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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2022

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2022

Horizons

Programme

52 films · 29 reviews

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Aftersun

Review preview for Aftersun

Wells shows how interactions that were solid within their own moment become more ambiguous as time has gone by and the adult understanding of Sophie has grown.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Sometime in the Nineties, somewhere in a Turkish coastal resort, a young, divorced father is spending the vacation with his daughter pre-teen daughter Sophie.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2022; Director: Charlotte Wells; Writer: Charlotte Wells; Stars: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Kayleigh Coleman, Sally Messham, Harry Perdios, Ethan Smith, Ruby Thompson, Brooklyn Toulson)

Full review

Axiom

Review preview for Axiom

The way doubt starts to enter into everything we hear from any of the characters is subtly orchestrated.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
A well-liked young museum attendant invites his colleagues on a sailing trip on his aristocratic family’s boat, but all is not quite as it seems.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Jöns Jönsson; Writer: Jöns Jönsson; Stars: Moritz von Treuenfels, Rolf Kanies, Rojan Juan Barani, Deniz Orta, Ben Plunkett-Reynolds, Thomas Schubert, Marita Breuer, Lou Strenger, Ricarda Seifried, Zejhun Demirov, Maximilian Brauer, Max Themak, Ines Marie Westernströer, Jürgen Hartmann, Petra Welteroth)

Full review

Beautiful Beings

Review preview for Beautiful Beings

Much of the film’s raw effectiveness is due to the young cast’s wisdom and effortless on-screen chemistry.

Antoni Konieczny · 3.5 out of 5
A teenage boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, adopts a bullied kid into his group of violent misfits.

(Country: Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Czechia; Year: 2022; Director: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson; Writer: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson; Stars: Sunna Líf Arnarsdóttir, Viktor Benóný Benediktsson, Birgir Dagur Bjarkason, Anita Briem, Snorri Rafn Frímannsson, Ísgerður Elfa Gunnarsdóttir, Aðalbjörg Emma Hafsteinsdóttir, Blær Hinriksson, Kristín Ísold Jóhannesdóttir, Kamilla Guðrún Lowen, Áskell Einar Pálmason, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson)

Full review

The Blue Caftan

Review preview for The Blue Caftan

Covert glances and dauntless gestures between the three protagonists, that keep us guessing about who knows what, weave a web as diaphanous as the stitching on fine cloth.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Halim and Mina own a small family tailor shop that specializes in sewing ceremonial caftans. Since traditional hand-crafted work is time-consuming, Halim decides to hire an assistant, Youssef. The presence of the attractive young man arouses long-suppressed feelings in Halim, something that does not go unnoticed by his wife Mina.

(Country: France, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark; Year: 2022; Director: Maryam Touzani; Writer: Maryam Touzani, Nabil Ayouch; Stars: Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri, Ayoub Missioui)

Full review See: Maryam Touzani on the inspiration for The Blue Caftan and its emotional fabric

The Box (La Caja)

Hatzin, a young teenager from Mexico City, travels to collect the remains of his father, which have been found in a communal grave. But a casual encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills him with doubts and hope about his parent’s true whereabouts.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Lorenzo Vigas; Writer: Paula Markovitch, Lorenzo Vigas; Stars: Hernán Mendoza, Cristina Zulueta, Hatzín Navarrete, Hernán Mendoza, Cristina Zulueta, Hatzín Navarrete)

Butterfly Vision (Bachennya metelyka)

Review preview for Butterfly Vision

Lilya’s treatment while captive is only glimpsed in brief flashbacks, which avoid voyeurism and suddenly occur like glitches in the film, the image pixellating as though it is buffering, to reveal a scrap of memory.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Drama about a former prisoner of war, who struggles to resume her life in Ukraine.

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2022; Director: Maksym Nakonechnyi; Writer: Maksym Nakonechnyi; Stars: Rita Burkovska, Daria Lorenci, Lyubomyr Valivots, Natalya Vorozhbit) , Trailer

Full review

Captain Volkonogov Escaped

A Russian captain goes on the run and finds himself being threatened by eternal torments in hell... with the only way to avoid it being to seek forgiveness.

