Si yo fuera el invierno mismo

Jazmín López : 2020
If I Were the Winter Itself

Four friends meet on a remote estate to create a cinematic re-enactment of three iconic works that embodied the social and artistic revolution of 50 years ago: La Chinoise (1967) by Jean-Luc Godard, Inextinguishable Fire (1969) by Harun Farocki and the performance Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants) (1972) by Ana Mendieta. The estate is a living backdrop for dreams and phantoms. In all its faded glory, it symbolises the privilege of these young artists who gather there to discuss the meaning of their activist examples. Carmen, the project's initiator, is overwhelmed by feelings and thoughts about her ex-lover, Valentin, whom she can't get off her mind. In long takes, the mobile camera explores the rooms of the estate, where the boundary between acting and being seems to dissolve. The spatial dimensions of the location are used to condense time and link Carmen's subjective and objective realities. During the artistic process the friends undergo and between the lines of their cerebral conversations, this gives rise to a mysterious, deep exploration of the complex mourning of lost love. Jazmín López's second feature premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Instinct

Halina Reijn : 2019

Nicoline, an experienced psychologist, starts a new job at a penal institution. She meets Idris, a sex offender who, after five years of treatment for a series of extremely violent sexual assaults, is about to go on his first unaccompanied probation. His team of practitioners are enthusiastic about his development but Nicoline is vehemently opposed, concluding after only a few short meetings that he still poses a great danger to society. Unable to sway her colleagues, she concedes, but also begins to notice her own inability to resist the rush of Idris's manipulation. As her intrigue quickly escalates to infatuation, Nicoline recognises in Idris something unsettled in herself. And where intent is both unimportant and unclear, the two then find themselves face to face in a grippingly quiet yet stomach-churning battle for power and control, in which there can be no true winner. Halina Reijn's feature, her directorial debut, was winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award when it premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2019. The film received the Cineuropa Prize, Youth Jury Award and the award for Best Actress when it screened in competition at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.

Nocturnal

Nathalie Biancheri : 2019

Newly arrived from Dublin, 16-year-old school running champion Laurie lives alone with her single mother in a Yorkshire coastal town. Something of an outsider, the aspiring athlete struggles to connect with the other girls on her track team, distancing herself with a quietly combative demeanour. But Laurie can't deflect the attention of Pete, a handyman in his thirties performing some odd jobs at her school. Frustrated and lonely, Laurie overcomes her initial fear of Pete. After a couple of curt interactions, she eventually agrees to hang out with her new admirer and almost immediately a connection is apparent. As they spend more time together, a unique bond grows, yet Pete's intentions remain ambiguous. Until one day when Pete's real predicament and intentions come to light and the truth emerges. Nathalie Biancheri's feature debut premiered at BFI London Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition in the Hauteur section at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.

Daughter

Daria Kashcheeva : 2019
Dcera

An innovative and heart-wrenching puppet animation in which the bond between a father and a daughter is imperiled by matters that go unspoken and hurts that are slow to heal. The interruption of a small bird transports a woman back to memories of her father. Should you hide your pain? Withdraw yourself into your inner world, full of longing for your father's demonstrative love? Or, should you be understanding and forgive before it is too late? An expressionistic recollection of missed opportunities, the film depicts the relationship between a father and daughter as they overcome a mutual lack of understanding to find their way back to each other. Daria Kashcheeva's short was winner of the Cristal for a Graduation Film, and the Junior Jury Award for a Graduation Film when it premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2019.

Daughter – official trailer (vimeo)

Psychobitch

Martin Lund : 2019

The coming-of-age story of two young people: an unexpected encounter between the best student in the class and a psychotic and rebellious girl. Frida is different – not because she is, but because she wants to be. The 15-year-old has no desire to be part of "Generation Perfect" where all kids end up alike – in stark contrast to Marius, the golden boy of the class, who wants to be the best at whatever he does. When the two are put together in class study tandem, Marius sees a good opportunity to prove how great he is again. Frida for her part has no intention of letting herself be helped or 'fixed'. Yet in his fights with Frida, Marius also experiences something exciting, challenging and completely new. Soon, learning becomes loving – and Frida and Marius, despite their differences, plunge into an unusual, turbulent relationship. Martin Lund's feature screened at Filmfest Hamburg 2019, and was winner of the Audience Award at ArteKino Festival 2019.

Dust and Ashes

Park Hee-kwon : 2019
축복의 집

Hae-su, a frail young girl who works at a factory, is always covered in dust. There seems to be a problem at home, and she seems to be taking care of it in a mysterious way. Her mother has died and the girl runs around anxiously in order to hold the funeral in secrecy. She is clearly in distress, but what is the truth behind Hae-su's suspicious behaviour? Unanswered questions trigger lingering, disquieting feelings about what really happened, how it happened and what lies in the future for her. Park Hee-kwon's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Isaac

