Festival Favourites

Festival Favourites features audience favourites that have proven their quality at international festivals.

The Burdened

Amr Gamal

In Aden (Yemen), Isra’a and Ahmed put all their efforts into offering a normal life to their three young children. When they find out that Isra’a is pregnant again, they have to make difficult decisions guided only by their family’s interest and against their community’s conservative stance.

Explanation for Everything

Gábor Reisz

Lightly stinging Hungarian social satire in which a slacking high school student becomes a hero of the extreme right. 18-year-old Abel’s failed his history exam turns into a culture war, spurred on by bad faith tabloids.

Guardians of the Formula

Dragan Bjelogrlić

Both a stirring Cold War thriller and the true story of the first human bone marrow transplant. A team of Yugoslav physicists is accidentally exposed to a massive dose of nuclear radiation. A Paris oncologist may be the only doctor capable of saving their lives.

Jackie the Wolf

Tuki Jencquel

Portrait of French author and end-of-life activist Jackie Jencquel, filmed by her son Tuki. Jackie causes great controversy when she announces in an interview the date on which she wants to die. ‘Old age is unavoidable, death is unavoidable,’ she says. ‘Suffering is not.’

The Monk and the Gun

Pawo Choyning Dorji

Uplifting satirical comedy set around Bhutan’s first ever democratic elections. An American travels into Bhutan in search of a treasure. He crosses paths with a young monk, ordered by his teacher to find two guns. Beautifully made, with striking cinematography of the magnificent Himalaya.

Radical

Christopher Zalla

In a Mexican border town plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence, a frustrated teacher tries a radical new method to break through his students’ apathy and unlock their curiosity, their potential… and maybe even their genius. Based on a true story.

The Spark

Rajesh S. Jala

A filmmaker follows a crematorium worker and an old woman in the sacred Hindu city Varanasi. As a victim of violence, he’s burning with anger and determined to take revenge. But a series of unexpected events challenges his conviction in this hybrid docu-drama.