Volubilis

Faouzi Bensaïdi : 2017

A tale of love in a world of despair, of beauty among the ruins. In the Moroccan city of Meknès, recently married Abdelkader and Malika struggle to make ends meet. He works as a shopping mall security guard, she as a housemaid. They dream of leaving the family house and finally starting a life of their own together. But one day at work, Abdelkader gets mixed up in a violent incident that will turn their lives upside down. The drama contrasts a poor but deeply in love young couple with the rich but inhumane and hypocritical upper class. Abdelkader suffers violence only because he is part of the powerless working class, and the corrupt law and government tramples on the weak as though only natural. A powerful criticism about injustice and discrimination in Morocco. Faouzi Bensaïdi's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2017.

Burning Mountains That Spew Flame

Samuel M Delgado & Helena Girón : 2016
Montañas arditens que vomitan fuego

Out in the open, on a mysterious volcanic island, a goatherd is tending his flock. The island's black rock, however, hides the murky depths of a cave complex, as well as shafts that formed in the course of volcanic activity. In these bowels of the earth, which served as a refuge for the resistance during the war but still welcome any lost soul, time has stopped. The enchanting magic of the place exists out of time and geographical location, yet the heart of the island quietly whispers a testimony of local history and mythology. Samuel M Delgado and Helena Girón's short premiered in the Imagina section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Waiting for Ana

Giorgi Mukhadze : 2016
Anas molodinshi

Their mother's death becomes the pretext for long-estranged siblings to reconnect. They lead different lives, so much so that they find it hard to communicate. If they could live quietly together in one apartment they might find their way back to each other, but the constant interruption of grieving rituals and mourning relatives makes this impossible. Then something seemingly insignificant from the past helps them break down the barrier dividing them, and they remember how it was when each other's presence brought them joy. Giorgi Mukhadze's short had its international premiere in the Future Frames section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Breaking News

Iulia Rugină : 2017

Following the tragic death of his cameraman, TV reporter Alex Mazilu is assigned the difficult task of shooting a video obituary in a small town on the Black Sea coast. He himself needs time to physically and mentally recuperate and to deal with his guilt over the fact that he alone came out of the accident alive. But instead of resting, he sets out to investigate his colleague's private life. The only member of the family willing to help is Simona, the deceased's 15-year-old daughter, whose relationship to her father was more than complicated. During three pre-Christmas days, Alex becomes an involuntary witness to the girl's struggle to come to terms with the loss of her father. At the same time he discovers that he didn't really know the man he saw every day at work, although he was convinced of the contrary. Iulia Rugină's feature premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

The Stone

Orhan Eskiköy : 2017
Taş

Over the centuries, the inhabitants of a remote village have created an intimate bond with the infertile soil, and their modest dwellings seem to merge into the ubiquitous stone and ruins. The old stone walls whisper secret wishes and wait for a miracle or at least a spark of hope. The walls confide their prayers to Emete, and soon afterwards she reconnects with her missing son Hasan after an absence of years. Or does she merely succumb to strong desire and begin to see her son in the face of the stranger to whom she offers shelter? The sinister Officer, however, also arrives in the village bent on taking the runaway back, otherwise he'll deprive the villagers of the one thing they hold dear – stone. Bordering on archetype, the story speaks in mysterious allusions, leaving the viewer – fascinated by a region whose forbidding nature is entwined with reassuring myths – to wander uncertainly through the meanders of blind faith, self-deception, and real hope. Orhan Eskiköy's feature premiered at İstanbul Film Festival 2017, and had its international premiere in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Arrhythmia

Boris Khlebnikov : 2017
Aritmiya

Oleg is heading for his thirties. He's a talented paramedic. His ambulance rushes from patient to patient. He knows his timely arrival can tip the scales of life and death. Each of his professional successes makes the world a little better. After a hard shift, he likes to take a few swigs. His wife Katya is also a doctor, working in the hospital's emergency department. But her patience with Oleg is running thin, so she announces one day that she wants a divorce – although they still have to share their poky apartment until Oleg finds a flat. He also discovers there are major changes at his workplace – the new boss at the hospital cares only about statistics and rules, which certainly doesn't make his life any easier. A study of a relationship experiencing an arrhythmia similar to that affecting the hearts of the patients Oleg treats in his ambulance. Boris Khlebnikov's feature premiered at Kinotavr Film Festival 2017, and had its international premiere in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Absence of Closeness

Josef Tuka : 2017
Absence blízkosti

Hedvika doesn't have much luck with the men in her life, and when her latest affair with a married man comes to grief she takes her three-month-old daughter Adélka and her dog to live with her mother and boyfriend in a posh country villa. The young woman's relationship with her distant mother isn't ideal, and she also senses her own maternal feelings for Adélka are still somewhat lacking. One day she chances upon some diaries in her mother's house that her late father had written to her when she was a child. Reading the diaries and visiting the places she used to know as a child, conjuring up faint memories and contemplating decisions made long ago – and their consequences – effect a change in her. Josef Tuka's feature debut premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