Jurgis Matulevičius : 2019
Izaokas

The infamous Operation Barbarossa, the code-name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, expanded to Kaunas in June of 1941. Between forty and sixty Jews were tortured and brutally killed in the incident known as the Lietūkis Garage Massacre. During the massacre a Lithuanian activist, Andrius Gluosnis, kills his Jewish neighbour, Isaac. Twenty-five years later in Soviet Lithuania, movie director Gediminas Gutauskas returns from the USA with a screenplay of a film that portrays, in details, the Lietūkis Garage Massacre and describes a particular situation where Isaac is killed. The screenplay is later brought to the attention and investigated by the KGB. Why does a director, who once relocated to the USA, return to Soviet Lithuania? Why is his scenario so unusually historically accurate to the massacre, as though he would have witnessed it himself? Perhaps he knows someone who attended the massacre themselves? The aftermath of the murder returns many years later to cripple life and love, triggering a chain of fateful coincidences. Jurgis Matulevičius's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Nour

Maurizio Zaccaro : 2019

As two women scroll through their holiday photos at dawn aboard a boat, they hear cries that sound like they're coming from people in the sea. Little by little, they make them out in the water. They're immigrants whose boat has sunk in the Lampedusa waters. Nour is ten years old and she crossed the Mediterranean by herself to reach Europe. What is she doing on her own in Lampedusa, among the survivors of a shipwreck? Pietro Bartolo, the doctor on the island, takes care of her and, step by step, he tries to reconstruct not only the girl's past, but also her present and a new future. Maurizio Zaccaro's feature premiered in the Festa Mobile section at Torino Film Festival 2019.

Cleo

Eva Cools : 2019

Cleo is a 17-year-old girl who survives a devastating car crash which kills her parents. After that fatal night she is raised by her caring grandmother who tries to offer Cleo and her little brother a loving home but finds herself faced with a rebellious teenager. Cleo's father was a renowned concert pianist and she too has been playing the piano since childhood. Although she often listens to contemporary music, the piano – and in particular Rachmaninov's work – plays a central role in Cleo's cathartic processing. Cleo begins to lose herself in Brussels and seeks refuge in the older, mysterious Leos whom she meets in a nightclub and who seems to understand the struggle she is in. Viewing him as a stranger with whom she can reinvent herself, unencumbered by her past and her trauma, she is unaware of the tragic circumstances linking him to herself and her family. Eva Cools's feature directorial debut premiered at Film Fest Gent 2019, and screened in competition in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.

Arracht

Tom Sullivan : 2019
Monster

Connemara, Ireland, 1845 on the eve of the Great Hunger. Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman, a father, a husband, takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. Patsy, a former soldier in the Napoleonic wars arrives just ahead of 'the blight', a disease that eventually wipes out the country's potato crop, contributing to the death and displacement of millions. As the crops rot in the fields, Colmán, his brother and Patsy travel to the English landlord's house to request a stay on rent increases that Colmán predicts will destroy his community. His request falls on deaf ears and Patsy's subsequent actions set Colmán on a path that will take him to the edge of survival, and sanity. Not only must he struggle with hunger and despair, but also with gnawing guilt because of all the people he couldn't save. It is only upon encountering an abandoned young girl that Colmán's resolve is lifted. Just in time for the darkness of his past to pay another visit. Tom Sullivan's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Les Perseides

Alberto Dexeus & Ànnia Gabarró : 2019
The Perseids

Legend has it that the town and the thermal power plant of Escatrón were built over the Spanish Civil War battlefield, leaving behind the dead bodies and burials of its victims. The ghosts and spirits still wander through its streets and buildings, semi-abandoned nowadays. Following her parents' divorce, Mar arrives in Escatrón to spend the strangest summer of her life. The relationship between Mar and her father has not been easy, so she takes refuge in these mysterious legends that float around the town and through a group of young people that seem to function according to some rules which are unknown to her. Mar will discover this to be a more fascinating place than it seemed at first, helping her to get closer to her father to try to make peace with him. Blurring the line between reality and fiction, the tale carefully captures familial and historical troubles, confusing the ghosts of the past and those of the present. Alberto Dexeus and Ànnia Gabarró's feature debut premiered in competition at Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2019, and screened in competition at Gijón International Film Festival 2019.

Antigone

Sophie Deraspe : 2019

Following the murder of their parents, Antigone, her sister Ismène, her brothers Étéocle and Polynice, and their grandmother Ménécée find refuge in Montréal. They live a quiet modest life in a tiny apartment in a working-class neighbourhood. A straight-A student seemingly destined for greatness, Antigone is the glue that holds the family together. Tragedy strikes when Étéocle is wrongfully gunned down by police during the arrest of Polynice, a small-time drug dealer. Motivated by her sense of duty towards her family and fuelled by the memory she cherishes of her dead parents, Antigone decides to jeopardise her own future to preserve that of her family. Feeling the grip of power tightening around her, the teenage girl rejects the law of man and follows her own sense of justice, dictated by love and loyalty. Acutely exploring familial sacrifice, the burden of responsibility, and the nature of justice, this provocative and timely adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy by Sophocles reimagines the story of a woman's quest for justice as a commentary on the immigrant experience in ostensibly welcoming contemporary Canada. Sophie Deraspe's film was winner of the award for Best Canadian Feature Film when it premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.

