
KINGDOM OF PLANTS WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
Other movies

TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Palestinian cousins Chatila and Reda have fled a Lebanese refugee camp for Athens. Their sights are set on Germany but, with no money or passports, they are stuck in an underground limbo living off scams and petty crime. For Chatila, who has discovered a ruthless streak, anything is justified – even ripping off their fellow refugees – but Reda hates what he has become, a shame he smothers with drugs, squandering the little money they have. Things look up, however, when they meet Malek: a young boy who says his aunt will send him money to bring him to Italy. Working in a style between documentary and fiction, director Mehdi Fleifel brings home the reality of desperation with poignancy and warmth.

THE LAST RONIN
Director: Maksim Shishkin
Haunted by the ghosts of the past, lone traveller Ronin wanders the post-apocalyptic wastelands in search of his father's killer. The devastation caused by climate change led to a global nuclear war, destroying civilisation as we know it: lands are scorched and cities destroyed. Electrical equipment no longer works and gasoline has long lost the properties that made it the world's greatest resource. The main currency in this new world is AK47 cartridges. Everywhere Ronin goes, he encounters blood-thirsty headhunters and rogue gangs all fighting for scraps in this dangerous new world. Then, one day, Ronin meets a wayward teenage girl who offers him a precious bounty for escorting her to her birthplace, a journey that will require all his fighting skills.

PANDA BEAR IN AFRICA
Director: Richard Claus
When Panda Ping’s best friend, Jielong the Dragon, is kidnapped by a baboon and smuggled to Africa, Ping sets off from their forest home in South China to rescue him - stowing away on a junk ship, he lands in East Africa and gets captured. Alongside the monkey Jojo, Ping escapes, and they cross deserts and mountains facing down the hippopotamus, an army of meerkats and a suspicious hyena before discovering Jielong at the court of King Ade, a spoilt teenage lion. But Ade is not safe either: his uncle, evil Malume, is plotting to dethrone him and destroy the neighbouring jungle home of Niala, Ping’s new hyena friend. Ping is just one small panda. Can he save everyone?

SIMA’S SONG
Director: Roya Sadat
Afghanistan in 1972 is a cauldron of opposing political forces. Suraya, part of an influential political family, becomes head of the dominant Communist Party’s women’s organisation, believing it is the best hope for equal rights. Her friend Sima is sceptical of all politics and, as a talented musician, is dedicated to her traditional art and its romantic themes. Despite their differences, these two young women remain best friends through university, even when Sima marries and starts attending Muslim Youth meetings. When the army starts arresting Muslim activists, Suraya helps her friends escape to the mountains and the protection of the mujahadeen, but war follows them. The film is a marvellous testament to the courage and loyalty of Afghani women in the face of constant adversity.