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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2024

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2024

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Programme

51 films · 28 reviews

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All We Imagine As Light

Review preview for All We Imagine As Light

It’s fitting for a film set in the “City of Dreams” and that is concerned with life’s illusions and how we navigate them as it is about the here and now.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Triptych explores the lives of three women in Mumbai.

(Country: France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Payal Kapadia; Writer: Payal Kapadia; Stars: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, Azees Nedumangad, Anand Sami, Lovleen Mishra, Madhu Raja, Shweta Prajapati, Tintumol Joseph, Ardra K.S., Sisira Anil CK, Aparna Ram, Kashish Singh, Nikhil Mathew)

Full review See: Interview with Payal Kapadia about All We Imagine As Light

Architecton

Review preview for Architecton

As much as Architecton rues humanity’s depletion of our resources, it also marvels at our ability to harness materials for our own ends.

Sunil Chauhan · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary meditation on architecture and how the design and construction of buildings from the ancient past reveals our destruction - and offers hope for survival.

(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2024; Director: Victor Kossakovsky; Writer: Victor Kossakovsky)

Full review

The Balconettes (Les Femmes Au Balcon)

Review preview for The Balconettes

The film is a brash, vulgar, joyously realistic portrait of a three-way friendship with roots that run deep.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
Three women get stuck in a Marseille apartment during a heatwave.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Noémie Merlant; Writer: Noémie Merlant; Stars: Souheila Yacoub, Noémie Merlant, Sanda Codreanu)

Full review See: Interview with Noémie Merlant and Sanda Codreanu about The Balconettes

The Beast (La Bête)

Review preview for The Beast

The Beast explores what Henry James diagnosed so devastatingly. The chill of egotism and the feverish dance around the void are so desperately relevant today that it leaves one breathless.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
In the near future a woman decides to purify her DNA in a machine that takes her into her past lives. Then she meets Louis and feels a powerful connection, as if she had always known him.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Bertrand Bonello; Writer: Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Bréaud, Benjamin Charbit, based on the novel by Henry James; Stars: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay)

Full review See: Bertrand Bonello on sci-fi, loneliness, music and working with Léa Seydoux , Bertrand Bonello in conversation on Coma and The Beast

Brief History Of A Family

Review preview for Brief History Of A Family

Lin and Sun studiously maintain the enigma around Shuo so that we are left guessing as to whether he’s just a disadvantaged teen trying to make his way in the world or a cuckoo in the nest.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A middle-class family’s fate becomes intertwined with their only son’s enigmatic new friend in post one-child policy China, putting unspoken secrets, unmet expectations, and untended emotions under the microscope.

(Country: China, Denmark; Year: 2024; Director: Jianjie Lin; Writer: Jianjie Lin; Stars: Ke-Yu Guo, Feng Zu, Xilun Sun, Muran Lin)

Full review See: Interview with Jianjie Lin about Brief History Of A Family

Bye Bye Tiberias (Bye Bye Tibériade)

Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Hiam Abbass returns home with her daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

(Country: Palestine, Belgium, Qatar, France; Year: 2023; Director: Lina Soualem; Writer: Lina Soualem, Nadine Naous, Gladys Joujou; Stars: Hiam Abbass)

Crossing

A retired teacher, has promised to find her long-lost niece, Tekla. Her search takes her to Istanbul where she meets Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights, and Tekla starts to feel closer than ever.

(Country: Sweden, Denmark, France, Turkey, Georgia; Year: 2024; Director: Levan Akin; Writer: Levan Akin; Stars: Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankava, Deniz Dumanli)

A Different Man

Review preview for A Different Man

Slippery in terms of genre and form, the writer/director’s satire puts all his characters and, by extension, us under close scrutiny.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical trial to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Aaron Schimberg; Writer: Aaron Schimberg; Stars: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Owen Kline, Adam Pearson, Marc Geller, Lawrence Arancio, Billy Griffith, Eleanore Pienta, John Keating, Juney Smith, Sergio Delavicci, Miles G. Jackson, Martin Ewens, Neal Davidson, Trenton Hudson)

