by anna jane begley There hasn’t been a more important filmmaker this side of the 21st century as Jafar Panahi. The Iranian auteur and democracy campaigner continues relentlessly to produce films as an act of freedom and defiance against Iran’s oppressive regime, and his latest film – the first since he was imprisoned in Tehran […]

by anna jane begley We all know the corrupt cop drama: films like LA Confidential, Cop Land, Training Day, to name a few. But despite their pertinence (the recent case of Child Q comes to mind), there is usually something melodramatic about them; corruption for entertainment’s sake.  Santosh lies firmly outside this trope. Tackling caste […]

by anna jane begley In an era of dimly-lit Disney remakes and franchised animations, Flow crashes onto our screens like a tsunami. Following a group of unlikely animal friends on a nautical adventure after a natural disaster, the Latvian Oscar-winner may seem like your usual family-friendly fairytale, but it’s really something more sophisticated than anything […]

by anna jane begley Lo and behold the dawn of female rage. British director Karan Kandhari’s feature is one of many weird, wacky and outright outrageous films depicting the power of a woman’s wrath that have been gracing our cinema screens of late (think also The Nightingale, Amulet, Nightbitch and The Substance) and we’re all […]