The Swallows of Kabul

Two couples live in Kabul under the Taliban. Mohsen and Zunaira are young; she is a painter who has stopped going out, he is university educated and narrowing by the day. Atiq is a prison guard and his wife Mussarat is terminally ill. After one incident the two lives intersect. Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec adapted Yasmina Khadra's novel in an animation close to watercolour, with pale colour and the dust of the city in every frame. The film builds the invisibility of women formally as well: faces under the burqa are sometimes left entirely blank. It played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. Who it is for: viewers who like animation for adults and political storytelling. Who it is not for: anyone looking for hope.