Full review

Direct Action

Documents the everyday lives of one of the most high-profile militant activist communities in France and asks whether the success of a radical protest movement can offer a path through the climate crisis.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell)

Dying (Sterben)

Review preview for Dying

Dying is full of glorious contradictions, many of which occur within the same conversation

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Ensemble drama about members of an estranged family.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Matthias Glasner; Writer: Matthias Glasner; Stars: Lars Eidinger, Saskia Rosendahl, Ronald Zehrfeld, Corinna Harfouch, Anna Bederke, Lilith Stangenberg, Kailas Mahadevan, Tom Böttcher, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Robert Gwisdek, Jens Weisser, Karmela Shako, Sidney Fahlisch, Christopher Köberlein, Alina Hidic)

Full review

Explanation For Everything (Magyarazat Mindendre)

A high school student's graduation exams spark scandal.

(Country: Hungary, Slovakia; Year: 2023; Director: Gábor Reisz; Writer: Gábor Reisz, Éva Schulze; Stars: Adonyi-Walsh Gáspár, István Znamenák, András Rusznák, Rebeka Hatházi, Krisztina Urbanovits, Eliza Sodró, Lilla Kizlinger, Dániel Király, Gergely Kocsis, Tamás Fodor, Péter Tarján, Zsuzanna Szager, Péter Szeiler, Tóth Péter, Tünde Bacskó)

Favoriten

Documentary about a primary class in Vienna shot across three years.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2024; Director: Ruth Beckermann; Writer: Ruth Beckermann, Elisabeth Menasse; Stars: Ilkay Idiskut)

Fingernails

Review preview for Fingernails

There’s something inherently endearing about the way that Nikou always managed to conjure timelessness in his worlds. They’re more analogue than futuristic but ultimately hang in a sort of limbo of ‘here but not quite now’.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman who is increasingly unsure about her relationship secretly embarks on a new assignment working at a mysterious institute designed to incite and test the presence of romantic love in increasingly desperate couples.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Christos Nikou; Writer: Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis, Sam Steiner; Stars: Jeremy Allen White, Annie Murphy, Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Luke Wilson, Katy Breier)

Full review See: Truth and nail: Christos Nikou on Fingernails

Gasoline Rainbow

Review preview for Gasoline Rainbow

Whatever structuring the directors are doing is achieved with the lightest of touches, so that we feel as though we’re just along for the ride with these guys.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A group of teenagers go on a road trip.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Bill Ross, Turner Ross; Writer: Davey Ramsey, Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross; Stars: Tony Acierto, Micah Bunch, Nicole Duke, Nathaly Garcia, Makai Garza)

Full review

Girls Will Be Girls

Review preview for Girls Will Be Girls

Panigrahi is pitch perfect in her debut role.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself.

(Country: India; Year: 2024; Director: Shuchi Talati; Writer: Shuchi Talati; Stars: Kani Kusruti, Jitin Gulati, Kesav Binoy Kiron, Preeti Panigrahi)

Full review See: Shuchi Talati on rebellion and relationships in Girls Will Be Girls

The Girl With The Needle (Pigen med nålen)

Review preview for The Girl With The Needle

Illusions are everywhere in this film.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In Copenhagen in the aftermath of World War one, a young woman in desperate circumstances takes on a job which will lead her to still greater depths of despair.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2024; Director: Magnus von Horn; Writer: Line Langebek Knudsen, Magnus von Horn; Stars: Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri, Ava Knox Martin, Joachim Fjelstrup, Tessa Hoder, Søren Sætter-Lassen, Thomas Kirk, Dan Jakobsen, Anna Tulestedt, Ari Alexander, Benedikte Hansen, Per Thiim Thim, Peter Secher Schmidt, Agnieszka Przyborowska-Mitrosz)

Full review

Gloria!

Set in a girls' boarding school in Venice at the end of the 18th century, the film tells the story of a woman who creates an extraordinary piece of music.

