Clash

21 Mar 2018 Director: Mohamed Diab Egypt, France, Germany 2016 97 min Clash is a tense, harrowing, state-of-the-nation drama. Set in 2013, it pitches the audience into the turmoil of the mass protests in Egypt that toppled the ruling Muslim Brotherhood. In the crushing heat of an already fraught day, rival demonstrators, innocent bystanders, allies… Continue reading Clash

A Man Called Ove

10 Jan 2018 Director: Hannes Holm Sweden 2015 116 min In this offbeat Swedish comedy drama, Ove is the quintessential grumpy old man next door. An isolated retiree with strict principles and a short fuse, Ove spends his days scowling and enforcing neighbourhood association rules that only he cares about. However, when Parvaneh and her… Continue reading A Man Called Ove

I Am Not Your Negro

7 Mar 2018 Director: Raoul Peck USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland 2016 93 min Fifty years after the Civil Rights movement, race remains a defining issue in the United States of America. James Baldwin’s final book, Remember This House, was due to address the lives and assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin… Continue reading I Am Not Your Negro

Letters from Baghdad

18 Oct 2017 Directors: Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum USA, UK, France 2016 95 min Voiced by Tilda Swinton, this fascinating documentary explores the remarkable life of English writer, archaeologist, diplomat and spy, Gertrude Bell. As a young woman, Bell travelled extensively throughout the Middle East producing maps and scholarly works. Eventually, her extraordinary talents… Continue reading Letters from Baghdad

Under the Shadow

15 Nov 2017 Director: Babak Anvari UK/Jordan/Qatar 2016 84 min Focusing on a mother and daughter besieged by forces both worldly and otherwise in a Tehran apartment block, Under the Shadow presents a gripping portrait of an independently spirited woman shackled by sharia law. She becomes more scared of the demonic forces tormenting her daughter… Continue reading Under the Shadow

Graduation

4 Oct 2017 Director: Cristian Mungiu Romania 2016 128 min The latest work from Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) deservedly won him Best Director at Cannes. Masterful in its construction, this is a gripping drama in which good intentions and guilty secrets gradually erode the moral certainties of a middle-class family.… Continue reading Graduation

The Other Side of Hope

1 Nov 2017 Director: Aki Kaurismäki Finland 2016 98 min Six years after the sublime, award-winning Le Havre, director Kaurismäki returns with his second film in a planned trilogy focusing on port cities. In this eccentric and cuttingly poignant comedy-drama, Wikstrom, a poker-playing restaurateur and former travelling salesman, crosses paths with Syrian stowaway Khaled who… Continue reading The Other Side of Hope