MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Rotterdam Film Festival
New young global talent gets a chance to shine
Scene from Pebbles winner of Tiger Award
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
ROTTERDAM Film Festival is a key event for the independent film industry internationally, particularly from Asia and the Global South. Appropriately, the Tiger Award top prize went to the Indian film Pebbles.
Set in a rural village in southern India, Pebbles follows an alcoholic and abusive father and his young son as they embark on an eight-mile walk under scorching sun in a bid to reunite with his wife, who has fled his violence.
The feature debut of director Vinothraj PS, it has a a non-professional Tamil-speaking cast and, despite its grim subject matter, is a captivating and warm-hearted tale imbued with beauty and humour.
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