The 13th
Director Ava DuVernay presents a searing look at a century of race relations in America in this far-reaching and powerful documentary.
|
Thu 6 |
76
A terse political drama from Nigeria deals with the ramifications for a group linked to the assassination in 1976 of General Murtala Mohammed.
|
Sat 15 |
All This Panic
Seven New York teens emerge from the turbulent ‘panic’ years into nearly adulthood in this astonishingly intimate documentary.
|
Fri 7, Sat 8 |
American Honey
Andrea Arnold dazzles with a sun-soaked and tune-filled epic about door-to-door teenage magazine sellers travelling the American highways.
|
Fri 7, Sat 8, Tue 11 |
Arrival
Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner star as the humans who make first contact with extraterrestrial visitors in this richly textured sci-fi from director Denis Villeneuve.
|
Mon 10, Tue 11, Thu 13 |
Being 17
Hormonal aggression sparks an intense enmity between two 17-year-old schoolboys in the snowy Pyrenees, until the true connection between them surprises everyone.
|
Mon 10, Tue 11, Sun 16 |
The Birth of a Nation

This explosive Sundance-winning drama follows Nat Turner, a preacher who became the radical leader of an uprising against slavery. |
Tue 11, Wed 12, Thu 13 |
Born In Flames
Lizzie Borden’s provocative feminist sci-fi returns to our screens and has lost none of its power.
|
Sat 15 |
Chi-Raq
Spike Lee reimagines Aristophanes’ ancient Greek play Lysistrata as a dazzling modern-day hip-hop musical set in Chicago.
|
Sat 15, Sun 16 |
Daughters of the Dust [Treasure]
Julie Dash’s groundbreaking Daughters of the Dust remains urgent and poetic and continues to resonate, most recently inspiring Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
|
Sat 8, Sat 15 |
Divines
The gangster genre is given a shrewd feminist makeover in this arresting debut about a young girl embarking on a life of crime.
|
Thu 6, Fri 7, Tue 11 |
Fonko
A pulsating journey through the electronic urban musical underground of Africa that looks at how the new sounds are defining a generation, from the team behind Black Power Mixtape (LFF2011).
|
Sat 8, Mon 10 |
Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy
Mahamet-Saleh Haroun (Darrat) returns to the theme of the personal and societal responsibility with this searing documentary about ex-Chadian President Hissein Habré.
|
Sat 8, Sun 9 |
Hospital [Treasure]
An outstanding restoration of Frederick Wiseman’s unforgettably gripping documentary portrait of New York’s Metropolitan Hospital.
|
Sun 9 |
I called him Morgan
Part true-crime tale, part love story, this vivid portrait of legendary hard bop jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan is an all-out musical treat (from the director of My Name is Albert Ayler).
|
Fri 7 |
The Illinois Parables

Eleven parables relay histories of settlement, removal, technological breakthrough, violence, messianism and resistance, all occurring somewhere in the state of Illinois. |
Mon 10 |
Jewel’s Catch One
A rousing doc about LA’s first black LGBT disco, defiantly opened in 1973 and beloved by music royalty from Sylvester to Madonna.
|
Sat 8, sun 9 |
Layla M
The gripping and powerful story of a young girl’s path towards radicalisation from director Mijke de Jong (Bluebird).
|
Tue 11, Thu 13 |
Lovetrue
Following her groundbreaking debut Bombay Beach, director Alma Har’el returns with another genre-bending, visually stunning gem about our perception of love and relationships, including the psyche of Victory, a young black woman in New York City pondering family bonds and faith.
|
Sat 8, Mon 10 |
Mimosas
A mesmerising combination of travelogue, mysticism and documentary from Spanish director Oliver Laxe, as a young man goes on a mission in the Atlas Mountains.
|
Thu 6, Fri 7 |
Moonlight
Based on the play ‘In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue’, Moonlight follows Chiron as he finds his identity and sexuality in Miami in the 1980s.
|
Thu 6, Fri 7, Sat 8 |
A Moving Image
The gentrification of London’s Brixton is examined in this probing and stylistically ambitious debut feature.
|
Sat 8, Fri 14, Sun 16 |
Nocturama
French director Bertrand Bonello imagines Paris in a state of apocalypse, in a provocative, troubling response to the contemporary age of terror.
|
Sat 15, Sun 16 |
On Call
La Permanence
Filmed in a walk-in service for asylum seekers in an hospital near Paris, this timely documentary captures with great humanity dozens of personal stories.
|
Wed 12, Fri 14 |
The Pass
Two ‘straight’ footballers share a kiss in this powerful chamber piece which opened BFI Flare earlier this year.
|
Wed 12, Fri 14 |
Queen of Katwe
The powerful true life tale of one girl’s determination to escape from poverty in Uganda by becoming a chess champion, directed by Mira Nair and starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o and newcomer Madina Nalwanga.
|
Sun 9, Mon 10, Wed 12 |
The Revolution Won’t Be Televised
Rama Thiaw’s film taps into an example of grassroots political action in Senegal, where a group of disenfranchised activists decide to campaign against that country’s elite.
|
Sun 9, Mon 10 |
Stolkholm My Love
Neneh Cherry, director Mark Cousins (I am Belfast) and cinematographer Christopher Doyle create an inventive docu-style fiction and a love song to the Swedish city.
|
Tue 11, Wed 12 |
Those Who Jump
Les Sauteurs
“I exist because I film” – the compelling first-hand account of an African migrant enduring great hardship to reach Europe and make a better life.
|
Thu 13, Sat 15 |
A United Kingdom
Amma Asante (Belle, A Way of Life) opens the Festival with this impassioned drama depicting an interracial romance that changed the world.
|
Wed 5, Thu 6, Tue 11 |
The Wedding Ring
Zin’naariyâ!
A female-directed and rare film from Niger, about a privileged young woman who comes back home, in the sultanate of Zinder, after studying in Paris to discover the truth of the relationships between women and men in her society.
|
Fri 14 |
White Colour Black
A young mixed heritage man confronts the psychological complexities of his identity in this essential, truly cinematic discovery for anyone interested in Black British cinema.
|
Sat 15 |
Wùlu
What happens when a life of crime offers more opportunity than living an honest life? It’s a challenge Malian bus driver Ladji faces in this superb drama.
|
Fri 7, Sat 8 |