It’s ALL on the big screen this week with two dramas about the lives of people who often don’t feature on film. Firstly we have Rocks screening at Kinokulture this Friday and Saturday night, and coming garlanded with acclaim.

Set on a housing estate in London and following the story of Rocks, a teenage schoolgirl plunged into difficulties when her mother leaves.

Having to juggle school with caring for her younger brother, Rocks is pulled in all directions, finds herself in unwise situations and avoiding authority figures she fears will separate her and her brother.

Director Sarah Gavron’s follow up to the equally acclaimed Suffragette, this has a documentary style feel to the filming and despite a potentially grim theme, manages to convey the joyous unpredictable nature of teenage life.

Gavron auditioned non-actors for the leading roles and it shows beautifully, with all round natural performances.

Kinokulture make a second visit to a housing estate on Thursday, November 5 with Les Miserables set in the ‘banlieues’ of Paris.

These typically deprived suburbs have often featured in French cinema – La Haine and Dheepan – and this looks to be among the best. When a toxic mix of police corruption and brutality explodes in a multi-racial estate, different factions on both sides of the law are thrown into life or death struggles.

Switching from socially aware drama to breathtaking thriller, the film climaxes with a stairwell siege in a towerblock which sees shifting loyalties stretched.

Just to make it clear, this is not the 2012 musical, anyone wanting to see Russell Crowe warbling away will be sorely disappointed, but the rest of us are in for a treat.

Tickets and more at Kinokulture.org.uk