I caught Hard to Be a God at the London Film Festival last year, and it's the kind of film that sticks in your mind. Now, it's getting a limited cinema release on the 7th August courtesy of Arrow Films, with Blu-Ray and DVD to follow in September. 

Set on the planet Arkanar, where human society has failed to progress beyond Medieval times, it follows a set of scientists who find themselves unable to intervene as anyone showing interest in progress of civilisation or science or art is killed. It's brutal and gross and utterly compelling stuff, shot in long roving takes in stark black and white, stained with mud, blood, and all sorts of other bodily fluids. 

It's based on a book by the Strugatsky brothers (who also wrote the source material for Tarkovsky's Stalker), and directed by Aleksei German. The shoot must have been grueling - shot over six years, with a further six years of post-production, finished posthumously by the director's son - and it's all up there on screen. 

Hard to Be a God is in cinemas from 7th August.