USA

Oscar-winning war chronicler Mstyslav Chernov embeds with a Ukrainian unit in their last-ditch effort to reclaim a village, in a nerve-shredding reckoning with the Russian invasion’s relentless toll.

A washed-up songwriter drowns his sorrows as his former collaborator triumphantly opens Oklahoma! on Broadway. A career-peak performance by Ethan Hawke powers Richard Linklater’s theatrical drama.

A diverse ensemble of creatives including Stephen King, Takashi Miike and Karyn Kusama illuminate the enduring cultural legacy of Tobe Hooper’s low-budget 1974 slasher The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

A bracingly audacious political satire, Ari Aster’s modern-day Western utilises an A-list cast (Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler) to ruthlessly skewer the polarisation of post-pandemic America.

Sarah Friedland’s award-winning debut is a dignified portrayal of a woman coping with Alzheimer's disease. A mesmerizing central performance by Kathleen Chalfant anchors a film replete with delicacy.

Writer Alex Russell, whose credits include small screen hits Beef and The Bear, graduates to the big screen with this darkly compelling thriller about a desperate wannabe who attaches himself to a singer on the rise.

A clueless US film crew stranded in rural Argentina desperately search for a story in Amalia Ulman’s savvy culture-clash comedy that offers biting satire, off-kilter cinematography and a wigged-out soundtrack.

A perfectly rumpled Josh O’Connor’s criminal ambitions go awry in Kelly Reichardt’s arthouse art-heist film showcasing the American master of cinematic minimalism at her absolute best.

A reclusive nerd must enter a video game to fight a demon and rescue his dog in this quirky feast of horror, comedy and sci-fi with old-school gaming aesthetics thrown into a blender with Lynchian dread.

Raoul Peck, the acclaimed documentary chronicler of power in America, looks to George Orwell’s writing of 1984 as a prescient guide to our modern era of Trumpian rule and reality manipulation.

Maverick filmmaker Alex Ross Perry takes on cult indie rockers Pavement to deliver a music doco unlike anything you’ve seen before. A fittingly absurd and satirical tribute to a band that defined a generation.

In 90s New York, a young police officer must entrap and arrest gay men whose only “crime” is their sexuality, but when he falls for one of his targets the rookie risks losing his career and family in pursuit of love.

This gripping Sundance documentary re-examines the rise and fall of mid-00s hidden camera show To Catch a Predator in a damning investigation into the murky ethics of true crime entertainment.

The uncharted highs and crashing lows of Jacinda Ardern’s time at the helm of Aotearoa get their due in an intimate-access international documentary about state power and human vulnerability.

Irreverent humour and empathy in the eye of a storm are key to resilience in Eva Victor’s Sundance-celebrated debut, in which an abuse of power throws a lit student’s existence into disarray.

A madcap comedy about the perils of open relationships from creative duo Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin that had audiences at Cannes roaring at every twist and refusal to take itself at all seriously.

Frequently cited as the greatest horror film ever made, Tobe Hooper’s raw, deeply disturbing journey into a sweaty, grimy, all-too-real hell still has the power to shake you to your core.

A grieving brother finds an unlikely connection at a support group for siblings who have lost a twin, but his burgeoning bromance threatens to turn into something darker in this uncomfortably sharp-witted comedy.

Not your average true crime doco, this witty and perceptive deconstruction of the genre is less about the infamous Zodiac Killer case itself, instead shifting focus to reexamine the way crime stories are told.