Dead Volume

Kauê Telloli : 2019
Volume Morto

Without permission and support from the school, a young teacher seeks to understand the strange behaviour of Gustavo – a silent boy who is only 7 years old, nicknamed by the other children "Dead Volume". However, the boy's parents claim that Gustavo's behaviour at home is completely different from the one described by the teacher. The parents decide to conduct an investigation of their own, putting the teacher's job at risk. The young teacher tries to calm down the parents and prevent a scandal from spreading in school. Nevertheless she ends up increasing the distrust of the parents, turning her into the main suspect, and making the puzzle even more unsolvable. Kauê Telloli's feature premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

On the Quiet

Zoltán Nagy : 2019
Szép csendben

A coming-of-age story set in the contemporary Hungarian countryside. Dávid is the first violinist, the soloist of a youth orchestra. Nóra is a cellist who has just joined the orchestra, several years younger than Dávid. The boy finds out that the orchestra's 60-year-old conductor and music teacher is sexually harassing the insecure newcomer. Dávid wants to protect the girl, but it's not at all easy, because the conductor is his mentor, almost a stepfather. And there is no direct evidence of harassment. Indeed, such things generally happen quietly. Even if any bystanders notice anything, they prefer not to talk about it. While looking for the truth, Dávid's life soon starts to spiral out of control as he faces tough decisions and the adult society's negligence. Zoltán Nagy's feature debut had its international premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Homecoming

Adriyanto Dewo : 2019
Mudik

Going back to their hometown for the holidays is a ritual that most urban Asians will undertake at least once a year. It is a journey to reunite with their family and their roots and to recharge themselves. Trying to find solutions for conflicts in her marriage, Aida goes on a road trip with her husband for homecoming. During the trip, they are involved in a fatal road accident in which a man – someone's husband – is killed, and they make a detour to his village to pay their respects to his widow. This accident will jolt them together but also painfully drive them further apart. The unexpected journey forces Aida to face a different future and find answers to the questions in her life. It leads to a metamorphosis through which she will become a better version of herself. Adriyanto Dewo's feature premiered in competition at Macao International Film Festival 2019.

Arima

Jaione Camborda : 2019

Arima is something you glimpse through the mist, something you can sense but still fail to see clearly. A dream, a memory, a desire. In a village of greenery and grey stone, Arima is the story of four women and a girl whose existence is disrupted by the sudden arrival of two strangers. One of them is fleeing from the other, sneaking around town like an elusive being, a ghostly presence of uncertain existence. The other character – an injured man carrying a gun – will disrupt the women's way of life in different ways. The whole plot takes place on the fine line between reality and imagination, between dreams and nightmares, fear and desire, discovering a tangle of echoes from the past, mysteries and mirror games. Jaione Camborda's feature debut premiered in competition at Mostra Internacional de Cinema 2019, and received the Award to the Direction at its Spanish premiere in competition in the New Waves section at Sevilla European Film Festival 2019.

The Gift

Giuliano Fratini : 2019
Il Dono

It is 1983. Andrei Tarkovsky's permit to work abroad has expired and he is legally required to return home. He is in Italy, shooting the film Nostalgia. He understands from the messages of some friends and colleagues that the Soviet Union is not awaiting him with open arms. His life there will be even tougher than before. So he decides to break with Soviet authorities and, a year before the Milan Conference during which he will publicly announce his decision, he leaves his friends who are hosting him in Rome and goes into hiding. The documentary traces the reasons why Tarkovsky decided to give up the life he had led until then and hide in an unknown location. Even there, he cannot feel safe. The Soviets with their apparatus do not let their citizens go that easily. The documentary features archival recordings and interviews with witnesses to those events, including Krzysztof Zanussi and Giuseppe Lanci. Giuliano Fratini's first full-length documentary premiered at Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2019, and had its European premiere in competition at Warsaw International Film Festival 2019.

Alice Júnior

Gil Baroni : 2019

Alice is a teenage transgender girl who is full of life and wants to give her first kiss, but first, she just wants to be who she really is. Alice is loved by her family, especially by her father, Jean, who is willing to do anything for his daughter. Jean, a perfumist, is transferred by his company to Araucárias do Sul, the place of the rare Imperial Flower. Alice reluctantly moves with her father. She leaves her crush and her friends in Recife, and now she needs to make new friends with the inhabitants of the small town. To make things worse, she has to study at the only school in town: the ancient and conservative Salesian college. Determined not to be discouraged, Alice is the personification of resistance, and little by little she is going to captivate her classmates and the people of Araucárias do Sul. With her charisma and her fertile imagination, everybody will fall in love with her. Gil Baroni's feature premiered at Mostra Internacional de Cinema 2019.

