Six-year-old Hushpuppy lives with her father, Wink, in “the Bathtub,” a South Louisiana community at the edge of the world. When Wink falls mysteriously ill, nature seems to fall ill with him. Rising waters threaten to engulf their small world, sending Hushpuppy in search of her long-lost mother.

Perhaps one of the most baroque expressions of magical realism in recent years, Beasts of the Southern Wild took 2012 by storm with its fantastical vision of southern Louisiana. With a boundless imagination and a rare sense of adventure, this film is brimming with great tenderness and warmth.