​‘Girls will be girls’ is a saying that’s seldom – if ever – heard. Yet, it perfectly encapsulates the themes of Sarah Gavron’s latest feature Rocks; because more than anything, girls are resilient, brave, and exuberant, even in the face of adversity. Exploring a world so complicated with striking deftness, Rocks is a 93-minute parade of friendship, femininity, and youthfulness.

Taika Wiatiti’s Jojo Rabbit – depending on your point of view – might very well be one of the best, or very worst movies of the year. Its premise is wacky, yet extremely risky, and Waititi treads an extremely fine line by even attempting to bring this concept to life. The New Zealand filmmaker takes his oddball style of storytelling out of New Zealand (where his earlier works are set), far from Asgard (where Waititi concocts one of the best Marvel movies with Thor: Ragnarok), and straight to The Third Reich.

​Three Minutes is a short film directed by Juliette McCawley, made in Trinidad & Tobago. The 13-minute film is a comedy about a couple taking a pregnancy test to find out if they’re pregnant.

By Benjamin Akpan

In the US, about 30 states still authorize the death penalty – a matter of active controversy, not only in the States, but around the world. In her second feature film Clemency, director Chinonye Chukwu digs a little deeper into the question of capital punishment, charged forward by a tour de force performance by Alfre Woodard, though slightly held back by a lack of thematic coherence. This soul-crushing depiction of the inhumanity of execution by the state is incredibly harrowing, and a well-made quest for reflection.

Shia LaBeouf has always been one of Hollywood’s most complex mysteries; not because he’s some inscrutable figure too hard to understand (that’s a role Bill Murray has laid claims to). Rather, it’s because no one could easily articulate why they liked or disliked him. From his early days as a Disney-darling on Even Stevens to becoming a blockbuster mainstay with Transformers, LaBeouf’s career has rapidly grown and evolved. But more recently, LaBeouf has been plagued with tabloid altercations, arrests, rehab stints, and legal troubles – much of which have shaped the way people view him today.

Fig Lady is a feature length film that was released in 2018, and produced in Haiti, directed by Amiral Gaspard & Ricardo Tranquillin. Over the course of 93 minutes, we see the fig lady herself, Tinamiz (Berline Charles), do her best to protect and provide for her seven-year-old daughter Andrine, with minimal help from her husband and Andrine’s father André (Josaphat Beauvais).