Sweetgrass, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s documentary feature, should be subtitled: The Death of the Cowboy. For that is essentially what we witness: the end of an era, a way of life, a centuries-old practice.

Son of Babylon marches to a different drum than usual narrative fare; this documentary-style Iraqi road movie will more than likely appeal only to hardcore world cinema buffs, dragging its heels even in its relatively short ninety minutes running time. For those that can stick it out, there is much to enjoy in this sparse tale of a young boy and grandmother searching for their lost family, but its sedate pacing may bore some to tears.

Following hard on the heels of sensational exposés including An Inconvenient Truth and End of the Line, GasLand seeks to turn a harsh spotlight on yet more outrageous behaviour by arrogant US energy corporations. Whether it quite manages to be the call to arms it aspires towards is another matter.

Allen Ginsberg’s landmark poem Howl is celebrated with style and verve by film-makers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman in this experimental concoction of animation, historical re-enactment and faux interviews.