A deaf mute teenager enters a specialized boarding school where, to survive, he becomes part of a wild organization — the Tribe. His love for one of the concubines will unwillingly lead him to break all the unwritten rules within the Tribe’s hierarchy.

One of this year's most talked-about films, and a wild success at this year's Cannes — where it garnered three Critics' Week awards, including the Grand Prix — Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's feature debut, The Tribe, is an unforgettably original drama set entirely in the world of the deaf.

Slaboshpytskiy constructs his film with no dialogue and no subtitles, allowing the story to be enlivened by the magnificent pantomimic acting of deaf-mute non-professionals, in a brilliant balance of clarity and ambiguity that puts hearing audiences in a fascinating, active position. This bravura narrative strategy is matched by the fluid choreography of the camerawork, its long takes unfolding with balletic mobility under the control of cinematographer-editor Valentyn Vasyanovych, plotting out in stark detail the primal urges and mercantile dynamics of the gang's social microcosm.