Great African director Abderrahmane Sissako brings his lucid brilliance and unparalleled artistry to an account of the early days of the Islamic Jihadist takeover of northern Timbuktu in 2012, a Jury prize winner at Cannes. Under their new rulers, music, laughter, sports (even soccer) and uncovered women have been prohibited, and kangaroo courts hand down horrendous and absurd punishments by the might of the gun. Sissako gracefully pivots between multiple characters, some of whom are seen only fleetingly (the football fans who find their way around the new rules by playing with an imaginary ball), while others, like the Tuareg family living in the hills near the city we come to know intimately. Visually magnificent (the desert has never looked more achingly beautiful) and deeply humane, Timbuktu is a film of breathtaking skill whose cry for justice simply cannot be ignored.

Ticket prices: £8.00 full / £6.50 concessions.

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