Reviews

A gentle and heart-warmingly non-judgmental film, Denis Côté’s Paul is a compassionate observation of a shy and unusual man and the life of subservience he chooses to lead. While the subject matter could have been treated salaciously or shot for laughs, in the hands of the experienced and wise Côté it is an intelligent examination of an eccentric but endearing human being.

As a member of Palestine’s first parkour team, the energetic Ahmed free-runs through the battered buildings of Gaza pre-October 7, 2023. His goal is to create parkour videos that are so impressive that they could be his ticket out. In the meantime, he strikes up an unlikely online friendship with wistful Palestinian-American émigré director Areeb Zuaiter.

The moving and prescient The Moelln Letters (Die Möllner Briefe) shines a light on a dark episode from Germany’s past when, in November 1992, the city of Moelln witnessed the first racist attack within a reunified Germany, with three people killed by arsonists, devastating the lives of İbrahim Arslan and his family.

Strategically located cities can, by their very nature, find themselves fiercely contested across the centuries, with rulers and nationalities changing time and time again. As we see in Igor Bezinović fascinating, entertaining and provocative film, Rijeka in Croatia is such a place…a strategic seaport contested between the Holy Roman Empire, Italy and Croatia over the years, but now settled as a busy and beautiful harbour town.

Part angry doc about a conspiracy to poison the environment in upstate New York in the early 1990s and part warm-hearted high school recollection, the engrossing Middletown examines how an unconventional teacher inspired a group of teens to make student films that exposed organised crime in the dumping of poisonous materials into landfill sites in their community.

Why would anyone return to the place that totally rejected them? In his beautiful and multi-faceted documentary, Lebanese director Raed El Rafei does precisely that, and on his nostalgic journey home makes the audience fall in love with the city that doesn’t want to love him back. And with the people in it…including the filmmaker himself.

Afghan women are suffering terribly under the rule of the Taliban. But, as is clear in Zainab Entezar’s exhilarating documentary, a small group is fighting back - despite harsh repercussions. The film, shot by some of these brave women, takes you right into the heart of resistance. One can only hope this remarkable, heartfelt cry for freedom will get the attention it deserves.

A love letter to The Pyrenees, The Shepherd and the Bear sometimes looks and feels like a fairy-tale as it highlights quite beautifully the ongoing battle between environmentalists and traditionalists - or between humans and nature. The film is extraordinary watchable, because of its remarkable characters, its suspense and its dazzling cinematography.

In Afghan Najiba Noori’s captivating and disconcerting portrait of her defiant mother, the director creates a precious and unique document that also chronicles a terrible moment in history (the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal) as seen from the perspective of those who are usually overlooked. It also shows the importance of education and of raising compassionate and supportive men.

The fascinating subject of well-educated Kenyans making money writing essays for Western undergraduates and doctoral students is investigated with a distinctly personal touch by sociologist Patricia Kingori, the youngest female black professor in the 925-year history of the University of Oxford. With so many opportunities for ‘contract cheating,’ what is the true value of education, she asks.