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The sorry state of the ‘War on Terror’ is laid bare in Ciaran Cassidy’s fascinating documentary 'Jihad' Jane, in which the only terrifying element on display is the inept and banal nature of the ‘threat’ posed by the damaged individuals involved.

Cassidy follows the trail of the self-styled white female American jihadi Colleen LaRose to deliver a film which joins a canon of provocative features which attempt to surgically probe the hysteria and manipulation that currently surrounds us. Some elements of this particular battle are so absurd, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

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Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, 'Harriet' tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes.

Haunted by memories of those she left behind, Harriet (Cynthia Erivo) ventures back into dangerous territory on a mission to lead others to freedom. With allies like abolitionist William Still (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and the entrepreneurial Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae), Harriet risks capture and death to guide hundreds to safety as one of the most prominent conductors of the Underground Railroad. Witness the story of a woman who defied impossible odds to change the course of her life and the fate of the nation.

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"Thunder Road" follows Officer Jim Arnaud (Jim Cummings) on his journey to raise his young daughter as a love letter to his late Mom. Consumed by sadness, Jim searches for some semblance of control in an otherwise crumbling existence.

Propelled by an extraordinarily unhinged central performance from writer-director-star Jim Cummings, 'Thunder Road' is a painful, often blackly funny exploration of grief, mental illness and the fragile male ego.

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Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, director Ladj Ly's Oscar-nominated 'Les Misérables' is an exhilarating "Molotov cocktail of a movie". Stephane (Damien Bonnard) has recently joined the Anti-Crime Squad police unit in the suburbs of Paris, where Victor Hugo set his famed novel 'Les Miserables'.

Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djebril Zonga), both experienced members of the team, he quickly discovers tensions are on the brink of exploding between local gangs. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone captures the encounter, threatening to expose the reality of everyday life.

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Painter Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint the wedding portrait of her sheltered but headstrong daughter Héloïse (Adele Haenel).

While posing as her hired companion, Marianne is instructed to complete the portrait in secret, observing Héloïse by day and painting her by night. However, as the two women grow closer, their intimacy and attraction begins to blossom, paving the way for a simmering, star-crossed romance.

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Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Murad’s life is a dizzying array of exhausting undertakings - from giving testimony before the U.N. to visiting refugee camps to soul-bearing media interviews and one-on-one meetings with top government officials.

With deep compassion and a formal precision and elegance that matches Nadia’s calm and steely demeanor, filmmaker Alexandria Bombach follows this strong-willed young woman, who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped the hands of ISIS to become a relentless beacon of hope for her people, even when at times she longs to lay aside this monumental burden and simply have an ordinary life.

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

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When a soccer team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time to find them.

Once the boys are found alive ten days later, the only way out is an impossible five-hour dive-swim that only expert cave divers could survive. In Ireland, air-plane factory electrician and recreational cave diver Jim Warny gets the call: "How soon can you be here?" Arriving in Thailand, Jim steps off the plane and into the cave - a knife-edge three-day mission is underway. Based on true events, The Cave tells the thrilling story of the largest international rescue mission of modern times, from the unique perspective of the men and women facing life-and-death decisions and displaying selfless determination and sacrifice, culminating in a triumphant outcome against all the odds.

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"Corpus Christi" is the story of a 20-year-old Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia) who experiences a spiritual transformation in a Youth Detention Centre. The crime he commits prevents him from applying to the seminary and after his release on parole he is sent to work at a carpenter's workshop.

However Daniel has no intention of giving up his dream and dressed as a priest he decides to - minister a small-town parish.

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Shola (Bukky Bakray), or Rocks, as she's known, lives in a London council flat with her younger brother Emmanuel (D'angelou Osei Kissiedu) and their single mother. Mum is busy and stressed, leaving Rocks to spend all her free time with school friends.

One day, she comes home to find her life radically altered: she is suddenly on her own with a child to take care of. Gavron could easily have steered Rocks into miserabilism, but delivers instead a surprising portrait of resilience. Rocks is mercurial, impulsive, and deeply sensitive - not unusual for her age, she sometimes makes desperately poor decisions, for what look to her like good reasons. When her closest friend Sumaya (Kosar Ali) tries to help, Rocks doesn't know how to accept it, blinded by Sumaya's two-parent household and relative comfort.

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Director Feras Fayyad returns to his native, War-torn Syria to follow a dedicated team of female doctors who tirelessly treat casualties in an underground hospital while battling systemic sexism. Shot from 2016 to 2018, 'The Cave' belongs to the top rank of war films.

Syrian director Feras Fayyad takes us to a subterranean landscape that feels akin to the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max (1979). With life too dangerous above ground, survivors create a network of secret tunnels under the city of Ghouta, near Damascus, for an underground hospital maintained by women doctors. In contrast to the many Syrian documentaries made from cellphone footage or shaky cameras, Feras Fayyad takes great care to visualise the landscape and it's memorable occupants with artful cinematography. For anyone who feels jaded by Syria coverage, this work stands apart. The heart of the film is Dr. Amani, a young Syrian woman operating in unimaginable conditions with great humor and fortitude. When not tending to...

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A cautionary tale for these times of democracy in crisis, the personal and political fuse in 'The Edge of Democracy' to explore one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history.

Combining unprecedented access to Presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff with accounts of her own family's complex political and industrial past, filmmaker Petra Costa (Elena, 2012) witnesses their rise and fall and the tragically polarized nation that remains.

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Multi-award-winning and hailed as one of the finest films of recent years, Pedro Costa's exquisite 'Vitalina Varela' follows the titular Vitalina, a woman left behind in Cape Verde when her husband leaves to find work in Portugal.

Years later, she finally makes the journey to Lisbon herself but arrives three days after his funeral. Alone and isolated in her late husband's home, Vitalina is determined to persevere and confront the ghosts of the past. Haunting, strikingly visualised and marked by a towering central performance, 'Vitalina Varela' is an unforgettable modern masterwork.

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Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli), Neapolitan and working class, has his fate is changed forever when he defends a young boy from a beating.

The boy repays him for his kindness by inviting him into his bourgeois home, and it is there that Eden meets Elena (Jessica Cressy), the daughter of an upper-crust industrial family. He resolves to become an accomplished writer to elevate himself to the family's social standing and eventually marry her. He proves himself quickly as an autodidact, but grapples with social politics and ultimately with how to deal with success.

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In a deserted Macedonian village, Hatidze, a 50-something woman, trudges up a hillside to check her bee colonies nestled in the rocks. Serenading them with a secret chant, she gently manoeuvres the honeycomb without netting or gloves.

Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares. One day, an itinerant family installs itself next door, and Hatidze's peaceful kingdom gives way to roaring engines, seven shrieking children, and 150 cows. Yet Hatidze welcomes the camaraderie, and she holds nothing back - not her tried-and-true beekeeping advice, not her affection, not her special brandy. But soon Hussein, the itinerant family's patriarch, makes a series of decisions that could destroy Hatidze's way of life forever.