African Apocalypse (2020)
★★★★☆
The BFI London Film Festival 2020 premiered African Apocalypse, a brilliant new documentary by British-Nigerian poet and activist Femi Nylander that uncovers a hidden part Africa’s colonial history.
★★★★
BFI LFF 2020: One Man and his Shoes (2020)
★★★★☆
One Man and his Shoes, the debut documentary feature by Yemi Bamiro, is a fascinating dissection of a cultural phenomenon – trainers.
BFI LFF 2020: Ammonite (2020)
★★★★☆
Francis Lee’s second feature after his stunning, award-winning debut with God’s Own Country is another queer love story, this time between two women in 1840s Lyme Regis, starring Kate Winslet and Saorse Ronan.
BFI LFF 2020: One Night in Miami (2020)
★★★★☆
One Night in Miami, directed by Regina King, is a fictionalised account of an extraordinary meeting that really took place in 1964 between black icons the-then Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke.
BFI LFF 2020: Supernova (2020)
★★★★☆
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are superb in Harry MCQueen’s Supernova, this intimate portrayal of a couple facing a challenging future with one of them suffering from early onset dementia.
BFI LFF 2020: Eyimofe (This is My Desire) (2020)
★★★★☆
Eyimofe is the moving, contemporary, Lagos-set debut feature by twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri.
BFI LFF 2020: Kajillionaire (2020)
★★★★☆
Kajillionaire by visionary filmmaker Miranda July is an absurd, dead-pan coming-of-age satire on the American dream.
Rocks (2019) and Q&A
★★★★☆
Rocks by Sarah Gavron is a sad and joyous film about the resilience and spirit of girlhood – sisterhood at its most powerful.
Les Misérables (2019)
★★★★☆
Les Misérables is an explosive first feature about simmering racial tensions in a Paris banlieu from Malian-French actor and director Ladj Ly.
The Brink (2019) – ON DEMAND
★★★★☆
Alison Klayman’s The Brink is a must-see documentary following dangerous eminence grise Steve Bannon over the crucial period of the US midterms and the EU elections.
Babyteeth (2019)
★★★★☆
Babyteeth is a vivid new take on coming-of-age directed by Shannon Murphy from a script that Rita Kalnejais adapted from her play of the same title.
Pinocchio (2020)
★★★★☆
Matteo Garrone’s surreal live-action fantasy takes the Italian classic Pinocchio disturbingly back to its original dark roots.
Papicha (2019) ON DEMAND
★★★★☆
Papicha is a stunning female-centred drama freely inspired, its director Mounia Meddour says, by real events in Algeria in the 1990s.
Make Up (2019) – in cinemas and on demand. Online Q&A 3 August
Make Up is an original coming-of-age horror/drama by first-time director Claire Oakley.
Read More