The White Crow

Daniel Blake, 59, who has worked as a joiner most of his life in the North East of England needs help from the State for the first time ever following an illness. He crosses paths with a single mother Katie and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie’s only chance to escape a one roomed homeless hostel in London is to accept a flat some 300 miles away. Daniel and Katie find themselves in no-man’s land caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy now played out against the rhetoric of ‘striver and skiver’ in modern day Britain. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, the Prix du public at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival and the 2017 BAFTA for Outstanding British Film.

Robbie, a young ne'er do well (Paul Brannigan), a broke new father with a good heart is in serious trouble with the law. When he holds his newborn son for the first time, roguish Robbie is determined that the boy will have a better life, one with more opportunities than he has been offered in this insular, blue collar world. But first Robbie must sort out a variety of pressing problems --his girlfriend's family wants to do him harm and run him out of town being first and foremost among them. He is given a lucky break by a judge who shows mercy, granting him community service instead of jail.

From the Director of I Daniel Blake (Ken Loach) comes another hard hitting dose of reality. Ricky and his family have been fighting an uphill struggle against debt since the 2008 financial crash. An opportunity to wrestle back some independence appears with a shiny new van and the chance to run a franchise as a self-employed delivery driver. It's hard work, and his wife's job as a carer is no easier. The family unit is strong but when both are pulled in different directions everything comes to breaking point.

After the death of his beloved wife, retiree Tom decides to set out on a long journey. Carrying the ashes of the deceased in a small suitcase, he sets off from the northernmost point of Scotland to Land’s End in the south of England – the place where they first met. Tom makes the entire journey on public busses where he meets so many different people who share his story that he soon becomes a national celebrity. The road movie THE LAST BUS tells the heart-warming story of an ambitious man who embarks on a nostalgic journey, yet experiences many new and enriching encounters along the way. The perfect stage for legendary British character actor Timothy Spall.

In a private home, various individuals think they’re coming together for a party. A series of revelations results in a huge crisis that throws their belief systems, and their values into total disarray.

In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, the Mercers’ get news that causes a crisis in their marriage. The remains of a woman have been found in the Swiss Alps; the body is Katya, Geoff’s former girlfriend, who died in an accident on the glacier 50 years ago. Geoff’s wife Kate is unnerved as she realises that her husband still clings to memories of the dead woman, worrying that she was never more than “second choice”. When Kate looks through stuff Geoff has stored in the attic, she discovers his secret … Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay deliver confident performances in this story of how a crack in faraway, seemingly permanent ice can shatter the tectonics of a marriage that appears completely intact on the surface. With few words and almost imperceptible gestures, they reveal Kate and Geoff standing at the edge of an abyss. The actors’ nuanced portrayals of an ageing couple questioning a relationship that has lasted almost half a century, and struggling to reassure themselves of its future, were rewarded with Silver Bears for acting at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.

The marriage between Princess Diana and Prince Charles has long since grown cold. Though rumors of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at the Queen's estate. There's eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game, but this year, things will be profoundly different. In this cinematic work of art starring Kristen Stewart, Pablo Larraín gives us a deep, emotionally charged, impressive and close-up view of who Diana Spencer was at a turning point in her life. For her role as Lady Di, Kristen Stewart received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Set in the port town of Dover, Mary Hussain suddenly finds herself a widow following the unexpected death of her husband. A day after the burial, she discovers he has a secret just twenty-one miles across the English Channel in Calais.

A heavy-metal-loving teenager’s holiday plans fall through at the last minute, meaning he must spend the summer with the person who annoys him most: his mum. The comic actor Simon Bird makes a fine directorial debut with a tender portrait of the relationship between a prickly teenager and his mother over one summer. Beautifully played by Monica Dolan and Earl Cave (son of Nick), the two veer from loathing to love and back again as they both struggle to identify how their lives will move forward. Gentle, wry and affectionate, it marks Bird out as an idiosyncratic new UK voice.

Spring. Yorkshire. Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path.

On the outskirts of Birmingham and the margins of society the Billingham family perform extreme rituals and break social taboos as they muddle through a life decided by factors beyond their control. At times shocking and laced with an unsettling humor, three episodes unfold as a powerful evocation of the experience of growing up in a Black Country council flat.

It is deep Autumn and Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of twenty years, are on holiday. They are travelling across England in their old campervan visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with young-onset dementia two years ago their lives have had to change. Jobs have been given up and plans put on hold. Their time together is now the most important thing they have. As the trip progresses however, their individual ideas for their future begin to collide. Secrets are uncovered, private plans unravel and their love for each other is tested like never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of Tusker’s irreparable illness.

In 1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) works alone on the rugged Southern coastline. With the days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now searches for common fossils to sell to tourists to support herself and her ailing mother. When a wealthy visitor entrusts Mary with the care of his wife Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan), she cannot afford to turn his offer down. Proud and relentlessly passionate about her work, Mary initially clashes with her unwelcome guest, but despite the distance between their social class and personalities, an intense bond begins to develop, compelling the two women to determine the true nature of their relationship. Director Francis Lee, as in his earlier film «God's Own Country» which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, takes up the theme of love between people who are attracted to each other despite (or perhaps because of) different social classes and personalities.

Keira Knightley plays the writer Colette, who stunned French society in the 1920s with her scandalous novels. The film follows Colette's rise from peasant girl to darling of the Parisian demimonde. «Colette» provides a riveting glimpse into the young woman's life, exploring her artistic genius as well as the abusive relationship with her mentor, played by Dominic West.

