Social issues

Writer Tommy Hodgson offers his own top picks from this year’s Encounters Short Film Festival. Breadline (UK, director: Carol Salter): Breadline displays intimate footage of a food bank in a Northern town through the gaze of an elderly (…)

In this episode, we discuss our picks of the fortnight and focus on true crime documentary The Staircase and the issues that it brings up. The Dark finale was definitely a highlight, a truly gripping series, with twists and turns as bonkers as (…)

Thrive (Jamie Di Spirito, 2019) A sublimely intelligent and sensitive film, which sees a hook-up move into a challenging conversation. A naked man wakes up, lights up a cigarette and smokes out the window – through which the daylight (…)

COMING OUT TOMORROW Excellent statement on the dynamic of precarious work and the women taking it on - SUPPORT THE GIRLS by Andrew Bujalski SUPPORT THE GIRLS follows Lisa (Regina Hall), the general manager at Double Whammies, a highway-side (…)

« Les héritiers » m’a beaucoup fait sourire. Car on voit à l’écran ceux qu’on voit dans les classes. Avec leurs sincérités et leurs excès. Avec leur capacité aussi, à faire effectivement preuve de respect quand ils sont confrontés au Respectable. (…)

Beauty Is is a 2-hour documentary about the attitudes and opinions of Black British women and men on the meaning of Black beauty. For women. The film argues that complex processes of internalised racism and alienation have arisen as a result of (…)

’The Invisible War’ is less about a secret war that rape victims are fighting in the military than a series of public and private battles to fix a broken system. Well, broken for the victims of rape, not so much for the rapists who remain (…)

David Mackenzie’s new film is a much-welcome addition to the British prison drama genre, that weaves sophisticated narrative into a bold critique of the penal system and a mockery of rehabilitation inside. Set in the microcosm of an English (…)

Qu’a-t-on le droit de dire sur les O.G.M. ? On pourrait résumer ce documentaire par un proverbe de conséquence : dis-moi qui tu es, je te dirai ce que tu peux dire. Árpád Pusztai, biochimiste et répondant en outre au titre de « lanceur d’alerte (…)

The protagonist of this film is mild-mannered eighteen year-old prison inmate Silviu. Just before he is due to be released, his mother tells him that she plans to take his younger brother with her and go abroad. Although he only has fifteen days (…)