An original story of friendship, love and survival - and finding humour in the most unlikely places.

From Spain's Fernando León de Aranoa comes a socially incisive and beautifully performed tale of an unlikely friendship.

Powerful drama of a Sicilian fishing family on the island of Linosa, whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of African refugees, who they save from drowning.

A figure in the grass with a gun, a name called out in the distance, a woodcutter and a man who has lost a dog are woven together by Lisandro Alonso in a meditation on the past we inherit and the future we construct.

Marina Goldovskaya's highly affecting tribute to Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006 after her disturbing reports from Chechnya.

A fresh and poignant view of the passions, disappointments and challenges of old age.

James Benning brings his formal precision to this study of twenty people engaged in the act of smoking.

Martin Šulík's groundbreaking portrait of Roma life in present-day Slovakia focuses on a young boy whose father has suffered a violent death.

Todd Solondz draws dark comedy from the story of two dysfunctional thirtysomethings planning to marry.

A wryly hilarious, subtly subversive coming-of-age yarn which takes a cue from Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Rossellini's rarely-seen satirical fantasy, now restored, about a photographer whose magic camera has the power to kill the greedy and the corrupt.

Horror meets social observation in this understated debut feature from Brazilian filmmakers Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra.

An L.A.-Mexican quest movie with a palpably personal edge, as director Mathieu Demy revisits the California he knew as a child.

The characters in these seven diverse short films about the complexities of personal relationships have to deal with many different pressures, such as family duty, battling their own consciences or coping with social media. Simon Young

A trio of contrasting short films made through the Africa First mentoring scheme: an important initiative that seeks to identify emerging talent from Africa.

Three stories from the Sri Lankan civil war (all with violent endings) are interwoven in Sanjeewa Pushpakumara's coolly modernist, non-partisan debut. Best Director prize, St Petersburg.

Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill travel to Wasilla, Alaska, on the trail of Sarah Palin.

A raw, compelling study what happens to a ordinary family when a husband and father becomes terminally ill.

In the French seaport of Lorient, there's a trend at school for the girls to get pregnant.

A magnetic central performance by Carlos Álvarez-Nóvoa (Solas) grounds this remarkable film about loss and memory by Spanish director Alberto Morais.

Powerful desires are awoken between two young riders who compete both inside and out of the arena.

Evocative documentary about a ghost town in Death Valley, California, with a scant population of just 35.

A young, Bengali, wannabe rapper slides into drugs and porn to escape reality and discover his dream.

Anca Damian's poetic and innovative animated feature recounts the life and final days of a Romanian immigrant wrongly imprisoned in a Polish prison.

A compelling documentary charting the adventures of a trio of teenager cardboard collectors on the outskirts of the Argentine city of Córdoba.

Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan star in Steve McQueen's frank study of a New York man's sexual compulsion.

Chantal Akerman heads east, with a very distinctive take on the Joseph Conrad novel about two men fighting over the future of a half-Malaysian woman.

Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan star in Steve McQueen's frank study of a New York man's sexual compulsion.

A haunting documentary on objects, memory and the politics of commerce by prize-winning filmmaker Mercedes Álvarez.

Hong Sangsoo's latest bulletin from the sex-war is a typically wry and droll account of a man visiting Seoul to look up old friends and running into new ones. But is this his version of Groundhog Day?

Striking footage from the struggle for civil rights in the USA, resurrected from the vaults of Swedish TV.

A young woman battles with a recent tragedy whilst caring for an elderly man in this haunting, claustrophobic drama.