SanSebastian

In January 1972, the fabulous Aretha Franklin performed over two days at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, where she recorded what would become her highest-selling album, Amazing Grace. Although the sessions were recorded by a film team led by moviemaker Sydney Pollack, the archive footage was eventually forgotten for four decades. Prior to his death in 2008, Pollack expressed his wish that somebody would complete the film and the producer Alan Elliott set about doing just that with a team of people who felt passionately about the project. Among its co-producers is Spike Lee. The film premiered at the Berlin Festival out of competition.

1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and its residents’ lives. Two young women, Iya and Masha, struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the city ruins. Following his debut with Tesnota / Closeness (Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, 2017), with this film the young Russian director Kantemir Balagov garnered the best director Award at Un Certain Regard in Cannes.

Two couples adapt to the enormous social and economic changes sweeping through China from the decade of the 1980s until today. At the last Berlin Festival, Yong Mei and Wang Jingchun won the Silver Bears for Best Actor and Actress, respectively.

Ki-taek’s whole family is out of work and takes great interest in the lifestyle of the extraordinarily rich Park family. One day, the son lands a recommendation for an English-teaching job at the Park home, sparking an uncontrollable series of events from which none of them will escape unscathed. The latest film from the director of Barking Dogs Never Bite (Official Selection, 2000), Memories of Murder (Silver Shell for Best Director and New Directors Award, 2003), Mother (Perlak, 2009) and Snowpiercer (2013) landed the Golden Palm at the last Cannes Festival.

The tale of Bruno and Malik, two friends who have lived for twenty years in a different world: that of autistic children and adolescents. With the support of two non-profit organisations, they train young people to care for cases of severe autism. They therefore create an exceptional association, removed from the traditional environments, for extraordinary characters. The latest feature film from the directors of Intouchables(Untouchable, Official Selection, 2011) and Samba (Official Selection, 2014) closed the Cannes Festival out of competition.

Stéphane has recently joined the Anti-Crime Squad in Montfermeil, in the eastern suburbs of Paris. There he meets Chris and Gwada, two highly experienced colleagues, and soon discovers the tensions existing between the different local gangs. First work from Ladj Ly, a French director born in Mali who landed the Jury Prize (jointly with Bacurau) at the last Cannes Festival.

Amador returns home after doing time in jail for arson. There, in an isolated hamlet in Lugo’s Serra dos Ancares, he will return to live with his mother Benedicta, their dog Luna and their three cows. They live their lives slowly, at the speed of nature. Until fire razes the area to the ground. Jury Prize at Un Certain Regard in Cannes and award for the best sound creation.

Ricky and his family live in Newcastle, where they have been fighting an uphill struggle against precarious work, despite the fact that neither he nor his wife have ever been out of a job. Momentarily unemployed, Ricky sees the opportunity to work as a self-employed delivery driver if he can get his own van. His wife Abbey, a carer, sells her car to help him. But Ricky depends on the transport company that decides his routes and controls his work and, gradually, his life and that of his loved ones. The family find themselves caught up in the infernal spiral of the uberisation trap. Participant in the Official Selection at Cannes Festival.