“If a man says a woman is crazy or difficult, ask him, ‘What bad thing did you do to her?’ That’s a code word. He is trying to discredit her reputation.” These are the words of actress and activist Natalie Portman, spoken in a speech at Variety’s 201

Directed by OLIVER LAXE Starring AMADOR ARIAS, BENEDICTA SÁNCHEZ, INAZIO ABRAO Released 20 MARCH Shots of lush greenery, verdant hillsides and the awe-striking spectacle of untrammelled, overgrown farmland blanketing the rolling hillsides take up the

Directed by VACLAV MARHOUL Starring PETR KOTLAR, HARVEY KEITEL, STELLAN SKARSGÅRD Released 27 MARCH This punishing but undoubtedly brilliant monochrome epic opens on a travelling shot of a small boy, running as fast as his legs will carry him while c

Directed by ANDREW KÖTTING Starring EDEN KÖTTING, IAIN SINCLAIR, PHILIP HOARE Released 4 APRIL For those that don’t know, a whalebone box is “a box made of whale bones”, as director Andrew Kötting helpfully explains in his film, The Whalebone Box. De

Directed by PABLO LARRAÍN Starring MARIANA DI GIROLAMO GAEL GARCÍA BERNAL SANTIAGO CABRERA Released 17 APRIL 4 ANTICIPATION. From Jackie O to pyromaniac reggaeton dancer Ema, Pablo Larraín isn’t holding back. 4 ENJOYMENT. A hypnotic and beautiful wor

“Avile bag of garbage”. This is the way Roger Ebert infamously described Meir Zarchi’s I Spit on Your Grave in the very first line of his 1980 review. The famous American critic goes on to describe the more enthusiastic viewers at the screening he at

Directed by LORCAN FINNEGAN Starring JESSE EISENBERG, IMOGEN POOTS, JONATHAN ARIS Released 27 MARCH Few young couples trying to get on the property ladder will have a worse time than Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg in Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium. A h

Directed by EMILY HARRIS Starring DEVRIM LINGNAU JESSICA RAINE HANNAH RAE Released 3 APRIL 3 ANTICIPATION. A fresh take on a Gothic classic. 3 ENJOYMENT. Plenty to admire here, especially the performances of young co-leads Hannah Rae and Devrim Lingn

BOY MEETS GIRL BOY FALLS IN LOVE WITH GIRL GIRL MAKES EXPLICITLY CLEAR THAT SHE HAS NO INTEREST IN BOY BOY STARTS FOLLOWING GIRL BOY PROCEEDS TO INFILTRATE GIRLS LIFE BOY LIES TO GIRL AND MANIPULATES HER BOY RUINS HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER BOYFRIEND/

Directed by J.-P. VALKEAPÄÄ Starring PEKKA STRANG KRISTA KOSONEN ILONA HUHTA Released 20 MARCH 3 ANTICIPATION. Fifty shades: darker. 4 ENJOYMENT. Simultaneously squirm-inducing and sweet. 4 IN RETROSPECT. The feel-good feel-bad movie of the year. Thr

Directed by WERNER HERZOG Starring MIKI FUJIMAKI, UMETANI HIDEYASU, SHUN ISHIGAKI Released 1 MAY Over the course of his career, Werner Herzog has operated within the boundaries between fact and fiction, drama and documentary, in his own inimitable wa

In 1948, French film critic Alexandre Astruc coined the phrase “caméra-stylo” (“camera-pen” in English) to describe a personal and intellectual style of filmmaking that would flourish during the New Wave era. In 1995, Amy Heckerling made beloved teen

Directed by HLYNUR PALMASON Starring INGVAR SIGURDSSON ÍDA MEKKÍN HLYNSDÓTTIR HILMIR SNAR GU.NASON Released 1 MAY 4 ANTICIPATION. Palmason’s second feature has won prizes at just about every film festival it’s played at. 5 ENJOYMENT. Dreamlike and in