(Country: Italy, Switzerland; Year: 2024; Director: Margherita Vicario; Writer: Anita Rivaroli, Margherita Vicario; Stars: Galatéa Bellugi, Carlotta Gamba, Veronica Lucchesi, Maria Vittoria Dallasta, Sara Mafodda, Paolo Rossi, Elio, Natalino Balasso, Anita Kravos, Vincenzo Crea, Jasmin Mattei, Gioele Pagura)

Grand Tour

The travels of a civil servant after he runs away from his finacee.

(Country: Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China; Year: 2024; Director: Miguel Gomes; Writer: Telmo Churro, Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes, Mariana Ricardo, Babu Targino; Stars: Jani Zhao, Gonçalo Waddington, João Pedro Vaz, Teresa Madruga, Manuela Couto, Crista Alfaiate, Lang Khê Tran, Diogo Dória, Cláudio da Silva, Américo Silva, João Pedro Bénard, Jorge Andrade, Joana Bárcia, André Lourido, Giacomo Leone)

Holy Cow! (Vingt Dieux!)

Review preview for Holy Cow!

The action is pacy but that doesn’t mean Courvoisier skims the surface.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
After the sudden death of his father an 18-year-old finds himself looking after his sister... and changing his life.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Louise Courvoisier; Writer: Louise Courvoisier, Théo Abadie; Stars: Clément Faveau, Maïwène Barthelemy, Luna Garret, Mathis Bertrand, Dimitry Baudry) , Trailer

Full review

Housekeeping For Beginners (Domakinstvo za Pocetnici)

Review preview for Housekeeping For Beginners

For all the apparent chaos, this is a tightly controlled piece of work which fully delivers on the promise of Stolevski’s earlier films.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A lesbian suddenly finds herself responsible for her partner’s two daughters.

(Country: North Macedonia, Sweden, Kosovo, Poland, Serbia, Croatia; Year: 2023; Director: Goran Stolevski; Writer: Goran Stolevski; Stars: Rozafa Celaj, Sara Klimoska, Anamaria Marinca, Mia Mustafi, Aleksandra Pesevska, Samson Selim, Alina Serban, Vladimir Tintor, Ajse Useini)

Full review

The Invasion (L'Invasion)

Review preview for The Invasion

Loznitsa’s approach is quietly observational, capturing the quotidian goings on as they continue beneath the shadow of war.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Life in Ukraine under the shadow of war.

(Country: Ukraine, Netherlands, France, US; Year: 2024; Director: Sergei Loznitsa)

Full review

It's Not Me (C'est Pas Moi)

Consideration of the filmmaker's own filmography.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Leos Carax; Writer: Leos Carax; Stars: Leos Carax, Denis Lavant, Nastya Golubeva Carax, Ekaterina Yuspina, Anna-Isabel Siefken, Bianca Maddaluno, Loreta Juodkaite, Petar Antevski)

Julie Keeps Quiet (Julie zwijgt)

Review preview for Julie Keeps Quiet

The director shows how it’s not just Julie’s tennis skills that have been groomed by the coach but large aspects of her life.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
As the star player at an elite tennis academy, Julie’s life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club's players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet…

(Country: Belgium, Sweden; Year: 2024; Director: Leonardo van Dijl; Writer: Ruth Becquart, Leonardo van Dijl; Stars: Tessa Van den Broeck, Grace Biot, Alyssa Lorette, Ruth Becquart, Koen De Bouw, Pierre Gervais, Claire Bodson, Laurent Caron)

Full review See: Leonardo van Dijl on the importance of silence Belgian Oscar nominee Julie Keeps Quiet

Kinds Of Kindness

Review preview for Kinds Of Kindness

The entire cast, especially Stone, who has admitted that Lanthimos is a muse, enter into the grand guignol spirit of the proceedings with gusto.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2024; Director: Yorgos Lanthimos; Writer: Efthimis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos; Stars: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer, Krystal Alayne Chambers, Abi Beaux, Susan Elle, Merah Benoit, Jess Weiss, Victoria Harris, Tessa Bourgeois)

Full review See: Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos on Kinds Of Kindness

Kneecap

Review preview for Kneecap

It's got the musicality that proper swearing should.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
There are 80,000 native Irish speakers in Ireland. 6,000 live in the North of Ireland. Three of them became a rap group called Kneecap. This anarchic Belfast trio becomes the unlikely figurehead of a civil rights movement to save the mother tongue.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2024; Director: Rich Peppiatt; Writer: Rich Peppiatt; Stars: Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds, Josie Walker, Cliodhna McCorley, Mo Chara, Cathal Mercer, Móglaí Bap, Emer Casey, DJ Próvai, Arlene Martine Morris, Donagh Deeney, Saorlaoith Brady, Paul Murphy, Paul P. McCrystal)

Full review

Living Large

A 12-year-old takes drastic action over his weight in a bid to win the girl of his dreams.

