Films by Strand

Becoming

Films that examine the experiences and influences that shape a life. Youthful explorations of identity, the nascent sexuality of young adults, stresses and successes in early careers, the first flexing of newfound liberation; the nations and situations these films survey may be diverse, but all depict potent elements of emerging identity.

Gagarine

Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh

A soon-to-be-demolished social housing estate, named after Yuri Gagarin, in the Parisian banlieue provides the earthly anchor for weightless flights of fancy in this wondrous and moving debut feature.

Honey Cigar

Cigare au miel

Kamir Aïnouz

A young French-Algerian woman, Selma, navigates emerging sexual desires under the constraints of her family’s patriarchal notions of virginity, intimacy and womanhood in this empowering coming-of-age drama.

Murina

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović

Railing against an oppressive, overbearing father, a teenage girl embraces independence and flirts with desire over the course of a formative weekend in this sunny, sinister Croatian drama.

Souad

Ayten Amin

Writer/director Ayten Amin’s captivating second feature explores the entangled contradictions of living up to the expectations of God and family while balancing the desire for an Insta-worthy life in modern Egypt.

Tigers

Tigrar

Ronnie Sandahl

Based on a true story, Tigers is a riveting look at the price of success in the cut-throat world of professional football.

To Chiara

A Chiara

Jonas Carpignano

Offering an intimate look into organised crime in the Calabria region of Italy, To Chiara forgoes the shock-value of violence and drug addiction to consider the heartbreaking impact on family and culture.

Unclenching the Fists

Razzhimaya kulaki

Kira Kovalenko

The withering grip of the patriarchy pervades Kira Kovalenko's Cannes Un Certain Regard-winning tale of a young woman coming of age within a suffocating family in Russia’s desolate North Caucasus.