Ali & Ava

In 2010, British director Clio Barnard made the documentary The Arbor about playwright Andrea Dunbar from the northern English industrial city of Bradford. Three years later, she directed the feature film The Selfish Giant, a social-realist tale of two 13-year-old Bradford working class kids. While making these two films, she met the people on whom she based Ali and Ava, the two main characters in her new film, an optimistic and romantic slice-of-life drama, once again set in Bradford.

One rainy day, the friendly British Pakistani Ali, a DJ as well as landlord, arrives at school to pick up a child of one of his tenants. Teaching assistant Ava, a widow with two adult children and five grandchildren, is of course welcome to join them in the car. Though their tastes differ, during the drive they soon discover that they both love music, a connection that ultimately leads to a special understanding. But, of course, they both also bring along their own history.