LIFF 2021 - Official Selection
The Official Selection From The 2021 Leeds International Film Festival
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42 titles
- DirectorAmeen NayfehStarsAli SulimanAnna UnterbergerMotaz MalheesA Palestinian father trapped on the other side of the separation wall is trying to reach the hospital for his son.
- DirectorClio BarnardStarsAdeel AkhtarClaire RushbrookMacy ShackletonAli and Ava, both lonely for different reasons, meet and sparks fly. Over a lunar month a deep connection begins to grow, despite the legacy of Ava's past relationship, and Ali's emotional turmoil at the breakdown of his marriage.
- DirectorDavid Pérez SañudoStarsPatricia López ArnaizJone LaspiurMikel LosadaLide discovers that her daughter Ane has gone missing and together with ex-husband Fernando investigates her whereabouts.
- DirectorAndreas FontanaStarsFabrizio RongioneStéphanie CléauCarmen IriondoYvan De Wiel, a private banker from Geneva, goes to Argentina in the midst of a dictatorship to replace his partner, the object of the most worrying rumours, who disappeared overnight.
- DirectorEmmanuel CarrèreStarsJuliette BinocheLouise PocieckaSteve PapagiannisIt is based on French journalist Florence Aubenas's bestselling non-fiction work Le Quai de Ouistreham, investigating rising precarity in French society through her experiences in the northern port city of Caen.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsOscar IsaacTiffany HaddishTye SheridanWilliam Tell is an ex-military interrogator living under the radar as a low-stakes gambler. When he encounters a young man looking to commit revenge against a mutual enemy, he takes him on the casino circuit to set him on a new path.
- DirectorNathalie Álvarez MesénStarsWendy Chinchilla ArayaAna Julia Porras EspinozaDaniel Castañeda RincónIn a remote village in Costa Rica, Clara, a withdrawn 40-year-old woman, experiences a sexual and mystical awakening as she begins a journey to free herself from the repressive religious and social conventions which have dominated her life.
- DirectorJuho KuosmanenStarsSeidi HaarlaYura BorisovDinara DrukarovaAs a train weaves its way up to the arctic circle, two strangers share a journey that will change their perspective on life.
- DirectorShariff KorverStarsJoes BrauersSpencer BogaertTobias KerslootAfter the sudden disappearance of their superior, three young soldiers are left to guard a military vehicle by themselves. As their situation and the scorching desert heat renders them increasingly disconnected from reality, an encounter with a local boy escalates into a fight that will mark their lives forever.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsHidetoshi NishijimaTôko MiuraReika KirishimaA renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.
- DirectorKornél MundruczóStarsLili MonoriAnnamária LángGoya RegoEpisodes trace three generations of a family, from a surreal memory of World War II to modern day Berlin, unable to process their past in a society still coping with the wounds of its history.
- DirectorShawkat Amin KorkiStarsAvan JamalVania SalarHussein Hassan AliIf Rojin doesn't pass the university entrance exam, she will have to go through with an arranged marriage. If she gets in, she'll be free. This is the pronouncement of her father.
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsTom SchillingAlbrecht SchuchSaskia Rosendahl1930s Berlin. Dr. Jakob Fabian, who works by day in advertising for a cigarette company and by night wanders the streets of the city, falls in love with an actress. As her career begins to blossom, prospects for his future begin to wane.
- DirectorSebastian MeiseStarsFranz RogowskiGeorg FriedrichAnton von LuckeIn post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175, which criminalizes homosexuality. Over the decades, he develops an unlikely bond with his cellmate Viktor.
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsFilippo ScottiToni ServilloTeresa SaponangeloIn 1980s Naples, young Fabietto pursues his love for football as family tragedy strikes, shaping his uncertain but promising future as a filmmaker.
- DirectorPanah PanahiStarsPantea PanahihaMohammad Hassan MadjooniRayan SarlakFollows a chaotic, tender family that is on a road trip across a rugged landscape and fussing over the sick dog and getting on each others' nerves. Only the mysterious older brother is quiet.
- DirectorMaria SødahlStarsAndrea Bræin HovigStellan SkarsgårdElli Rhiannon Müller OsborneThe relationship between artist-partners Tomas and Anja is put to the test after Anja gets a life-threatening diagnosis.
- DirectorRadu MunteanStarsMaria PopistasuIlona BrezoianuAlex BogdanA group of people on a humanitarian mission arrive in a remote area of Transylvania to offer the inhabitants various goods. Apart from a few quarrels and conflicts between the group members, everything seems to be going well for Maria and Dan. But soon after they stumble upon a disoriented local and try to help him, things go wrong.
- DirectorGaysorn ThavatStarsEssie DavisThomasin McKenzieLively NiliA triumph over adversity tale about women fighting their way back from the bottom of society.
