LARA – ★★★★

This film really resonated with me. It’s the story of the mother of a young pianist/composer on the opening day of a recital where he will play his first composed work. There’s a lot of reasons to find the mother an unpleasant person, but underlying this is the story of her own past and how that has created the person that she is; a somewhat bitter and overbearing judge that obvious has driven her son to his levels of skill, but also torn their relationship into what it is.

THE LEADERSHIP – ★★★☆

Another documentary that demonstrates how unfair the world can be, this time on a women’s leadership retreat to Antarctica. Similarly to ‘9to5’, and a dash of ‘On the Record’, both also shown at MIFF this year, this shows the inexcusable inequity of women, particularly those who work in STEMM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Maths/Medicine). At points there’s (unfortunately) unsurprising details about how much women have to put up with; unequal pay, abuse, sexual assault, etc. And then there’s the impacts of the women who go on the first of these voyages, and the aftermath of that. Worth watching. I hope that existing business leaders that have the power to make changes to create equity, inclusiveness and diversity see the film and start making the positive changes desperately needed.