Visions du Réel — A–Z of films

This is a delightful, multi-layered film which has much more to say than is apparent on the surface.

The observational approach works against the director, slowing down proceedings and making it hard to see the wood for the trees

An intensely sad and affecting look at a hugely talented young woman, ill equipped for the all-consuming fame which her soulful voice would bring her.

Takes a bawdy idea and turns it into something far more complex.

Successfully finds insight and social commentary

The idea of her as a lone voice is emphasised by striking cinematography, often of her riding her bike across the landscape, which has the wide-open quality of a western.

Infinite Football is a film about outsiders and feeling on the fringe of society

The full use of what film can do is eye-opening - the juxtapositions jolt awareness of what is important and remains necessary.

Allowing each woman’s testimony to play out uninterrupted means they gather weight, not just as individual stories but as a meditation on the nature of memory and our desire to preserve it.

The filmmaker and her crew deserve a lot of credit for even managing to capture this lifestyle – not to mention following it for five years.

It is a portrait of loneliness and alienation, yes, but also of resourcefulness, resilience and unity.

What feels special about New Beginnings is its emotional immediacy and unpredictability.

Mexican director Kani Lapuerta invites both viewers and star to change their frames of reference in a documentary as bold as it is charming.

The first-time director shows an adept grip when it comes to the rhythms of her craft, letting silence or specific sounds break out at unexpected moments, including a gripping scene when all we can hear is the spring and creak of the uneven bars.

History comes alive in the voices of those who remember it.

This is a police procedural, but it's also about the nature of policing, about the gap between law and justice, the self and the state.

Feels like a bite-sized companion piece to The Invasion

In what is probably Côté's most straightforwardly observational film to date, the fictions come baked in.

The colour elements prove all the more striking when in contrast to black and white.

Is Porumboiu simply seeing how much he can get away with? How far does this artistic experiment extend beyond the screen?

The whistling language is fun - and, if anything, disappointingly underused - but it's the language of cinema that Porumboiu is really interested in.

Shot in a superficially chaotic style which gradually coalesces into something meaningful, Wolf & Dog perfectly captures the haste and ambiguity of teenage life.

A thoughtful consideration of not just physical prowess but the emotional agility and resilience demonstrated by those growing up in Gaza.

A surprisingly droll deconstruction of crime reconstruction.