★★★☆☆
If Only I Could Hibernate written, directed and produced by Zoljargal Purevdash is an involving, behind-the-scenes look at pressing issues in Mongolia, with an ecological message, seen through the life of an endearing teenager.
★★★★☆
Opponent, written and directed by Milad Alami, is a powerful, must-see film about the refugee experience and conflicted desires.
★★★☆☆
The Trouble with Jessica directed by Matt Winn is a north London-set black comedy.
★★★★☆
Io Capitano directed by Matteo Garrone is an empathetic, award-winning migrant story.
★★★☆☆
The Sweet East is cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ directorial debut, with a screenplay by film critic Nick Pinkerton. It stars Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always) as a contemporary Alice in Wonderland, a student on a dreamlike road trip, satirising US subcultures.
★★★☆☆
Baltimore (misleading title) is a biopic of the life of revolutionary class warrior Rose Dugdale in Ireland, written and directed by husband and wife team Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor.
★★★★☆
strong>The Delinquents directed by Rodrigo Morena is an enthralling, misleading Argentinian film – original but also reminiscent of Spike Jonze or a reversal of The Shawshank Redemption.
★★★☆☆
High school football star Dakota Riley is winning on the playing field but secretly is grappling with his burgeoning sexuality which threatens to derail his life in writer-director Benjamin Howard’s autobiographical coming-of-age drama Riley.
★★★★☆
Perfect Days is acclaimed director Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set film for which Koji Yakusho won a well-deserved Best Actor award.
★★★☆☆
Your Fat Friend, a documentary directed by Jeanie Finlay, is the touching story of obesity rights campaigner Aubrey Gordon.
★★★☆☆
The Settlers is an angry, violent Western-type version of the brutal colonial birth of Chile by first-time filmmaker Felipe Gálvez.
★★★★☆
Jackdaw directed by Jamie Childs is a fast-moving action thriller that beautifully exploits the northeast’s brutal post-industrial landscape and breath-taking country.
★★★★☆
Abel Ferrara’s Padre Pio links religious fervour, the growth of fascism and socialism, and the Ukraine invasion, and is based on true events culminating on 14 October 1920.
★★★★☆
This Blessed Plot: this charming film, directed by Marc Isaacs, celebrates this disappearing England and its real people, current and historical.