“London-based, Nigeria-raised filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. returns to the Lagos of his childhood, steering us through a deeply religious and matriarchal society through the eyes and imaginings of its protagonist: an eight year old girl with otherworldly intuition. A personal and at times autobiographical story of exploration, we discover the workings and underbelly of a mega-church as she floats unseen like a ghost through the congregation, past the dodgy money-laundering happenings in the back rooms, and into the surrounding streets…

“This is a stunningly beautiful film to look at. Digital animation, hand processed 16mm, superimposition, solarisation: all seamlessly edited to create an abstract landscape of the solid rock faces of deep caves and the green foliage of its surrounding woods and jungle. Rivers has been screening work at LSFF since the very beginnings of the festival, with his filmic musings on English wilderness and collaborations with other LSFF regular Andrew Kötting. Since then, he’s captured landscapes across the globe, from…

“The minimalist caricature of Roy Andersson comes to mind in this deadpan drama from 2020 Berlinale Silver Bear recipient, Manila-born filmmaker Rafael Manuel. The film uses golf etiquette and the pettiness of country club politics to foreground class and power in Philippine society as new tee-girl Isabel buffers against the strict, and often arbitrary-seeming, rules of this rich person’s playground. These frictions mirror broader class frictions, and cinematographer Xenia Patricia sets up distanced long shots, using the artifice and symmetry…

“Poignant and breathtaking in equal measure, Here and There charts the filmmaker’s attempt to find meaning and connection in the macro and micro journeys of her family’s migratory history, spanning many decades across multiple continents. One of its most compelling elements can be found in its meticulous construction, utilising archive, physical media, Google Earth and moments of fourth-wall breaking bravada where one element collapses into the other. Through this, Liebenthal points towards an inherent yet no less devastating truth, that…