The Tribe

Ukrainian feature about a deaf mute teenager who struggles to fit in at a boarding school. Told through sign-language.

A stand-out entry in Cannes last year, this startling debut has provoked strong reactions at every screening since. The story of Sergey, a young man working his way up the ranks of a brutal teenage gang, The Tribe is given added potency by being played out in a deaf boarding school, with all the characters communicating in sign language. There are no subtitles and so gradually we become much more attuned to faces and gestures, while the filmmakers’ deft use of sound and Steadicam helps to make for a compelling, discomfiting ride.