At the start of Pablo Giorgelli's feature debut, truck driver Rubén picks up Jacinta, a young mother carrying her eight-month-old son Anahí. Rubén is driving with his cargo of timber from Asunción del Paraguay to Buenos Aires, and he's agreed to take on these extra passengers for a fee. Played with flinty conviction by Germán de Silva, he's a man of few words, and his dour, unsmiling expression remains fixed on the road, not the handsome woman and child in the cab next to him. For Jacinta (a performance of unaffected warmth from Hebe Duarte) this is clearly going to be a long journey, despite her efforts to engage the taciturn Rubén. And yet gradually the strained atmosphere gives way to conversation, and to genuine affection, and the suspicion - or hope - grows that the guarded, gruff Rubén may even be falling in love. Owing a debt to the 'slow cinema' of Lisandro Alonso, this also has a slow-burning charm that is entirely its own thing. Las Acacias requires patience but it rewards you with one of the most enchanting and uplifting experiences you'll have in the cinema this year.

Edward Lawrenson

This year, Argentinian director Pablo Giorgelli took the Sutherland Award for his film Las Acacias, a slow-burning, uplifting and enchanting story of a truck driver and his passengers. The director received his Star of London from film director Terry Gilliam.

The jury commented: "In a lively and thoughtful jury room debate, Las Acacias emerged as a worthy winner, largely because of the originality of its conception. Finely judged performances and a palpable sympathy for his characters makes this a hugely impressive debut for director Pablo Giorgelli."