The Day After

Hong Sang-soo : 2017
Geu-hu

Areum looks forward to her first day of work at a small publishing house. Until recently, her boss Bongwan was in a relationship with the girl Areum is replacing. Like every other day, Bongwan leaves home early, and on the way to work he thinks constantly of the love he has lost. But today his wife finds a love letter he wrote and she heads to the publishing house. There she mistakes Areum for the woman who was having an affair with her husband. A tale of love, separation, jealousy, and disappointment. Hong Sang-soo's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Falling

Marina Stepanska : 2017
Strimholov

Young Anton has just been released from the rehab centre where he had sought treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. His grandfather, a man of stern principles who brought him up from a young age, takes him off to the country, far from the lure of the big city. One night Anton meets Katia, who, like him, is trying to find her bearings in life, although at least one thing should be clear in her mind: she is shortly to be leaving for Berlin with her boyfriend Johann, a German photojournalist she met during the Maidan demonstrations. Her encounter with Anton, however, brings a new impulse into her life and profoundly affects both of them. Marina Stepanska's feature debut is both a fragile love story and a strong statement on the current young generation as it searches for its place in post-revolutionary Ukraine. Her film premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Les fantômes d'Ismaël

Arnaud Desplechin : 2017
Ismael's Ghosts

Ismaël Vuillard makes films. He is in the middle of one about Ivan, an atypical diplomat inspired by his brother. Along with Bloom, his master and father-in-law, Ismaël still mourns the death of Carlotta, twenty years earlier. Yet he has started his life over again with Sylvia. Sylvia is his light. Then Carlotta returns from the dead. Sylvia runs away. Ismaël rejects Carlotta. Driven mad by these ordeals, he abandons the shoot for his family home in Roubaix. There, he lives as a recluse, besieged by his ghosts. Arnaud Desplechin's feature premiered out of competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

After the War

Annarita Zambrano : 2017
Dopo la guerra

Bologna, 2002. The opposition to the Labour Law explodes in universities. The murder of a judge reopens old political wounds between Italy and France. Marco, a former left-wing activist, sentenced for murder and exiled in France for 20 years, thanks to the Mitterrand doctrine, is accused of having ordered the attack. The Italian government requests his extradition. Discovering that he no longer has political asylum, he is forced to flee with Viola, his 16-year-old daughter. His life will change forever, as well as his family's in Italy who has to pay for Marco's past faults. Annarita Zambrano's feature premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Jeune femme

Léonor Serraille : 2017
Montparnasse Bienvenüe

Paula, in the heat of a tense situation, recounts her life in a disjointed and feverish manner from the hospital to which she has been taken after trying to break down the door of Joachim, a famous photographer. After sharing a life for ten years, Joachim has apparently lost any interest in seeing her now that she's back in Paris after an extended stay in Mexico. At 31 years old, the door to la dolce vita slams in Paula's face, and she finds herself, suddenly and without warning, in dire straits in the capital, with no money and no realistic possibility of turning to her family. Nevertheless, this exuberant, straight-talking, hyper-social, sharp-tongued and occasionally borderline disturbed young woman is not entirely without resources. Léonor Serraille's feature debut was winner of the Caméra d'Or when it premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Tower. A Bright Day.

Jagoda Szelc : 2017
Wieża. Jasny dzień.

Mula lives with her husband, sick mother and daughter Nina in a countryside house. At the weekend before Nina's First Holy Communion, her brother with his family come for a visit together with Kaja – Mula's younger sister, who disappeared suddenly six years earlier. Kaja is Nina's biological mother. Mula is afraid that unstable Kaja might want to take her daughter away. The rest of the family, who at first keep their distance from Kaja, start to believe that this might be a new beginning for them and a chance for the sisters to reconcile. All this makes Mula even more frustrated and she decides to kick Kaja out. On the day of the first communion the sisters put their differences aside. However, there is another, more important reason why Kaja came home in the first place. Jagoda Szelc's feature was winner of the awards for Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay when it premiered in competition at Gdynia Film Festival 2017.

