Best Films of 2024 at HOME

Six of the best at HOME this December as the film team bring half a dozen of their favourite films of 2024 back to the big screen. Amongst the international selection, audiences can find chilling historical drama, charming comedy and transcendent magical realism, with some hidden gems and exciting debuts nestled in amongst some of the most talked about movies of the last twelve months.

The catch-up season starts on Friday 13 December and each title on show is scheduled for multiple dates — so if like me, you’re kicking yourself for missing out on some of these films the first time around, there should be a screening that works this time.

Fawzia Mirza’s directorial debut The Queen of My Dreams (13 – 26 Dec) is the first film in the schedule. Praised for its stylish production, this vivid drama flits between 1960s Pakistan and 90s Canada as Bollywood-inspired flashbacks help a young woman connect to her mother’s youth. There’s also another debut feature about mother-daughter relations, in the form of British writer-director Luna Carmoon’s award-winning Hoard (14 – 31 Dec.) This bracing psycho-sexual drama follows a teenage girl living in a foster home who reconnects with memories of her hoarder mother by dipping into local bins and bringing home black bags full of rubbish.

Next, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (16 – 27 Dec) is a rigorous examination of the banality of evil, and an icy illustration of humanity’s ability to normalise and indulge in genocide. Loosely adapted from a novel by Martin Amis, the film follows Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his wife Hedwig as they build a life, career, home and garden in the shadows of the camp.

Glazer’s film won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and sits in HOME’s programme alongside Perfect Days (17 – 29 Dec) which was Japan’s submission for that same prize. From legendary German filmmaker Wim Wenders, this was one of the most pleasant surprises of the year for many audiences and critics who fell head over heels for the director’s gentle depiction of a thoughtful middle-aged janitor who spends his days balancing his job looking after many of Tokyo’s public toilets with his passion for music, literature and photography.

Rounding out HOME’s Best Films of 2024, Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s My Favourite Cake (21 – 28 Dec) is back in the spotlight. Set in Tehran, this tale of a 70-year-old woman who decides to reignite her love life is joined by our favourite film of the year, Alice Rohrwacher fiercely original La Chimera (24 – 30 Dec) starring Josh O’Connor as the leader of a band of grave robbers who trawl the Italian countryside for ancient treasures.