Obscure

Kunlin Wang : 2019

A lonely farmstead where an authoritarian father and his two teenage children live in seclusion. A coming-of-age journey of a teenage boy who sexually awakens after discovering the sexual relationship between his father and sister. The boy is trapped in his father's nightmare and tries to repeal the psychological repression by competing for his sister's sexual attention. The sibling love and pure childish joy of being together, which once served to counterbalance familial strangeness, is now disturbed and gradually develops into a sexual attraction and desire. With the ambiguous representation and non-binary nature of the two teenagers' gender and the surreal but naturalistic atmosphere, the film depicts physical desire and connection which changes something in a family dramatically and irreversibly. Kunlin Wang's feature debut premiered in competition at Taipei Film Festival 2019, and had its international premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Marionette

Álvaro Curiel de Icaza : 2019
Marioneta

Ernesto is a Cuban actor desperately looking for an opportunity in Mexico City. In a fortuitous way he crosses paths with Belén, a street artist who is unaware of her real talent. The underground subway world is the place where fate has prepared an unexpected encounter for them, which will turn their lives upside down. She introduces him to David Torrico, a man without scruples who doesn't hesitate when it comes to manipulating the lives of people. The film takes us to the hidden world of Mexico City, where the beggars are dominated by a dark capo. While playing and flirting with the meaning of being an actor and being able to escape the daily routine, it introduces us to a curious catalogue of quirky characters which surround the complex relationship that Ernesto and Belén try to build. Álvaro Curiel de Icaza's feature premiered at FotoFilm Tijuana 2019, and had its international premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

The Other Lamb

Małgorzata Szumowska : 2019

Selah is a young girl born into an alternative religion known as the Flock – the only life she has known. The members of the Flock, all women and female children, live in a rural compound, and are led by one man, known only as Shepherd. Their self-sufficient community possesses no modern technology, and is hidden away in the woods, far from modern civilisation. Shepherd is the group's guardian, teacher, and lover. Each of the members of the group is either his wife or daughter. Selah is pure in faith, but also dangerously headstrong. She was raised as a daughter of Shepherd, but it is only a matter of time before she also stands to become a wife. As an encounter with the authorities forces the women and Shepherd to build a new Eden further inland, Selah increasingly doubts her faith. The onset of puberty brings with it harsh new rituals, and her first glimpse of what happens to Shepherd's women as they age. Following this shocking and transformative experience Selah begins to have strange visions that make her question her own reality, and everything that Shepherd has taught her and her sisters. A disquieting examination of faith, compliance and the roles that gender and community play in enforcing cultural norms. Małgorzata Szumowska's feature, her English-language debut, premiered in Special Presentations at Toronto International Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2019.

Love, Spells and All That

Ümit Ünal : 2019
Aşk, Büyü vs.

We all believe in certain ideas and dedicate our lives to them. The story of two women who question their belief in love and the nature of reality. Eren and Reyhan had a romance at the respective ages of 16 and 17. Eren is the daughter of an influential politician, while Reyhan's father is the caretaker at Eren's family summer house on Büyükada, an İstanbul island. Reyhan remembers the romance as "Rich girl falls for a poor girl. A perfect melodrama!" When the girls are found out, Eren's family forces them to break up, and banishes Reyhan and her father from the island. Years of not seeing each other follow. Until Eren returns to the island 20 years later. Is love real or a superstitious notion like a magic spell? The two women meet again 20 years on and remember the passionate and painful love affair of their teens. They spend a day journeying through memories and trying to undo a forgotten love spell. Ümit Ünal's feature was winner of the Turkish Film Critics' Association Best Film Award when it premiered in competition at Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2019.

Scent of My Daughter

Olgun Özdemir : 2019
Kızım Gibi Kokuyorsun

Beatrice's life changes dramatically during the terrorist attack in Nice in July 2016 where she loses her parents, her husband and six-year-old daughter, who came to admire the fireworks on the famous Promenade des Anglais. Beatrice, fulfilling the wishes of her father, decides to repatriate the bodies in his native Armenian village in Hatay, Turkey, near the Syrian border. Beatrice desperately tries to commit suicide when Hevi, a minority Yezidi girl, prevents her from taking her own life. Hevi makes her understand that she escaped from the hands of her persecutors but she has a sister, who must be in one of the refugee camps around the area. Beatrice decides to help her to find her sister, accompanied by Ibrahim, a young Turkish expatriate who came to visit his family. Together, the three strangers whose lives were shattered by tragic events, find themselves on an amazing journey searching for strength and hope. Olgun Özdemir's feature premiered at Shanghai International Film Festival 2019, and had its Turkish premiere at International Bosphorus Film Festival 2019.

Madre

Rodrigo Sorogoyen : 2019

Ten years have passed since Elena's son, then six years old, has disappeared. The last thing she heard of him was a phone call he made to her, saying that he was lost on a beach in France and couldn't find his father. Today, Elena lives on this same beach and manages a restaurant. She is finally beginning to emerge from this tragic episode when she meets a French teenager who strongly reminds her of her lost son. The two of them will embark on a relationship, which will sow chaos and distrust around them. A psychological drama of grief; the long-lasting effects of trauma on a 39-year-old woman; and a coming-of-age tale of a 16-year-old boy – the story of the relationship that develops between them at the tail end of a summer. Rodrigo Sorogoyen's feature premiered in competition in the Orizzonti section at Venice International Film Festival 2019, and received a Special Mention when it screened in competition at Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen Montpellier 2019.

