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.