Character-driven narrative and documentary films that draw us into the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people.
Festival Programme
Films — by Strand
Portraits

Bati
Framed with enchanting Fijian landscapes and carefully decorated with beautiful Fijian people and culture. A story about familiarity, growth, responsibility, love, respect and boxing… told in true Fiji style.
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Blue Moon
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.

Deaf
Sorda
A woman navigates the experience of motherhood as a deaf person in a hearing world in Eva Libertad’s crowd-pleasing, feel-good drama which collected the Panaroma Audience Award at Berlin this year.

Enzo
A woozy summer of youthful aimlessness morphs into a complex infatuation as a rebellious bourgeois French teen falls for an older Ukrainian bricklayer in this sun-drenched coming of age tale.

Jim's Story
Le roman de Jim
When Jim's biological father comes back into the picture after years of being absent, a family questions the true meaning of the word, father. A heartwarming story set against the backdrop of rural France.

Plainclothes
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.

A Poet
Un poeta
A once-celebrated writer chases relevance through petty schemes, fading commissions and awkward self-promotion. Simón Mesa Soto’s character study is biting, funny and deeply attuned to the sadness of creative decline.

Promised Sky
Promis le ciel
Three Ivorian women from different generations vie for a better life in an indifferent in Tunisia in Erige Sehiri’s subtle, beautiful and bracing docudrama anchored by her signature naturalism and compassion.

Riefenstahl
With unfettered access to Leni Reifenstahl’s personal archive, documentarian Andres Veiel delivers an extraordinarily discerning portrait of the infamous filmmaker that allows audiences to draw their own conclusions.

Shepherds
Bergers
An enterprising young man leaves the comforts of home swapping a suit and tie for a shepherd's crook, but soon enough the arduous nature of pastoral life in the south of France serves him a healthy dose of reality.

Simon of the Mountain
Simón de la montaña
Simon doesn't feel as though he belongs anywhere, yet he somehow fits in with a group of voracious, mentally disabled teenagers. This intensely felt debut explores the lengths Simon will go to find his place in the world.

Sorry, Baby
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.

Urchin
This gritty and empathetic portrait of addiction and the self-destruction that comes along with it is filled with pitch black humour. Frank Dillane puts on a masterclass as he takes his character to rock bottom.

What Marielle Knows
Was Marielle weiß
Panic around a new digital Big Brother era underpins a clever, absurdist send-up of bourgeois hypocrisy, as a married couple are put on the spot by their daughter’s all-pervasive telepathy.