A sculptor preparing to open a new show tries to work amidst the daily dramas of family and friends, in celebrated US indie director Kelly Reichardt’s (First Cow) thoughtful, affecting and gently funny character study. Wonderfully understated, Michelle Williams plays Lizzy, a tightly wound sculptor with one frantic week left to finish work on a series of ceramic female figures. Distraction comes in the form of Lizzy’s friend Jo (Hong Chau), a rival artist who is also her landlord, along with a brother suffering a manic episode and divorced parents at loggerheads.

Beautifully acted, and naturalistically paced, Showing Up is a gently enveloping miniature drama, about the challenges of creating works of art amid life's endless distractions.