The third film from Camera d’Or-winner Léonor Serraille (Montparnasse Bienvenue) follows primary school teacher Ari (the magnetic Andranic Manet), left adrift after a nervous breakdown in class. Booted out of the family home by his long-suffering dad, who wants his son to step up for once, Ari roams the streets of Lille, looking for connection with old friends, exes and strangers. Elliptical and energetic with dashes of both Éric Rohmer and John Cassavetes, Serraille’s richly observed character piece reveals that Ari’s hardly the only one not doing well in this alienating modern world. Moments of nihilism are tempered by the film’s humour and empathetic worldview, as refracted by a deeply vulnerable performance from Manet.

Rich with emotion, writer-director Eva Libertad’s feature debut zeroes in on a couple on the cusp of great change. Deaf ceramist Ángela (Miriam Garlo) and her hearing partner Héctor (Álvaro Cervantes) live harmoniously as an inter-abled couple – but with a baby on the way, their status quo is shaken. Overwhelmed by doctors’ appointments, childbirth, and advice, Ángela feels isolated by a society that patronises and excludes her. She begins to worry whether she and her child, if hearing, will ever truly understand one another. Bolstered by moving performances and an inventive soundscape attuned to Ángela’s perspective, this is a drama of tremendous compassion, about a woman fighting against invisibility.

The island of Fogo, Cape Verde is singular in its beauty. Drylands give way to black-sand beaches, while villagers gather in intimately cluttered homes. Director Denise Fernandes’s attention to lyrical detail highlights the profound love that young Nana (Dailma Mendes as a child, Sanaya Andrade as a teen) has for her home. But for all its visual poetry, many residents seek to escape the island’s hard living. When her mother returns after decades away, Nana is faced with an impossible decision. Seamlessly moving between realism and the surreal – including a journey to a reality-warping volcano – Fernandes entwines myth and hard truths to tell a unique coming-of-age tale about what it means to belong to a place.

Lot (Aiko Beemsterboer) is an aspiring maritime archaeologist with an eye for the world’s natural beauty and high hopes for the future. The spirited teen regularly goes on deep sea dives with her boyfriend and close-knit group of friends. But when a celebration goes awry, Lot finds herself irreversibly blinded. Forced into a disorienting new reality, she struggles to accept her new home, a rehab centre for the visually impaired. Only in her dreams – which she both dreads and desires – can Lot see and swim again. Delicately handled, sensual and grounded by an incredible central performance, this moving, Rotterdam-selected character study shows how agency and friendship can surface in the murkiest waters.

Named after the Sonic Youth song about supposedly good girls who hide how they feel inside, Slovenian director Urška Djukić’s debut is keenly attuned to the impulses of youth. Shy teen Lucia (Jara Sofija Ostan) is a model Catholic girl, whose innocence is tested when her choir group goes on a trip to a secluded convent in Northern Italy. Surrounded by sweaty construction workers and drawn into the circle of seductive queen bee Ana-Maria (Mina Švajger), Lucia navigates a new world of guilt, tantalising gossip and nascent desire. Evoking the early films of Céline Sciamma, Djukić builds a powerful sensory world of ethereal voices, sly gazes and lush symbolism, speaking to the exhilaration and shame of female desire.

In Brussels, 12-year-old Eya (Safa Gharbaoui) lives a vibrant life, full of youthful cheekiness, viral dance trends, and much affection for her Tunisian-Muslim family. A bright spot is her inseparable bond with cool older brother Younès (Mehdi Bouziane) and his friends, equally adoring of her. When tragedy strikes, Eya finds herself unmoored in a new adult world. Director Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama’s arresting debut zeroes in on the immediate aftermath of profound loss, where every gesture holds immense weight. Through a vividly realised child’s perspective that emphasises sincerity, ritual and music, moments of pain and joy can intermingle, as Eya realises what it means to carry love for someone collectively.