(Country: Russia, France, Estonia; Year: 2021; Director: Aleksey Chupov, Natasha Merkulova; Writer: Aleksey Chupov, Natasha Merkulova, Mart Taniel; Stars: Yuriy Borisov, Timofey Tribuntsev, Aleksandr Yatsenko, Nikita Kukushkin, Vladimir Epifantsev, Anastasiya Ukolova, Natalya Kudryashova, Dmitriy Podnozov, Viktoriya Tolstoganova)

Corsage

Review preview for Corsage

Vicky Krieps...is in excellent form and up to the task of presenting to us the icon in all her idiosyncrasies.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
A period drama about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi.

(Country: Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg; Year: 2022; Director: Marie Kreutzer; Writer: Marie Kreutzer; Stars: Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Katharina Lorenz, Finnegan Oldfield, Jeanne Werner, Alma Hasun, Manuel Rubey, Colin Morgan, Rosa Hajjaj, Lilly Marie Tschörtner , Aaron Friesz, Ivana Urban, Raphael von Bargen, Alexander Pschill, Regina Fritsch, Raphael Nicholas)

Full review See: Marie Kreutzer in conversation on Empress Elisabeth of Austria with King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Luchino Visconti, Finnegan Oldfield’s Louis Le Prince and the biographies of Sisi , Marie Kreutzer in conversation on Corsage, Vicky Krieps as Sisi, singer/songwriter Camille, and the look of the film , Vicky Krieps in conversation on Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, Romy Schneider, and Margarethe von Trotta’s Bachmann & Frisch

The Dam (Al-Saad)

Review preview for The Dam

Built on strong imagery rather than substantive narrative.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Sudan, near the Merowe dam. Maher works in a traditional brickyard fed by the waters of the Nile. Every evening, he secretly builds a mysterious construction made of mud.

(Country: Serbia, Germany, Sudan, France; Year: 2022; Director: Ali Cherri; Writer: Bertrand Bonello, Ali Cherri, Geoffroy Grison; Stars: Maher El Khair)

Full review

Decision To Leave

Review preview for Decision To Leave

Park does it the hard way, building up a complex psychological and intellectual relationship in which sexual desire feels like an emergent characteristic rather than a starting point.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A detective investigates a man's death in the mountains.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Park Chan-wook; Writer: Park Chan-wook, Seo-kyeong Jeong; Stars: Tang Wei, Park Hae-il, Go Kyung-Pyo, Lee Jung-Hyun, Park Yong-woo)

Full review

The Eight Mountains

Review preview for The Eight Mountains

In their quietly devastating manner, Groeningen and Vandermeersch examine the fluid nature of our confusion and confidence over our place in the world.

Jeremy Mathews · 5 out of 5
The Eight Mountains is the story of a friendship. Of children becoming men who try to erase the footprints of their fathers, but who, through the twists and turns they take, always end up returning home.

(Country: Italy, Belgium, France; Year: 2022; Director: Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch; Writer: Paolo Cognetti, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix van Groeningen; Stars: Alessandro Borghi, Luca Marinelli, Filippo Timi, Elena Lietti)

Full review

EO

Review preview for EO

The beast of burden’s travails seem to be a thinly veiled criticism of Polish society which erupts in one sequence into mindless violence.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Tale revolving around an unassuming grey donkey.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2022; Director: Jerzy Skolimowski; Writer: Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Sandra Drzymalska, Tomasz Organek)

Full review

Father's Day

Three stories set in and around the Rwandan city of Kigali.

(Country: Rwanda; Year: 2022; Director: Kivu Ruhorahoza; Stars: Médiatrice Kayitesi, Aline Amike, Yves Kijyana, Elie Bigirimana, Cedric Ishimwe, André Musagara)

Fire Of Love

Review preview for Fire Of Love

The force of nature comes to stunning, searing life thanks to the Kraffts' footage, whether it is rivers of magma or gouts of smoke, with the film gradually building the case that they knew exactly the impact of what they were committing to camera would be.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded. A doomed love triangle between Katia, Maurice and volcanoes, told through their archival footage.

