Whether offering insightful perspectives on lives distant from our own, or reflecting our own lives back to us, cinema allows us to take a step into worlds unknown and find something familiar. This year's Borderlines programme, which has been a pleasure to put together, allows for broad exploration of the human experience as we know it.
As well as presenting some of the best new films from around the world, we’re also thrilled to offer audiences the opportunity to catch up with critically acclaimed titles and recent festival favourites. At this year's festival we will present new work from renowned and celebrated auteurs including Andrew Haigh's hauntingly beautiful All of Us Strangers, Wim Wender's Tokyo set poignant drama Perfect Days (see above) and Alice Rohrwacher's captivating La Chimera starring Josh O'Connor and Isabella Rossellini.
With films covering all manner of subjects, from all over the world, new and old, we have split most of the programme into ten thematic threads, to help guide you on your Borderlines journey. In our Rural category, you'll find representations of rural life from around the world, from the thoughtful, meditative environmental documentary A Year in a Field, to the striking Tibetan drama Snow Leopard, from the late Pema Tseden. In New British Talent, you'll find previews of debut features from two of the UKs most exciting new voices with Luna Carmoon's Hoard and Naqqash Khlaid's In Camera, and in our Holocaust strand some of the most arresting and considered filmmaking we have seen in years with The Zone of Interest and Occupied City.
Then there are sections split by country: our spotlight on Africa offers a dazzling and unique look into cinema from a continent that rarely sees the big screen in the UK, including festival favourites Banel & Adama and Goodbye Julia. We also have a look at the wide-ranging offer coming from contemporary French filmmakers, from the delectable, sumptuous The Taste of Things, to the edge-of-your seat courtroom-thriller The Goldman Case.
To create this programme, we've pulled prize winners, nominees and personal favourites from the line-ups of the best film festivals in the world. We hope that within it you find plenty to enjoy, and are as moved as we were when putting all these pieces together.
Enjoy the programme
Isabel Moir & Mikaela Smith
