31 May 2019

#Like



Sarah Pirozek : 2019

Woodstock teenager, Rosie, is mourning her younger sister Amelia's death when she discovers a mysterious man who sexploited and bullied her sister, is back on-line, trolling for new victims. When the local police refuse to investigate, Rosie finds a darker side she never knew she had, as she decides to take justice into her own hands. Her pursuit of the man leads her down a murky path raising burning questions, will she find him? And if she does... then what? When does the victim become the perpetrator? Will justice prevail? How will Rosie come out of this intact? This noir, psychological thriller is a taut observation of teen sexuality and paranoia, at the intersection of #MeToo and the un-policed borders of cyber life. Sarah Pirozek's feminist thriller, her feature directorial debut, premiered at Cinequest 2019.

29 May 2019

Sem seu sangue



Alice Furtado : 2019
Sick, Sick, Sick

Silvia is an introspective young girl who is not interested in the daily routine between family and school. Everything abruptly changes when Artur arrives unexpectedly in her class, after being banned from several other schools. Silvia is amazed by the vitality of the boy, who actually suffers from a serious illness – haemophilia. The two immerse themselves in an intense and brief coexistence, interrupted by an accident in which Artur bleeds to death. Silvia gets sick and sees her life turn into a strange nightmare. The mourning gradually becomes an obsession, and obsession becomes a goal – Silvia will do anything to bring him back to life. Alice Furtado's feature debut premiered in competition at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

25 May 2019

Tlamess



Ala Eddine Slim : 2019

After the death of his mother, a young soldier settled in the Tunisian desert obtains a week's compassionate leave. He will never come back, and will desert the army. On the run, he is chased by the police in a popular neighbourhood, and eventually dies when reaching the construction site of a villa. Years later, a young pregnant woman married to a rich business man lives in a fancy villa in the middle of a forest. One day, she accidentally meets a strange looking man. It is the ex-soldier, but he is different now. This encounter sets the beginning of a series of mysterious events, involving the ex-soldier, the pregnant woman and the future baby. Ala Eddine Slim's feature premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

23 May 2019

Pain and Glory



Pedro Almodóvar : 2019
Dolor y Gloria

Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline, experiences a series of re-encounters. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered. His childhood in the 1960s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity; the first desire; his first adult love in the Madrid of the 1980s and the pain of the breakup while this love was still alive and intense; writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable; the early discovery of cinema; and the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it and, in that need, he also finds his salvation. Pedro Almodóvar's feature received the award for Best Actor when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2019.

22 May 2019

Heroes Don't Die



Aude Léa Rapin : 2019
Les héros ne meurent jamais

In a street in Paris, a stranger thinks he's recognised in Joachim a soldier who died in Bosnia on 21st August 1983. Thing is, this is the very day Joachim was born: 21st August 1983! Thrown by the idea he might be the reincarnation of this man, he decides to go to Sarajevo with his friends Alice and Virginie. In this country, haunted by shadows of the war, they put their hearts and souls in discovering Joachim's past life. Aude Léa Rapin's feature debut premiered in the Séances Spéciales at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2019.

20 May 2019

Port Authority



Danielle Lessovitz : 2019

On the steps outside New York City's dizzying central bus station, Port Authority, a girl named Wye vogues with her siblings. Paul, a young drifter, watches her, transfixed by her beauty. After he seeks her out, an intense love soon blossoms. Wye introduces him to the ballroom community, an underground LGBTQ subculture, and to her house, a self-selected chosen family. But when Paul realises Wye is trans, he is forced to confront his feelings for her and the social forces that seek to rupture their bond. Danielle Lessovitz's feature debut premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2019.

19 May 2019

A White, White Day



Hlynur Pálmason : 2019
Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur

In a remote Icelandic town, an off-duty police chief begins to suspect a local man of having had an affair with his late wife, who died in a tragic accident two years earlier. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. A story of grief, revenge and unconditional love. Hlynur Pálmason's second feature premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2019.

18 May 2019

Song Without a Name



Melina León : 2019
Canción sin nombre

Peru, at the height of the political crisis of the 1980s. Georgina is a young woman from the Andes whose newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper, where she meets Pedro Campos, a lonely journalist who takes on the investigation. The film is inspired by a true account of child trafficking originally reported by Ismael León, the director's father. Melina León's feature debut premiered in competition at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

15 May 2019

Fire Will Come



Oliver Laxe : 2019
O que arde

When Amador Coro gets out of prison for having provoked a fire, nobody cares much about him. Trying to keep a low profile, he returns to his hometown, a small village hidden in the mountains of rural Galicia, to live with his elderly mother, Benedicta, and three cows. Life goes on calmly, following the rhythm of nature – until one night when a fire starts to lay waste to the region. Oliver Laxe's third feature was winner of the Prix du Jury when it premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2019.

14 May 2019

Atlantics



Mati Diop : 2019
Atlantique

Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada's wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned. Mati Diop's feature, her directorial debut, was winner of the Grand Prix when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2019.

13 May 2019

Portrait of a Lady on Fire



Céline Sciamma : 2019
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

France, 1760. On an isolated island in Bretagne, Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride-to-be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing, whilst posing as her hired companion. She observes her by day and secretly paints her at night. Intimacy and attraction grow between the two women as they share Héloïse's first and last moments of freedom, all whilst Marianne paints the portrait that will end it all. A heartbreaking period film told with a distinctly modern feminist energy. Céline Sciamma's feature was awarded the Prix du Scénario, and the Queer Palm when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2019.

11 May 2019

And Then We Danced



Levan Akin : 2019

Merab has been training since a young age at the National Georgian Ensemble with his dance partner Mary. His world is suddenly turned upside down when the charismatic and carefree Irakli arrives and becomes both his strongest rival and desire. In this conservative setting Merab finds himself having to break free and risk it all. Levan Akin is a Swedish-born filmmaker of Georgian descent. His work often plays on class and gender. This film, his first Georgian language feature, premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

8 May 2019

Les particules



Blaise Harrison : 2019
Particles

Pays de Gex, at the foot of the Jura Mountains on the French-Swiss border. 17-year-old P.A. and his group of friends are in their last year of high school. One hundred metres below ground, the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, is crashing protons into each other to recreate the energy conditions of the big bang and detect previously unknown particles. As the area slips into wintertime and P.A. sees the world shifting around him, he starts to observe strange phenomena in the environment, abnormalities in the landscape, tiny alterations in a familiar ecosystem. The changes are imperceptible at first, but gradually his whole world seems to be on the brink. Blaise Harrison's feature debut premiered in competition at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

7 May 2019

Joan of Arc



Bruno Dumont : 2019
Jeanne

Year 1429, the Hundred Years War is raging. Joan, invested with a warlike and spiritual mission, liberates the city of Orléans and reinstates the heir apparent to the throne of France. On the eve of the battle of Paris, she is at the heart of internal struggles between knights and prelates, who doubt her divine power, while also being subjected to the unkind behaviour of French soldiers. Made captive in Compiègne by the Burgundians, she is delivered to the English. Her trial then begins in Rouen, led by Pierre Cauchon who seeks to destroy all credibility. Faithful to her mission and refusing to recognise the accusations of witchcraft against her, Joan is condemned to the stake for heresy. Bruno Dumont's feature received the Mention Spéciale du Jury when it premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2019.