Before he began his maiden voyage into Cannes (being selected for the Un Certain Regard section and winning a Special Mention for the Caméra d’Or – see video coverage), Akinola Davies Jr. showcased his roots with the 2020 short “Lizard” – the Grand Jury Prize winner in Sundance. His work blends personal mythology, cultural memory, and experimental visual language to explore identity in all its layered, the British-Nigerian filmmaker teamed with his brother Wale Davis to further explore lineage and inheritance with My Father’s Shadow.
This delves into small stories, traumas, and rituals passed down through generations shape a person’s sense of self.… Read the rest
Given its title, 
“The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” Aleksandr Kayadonvsky’s line from Tarkovsky’s existential sci-fi classic Stalker (1979) comes to mind when viewing Sirat, the fourth and arguably most accessible feature from French-Spanish director Óliver Laxe, who once again returns to the metaphorical glories of a spiritual odyssey as previously explored in 2016’s Mimosas. But his latest is a pulsating, techno drenched mixture of mythological soul searching and contemporary intentional drug use all catalyzed by the search of a missing young woman. Layered, almost kaleidoscopic metaphors evolve through religious and politically minded themes, and the end result feels like a Gaspar Noe adaptation of 
