Belgian-French actress Virginie Efira (Other People’s Children) has made her recent career defining a role we used to lament did not exist: the woman in her forties who is attractive because of, not despite, the mileage of her maturity, and who manages to retain sense of herself despite the responsibilities of family life.

Delphine Deloget’s moving debut, All To Play For gives us an electrifying example of this archetype in Sylvie (Efira). A loving, busy single mother of a teenage boy and a younger son who, in an enraging example of state overreach, has the younger boy taken away from her by social services. Sylvie’s attempts to reunite her family form the narrative of this humane melodrama, but it’s a deeply empathetic Efira who brings the fire and the fight.

This feature will be preceded by short film, Waltz, by filmmaker Tara Brady.

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For information on the full BFF23 programme visit: www.belfastfilmfestival.org