging a green-card marriage for her gay friend keen to stay in the U.S. so she can access in vitro fertilization treatments—which means the cast is a lot larger, and features young stars Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran and Han Gi-chan.
Ahn, who is known for his subversive storytelling in 2022’s Fire Island, 2019’s Driveways and 2016’s Spa Night, is likely to pull off the same feat yet again with this remake, crafting a tale that bridges generational gaps while celebrating queer love in immigrant families. Just like before, though, this version examines Asian American families navigating modern relationships and cultural expectations, promising a heartfelt exploration of love and tradition in the 21st century.

5. Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey; May 9
Kogonada, celebrated for his visually poetic storytelling in Columbus and After Yang, returns this year with A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. The film follows a lonely man and woman who meet at a wedding and decide to let a magical GPS take them on a big and winding journey. It might sound like an unlikely premise, but not in Kogonada’s hands, and certainly not with stars Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell leading the way. The cast also includes Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Billy Magnussen and Sarah Gadon. If it’s even a fraction as gentle and soulful a tale as Kogonada’s previous work, it likely won’t leave your mind until long after the credits roll.