With open eyes and an open mind, the festival looks back at the history of cinema as well as what is happening today. This programme brings the creative explorations of a wide range of talented and brave directors together in one place. Some films have been wrongly overlooked, while others have become golden cinema classics.

The hero of this festival’s throwback is the American independent filmmaker and musician Jim Jarmusch who celebrates his 70th birthday this year. Having stepped onto the film scene in early 1980s, he has honed his art of going against the mainstream: his auteur output takes on outsiders and simple people, vampires and zombies, closest friends and those touched by existential trepidation and grappling with life in solitude. Weaving together the French, Japanese and American filmmaking traditions with encyclopaedic ease, he has created a new film reality where everything is borrowed, as he himself puts it.

The programme highlights the key touch points of his filmography – you’ll find road movie emblems, a hiphop-humming samurai, meaningfulness of meaningless conversation under the influence of caffeine and nicotine. “Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it”, Jarmusch instigates.