Adolescentes

Sébastien Lifshitz : 2019
Adolescents

Born in a small, provincial French town, Anaïs and Emma have been best friends since childhood. It's a friendship that's blind to differences in social backgrounds and character. Given incredible access, the director painstakingly filmed the girls' transformation over five years, during the period when their physical, emotional and intellectual development is dramatic. We first meet them aged 13, their lives are dominated by boys, teachers and arguing with their mums. But as we witness them near adulthood, their journey is both fascinating and surprisingly moving. At the same time, the influence of their environment and family circumstances becomes increasingly apparent. New experiences, everyday conversations and events both personal and political anchor the film, creating a uniquely textured and deeply personal portrait of two young French women. Sébastien Lifshitz's documentary feature premiered at the Semaine de la Critique at Locarno Film Festival 2019, and screened in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.

Willow

Milcho Manchevski : 2019
Vrba

Three Macedonian women have to contend with control over their bodies, tradition, loyalty, pregnancy and adoption. They have not set out to change the world or society, but their struggle to become mothers makes them unlikely heroines. The three bittersweet stories, one medieval, two contemporary, mirror and contrast one another, exploring themes of love, trust and motherhood. Set in the Middle Ages, a young couple is trying all possible superstitious rituals to conceive, combining them with Christian prayers. Finally, they enlist the help of a local wise woman. She agrees, but on one condition: that they give her the firstborn child, assuring them they will have many more. In the second story, in present-day Skopje, a taxi driver and a supermarket cashier try everything that today's medicine has to offer in order to have a child, but nothing works until after IVF, the girl suddenly becomes pregnant with twins. But the ultrasound shows that one of the babies will be mentally and physically handicapped. The husband is vehemently against abortion, while the wife tries to convince him that the other child's life will be ruined if she has them both. In the final story, the sister of the heroine from the previous story and her husband adopt a boy who is conspicuously quiet and withdrawn, perhaps even autistic. They shower him with love, understanding and gifts, but one day he suddenly goes missing. Milcho Manchevski's feature premiered in the Official Selection at Rome Film Festival 2019.

Lingua Franca

Isabel Sandoval : 2019

Olivia is a transgender undocumented Filipina woman living in Brooklyn. She works as a caregiver to Olga, a Russian-Jewish woman who lives with her grandson Alex, who has just returned from a rehab trip to Russia. Soon complicated feelings emerge between Olivia and Alex. Alex is very much a product of the macho-masculine and sexist culture he has grown up in, something he must question when he learns that Olivia is transgender. Olivia tries to focus on her life, working hard to send money back to her family in the Philippines, even if they don't approve of her identity. She sees pursuing a love life as a self-indulgence that she shouldn't waste her time on, so she tries to suppress her emotions concerning Alex. The story that ensues involves both of them addressing their emotional shortcomings and hopefully growing past them. A deeply moving work of great intimacy and insight and an incisive critique on race and immigration in Trump's America. Isabel Sandoval's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2019, and had its UK premiere in competition at BFI London Film Festival 2019.

Nuclear

Catherine Linstrum : 2019

An allegorical story of the dividing line between reality and unreality, about a young girl who after losing the protection of her mother, is forced to navigate a hostile world alone. Following an act of violence committed by her own brother, Emma escapes with her mother and finds refuge in an isolated rural area near a dark lake in the shadow of a nuclear power station. Emma starts to develop a friendship with a local boy who teaches her to face and overcome her fears. After all, the traumatic past could catch up with her at any moment. Meanwhile, Emma and her mother start to drift apart and she has to confront her own ghosts and her own guilt in order to be free of her toxic family. A mystical thriller set amidst breathtaking Welsh landscapes, its narrator an old Japanese woman. Catherine Linstrum's directorial debut premiered in competition at Warsaw International Film Festival 2019.

White Riot

Rubika Shah : 2019

Constructed mostly from rare archive footage, White Riot highlights the surprising politics of the era's more established rock stars and charts a vital London protest movement. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, prompted by 'music's biggest colonialist' Eric Clapton and his support of racist MP Enoch Powell. The film blends fresh interviews with queasy archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches. As neo-Nazis recruited the nation's youth, RAR's multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance. As founder Red Saunders explains: 'We peeled away the Union Jack to reveal the swastika'. The campaign grew from Hoxton fanzine roots to 1978's huge antifascist carnival in Victoria Park, featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and of course The Clash, whose rock star charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR's message to the masses. Expanding her 2017 short, Rubika Shah's documentary feature debut was winner of the Grierson Award when it premiered in competition at BFI London Film Festival 2019.

Listen to the Universe

Kei Ishikawa : 2019

Four young pianists take part in the preliminary round of an international competition. Each has a story that is different and unique. Aya is a former piano prodigy who won junior contests all over the world but distanced herself from the piano after the death of her mother when she was 13. Now she is back. Akashi works at a music store, he has a wife and kids. Unable to give up on his dream, he enters the competition. Masaru is a top student at an elite music academy struggling with the pressure of being the strongest champion. The fourth, Jin, is the mysterious young legacy of the world's greatest pianist, now deceased. The fierce rivalry of an international competition makes these pianists inspire each other and confront themselves. On the way to the final they will experience growth, awakening and change. Kei Ishikawa's feature had its international premiere in competition at Warsaw International Film Festival 2019.

