RITA DI SANTO assesses the winners of the most politically charged festival to date
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War damage
MARIA DUARTE recommends a gripping thriller on the terrible dilemma faced by a young Jewish girl in nazi-occupied Norway during WWII
KATARZYNA KOSMALA introduces a retrospective by one of the most significant figures in contemporary US photography
MAYER WAKEFIELD is entertained but let down by an audacious production that, sadly, doesn't ring true
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by drama that, despite accomplished performances, cannot overcome an unfocused script
New releases from Sam Carter, Spell Songs and Les Thomas
The Birdcatcher (15)
Directed by Ross Clarke
Inspired by true events, The Birdcatcher follows 14-year-old Norwegian-Jewish girl Esther (a phenomenal Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) who, on attempting to flee the nazi round-up in 1942, is forced to conceal her identity and her gender in order to escape detection.
She ends up at an isolated farm whose owners are nazi sympathisers. Their son Aksel (Arthur Hakalahti), a sufferer from acute cerebral palsy, finds a kindred spirit in Esther whom he decides to help by keeping her secret.
He tells her that his father Johann (Jakob Cedergren) hates the British but the Jews even more so. Esther, pretending to be a boy, tells him her name is Ola and her parents were killed by the Brits, when in fact it was at the hands of the Germans.
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