LFF 2023 has just wrapped up and so many female directors have graced the festival circuit this autumn. From Kitty Green’s continuing partnership with Julia Garner in The Royal Hotel, to Sofia Coppola’s foil to Elvis with Priscilla, and after her controversial debut Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell has released the blistering Saltburn. But as with every good festival, there are hidden gems waiting to be unearthed by the right critic and distributor, so here are a few films that may not have been on your radar.
Tótem (dir. Lila Avilés)
On the 27th birthday of a young father, a surprise celebration burns brighter under the cloud of his cancer diagnosis. Totem taps into the fraying edges of a family through the little lens of seven-year old Sol as she wanders through the chaos of preparation.
Avile’s second feature after The Chambermaid, this intimate portrait of a crowded household is reminiscent of an artwork by Zuluoga, full of life, drama and emotion. Each family member is a character, from the father, a therapist who uses a Darth Vader like voice to communicate, to a sister who hires a ridiculous medium to wave around sage and cleanse the rooms of bad energy.
Full of charming, quirky people, and children running around with pets, from kittens to tiny snails placed on paintings, the funerary aspect of the party is fended off by youthful joy and the lows of each complex relationship are uplifted by tradition, community, and love.
The Peasants (co-dir. DK Welchman)
Likened by a fellow critic as a Polish Dogville, The Peasants is certainly not for the faint of heart. While Loving Vincent was a gentle, posthumous probing into the life of an artist, here the animator director duo turn their brushes to the pain behind realist rural paintings like that of Jean Francois Millet.
This technically majestic animation follows a year in the life of peasant girl Jagna (Kamila Urzędowska), bookmarked by gorgeous seasonal title cards. Beginning as a picturesque maiden, with a gentle childhood of making paper cutouts and looking after a wounded stork, she is quickly forced to become a bartered bride.
What begins as a tragedy of love, a woman forced to marry the father of her real beau, with dizzying dance sequences going from sultry to sickening, quickly escalates into a witch hunt. The oil painted approach heightens the direction, building up an appreciation for the landscapes, lighting, and shot composition, while the use of traditional costuming and folk songs shows the weight of the culture around its heroine. In bringing those rural paintings to life, The Peasants uses the historical artistic motif of a wronged woman to highlight just how cruel a superstitious, misogynistic village can be.
Shayda (dir. Noora Niasari)
Hiding from an abusive husband and in the middle of a stressful divorce, Shayda (Zar Emir Ebrahimi) faces the prospect of spending Nowruz in a women’s shelter. With her springtime festivities turned upside down in Australian autumn, far from home and stuck in limbo, she tries to teach her daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia) about renewal and transformation.
Foiled by a man who threatens their happiness at every turn, and a legal system that forces them to reconnect, a fortnight feels like a lifetime. As other women come and go, Shadya tries to find her footing, as an independent woman, a mother, and as an Iranian. Ebrahimi’s performance as Shayda dances within this Venn diagram of possibilities is layered and captivating. Playing off of the wide-eyed curiosity and fear of Zahednia, this precious little bubble of family is delicately portrayed and heart-wrenching to watch.
Bonus Track (dir. Julia Jackman)
In a fairly down-to-earth jukebox coming of age, this mixtape of awkward romance speaks to a small town teen experience.
As George Bobbin (Joe Anders) flounders in his final year of high school, he escapes into a rockstar fantasy that begins with the school talent show. The arrival of Max (Samuel Small), a kid afflicted with the opposite problem of too much fame, brings George out of his creative rut and gives him the inspiration and passion to finish his song.
Based on a story by Josh O’Connor, who makes a silly cameo, and supported by British icons like Susan Wokoma, Ellie Kendrick and Jack Davenport, Bonus Track runs with a simple premise full of heart. Unlike British high school music predecessors like Sing Street, it doesn’t exaggerate the talent of its characters. Instead it makes their world small, their lives simple, and builds up to a song that matches that slow but building tempo of self discovery and self confidence.
NYAD (co-dir. Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi)
This is a love story. A butch lesbian bestie love story.
Come for your standard biopic of sporting feat, stay for the dynamic between bull-headed swimmer Annette Benning and resilient, hype-woman coach Jodie Foster. The directors of Free Solo bring the peril of marathon swimming to Netflix, and this pair of decorated actresses bring their best chemistry. Enjoy!
The BFI London Film Festival was held in London from October 4th-15th
by Fatima Sheriff
Fatima (she/her) is a biomedical sciences graduate and aspiring science communicator. Literary adaptations with beautiful soundtracks call to her, but she enjoys anything with an original concept, witty writing, diverse casting or even the briefest appearance of Dan Stevens. Her favourite films do fluctuate, but her love for Paddington 2 is perennial. She can be found on Letterboxd @sherifff and on Twitter here.
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