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Festival coverage

New Directors/New Films

27 March – 7 April 2019

The 48th edition of the New York festival celebrating new cinematic voices ran from March 27 to April 7.

It opened with Sundance US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner Clemency and closed with Share. The centrepiece was Monos.

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Other years (14)

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Latest reviews

  • The Plagiarists
    Review preview for The Plagiarists

    The film is unashamedly intellectual and yet amuses itself with its characters' overly enthusiastic attempts to understand everything around them as deeply as possible, often missing what's going on on the surface.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A young novelist and her cinematographer boyfriendare waylaid by a snowstorm on their way to visit a friend and are taken in by the kindly yet enigmatic Clip, who puts them up for the night. But a discovery months later recasts events.
  • Present.Perfect.
    Review preview for Present.Perfect.

    Rather than an expose of the dark side of live streaming, or focusing on its superstars, Zhu gravitates towards marginalized voices: those in rural areas, the disabled, single mothers.

    Sunil Chauhan · 4 out of 5
    A documentary portrait of Chinese society by focusing on the most marginalised - a chain-smoking burn victim, an uncoordinated street dancer, a man with growth-hormone deficiency, a cattle farm worker, and many others.
  • The Load
    Review preview for The Load

    Glavonic, who has a background in documentary, has crafted a moody and broody piece, built less on onscreen incident than the oppressive atmosphere and offscreen imaginings.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A truck driver is tasked with transporting mysterious cargo across a scorched landscape from Kosovo to Belgrade during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
  • Bait
    Review preview for Bait

    Bait looks, sounds, feels amazing.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    Martin is a cove fisherman whose brother has started using their father’s boat to shuttle tourists, soon causing latent familial tensions to explode.
  • Clemency
    Review preview for Clemency

    Despite the raw power of its performances, the film suffers from an impulse to spell out some of its points.

    Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
    Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.
  • Midnight Family
    Review preview for Midnight Family

    By keeping the camera in the back of the ambulance largely at a level above that of the various patients, Lorentzen ensures the film never becomes voyeuristic.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    In Mexico City's wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a for-profit ambulance, competing with other unlicensed EMTs for patients in need of urgent care. In this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from compromising the people in their care.
  • Honeyland
    Review preview for Honeyland

    The directors let the humanism shine out without resorting to sentimentality, capturing moments of joy, such as the pleasure of shared, sticky honey with the same lack of artifice as moments of pain or grief.

    Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
    When nomadic beekeepers break Honeyland's basic rule (take half of the honey, but leave half to the bees), the last female beehunter in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance.
  • Monos
    Review preview for Monos

    Landes' film has the queasy, uneasy feel of a nightmare - and that's before magic mushrooms are involved.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
  • Sauvage
    Review preview for Sauvage

    Showing a keen understanding of the nature of sex work and of life on the streets, Vidal-Naquet carries us through several days in Léo's life in a observational, non-judgemental way.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A young male sex worker searches for love and companionship.
  • Share
    Review preview for Share

    Moody images don't make for high drama and even at a trim 87 minutes, the story feels stretched.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    After discovering a disturbing video from a night she doesn’t remember, 16-year-old Mandy must try to figure out what happened and how to navigate the escalating fallout.

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