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LITTLE JAFFNA
Director: Lawrence Valin
“You’re not in Paris any more. You’re in Little Jaffna.” During the civil war in Sri Lanka that raged from 1983 until 2009, Tamils in the Parisian district of Little Jaffna were forced to contribute towards buying arms for Tamil Tigers. Aya, ostensibly a grocer, leads the ruthless extortion gang that bleeds the community dry. Michael, a straight-shooting young police officer with Tamil roots, is sent to infiltrate the organization but as he befriends the gang’s members at terrible risk to himself, he starts to see the issue in a more nuanced way and feels his loyalties shifting. Valin combines the theatricality of Tamil movies with the hard edge of new French cinema, using largely non-professional actors, in this spectacular thriller.

BIN U BIN, ELSEWHERE THE BORDER
Director: Mohamed Lakhdar Tati
In the rocky desert Algerian border country, Fethi and his fellow villagers eke out a living smuggling goods – mostly petrol – into Tunisia, working at night and paying off the local crime lords. Saad, a film-maker trying to raise money to finish his movie, has worked for a year with Fethi. He lives in his family’s shed, included as part of a loving household as well as their risky business. At the same time he is obviously an outsider: smartly dressed and prepared to talk back to anyone, including the imam. Tough, gritty but also moodily atmospheric, its tension sustained by a tumultuous soundscape, theis remarkable film delves deeply into the complexities of family, friendship and daily survival.

MOON
Director: Kurdwin Ayub
Sarah, a former mixed martial arts champion in Austria, knows she needs to make a new start. While her sister urges her to start a business, she jumps at an unexpected offer to go to Jordan to train three teenage daughters of a dazzlingly rich family living in an isolated, fiercely guarded mansion. Sarah soon sees that the girls don’t want to train, but have little else in their closeted lives: no internet allowed, no friends and only rare outings to the mall, where they are closely watched, for entertainment. The house, moreover, seems to hold its own secrets; why is Sarah forbidden to go upstairs? Director Ayub maintains the tension of a thriller in this story of life in a golden cage.

K-POPS
Director: Anderson .Paak
Eight-time Grammy winner Anderson .Paak makes his film debut with the story of a washed-up drummer whose life turns around when he meets his teenage son for the first time. Paak himself plays the father BJ, who is still holding out in middle age for rock’n’roll stardom; his real-life son Soul Rasheed plays the fictional Tae Young, whose mother Yeji is Korean. When BJ gets an unexpected gig on a Korean talent show, he discovers Tae Young, a hotly-tipped contestant. Eager to make up for lost parenting time, BJ becomes the boy’s mentor – but the truth is that he needs help to grow up himself. Riffing off their real family relationships, .Paak’s comedy is an instant winner full of charm and K-Pop fandom.