Dark River

Clio Barnard : 2017

Sheep shearer Alice returns to her family's farm in Yorkshire after an absence of 15 years, following her father Richard's death. There, for the first time since her departure, she will encounter her brother Joe, who has been left behind taking care of their sick father and the property. Alice is back to claim the tenancy to their farm, which comes as a surprise to Joe, and so a conflict will emerge between them. At the same time, more landlords are starting to consider Alice as a threat. As she tries to salvage her relationship with her brother, she's also fighting her traumatic memories, since their father regularly raped her as a teenager. Using the tenancy as an excuse, Alice aims to confront and unearth the past. She needs to release this tension and take Joe along with her on her devastating journey. It is important for her to reach closure, even if it seems almost impossible. Alice returns more unprotected than ever, to a male-dominated environment where she has to exorcise her own demons and evolve on a personal level. Clio Barnard's third feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2017.

Gutland

Govinda van Maele : 2017

Early one summer morning a young man, with a secret stashed away in a duffel bag, emerges from the forest. In a nearby village he asks around for work, but the farmers, suspicious to the point of hostility, are not very forthcoming. Only when Lucy, the mayor's unruly daughter, takes a liking to him, does the village change its attitude: he is promptly offered a job as a farmhand and a caravan to live in. As time passes and he is gradually integrated into the community, it emerges that he's not the only one with a past to hide. Something sinister is lurking under the immaculate surface of this picturesque little world – and it is slowly drawing him in. Govinda van Maele's fiction feature debut premiered at Toronto International Film Festival.

El cuento de Antonia

Jorge Cadena : 2016
The Tale of Antonia

A visionary tale of contemporary Colombia. The wind picks up and tempers fray in the fishing village of Bocas de Ceniza on the northern tip of Colombia. Antonia – in her virginal white dress – undergoes an undefined religious ritual, seemingly carefree. She isn't easily convinced and chooses her own path. Jorge Cadena's graduation film was winner of the Tiger Award for Short Films when it premiered in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017.

Thelma

Joachim Trier : 2017

Having grown up in a small coastal town, Thelma moves to Oslo to study Biology. She's quite introverted, sensitive and conservative due to her family's rigorous Christian background, so she doesn't have any real friends at the university. Whilst in the library, Thelma experiences a severe seizure; fortunately, fellow student Anja, who is sitting next to her, comes to her aid immediately. After this experience, Thelma feels extremely attracted to Anja, who reciprocates Thelma's attraction, and a relationship blossoms between them, although the closer they get, the more intense Thelma's seizures become. As it becomes clear that the seizures are symptoms of mysterious and dangerous psychological abilities, Thelma is confronted with secrets from her past and the terrifying implications of her newfound powers. Joachim Trier's feature was winner of the Norwegian Film Critics Award when it premiered at Norwegian International Film Festival 2017.

Sicilian Ghost Story

Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza : 2017

In a little Sicilian village on the edge of a forest, Giuseppe, a boy of 13, vanishes. Luna, his classmate who's in love with him, refuses to accept his mysterious disappearance. She rebels against the silence and complicity surrounding her. To find him, she descends into the dark world which has swallowed him up and which has a lake as its mysterious entrance. Only their indestructible love will be able to bring her back. Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza's second feature premiered as a Special Screening at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2017.

L'amant d'un jour

Philippe Garrel : 2017
Lover for a Day

The story of a father, his 23-year-old daughter, who goes back home one day because she has just been dumped, and his new girlfriend, who is also 23 and lives with him. Gilles, a professor of philosophy has been having a secret affair for the last three months with Ariane, one of his students – a relationship that he, resisted in the beginning. But he is also a father who sees his daughter Jeanne barge home one evening after a breakup, in tears and with her suitcase. Placing herself in the living room and at the heart of the life of the two lovers, Jeanne unloads her deep suffering. Consolatory and confident at first, Ariane slowly begins to feel pangs of jealously about Gilles's paternal love for his daughter and also shares loaded secrets with Jeanne who deploys schemes, conscious and unconscious, to remain the centre of attention. Whilst both might appear to be close and share the bond of an age dominated by desire, the two young women are, in reality, the protagonists of an underground war because the enemy remains the enemy even when you know that you are wrongly occupying their territory. Philippe Garrel's feature was winner of the Prix SACD when it premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2017.

A Ciambra

Jonas Carpignano : 2017

In A Ciambra, a small Romani community in Calabria, Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. At 14, he drinks, smokes and is one of the few to easily slide between the region's factions – the local Italians, the African refugees and his fellow Romani. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets of their hometown. When Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong, Pio sets out to prove he's ready to step into his big brother's shoes but soon finds himself faced with an impossible decision that will show if he is truly ready to become a man. Jonas Carpignano's second feature premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Dede