(Country: Czech Republic, France, Slovakia; Year: 2024; Director: Kristina Dufková; Writer: Mikaël Ollivier, Petr Jarchovský, Barbora Drevikovska, Anna Vásová; Stars: Hugo Kovács, Sebastian Pöthe, Agáta Tandlerová, Katarina Heinlein, Tatiana Dyková, David Novotný, Eliska Krenková, Prokop Zach, Ema Novotná, Matej Havelka, Andrej Patejdl, Klára Melísková, Martha Issová, Matej Ruppert, Simona Babcáková)

Memory

A love-struck couple (attempt to build a relationship while dealing with trauma and dementia.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2023; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Elsie Fisher, Merritt Wever, Josh Charles, Jessica Harper, Blake Baumgartner, Rand Faris, Davis Duffield, Brooke Timber, Elizabeth Loyacano, Billy Griffith, Ross Brodar, Johnny Vorsteg, Thomas Vorsteg)

My Favourite Cake (Keyke mahboobe man)

Review preview for My Favourite Cake

While many other films feel as though they are really staking out a deliberate political stance against the Iranian regime or coming at it from deep within metaphor, My Favourite Cake is casually, but almost constantly, rebellious in small ways.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A 70-year-old decides to break her solitary routine and revitalise her love life.

(Country: Iran, France, Sweden, Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha; Writer: Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha; Stars: Lili Farhadpour, Esmaeel Mehrabi)

Full review

My Summer With Irène

Review preview for My Summer With Irène

The Italian filmmaker employs a minimalist approach that embraces the languorous nature of summer.

Sergiu Inizian · 3.5 out of 5
Italy 1997. When 17-year-old Clara and Irene meet they are nothing alike but get on marvelously. They run away together to an island in Sicily to live their summer freely, and to hide from a reality they want to forget.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2024; Director: Carlo Sironi; Writer: Carlo Sironi, Silvana Tamma; Stars: Noée Abita, Maria Camilla Brandenburg, Claudio Segaluscio, Beatrice Puccilli, Anna De Luzio, Gabriele Rozzo)

Full review See: Carlo Sironi on his coming-of-age movie My Summer With Irene

Nasty

Documentary about tennis player Ilie Năstase.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2024; Director: Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu, Tudor D Popescu; Writer: Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu; Stars: Ilie Nastase, Ion Tiriac, Jimmy Connors, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker, Yannick Noah, Nadia Comaneci, Gheorghe Hagi, Marc Jenner, James Longshore, Cristian Tudor Popescu)

No Other Land

Review preview for No Other Land

No Other Land brings humanity and particularity to a topic that is too often discussed in the abstract.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli authorities and the unlikely alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

(Country: Palestinian Territories; Year: 2024; Director: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor; Stars: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal)

Full review

On Becoming A Guinea Fowl

Review preview for On Becoming A Guinea Fowl

Nyoni expertly controls her narrative so that it glides effortlessly between the reality of the funeral preparations to the more surreal psychological trauma Shula is working through.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Absurdist drama sees family secrets gradually revealed during the preparations for a funeral.

