MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long

GERMAN film director Valeska Grisebach’s Western carried off the Golden Tulip top prize at this year’s Istanbul Film Festival.
Focusing on a group of German workers tackling a demanding job in the Bulgarian countryside, it's the story of how working in a foreign country awakens the men's sense of adventure and it also explores how they confront their own prejudice and mistrust in a film merging landscape and character with unforgettable power.
The jury prize went to Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’s Cocote, about a gardener who returns to his home town for his father’s funeral after he was brutally murdered. A profound film about religion, class conflict, violence and revenge, it introduces a powerful voice in new Latin America cinema.

Featuring films with substantial political themes, this year’s festival has ignited a vibrant discussion, suggests RITA DI SANTO

RITA DI SANTO gives us a first look at some extraordinary new films that examine outsiders, migrants, belonging and social abuse

RITA DI SANTO draws attention to an audacious and entertaining film that transplants Tarantino to the Gaza Strip

RITA DI SANTO reports on the films from Iran, Spain, Belgium and Brazil that won the top awards