The Cannes ACID section focusses on normal lives in independent films, celebrating perspectives often overlooked in bigger programmes.
ACID Cannes 2023 — Searching For Happiness
Redmond Bacon
Redmond is the editor-in-chief of Journey Into Cinema.
Gonna Burst into Flames, It’s Raining in the House
The coming-of-age genre, told over a scorching summer, is imbued with cinematic flair in Paloma Sermon-Daï’s fiction debut.
Inshallah A Boy. Easy to Enjoy.
A social drama with smart dramaturgy and effective mise-en-scène, Inshallah A Boy piercingly critiques Jordan’s male-first inheritance culture.
Master Gardener. Master(ful) Filmmaking.
Paul Schrader finds a more tender angle on his tried-and-tested formula in the touching Master Gardener, completing his most recent trilogy.
The Kids are Not Alright in Russian Found-Footage Doc Manifesto
Found-footage documentary Manifesto is both a startling, necessary film but also a disturbing one, calling into question filmmaking ethics in a fascist state.
goEast Film Festival Day Three: Resilient Faces in Broken Places
A Kazakh Western, a Serbian mining town and a Russian village on the edge of war teach us about the importance of resilience on day three of goEast.
goEast Film Festival Day Two: Crossing Borders
A quick jaunt to Mainz starts a day filled with characters crossing borders, looking for common threads that unite humanity.
goEast Film Festival Day One: The Rise of the Hybrids
An Armenian animated documentary and a shape-shifting Ukrainian 90s-set film noir characterise a strong start to goEast Film Festival.
The Asthenic Syndrome Sleeps Through the End of History
When history ends it’s tempting to sleep through all the chaos. But as The Asthenic Syndrome points out, neither sleep — or art — can change a single thing.
Suzume Soars, Shines, then Sinks.
While the 2D observational moments of Suzume are keenly felt, the overall message is lost in a morass of muddled storytelling and messy CGI.