Mariam Khatchvani : 2017

Dina lives in a remote village high in the Georgian mountains where traditions have remained the same for centuries. Her marriage has been arranged but when handsome Gegi returns from war, she falls in love with him and they elope. Four years later Dina is estranged from her family but lives happily with Gegi and their child. Then Gegi is tragically killed. In traditional Svaneti culture a widow must marry the first man who asks for her hand, so when Girshel proposes, Dina is forced to leave her home and little boy behind forever. However, when Moses falls deathly ill, Girshel fights through the treacherous winter snow to get the life saving medicine. In the end Dina, along with Girshel, defies years of tradition and takes her child with her back to Ushguli. Mariam Khatchvani's feature debut was the winner of the Special Jury Prize when it premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Gabriel e a montanha

Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa : 2017
Gabriel and the Mountain

Before entering a prestigious American university, Gabriel Buchmann decides to travel the world for one year. After ten months on the road with his backpack full of dreams, immersed at the heart of various countries, he arrives in Kenya determined to discover the African continent. Until he reaches the top of Mount Mulanje, Malawi, his final destination. Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa's second fiction feature was winner of the France 4 Visionary Award when it premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2017.

La familia

Gustavo Rondón Córdova : 2017

Twelve-year-old Pedro roams the streets with his friends, raised by the violent urban atmosphere around him in a working class district of Caracas. After Pedro seriously injures another boy in a rough game of play, his single father Andrés decides they must flee to hide. Andrés will realise he is incapable of controlling his own teenage son, but their situation will bring them closer than they have ever been. Gustavo Rondón Córdova's feature premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2017.

120 battements par minute

Robin Campillo : 2017
BPM (Beats Per Minute)

120 BPM. The average heart rate. Early 1990s. With AIDS having already claimed countless lives for nearly ten years, ACT UP Paris activists multiply actions to fight general indifference, demanding action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the epidemic. Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant, who throws his last bits of strength into the struggle. Robin Campillo's feature was winner of the FIPRESCI Prize, the François Chalais Award, the Grand Prix of the Jury, and the Queer Palm when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Rodin

Jacques Doillon : 2017

Paris 1880, Auguste Rodin aged 40, finally receives his first State commission: he creates The Gates of Hell, composed of figurines. Some of these will become his most famous works, such as The Kiss and The Thinker. He shares his life with Rose, his lifelong partner, when he meets the young Camille Claudel. His most gifted student, she quickly becomes his assistant, then his mistress. A decade of passion, mutual admiration and complicity ensues. Following their break up, Rodin continues to work relentlessly. He faces both the rejection and enthusiasm provoked by the sensuality of his sculptures, and with his Balzac, rejected during his lifetime, creates the undeniable starting point of modern sculpture. Jacques Doillon's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Loveless

Andrey Zvyagintsev : 2017
Nelyubov

Boris and Zhenya are going through a divorce. Arguing constantly, and in the process of selling their apartment, they are already preparing for their new lives: Boris with his younger, pregnant girlfriend and Zhenya with the wealthy lover who is keen to get married. Neither seems interested in their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until he disappears. Unheard, unloved, and above all, unwanted, the introverted and unhappy boy feels that he is an intolerable burden, however, what his parents don't know is that he can hear every single word. As a result, when Boris and Zhenya finally realise that Alyosha has been missing for nearly two days, it is already too late. But is this a simple case of a runaway teenager? Andrey Zvyagintsev's fifth feature was winner of the Jury Prize when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Redoubtable

Michel Hazanavicius : 2017
Le Redoutable

Paris 1967. Jean-Luc Godard, the maker of À bout de souffle, Le Mépris and Pierrot le fou, is idolised by critics and intellectuals. The leading filmmaker of his generation, he is now shooting La Chinoise with the woman he loves, Anne Wiazemsky, 20 years his junior. They are happy, attractive, in love, they marry. But the film's reception unleashes a profound self-examination in Jean-Luc. The events of May '68 will amplify this process, and the crisis that shakes the filmmaker will transform him profoundly, from a star cineaste to a Maoist artist entirely outside the system, as misunderstood as he is incomprehensible. Michel Hazanavicius's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Jupiter's Moon

Kornél Mundruczó : 2017
Jupiter holdja

A young immigrant is shot down while illegally crossing the border. Terrified and in shock, wounded Aryan can now mysteriously levitate at will. Thrown into a refugee camp, he is smuggled out by Dr Gabor Stern, an errant doctor who has been suspended from his job at the hospital following a fatal accident during a surgical operation. After discovering Aryan's prodigious gift and putting his initial astonishment to one side, this man, who is totally devoid of any faith, decides to use this miracle for lucrative purposes. Pursued by enraged camp director László, the fugitives remain on the move in search of safety and money. Inspired by Aryan's amazing powers, Gabor takes a leap of faith in a world where miracles are trafficked for small change. As the levitations and miracles continue, there is a gradual change in Gabor, who becomes aware of the "Christlike" nature of this "young prince" by his side – who all the while is searching for his father after he disappeared during the border crossing. Kornél Mundruczó's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Hikari

