London Film Festival 2016: my five picks (and five hopes) – Isabel Stevens
What to watch at this year's LFF? In the first of our editor's personal selections, Isabel Stevens tips her hat to four hits from Cannes, and anticipates new movies from Kelly Reichardt and Matías Piñeiro alongside the revival of Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust.
My five high hopes
1. Hermia & Helena
Matías Piñeiro, Argentina/USA
Matías Piñeiro does screwbally Shakespeare with style and verve. Again! But it’s such a joy to watch. And his films never get a UK release…
- [[embed typelink nid=36851 title=”Read our first-look review of Hermia & Helena”]]
- Book festival tickets
2. Prevenge
Alice Lowe, UK
A pregnant Alice Lowe on the rampage. Yes please!
- [[embed typelink nid=36828 title=”Read our first-look review of Prevenge”]]
- Book festival tickets
3. Raw
Julia Ducournau, France-Belgium
A feminist cannibal tale and the debut of French director Julie Ducournau. I will not be fainting.
- [[embed typelink nid=34102 title=”Read our first-look review of Raw”]]
- Book festival tickets
4. Certain Women
Kelly Reichardt, USA
Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern all in one film! It’s been a long time since Kelly Reichardt’s adaptation of Maile Meloy’s short story collection Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It premiered in Sundance in January, but I’m betting it will be well worth the wait.
5. Daughters of the Dust (revival)
Julie Dash, USA 1991
A big-screen opportunity to see a restored version of Julie Dash’s lyrical film about a family of Gullah women in the early 1900s who decide to migrate to the American mainland from the South Carolina Sea Islands – 25 years after it was first released. Also, a fact I just discovered: the great painter Kerry James Marshall was the production designer on the film.