The Global South at the London Film Festival
++++ Photo: Magellan, covering 16 years of Portugal’s activities in the Philippines, the film compellingly depicts the insidious nature of colonialisation.
Some of the films from or about the Global South or migration at the BFI London Film Festival, 8-19 October:
* The Voice of Hind Rajab, gathering audio from actual phone conversations, Kaouther Ben Hania’s devastating film recounts the story behind the murder of a five-year-old Palestinian girl, 16, 18 Oct
* The Girls (Gehenu Lamai), sensitive portrait of women’s status in Sri Lanka is a key work by pioneering filmmaker Sumitra Peries, 18, 19 October
* Sirât distils a cinematic reverence for the sacred through a landscape simultaneously scarred and sustained by sound, 13, 14 Oct
* Human Resource, writer-director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit returns with a measured and philosophical urban drama, told from the perspective of a reserved HR manager, 8, 10 Oct
* Left-Handed Girl, Shih-Ching Tsou’s dynamic debut follows a family of women as they return to Taipei to embark on a new life, 15, 17 Oct
* Resurrection, Chinese director Bi Gan returns with a film that entrances with its daring and beauty, 9, 11 Oct
* The Deal, Episodes 1 and 2, gripping political thriller takes us back to Geneva in 2015, amid the tense Iran-US nuclear negotiations, 12 Oct
* Island of the Winds (Da Feng Zhi Dao), Hsu Ya-Ting’s poignant documentary follows the lives of residents at Taiwan’s Lesheng Sanatorium, where leprosy patients have been confined since the 1950s, 14, 15 Oct
* La Paga, the debut of Ciro Durán, who had suffered injustice and oppression, is an unsettlingly hypnotic snapshot of social disparity in Latin America, 9, 13 Oct
* Orwell: 2+2=5, Raoul Peck channels the clarity and urgency of George Orwell’s prose into a gripping cinematic statement – elegant, forceful and uncompromising, 17, 18 Oct
* Olmo, family tensions come to the fore within a migrant family in a small New Mexico town when a bedridden father is left at home alone, 14, 15 Oct
* Untamable (Indomptables), French-Cameroonian comedian Thomas Ngijol ventures into drama with this fast-paced and dryly humorous detective thriller, 10, 12 Oct
* Alpha, Julia Ducournau‘s powerful family drama starring Tahar Rahim and Golshifteh Farahani, 12, 14, 17 Oct
* Dreams, Mexican director Michel Franco’s chilling drama about the underbelly of philanthropy, where the assuaging of guilt is compromised by sexual desire, 15, 17 Oct
* Magellan (Magalhães), a large-scale historical epic, this is a stunningly executed political work that retains Lav Diaz’s key characteristics while offering broader appeal, 11, 12 Oct
* Memory of Princess Mumbi, Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser returns with this dazzling vision of a futuristic Swahili AI kingdom, 14, 16 Oct
* The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto), Kleber Mendonça Filho navigates Brazil’s painful past to paint a loving portrayal of a place and its people in this slow-burning and ridiculously entertaining political thriller, 14, 15, 18 Oct
* The Vile, Emirati director Majid Al Ansari’s chilling horror sees a woman pushed out of her own life, 15, 16 Oct
* The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), Gabriel Mascaro’s wondrous adventure of a defiant elder fleeing an ageist society is a life affirming boat-movie that manages laughs and warmth in the face of calamity, 10, 17 Oct
* Lucky Lu, Inspired by personal memory, Lloyd Lee Choi’s compassionate debut charts a migrant father’s enduring devotion as he drifts through the rhythms of life in New York’s Chinatown, 12, 13 Oct
* Mortu Nega, Flora Gomes’ sweeping epic of Guinea-Bissau’s struggle for independence is viewed through the intense, intimate prism of a young couple in love, 12, 18 Oct
* Palestine 36, acclaimed Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s most ambitious work to date is a powerful exploration of the events leading up to the Arab Revolt of 1936, 17, 19 Oct
* The President’s Cake (Mamlaket al-qasab), In Hasan Hadi’s engrossing debut, a young girl is faced with the challenge of baking a cake for her school’s celebration of Saddam Hussein’s birthday, 13, 14 Oct
* Promised Sky, Erige Sehiri’s beautiful and intimate new film finds three Ivorian women, each attempting to improve their lot, thrown together in Tunisia, 9, 11 Oct
* Têtes Brûlées, a young girl’s experience of grief, within a close-knit Tunisian community in Belgium, is tenderly captured in Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama’s affecting feature debut, 18, 19 Oct
* Blknws: Terms & Conditions, fulfilling the promise of his short films and music videos, Kahlil Joseph’s feature debut is an era- and genre-spanning history of the Black diaspora, 12, 13, 19 Oct
* Khartoum, in this playful yet quietly radical film, five citizens of Khartoum, deeply affected by the ongoing conflict and forced to flee their homes, powerfully articulate their memories, hopes and dreams, 11, 12 Oct
* The Stranger, François Ozon’s sterling adaptation of Albert Camus’ landmark novel is a gripping account of human absurdity in 1930s French-colonised Algeria, 18, 19 Oct
* The Memory of Butterflies (La memoria de las mariposas), drawing from the shadows of the colonial rubber trade, this evocative film uncovers the lost stories of two Indigenous men taken to London to be ‘civilised’, 13, 14 Oct
* With Hasan in Gaza, Kamal Aljafari returns with a poignant reimagining of Palestinian history – a profound meditation on absence and loss, crafted with quiet integrity, 19 Oct
* It Was Just an Accident (Yek tasadef sadeh), Jafar Panahi’s critically acclaimed and deserving Palme d’Or winner is a muscular thriller and an engaging morality tale for our times, 11, 14, 18 Oct
* No Other Choice (Eojjeol suga eopda), one man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in Park Chan-wook’s compelling and madcap thriller, 15, 16, 19 Oct
* Sholay, Ramesh Sippy’s classic ‘curry western’ combines exhilarating action, moving drama, hilarious comedy and unforgettable song and dance sequences to create one of the most beloved of all Hindi films, 19 Oct
* The Fence (Le Cri des Gardes), taut chamber piece simmering with dark secrets and emotional tensions in its portrait of a community suffocating from the relentless grip of colonialism. 18, 19 Oct
+ LFF website