As her marriage to Jack Faye (Stanley Tucci) flounders, eminent High Court judge Fiona Maye (Dame Emma Thompson) has a life-changing decision to make at work - should she force a teenage boy, Adam Henry (Fionn Whitehead), to have the blood transfusion that will save his life? Her unorthodox visit to his hospital bedside has a profound impact on them both, stirring strong new emotions in the boy and long-buried feelings in her.

In «The Father», Anthony Hopkins plays the eponymous role of a mischievous and highly independent man who, as he ages, refuses all assistance from his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman). Yet, such help has become essential following Anne’s decision to move to Paris with her partner. As Anne’s father tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality. Heart-wrenching father-daughter drama with Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

June 1944. Allied Forces stand on the brink: a massive army is secretly assembled on the south coast of Britain, poised to re-take Nazi-occupied Europe. One man stands in their way: Winston Churchill. Behind the iconic figure and rousing speeches: a man who has faced political ridicule, military failure and a speech impediment. An impulsive, sometimes bullying personality - fearful, obsessive and hurting. Fearful of repeating, on his disastrous command, the mass slaughter of 1915, when hundreds of thousands of young men were cut down on the beaches of Gallipoli. Obsessed with fulfilling historical greatness: his destiny. Exhausted by years of war and plagued by depression, Churchill is a shadow of the hero who has resisted Hitler's Blitzkrieg. Should the D-Day landings fail, he is terrified he'll be remembered as an architect of carnage. Political opponents sharpen their knives. General Eisenhower and Field Marshal Montgomery are increasingly frustrated by Churchill's attempts to stop the invasion. King George VI must intervene. Only the support of Churchill's brilliant, yet exasperated wife Clementine can halt the Prime Minister's physical and mental collapse. The untold story of Britain's most celebrated leader, uncovering the true nature of Churchill's herculean war-time status and his vital relationship with "Clemmie" - his backbone and total confidant...the love that inspired him to greatness.

“No. 1 Dad” is written on John's mug. Turning it in his hands, he knows he can't keep that promise. Every day he does his rounds as a window cleaner, takes his four-year-old son Michael to the park and then reads him a bedtime story from a colourful book. John, a single father, wants to protect him as best he can from a tragic stroke of fate: John only has a few months left to live and, since his diagnosis, has been looking for a new family for his son. Little by little, he becomes overwhelmed with doubt and anger. How can he decide who is right and what is best? The little time he has left becomes an intense farewell in which John slowly learns to open up to his son in full confidence. A moving and deeply humanistic drama that will leave no feeling person untouched.

It is love at first sight for fun-loving Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) meeting the smart blonde Diana (Claire Foy) in 1950s England. Things appear to be going perfectly, until one day Robin is diagnosed with polio. Paralysed from the neck down, doctors give him just months to live. Against all medical advice and the fact that no polio patient has ever survived outside a hospital environment, Diana takes her husband home. Together they begin a battle, not only against the illness and its resulting constraints it causes, but also against the prejudices they experience. The pair set off on a journey with such dedication and zest for life that it is not only on their own lives that they begin to have an influence… Andy Serkis’ classically staged directing debut is based on the true story of the Brit Robin Cavendish.

Paris 1964: In Alberto Giacometti's studio people work, drink, doubt, argue, flirt and laugh. The Swiss is established as an artist, his works achieve record sales on the market. However, he is not interested in success. Giacometti asks the writer and art lover James Lord to model for him. Flattered and fascinated, he says yes. But Lord has no idea what he is getting into. Soon the young American gains insights into the fascinating, intensive, sometimes chaotic and irritating creative process of the world-famous artist...

London, 1956. Genius actor and film director Laurence Olivier is about to begin the shooting of his upcoming movie, premiered in 1957 as The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Marilyn Monroe. Young Colin Clark, who dreams on having a career in movie business, manages to get a job on the set as third assistant director.

From birth to infancy, from adolescence to adulthood, the good-hearted David Copperfield is surrounded by kindness, wickedness, poverty and wealth, as he meets an array of remarkable characters in Victorian England. As David sets out to be a writer, in his quest for family, friendship, romance and status, the story of his life is the most seductive tale of all. The film stars Dev Patel in the title role alongside a wealth of British talent including Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw and Paul Whitehouse. An avid Dickens fan, Armando Iannucci (the award-winning writer/director of «The Thick of It», «In the Loop», «Veep» and «The Death of Stalin») adapts here, alongside frequent collaborator Simon Blackwell, employing his comedic mastery and vivid characterizations to bring to life one of Dickens’ most cherished characters in «The Personal History of David Copperfield».

Ken Loach’s 2013 documentary about social change in Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War, including the nationalisation of industries and the formation of the welfare state. Made almost entirely in black & white, so B&W archive footage from the 1940s blend in with interviews made today.

This documentary from director Asif Kapadia highlights one of the most celebrated and controversial soccer players in the world. The charismatic Argentine was worshiped on and off the pitch and led Napoli to its first league title. This wild and unforgettable story will recount the miracles he performed on the field as darker days loomed ahead.

"The Reason I Jump" is based on the bestselling book The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida and exposes an intense and overwhelming but at the same time sensuous, undiscovered universe. Through intimate portraits of remarkable young men from all across the globe who share his fate, Higashida reveals for us what it is like to be autistic, a world he himself documented at the age of 13. An intense journey of discovery, this documentary has a clear message: Just because you can’t speak, it doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to say.