Films in Debate
Riveting films that amplify, scrutinise, argue and surprise.
Debate gala
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Nocturama
French director Bertrand Bonello imagines Paris in a state of apocalypse, in a provocative, troubling response to the contemporary age of terror.
Features
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Adieu Bonaparte
Youssef Chahine is simultaneously a historian and prophet in this unforgettable and beautifully restored film set during the French occupation of Egypt.
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The Bacchus Lady
A sex worker solicits older men in public parks by offering them bottles of Bacchus energy drink, in this wonderful funny/sad Korean melodrama.
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A Billion Colour Story
A daring and moving story about an inspirational schoolboy who aims to restore his parents’ belief in themselves and in the Indian nation.
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Boundaries
Chloé Robichaud (Sarah Prefers to Run, LFF2013) directs an incisive satire for anyone following the farcical turns in contemporary global politics, or attempting to juggle a career with a personal life.
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A Day for Women
Egyptian director Kamla Abouzekri’s (One-Zero) new film sees worlds collide when Sunday is decreed a day for women at the local swimming pool.
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The Day Will Come
Searing drama set in a children’s home scripted by the creator of The Killing, with top-notch Danish cast including Lars Mikkelsen and Sofie Gråbøl.
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Farouk, Besieged Like Me
Veteran Syrian documentarian Hala Alabdalla’s invites us to dinner with writer and editor Farouk Mardam Bey for a thought-provoking reflection on Syria, culture and identity.
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Graduation
Graduation is a richly crafted family drama, about a father’s temptation to involve his daughter in moral compromise, that resonates long after you’ve seen it.
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Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy
Mahamet-Saleh Haroun (Darrat) returns to the theme of the personal and societal responsibility with this searing documentary about ex-Chadian President Hissein Habré.
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Hospital
An outstanding restoration of Frederick Wiseman’s unforgettably gripping documentary portrait of New York’s Metropolitan Hospital.
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In the Last Days of the City
A frustrated filmmaker roams the streets of pre-revolution Cairo as a city, and a region, teeters on the brink of exploding.
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Kate Plays Christine
Fact and fiction blur in Robert Greene’s documentary on the making of a fictional biopic about Christine Chubbuck, a newscaster who killed herself on air in 1974.
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Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
Werner Herzog, the documentarian grandmaster, returns with an idiosyncratic and original examination of the digital world in 10 chapters.
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Ma’ Rosa
Matriarch Rosa Reyes is all about the business in Brillante Mendoza’s latest swipe at police corruption, set in an electric rain-swept nighttime Manila.
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Memories of Underdevelopment
A mesmerising film from one of Cuba’s greatest directors, showing, in the words of Walter Salles, “that filmic precision and radical experimentation could go hand in hand”.
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A Moving Image
The gentrification of London’s Brixton is examined in this probing and stylistically ambitious debut feature.
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On the Other Side
A middle-aged nurse in Zagreb receives an unwelcome phone call in this profound analysis of unspoken fears and disguised trauma.
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Park
Athens’ Olympic Park is now a wasteground, and the teenagers who hang out there engage in a dangerous new set of games.
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The Pass
Two ‘straight’ footballers share a kiss in this powerful chamber piece which opened BFI Flare earlier this year.
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Patient
Jorge Caballero's deeply moving documentary about a mother caring for her gravely ill daughter in a Colombian hospital.
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The Revolution Won’t Be Televised
Rama Thiaw’s film taps into an example of grassroots political action in Senegal, where a group of disenfranchised activists decide to campaign against that country’s elite.
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Rodnye (Close Relations)
Vitaly Mansky’s documentary journey through Ukraine visits members of his own family to show the reality behind the headlines in this divided country.
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The Salesman
Asghar Farhadi’s (A Separation, The Past) returns with a masterclass in complex moral questioning as a couple has to deal with a sudden violent act.
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Sieranevada
Cristi Puiu’s magisterial chamber-work takes a funny, touching, insightful look at family life in today’s Romania, affected both by tradition and the troubled modern world.
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Stopover
Ariane Labed and Soko star in this stylish and formally precise examination of intense barely-repressed misogyny in the military.
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The Student
Venya’s studies of the Bible set him on a course of conflict with Biology teacher Elena in Kirill Serebrennikov’s scathing satire on fundamentalism.
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Ten Years
A dystopian Hong Kong ten years from now is the setting for a provocative series of short stories looking at the territory’s future.
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The Unknown Girl
Compelling, complex realist drama from the Dardenne brothers about a doctor investigating the mysterious circumstances of an unseen caller’s death.
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Worldly Girl
A distinct coming-of-age tale set, uniquely, within a Jehovah’s Witness community and detailing a young woman’s relationship with a boy from outside of her community.
Short films programme
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A World at War
Films that span the globe, highlighting activism, revolution, misguided patriotism, the refugee experience and war. From Syria to the Sahara and even an English council estate, we’re all on the frontline in today’s world.
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