(Country: UK, Zambia, Ireland; Year: 2024; Director: Rungano Nyoni; Writer: Rungano Nyoni; Stars: Susan Chardy, Roy Chisha, Blessings Bhamjee, Chungu Bwalya, Maggie Mulubwa, Benson Mumba, Henry B.J. Phiri, Elizabeth Chisela, Doris Naulapwa, Mary Mulabo, Norah Mwansa, Hildah Mwanza, Febby Lungu, Gillian Sakala, Carol Natasha Mwale)

Full review

The Other Way Around (Volveréis)

Relationship comedy sees a couple through a gathering to celebrate their break-up.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Jonás Trueba; Writer: Jonás Trueba; Stars: Itsaso Arana, Vito Sanz)

Parthenope

Drama charts a woman's life in Naples from the Fifties onwards.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2024; Director: Paolo Sorrentino; Writer: Umberto Contarello, Paolo Sorrentino; Stars: Gary Oldman, Stefania Sandrelli, Luisa Ranieri, Isabella Ferrari, Silvio Orlando, Dario Aita, Alessandro Cucca, Brando Improta, Paola Calliari, Celeste Dalla Porta, Peppe Lanzetta, Giampiero De Concilio, Biagio Izzo, Nello Mascia, Lorenzo Gleijeses)

Pepe

A voice that claims to be from a hippopotamus. A voice that doesn’t understand the perception of time. Pepe, the first and last hippo killed in the Americas, tells his story with the overwhelming orality of these towns.

(Country: Dominican Republic, Namibia, Germany, France; Year: 2024; Director: Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias; Stars: Jhon Narváez, Sor María Ríos, Fareed Matjila, Harmony Ahalwa, Jorge Puntillón García)

See: Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias on experimentation and storytelling in Pepe

Porcelain War

Review preview for Porcelain War

A tactile and colour-infused film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev; Writer: Aniela Sidorska, Brendan Bellomo, Paula DuPré Pesmen, Slava Leontyev)

Full review

The Rescue (El Rapto)

Julio returns with his family to Argentina after the dictatorship falls. But when his brother is kidnapped, Julio must negotiate with the criminals.

(Country: Argentina, US; Year: 2023; Director: Daniela Goggi; Writer: Andrea Garrote, Daniela Goggi; Stars: Rodrigo de la Serna, Julieta Zylberberg, Jorge Marrale, Germán Palacios, Andrea Garrote, Carlos Garmendia)

Rumours

Review preview for Rumours

The writing is sharp and succinct.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
World leaders become stranded in the woods during a G7 summit.

(Country: Canada, Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin; Writer: Evan Johnson; Stars: Alicia Vikander, Cate Blanchett, Charles Dance, Takehiro Hira, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Denis Ménochet, Roy Dupuis, Zlatko Buric, Ralph Berkin, Rolando Ravello, Alexa Kennedy, Tomi Kosynus)

Full review See: Guy Maddin on Rumours in Cannes

Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus

A concert film shot as Sakamoto battled cancer.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Neo Sora; Stars: Ryuichi Sakamoto)

Santosh

Review preview for Santosh

Writer/director Sandhya Suri - who has a documentary background - is keen to show that everyone plays their part in the prejudices and corruption of the legal system.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Newly widowed Santosh inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Sandhya Suri; Writer: Sandhya Suri; Stars: Shahana Goswami, Sanjay Bishnoi)

Full review See: Interview with Sandhya Suri about Santosh

Shambhala

A woman tries to find her husband after he disappears.

(Country: Nepal, France, Norway, Hong Kong, Turkey, Taiwan, United States, Qatar; Year: 2024; Director: Min Bahadur Bham; Writer: Min Bahadur Bham, Abinash Bikram Shah; Stars: Thinley Lhamo, Sonam Topden, Tenzing Dalha, Karma Wangyal Gurung, Karma Shakya, Loten Namling, Tsering Choden, Choney Gurung, Phurba Tsepten Gurung, Tsering Lhamo Gurung, Tsering Choeble Towa, Janga Bahadur Lama)

Silent Trilogy

Trio of shorts.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2024; Director: Juho Kuosmanen)

Sleep With Your Eyes Open (Dormir de olhos abertos)

A coastal city in Brazil. Fu Ang, Kai and Xiao Xin rarely meet in this quiet comedy of misunderstandings. Yet during a hot, slow summer, delicate bonds grow between them.