Diamond Soles

Micael Preysler : 2019

Cecilia went away to learn dance at a Baltimore dance academy. She was following her dream and wanted to do what she loved best. Some time later, she realises it's not what she wanted. She feels alienated and tired of her miserable existence. She decides to return to the lively sprawl of New York. Over the course of a weekend, she revisits her old haunts and friends. She also meets with her vile DJ ex-boyfriend. Lost in a warped middle ground between past and present, Cecilia will find herself at the most uncertain point of her life so far. A film about young people who feel lost in a rapidly moving modern society where it is increasingly difficult to express oneself. Micael Preysler's second feature premiered in competition at Warsaw International Film Festival 2019.

I Will Cross Tomorrow

Sepideh Farsi : 2019

Maria is a Greek policewoman. She is struggling with money problems, her teenage daughter, her old mother and the crisis in her country that also affects her professionally. The police station where she works is shut down and she has to accept a new job at a refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, far away in the Aegean Sea. Yussof is a young Syrian rebel who fled his war-ridden country so as not to be forced to kill. Before he can continue further across Europe, he lands in the refugee camp where Maria works. They meet. Greece looks like a safe haven, but in reality it isn't. Who is more free? The person who fled war or the person who grew up in a free world? Sepideh Farsi's feature premiered in competition at Warsaw International Film Festival 2019.

Those Who Remained

Barnabás Tóth : 2019
Akik maradtak

Hungary after World War II. A 42-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl meet in a city struggling with the ravages and destitution of war. It is 1948, gynecologist Aladár Körner examines Klára, a young girl who is about to turn sixteen and has just entered puberty, which worries her aunt Olga, who lives with her. The doctor, a single man who divides his time between the hospital and the orphanage, soon grows attached to this eccentric and difficult teenager. Taking her under his wing and establishing a relationship complicated by Klára's desperate longing for love, Aladár becomes a mentor and appeases the nightmares and anxieties of the young woman whose parents disappeared during the war. Since the doctor's wife and children died in the death camps which Aladár survived, these two lonely souls support each other. As they grow closer, the joy in both of their lives slowly returns. But as the Soviet Empire rises to power in Hungary, their pure and loving father-daughter relationship is misunderstood and considered undesirable. Barnabás Tóth's second feature premiered at Telluride Film Festival 2019, and screened in the World Cinema section at Busan International Film Festival 2019.

Transnistra

Anna Eborn : 2019

Atmospherically shot in hand-held 16mm, an intimate and vital account of love and friendship in a complex, contradictory world. A film about the everyday life of six teenagers in Transnistria. A year in the life of Tanya, Tolya, Alex, Sasha, Dima and Denis. They hang out together, flirt and fall in love and change locations according to the season: from a picturesque lake to snow-covered roads and deserted apartment blocks. Their home country of Transnistria is a tiny bubble where the Soviet Union has been preserved, isolated from the rest of the world and recognised by almost no other countries. A strange state structure which hangs over the teens like an iron cloud. But armed with mobile phones and internet access, they dream of a life beyond this conservative nationalist reality – and if the opportunity is there, who will dare take it? Anna Eborn's documentary feature was winner of the VPRO Big Screen Award when it premiered in the Voices section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019, and screened in competition at Filmfest Hamburg 2019.

Other Side of Silence

Algimantas Puipa : 2019
Kita Tylos Pusė

The story of two brothers – Kasparas and Einaras. Their homesteads are located in the same village, on the same lake, by the same forest, but their mutual hatred is so strong that they cannot die out of fear of losing to each other. Both brothers, when still young, loved the same woman, Mina, who loved them back. She was the wife of one brother and the mistress of the other. Her son, Lars, was born of that love. When Lars was killed, both brothers were blamed for his death. This tragic event further deepened the rift between the two brothers and took away their beloved Mina. Algimantas Puipa's feature was winner of the Best Feature and Best Actor awards when it had its international premiere at Scandinavian International Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition at Riga International Film Festival 2019.

Cordelia

Adrian Shergold : 2019

Cordelia lives in a basement flat in Central London with her twin sister, Caroline, and her sister's new boyfriend, Matt. Traumatised by a terrible event that took place twelve years ago, she had abandoned her career as a promising young actress. Always quite fragile emotionally, Cordelia is today on the upward slope. She has returned to work and little by little, is integrating with society once more. Her gradual move towards independence is placed into jeopardy, however, when Caroline and Matt depart for a weekend break. Cordelia is left to cope with her mysterious neighbours, a haunting cello player and an eccentric old man, not to mention all the mice and a stalker to boot. She meets Frank, her cellist neighbour, whose music has always touched her. But when their relationship takes a more serious turn, she begins to doubt his true motivations. Cordelia begins to unravel, regressing back to the state of confusion she has tried so hard to repress since surviving that traumatic event all those years ago. Adrian Shergold's feature premiered in competition at Dinard Film Festival 2019.

