Totem
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Drama | Directed by Lila Avilés
In Lila Avilés’s second feature, a 7-year-old girl begins to grasp the severity of her father’s illness while birthday preparations are underway at home.

“Totem,” Naíma Sentíes stars as Sol, who peeps into rooms and listens in on adult conversations, a child explorer in a strange land.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Pictures of Ghosts
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho
The Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho draws on fact and fiction in this image-rich documentary that moves fast and far, but always returns home.

“Pictures of Ghosts” bounces from topic to topic. Among them are cinema and its history, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s own amateur films and images of his moviegoing recollections.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Mambar Pierrette
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Drama | Directed by Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam
A gifted seamstress, played by the filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s cousin, has to put out a string of fires in this rich portrait of Cameroonian womanhood.

Pierrette Aboheu Njeuthat as the title character in “Mambar Pierrette.”
By BEATRICE LOAYZA