Scrapper (2023)
★★★★☆
Scrapper, an inventive, award-winning first feature written and directed by Charlotte Regan, was the crowd-pleasing opening film of the Sundance London Film Festival.
Americas
Sundance London 2023 – Opening and Closing Films
★★★★☆
Sundance London 2023 Opening and Closing Films
Reality (2023)
★★★★☆
25-year-old former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner is confronted by FBI agents arriving at her home. Based on true events, Tina Satter’s film’s dialogue is directly from the transcript of their tense, transfixing conversation.
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 3: 18 May 2023
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 3: 18 May 2023
1976 (2022)
★★★★☆
Chilean political thriller 1976 is an unbearably tense and involving debut from actor turned director Manuela Martelli, starring award-winning Aline Kuppenheim.
I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) (2021)
★★★★☆
US festival favourite I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) is a touching, positive indie movie, female written and directed, made during Los Angeles’ lockdown (see the mask use) focusing on the struggles to be independent of a widowed mother who happens to be homeless, black and female – and beautiful.
Berlinale 2023 Review: El Castillo (2023) (The Castle)
★★★☆☆
Berlinale presents San Sebastián award winner El Castillo (The Castle) a strangely moving mixture of documentary and fiction by Martin Benchimol.
A Love Song (2022)
★★★★☆
Dale Dickey plays a widow reflecting on life and love and the possibility of connection with an old friend in writer/director Max Walker-Silverman’s tender character study A Love Song.
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.
Emily (2022)
★★★★☆
Emily Brontë’s creative inspiration is explored through an imagined version of the author’s short life in Frances O’Connor’s stirring directorial debut Emily.
BFI LFF 2022: 1976
★★★★☆
Chilean political thriller 1976 screening at the BFI London Film Festival is an unbearably tense and involving debut from actor turned director Manuela Martelli, starring award-winning Aline Kuppenheim.
BFI LFF 2022: Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters (2022)
★★★★☆
Kanaval, an immersive documentary by Leah Gordon and Eddie Hutton-Mills screened at the BFI London Film Festival reveals the traditional and cultural significance of carnival in Haiti with striking footage and in Haitians own words.
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.
Faya Dayi (2021)
★★★★☆
Faya Dayi, a poetic documentary by director, producer and cinematographer Jessica Beshir, paints a tapestry of haunting recollections and stories about khat that create a vivid picture of the socio-political landscape in Ethiopia.