Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire

Tough, sublime and undeniably authentic, this is a genuinely inspirational journey into the hell of a life endured by Claireece ‘Precious’ Jones (fearless newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), an illiterate, obese teenager in 1987 Harlem. Pregnant by her father and relentlessly abused by her mother Mary (Mo’Nique is a terrifying Oscar®-worthy revelation), she is transferred to an alternative school where she learns to express herself after years of private abuse and public neglect. An inner-city horror story that is less about overcoming adversity than about pure survival: Precious is an important powerhouse of a film that is a raw mix of dark and light, ugliness and beauty, despair and hope.