(Country: Canada, US; Year: 2022; Director: Sara Dosa; Writer: Shane Boris, Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput; Stars: Miranda July, Katia Krafft, Maurice Krafft)

Full review

The Five Devils

Review preview for The Five Devils

While it's a road well-travelled, here it's a road travelled well.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Eight-year-old Vicky possesses a special power: a hyperacute sense of smell. She spends her days exploring this gift, and lives happily with her mother Joanne, a swimming teacher whom she adores exclusively - to the despair of her firefighter father. When her mysterious aunt Julia suddenly reappears in their lives, secrets from their past resurface both violently and magically.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Léa Mysius; Writer: Paul Guilhaume, Léa Mysius; Stars: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Daphne Patakia, Noée Abita, Patrick Bouchitey, Moustapha Mbengue, Sally Dramé, Swala Emati)

Full review See: Five Devils director blown away by 'amazing' Adèle Exarchopoulos

Flux Gourmet

Review preview for Flux Gourmet

Feels more like an amuse bouche than a full meal, while at the same time all proving a bit too much.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A flatulence-plagued narrator guides us through the closed space of a manor house where an arts patron and director of the Sonic Catering Institute uses various forms of manipulation in order to get a trio of performance artists to provide ever better results.

(Country: UK, US, Hungary; Year: 2022; Director: Peter Strickland; Writer: Peter Strickland; Stars: Leo Bill, Richard Bremmer, Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Parvinder Kaur)

Full review

Gentle

Edina, a female bodybuilder, is ready to sacrifice everything for the dream she shares with Adam, her partner and trainer: to win the world championship. The odd love she finds on her way there makes her see the difference between her dreams and her true self.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2022; Director: László Csuja, Anna Nemes; Writer: László Csuja, Anna Nemes; Stars: Eszter Csonka, György Turós, Csaba Krisztik, Éva Kerekes, János Papp, Gábor Ferenczi, Máté Vörös, Ferenc Gerlóczy, Viktória Szorcsik, Balázs Czukor, Csaba Gerner, Katalin Lõrincz, László Valiszka, Anna Nemes, Andrea Waskovics)

Godland

Review preview for Godland

To refer to something as ‘pure cinema’ is uninspired, but Godland is one of those rare films that has some untranslatable quality that speaks for itself.

Dora Leu · 4 out of 5
In the late 19th century, a young Danish priest travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, his mission and morality.

(Country: Denmark, Iceland, France, Sweden; Year: 2022; Director: Hlynur Pálmason; Writer: Hlynur Pálmason; Stars: Hilmar Guðjónsson, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Elliott Crosset Hove, Jacob Lohmann, Waage Sandø, Vic Carmen Sonne)

Full review

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Review preview for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Inevitably, there is a slight air of the stage about this and an emotional gear change at the midway point doesn't quite feel fully earned but the actors so fully inhabit these roles that they carry you with them.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Nancy Stokes, a retired school teacher, is yearning for some adventure, and some sex. Good sex. And she has a plan: she hires a young sex worker named Leo Grande.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Sophie Hyde; Writer: Katy Brand; Stars: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Isabella Laughland, Charlotte Ware)

Full review

Harka

Review preview for Harka

A cri de cœur on behalf of all those from who hope has been stolen

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Ali earns a living illegally selling gasoline on the street. He doesn’t have any contact with his family, but when he receives news that his father has died, he is forced to become responsible for his two younger sisters.

(Country: France, Germany, United States, Tunisia; Year: 2022; Director: Lotfy Nathan; Writer: Lotfy Nathan; Stars: Adam Bessa, Hsouna Heni, Jamal Madani, Mohamed Ouni, Elyes Riahi, Mohamed Nsibi, Khaled Barsaoui, Moez Hannachi, Yahya Feidi, Arij Sebai, Monji Ben Said, Boulbeba Hedili, Anoir Nasr, Islem Ben Mlouka, Amine Zaafouri, Sajir Mkacher)

Full review See: Adam Bessa on embracing complexity and digging into character , Lotfy Nathan on 'shedding the skin of accuracy' for stronger storytelling in Harka

Il Buco

Review preview for Il Buco

The group of speleologists in Il Buco are housed in the storage room of a church, a sublime decision by the filmmakers that gives Berta ample opportunity to visually connect the scientists of the early Sixties with the splendour of Renaissance paintings.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Drama based on the true adventures of a group of young speleologists who in 1961 descended into a hole in the mountains of Calabria to explore what was then the third-deepest known cave on Earth.

