“A haunting study of loneliness and thwarted sexuality” Guardian.

British writer-director Luna Carmoon draws on her own life for this visceral, award-winning psychological drama.

Seven-year-old Maria’s (Lily-Beau Leach) South East London childhood with her mother Cynthia (Hayley Squires), an obsessive hoarder, feels sparkling and magical until tragedy separates them and Maria enters a more conventional world.

Years later, the now-teenage Maria (Saura Lightfoot Leon) seeks to reconnect with her mother the only way she knows how – bin-dipping for discarded treasures and collecting black bags full of festering garbage. When she meets Michael (Joseph Quinn), another troubled teen, they develop an intense and animalistic bond.

Hoard is a fierce, uncompromising and emotional story about a young woman’s burgeoning sexuality and her queasy reckoning with grief and a traumatic past.

• Screenings of Preview: Hoard on Tue 7 May are part of our Cinébites deal: get 30% off any main dish in the Café & Bar with a valid cinema ticket.

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