VENICE 2024: Manas (2024)
★★★☆☆
Manas by Marianna Brennand takes us into turmoil in a closed Amazonian community.
Alexa Dalby
VENICE 2024: Vittoria (2024)
★★★☆☆
Vittoria is an extraordinary, moving drama based on real events about a woman’s need to adopt a child, directed by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman.
VENICE 2024: Quiet Life (2024)
★★★☆☆
Quiet Life, directed by Alexander Avranas, shows how the stress of being a Russian refugee in Sweden can result in resignation syndrome (a ‘shutting down’).
Black Dog (2024) (Gou Zhen)
★★★★☆
Black Dog is ‘Sixth Generation’ director Hu Guan’s hit film, a huge allegory about rapid change in modern China.
Mandoob (Night Courier) (2023)
★★★☆☆
Mehdoob (Night Courier) directed by Ali Kalthami is a sophisticated thriller about a hapless delivery driver caught in societal change in Saudi Arabia.
Toronto Film Festival 2024 (49th): 6–15 September 2024
★★★★☆
TIFF 6-15 September 2024
Kneecap (2024)
★★★★☆
Kneecap, written and directed by Rich Peppiat, is the comic, fictionalised story of the rise to fame of the Irish-language rap trio Kneecap – played by themselves.
Only the River Flows (2023)
★★★★☆
Only the River Flows is a scintillating Chinese neo-noir, the third film directed by Wei Shujun.
LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL 2024: Mexico 86 (2024)
★★★★☆
Mexico 86 by César Diaz is the tension-fraught story of a mother’s love versus her idealism, against the background of the World Cup.
About Dry Grasses (2023) (Kuru Otlar Üstüne)
★★★★★
About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan is another masterpiece from the Turkish auteur.
Shayda (2023)
★★★★☆
Shayda, the heartfelt first feature directed by Noora Niasari, is a compelling story of an Iranian woman fleeing domestic abuse to seek cultural freedom.
Orlando, My Political Biography (2023) (Orlando, Ma Biographie Politique)
★★★☆☆
Orlando, My Political Biography by trans activist Paul B Preciado is a moving documentary inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel.
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.
Sheffield Documentary Festival: The Boy and the Suit of Lights (2024) (El niño y el traje de luces)
★★★★☆
The Boy and the Suit of Lights is a raw documentary by Inma De Reyes that uncovers an insider’s view of some of the tensions between traditional and modern Spain.