(Country: Italy, France, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Michelangelo Frammartino; Writer: Michelangelo Frammartino, Giovanna Giuliani; Stars: Paolo Cossi, Jacopo Elia, Denise Trombin, Mila Costi, Carlos José Crespo, Leonardo Larocca, Angelo Spadaro, Nicola Lanza, Antonio Lanza, Claudia Candusso)

Full review See: Michelangelo Frammartino in conversation on Il Buco (The Hole), Renato Berta, Marco Serrecchia, and Giovanna Giuliani

Joyland

Review preview for Joyland

It is not so much individual people who cause the problems but rather the constricting cultural circumstances that dictate everyone must play their allocated role.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
As the Ranas, a happily patriarchal joint family, yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story illuminates the entire family's desire for a sexual rebellion.

(Country: Pakistan; Year: 2022; Director: Saim Sadiq; Writer: Saim Sadiq; Stars: Sana Jafri, Ali Junejo)

Full review See: Sounding it out - Nathan Ruyle on the new revolution in sound design , Oliver Ridge on Joyland and the Corner Office

Klondike

Review preview for Klondike

Gorbach presents war as an insidious and dangerous beast, prowling about the edges of people's lives, swiping at those who aren't directly involved just as easily as those who are.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of a Ukrainian family living on the border of Russia - Ukraine during the start of war. Irka refuses to leave her house even as the village gets captured by armed forces. Shortly after, they find themselves at the center of an air crash catastrophe on July 17, 2014.

(Country: Ukraine, Turkey; Year: 2022; Director: Maryna Er Gorbach; Writer: Maryna Er Gorbach; Stars: Evgeniy Efremov, Oleg Shcherbina, Oksana Cherkashyna, Oleg Shevchuk, Artur Aramyan)

Full review

The Last Race (Poslední závod)

The Giant Mountains, 1913. At the start of a skiing competition Bohumil Hanč, the greatest Czech cross-country skier of his day, encounters the talented all-rounder Emmerich Rath, whose German origins have brought him problems his whole life.

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2022; Director: Tomás Hodan; Writer: Tomás Hodan; Stars: Krystof Hádek, Judit Bárdos, Simon Kirschner, Claudia Vaseková, Pavla Beretová, Jan Nedbal, Oldrich Kaiser, Marek Adamczyk, Jan Hájek, Bastian Beyer, Vladimír Javorský, Cyril Dobrý, Jan Hofman, Vladimír Pokorný)

A Little Love Package

Angeliki Papoulia, a wealthy yet perpetually dissatisfied woman, is looking for an apartment in Vienna at a time when the smoking ban in public places impacts the city’s coffeehouse culture.

(Country: Austria, Argentina; Year: 2022; Director: Gastón Solnicki; Stars: Angeliki Papoulia, Carmen Chaplin, Mario Bellatin)

Love According To Dalva

Twelve-year-old Dalva lives with her father, whom she loves to no end. But his love for her is not purely parental, as a police raid reveals one evening. Dalva finds herself in foster care; a trial begins.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2022; Director: Emmanuelle Nicot; Writer: Emmanuelle Nicot; Stars: Zelda Samson, Alexis Manenti, Fanta Guirassi, Marie Denarnaud, Jean-Louis Coulloc'h, Maia Sandoz, Sandrine Blancke, Charlie Drach, Roman Coustère Hachez)

A Love Song

Review preview for A Love Song

Walker-Silverman is in no hurry to reach that encounter and he makes slipping into the rhythms of Faye's day a thing of gentle joy.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Two childhood sweethearts, now both widowed, share a night by a lake in the mountains. A love story for those who are alone.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Max Walker-Silverman; Writer: Max Walker-Silverman; Stars: Dale Dickey, Wes Studi, John Way, Michelle Wilson, Benja K. Thomas, Marty Grace Dennis, Felipe Jorge)

Full review See: Taking the lead - Dale Dickey on stepping into the spotlight in A Love Song , A Love Song to Colorado: Max Walker-Silverman on his debut film

Lullaby (Cinco lobitos)