Directed by AKI OMOSHAYBI Starring AKI OMOSHAYBI, PIPPA BENNETT-WARNER, KAREN BRYSON Released 24 APRIL Actor Aki Omoshaybi’s sweetly earnest debut feature is undone by its attempts to apply dramatic conventions to the most banal aspects of life. Set

For many of us, movies – along with whisperings on the school bus, maybe – are one of the first places we learn about sex. It could be the swimsuit strip-off in Fast Times at Ridgemont High or the window-steaming love scene in Titanic. Or renting som

Directed by SARAH GAVRON Starring BUKKY BAKRAY KOSAR ALI D’ANGELOU OSEI KISSIEDU Released 24 APRIL 3 ANTICIPATION. Sceptical the story was in the right hands, but definitely intrigued by it. 4 ENJOYMENT. My cheeks are sore from smiling. 4 IN RETROSPE

Directed by LADJ LY Starring DAMIEN BONNARD ALEXIS MANENTI DJEBRIL ZONGA Released 24 APRIL 4 ANTICIPATION. Picked over Portait of a Lady on Fire as France’s International Feature Oscar submission. 3 ENJOYMENT. Lots of meaty confrontation, but all fee

As a teenager, sleepovers with my girlfriends would pretty much always go the same way. There’d be a decadent spread of pizza, crisps and sweet treats containing ill-advised amounts of sugar. Feasting would conclude with the consumption of fizzy pop

Directed by HIROKAZU KOREEDA Starring CATHERINE DENEUVE JULIETTE BINOCHE ETHAN HAWKE Released 20 MARCH 4 ANTICIPATION. Hot off a Palme win, trying his hand with a Western cast – all eyes are on Koreeda. 3 ENJOYMENT. Like Deneuve’s tea, it’s warm unti

Directed by KITTY GREEN Starring JULIA GARNER MAKENZIE LEIGH MATTHEW MACFADYEN Released 3 APRIL 4 ANTICIPATION. Casting JonBenet was a gruelling but fascinating watch. 4 ENJOYMENT. A simple premise, masterfully executed. 4 IN RETROSPECT. Required vie

In Rose Plays Julie, sexual trauma is hereditary, a curse passed on by bad men and handed down by injured, furious women. It is not strictly a horror film, although much of what transpires is reasonably horrific: cool, dilatory and clean, the action

Directed by HAIFAA AL MANSOUR Starring MILA AL ZAHRANI NORA AL AWADH DAE AL HILALI Released 27 MARCH 3 ANTICIPATION. Al Mansour’s history-making debut, Wadjda, is a beaut, but a few mis-steps since then. 4 ENJOYMENT. The framing of one woman against

#14: Polyvinyl chloride There’s a very specific vernacular that goes along with wearing PVC. Whether its a Kardashian-style rubber dress or a pair of throwback go-go boots, the oil-slick, reflective quality is striking and futuristic. This is a mater

As the first female film director from Saudi Arabia, Haifaa Al Mansour’s career has been built on breaking barriers. Her early, quietly radical documentaries about the women behind enforced veils, led to her entering the global stage with Wadjda, abo

Directed by ERIC ROHMER Starring MARIE RIVIÈRE PASCALE OGIER AMANDA LANGLET 1981-87 Released 20 APRIL Blu-ray The great French filmmaker Eric Rohmer mostly made films which were individual fragments of a wider series. His first grand project is refer

Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa makes flinty visual poems addressed to the disenfranchised and disenchanted. He projects empathy and envelops himself in the world of his subjects. He tries to make films which transmit something truthful about the in

Directed by MICHAEL CATON-JONES Starring EVE AUSTIN TALLULAH GREIVE ABIGAIL LAWRIE Released 24 APRIL 3 ANTICIPATION. A beloved, award-winning novel finally makes it to the screen after 20-plus years. 4 ENJOYMENT. Teen horniness is not a crime. 4 IN R

Directed by ROBERT ALTMAN Starring JENNIFER JASON LEIGH MIRANDA RICHARDSON HARRY BELAFONTE 1996 Released 2 MARCH Blu-ray We do not treasure the singular talent of actor Jennifer Jason Leigh half as much as we should. Her ‘90s run alone cast most cont