Ballad Of A White Cow and Mandibles
Absolute Denial
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ryan Braund; Writer: Ryan Braund; Stars: Nick Eriksen, Jeremy J. Smith-Sebasto, Harry Dyer, Heather Gonzalez, Jef Leeson, Nick Eriksen, Jeremy J Smith-Sebasto, Harry Dyer, Heather Gonzalez, Jef Leeson)
Science fiction animation sees a programmer building a super computer off the grid runs into trouble as the AI he's created grows in strength.
UK premiere
Annette
(Country: France, Mexico, US, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Leos Carax; Writer: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Stars: Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver, Simon Helberg, Ron Mael, Russel Mael, Devyn McDowell)
A stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a daughter with a surprising gift.
UK premiere
Ballad Of A White Cow (Ghasideyeh gave sefid)
(Country: Iran; Year: 2020; Director: Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha; Writer: Mehrdad Kouroshniya, Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha; Stars: Maryam Moghadam, Alireza Sani Far, Pouria Rahimi, Avin Poor Raoufi, Mohammad Heidari, Maryam Moghadam, Alireza Sani Far, Pouria Rahimi, Avin Poor Raoufi, Mohammad Heidari)
A single mum, whose husband has been executed, struggles for justice.
UK premiere
The Beta Test
(Country: US, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Writer: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Stars: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jessie Barr, Christian Hillborg, Malin Barr, Jacqueline Doke, Wilky Lau, Grant Rosenmeyer, Keith Powell, Monroe Cline, Laura Coover, Boni Mata)
A man's life starts to fracture after he receives an unusual invitation.
UK premiere
The Bright Side
(Country: Ireland; Year: 2020; Director: Ruth Meehan; Writer: Ruth Meehan, Jean Pasley; Stars: Gemma-Leah Devereux, Siobhán Cullen, Karen Egan, Barbara Brennan, Derbhle Crotty, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Kevin McGahern, Claire O'Donovan, Elizabeth Moynihan, Barry McKiernan, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Siobhán Cullen, Karen Egan, Barbara Brennan, Derbhle Crotty)
Cynical stand-up, Kate, has lost her way, but she gains friends and a new perspective on life when she goes through cancer treatment with an unlikely band of companions.
UK premiere
Ninjababy and Absolute Denial
The Deer King (Shika No Ou)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Masashi Ando, Masayuki Miyaji; Writer: Taku Kishimoto, Nahoko Uehashi)
When a pack of dogs race through a Zol-controlled mine, Van, an enslaved former soldier, and a young girl named Yuna are both bitten, but manage to escape as the sole survivors of the attack. They seek out a simple, peaceful existence in the countryside but the deadly Black Wolf Fever complicates everything.
UK premiere
Europa
(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Haider Rashid; Writer: Sonia Giannetto, Haider Rashid; Stars: Adam Ali, Svetlana Yancheva, Mohamed Zouaoui)
Kamal, an Iraqi man trying to enter Europe on foot through the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, is relentlessly pursued through a forest by a group of hunters.
UK premiere
Even Mice Belong In Heaven
(Country: Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Poland; Year: 2021; Director: Jan Bubenicek, Denisa Grimmová; Writer: Jeffrey Hylton, Richard Malatinský, Alice Nellis, based on the book by, Iva Procházková)
A mouse and a fox meet in animal heaven and forge an unexpected friendship.
UK premiere
Everybody's Talking About Jamie
(Country: UK, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jonathan Butterell; Writer: Tom MacRae, Dan Gillespie Sells; Stars: Max Harwood, Lauren Patel, Richard E Grant, Sharon Horgan, Sarah Lancashire, Shobna Gulati, Ralph Ineson, Samuel Bottomley, Ramzan Miah, Zane Alsaroori, Zion Battles, Gareth Joyner, Alex Anstey, Daniel Wallace, Dannie Pye)
A teenager overcomes prejudice to fulfil his ambition of becoming a drag queen.
Special preview screening
The Justice Of Bunny King
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Gaysorn Thavat; Writer: Sophie Henderson; Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Essie Davis, Ryan O'Kane, Erroll Shand)
Bunny, a woman at the outskirts of society, fights to be reunited with her children. When her teenage niece needs help, Bunny takes her under her wing, and together, they make a stand against the cards they’ve been dealt.
