Kieron Corless sees Jia Zhangke take up arms, Koreeda Hirokazu turn class tables and Clio Barnard scrap and scrape on the outskirts of Bradford.
Geoff Andrew sees A Separation’s Asghar Farhadi lose his feet in Paris – and Alain Guiraudie find his in Provence.
Nick Roddick on a Sundance winner with a grip on all the above – and Sofia Coppola’s latest.
Kogonada pits the director of The Bicycle Thieves against the producer of Gone with the Wind on the same movie material.
Catherine Bray leaves behind the UK’s current arte povera to visit the bling, yachts and fairy dust at this year’s Cannes.
Can the announcement of the Official Selection for Cannes ever quite live up to the fevered anticipation, asks Nick James?