Anna Smith

A tailor wrestles with his sexuality in The Blue Caftan, a tender Moroccan drama in Un Certain Regard from Maryam Touzani. Also a subtle portrait of a marriage, it slowly unveils the issues of its characters with an empathetic, admiring gaze: these are two people who are highly principled and strive to be thoughtful…

A widower is threatened by land developers in Domingo And The Mist, the Un Certain Regard drama from director Ariel Escalante Meza. The Costa Rican film is a slow-burning comment on corruption pierced with a tinge of magical realism. We first meet Domingo (Carlos Ureña) when he is walking slowly up a hill past his…

The challenges of street casting are explored in The Worst Ones (Les Pires), an Un Certain Regard drama about a film within a film. Directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, it sees a film crew hit a working class French town, with thought-provoking and sometimes darkly funny results.  
 Flemish director Gabriel…

A married man falls for a trans woman in Joyland, the first Pakistani feature to play in Cannes. Saim Sadiq's atmospheric Un Certain Regard drama also explores a whole family, presenting a picture of a clan torn between modernity and tradition in contemporary Lahore. Haider (Ali Junejo) has a seemingly happy arranged…

"Sexism is everywhere — so are we." It's just one of many slogans plastered across the streets of France in the timely documentary Feminist Riposte (Riposte Féministe) which is in the Special Screenings section at Cannes. Filmmakers Marie Perennès and Simon Depardon follow 10 groups of women around the country who are…

An adoptee explores her Korean roots in Return To Seoul, Davy Chou's engaging drama premiering at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Newcomer Park Ji-Min plays the magnificently complex Freddie, who was raised in France and has impetuously decided to spend a couple of weeks in the country of her birth. There, Freddie…

Scottish writer-director Charlotte Wells lights up Cannes Critics' Week with Aftersun, the absorbing story of an 11-year-old going on holiday with her father. Paul Mescal (Normal People, The Lost Daughter) stars alongside Francesca Corio in a terrific two-hander with engaging supporting performances. Shot on location…

An undercover cop befriends a murder suspect in The Stranger, a taut Australian thriller in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. Written and directed by Thomas M. Wright (Acute Misfortune), it features excellent performances from Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton, who also serves as producer. The Stranger begins simply…

Child grooming is a tough subject to tackle, but Belgian director Emmanuelle Nicot takes a sensitive approach in her Critics Week feature Love According To Dalva. The key here is perspective: almost everything is shown from the point of view of a victim who has been taken into care, and who doesn't realize she has…

A young man struggles to provide for his family in Harka, Lotfy Nathan's debut feature screening in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Set in Tunisia, it's a quietly absorbing portrait of one man's life in the wake of his father's death. Ali (Adam Bessa) hasn't seen his family for a while but is suddenly…

Italian director Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden) shifts his focus to France in Scarlet (L'Envol), a period drama in Directors’ Fortnight. Set in the rural north after the First World War, it's a decade-spanning story of family, small town politics and — ultimately — romance. When Raphaël (Raphaël Thiéry) returns from…

"Hollywood is the ultimate dream factory … and I need dreams as much as the next man," says Mr Molesley (Kevin Doyle) in Downton Abbey: A New Era. It's a line that sums up the mission of the TV series' second cinematic outing: to continue the "dream factory" tradition. And so the wishes of many a familiar character…