Victoria

Director: Sebastian Schipper, Germany 2015, 138 minutes, Cert 15

Out clubbing on her own in the early hours in Berlin, a young Spanish woman recently arrived in the city and working in a café falls in with a group of tough locals who persuade her to join them in their nocturnal ramble around the streets. Shot in a single take, this adrenaline-charged thriller and love story – with exceptional, largely improvised performances from a remarkable cast – offers a pulse-pounding and immersive experience.

Winner: Silver Bear (Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography), Berlin Film Festival 2015; Best Feature Film, German Film Awards

A War

Director: Tobias Lindholm, Denmark 2016, 115 minutes, Cert 15

In the heat of battle in Helmand province, a morally decent Danish army commander makes a fateful decision that leads to tragedy and has dramatic consequences for his career and family back home. Moving seamlessly from conflict zone to courtroom, this taut, engrossing drama from the writer of The Hunt and Borgen offers a sensitive and razor sharp examination of guilt and accountability, morality and priorities.

A Bigger Splash

Director: Luca Guadagnino, UK/Italy 2016, 124 minutes, Cert 15

Rock legend Marianne (a near-mute Tilda Swinton) is recovering from throat surgery on the volcanic sun-baked island of Pantelleria with her younger boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) when an old flame Harry (Ralph Fiennes) crashes into their idyll with his sultry daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson), creating a whirlwind of jealousy, desire and, ultimately, danger. Exceptional performances – particularly from Swinton and Fiennes – make this heady, entertaining melodrama a real delight.

Rams

Director: Grímur Hákonarson, Iceland 2015, 90 minutes, Cert 15

In a remote Icelandic valley, two elderly, stubborn bachelor brothers have not been on speaking terms for 40 years, but live on adjacent smallholdings tending sheep from the same ancestral stock their family has reared for generations. An outbreak of fatal scrapie, devastating to their livelihoods, offers a chance of reconciliation. By turns darkly humorous and melancholic, this is an eccentric and ultimately profound drama, set against a forbiddingly breathtaking landscape.

Winner: Prix Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2015

Dheepan

Director: Jacques Audiard, France 2015, 115 minutes, Cert 15

A veteran Tamil Tiger flees civil war in Sri Lanka by masquerading with two strangers as a family unit. The three set about establishing a new life in France, with Dheepan taking a job as a caretaker on a rundown housing estate. He soon finds his skills honed by war are needed to survive his new surroundings, and that far from putting his past behind him, he has traded one conflict for another. A compelling, timely drama from the director of A Prophet and Rust and Bone.

Winner: Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival 2015

Mustang

Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Turkey 2016, 97 minutes, Cert 15

In a coastal village in northern Turkey, five orphaned sisters live with their grandmother and a bullying uncle in a large, seemingly idyllic house. Grounded after they are spotted by conservative locals playing innocently in the sea with a group of local boys, their home is turned by degrees into a prison, their life choices closed down by oppressive societal codes and family honour. Raw and moving, this ultimately uplifting, beguiling film pulses with the exuberant, rebellious spirit of the five protagonists.

Winner: 4 César Awards 2015 (including Best First Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay); Europa Cinemas Label Award, Cannes Film Festival 2015

The Tribe

Director: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine 2015, 130 minutes, Cert 18

Somewhere in Ukraine, Sergey enters a specialist boarding school for the deaf, where he quickly finds he must navigate the school’s lawless, gang-style social hierarchy to survive. Featuring no words or soundtrack, with the characters communicating in non-sub-titled sign language, this innovative piece of filmmaking nonetheless delivers a deafening roar of power. While it makes unsettling, confrontational viewing – both shocking and violent – it is a visually arresting, ferociously engaging and unforgettable film.

The Pearl Button

Director: Patricio Guzmán, Chile 2015, 82 minutes, Cert 12

This companion piece to Nostalgia for the Light replaces sand with water as its central metaphor, and in particular Chile’s expansive, spectacular oceanic coastline. Metaphysical reflections on the nature of water move onto a devastating account of indigenous Patagonians being all but wiped out by European settlers, and of the ocean bed later used as a watery cemetery for the victims of Pinochet’s murderous regime. A lyrical, angry and visually haunting exploration of history, nature, ethnography and tyranny.

Winner: Silver Bear (Best Script), Berlin Film Festival 2015

The Here After

Director: Magnus von Horn, Sweden 2016, 102 minutes, Cert 15

When teenager John returns from a juvenile detention unit to his rural home to start afresh and return to school, he finds his crime is neither forgotten nor forgiven by the local close-knit community. Guilt and muted aggression threaten to detonate at any moment, with the striking, austere camerawork from Polish cinematographer Lukas Zal (Ida) contributing to John’s sense of alienation. A raw, unnerving examination of justice and forgiveness.

Tangerines

Director: Zaza Urushadze, Georgia 2015, 83 minutes, Cert 15

As conflict rages between Georgians and secessionist Abkhazians in the early 90s, the region’s long-established Estonians have fled to a homeland they have never known. Stubbornly refusing to leave are Ivo, an elderly carpenter, and his friend Margus, a tangerine farmer determined not to abandon his crop. When the war lands on their doorstep, Ivo takes in two wounded soldiers from opposite sides. A quietly powerful anti-war, pro-humanity fable with impeccable performances and photography.