Naomi Kawase : 2017
Radiance

Misako Ozaki is employed by the company White Light to write audio descriptions for blind cinema goers. Among the consultants who evaluate her work and offer guidance is Masaya Nakamori, a renowned photographer struggling to come to terms with the fact that he is losing his sight. Masaya tries to make the most of his last remaining glimmers of vision to continue working with his Rolleiflex. Meanwhile, Misako is bearing her own burden of grief after losing her father a few years ago, and she is anxious about the advancing illness of her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's and lives under supervision in the countryside despite exhortations that she should be placed in a care home. Misako then discovers Nakamori's photographs, who will strangely bring her back to her past. Together, they will learn to see the radiant world that was invisible to her eyes. Naomi Kawase's feature was winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Happy End

Michael Haneke : 2017

Gradually succumbing to dementia, Georges Laurent, the octogenarian patriarch of the Laurents, an affluent bourgeois family, is uncomfortably sharing his palatial manor in Calais, the heart of the infamous migrant jungle, with his twice-married son, Thomas, and Anne, his workaholic daughter who has taken over the family construction business. Divorced and frigid, Anne has to handle the impact of a disastrous workplace accident caused by her disappointing son Pierre's negligence, while at the same time, the urgent hospitalisation of Thomas's ex-wife from a mysterious poisoning, leads his sulky 13-year-old daughter, Eve, to live with her father and his new wife, Anaïs. Undoubtedly, in this family, everyone has a skeleton in the closet, and as the fates of the Laurents enmesh with insistent and ignoble desires, a peculiar and disturbing alliance will form. But in the end, some secrets are bigger than others. Michael Haneke's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Frost

Šarūnas Bartas : 2017

The story of a young man who has never experienced war but has grown up in its shadow. He enters a journey of discovery and sacrifice, crossing borders between countries, between people. Rokas and Inga, a couple of young Lithuanians, volunteer to drive a cargo van of humanitarian aid from Vilnius to Ukraine. When plans change and they find themselves left to their own devices, they cross the vast snowy lands of the Donbass region in search of allies and shelter, drifting into the lives of those affected by the war. They approach the frontline in spite of the danger, all the while growing closer to each other as they begin to understand life during wartime. Šarūnas Bartas's feature premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Ava

Léa Mysius : 2017

13-year-old Ava is spending the summer on the Atlantic coast when she learns that she will lose her sight earlier than predicted. Her mother decides to behave as though nothing has changed so that they can spend the loveliest summer of their lives. Ava confronts the problem in her own way. She steals a large black dog belonging to a young man on the run. "Your field of vision is going to get smaller, you'll lose your night vision, and soon you'll lose your sight." The analysis of the ophthalmologist is final and cruel for Ava who is on holiday for 15 days by the sea with her mother Maud and sister, baby Inès. Caught in this spider's web, this black circle relentlessly closing in on her, the teenager's feelings and deepest desires, secret and violent, come racing to the surface in a diary she writes ("there are children playing in the garden. I want them to drown and for them to never be spoken of again") along with an attraction to a mysterious and laconic gypsy who lives in a cave under a blockhaus further along the beach where Ava goes sand yachting. Stealing the boy's black dog to get used to life as a blind person, the teenager pushes the boundaries of a life that up until then had been very sensible. Léa Mysius's feature debut was winner of the SACD Award when it premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Hostages

Rezo Gigineishvili : 2017

The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1983. Border guards are keeping an eye on a group of young Georgians who are enjoying a boisterous dip in the Black Sea. They are smoking cigarettes from the West and listening to the Beatles. They all long to lead independent, professional lives, free from the police state and their parental homes. The group includes doctors, actors, an aspirant for the orthodox priesthood, as well as Anna and Nika, who are about to marry. But their thoughts are all preoccupied by something else altogether: after the wedding they plan to board a scheduled flight in Tbilisi, hijack the aircraft at gunpoint and force the pilot to land in Turkey. Their fierce desire for freedom and an unfortunate chain of unexpected events lead to a national tragedy. A tense, atmospheric re-telling of the Tbilisi hijacking of 1983 depicting young Soviet citizens who see themselves crushed between the promise of Western culture and repressive Communist rule. The crisis ended with a storming of the airliner by Soviet special forces that resulted in eight dead. The surviving hijackers were subsequently tried and executed. Rezo Gigineishvili's feature premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Honeygiver Among the Dogs

Dechen Roder : 2016

They say she's incredibly beautiful and a real female demon. The things that Kinley, a cop, hears about the mysterious Choden who is the subject of his investigations are making him very curious. His boss has sent him to the Bhutanese district of Bumthang to look into the disappearance of a religious leader. In the eyes of the narrow-minded locals, newcomer Choden has long been a prime suspect. Armed with his mobile phone and his stoic disbelief in all the spiritual claptrap going on around him, Kinley meets her on a bus. But it's not this deliberately sober undercover cop who approaches her, but she who speaks to him – and promptly throws him completely off balance with all her metaphors about goddesses and animals. Dechen Roder's feature debut premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2016.

