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New Directors/New Films · 2022

New Directors/New Films 2022

Full line-up

In addition to the features below, there are two shorts programmes.

Programme

26 films · 12 reviews

Jump to a film

The African Desperate

Drama, following a sculptor during her first 24 hours as a Masterof Fine Arts as things don't go as planned.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Martine Syms; Writer: Rocket Caleshu, Martine Syms; Stars: Brent David Freaney, Erin Leland, Ruby McCollister)

World premiere

Album For The Youth

A pair of youngsters prepare for their next steps in life during summer break.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Malena Solarz; Writer: Malena Solarz)

North American premiere

The Apartment With Two Women

Living together in a cramped city apartment, middle-aged single mother Su-kyung and her twentysomething daughter Yi-jung have long since settled into a relationship of simmering mutual resentment and face escalating tensions.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Kim Se-In; Writer: KimSe-In; Stars: Lym Ji-ho, Yang Mal-bok)

North American premiere

Blue Island

Mixes documentary footage and fictional recreations of the past starring contemporary student protestors.

(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2022; Director: Tze Woon Chan; Writer: Tze Woon Chan)

US premiere

The Cathedral

An only child’s meditative, impressionistic account of an American family’s rise and fall over two decades.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Ricky D'Ambrose; Writer: Ricky D'Ambrose; Stars: Monica Barbaro, Brian d'Arcy James, Cynthia Mace, Geraldine Singer, Robert Levey II, Madeline Hudelson, Melinda Tanner, Linnea Gregg, Steven Alonte, Mark Zeisler, Gorman Ruggiero, William Day, Candy Dato, Cooper Carrell, Erich Rausch)

Children Of The Mist

Review preview for Children Of The Mist

I have been discomfited watching films before but the anguish here is so genuinely and affectingly captured that it is almost unbearable.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the indigenous Hmong ethnic minority in Vietnam's northern mountainous region, focusing on a youngster who faces the prospect of an unsettling matrimonial custom.

(Country: Vietnam; Year: 2021; Director: Ha Le Diem)

Full review See: Diễm Hà Lệ in conversation on New Directors/New Films highlight Children Of The Mist

The City And The City

Drama charting how the once-thriving Sephardic Jewish community in their native city of Thessaloniki was gradually decimated over the course of the violent 20th century.

(Country: Greece, Germany, US; Year: 2022; Director: Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas; Writer: Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas; Stars: Vassilis Kanakis, Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Angeliki Papoulia, Argyris Xafis, Niki Papandreou, Vasilis Karaboulas, Themis Bazaka, Maria Filini, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Laertis Malkotsis, Fritz Fenne, Jakob Leo Stark, Danae Primali, Marina Siotou, Michalis Kimonas)

North American premiere

Dos Estaciones

Review preview for Dos Estaciones

While the framing of cinematographer Gerardo Guerra has a steady calm, González uses every inch of it from side to side and top to bottom to such a consummate degree that even the subtitles have to make way at one point.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
In the bucolic hills of Mexico's Jalisco highlands, iron-willed businesswoman Maria Garcia fights the impending collapse of her tequila factory.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2022; Director: Juan Pablo González; Writer: Ilana Coleman, Ana Isabel Fernández, Juan Pablo González; Stars: Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Teresa Sánchez, Tatín Vera, Rafaela Fuentes)

Full review See: Juan Pablo González on avoiding stereotypes and building character in Dos Estaciones , Juan Pablo González on the origins of Dos Estaciones and the move from fact to fiction

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)

North American premiere

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

Full Time (A Plein Temps)

Review preview for Full Time

Gravel cleverly works the tempo, so we feel the occasional moments when Julie almost gets to relax, but that keep being snatched from her, more acutely.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Julie goes to great lengths to raise her two children in the countryside while keeping her job in a Parisian luxury hotel. When she finally gets a job interview for a position she had long been hoping for, a national strike breaks out, leading to a race against time.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Eric Gravel; Writer: Eric Gravel; Stars: Laure Calamy, Olivier Faliez, Lucie Gallo, Cyril Masson, Romain Ogerau, Laure Calamy, Olivier Faliez, Lucie Gallo, Cyril Masson, Romain Ogerau)

