The Birth of a Nation (2016)
★★★★☆
The Birth of a Nation is director Nate Parker’s emotional condemnation of America’s brutal history of slavery through the true story of one man who led a rebellion.
features
Chi-Raq (2016)
★★★★☆
A dazzling rap musical against the epidemic of gun violence amongst Chicago’s black communities, Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq is sensational.
BFI LFF 2016: SPACESHIP (2016)
Spaceship is a dreamlike, semi-psychedlic, free-flowing story of teenage cyber goths and alien abductions. Spaceship CAUTION: Here be spoilers A spaceship is what gets…
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BFI LFF 2016: MIRZYA (2016)
★★★★☆
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s stunning Mirzya receives its European premiere at the 60th BFI London Film Festival.
BFI LFF 2016 OPENING GALA: A UNITED KINGDOM (2016)
★★★★☆
The first film by a black woman director to screen as the Opening Gala of the BFI London Film Festival, Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom evokes a powerful interracial love story that threatened the British Empire.
Summertime (2015)
Catherine Corsini’s 1970s troubled lesbian romance basks in an idyllic Summertime in France in the days of women’s lib. Summertime CAUTION: Here be spoilers…
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Maggie’s Plan (2015)
What happens when you realise your husband is perfect for his ex-wife? In Rebecca Miller’s screwball New York romcom Maggie’s Plan, life doesn’t always…
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Mustang (2015)
★★★☆☆
A stirring portrait of female freedom denied, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang is a deeply personal story with a profound political resonance.
The 66th Berlin Film Festival – Berlinale 2016
Focusing on the refugee crisis, the 66th Berlin Film Festival awards Gianfranco Rosi’s Fuocoammare the Golden Bear and underscores the importance of standing together.
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Festival Review: Don’t Call Me Son (2016)
★★★☆☆
Depicting the impossible situation of teenagers reclaimed by birth parents, Anna Muylaert’s Don’t Call Me Son clothes her emotion in a plain black smock.
Festival Review: Chi-Raq (2016)
★★★★★
A dazzling rap musical against the epidemic of gun violence amongst Chicago’s black communities, Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq is sensational.
Festival Review: A Serious Game (2016)
★★☆☆☆
An evocative period drama of forbidden love, Pernilla August’s em>A Serious Game is disappointingly short on characterisation and emotion.
Sherpa (2015)
★★★☆☆
Giving a voice to the sherpas who risk life and limb to make a living on Everest, Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa finds itself caught between two camps.
THE 59TH LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
Opening and closing with the crowning achievements of the 20th century, the 59th London Film Festival brings the battle of the sexes centre-stage.
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