Following his micro-budget break-out Tangerine, Sean Baker cements his status as one of our freshest and most vital filmmakers with The Florida Project, pure film of the highest order; it reminds us that even in the direst circumstances life will always yield small yet unforgettable joys.

Set in Orlando, this freewheeling film, like its predecessor, offers a big-hearted portrait of America’s marginalized. This time around Baker’s subjects are 22-year-old Halley and her six-year-old daughter Moonee. The pair resides in a cheap motel tucked near a freeway and a theme park. Halley struggles to pay for cereal and shelter, while Moonee doesn’t let a little thing like destitution prevent her from exploring her surroundings or playing jokes on a motel staff-member (beautifully depicted by Willem Dafoe).

Warm, winning and gloriously alive, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is a deeply moving and unforgettably poignant look at childhood.

Opens commercially in Miami on Friday, October 20.