Full review See: Eric Gravel on Full Time

North American premiere

Happening (L'Evenment)

Review preview for Happening

Diwan lets the cold hard facts trickle in as weeks are marked off at the bottom of the screen.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Audrey Diwan; Writer: Audrey Diwan, Marcia Romano, based on the book by Annie Ernaux; Stars: Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet Klein, Luàna Bajrami, Louise Orry-Diquéro, Louise Chevillotte, Pio Marmaï, Sandrine Bonnaire, Leonor Oberson, Anna Mouglalis, Cyril Metzger, Eric Verdin, Madeleine Baudot, Alice de Lencquesaing, Fabrizio Rongione, Isabelle Mazin)

Full review See: Happening director Audrey Diwan on abortion, prizes, equality and truth

Opening night

Hot In Day, Cold At Night

An unemployed young couple spirals into ever-escalating economic precarity.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Park Songyeol; Writer: Park Songyeol, Won Hyangra; Stars: Won Hyangra, Park Songyeol, Chul Seo, Kim Hyo-jin)

North American premiere

The Innocents

Review preview for The Innocents

The subtlety Vogt employs as a director pays off in spades as he gets as much creepy mileage from the disturbance of soil and water as any amount of CGI could muster.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
During the bright Nordic summer, a group of children reveal their dark and mysterious powers when the adults aren't looking.

(Country: US, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland; Year: 2021; Director: Eskil Vogt; Writer: Eskil Vogt; Stars: Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Sam Ashraf, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim, Morten Svartveit)

Full review

Nanny

Review preview for Nanny

The lighting used by cinematographer Rina Yang is some of the best I can recall in an American independent film since Moonlight.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Aisha is an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Nikyatu Jusu; Writer: Nikyatu Jusu; Stars: Michelle Monaghan, Anna Diop, Phylicia Rashad, Morgan Spector, Leslie Uggams, Sinqua Walls, Zephani Idoko, Billy Griffith, Princess Adenike, Mitzie Pratt, Rich Graff, Michael Cuomo, Rose Decker, Olamide Candide-Johnson, Keturah Hamilton)

Full review

Once Upon A Time In Calcutta

Review preview for Once Upon A Time In Calcutta

Sengupta has created a colourful, multi-layered and rich work that can be read in many ways, despite its flaws.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 3 out of 5
After the loss of her daughter, Ela not only loses her identity as a mother, but also the only reason to be with her husband. But she finds starting the new life she wants isn't easy.

(Country: India, France, Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Aditya Vikram Sengupta; Writer: Aditya Vikram Sengupta; Stars: Sreelekha Mitra, Shayak Roy, Bratya Basu, Arindam Ghosh, Satrajit Sarkar, Anirban Chakrabarti, Reetika Nondini Sheemu)

Full review

Onoda: 10,000 Nights In The Jungle

Review preview for Onoda: 10,000 Nights In The Jungle

Harari and his co-writers Bernard Cendron and Vincent Poymiro, show how the war propaganda becomes internalised in these men, so that even when they are given signs that the conflict may be over, they rationalise that it must be some sort of 'fake news' designed to trick them.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
It's the end of 1944. Japan is losing the war. Hiroo Onoda is sent to an island in the Philippines just before the American landing. The handful of soldiers that he takes with him into the jungle keep fighting, not realising the war is over.

(Country: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Arthur Harari; Writer: Bernard Cendron, Arthur Harari, Vincent Poymiro; Stars: Endô Yûya, Tsuda Kanji, Matsuura Yûya, Chiba Tetsuya, Kato Shinsuke , Inowaki Kai, Issey Ogata, Taiga Nakano, Nobuhiro Suwa, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Tomomitsu Adachi, Kyûsaku Shimada, Angeli Bayani, Jemuel Satumba, Kuu Izima)

Full review

Pilgrims (Piligrimai)

Review preview for Pilgrims

Bareisa successfully contrasts the slow long takes and great blocking, making it a well-balanced watch that will engage you on multiple fronts despite its withholding of many common cinematic devices to facilitates its ambivalence.

Nikola Jovic · 4 out of 5
A pair of old friends revisit the scene of a crime with unexpected consequences.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2021; Director: Laurynas Bareisa; Writer: Laurynas Bareisa; Stars: Gabija Bargailaite, Jolanta Dapkunaite, Zygimante Jakstaite, Giedrius Kiela, Paulius Markevicius, Indre Patkauskait)

Full review

North American premiere

Rehana (Rehana Maryam Noor)

The story of a private medical college teacher who becomes the witness to an unexpected incident while leaving the college one day, and is moved to protest against the system.

(Country: Bangladesh, Singapore, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Abdullah Mohammad Saad; Stars: Azmeri Haque Badhon, Saberi Alam, Afia Zahin, Kazi Sami Hasan, Afia Tabassum, Yasir Al Haque)

Riotsville, USA

Review preview for Riotsville, USA

While Pettengill is fascinated by the archival content, she’s also not afraid to experiment with form, including digital distortions that identify the movie as a product of the present.

Jeremy Mathews · 3 out of 5
Welcome to Riotsville, a fictional town built by the US military. Using footage shot by the media and government, the film explores the militarisation of the police and the reaction of a nation to the uprisings of the late Sixties, creating a counter-narrative to a critical moment in American history.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Sierra Pettengill; Writer: Tobi Haslett; Stars: Charlene Modeste, Michael Pate)

Full review See: Sierra Pettengill on the politics of policing revealed by Riotsville, USA

Robe Of Gems

Isabel and her family take possession of her mother’s villa in rural Mexico where they reconnect with their long-time domestic worker Mari, whose sister has disappeared.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2022; Director: Natalia López; Writer: Natalia López; Stars: Nailea Norvind, Antonia Olivares, Mónica Poggio, Aida Roa, Juan Daniel García Treviño)

North American premiere

Shankar's Fairies

Drama set in the cloistered world of a young girl growing up in a privileged household in India in the 1960s, considering her bond with her parents’ servant, Shankar.

(Year: 2021; Director: Irfana Majumdar; Stars: Irfana Majumdar)

Singing In The Wilderness

Documentary follows the rise to national prominence of a Christian choir from the Miao community and how it was co-opted for government party propaganda.

(Country: China, US; Year: 2021; Director: Dongnan Chen)

US premiere

Small, Slow But Steady (Keiko, me wo sumasete)

Review preview for Small, Slow But Steady

Transcendental is often a pretentious word, but Miyake’s cadenced, Ozu-reminiscent, directorial style has a talent for sensing tensions and charging shots with profound meaning and sereneness.

Dora Leu · 4 out of 5
A young Deaf boxer struggles to find the will to fight through the pandemic.

(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2022; Director: Shô Miyake; Writer: Shô Miyake, Masaaki Sakai; Stars: Yukino Kishii, Tomokazu Miura, Masaki Miura, Shinichirô Matsuura, Hiroko Nakajima, Himi Satô, Nobuko Sendô)

Full review

Talking About The Weather

Diligently working toward a PhD in philosophy, Clara has arrived at a crossroads. About to turn 40 and divorced, she has entered into an affair, is struggling with academia and trying to connect with her teenage daughter and mother.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Annika Pinske; Writer: Johannes Flachmeyer, Annika Pinske, Annika Pinske; Stars: Anne Schäfer, Judith Hofmann, Marcel Kohler, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Max Riemelt, Emma Frieda Brüggler, Sandra Hüller, Alireza Bayram, Christine Schorn, Hermann Beyer, Ronald Zehrfeld)

White Building (Bodeng Sar)

A trio of friends find their lives changing after the building they live in is marked for demolition.

(Country: Cambodia, France, China, Qatar; Year: 2021; Director: Kavich Neang; Writer: Daniel Mattes, Kavich Neang; Stars: Piseth Chhun, Chinnaro Soem, Sovann Tho, Jany Min, Hout Sithorn, Ok Sokha, Piseth Chhun, Chinnaro Soem, Sovann Tho, Jany Min, Hout Sithorn, Ok Sokha)