Ali & Ava (2022)
Director: Clio Barnard Run Time: 95 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2021
Starring: Adeel Akhtar, Claire Rushbrook, Ellora Torchia, Macy Shackleton, Natalie Gavin
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
About the film:
Premiered in the Directors Fortnight section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Sparks fly after Ali and Ava meet through their shared affection for Sofia, the child of Ali’s tenants whom Ava teaches. Ali finds comfort in Ava’s warmth and kindness while Ava finds Ali’s complexity and humor irresistible. As the pair begin to form a deep connection they have to find a way to keep their newfound passion from being overshadowed by the stresses and struggles of their separate lives and histories.
“A pair of wonderfully winning performances from Claire Rushbrook and Adeel Akhtar lie at the heart of this unexpectedly warm and typically compelling drama from British writer-director Clio Barnard.”
—Mark Kermode for the Observer (UK)
About the filmmaker:
Clio Barnard is a British director of documentary and feature films. She won widespread critical acclaim and multiple awards for her debut, The Arbor (1980), an experimental documentary about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. In 2013 she was hailed as a significant new voice in British cinema for her film The Selfish Giant (2013), which premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the Cannes film festival. In 2022 she directed and served as an executive producer for the Apple TV series The Essex Serpent.
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