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Film Archive

Ali & Ava

Special Screenings 2021 / Ali & Ava / United Kingdom 2021

Ali, a charismatic joker who keeps his sorrow carefully locked away, encounters Ava, a likeable woman bearing her heart on her sleeve and a trauma from her distant past. The sparks fly and a romance is born. An enchanting film full of irresistible humour that doesn’t try to paste over reality as it tells its story of love, the quest for reassurance, and the importance of Bob Dylan. The audience hit of this year’s festival in Cannes.

Ali & Ava Ali & Ava

Synopsis

Ali (Adeel Akhtar, familiar from the cult comedy Four Lions and KVIFF 2017’s opening film The Big Sick) is a charismatic joker who keeps his sorrow carefully locked away. One day he encounters Ava (Claire Rushbrook, Secrets & Lies), a likeable woman who bears her heart on her sleeve and a trauma from her distant past. The sparks fly and a romance is born. An enchanting film full of irresistible humour that doesn’t try to paste over reality as it tells its story of love, the quest for reassurance, and the importance of Bob Dylan. The director behind the audience hit of this year’s festival in Cannes is Clio Barnard, one of Britain’s most respected filmmakers, who travelled to Karlovy Vary eleven years ago to introduce audiences to her remarkable documentary The Arbor.

Karel Och

About the film

95 min / Color, DCP

Director Clio Barnard / Screenplay Clio Barnard / Dir. of Photography Ole Bratt Birkeland / Music Harry Escott / Editor Maya Maffioli / Producer Ameenah Ayub Allen, Tracy O'Riordan / Production Moonspun Films / Cast Adeel Akhtar, Claire Rushbrook, Ellora Torchia / Sales Altitude Film Sales Ltd. / Contact The Festival Agency

About the director

Clio Barnard

Clio Barnard (1965, Otley, England). Filmography: Random Acts of Intimacy (2002, TV short), The Arbor (2010, doc.), The Selfish Giant (2013), Dark River (2017), Ali & Ava (2021)​.

Contacts

Altitude Film Sales Ltd.
34 Foubert's Place, W1F 7PX, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 478 7612
E-mail: [email protected]

The Festival Agency
Kwerk, 22 Bd Malesherbes, 750 08, Paris
France
Phone: +33 6 27 86 62 21
E-mail: [email protected]

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