Condemned to six years in prison, Malik, 19, cannot read nor write. Arriving entirely alone, he is cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang who rules the prison, and is given a number of missions to carry out, gaining the leader’s trust in the process. But Malik secretly develops his own plans.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, A Prophet is one of Jacques Audiard’s most riveting films. Brutally honest in its depiction of daily life in prison, which is rife with politics and institutional corruption, the film chills us with its stark realism and social urgency.