The exquisite Indian desert and the village people come alive on the screen and draw you in from the first long shot of this drama about women attempting to escape their plight in a cruel, relentless patriarchy, Their sensual aspirations, feminine solidarity and joy in even small revenge are all vividly expressed, qualifying this as great cinema. The very same themes pervade urban India as well which makes the film topical as well. The screenplay is based on recorded conversations of Indian village women by director Leena Yadav. The enchanting lilt of their dialect comes through loud and clear.

India, 2015 (116 minutes)

A day in the life of a dusty old pawn shop in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, 12 individuals’ stories unravel before the world-weary owner. The raw humanity of the characters comes alive through strangely moving vignettes – an odd street singer, a duo of homeless wackos, a couple working in the local bookshop – all enmesh in Paul Ireland’s directorial debut to produce a colorful, giddy ensemble piece. Great soundtrack and winning performances.

Australia, 2016 (89 minutes)

An Australian teen goes missing, and a local investigator joins the search started by her anxious parents, played by Radha Mitchell (“Melinda and Melinda”) and Richard Roxbury (“Mission Impossible 2” and the TV series “Rake”). Grace’s absence is a catalyst for other discoveries – narratives of loss and uncertainty that are at the heart of this compelling family drama directed by Sue Brooks (“Japanese Story”). Location shooting in Western Australia.

Australia, 2015 (100 minutes)

Five years in the turbulent youth of John Lennon, in 1950s Liverpool, torn between his legendary mother and his equally formidable aunt. Lennon’s emerging teenage angst and his inability to appreciate how deeply both women love him gives rise to a love triangle supreme. You can see the young Lennon in Aaron Johnson’s spot-on performance, and Kristin Scott Thomas is memorable as his aunt. An affecting movie about coming of age and leaving home, and the beginning of the long and winding road that ultimately leads to the birth of The Beatles. “Handsomely made…with ringingly heartfelt performances.” – The Guardian

UK. 2009 (97 minutes)

Director Anthony Asquith’s silent classic is a working class love story about an electrician and a porter who both fall in love with a shop girl they meet on the London Underground on the same day. Set in the subterranean entrails of the London Underground in the 1920s with iconic shots of Lots Road Power Station in Chelsea, gentle Bill and macho Bert charge through tunnels and across monumental buildings to fight it out. No one “minds the gap” and passengers smoke, nonchalantly dropping stubs on the wooden carriage floors. The 2009 restoration by the British Film Institute makes the film look fresh and new.

UK, 1928 (84 minutes)

“We’re not a band, we’re a group!” “Backbeat” chronicles the early days of the Beatles in Hamburg on the cusp of fame while brilliantly capturing the period (early 1960s). The story of the “bromance” between Liverpool art students John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe as each struggle to find love and true self-expression and the later influence of Sutcliffe’s German girlfriend, photographer Astrid Kirchherr. A tightly focused love story; beautifully paced, with raucous band performances popping up whenever young romance promises to over-soften the plot. Stephen Dorff and Ian Hart are perfectly cast as Stu and John, but Sheryl Lee’s performance as Astrid all but steals the show. “A thrilling spectacle that rocks the house,” Rolling Stone

UK, 1994 (100 minutes)

Timothy Spall (“Mr. Turner”) teams up with Juno Temple (“Notes on a Scandal”) as a depressed widower and a runaway escaping an abusive partner who discover that despite an age gap they are kindred spirits. Their unlikely friendship is movingly portrayed by Spall and Temple, pondering the question: What is it about another person that touches our heart so completely? Set in the fun-loving English seaside tourist town of Blackpool—Las Vegas without the glamour.

UK, 2016 (110 minutes)