God's Own Country

Francis Lee : 2017

Young Johnny Saxby is running his ailing father's farm in Yorkshire. The communication between father and son reflects their adverse living and working conditions, the father's utterances mostly being restricted to terse criticism of his son. Johnny's grandmother plays her part stoically. A frustrated Johnny endures his strenuous daily routine. In a bid to escape the harsh daily grind, he has no-strings sex with men, or gets drunk at the local pub. In the spring, a farm hand is taken on for the lambing season. Romanian Gheorghe is the same age as Johnny, who at first eyes him with suspicion. The initial tension between the two men soon gives way to an intense relationship. This opens up completely new prospects but also presents new challenges for Johnny. Francis Lee's feature debut premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2017, and was winner of the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017.

Inflame

Ceylan Özgün Özçelik : 2017
Kaygı

Hasret works for a Turkish television news channel which prides itself on the ambitious maxim: 'What you see is the truth. What you hear is the truth.' But then, suddenly, things begin to change. Editors are told not to comment on politicians' speeches; the news is manipulated and the use of social networks on internal computers is prohibited. Bullied by her overbearing boss, Hasret soon finds herself without her job as an independent film editor. She withdraws into her flat where she begins to experience hallucinations: she hears voices, the walls move and she sees the curtains on fire. Moreover, she begins to realise that her parents were not killed in a traffic accident twenty years ago but must have died in some other, horrific way. What is being kept from her? Ceylan Özgün Özçelik's psychological thriller, her feature debut, premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Ghost in the Mountains

Yang Heng : 2017
Kong shan yi ke

A godforsaken region in highland China. The body of a man who has been beaten to death is found on the mountainside. The police station and a hospital would appear to be the only places still functioning in this impassable wilderness strewn with ruined buildings and forlorn-looking streets. This is the home to which Lao Liu is now returning after an absence of many years. He pays a visit to the grave of a friend who died in an accident, shares with his friend's sister memories of happier times before he left her, and re-encounters A Jie, who is mixed up in criminal activities and dreams of being able to see the sea once in his life. Barely anyone stays here. The younger generation has moved to the big cities in search of a better life either through marriage or by securing a factory job. A Jie has other plans and is in need of Lao Liu's help. But following an encounter with a monk Lao Liu finds himself withdrawing into the spiritual world he once sought to escape. Yang Heng's feature premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Maudie

Aisling Walsh : 2016

Since her childhood Maud has suffered from a severe form of arthritis which has deformed her bones and makes almost every movement agony. When her brother sells their parents' home, the young woman has to move in with her mother in Nova Scotia. Maud is lonely but filled with a desire for life, driven by her great passion for painting. Desperate for more independence, she responds to an advert for a live-in housekeeper placed by fishmonger and social misfit, Everett. From this moment on, the two share everyday life in his little cottage. Gradually, they get to know each other and finally marry. Maud begins to decorate their home with her paintings and soon becomes something of a local celebrity. The colourful motifs on her postcards and small canvasses gain a reputation as far away as in New York and Washington. At some point, they even fill the taciturn Everett with pride. The sensitively told story of folk artist Maud Lewis who rebels against her own physical deterioration and finds happiness in her art. At the same time the film tells the tale of an unusual, understated love that blossoms in the austere landscape of Canada's Atlantic coastline. Aisling Walsh's feature premiered at Telluride Film Festival 2016.

Le jeune Karl Marx

Raoul Peck : 2017
The Young Karl Marx

1844. Karl Marx is 26 years old and living with his wife Jenny in exile in Paris. He is habitually in debt and plagued by existential anxieties. When he first meets the slightly younger factory owner's son Friedrich Engels he dismisses him as a dandy. But Engels, who has just published a study on the miserable impoverishment of the English proletariat, has long since begun to distance himself from his own class. The two like-minded men become friends and soon inspire each other to write texts in which they seek to provide a theoretical foundation for the revolution they believe must come. Their goal is no longer to merely interpret the world, but to change it. Fundamentally. Resistance on the part of conservative forces and internal power struggles within the political Left only serve to spur them on. Raoul Peck's feature premiered in the Berlinale Special Gala at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Una mujer fantástica

