Image: Diamond Island, directed by Davy Chou, is a modest Cambodian coming-of-age film. It took the sidebar Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize at Cannes 2016.
Make no mistake about it, Cannes is very peculiar and very important. Though it also depends on big commercial films which lurch onto the Croisette, it launches a bunch of films onto the world festival circuit which are challenging, inspiring, lovely and sometimes plain crazy. Like them or not, they hoist a flag for cinema as art which is pretty vital in a time of overwhelming mass entertainment. Besides, many of them do remarkable things with not a lot of money. So the list is always worth checking.