Review preview for Lullaby

Though it’s nicely drawn and the performances are good, especially from Sánchez, this is all fairly familiar stuff.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Amaia has just given birth to her first daughter. She would prefer not to give up her career as a translator, but it’s not easy to balance it with her family and looking after a young child. When her partner goes away on business for seven weeks, the young woman capitulates and goes to stay with her parents in the countryside.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa; Writer: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa; Stars: Laia Costa, Susi Sánchez, Ramón Barea, Mikel Bustamante, José Ramón Soroiz, Asier Valdestilla García, Justi Larrinaga, Isidoro Fernández, Gloria Helguera, Carmen Berbaola, Lorena López, Elena Sáenz, Ana Isabel Martínez, Anuska Pernia Sainz, Nerea Arriola)

Full review

Mariupolis 2

Documentary about everyday life in the shadow of invasion for the people of Mariupol.

(Country: Lithuania, France, Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Mantas Kvedaravicius, Hanna Bilbrova, Mantas Kvedaravicius)

Mr Landsbergis

Documentary about Lithuania in the years 1989 to 1991, when the Baltic country broke away from the Soviet Union.

(Country: Lithuania, Netherlands; Year: 2021; Director: Sergey Loznitsa; Stars: Vytautas Landsbergis)

Mutzenbacher

With an ad in a newspaper, Ruth Beckermann announces a casting call for a film based on a well-known pornographic text. The film, Mutzenbacher, sees a hundred men confronted with excerpts from the novel, Josefine Mutzenbacher or The Story of a Viennese Whore, in an age when sex is more ubiquitous than ever, and yet at same time is met with a highly charged moral environment.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2022; Director: Ruth Beckermann; Writer: Ruth Beckermann, Claus Philipp)

My Love Affair With Marriage

Review preview for My Love Affair With Marriage

If there’s a single word to describe the latest film from Signe Baumane, it’s vibrancy.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Some people spend their lives wondering why a marriage didn’t last. Signe Baumane set out to get some answers. The result is this animated film, which combines ancient mythology and contemporary neuroscience.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Signe Baumane; Writer: Signe Baumane; Stars: Dagmara Dominczyk, Michele Pawk, Matthew Modine, Cameron Monaghan, Stephen Lang, Erica Schroeder, Emma Kenney, Anna O'Donoghue, Tanya Franks, Clyde Baldo, Najla Said, Keith Randolph Smith, Dan Domingues, Florencia Lozano, Ruby Modine)

Full review

Pamfir

Review preview for Pamfir

There’s an increasing sense of the unnatural impinging on the natural.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Pamfir wants to be a decent family man but challenged by the circumstances he is forced to give up honest breadwinning to help his family.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2022; Director: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk; Writer: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk; Stars: Oleksandr Yatsentyuk, Stanislav Potyak, Solomiya Kyrylova , Olena Khokhlatkina, Myroslav Makoviychuk, Ivan Sharan)

Full review

The Passengers Of The Night (Les passagers de la nuit)

Paris, 1981. The presidential election heralds the winds of change which find an echo in the life of Elisabeth, whose husband has just abandoned her.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Mikhaël Hers; Writer: Maud Ameline, Mikhaël Hers; Stars: Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Noée Abita, Ophélia Kolb, Thibault Vinçon, Laurent Poitrenaux, Didier Sandre, Quito Rayon Richter, Morgane Portejoie Pinsard)

A Piece Of Sky (Drii Winter)

Review preview for A Piece Of Sky

The film could not be more Swiss if it were made out of chocolate, yet it feels real, organic, a natural expression of the world in which it is set.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A young woman commits to standing by her husband after he is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

(Country: Switzerland, Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Michael Koch; Writer: Michael Koch; Stars: Josef Aschwanden, Daniela Barmettler, Michèle Brand, Simon Wisler, Elin Zgraggen)

Full review See: Interview with Michael Koch and Michèle Brand about A Piece Of Sky

Plan 75

Review preview for Plan 75

The film is full of sharp little observations, made in passing, which tell us about this society and the experience of people living it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In a near future Japan, over-75s are offered a payment to encourage them to accept an assisted death.

(Country: Japan, France, Philippines; Year: 2022; Director: Chie Hayakawa; Writer: Chie Hayakawa; Stars: Chieko Baishô, Hayato Isomura, Taka Takao, Yumi Kawai)

Full review See: Interview with Chie Hayakawa about Plan 75

Rabiye Kurnaz Vs George Bush

Her son Murat’s detention in Guantanamo catapults Rabiye Kurnaz from everyday life in her terraced house in Bremen into the heart of world politics.

