The Day After

Hong Sang-soo : 2017
Geu-hu

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

Falling

Marina Stepanska : 2017
Strimholov

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

Les fantômes d'Ismaël

Arnaud Desplechin : 2017
Ismael's Ghosts

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

After the War

Annarita Zambrano : 2017
Dopo la guerra

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

Jeune femme

Léonor Serraille : 2017
Montparnasse Bienvenüe

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

Tower. A Bright Day.

Jagoda Szelc : 2017
Wieża. Jasny dzień.

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

Dark River

Clio Barnard : 2017

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

Gutland

Govinda van Maele : 2017

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

El cuento de Antonia

Jorge Cadena : 2016
The Tale of Antonia

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

Thelma

Joachim Trier : 2017

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

Sicilian Ghost Story

Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza : 2017

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

L'amant d'un jour

Philippe Garrel : 2017
Lover for a Day

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

A Ciambra

Jonas Carpignano : 2017

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

Dede

Mariam Khatchvani : 2017

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

Gabriel e a montanha

Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa : 2017
Gabriel and the Mountain

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

La familia

Gustavo Rondón Córdova : 2017

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

120 battements par minute

Robin Campillo : 2017
BPM (Beats Per Minute)

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

Rodin

Jacques Doillon : 2017

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

Loveless

Andrey Zvyagintsev : 2017
Nelyubov

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

Redoubtable

Michel Hazanavicius : 2017
Le Redoutable

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