Films in Official Competition
The Best Film Award recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking.
The Award was established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for A Prophet. Recent winners of the Award include Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless and Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women.
Official Competition gala
-
Fanny Lye Deliver’d
Dir-Scr Thomas Clay | UK-Germany
Maxine Peake delivers a powerhouse performance as a woman forced to question her oppressive environment in Thomas Clay’s provocative period drama.
-
Honey Boy
Dir Alma Har’el | USA
Writer and performer Shia LaBeouf works closely with filmmaker Alma Har’el on this artful and soul-baring examination of the lingering effects of emotional abuse.
-
Lingua Franca
Dir-Scr Isabel Sandoval | USA
An undocumented immigrant searches for safety and security in this poignant mix of love story and social drama.
-
La Llorona
Dir Jayro Bustamante | Guatemala-France
Spectres of the past come back to haunt a retired general with an unsavoury past in Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante’s taut genre-bending thriller.
-
Moffie
Dir Oliver Hermanus | South Africa-UK
Oliver Hermanus follows The Endless River (LFF 2015) with a haunting examination of the violent persecution of gay men under Apartheid.
-
Monos
Dir Alejandro Landes | Colombia-Argentina-Netherlands-Germany-Sweden-Uruguay-USA
Alejandro Landes delivers one of the most talked-about films of the year: a hallucinogenic, intoxicating thriller about child soldiers.
-
The Other Lamb
Dir Małgorzata Szumowska | Ireland-Belgium-USA
Małgorzata Szumowska’s (Berlin Jury Prize-winner Mug and LFF 2015’s Body) English-language debut is a beguiling genre-tinged examination of life in an otherworldly cult.
-
The Perfect Candidate
Dir Haifaa Al Mansour | Germany-Saudi Arabia
Celebrated Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda, LFF 2012) returns to the Festival with an inspiring drama about a young doctor unexpectedly becoming an electoral candidate.
-
Rose Plays Julie
Dir-Scr Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor | Ireland-UK
A young woman seeking her biological mother journeys into dangerous territory in this gripping psychological thriller from Irish directing duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor.
-
Saint Maud
Dir-Scr Rose Glass | UK
A mysterious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient in director Rose Glass’ divine debut.
