Olivier Assayas directed Kristen Stewart to a history-making César Award win in Clouds of Sils Maria, but it’s La Binoche who really steals the show: on career-best form as the fading star at the slippery center of this Bergmanesque tale of dualities, mirror reflections, and brooding power dynamics.

Criss-crossing between London and Paris, this haunting character study doubles as a ghost story that straddles the real and the supernatural. Boasting a soul-bearing performance from Kristen Stewart where grief is made bodily concrete, the film saw Assayas share the Best Director Award at Cannes.

Kelly Reichardt’s Montana anthology was a breakout moment for rising star Lily Gladstone. Shining next to a trifecta of illustrious talent—Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams—the quietly assured actor stole our hearts as a lovelorn rancher at the tailend of this profoundly moving film.

Kristen Stewart delivers a remarkable performance opposite Peyman Moaadi in this engrossing debut from writer-director Peter Sattler. Set in at the Guantánamo Bay prison, Camp X-Ray tells an affecting and intimate story that focuses on the human component of a provocative subject.