Films by Strand

Fresh

A newly minted competition lining up some of the best narrative debuts of the last 12 months. Discover the most exciting and promising new voices in international cinema.

Birdeater

Jim Weir, Jack Clark

This Australian debut marks the arrival of incredibly promising new directing talents as a bride-to-be tags along to her fiancé’s stag do from hell. An audacious, rollicking deep dive into power, control and the rituals of toxic masculinity.

Brief History of a Family

Jia ting jian shi

Lin Jianjie

Equally mysterious and revealing, Lin Jianjie’s debut feature Brief History of a Family provides a dispassionate, almost analytical look into the dynamics of estranged family relations in contemporary China.

Dormitory

Yurt

Nehir Tuna

This rebellious debut plasters teenage angst across a politically and religiously charged critique of the systems forced upon children before they’ve even had the chance to form their own opinions.

Good One

India Donaldson

A 17-year-old grows disillusioned with her father as they take a hike through the Catskills in this incisive minimalist drama from debut feature filmmaker India Donaldson.

Janet Planet

Annie Baker

Acclaimed playwright Annie Baker ruminates on the evolving relationship between an 11-year-old misfit and her single mother during the summer holidays in this intimately observed debut feature.

Oceans Are the Real Continents

Los oceanos son los verdaderos continentes

Tommaso Santambrogio

Beautifully shot in stunning black and white, this exquisitely realised first feature from Italian filmmaker Tommaso Santambrogio paints a stark and poetic portrait of a Cuban society crippled by mass exodus.

To a Land Unknown

Mahdi Fleifel

This urgent, vibrant and incredibly topical debut feature from Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel follows two refugee cousins stranded in Athens as they strive to hustle and scam their way to a new life in Germany.

Viet and Nam

Trong lòng đất

Trương Minh Quý

A bold and atmospheric queer romance about two coal miners who find love deep in the bowels of the earth, this stunning feature from upcoming young Vietnamese filmmaker Trương Minh Quý was beautifully shot on 16mm film.

The Village Next to Paradise

Mo Harawe

A makeshift family struggles with the challenges of daily life in the hope of finding a better future in this poignant debut from Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe, taking us beyond the usual sensationalist portrayal of his homeland.

Wild Diamond

Diamant brut

Agathe Riedinger

French director Agathe Riedinger, in her stunning feature-length debut, brings to life a unique heroine in Liane, a young woman obsessed with the glittery world of social media and reality TV fame.