A fascinating archival documentary exploring a utopian moment in the history of Puerto Rico, through the film unit of the Division of Community Education and the scores of short films it made in rural communities from the late 1940s through the 1960s.

Made on the heels of the 1989 Tiananmen Crackdown, Clara Law reflects on the condition of voluntary exile in the diasporic Chinese community. Set to a sorrowful blend of Heng Chung folk music from Southern Taiwan and electric blues, the film pays attention to the forgotten aspiring migrants, whose hardships were not redeemed, forever longing for a home they cannot reclaim. 

A gang of poor youths in Madrid plan a heist to fund a bullfighting dream. Carlos Saura’s realist style marked a bold new voice in Spanish cinema, now restored after Franco-era censorship cut key scenes.

The pageantry and brutality of bullfighting are drawn in stark relief in Albert Serra’s sublime portrait of the charismatic Peruvian-born torero, Andrés Roca Rey. 

Sophie, a photographer, comes to Marseille from Berlin by simple and spontaneous coincidence in an apartment swap with a French student. What could premise the beginning of a single coherent story ripples instead in the swirl of overlapping narratives.

Hamid is part of a secret group pursuing the Syrian regime’s fugitive leaders. His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer, whom he must confront.

Pia Frankenberg takes the screwball for an explosive spin in Hamburg, casting herself alongside punk musician Ian Dury – with whom she also recorded the original soundtrack. French New Wave cinematographer Raoul Coutard lends vital dynamism and colour to this combustible film.

Set in a dystopian near-future Tokyo, Neo Sora’s striking debut feature follows a group of teenagers challenging the rigid expectations of society.

Through role-play, magic, encounters with doppelgängers and meetings with an extensive range of scientists, visionaries and cultural inventors, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian’s documentary offers an experimental vision and template for a future diaspora beyond Earth.