Beasts of the Southern Wild

Hushpuppy, a six-year-old girl, lives with her sick and volatile father in an isolated bayou community cut off by the water. As his health fails and a great storm bears down, she meets threat and loss through a vivid mythology of melting ice and ancient beasts.

The film shows a child's psyche holding itself together under intolerable strain, using imagination and myth to bear mourning and the fear of abandonment. It is a striking study of how a young mind processes a parent's decline. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2012, and is based on the play Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar.