Mark Adams

An enthralling, illuminating and warm-hearted examination of the life and work of a woman who was self-aware of her image and abilities, but who defied the expectations of the tinsel town system, ultimately charting her own course away from the movie world.

A beautifully mounted documentary-fable, The Tale of Silyan is an astute blend of environmental messaging and magical realism, all tightly structured and crafted to offer up an easy to watch (and economical) film that at times feels more like a genial folk tale than a movie with a hard-hitting eco message. That said, within Kotevska’s unique construction the whole thing works rather wonderfully.

A beautifully shot examination of the troubled life of a young welder in modern-day Belarus trying to unite her fractured family against all the odds, Welded Together plays out like a narrative drama, but with a greater sense of emotional resonance, and made with a real sense of heart and compassion.

An affectionate and gently insightful examination of an immigrant story, Karla Murthy’s respectful and thoughtful film charts her father’s journey from India to America, mainly based on a series of recorded interviews with him while he was working the night shift at a Texas gas station. What the doc does quite wonderfully is act as a warm-hearted tribute to an immigrant life and a reflection on the importance of family kindness.

It takes a brave, thoughtful - and importantly, compassionate - person to focus their comedy spotlight onto one of the most awful situations of modern times, and that is exactly what Israeli activist-comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi does in her comedy show, which draws on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering up a prescient and unique voice amidst all the horror.

A charmingly meditative and gently illuminating portrait of the remarkable – and resolutely independent - 90-year-old Agatha Bock as she goes through daily life within her ancestral 54-acre farm, where she lives alone and still tends the land (despite ill-health and a broken thumb), cultivating heirloom seeds that have been passed down through generations.

David Bim’s impressive observational documentary debut offers an astonishingly visceral and powerful portrayal of a couple struggling to survive on the margins of Cuban society, all set against the backdrop of a country reeling from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film won both the Special Jury Award and International Critics’ (FIPRESCI) Award at Visions du Réel 2025.

While football is very much the driving force of Sarah Imsand’s engaging documentary Kevine and Fortune, at its tender and warm-hearted core is a friendship that is driven by mutual support, faith and determination – as well as a love of the beautiful game.

A truly heart-warming story of love, family and the desire to have a child, August B Hanssen and Even G Benestad’s engaging documentary Fatherhood (Tre Fedre) follows Kristopher, David and Sindre, all in their thirties and living in a loving multi-partner relationship, and who are expecting their first child. The additional spin here is that Kristopher is the birth father and one of Norway's trans pioneers.

The remarkable insights from the ever-measured and thoughtful Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a NASA Space Shuttle, help make Hannah Berryman’s documentary Spacewoman a highly watchable film. As well-balanced as its subject – Collins’s own daughter says that her mother is “serious and procedural” – it beautifully explores the dangers of her chosen profession as well as the pressures it had on her family life.