(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2022; Director: Andreas Dresen; Writer: Laila Stieler; Stars: Meltem Kaptan, Alexander Scheer, Charly Hübner, Samir Fuchs, Cornell Adams, Harvey Friedman, Nazmi Kirik, Martin Stange, Vince Eisenson, Alexander Hörbe, Tom Zahner, Jonathan Failla, Mike Davies, Stacy Thunes, William G. Tomek)

Reflection

Ukrainian surgeon Serhiy is captured by the Russian military forces and exposed to horrifying scenes of humiliation and violence. On release, he tries to rebuild his life.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Valentyn Vasyanovych; Writer: Valentyn Vasyanovych; Stars: Roman Lutskyi, Dmitriy Sova, Andriy Rymaruk, Vasiliy Kukharskiy, Nika Myslytska, Nadiya Levchenko, Igor Shulha, Andrii Senchuk, Stanislav Aseyev, Oleksandr Danyliuk)

Return To Dust

In a rural Chinese village, reticent farmer Ma and a disabled woman named Guiying lead lives that are similarly sheltered and difficult. Their arranged marriage seems destined to make things worse, but instead they discover a shared purpose.

(Country: China; Year: 2022; Director: Li Ruijun; Writer: Li Ruijun; Stars: Wu Renlin, Hai-Qing)

Rodeo

Drama about a young woman in an underground dirt bike community.

(Year: 2022; Director: Lola Quivoron)

The Silent Twins

Drama based on the true story of twins from the only Black family in a small town in Wales in the 1970s who are sent to Broadmoor after a crime spree.

(Country: Poland, US, UK; Year: 2022; Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska; Writer: Andrea Seigel, Marjorie Wallace; Stars: Letitia Wright, Jodhi May, Jack Bandeira, Treva Etienne, Tamara Lawrance, Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Declan Joyce, Ewa Rodart, Franciszek Przanowski, Jordan J Gallagher, Tony Richardson, Rita Raider, John Hyatt, Martin Hugh Henley, Julian R. Booth)

Sonne

When three girls don hijabs and sing their own version of the hit song Losing My Religion, they become celebrities among the Kurdish community in Vienna.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2022; Director: Kurdwin Ayub; Writer: Kurdwin Ayub; Stars: Melina Benli, Thomas Momcinovic, Law Wallner, Maya Wopienka)

Superheroes

Comic book illustrator Anna and theoretical physicist Marco are a pair of congenial Superheroes who, like so many other people, have decided to live together. After all, dealing with shared problems sometimes requires truly superhuman strength.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Paolo Genovese; Writer: Paolo Genovese, Rolando Ravello, Paolo Costella; Stars: Alessandro Borghi, Jasmine Trinca, Vinicio Marchioni, Greta Scarano, Angelica Leo, Linda Caridi, Gwendolyn Gourvenec, Elena Sofia Ricci, Beppe Severgnini, Flavio Parenti, Giacomo Mattia, Ermanno Casari, Gianluca Gobbi, Maria Rita Pantaleoni, Federica Fracassi)

Taurus (Good News)

A rising but troubled musician searches for the inspiration to record one last song, pushing himself deep into the void.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Tim Sutton; Writer: Tim Sutton; Stars: Megan Fox, Machine Gun Kelly, Scoot McNairy, Maddie Hasson, Luis Da Silva Jr., Angela Fornero, Robert Jumper, Demetrius 'Lil Meech' Flenory, Philip Smithey, Paul Bartholomew, Avery Tiiu Essex, Siri Miller, Frank Mosley, Joslyn Jensen, Ron G.)

That Kind Of Summer

Three women are spending “that kind of summer” in a quiet house by a lake, talking about (their) sexuality – from trauma to non-stop lust. A therapist is on hand to supervise them, a reversal of roles cannot be ruled out. The future is open.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Denis Côté; Writer: Denis Côté; Stars: Larissa Corriveau, Laure Giappiconi, Samir Guesmi, Aude Mathieu, Hinde Rabbaj, Anne Ratte-Polle)

Triangle Of Sadness

Review preview for Triangle Of Sadness

A roller-coaster of the effects of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A yacht for the super-rich sinks, leaving its passengers marooned on an island.

