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New Directors/New Films · 2018

New Directors/New Films 2018

Full line-up

Programme

26 films · 12 reviews

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3/4 (Three-Quarters)

Review preview for 3/4

Scenes don't run fully to their end or don't quite start at the beginning, the drama often whisked somewhere else as we're about to reach what more mainstream films would consider the small moments of climax.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
The lives of a father and his two children.

(Country: Bulgaria; Year: 2017; Director: Ilian Metev; Writer: Betina Ip, Ilian Metev; Stars: Mila Mihova, Nikolay Mashalov, Todor Veltchev, Simona Genkova, Kaloyan Georgiev, Alexander Kurtenkov)

Full review

New York premiere

An Elephant Sitting Still (Da xiang xi di er zuo)

Review preview for An Elephant Sitting Still

Despite its grey, flat light and general melancholy punctured by menace, An Elephant Sitting Still is, by the end considerably more optimistic than it first appears about humanity.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The lives of four people cross over the course of a day in China.

(Country: China; Year: 2018; Director: Hu Bo; Writer: Hu Bo; Stars: Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Uvin Wang, Congxi Li, Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Uvin Wang, Congxi Li)

Full review

North American premiere

Ava

Review preview for Ava

Beautifully observed, Sadaf Foroughi's feature début explores the way that, even in societies explicitly controlled by men, it's often women who enforce social rules and seek to control one another's behaviour.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A youngster in Iran begins to rebel.

(Country: Iran, Canada, Qatar; Year: 2017; Director: Sadaf Foroughi; Writer: Sadaf Foroughi; Stars: Vahid Aghapoor, Parnian Akhtari, Sarah Alimoradi, Mona Ghiasi, Houman Hoursan, Mahour Jabbari, Bahar Noohian, Leili Rashidi, Shayesteh Sajadi, Vahid Aghapoor, Parnian Akhtari, Sarah Alimoradi, Mona Ghiasi, Houman Hoursan, Mahour Jabbari)

Full review

New York premiere

Azougue Nazaré

Falstaffian character Tiao, Valmir do Coco leads a nonprofessional cast of authentic Maracatu practitioners in a tale told through dance, music, and the supernatural.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2017; Director: Tiago Melo; Writer: Tiago Melo)

North American premiere

Black Mother

Jamaica-set documentary.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Khalik Allah)

New York premiere

Closeness (Tesnota)

Review preview for Closeness

It is, presumably, his desire for realism that leads him to cross what will be a bridge too far for many audiences.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A family struggle to raise the ransom after a kidnapping.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2017; Director: Kantemir Balagov; Writer: Kantemir Balagov, Anton Yarush; Stars: Darya Zhovner, Olga Draganova, Veniamin Kats, Artem Tsypin, Nazir Zhukov)

Full review See: Director Kantemir Balagov talks Closeness , Highlights of Russian Film Week

New York premiere

Cocote

Alberto, an evangelical gardener, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father, murdered by an influential man. To mourn the dead man, he is forced to participate in religious celebrations that go against both his will and his beliefs.

(Country: Argentina, Germany, Dominican Republic; Year: 2017; Director: Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias; Writer: Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias; Stars: Vicente Santos, Yuberbi de la Rosa, Enerolisa Núñez, Judith Rodriguez Perez, Pepe Sierra, Ricardo Ariel Toribio)

New York premiere

Djon África

A Cape Verdean in Portugal, Miguel Moreira, also known as Djon África, travels back home to look for his birth father. Documentary.

