Cannes Film Festival 2018: Day 2

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by Alexa Dalby

Yomeddine (Judgement Day)
by A.B. Shawky

Beshay – a man cured of leprosy – has never left the leper colony in the Egyptian desert where he has lived since childhood. Following the death of his wife, he finally decides to go in search of his roots. With his meagre possessions strapped to a donkey cart, he sets out. Quickly joined by Obama, the Nubian orphan he has taken under his wings, Beshay crosses Egypt and confronts the world with all its sorrows, hardships and moments of grace in his quest for a family, a place to belong, a little humanity…

“A lovingly-made, character-driven road movie that occasionally dips into sentimentality yet has moments that honestly play on the heartstrings.” – Variety

Yomeddine (the title means “day of judgement” in Arabic) is a gentle, but persistently sugary road movie, set in Egypt.” – Guardian

Rafiki (Friend)
by Wanuri Kahiu

Kena and Ziki are two very different girls living in Nairobi housing estate. When they fall in love and must choose between love and safety against a backdrop of insular gossip, local politics and burgeoning maturity. The film was based on Jambula Tree, an award-winning short story by Monica Arac de Nyeko.

RAFIKI is the first Kenyan feature film to be invited to Cannes Film Festival 2018 as part of the Official Un Certain Regard selection.

“Shamefully banned in its home country of Kenya, Wanuri Kahiu’s tender tale of first lesbian love is modest, flawed and valuable.” – Variety

Birds of Passage (Pajeros de Verano)
by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra

In Birds of Passage, directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, the violent birth of Colombia’s drug trade destroys a unique traditional culture.

“The crime saga is reimagined in the tribal lands of North Colombia in this vivid, distinctive film from the makers of Embrace of the Serpent… the visual signifiers of superstition are ever-present. Talismans, decorative necklaces, mourning veils and traditional song all permeate the film, as augurs of the tribal clan war that descends on the characters. The result is a textured and utterly unique re-imagining of the family crime saga” – BFI

Donbass

by Sergei Loznitsa

In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth and hatred is declared to be love. A journey through the Donbass unfolds as a chain of curious adventures, where the grotesque and drama are as intertwined as life and death.

This is not a tale of one region, one country or one political system. It is about a world, lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us.

“Filled with the violence and Orwellian unreality ruling eastern Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa’s feverish procession of scenes is handled with steely control.” – Guardian

Wildlife

by Paul Dano

Fourteen-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry — a housewife and a golf pro — in a small town in 1960s Montana. Nearby, an uncontrolled forest fire rages close to the Canadian border, and when Jerry loses his job — and his sense of purpose — he decides to join the cause of fighting the fire, leaving his wife and son to fend for themselves. Suddenly forced into the role of an adult, Joe witnesses his mother’s struggle as she tries to keep her head above water.

“An affecting coming-of-age drama based on a superb book and directed by an exceptional actor in his directorial debut.” – Wall Street Journal

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