France

An archetypal tale of an 11-year-old village boy’s misadventures illuminates director Wang Xiaoshuai’s moving recollection of his own childhood during the Cultural Revolution. “A stirring evocation of childhood.” — Variety

Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat’s family movies of village life under siege in the West Bank have been edited by Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi into an unforgettably personal account of political struggle. Doco Director Award, Sundance 2012.

Palme d’Or, Best Film, Cannes Film Festival 2012. Veteran French stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are unforgettable in Austrian director Michael Haneke’s tender, wrenching story of love and death.

Scottish lads decide to liberate a barrel of single malt in Ken Loach’s caper comedy direct from Cannes. “This is British comedy at its warmest and most pleasurable; cask strength, unfiltered and neat.” — The Telegraph

An international showcase of impressive recent animation in a wide array of techniques, digital and analogue, with an emphasis on the abstract and the expressive – and a few gag-based pieces too.

Romanian actresses Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan shared the Best Actress Award at Cannes as former friends slowly driven apart by differences in faith in this new film from the director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Sex, lies and literature. Deftly switching between love affairs eight years apart, this tale of postgrad passions and literary aspiration wittily translates an acclaimed Chilean novella into a gentle, funny movie.

A mordantly funny Italian woman’s coming-of-age movie also serves as a barbed account of the church’s devotion to worldly dominion. “Feels densely observed, transparently personal and autobiographical… An accomplished debut.” — The Guardian

Frederick Wiseman, master of vérité, takes a wry look backstage at the most chic nude revue in Paris (and enjoys the view from out front as well). “The most entertaining film in his 40-plus-year career.” — Cinema Scope

The last days of Marie-Antoinette (Diane Kruger) and the royal court of Versailles are seen from within, through the eyes of a servant (Léa Seydoux) in this spectacular French historical drama inflected with modern intelligence.

The once thriving popular cinema of Cambodia is vividly evoked through the reminiscences of the few filmmakers and performers who survived the Khmer Rouge. “An elegantly assembled and deeply moving remembrance.” — Variety

This frank documentary account of unfolding complications in the personal life of Chino, a young Havana deaf-mute man with crooked porn star looks, sheds surprising light on life and sexual freedom in Cuba today.

An extraordinary surreal night journey through Paris starring Denis Lavant. With Kylie Minogue, Eva Mendes. Don’t miss the sensation of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, rapturously received and wildly debated. “Weird and wonderful, rich and strange – barking mad, in fact… A great big pole-vault over the barrier of normality by someone who feels that the possibilities of cinema have not been exhausted.” — The Guardian

The recent project of legendary French cameraman Raymond Depardon is intercut with a selection of his astounding footage and images shot over 50 years around the world. “A tribute to a masterful eye, a humanistic heart and a wondrous life.” — Variety

An intense, compelling drama following a day in the life of an underclass Romani family, set against the background of a series of racist attacks on their community. Winner of the Jury Grand Prix, Berlin Film Festival 2012.

Le Tableau is a captivating animated French-language fable taking place inside a painting. “This consistently enjoyable, inventive and beautifully crafted tale is a color riot suitable for all ages.” — Boyd van Hoeij, Variety

This sleek, charged picture of ambition, powerlessness and posturing within government transcends the satire or critique of any similar US or UK political thriller: it’s both realistic and utterly surreal. With Olivier Gourmet.

Animator Bibo Bergeron (A Shark’s Tale) delivers a lively child-friendly love letter to Paris (and the movies) a hundred years ago featuring a cute and sassy singer, a projectionist and a musically gifted giant flea.

Somewhere between fairytale and documentary, this startling debut feature sees French rural life, both austere and magical, through the perceptions of its remarkable star: four-year-old Nana.

“Jack Kerouac’s peerless anthem to the romance of youthful freedom and experience has finally made it to the screen with its virtues and spirit intact.” — LA Times. Direct from Cannes.

Joachim Lafosse’s psychological drama provides insight into and analysis of a real-life case of maternal infanticide. “A deeply moving performance by Emilie Dequenne, and a devastating look at a young woman come undone.” — Screendaily

Cinema’s finest ongoing autobiographer, Ross McElwee (Sherman’s March, Bright Leaves) returns with another wry rumination on family and memory, comparing his rebellious son at 21 with what he can recall of himself at the same age.

This headlong satire of television in Berlusconi-land won Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah) the Cannes Grand Prix. “The rare movie that has some of that old, classic Fellini insanity in its overheated blood.” — Entertainment Weekly

In his most visceral and impassioned outing since 1995’s La Haine, actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz has made a propulsive action movie dramatising the extraordinary French military response to a New Caledonia hostage-taking in 1988.

Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough play a high-odds game of spy and spymaster in this gritty, nerve-wracking Belfast thriller. “Director James Marsh (Man on Wire) is working with riveting assurance.” — Hollywood Reporter

Terrific, intimate social-realist drama, Sister makes us anxious accessories of 12-year-old Simon, a quick-witted young thief working a Swiss ski resort. Superbly performed by newcomer Kacey Mottet Klein and French star Léa Seydoux.

Quick-witted undercover cop thriller set in a vast Paris nightclub. “With this tightly paced nail-biter, director Frédéric Jardin has made a film that’s surpassed its US counterparts by a country kilometer.” — Time Out NY

Elegant doco records a year of transition as master chef Michel Bras hands his legendary three-Michelin-star hotel-restaurant Aubrac over to his son. “A rare window into the mysterious creative process of a chef.” — Time

“Quirky, hilarious and moving… a road trip of stunning scope yet deep intimacy, featuring an aged rock star-turned-Nazi-hunter played by Sean Penn at his transformative best.” — Variety. Also starring David Byrne.

A programme for the very youngest Festival-goer. We had children from three to six in mind when we selected these animated gems from around the world. Culminating in the rather scary but happily resolved The Gruffalo’s Child.

Dinner date becomes dinner disaster in French cinema’s box office comedy hit of the year. “An amusing and well-acted French farce in the pure tradition of boulevard classics such as The Dinner Game.” — Hollywood Reporter

A spirited, entertaining tale of women in a Lebanese village distracting their men from ‘religious war’, directed by and starring Nadine Labaki (Caramel). People’s Choice Award, Toronto International Film Festival 2011.