(Country: Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde; Year: 2018; Director: João Miller Guerra, Filipa Reis; Writer: João Miller Guerra, Pedro Pinho; Stars: Bitori Nha Bibinha, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Miguel Moreira, Patricia Soso, Bitori Nha Bibinha, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Miguel Moreira, Patricia Soso)

North American premiere

Drift

Two women spend a weekend in the North Sea. One of them will soon return to her family in Argentina, whereas the other one will try to come a step closer to the ocean.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Helena Wittmann; Writer: Helena Wittmann, Theresa George; Stars: Theresa George, Josefina Gill)

US premiere

The Guilty (Den Skyldige)

Review preview for The Guilty

Well-written dialogue, strong acting all round and unobtrusive but taut direction give it real strength.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
After he takes a call from a woman in a desperate situation, an emergency operator feels unable to let go.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Gustav Möller; Writer: Emil Nygaard Albertsen, Gustav Möller; Stars: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi, Johan Olsen, Jakob Ulrik Lohmann, Katinka Evers-Jahnsen, Jeanette Lindbæk, Simon Bennebjerg, Laura Bro, Morten Suurballe, Guuled Abdi Youssef, Caroline Løppke, Peter Christoffersen, Nicolai Wendelboe, Morten Thunbo)

Full review

New York premiere

Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras)

A lonely nurse is hired by a wealthy woman as a nanny for her unborn child, but one night has unexpected consequences.

(Country: Brazil, France; Year: 2017; Director: Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas; Writer: Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas; Stars: Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee, Felipe Kenji, Nina Medeiros, Neusa Velasco, Gilda Nomacce, Eduardo Gomes, Hugo Villavicenzio, Adriana Mendonça, Germano Melo, Naloana Lima, Clara de Cápua)

New York premiere

The Great Buddha +

A night security guard and his colleague get more than they bargained for when they start watching the car dash camera of one of their bosses.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2017; Director: Huang Hsin-yao ; Writer: Huang Hsin-yao; Stars: Cres Chuang, Bamboo Chu-Sheng Chen, Leon Dai, Shao-Huai Chang, Kuo-Lin Ting, Na-Dou Lin, Yi-wen Chen, Mei-Hsiu Lin, Evelyn Yu-Tong Cheng)

New York premiere

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Review preview for Hale County This Morning, This Evening

By looking at what would lie outside of the traditional framework of most documentaries, Ross builds a much more absorbing picture of people fully embedded within an environment.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An exploration of coming-of-age in the Black Belt of the American South.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: RaMell Ross; Writer: Maya Krinsky)

Full review See: RaMell Ross ‪in conversation on‬ an encompassing landscape and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's influence on Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Closing gala. New York premiere

Makala

Review preview for Makala

The way director Emmanuel Gras eases under the skin of his main subject makes for fascinating viewing.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A young peasant makes a difficult journey in the hope of creating a better life for his loved ones.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Emmanuel Gras; Stars: Kabwita Kasongo, Lydie Kasongo)

Full review

New York premiere

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.

Review preview for Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.

Whatever else she may be, Maya clearly has no tolerance for bullshit - she seems constitutionally incapable of playing the game.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2018; Director: Stephen Loveridge; Stars: M.I.A.)

Full review

Opening gala. New York premiere

Milla

Review preview for Milla

Jonckeere is ebullient in the lead yet there's a subtlety to her performance that communicates Milla's gradual passage from a life driven by instinct to one where she must take responsibility not only for herself but for her son.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Meditation on young motherhood and the vagaries of growing up.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Valérie Massadian; Writer: Valérie Massadian; Stars: Severine Jonckeere, Luc Chessel, Ethan Jonckeere, Severine Jonckeere, Luc Chessel, Ethan Jonckeere)

Full review

New York premiere

Nervous Translation

A stylised evocation of a child’s fanciful interpretation of the world around her.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2017; Director: Shireen Seno; Writer: Shireen Seno; Stars: Jana Agoncillo, Jana Agoncillo)

North American premiere

Notes On An Appearance

After a young man disappears, his friends try to find him.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Ricky D'Ambrose; Writer: Ricky D'Ambrose; Stars: Zia Anger, Michael M. Bilandic, Bingham Bryant, Kathryn Danielle, A.S. Hamrah, Sky Hirschkron, Madeleine James, James N. Kienitz Wilkins, Tallie Medel, Eleanore Pienta, Jessica Pinfield, Keith Poulson, Lorelei Ramirez, Zia Anger, Michael M. Bilandic)

