Reviews

A playfully self-aware film-within-a-film, My First Film veers between moments of blissful joy through to self-doubt and untold truths, but is always driven by director/creator Zia Anger’s refined and astute sense of what she is trying to deliver, and given energy by a cast and crew that buy into her vision.

Even at the age of nine, Iranian Melina has already learned to deal with disillusionment and broken promises - she sees her mother much less than is promised; her father uses Melina's passport, which is in his possession, to exercise power. With great patience, respect and attentiveness, the filmmaker has made a very personal and relatable story of a universal phenomenon: the child who, between two bickering parents, has to fend for themselves.

An engaging and illuminating hybrid documentary that reflects a spectrum of autistic experiences, the intriguingly titled The Stimming Pool is co-created by a group autistic directors, known as the “Neurocultures Collective” (Sam Chown-Ahern, Georgia Bradburn, Benjamin Brown, Robin Elliott-Knowles and Lucy Walker) along with artist-filmmaker Steven Eastwood, and offers up an artistic interpretation of what it is like to live with neurodivergence.

What if you meticulously recorded your entire life as a single, working mother on your smartphone? Award winning filmmaker Victoria Mapplebeck did just that and has created a compelling document of what it means to raise a son without a father. Motherboard is a film that navigates successfully the fine line between emotional exhibitionism and a fervent desire to debunk the myths of motherhood.

The shadow of Jurassic Park looms long over the various characters who discuss their involvement in the high-stakes world of dinosaur bone collection and trading. In this world, it’s a race against time between high-minded and determined palaeontologists and well-equipped bone dealers, making for an enjoyably eye-opening – and strikingly shot - documentary about dinosaur bones, big cash and even bigger big egos.

A fast paced, yet carefully crafted portrait of a young boy trying to maintain his dreams on the streets of poverty-stricken Budapest, and of an unlikely friendship between a filmmaker and his protagonist. The film is a wonderful document about growing up in poor conditions. It could have been sensationalist, moralistic and voyeuristic, but the space he gives his characters allows you to see them in all their complexity and humanity.

A fascinating and astutely balanced appraisal of an escalating conflict between Indigenous pastoralist settlers and British-Kenyan ranchers, The Battle for Laikipia, by filmmakers Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi, offers a nuanced look into the two factions involved, but offers no easy answers as cultural differences and climate change accentuate the disconnect between two divergent ways of life in Kenya.

The adventurous decision to make a film following the path of acclaimed Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad’s 1937 expedition to Mexico in search of a lost Apache tribe gradually morphs into an examination of what is fact and what is fiction, and finally a timely reflection on concerns over cultural appropriation.

A beautiful delve into life and love, the wonderfully titled Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other gently and thoughtfully examines the ups and downs of a long relationship. The film is movingly profound in its simplicity as it tells the story of Maggie and Joel, aged 75 and 84, both very much aware they are in the twilight of their lives but still battling for their love.

Described by director Virpi Sutaari as “a kind of morality play where love for forests turns into beautiful action,” it's hard to imagine a more exquisite, convincing or perfectly crafted warning about the world’s climate crisis than Once Upon A Time In A Forest, which world-premiered March 16 at CPH:DOX. It’s an activist doc, but it doesn't always feel like one, mesmerising, instead, viewers with the astonishing beauty of Finnish nature and the dedication of those who seek to protect it.