(Country: Brazil, Taiwan, Argentina, Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Nele Wohlatz; Writer: Pío Longo, Nele Wohlatz; Stars: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Liao Kai Ro, Shin-Hong Wang, Chen Xiao Xin, Lu Yang Zong)

Souleymane's Story (L'Histoire de Souleymane, The Story of Souleymane)

Review preview for Souleymane's Story

There is a feeling of being in a constant movement, with cars and buildings whizzing by as Souleymane is rushing through the city, either riding his bike, or running from one type of public transport to the next.

Nikola Jovic · 3 out of 5
Two days in the life of a bike delivery guy who is trying to get asylum.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Boris Lojkine; Writer: Boris Lojkine, Delphine Agut; Stars: Abou Sangare, Nina Meurisse, Alpha Oumar Sow Emmanuel Yovanie, Younoussa Diallo)

Full review

The Substance

Review preview for The Substance

Brutal, bloody and enriched with a specific dark humour.

Marija Lukarevska · 4 out of 5
A fading television star tries to restore her fame with the help of a suspicious drug.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2024; Director: Coralie Fargeat; Writer: Coralie Fargeat; Stars: Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore, Hugo Diego Garcia, Joseph Balderrama, Oscar Lesage, Gore Abrams, Olivier Raynal, Vincent Colombe, Tiffany Hofstetter, Matthew Géczy, Tom Morton, Philip Schurer, Matthew Luret, Alexandra Papoulias Barton)

Full review

Three Kilometres To The End Of The World

A gay teenager's journey of self-discovery sees him clash with his parents.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2024; Director: Emanuel Parvu; Writer: Miruna Berescu; Stars: Laura Vasiliu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Adrian Titieni, Valeriu Andriuta, Ciprian Chiujdea)

Trust

A teacher becomes romantically entangled with a former pupil.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Daniele Luchetti; Writer: Domenico Starnone, Daniele Luchetti, Francesco Piccolo; Stars: Elio Germano, Pilar Fogliati, Vittoria Puccini, Isabella Ferrari, Federica Rosellini, Giordano De Plano, Roberto Latini, Luca Gallone, Bruno Orlando, Elena Arvigo, Elena Bouryka, Sofia Luchetti)

Viet and Nam

Nam and Việt are coal miners, working 300 meters below ground, where danger awaits, darkness prevails. Nam doesn’t want his future to continue with coal and hires someone to smuggle him to the western world.

(Year: 2024; Director: Truong Minh Quý)

The Village Next To Paradise

In a windy Somali village, a newly assembled family must navigate between their different aspirations and the complex world surrounding them.

(Country: France, Austria; Year: 2024; Director: Mo Harawe; Writer: Mo Harawe; Stars: Axmen Cali Faarax, Canab Axmed Ibraahin, Ahmed Mohamoud Salleban)

When The Light Breaks

Review preview for When The Light Breaks

Beyond the dark loneliness of grief, is the soft light of a shared mourning.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
From one sunset to another, Una, a young art student encounters love, friendship, sorrow and beauty.

(Country: Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, France; Year: 2024; Director: Rúnar Rúnarsson; Writer: Rúnar Rúnarsson; Stars: Elín Hall, Katla Njálsdóttir, Mikael Kaaber, Ágúst Wigum, Gunnar Hrafn Kristjánsson, Baldur Einarsson)

Full review See: Interview with Elín Hall about When The Light Breaks

Who Do I Belong To (Mé el Aïn)

Review preview for Who Do I Belong To

Starting as a refined drama about a broken Tunisian family, the narrative becomes a complex meditation on attachment and motherhood, all encompassed by a remarkable female lead.

Sergiu Inizian · 3.5 out of 5
Aïcha longs for the return of her oldest sons, Mehdi and Amine, who abandoned the household in search of war. Upon Mehdi's return, a looming darkness surfaces.

(Country: Tunisia, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France, Canada; Year: 2024; Director: Meryam Joobeur; Writer: Meryam Joobeur; Stars: Salha Nasraoui, Mohamed Grayaâ, Malek Mechergui, Adam Bessa, Dea Liane, Rayene Mechergui, Mariem Jlassi Akkari, Neji Kanaweti, Hélène Catzaras, Noomen Hamda, Chakib Romdhani, Bahri Rahali, Imene Ghazouani)

Full review