Agatha’s Almanac (2025)
★★★★☆
A slow and quietly empathetic film about an amazing old lady hanging on in Canada’s mid-west, directed by artist Amalie Atkins.
Canada
BFI Flare 2026: Lunar Sway (2026)
★★★★☆
Cliff’s small-town existence is disrupted by the arrival of Marg who claims to be his birth mother. Soon he is swept into her unorthodox adventures, while trying to learn about himself, in Nick Butler’s delightfully offbeat Lunar Sway.
Blue Moon (2025)
★★★★☆
After the opening of Oklahoma! renowned lyricist Lorenz Hart has to deal with the success of his former partner Richard Rodgers and his own insecurities in Richard Linklater’s period drama Blue Moon.
BFI LFF 2025: Blue Moon (2025)
★★★𗰶☆
After the opening of Oklahoma! renowned lyricist Lorenz Hart has to deal with the success of his former partner Richard Rodgers and his own insecurities in Richard Linklater’s period drama Blue Moon.
Solo (2023)
★★★★☆
The rush of a new love turns sour for young drag queen Simon, whilst also dealing with the return of his absent mother, in writer-director Sophie Dupuis’s excellent drama Solo.
BFI Flare: Cherub (2024)
★★★★☆
Lonely scientist Harvey lives a solitary life but discovering Cherub, a magazine for larger men and their admirers, leads to unexpected confidence and joy in writer-director Devin Shears’ Cherub.
BFI LFF 2024: Who Do I Belong To (2024) (Mé el Aïn)
★★★☆☆
Who Do I Belong To, an unsettlingly topical first feature by Meryam Joobeur, looks at identity in a post-ISIS world and sets out to challenge perceptions and prejudices.
The Queen of my Dreams (2023)
★★★☆☆
The Queen of my Dreams, Fawzia Mirza’s first feature, links two time lines and two continents with a mother and daughter’s shared love for Bollywood.
Toronto 2024: Shepherds (2024) (Bergers)
★★★☆☆
Shepherds (Bergers) directed by Sophie Deraspe is a lyrical drama based on Mathyas Lefebure’s book about rejecting his previous life and learning to be a shepherd in Provence.
The Nature of Love (2023) (Simple Comme Sylvain)
★★★★☆
The Nature of Love directed by Monia Chokri is a modern Canadian romcom, seen from a woman’s point of view, with a contemporary twist.
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Day 5: Saturday, 18 May: Universal Language (2024) (Une Langue Universelle)
★★★☆☆
Universal Language directed by Matthew Rankin is a surreal satire on provincial Canada.
Berlinale 2024: Who Do I Belong To (2024) (Mé el Aïn)
★★★☆☆
Who Do I Belong To, an unsettlingly topical first feature by Meryam Joobeur, looks at identity in a post-ISIS world and sets out to challenge perceptions and prejudices.
Neptune Frost (2021)
★★★☆☆
Neptune Frost, a visionary collaboration between poet/artist Saul Williams and actress and playwright Anisia Uzeyman, is a unique Afro-futurist political musical filmed in Rwanda.
The Forgiven (2021)
★★★☆☆
The unexpected consequences and repercussions of a terrible accident in the Moroccan desert are explored in The Forgiven, John Michael McDonagh’s adaptation of Lawrence Osbourne’s 2012 novel, starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain.