Works

The actor-director Paddy Considine follows his blistering debut, Tyrannosaur, with a moving recovery drama defined by two intensely committed lead performances.

Damascus Cover provides a worthy payoff: the idea that there are alliances that transcend religious wars and nationalistic sentiments for the sake of saving lives.

The third film from Clio Barnard sensitively explores the way a traumatic memory can seep through a life in the same way that poisoned groundwater can taint a piece of land.

Having spent his life idolising his father and preparing to follow in his footsteps, Noé's entire sense of self quickly crumbles in this emotionally astute debut from writer/director Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio.

Richard Berry retraces the true story of the assassination of Ilan Halimi, committed by the "gang of barbarians". Tout tout de suite unfolds through a series of flashbacks - a modern macabre dance that says a lot about the "march" of our societies.

Abi Morgan’s shrewd, charming and sometimes trippy detective series, set in the built-up concrete jungle of east London, did something genuinely new...almost feels like therapy.

“a fascinating refraction of the Amanda Knox trial into an examination of perception.”

"The Selfish Giant shares its title with an Oscar Wilde children’s tale, but this unflinching, moving story of two Bradford boys who steal copper, illegally race ponies and flirt worryingly with danger all day long is rooted in a very real, modern Britain."

“In the best traditions of classic Hong Kong action films, gun battles are choreographed like deadly bullet dances…a pulse pounding and beautiful looking British crime film”

“The second feature from the Turner Prize-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen is a rare attempt to depict the reality of male sex addiction, and the result is an unqualified masterwork.”

"Be warned – it takes a while to come out of the Audio Obscura state of mind. It’s a kind of hypersensitive trance, induced by a sonic montage of interior monologue, atmospheric sound and minimalist score – Under Milk Wood meets Philip Glass, or thereabouts."

“A journey across borders. The histories that unfold are marked by war and exile; “identities in flux”. Axis of Light has drawn a truly wonderful portrait of artists”

“It's good to be reminded that the joyful arrival of the Messiah – like the arrival of any baby – was also fearful, mysterious and disturbing…a stunning new piece for choir and ensemble that meditates on the Nativity entirely from a female perspective.”

“Clio Barnard’s tightrope-walking experiment with fact, fiction and the spaces in between. Ostensibly a biopic of the playwright Andrea Dunbar, this multidimensional collage explodes our expectations of the form.”

“To convince audiences that something so appalling is taking place right under their noses seems an impossible task, but it would be a cynical viewer indeed who wasn’t moved by I Am Slave.”

“A beautiful animated film about grief, loneliness, speechlessness and the cleansing power of natural forces.”

“What is best about A Mighty Heart is that it doesn’t reduce the Daniel Pearl story to a plot, but elevates it to a tragedy. A tragedy that illuminates and grieves for the hatred that runs loose in our world.”

“Poppy Shakespeare is maddening…pitching the viewer into a state of temporary insanity. You never feel as if you are pressing your nose up at the Bedlam window; rather, you were sitting in a corner, scratching your shorn head.?”

"An ocean away from the Wire’s corner boys, this is the pedestrian reality of drug abuse: people hurting themselves in small rooms. Naturalistic dialogue and performances within carefully framed and composed shots: properly cinematic, grown-up direction…damn fine filmmaking”

"We're all told that the people in Guantanamo were the most dangerous terrorists in the world. We wanted to show the gap between what you thought people in Guantanamo would be like and the reality of meeting them.”