One of the most original and daring films this year, and certainly the only one to feature a shoe-centric critique of a patriarchal society.

In a dystopian world, male shoes, all black polish and metal grommets, are in charge and the females, red high-heels with spindly vines, are caged and kept strictly for breeding purposes. Under disguise a female breaks loose and attempts to move beyond her confines, but her attempt alters not only her fate but the very fabric of the society.

Told almost exclusively in tactile visuals and everyday objects, SHe is a striking example of the expressive power of stop-motion. The film uses almost 60,000 photographs and took over five years to create. Purposeful uses of color and eerie sound design compliments a story that is infused with suspense, cultural commentary, dark eroticism and humor. It shouldn’t be surprising that for a film with so many shoes, it has a soul.

Hong Kong master Yonfan’s first feature since 2009’s Prince of Tears is also his first foray into the world of animated filmmaking.  But regardless of his choice of medium, the film – which won the Best Screenplay prize at Venice – is essentially and unmistakably his. And – like when any living legend creates something new – a cause for celebration.

During the rise of the materialistic comfort of life in the 1960s, there emerges an undercurrent of danger in Hong Kong.  No.7 Cherry Lane tells the tale of Ziming, a handsome Hong Kong University undergraduate, entangled between his amorous feelings for Mrs Yu, self-exiled mother from Taiwan, and her beautiful daughter Meiling. He connects with them initially through shared culture and intellectual pursuits but soon forbidden passions are revealed. The era coincides with Hong Kong’s turbulent times of 1967.