The real-life fall of Timbuktu to Islamic militants in 2012 (and subsequent destruction of many of its cultural landmarks) forms the basis of this powerful fable from Abderrahmane Sissako (Waiting for Happiness, Bamako), “one of the true humanists of recent cinema” (Variety). On the outskirts of a town ruled by jihadists, a family of three lives peacefully in the dunes, but soon they too are drawn into a world where music, cigarettes, soccer, and even laughter have been banned. Timbuktu “feels at once timely and permanent, immediate, and essential” (New York Times).