Seberg

Benedict Andrews : 2019

Making her screen debut at 18, playing Joan of Arc, Jean Seberg by the age of 21, would be immortalised in Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle, the film that launched the French New Wave. In May 1968 Jean returns from Paris to Hollywood in search of a new challenge and as the 1960s becomes more radicalised, so does she. Soon, her political and romantic involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal, makes her a target of the FBI's ruthless and illegal attempts to disrupt, discredit and expose the Black Power movement. Ambitious young agent Jack Solomon is given the task of penetrating deeper into Jean's private life. But the more he immerses himself in her life, the more he empathises with this woman whose privacy is slowly being destroyed. Benedict Andrews's biopic premiered at Venice International Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition in the Perlak section at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2019.

1986

Lothar Herzog : 2019

Young Belarusian student Lena is unable to get a grip on life. Her boyfriend Viktor is becoming more and more of a mystery. Lena is unable to decide whether their beautiful yet fragile love is doing her any good at all, and to top it all off, her father is in prison. To raise the bail money, Lena decides to continue her father's illegal business. In order to meet dubious dealers, she often drives her father's old truck across the border and into the Chernobyl exclusion zone and is stricken by this deserted area, featuring empty forests and abandoned villages. Increasingly, Lena finds herself crossing ever-more boundaries, geographical as well as imaginary ones. Lothar Herzog's feature debut premiered in competition at Zurich Film Festival 2019.

My Name is Violeta

David Fernández de Castro & Marc Parramon : 2019
Me llamo Violeta

Two very different families with one thing in common: in both there is a transgender child. Violeta, eleven, daughter of actor Nacho Vidal, is having a relatively placid transition so far, although her parents, at first baffled, took a while to accept her new identity. Alan did not have that luck: a victim of harassment at school, the support of his family was not enough to prevent his suicide, an end that shocked his school and his hometown. Focused above all on these two stories, this deeply emotional film shows that our society is making progress in accepting transgender children but that there is still a long way to go. David Fernández de Castro and Marc Parramon's documentary premiered at Festival de Málaga 2019, and was winner of the Audience Award and the Amnesty International Award at DocsBarcelona International Documentary Film Festival 2019. Their film screened in the Made in Spain section at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2019.

A Thief's Daughter

Belén Funes : 2019
La hija de un ladrón

Sara is twenty-two and has always been alone. Her only companion is her six-month-old son. Dani is the man of her life and also the father of her child, but they are not a couple anymore. With Martín, her younger brother, Sara dreams of rebuilding the family she has never had. The father who abandoned them, Manuel, decides to come back into their lives after years of absence and his release from prison. But there are certain wounds that can't be healed. Sara knows he's the main obstacle to her plans and she makes a difficult decision: to distance him from herself and her brother. Belén Funes's feature debut was winner of the Silver Shell for Best Actress when it premiered in competition at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2019.

Rocks

Sarah Gavron : 2019

Rocks is a teenager with big dreams for the future, brilliant loyal friends, and a little if rather cheeky adoring brother, Emmanuel. Rocks loves going to school (just like any other youngster) and lives a full and exciting life in East London with her friends. Her world is suddenly turned upside down when she comes home from school to find that her mother is gone, leaving a little money and a note giving no other explanation than "I'm sorry". Determined to stay with her brother and lead the welfare system on a merry dance, Rocks leaves her home and hides around East London. As each day becomes tougher and their secret gets more difficult to hide, Rocks pushes away those who love her and her friendship squad begins to fracture. When the authorities finally catch up with her, there is only one solution: her friends. A film about the joy, resilience and spirit of girlhood. Sarah Gavron's third feature premiered in the Platform section at Toronto International Film Festival 2019, and had its European premiere in competition at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2019.

Comets

Tamar Shavgulidze : 2019

Legend has it that water was brought to Earth by comets. Without water, human life is impossible. Love too, is essential for survival. Without it, existence can be unbearable. Many years have passed since they were separated by circumstance, but the memories of balmy summer evenings in the outskirts of Tbilisi have stayed with 55-year-olds Irina and Nana. The two were once inseparable, sharing a bond beyond friendship that did not go unnoticed in their small community. More than three decades later, Irina returns to the summer house of her youth, a place where Nana built a life, marrying and bearing two children, and where she still resides with her daughter, also named Irina. Suddenly, the women are back in the yard where they spent their teenage years and must confront all that was left unsaid. A story about the unconditional love of two women caught up in emotional ties of shared memories. Tamar Shavgulidze's second feature premiered in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.

Bring Me Home

Kim Seung-woo : 2019
Na-reul cha-ja-jwo

Six years after her son went missing, dedicated mother Jung-yeon still hasn't lost hope – even after her husband's shocking accident while rushing to follow up on a potential sighting. Although she's in mourning, drowned in despair for her losses, she doesn't give up. Just when everything feels like it's in vain, she hears about a young boy living in a fishing community outside the city who seems to resemble her lost son. Facing strange surroundings and corrupt cops covering up child abuse, Jung-yeon may not be able to handle all the obstacles in her way, let alone fend for herself. Kim Seung-woo's feature debut premiered in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.

