Discover MISAFF 2026

MISAFF26 FILM FESTIVAL PASS DETAILS

• Festival Pass on sale now. Regular Price $150 but does not include Living Arts Centre Screenings. That pass is available via LAC website here. VIP pass includes all screenings at LAC as well.

• Allows you 1 ticket for the opening night film (regular price $60 for the Opening Night Red Carpet Gala or $150 for the Fundraiser). Does not include pre-reception refreshments.

• Allows you 1 ticket to every film at the festival (per time slot except Living Arts Centre).

• Pass not valid without a ticket.

• Please collect your ticket at least 20 minutes before each screening at the venue. Seating not guaranteed.

• Does not guarantee entry into the film screening. Priority is given on a first come basis. If you absolutely want to guarantee a film then you have to purchase the ticket for it separately as full ticket holders get priority.

• Passes are Non-transferable. Non-refundable. Only one ticket for each time slot. Tickets may be transferred.

Regular Festival Passes DO NOT guarantee entry into specific films. If you want to guarantee a film, please purchase an individual ticket for that film or the VIP pass. Individual ticket holders will have priority.

Set in present-day Punjab, Rehmat weaves together three interconnected stories shaped by grief, displacement and difficult choices. A woman secretly shelters a wounded stranger from the police, a family struggles with the disappearance of a loved one, and an elderly man returns from England to the village of his birth, carrying with him memories of a home and history transformed by Partition.

Writer and director Gurvinder Singh adapts three stories by acclaimed Punjabi writer Ajeet Cour, bringing narratives written across different decades into contemporary Punjab. Starring Naseeruddin Shah, alongside Suvinder Vicky, Mita Vashisht and others, the film continues Singh’s exploration of Punjab and its social and political history. Rehmat had its world premiere in the Main Competition at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival.

Rehmat — meaning compassion — is a meditation on the forces that divide people and the humanity that can endure despite them, exploring faith, belonging and the possibility of compassion across religious and generational lines.

In a remote village in Nepal, surrounded by forests where wild elephants roam, Pirati is the matriarch of a household of Kinnar women, a third-gender community navigating discrimination alongside their religious traditions. Pirati dreams of leaving with a local drummer, but when one of the young women in her care disappears during a nightly elephant patrol, those plans are put aside. With little help from the police and resistance from the surrounding community, she begins searching for answers on her own.

Writer and director Abinash Bikram Shah is a Nepalese filmmaker and alumnus of Berlinale Talents, the Sundance Institute and the Locarno Filmmakers Academy. A co-writer of Nepal’s Oscar submissions The Black Hen and Shambhala, Shah became the first Nepali director with a film in Cannes’ official selection with his short Lori. Elephants in the Fog received the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, the first Nepali film to win at the world’s most prestigious film festival.

Elephants in the Fog is both a mystery and an intimate portrait of a community rarely represented on screen, exploring identity, belonging, love and the bonds of a chosen family as Pirati fights to find one of her own.

In contemporary Iran, a doctor is arrested for secretly treating injured protesters and has his medical practice shut down. Disillusioned and unable to see a future for himself, he decides to end his life. He sets out to visit his siblings and mother one final time, but their affection, concern and companionship begin to unsettle the certainty of his decision.

Director Ali Asgari, one of the leading voices in contemporary Iranian cinema, has built a body of work exploring people navigating personal vulnerability amid social and institutional pressures. His films have appeared at Cannes, Berlin and Venice, including Until Tomorrow, Terrestrial Verses and Divine Comedy. A Bit of Light premiered in competition at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival.

A Bit of Light is an intimate story about despair, family and human connection, asking what can draw someone back towards life when their faith in institutions, work and the future has been exhausted.

Behind the music, colour and celebration of Punjab’s wedding industry are the women who perform as orchestra dancers. Inspired by a true story, Flowers of Acacia follows these women as they pursue their dreams while navigating the economic pressures, misogyny and deeply rooted patriarchy that shape their lives and work.

Director Anmol Sidhu spent two years writing the film and travelling with wedding orchestra groups to understand the experiences of the women at its centre. Filmed entirely at real weddings, the film draws on Sidhu’s commitment to realism to bring audiences into a world he first encountered growing up in rural Punjab.

Flowers of Acacia is an intimate look at women whose lives and labour often go unseen, exploring their aspirations, vulnerabilities, and the realities of seeking agency in a society that limits both.

In the remote Himalayan foothills of Pakistan, a routine school commute turns into a race against time when a cable car wire snaps, leaving eight passengers — including six schoolboys — stranded 900 feet above a ravine.

As families wait below and rescuers scramble to reach the passengers, the crisis unfolds live on national television and social media. Drawing on footage captured by families, rescuers, bystanders and those inside the cable car, alongside cinematic re-stagings performed by the people who experienced the events themselves, Hanging By A Wire reconstructs the extraordinary rescue from multiple perspectives.

Directed, produced and co-written by award-winning filmmaker Mohammed Ali Naqvi — whose work includes Netflix’s Turning Point and the Emmy-nominated Among the Believers — and produced and co-written by Bilal Sami, Hanging By A Wire is a gripping story of survival, community and the people who come together when lives are at stake.

The screening will be preceded by the world premiere of the short film More Chai Please.

In a remote corner of rural Bangladesh, tenant farmer Shadhu lives in near isolation with his wife, Sadhur Bou, a woman the surrounding village considers mad. Overwhelmed by her unpredictable behaviour, Shadhu begins secretly taking her far from home and leaving her behind. Yet every time he does, a fruit falls from the palmyra tree beside their shelter, and somehow, she returns.

Drawing on folk tale, religious allegory and the rhythms of rural life, Roid explores the complicated forces of desire and attachment that bind two people together, even as one struggles to break free. The landscape of monsoon-soaked Bangladesh becomes part of the story itself, creating a world that moves between the everyday and the mythic.

Directed by Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, whose previous film Hawa was Bangladesh’s submission for the Academy Awards, Roid is a haunting and visually rich story of marriage, resilience, defiance and return.

This year, MISAFF Opening Night is more than the festival's start. It’s also a fundraiser for its future. Join filmmakers, artists, industry guests and film lovers for an evening featuring:

• Cocktail reception

• Red Carpet Gala

• Opening Night film screening