From the director of Golden Bear winner Fire at Sea (MIFF 2016) comes an achingly poetic, humane meditation on life in the shadow of war and the Islamic State.

In Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan and Lebanon, life goes on. Years, sometimes decades, of terror have brutalised these lands – but that’s not the story that Gianfranco Rosi is interested in telling. The Oscar-nominated documentarian spent three years filming, mostly solo, in the region, his aim being to tell the stories beyond the conflict. Acting as cinematographer as well as director, writer, producer and sound technician, he captures stunning imagery of the everyday in the aftermath of war, following people “living along the border that separates life from hell”.

Rosi’s camera captures an intimate collection of characters and moments – from children drawing their haunted memories to Peshmerga women warriors readying for the day, or a fisherman paddling his canoe silently through the evening – blurring the area’s colonial borders to offer, instead, a fascinating picture of human resilience and healing.

“A stunningly composed mosaic of darkness and displacement … Bleak, but also frequently piercingly beautiful, Notturno has more striking imagery than many a blockbuster.” – Sight & Sound