Dawn. A field thick with mist and twinkling with the day’s first light. There, in the blur somewhere, a hooded figure clambering onto the roof of a car, his trainers slipping in the dew. A drum beat comes in. He starts to dance.
This hazy, euphoric scene is returned to again and again in Ali & Ava, Clio Barnard’s dizzying 2021 film about forbidden love, the salvation we can find in music, and the triumph of human connection against all odds. It’s one of the most enchanting British films of the past 10 years, and it’s screening at London’s ICA next week (22 October) as part of the Celebrating Free Thinkers festival, marking The Independent’s 40th anniversary, at a time when we need stories like this more than ever.