(Country: Sweden, UK, US, France, Greece; Year: 2022; Director: Ruben Östlund; Writer: Ruben Östlund; Stars: Woody Harrelson, Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Hanna Oldenburg, Zlatko Buric, Oliver Ford Davies, Linda Anborg, Iris Berben, Carolina Gynning, Sunnyi Melles, Malte Gårdinger, Vicki Berlin, Arvin Kananian, Beata Borelius, Shaniaz Hama Ali)

Full review See: Director Ruben Östlund, and Woody Harrelson on Triangle Of Sadness

Una Femmina - The Code Of Silence

Rose was a child when her mother died, and the family had an explanation ready for her: suicide. Except the fragments of memory that come to the young woman as she is growing up in the care of her grandmother and despotic uncle in a remote part of Calabria suggest something else.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Francesco Costabile; Writer: Lirio Abbate, Lirio Abbate, Edoardo De Angelis; Stars: Lina Siciliano, Fabrizio Ferracane, Anna Maria De Luca, Simona Malato, Luca Massaro, Mario Russo, Vincenzo Di Rosa, Pina Turco, Sara Grillo, Francesca Ritrovato)

Under The Fig Trees

Review preview for Under The Fig Trees

The stories that bloom here are rooted in the real, jacketed in the bruised flesh of familiar harms.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, find – and flee – deeper connections.

(Country: Tunisia, Switzerland, France, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Erige Sehiri; Writer: Peggy Hamann, Ghalya Lacroix, Erige Sehiri; Stars: Fedi Ben Achour, Firas Amri, Ameni Fdhili, Feten Fdhili, Fide Fdhili, Gaith Mendassi, Abdelhak Mrabti, Leila Ouhebi, Hneya Ben Elhedi Sbahi, Samar Sifi)

Full review See: Interview with Erige Sehiri on Under The Fig Trees

Utama

Review preview for Utama

Grisi has a background in photography and though the images are moving here, there's often a stillness to them and they are no less perfectly composed.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
In the Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living the same daily life for years. When an uncommon long drought threatens their entire way of life, Virginio and his wife Sisa face the dilemma of resisting or being defeated by the environment and time itself.

(Country: Bolivia, Uruguay, France; Year: 2022; Director: Alejandro Loayza Grisi; Writer: Alejandro Loayza Grisi; Stars: José Calcina, Luisa Quispe, Santos Choque)

Full review See: Alejandro Loayza Grisi on the challenges of shooting Utama

We Met In Virtual Reality

Review preview for We Met In Virtual Reality

We quickly see the more poignant emotional landscape is every bit as important as that manufactured by pixels and bytes.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Filmed entirely inside the world of VR, this vérité documentary captures the excitement and surprising intimacy of a burgeoning cultural movement, demonstrating the power of online connection in an isolated world.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Joe Hunting; Writer: Joe Hunting)

Full review

The Woodcutter Story

Trouble brews for a woodcutter in a small town after he loses his job.

(Country: Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Mikko Myllylahti; Writer: Mikko Myllylahti; Stars: Jarkko Lahti, Iivo Tuuri, Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Ulla Tapaninen, Marc Gassot, Katja Küttner, Armi Toivanen, Matti Onnismaa, Wanda Dubiel, Tomi Alatalo, Omar Abdi, Cris af Enehielm, Lauri Maijala, Ellen Herler, Maini Korkala)

Working Class Heroes

Lidija works for a shady developer, overseeing construction laborers and covering up poor working conditions. But the men decide to protest.

(Country: Serbia; Year: 2022; Director: Milos Pusic; Writer: Ivan Knezevic, Milos Pusic, Dusan Spasojevic; Stars: Boris Isakovic, Jasna Djuricic, Stefan Beronja, Predrag Momcilovic, Bojana Milanovic, Aleksandar Djurica, Mihajlo Pleskonjic, Ervin Hadzimurtezic, Filip Djuric, Milan Arandjelovic, Jovana Belovic, Danilo Brakocevic, Nikitovic Andrija Brica, Vera Hrcan-Ostojic, Stefan Isakovic)