BOCA RATON, Fla. - s4story -- (West Palm Beach, FL – January 23, 2026) The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival© (SASIFF), presented by MorseLife, will launch its fourth season with screenings of 28 memorable, world class movies, including an audience-wowing assortment family dramas, must-see comedies, revealing documentaries, and eight gripping, suspense-filled mysteries and thrillers.

"Get ready for tales of scheming and danger, and intrigue and resistance in our festival thrillers that delve into the dark side of life or rise to the right side of history," entices Barbara Scharres, SASIFF Artistic Director.

Monday, January 26 – 4 pm

DEAD LANGUAGE

(Mystery, 2025, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Oded Binnum and Mihal Brezis. Israel/Czech Republic/Poland, 110-minutes—In English, Czech, and Hebrew with English subtitles)

A marriage gone flat hangs in the balance when Aya (Sarah Adler) goes to the Tel Aviv airport to pick up her husband and, on impulse, departs instead with an arriving stranger (Ulrich Thomsen) by impersonating his driver. The filmmakers expand their Oscar nominated short into a tale of mystery and subterfuge that becomes a delicate dance of longing for a version of a relationship that Aya cannot yet articulate. The strange and benign encounter that she orchestrates with the anonymous businessman only heightens her need to follow a fantasy that takes her to snowy Prague to follow a familiar path allegedly in search of her linguist husband and to reimagine who he and she might be together in a different life.

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At the Kravis Center's Rinker Playhouse in West Palm Beach

Monday, January 26 – 7 pm

ISLANDS

(Thriller, Suspense, 2025, Florida Premiere. Directed by Jan-Ole Gerster. Germany, 123-minutes—In English, Spanish, and German with English subtitles)

A ruthlessly amoral British grifter living in the Canary Islands gets into hot water over his head in this neo-noir thriller that critics have likened to Patricia Highsmith's "Ripley" stories. Tom (Sam Riley), the resident tennis pro at a luxury resort, lives a life of hedonism and tropical boredom until the perky blond wife of a wealthy vacationing couple with a young son catches his eye and spices his routine. Scheming a smokescreen, he coaxes boorish husband Dave (Jack Farthing) to join him in a night of binge drinking. During their chaotic barhopping on the town, Tom loses his grip on the situation and Dave mysteriously disappears.  Once the police begin their inquiries it seems that no one who saw Tom that night can recall ever seeing Dave.

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Available for Interview:

Barbara Scharres, Artistic Director

The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival

773.875.0304

Bscharres@sasiff.org

Media Contact:

Gary Schweikhart

PR-BS

561.756.4298

gary@pr-bs.net