Dour Festival is something on a rarity on the festival scene. Not small but not huge Dour has built up a reputation few festivals could manage to muster even if they tried. Relaxed, safe, fun, insane, wet, and a line up you would sell your grandmother to see Dour Festival is truly one of a kind…and all for under 100 Euros.

It is rare to see a coming of age drama that is both brutal in its honesty and powerful in it’s positivity so getting to sit down to watch ‘Pariah’ was an honor, for this film to focus on Afro-American teenage lesbians, inspiring. The film has a cast who breathe honesty into their characters that you feel your living with and writer/director Dee Rees debut explodes on the screen and is a near masterclass in how to produce a powerful, thought-provoking film.

We Have a Pope was one of Italy’s most popular film entries at the 2011 Festival de Cannes. Heartwarming, funny, and at times surreal the film tells the story of a papal election which sees the French Pope-elect, played stunningly by Michel Piccoli, enter into a crisis of conscience.

The BFI London Film Festival is less than a day away and the film screenings keep getting bigger and better. Today’s line up has been a choice selection proving that the festival has much more up its sleeves but where some have proved to be hits one that might leave a bitter taste.