Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) has never made I film haven’t loved and has the distinction of being the only American filmmaker to have her work presented at this year’s Directors Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival (and the only American woman filmmaker at Cannes, period). The film also has Seattle roots in the talented producer and co-screenwriter Anne Rosellini. Based on Peter Rock’s 2009 novel My Abandonment, Granik moves her filmmaking from the Ozarks to the Pacific Northwest for Leave No Trace, a story about the growing chasm between a father/widower/veteran afflicted with PTSD who insists on living apart from the world, and his teenage daughter who yearns to join it. Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie are sublimely cast, creating nuanced and indelible characters that will leave you in suspense about how they can come to terms with the world without breaking each other’s hearts.

Leave No Trace screens tonight and tomorrow (June 1-2) at the 44th annual Seattle International Film Festival, which is happening now through June 10. More recommended SIFF films here; and all SIFF films here.