UK premiere
Mad God and Martyrs Lane
Mad God
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Phil Tippett; Writer: Phil Tippett; Stars: Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, Satish Ratakonda, Harper Taylor, Brynn Taylor)
An epic journey through all the layers of hell.
UK premiere
Mandibles
(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Quentin Dupieux; Writer: Quentin Dupieux; Stars: Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais, Adèle Exarchopoulos, India Hair, Roméo Elvis, Coralie Russier, Bruno Lochet, Raphaël Quenard, Gaspard Augé, Thomas Blanchard, Philippe Dusseau, Olivier Blanc, Jean-Paul Solal, Jézabel Marques, Marie Narbonne)
When friends Jean-Gab and Manu find a giant fly trapped in the boot of a car, they decide to train it in the hope of making a ton of cash.
UK premiere
The Man Who Sold His Skin
(Country: Tunisia, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden; Year: 2020; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Writer: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Monica Bellucci, Koen De Bouw, Rupert Wynne-James, Husam Chadat, Saad Lostan, Najoua Zouhair, Dea Liane, Marc de Panda, Adrienne Mei Irving, Nadim Cheikhrouha, Yahya Mahayni, Jan Dahdoh, Wim Delvoye, Montassar Alaya, Monica Bellucci)
Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. He finds himself turned into a work of art by a tattoo artist...but at what cost.
UK premiere
Martyrs Lane
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ruth Platt; Writer: Ruth Platt; Stars: Denise Gough, Steven Cree, Anastasia Hille, Hannah Ray)
A small, nightly visitor brings comfort to a lonely girl growing up in a large vicarage, but soon she will realise that her little visitor offers knowledge that might be very, very dangerous.
UK premiere
The Night House
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: David Bruckner; Writer: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski; Stars: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Stacy Martin, Evan Jonigkeit, Allie McCulloch, Samantha Buck, Patrick Klein, Michael Flores, James W. Meagher, Amy Zubieta, Andy Rich, Laura Austin, Dannielle Rose, Crystal Swann)
A widow struggles with grief as strange things happen in her lake house at night.
UK premiere
The Road Dance and Europa
Ninjababy
(Country: Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke; Writer: Johan Fasting, Yngvild Sve Flikke, Inga Sætre; Stars: Kristine Kujath Thorp, Arthur Berning, Nader Khademi, Tora Christine Dietrichson, Silya Nymoen, Herman Tømmeraas, Mathias Kolstad Eriksen, Anita Gulliksen, Frida Øystese Haave, Janne Heltberg, Olivia Voldheim Hernæss, Thorbjørn Hesland, Espen Leite, Kristian Mehlum Lie, Evelyn Rasmussen Osazuwa)
When a woman discovers she is unexpectedly pregnant her unborn baby proves unexpectedly animated in the conversation department.
UK premiere
The Road Dance
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Richie Adams; Writer: Richie Adams; Stars: Hermione Corfield, Morven Christie, Sean Gilder, Ian Pirie, Jimmy Yuill, Tom Byrne, Luke Nunn, Jeff Stewart, Alison Peebles, Will Fletcher, Michael Wozniak, Brett Beoubay, Caleb Johnston-Miller, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Scott Miller)
With the world on the brink of war a young woman dreams of a world and a life away from the harsh land and strict religion of her Hebridean island home.
World premiere
Skies Of Lebanon (Sous Le Ciel D'Alice)
(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Chloé Mazlo; Writer: Yacine Badday, Chloé Mazlo; Stars: Alba Rohrwacher, Wajdi Mouawad, Isabelle Zighondi, Mariah Tannoury, Jade Breidi, Odette Makhlouf, Hany Tamba, John Chelhot, Greta Zighondi, Chloé Zighondi, Charbel Kamel, Ziad Jallad, Cécile Moubarak, Maroun Moubarak, Ishac Diwan)
A Swiss woman moves to Lebanon where she falls in love with an astrophysicist but their peace is threatened by the civil war.
UK premiere
Stop-Zemlia
(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Kateryna Gornostai; Writer: Kateryna Gornostai; Stars: Maria Fedorchenko, Arsenii Markov, Yana Isaienko, Oleksandr Ivanov)
Drama follows a shy teenager and her friend as they navigate their 16th year.
UK premiere