Discoveries

Mohamed Diab’s Clash is an unforgettable portrait of Egypt on the brink as rival protesters find themselves locked up in a police van. Un Certain Regard official selection at Cannes 2016.

The brutal and morally complex story of young German POWs faced with the deadly task of landmine clearance in postwar Denmark.

Daisy Ridley narrates this inspiring documentary about a girl who causes a stir in her tribe in Mongolia by embracing the traditionally male role of Eagle Hunter.

A gorgeously photographed, teasingly libidinous exercise in latent homoeroticism set over a long hot summer in Buenos Aires.

A heartfelt exploration of one man’s struggle to reconcile with his Israeli family, while finding a new ‘family’ in London Gay Men’s Chorus.

British teen cinema gets an injection of hallucinogenic imagination, plus a few unicorns and aliens, in Alex Taylor’s unclassifiable debut feature.

A teenage sociopath comes face to face with an evil force in this chilling and darkly humorous adaptation of Dan Wells’ acclaimed cult novel.

The rise, fall and rise again of the bad boy of ballet, Ukrainian prodigy Sergei Polunin is captured in this swirling doc with a rocking soundtrack.

Athina Rachel Tsangari's biting and hilarious dissection of the male ego was awarded Best Film at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival.

A bold and unsettling mystical voyage in the company of the fearless Serbian artist, as she travels Brazil in search of spiritual healing.

Britain’s brilliant experimental filmmaker Ben Rivers (Two Years at Sea) presents this haunting desert parable which follows a filmmaker’s abduction and ritual humiliation.

Beth Orton stars in a fragile and subtly nuanced drama that explores the toll of physical and mental illness on a fractured family.

An illuminating portrait of the pioneering actress, crafted from her unique personal archive of home-movie footage, letters and diary extracts.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, ten actors landed small roles in a mysterious project called Star Wars. This is the story of how their lives changed forever.

A teenager attempts to integrate back into society following a spell in prison, but the community is unwilling to forgive him.

The story of Mark Duggan, who was shot and killed in Tottenham in 2011, is brought to the screen in this humane, thought-provoking and topical documentary.

Hailed as a modern classic channelling the spirit of Satyajit Ray, Chaitanya Tamhane's film is an absurdist portrait of injustice in contemporary India.

High-school students start a private orgy society in Eva Husson’s dazzlingly shot, no-holds-barred drama.

A policeman searches for a runaway gypsy in Radu Jude’s hilarious and magnificently shot Wallachian western.

Kent Jones’ excellent documentary about a historic encounter between two cinema greats.

A big-hearted film shot on a small phone, this LA tale of two transgender working girls out for vengeance fizzes with wild energy.

In a post-apocalyptic world, a forest-dwelling loner is forced to reckon with two women in order to survive.

Reality bites for a hedonistic young New Yorker who suddenly has to grow up quickly, in a brilliantly acted drama from the team behind Martha Marcy May Marlene.

One of the most original British features in recent years follows a Scottish couple’s bizarre underground existence in a French forest.

Lee Chang-dong (Poetry) produces this offbeat drama about a policewoman who becomes protector of an abused teen in a town riven by corruption and alcoholism.

In 1916, a British soldier and two Bedouin boys embark on a treacherous journey across the desert, in this stunningly shot Arabian western.

A young Ethiopian woman faces the death penalty for killing the man who raped her until a brave lawyer decides to take on her case.

An astonishing behind-the-scenes documentary following the famed fashion house’s new artistic director as he prepares his first collection.

A striking 21st-century love story about the passionate relationship between a transgendered teen and a straight man.

An American tourist in Italy falls for a stunning local woman with a dangerous secret, in this startling horror-romance.

A former child soldier in Congo, now living in London, witnesses a crime and is drawn into a violent world he'd hoped to leave behind.

A ten-year-old is packed off to live with his down-at-heel father in this touching, exquisitely observed Colombian drama.

The pyrotechnic sequel to Gareth Edwards’ cult sci-fi follows US soldiers attempting to police alien-infested zones while also battling human insurgents.

Balanced, insightful and compassionate documentary about troops and civilians in and around a Danish-British base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan

Darren Aronofsky’s magisterial monochrome mystery concerns a mathematician whose discovery of a powerful number leads to the dark side.

Ziad Doueiri’s provocative Lila Says is a sun-drenched romance full of sensuality, secrets, and tragedy.

On the American frontier a young woman is forced to go to any means to defend her kin from the ravages of the barbaric outside world.

Jessica Hausner’s cool, compassionate exploration of religious faith follows various believers and non-believers hoping for miracle cures in Lourdes

The power of kinship is explored in Carol Morley’s drama-documentary, drawn from real life and resonant with the way we live now.

Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in the acclaimed adaption of the Orange Prize-winning novel.

Werner Herzog’s documentary about an unrepentant young murderer on death row is a cool, compassionate study of the dark side of the human condition

Di Gregorio stars as a bibulous loafer trying to reduce his debts by looking after his friends’ elderly mothers during the holidays. Warm and witty

Sweeping romantic drama about two Indian women who fall for each other in the hostile environment of apartheid South Africa.

Michelangelo Frammartino's quirky, wordless account of rural Calabrian life is elegant, touching and funny, a philosophical poem to enduring tradition

Body horror and celebrity satire are served ice cold in this extreme offering from Brandon Cronenberg (son of David).

Lav Diaz’s epic drama follows the contrasting stories of two men, a law school dropout who descends into criminality and the humble family man wrongly accused of his crimes.

The unconventional life of Jake Williams who lives in isolation in the Cairngorms, Aberdeenshire.

Haroun's tale of tension between a father and son working at a hotel pool in war-torn Chad has the emotional power and stark inexorability of tragedy

Artist Gillian Wearing’s ‘documentary’ observes seven people creating (fantasy?) identities in collaboration with a drama teacher. Raw and revealing.

Visual artists Ben Rivers and Ben Russell’s mesmerising film follows an unnamed character through three phases of alternative existence, from rural commune to a black metal rock concert.

Another giallo-inspired exercise in operatic violence from Belgian duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, directors of the acclaimed Amer.

Pablo Larrain's drama about a dancer obsessed by Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever is a darkly witty take on life in Pinochet's Chile

A moving and haunting account of singer Edwyn Collins’s long and difficult recovery from a stroke.

A blind student’s relationship with his best friend is tested when he falls for the new boy in school, in Daniel Ribeiro’s beautifully realised romance.

Artist Shirin Neshat’s version of a banned novel depicts the experiences of four Iranian women in 1953, when the Shah was reinstated after a coup d’état

Diego Quemada-Diez’s astounding debut feature follows four Guatemalan teenagers as they attempt to escape from the slums of Guatemala City to the bright lights of Los Angeles.

Ari Folman’s follow up to Waltz with Bashir is a hallucinatory fable about an actress whose digital image is controlled by a Hollywood studio.

An illuminating documentary about American cinema’s maverick genius Robert Altman, featuring unseen home movies and extensive interviews.

Shailene Woodley and Eva Green star in Gregg Araki’s lyrical and impressionistic adaptation of Laura Kasischke’s novel.

Reflective calm and ambient beauty suffuse this tale of silent sexuality, as a lonely farmer’s quiet existence is interrupted by desire.

Eva Green, Ryan Phillippe and Sam Riley star in an intricate, ambitious sci-fi drama that follows four parallel realities, each based around characters searching for salvation.

Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic recreates a politically explosive true story from Bosnia in innovative style, casting a real-life family to relive their desperate struggle to secure life-saving medical treatment.

Award-winning short film about the chance encounter between a ballerina and a local schoolboy.