Lakelands (May 5th, cinemas)
The directorial debut of Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney,
Lakelands stars Éanna Hardwicke as a young man whose
Gaelic football career is ended prematurely when he suffers a beating on a
night out. In a small Irish town obsessed with the sport, Cian seeks to
rebuild himself and find a new purpose.
Pamfir (May 5th, cinemas)
Winner of Best Director and Best Feature Film at the Ukrainian Film
Critics' Awards, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk's directorial debut
Pamfir sees a reformed criminal (Oleksandr Yatsentyuk) return to his hometown hoping to go straight and reconnect with his
teenage son (Stanislav Potiak). When his son sets fire to a local church he's forced to take on last
criminal job to pay for the damage.
Return to Seoul (May 5th, cinemas)
Written and directed by Davy Chou (Diamond Island), Return to Seoul stars newcomer Ji-Min Park in
a star-making turn as Freddie, a young Korean woman adopted by French
parents as an infant. Travelling to the country of her birth, Freddie's
disastrous encounter with her biological father (Oj Kwang-Rok) leads her down a path of harming herself and others.
Huesera: The Bone Woman (May 12th, Shudder)
The feature directorial debut of Michelle Garza Cervera, this
Mexican horror stars Natalia Solián as a pregnant young woman who
discovers her unborn child has been cursed by an evil entity. Desperate for
help, she turns to a group of witches.
Plan 75 (May 12th, cinemas, Curzon Home Cinema)
With one of the world's lowest birth-rates, Japan finds itself faced with
an aging crisis. Director Chie Hayakawa's sci-fi drama
Plan 75 imagines a near-future where the government offers its
citizens the ability to end their life painlessly upon turning 75. The movie
follows two septuagenarians who refuse to bow out.
Under the Fig Trees (May 19th, cinemas)
Director Erige Sehiri's
Under the Fig Trees was Tunisia's submission to the 2023 Oscars. Using non-professional actors, Sehiri's feature debut follows a group of
young fig pickers over the course of a hot summer day as they flirt, gossip,
argue and form connections with one another.
Blood & Gold (May 26th, Netflix)
Having seen success with WWI drama
All Quiet on the Western Front, Netflix are set to debut another German war movie, this one set in WWII.
Directed by Peter Thorwarth, Blood & Gold stars
Robert Maaser as a German deserter saved from a hanging by a young
farmer (Marie Hacke). The two find themselves embroiled in a nearby
village's attempts to stop the Nazis from stealing hidden treasure.
Hypnotic (May 26th, cinemas)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Hypnotic stars
Ben Affleck as a detective torn between his personal search for his
missing daughter and investigating a series of baffling bank robberies.
Teaming up with a psychic (Alice Braga), he comes to question his
reality as it seems both cases may be linked.
Master Gardener (May 26th, cinemas)
Can writer/director Paul Schrader continue his late career
surge? Master Gardener stars Joel Edgerton as Narvel, a
gardener who takes a job at the estate of the wealthy Mrs. Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). When he's forced to take Haverhill's young great-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) on as an apprentice, his dark past as a white supremacist comes back to
haunt him.
Sisu (May 26th, cinemas)
Written and directed by Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports;
Big Game), Sisu takes us back to the end of WWII in Northern Finland.
When the Nazis steal gold from a prospector (Jorma Tommila), they
learn the hard way that he's an ex-commando with a special set of
skills.