North American premiere

The Nothing Factory (A Fábrica De Nada)

One night, a group of workers realizes that the administration is stealing machines and raw materials from their own factory, forcing the staff to take a stand.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2017; Director: Pedro Pinho; Writer: Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo, Pedro Pinho, Jorge Silva Melo; Stars: Carla Galvão, Dinis Gomes, Américo Silva, José Smith Vargas)

New York premiere

Our House (Watashitachi no ie)

Parallel stories of an adolescent girl and her mum, and an amnesiac given refuge unfold under the same roof.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2017; Director: Yui Kiyohara; Writer: Noriko Katô, Yui Kiyohara; Stars: Nodoka Kawanishi, Yukiko Yasuno, Mei Fujiwara, Masanori Kikuzawa, Mariwo Ohsawa, Nodoka Kawanishi, Yukiko Yasuno, Mei Fujiwara, Masanori Kikuzawa, Mariwo Ohsawa)

North American premiere

Scary Mother

Manana, a 50-year-old Tbilisi mother abandons her duties as a wife and mother to pursue an obsessive and hermetic life of writing poetry.

(Country: Georgia, Estonia; Year: 2017; Director: Ana Urushadze; Writer: Ana Urushadze; Stars: Nato Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Ramaz Ioseliani, Avtandil Makharadze, Anastasia Chanturaia, Lasha Gabunia, Darejan Kharshiladze, Lili Khuriti, Nana Khuriti, Luka Nachkebia, Nato Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Ramaz Ioseliani, Avtandil Makharadze, Anastasia Chanturaia)

New York premiere

Those Who Are Fine (Dene wos guet geit)

Review preview for Those Who Are Fine

Taut, tense, perhaps less constructed than engineered.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A call centre worker begins to work a scam on the elderly.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2017; Director: Cyril Schäublin; Stars: Sarah Stauffer, Nikolai Bosshardt, Fidel Morf, Sarah Stauffer, Nikolai Bosshardt, Fidel Morf)

Full review

New York premiere

Until The Birds Return (En attendant les hirondelles)

Review preview for Until The Birds Return

Like so many anthology films, it suffers from the fact that the sections are uneven, with the middle segment soaring high above the two bookend stories.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Algeria today. Past and present collide in the lives of a newly wealthy property developer, a young woman torn between the path of reason and sentiment and a neurologist whose past catches up with him.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Karim Moussaoui; Writer: Maud Ameline, Karim Moussaoui; Stars: Aure Atika, Hania Amar)

Full review

New York premiere

A Violent Life (Une vie violente)

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Thierry de Peretti; Stars: Cédric Appietto, Paul Garatte, Jean-Marc Michelangeli, Jean-Étienne Brat, Marie-Pierre Nouveau, Henri-Noël Tabary, Dominique Colombani, Anaïs Lechiara, Délia Sepulcre-Nativi)

New York premiere

Winter Brothers

Review preview for Winter Brothers

Palmason accentuates the tedium by holding almost every shot far longer than necessary or shooting scenes in pitch black mines or against stark landscapes white with lime dust.

Rory Ford · 2 out of 5
Two brothers embark on a violent feud with another family.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Hlynur Palmason; Writer: Hlynur Palmason; Stars: Michael Brostrup, Anders Hove, Elliott Crosset Hove, Jannik Jensen, Lars Mikkelsen, Stefan Mølholt, Peter Plaugborg, Simon Sears, Victoria Carmen Sonne, Birgit Thøt Jensen)

Full review

New York premiere

Young Girls Vanish (Des jeunes filles disparaissent)

Explores the echoes of violence in Essonne, France, where dozens of girls were killed by wolves in the 1600s. Centuries later, young women begin disappearing again.

(Year: 2017; Director: Clément Pinteaux; Writer: Clément Pinteaux, Marie-Stéphane Imbert, Hania Ourabah, Baptiste Pinteaux)

North American premiere. Screening with Notes On Appearance.