Mies

Mirthe Fernandes : 2019

Mies, in her early twenties, seems an average young woman at first glance. Silent one day, lively the next. When things go well, she opens herself up to the outside world, after which it can change within a few seconds. She then becomes a self-centred doll that no longer speaks a word. Mies lives her life slightly differently from the average young woman on her way to independence. Mies is not only concerned with her own thoughts, but also with a number of other voices and opinions that haunt her mind. Those voices determine her life. What is it like to sometimes live in a closed ward of the clinic for months while the only thing you want is freedom? What Mies experiences is dissociation, another reality that is for her reality. An intimate portrait of the experiences and perceptions of a young mentally ill woman, but a person who is much more than her diagnosis. Mirthe Fernandes's short documentary screened in competition at Nederlands Film Festival 2019.

Mies (Official site)

Entwined

Minos Nikolakakis : 2019

Panos, a doctor from the city, relocates to a remote village, offering his services to its ageing community. It's love at first sight when he sets eyes on the fair Danae, who has a rare condition that causes her skin to resemble tree bark. Feared by the superstitious villagers, Danae lives in isolation deep in the forest, trapped in a proverbial castle, and the enamoured doctor is determined to rescue her. As Panos searches for a cure for Danae, time stands still in the dreamlike paradise he now inhabits. Unbeknownst to him, however, Danae is not a helpless princess waiting for her prince – and it's not long until she presents him with an ultimatum that will drain him of more than he ever thought possible. Though only days have passed, Panos is aware that, for both lovers, time is running out. An intimate and atmospheric arthouse horror film, mixing folklore and ancient Greek mythology. Minos Nikolakakis's feature debut premiered in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.

Dark, Almost Night

Borys Lankosz : 2019
Ciemno, prawie noc

When Wałbrzych is shaken by a series of mysterious disappearances of children, Alicja Tabor, a journalist, arrives in the city. Coming back to her homeland after many years, this relentless reporter wants to meet the families of the missing kids and to solve the mystery even the police can't solve. During her private investigation, quite unexpectedly, Alicja tracks down dramatic events whose beginnings go back decades ago. Searching for the truth, the journalist will have to face a new threat and something she's been running away from her whole adult life: the mystery of her childhood and the shocking secrets of her own family. Borys Lankosz's feature screened in competition at Gdynia Film Festival 2019.

Stories from the Chestnut Woods

Gregor Božič : 2019
Zgodbe iz kostanjevih gozdov

In a decaying forest on the Yugoslav-Italian border in the years after World War II, a stingy, old carpenter and a lonely, young chestnut seller share imaginative memories of the past as they weigh fateful decisions for the future. Stubborn in his old age, Mario, the Stingy Carpenter, is known for his unflappable competitive nature and for his preoccupations with income. He fails to notice his wife's descent into illness, one among several missed opportunities to care for his loved ones. Mario tries to impart his hard-gained wisdom to Marta, the Last Chestnut Seller, who has been left to tend the chestnut groves after her husband's departure. In their decaying surroundings, these lonely souls share fond memories – transformed into imaginative tales – and melancholic contemplations of their futures. Should they remain, haunted by a life that was, or does another path call: joining countless others on the rickety cart to a world unknown? Gregor Božič's feature debut premiered in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.

Simple Women

Chiara Malta : 2019

On Christmas Day 1989, young Federica suffers her first epileptic seizure while she's watching the trial and execution of Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena on television with her family. Since childhood, her only passion was cinema, and one film in particular played an important role: Hal Hartley's 'Simple Men', in which Romanian actor Elina Löwensohn has an onscreen seizure. For Federica, it was a critical moment of reflection and connection. Years later, Federica has the opportunity to make a film in Bucharest about the life of her long-time icon. But the real Elina is much different from the one in Federica's imagination and, very quickly, the true characters of both the actor and the director are revealed. Seeing through a new lens, Federica's mind becomes clouded and her ideas for the film less clear. Mid-production, she has a fit of epilepsy, and, with her vision blurred, the faint lines between life and art fade entirely. Chiara Malta's fiction feature debut premiered in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.

Mo

Radu Dragomir : 2019

Friends since childhood, Mo and Vera are now college students. Mo's father died when she was a teenager, but she is still affected by the loss. During an exam, Mo is caught cheating by Ursu, one of her toughest professors. Mo defies him and Ursu seizes her mobile phone and throws the girls out. Later that day, the girls receive a phone call from Ursu, who invites them to a restaurant in order to return the mobile phone. After dinner, they are invited in his apartment, where he turns into an extremely kind and understanding person, winning Mo's heart with some good music and all the movies in the world. It's all fun and games, until Mo loses control. Radu Dragomir's feature debut premiered in competition in the Romanian Days section at Transilvania International Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition at Sarajevo Film Festival 2019.

Wasp Network

Olivier Assayas : 2019

December 1990. Airline pilot René González steals a plane and flees Cuba, which is about to topple into an economic crisis precipitated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having abandoned his wife and daughter, he begins a new life in Miami. Soon he is joined by other Cuban dissidents, members of the activist organisation Brothers to the Rescue, working towards the destabilisation of the Castro regime. Along with fellow exile and pilot Juan Pablo Roque, René gradually becomes more aware of the moral compromises the Brothers make to do their work – and the degree to which the CIA is involved in supporting anti-Castro activities. Olivier Assayas's feature premiered in competition at Venice International Film Festival 2019, and had its North American premiere in Special Presentations at Toronto International Film Festival 2019.