Sebastián Lelio : 2017
A Fantastic Woman

Marina and Orlando are in love and plan to spend their lives together. She is working as a waitress and adores singing. Her lover, twenty years her senior, has left his family for her. One night, when they return home after having exuberantly celebrated Marina's birthday at a restaurant, Orlando suddenly turns deathly pale and stops responding. At the hospital, all the doctors can do is confirm his death. Events follow thick and fast: Marina finds herself facing a female police inspector's unpleasant questions, and Orlando's family shows her nothing but anger and mistrust. Orlando's wife excludes Marina from the funeral; she also orders her to leave the apartment – which on paper at least belonged to Orlando – as soon as possible. Marina is a transgender woman. The deceased's family feels threatened by her sexual identity. With the same energy she once used to fight for her right to live as a woman Marina, with head held high, now insists on her right to grieve. Sebastián Lelio's feature was winner of the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay and the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

69 Minutes of 86 Days

Egil Håskjold Larsen : 2017

Slowly we glide over the remains of life-jackets, torn travel bags and discarded shoes at an unnamed shoreline, establishing the tense political framework of this story. From here we pass on to observe groups of fellow travellers, still continuously moving forward. In the midst of the crowd a three-year-old girl, Lean, catches our attention. She is sitting on the shoulders of her father, with a Frozen backpack on her own back. The father is wearing a hoodie, an Adidas backpack and Nike shoes. This is a family like our own; these people are just like our neighbours. The only, but huge, difference is that they have lost their home and are on their way to a new one – one with their relatives who live in Sweden. There are no interviews or voice-overs; the filmmaker follows the family, which also includes Lean's mother and sister as well as her uncles, as they wait at the Macedonian border, then get into a car driven by a Serbian, walk through Hungarian fields, get on a train in Austria, and then board a bus in Germany. But these locations are not identified with narrative titles – the viewer can determine their geographical position only by means of road signs, railway station instructions or the language spoken in some of the scenes. Carefully we are getting into Lean's journey, and we get to know her outstanding character as she slowly makes her way through Europe with her family. She is strong, never cries and seems to grasp the seriousness of these circumstances. This film tells the story about childhood, family relations, hope and a world that is difficult to understand. Egil Håskjold Larsen's documentary, his first feature, premiered at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival 2017.

69 Minutes of 86 Days – trailer (vimeo)

Helle Nächte

Thomas Arslan : 2017
Bright Nights

Austrian civil engineer Michael lives with his girlfriend in Berlin. For years, he has barely had any contact with his 14-year-old son Luis. When Michael's father dies the two nonetheless travel together to the funeral which is held in the remote north of Norway. At the deceased's secluded home Michael begins to pack up his late father's personal items – watched in silence by his son. Two people who barely know each other are suddenly caught in an intimate situation. After the funeral, Michael surprises Luis by suggesting that they spend a few days together exploring the region. A road movie begins that is also a journey into their non-existent shared past. Being together turns out to be more difficult than expected. Never having spent any time with each other on a daily basis, they have trouble handling their relationship. Whilst Michael glosses over this situation, Luis can't hide how hurt he is. His father's long years of absence stand between them like a wall. When they are in the car together it feels like the calm before a storm. During the long days of the summer solstice, days when the sun never sets, Michael tries to break the repetitive cycle and find a joint way forward. Thomas Arslan's feature was winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actor when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Final Portrait

Stanley Tucci : 2017

Paris in 1964. Alberto Giacometti is the one who decides when it is time for work, drink, doubt, destruction, flirtation or laughter in his studio. An established artist whose works fetch record prices, he hides his earnings in his studio. This is just one of the causes of many an argument with his wife Annette, another being the fact that his mistress Caroline receives all his attention. His brother Diego, also an artist, is all too familiar with his idiosyncrasies. One day, Giacometti asks American art critic and biographer James Lord to pose for him. But their sittings, scheduled to take a week, are frequently interrupted by visits to the bistro or long car rides, with no end in sight. Lord postpones his return flight several times. The films peers into the workshop and personality of this famous Swiss painter and sculptor, two years before his death. It shows the artist with all his strengths and weaknesses and relates the chaos of his artistic output, doubts, and courageous ability to destroy and begin afresh. Stanley Tucci's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Colo

Teresa Villaverde : 2017

In Portugal, a father, a mother and a daughter's daily lives are being subsumed by the effects of the economic crisis. This is a process which begins to influence their life together by degrees while their nicely furnished high-rise flat continues to tell a tale of different, bygone times. The unemployed father spends his days on the roof gazing at the horizon which no longer offers him a future. The mother returns home exhausted from working double shifts. Their adolescent daughter keeps her secrets to herself and wonders if there is enough money to pay her bus fare to school. The family members begin to shed their previous roles, their relationship to each other changes and unexpected possibilities start to reveal themselves. It may not be apparent to either father, mother or daughter but each of them has long since begun to take their lives in their own hands and to reshape them. Teresa Villaverde's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

