This film is part of Rentals
The Perfect Candidate
Celebrated Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda) returns with an inspiring drama about a young doctor unexpectedly becoming an electoral candidate.
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Overview
Despite being a highly competent doctor, Maryam’s road is paved with compromises and complications – including a flooded path leading to her clinic, the dangers of which are not taken seriously by local officials. When her attempt to drive to a medical conference is stymied by not having the right papers, she finds her only solution is to sign up to be an electoral candidate, allowing her easy access through road blocks. However, as the responsibility of local politics dawns on her, she ropes in her sisters, one of whom is a wedding videographer, to mount an increasingly visible campaign, challenging Saudi Arabia’s strict social codes and what is expected of a young woman in the country. Meanwhile, her father follows her progress from afar – having received a permit to perform in public spaces for the first time in his career as a musician. His tender but steadfast support of his daughter, coupled with his regret at not being able to share the joy of his own tour with their late mother, is a moving – and timely – reminder that change can be a long process. But in the end, it really is worth the struggle.
brief mild injury detailRelated
Typist Artist Pirate King Typist Artist Pirate King
Drama 2022 106 mins Director: Carol Morley
Monica Dolan and Kelly Macdonald star in Carol Morley's darkly humorous portrait of a forgotten artist.
Eismayer Eismayer
Drama 2022 87 mins Director: David Wagner
Drill sergeant Eismayer has a reputation as the toughest training officer in the Austrian military, but when he starts to fall in love with a new recruit, his closeted existence is shaken to the core.
Punch Punch
Drama 2022 99 mins Director: Welby Ings
New Zealand filmmaker Welby Ings’ powerful film is a beautifully shot and moving story about finding queer love and identity in the face of overwhelming odds.
The Great Escaper The Great Escaper
Drama 2023 96 mins Director: Oliver Parker
Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson deliver superb performances in this heart-warming story of a war veteran’s escape from his care home to join the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings in Normandy.
Paris Memories Paris Memories
Drama 2022 105 mins Director: Alice Winocour
Alice Winocour’s drama finds Virginie Efira’s survivor of a terrorist attack coming to terms with the long-term impact of trauma.
Brother Brother
Drama 2022 120 mins Director: Clement Virgo
Clement Virgo’s film is a stunning portrait of wounded masculinity.
Tori and Lokita Tori and Lokita
Drama 2022 89 mins Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
The Dardenne brothers’ Cannes prize-winner – about the plight of two teenage African migrants struggling to survive in Belgium – is characteristically gripping, sobering and deeply moving.
The Blue Caftan The Blue Caftan
Drama 2022 123 mins Director: Maryam Touzani
A married tailor falls for his younger apprentice in Maryam Touzani’s richly textured and sweepingly beautiful exploration of love, desire and tradition.
My Imaginary Country My Imaginary Country
Documentary 2022 83 mins Director: Patricio Guzmán
Women have been a driving force in the recent Chilean Revolution, as Nostalgia for the Light director Patricio Guzmán highlights in this galvanising documentary.
Saint Omer Saint Omer
Drama 2022 122 mins Director: Alice Diop
Alice Diop reinvents the courtroom drama in this concentrated, gripping study of a writer and the young African woman accused of murdering her own daughter. Based on a true story.
Small, Slow But Steady Small, Slow But Steady
Drama 2022 99 mins Director: Shô Miyake
Sho Miyake crafts a moving, one-of-a-kind sports film, anchored by Yukino Kishii’s precise, subtle, unsentimental performance as Deaf aspiring boxer Keiko.
Inland Inland
Drama 2022 82 mins Director: Fridtjof Ryder
This strange, enigmatic and engrossing thriller finds a troubled young man returning to his hometown in the wake of his mother’s disappearance.
Typist Artist Pirate King Typist Artist Pirate King
Drama 2022 106 mins Director: Carol Morley
Monica Dolan and Kelly Macdonald star in Carol Morley's darkly humorous portrait of a forgotten artist.
20 Days in Mariupol 20 Days in Mariupol
Documentary 2023 94 mins Director: Mstyslav Chernov
Vivid and harrowing account of life under siege, Ukrainian journalists try to fulfil their mission to capture what later become defining images of the atrocities of the 2022 Russian invasion.
Eismayer Eismayer
Drama 2022 87 mins Director: David Wagner
Drill sergeant Eismayer has a reputation as the toughest training officer in the Austrian military, but when he starts to fall in love with a new recruit, his closeted existence is shaken to the core.
Is There Anybody Out There? Is There Anybody Out There?
Documentary 2023 87 mins Director: Ella Glendining
Highlighting the importance of being seen, Ella Glendining invites us on a personal journey as she sets out to find others with the same rare disability as herself.
His Lordship His Lordship
Comedy 1932 73 mins Director: Michael Powell
A plumber discovers to his horror that he is, in fact, a hereditary Lord in Michael Powell's riotous satirical musical.
The Fire Raisers The Fire Raisers
Crime 1934 78 mins Director: Michael Powell
Michael Powell’s atmospheric thriller about an insurance man in over his head with a gang of arsonists.