Reminiscent of anti-war screen comedies such as M*A*S*H, A Perfect Day is an authentic, humanist take on the Bosnian conflict.

It's somewhere in the Balkans toward the end of the mid-90s conflict, and two veteran aid workers played by Benicio del Toro and Tim Robbins, have been instructed to remove an oversized corpse from a well in a remote mountain village. They must work quickly before the water supply becomes contaminated, however obtaining the required rope is virtually impossible. Joined by an interpreter, a French aid worker and a glamorous "conflict evaluator", their collective determination is matched by overwhelming obstacles: distrusting locals, inefficient UN officials and the constant presence of land mines.

Long-standing Spanish director Fernando León de Aranoa makes his English-language debut with this ironically titled, engrossing black comedy. Filled with character-driven humour, A Perfect Day also offers a stirring metaphor for the struggle of progress in the face of corruption and compromise.

"A Perfect Day could equally well have been set in central Africa, or New Guinea, or Haiti: it's about the misunderstandings, the bureaucracy and the relationships that have a habit of complicating the supposedly simple act of trying to do good." – Screen International