On the Beach at Night Alone

Hong Sang-soo : 2017
Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja

After an affair with a married man, celebrated actress Young-hee decides to take some time out. She travels to the far-off, foreign city of Hamburg. In a conversation with a friend she asks herself if her lover will follow her and whether he misses her as much as she misses him. During her long walks through wintry parks and along riverbanks she attempts to become clear about her feelings and desires. Back in Korea, Young-hee meets some old friends in the coastal town of Gangneung. They eat and drink together and under the influence of alcohol Young-hee provokes, insults and angers the others. Their conversations get more and more out of hand, giving vent to minor and major realisations and truths. Afterwards, Young-hee withdraws to a deserted beach. It seems as if she can only truly find herself in nature. Hong Sang-soo's feature won the Silver Bear for Best Actress when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Ana, mon amour

Călin Peter Netzer : 2017

Toma and Ana meet at university. A love affair begins that is full of hopes and dreams and suffused by the feeling that each needs the other in equal measure. Ana has a complicated family background and suffers from severe panic attacks. Middle-class Toma is as shocked as he is fascinated by the deep well of despair he encounters in his beloved. Toma gives Ana his complete support and takes her to see a string of doctors. At the same time the two begin to isolate themselves from their families and friends. Ana's weakness appears to make Toma stronger. When she falls pregnant, Ana embarks on a therapy based on analytical psychoanalysis from which she emerges a stronger person. But then Toma's world begins to topple. The film blends romantic drama with a study of mental illness and how it is overcome. Călin Peter Netzer's feature was winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Close-Knit

Naoko Ogigami : 2017
Karera ga Honki de Amu toki wa

Eleven-year-old Tomo is pretty much left to her own devices. Unwashed dishes are piling up in the sink and supermarket onigiri are all there is to eat again. Tomo's single mother usually comes home late, and drunk. When she leaves her daughter for good one day the girl has to rely on help from her uncle, Makio, who takes in Tomo to live with him and his girlfriend Rinko. At their first meeting Tomo is flabbergasted to discover that Rinko is a transsexual. She works as a caregiver in a nursing home where Makio's mother Sayuri who suffers from dementia is living. Rinko immediately sets about taking care of Tomo; not only does she lovingly prepare meals but she also succeeds in creating a new home for the girl. A story about finding a way out of one's loneliness; in the case of Tomo and her new family the solution is a mixture of human warmth, good food and the symbolic act of knitting. In quietly concentrated images the film portrays non-normative sexuality as a natural way of life and describes the value of families that are defined not by convention but by a loving, caring environment. Naoko Ogigami's feature was winner of the Teddy Jury Award when it premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Call Me by Your Name

Luca Guadagnino : 2017

It's the hot, sun-drenched summer of 1983 and Elio is at his parents' country seat in northern Italy. The 17-year-old idles away the time listening to music, reading books and swimming until one day his father's new American assistant arrives at their large villa. Oliver is charming and, like Elio, has Jewish roots; he is also young, self-confident and good-looking. At first Elio is somewhat cold and distant towards the young man but before long the two begin going out together on excursions. Elio begins to make tentative overtures towards Oliver that become increasingly intimate – even if, as Oliver says, 'one can't talk about such things'. Amid the sun-drenched splendour of the setting, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever. A sensual and transcendent tale of first love. Luca Guadagnino's feature premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2017.

Berlin Syndrome

Cate Shortland : 2017

Australian backpacker Clare is wandering through Berlin's Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg with her stills camera. She's particularly fascinated by the old GDR buildings. She meets a friendly English teacher named Andi and they hit it off immediately. He shows her the allotments and the neighbourhood, and they end up in bed together. Something that begins as a romance takes an unexpectedly sinister turn when, in the morning – Andi has left for school – Clare tries to leave the otherwise empty old building and realises that she is locked in. At first she thinks this is a mistake, but she soon realises that she is a prisoner. Cut off from the rest of the world, Clare experiences terrifying weeks during which she vacillates between yielding to Andi's obsessions and trying to escape. Cate Shortland's feature premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2017.

The Road to Mandalay

Midi Z : 2016

The people-traffickers have a well-established route: from Burma into Thailand across the Mekong River at Tachileik; along quiet country roads; passing bribed police checkpoints and then into Bangkok, where the illegal migrants are on their own. Lianqing is one of five illegals who travel this route one summer night in 2013; along the way a fellow migrant called Guo is kind to her, and their fates later become entwined. By the standards of illegals, Lianqing does well: she finds 'underground' jobs, saves money and finds out how and where to buy faked identity papers. But Guo does less well. They are two people with contradictory personalities, however they seem to be bound by fate. Midi Z's feature was winner of the Fedeora Award for Best Film when it premiered in competition at Venice Days 2016.