- DirectorFred BaillifStarsClaudia GrobAnais UldryKassia Da CostaA group of teenage girls have been placed in a residential care home with social workers. This forced "family" experience creates unexpected tensions and intimacies. An incident triggers a chain of over-reactions.
- DirectorYohan MancaStarsMaël Rouin BerrandouJudith ChemlaDali BenssalahA 14-year-old boy growing up in a housing project in the South of France with his four brothers and their ailing mother in a coma.
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsAchouackh Abakar SouleymaneRihane Khalil AlioYoussouf DjaoroAmina, a practicing Muslim, lives with her daughter, 15-year-old Maria. When Amina learns Maria is pregnant and wants to abort the child, they face an impossible situation in a country where abortion is legally and morally condemned.
- DirectorNorika SefaStarsKosovare KrasniqiRozafa CelajErjona KakeliThe quiet, taciturn teenager Venera lives in a small town in Kosovo. At home, where three generations are crawling together in a small house, she has hardly any privacy.
- DirectorAlex CamilleriStarsJesmark SciclunaMarlene SchranzDavid SciclunaA man risks everything to provide for his wife and newborn son by entering Malta's black-market fishing industry.
- DirectorVincent Maël CardonaStarsThimotée RobartMarie ColombJoseph OlivennesA kid living in Brittany in the 1980s is called up for military service and drafted to West Berlin.
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsTilda SwintonAgnes BrekkeDaniel Giménez CachoA woman from Scotland, while traveling in Colombia, begins to notice strange sounds. Soon she begins to think about their appearance.
- DirectorEva HussonStarsOdessa YoungJosh O'ConnorColin FirthJane Fairchild is a maidservant who, between the wars, works for the wealthy Niven family. On Mothering Sunday, Jane is given the day off to spend as she likes. To her surprise, Paul Sheringham, the son of wealthy neighbours, invites her to spend the day with him at his family's house while his parents are out having lunch with the Nivens and the Hobdays.
- DirectorDénes NagyStarsFerenc SzabóLászló BajkóTamás GarbaczThe desperate lives of Hungarian soldiers on the Eastern Front through the eyes of a captain. Their task is to find and capture Soviet partisans to secure the front lines.
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsLucie ZhangMakita SambaNoémie MerlantÉmilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy - they're friends, sometimes lovers and often both.
- DirectorCéline SciammaStarsJoséphine SanzGabrielle SanzNina MeurisseNelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her age building a tree-house.
- DirectorLaura WandelStarsMaya VanderbequeGünter DuretElsa LaforgeWhen Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora tries to find her place, torn between children's and adults' worlds.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsBenedict CumberbatchKirsten DunstJesse PlemonsCharismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
- DirectorNana MensahStarsNana MensahMadeline WeinsteinMeekoGhanaian-American Sarah is all set to abandon her Ivy League doctoral program to follow her married lover across the country.
- DirectorValentyn VasyanovychStarsRoman LutskyiStanislav AseyevOleksandr DanyliukUkrainian surgeon Serhiy is captured by the Russian military forces in the conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine and while in captivity, he is exposed to horrifying scenes of humiliation, violence and indifference towards human life.
- DirectorChema García IbarraStarsNacho FernándezLlum ArquesJoanna ValverdeWhen the leader of a UFO association dies unexpectedly, José Manuel becomes the only person who knows a secret that could alter the fate of humanity. Meanwhile, a young girl goes missing in Spain.
- DirectorJoanna HoggStarsTilda SwintonHonor Swinton ByrneJames Spencer AshworthIn the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship, Julie begins to untangle her fraught love for him in making her graduation film, sorting fact from his elaborately constructed fiction.
- DirectorPablo LarraínStarsKristen StewartTimothy SpallSally HawkinsDiana Spencer, struggling with mental-health problems during her Christmas holidays with the Royal Family at their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, decides to end her decade-long marriage to Prince Charles.
- DirectorCássio Pereira dos SantosStarsThiessa WoinbackkGuta StresserRômulo BragaA trans girl and her mother move to a new town in order to start fresh, but quickly face dilemmas when the local high school needs a second parental signature for enrollment.
- DirectorAleksandre KoberidzeStarsAni KarseladzeGiorgi BochorishviliOliko BarbakadzeA chance encounter on a street corner has Lisa and Giorgi fall in love at first sight, but an evil spell is cast on them. Will they ever meet again?
- DirectorDina AmerStarsLorenza GrimaudoIlonna GrimaudoMouna SoualemWhen two young sisters are torn apart, the eldest loses her identity and transforms into someone new in the name of belonging and resistance.
- DirectorMarí AlessandriniStarsLara TortosaSantos CurapilCirilo WesleyMora is 13 years old and intends to become a "gaucho". She questions school and asserts her individuality towards her parents, two environmentalists from Italian-speaking Switzerland whose dream of autonomy turns into a nightmare.
- DirectorMichael ShowalterStarsJessica ChastainAndrew GarfieldCherry JonesAn intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.