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.