Crossing is a moving and tender tale of identity, acceptance and unlikely connection that transcends borders and generations. An aunt in Georgia hears that her long lost transgender niece has crossed the border into Turkey and is living in Istanbul. She travels there, her search becoming an emotionally rich journey told with great tenderness, grace and humour.  

This tells the story of the precarious journey from Central America towards the US undertaken by four teenage Guatemalan children intent on finding a better life in the US. It shows the perilous immigrant experience of jumping trains, struggles with the authorities, acts of betrayal and kindness along the way. Based on months of research and Ken Loach as inspiration. 

Regarded as Haneke’s masterpiece this is a blend of politics and psychology with the shadow of Algeria and French post-colonialism haunting the film as a Parisian TV presenter receives mysterious videos of his home. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil superb as the couple delving into the past to identify the source.  

Two young people, both reeling from bad break-ups, connect over the course of an eventful day in Brixton and Peckham, and help each other to deal with their exes and restore their faith in romance.  Rye Lane blends the warmth and charm of a formulaic love story with street-smart grit creating something that is at once playful, poignant and personal.

Ray’s favourite of his films this is set in a 19thC. Bengal household with a beautiful and dangerously bored heroine wife of a wealthy, high-minded editor of a political journal. Based upon a novel by Tagore this is a household of seething and suppressed emotion revealed through superlative acting, camera work and soundtrack, the film winning best direction at Berlin in 1965. 

A documentary charting the return of royal artefacts looted from Dahomey (now Benin) during the French colonial invasion of the late 19thC. There are elements of phantasy as the royal wooden statue of the then king narrates the film as he embarks on his journey home. We also see the student homecoming debate on how the event should be seen. “Beautiful, melancholy and intellectually stimulating” (Roger Ebert)