Subgenre Sampler
Rental > Drama > Foreign Cinema: 1573 Films to Rent on DVD
- Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
- Dir. Justine Triet
Feat. Sandra Huller, Swann Arlaud, Jehnny Beth…
- An extraordinary, multi–layered dramatic thriller from France that deservingly won the Palm D'or at Cannes.
For the past year, Sandra, a…
- Let the River Flow (2023)
- Dir. Ole Giaever
Feat. Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen, Ivar Beddari, Gard Emil
- A superbly–crafted and moving indigenous rights drama about a young teacher whose repressed Sami heritage is awakened by a protest group who…
- Annie's Fire (Annie Colère) (2022)
- Dir. Blandine Lenoir
Feat. Laure Calamy, Pascale Arbillot, Josiane Balasko…
- Laure Calamy again proves she's one of the most likeable actresses in French cinema as a working mother who finds her people among those offering…
- Between Two Worlds (2022)
- Dir. Emmanuel Carrere
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Helene Lambert, Louise Pociecka
- Juliette Binoche plays a well–known author who goes to live in northern France to research her new book on the subject of job insecurity.…
- Blue Caftan, The (2022)
- Dir. Maryam Touzani
Feat. Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri, Ayoub Missioui
- A rare peek into Moroccan culture, and the dying craft of hand–made caftans that are painstakingly embroidered with a needle and thread. And…
- Both Sides Of The Blade (Avec amour et acharnement) (2022)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Grégoire Colin
- Jean and Sara have been living together for 10 years. When they first met, Sara was living with François, Jean’s best friend and an admirer from…
- Broker (2022)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Kang-ho Song, Doona Bae
- Master Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore–eda turns to South Korea for the first time for this drama starring Cannes–winning actor Song…
- Close (2022)
- Dir. Lukas Dhont
Feat. Eden Dambrine, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens
- Another closely–observed Belgian drama that, along with "Playground", explores a traumatic rite–of–passage. Here the protagonists…
- EO (2022)
- Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski
- Veteran Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski returns with this Cannes Jury Prize–winner — a unique, visually expressive and sometimes bleak…
- Godland (2022)
- Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
Feat. Elliott Crosset Hove, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson
- A masterly work of slow cinema from Iceland, inspired by 19th–Century period photography in both narrative and style, and the contemporary…
- One Fine Morning (Un Beau Matin) (2022)
- Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud…
- Lea Seydoux is French movie star royalty but she keeps it real in this sublime film from Mia Hansen–Løve (Bergman Island), one of Europe’s…
- Saint Omer (2022)
- Dir. Alice Diop
Feat. Guslagie Malanda, Kayije Kagame
- Inspired by real events, this devastating fictional drama from French–Senegalese director Alice Diop delivers a formally brilliant treatise on…
- Another World (2021)
- Dir. Stéphane Brizé
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anthony Bajon
- Vincent Lindon plays a factory boss going through a painful divorce while managing a painful downsize at his company which has been taken over by a…
- Big Hit, The (Un Triomphe) (2021)
- Dir. Emmanuel Courcol
Feat. Kad Merad, David Ayala, Lamine Cissokho
- Inspired by remarkable true events, this French Film Festival favourite follows a dedicated out–of–work actor (indelibly played by the…
- Drive My Car (2021)
- Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Feat. Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masaki Okada, Toko Miura…
- This winner of the Best International Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards is a slow–burn, methodical drama about a grieving stage actor and…
- Eiffel (2021)
- Dir. Martin Bourboulon
Feat. Romain Duris, Emma Mackey, Pierre Deladonchamps…
- Handsomely mounted biopic set in the 1880's, telling the story of Parisian civil engineer Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) and his design of the Eiffel…
- Full Time (A Plien Temps) (2021)
- Dir. Eric Gravel
Feat. Laure Calamy, Genevieve Mnich, Anne Suarez
- A cracker of a French drama that teeters on the edge of a thriller throughout because it’s all about the pressure cooker that is modern life.…
- Hatching (2021)
- Dir. Hanna Bergholm
Feat. Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen
- Hanna Bergholm's feature debut has finally put Finland on the horror film map – an enchanting pubescent allegory about a 12–year–old…
- Lamb (2021)
- Dir. Valdimar Johannsson
Feat. Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson…
- An Icelandic folk horror of haunting, pastoral beauty with Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason playing a couple who live on a remote farm with…
- Lost Illusions (2021)
- Dir. Xavier Giannoli
Feat. Benjamin Voisin, Xavier Dolan, Cecile De France…
- An all–star cast dazzles in the spectacular adaptation of Balzac’s classic novel about a young idealist who learns that anything can be…
- Paris, 13th District (Les Olympiades, Paris 13e) (2021)
- Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Noémie Merlant, Makita Samba, Lucie Zhang…
- Jacques Audiard’s film charts the interwoven relationships between four twenty–somethings, beautifully played by Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba,…
- Passengers of the Night, The (Les passagers de la nuit) (2021)
- Dir. Mikhaël Hers
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Noée Abita, Emmanuelle Beart…
- Left by her husband, Elisabeth finds herself alone, responsible for the day–to–day care of her two children. She picks up a job on a…
- Petite Maman (2021)
- Dir. Céline Sciamma
Feat. Nina Meurisse, Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz
- Master filmmaker Céline Sciamma is back with a captivating coming of age story that explores childhood and a mother–daughter relationship that…
- Tale of Love and Desire, A (2021)
- Dir. Leyla Bouzid
Feat. Sami Outalbali, Zbeida Belhajamor
- Ahmed, an 18–year old Frenchman of Algerian origin, meets Farah, a young Tunisian girl. He discovers a collection of sensual and erotic Arab…
- Three Floors (Tre Piani) (2021)
- Dir. Nanni Moretti
Feat. Alba Rohrwacher, Riccardo Scamarcio, Nanni Moretti…
- Nanni Moretti's all–star ensemble drama about three families who reside in the same apartment complex in Rome’s stylish Prati neighbourhood.
- To Chiara (A Chiara) (2021)
- Dir. Jonas Carpignano
Feat. Swamy Rotolo, Claudio Rotolo, Giorgia Rotolo…
- A rites–of–passage drama in the Italian neo–realist tradition that examines the impact of Mafia activity on those in the close…
- Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Guzen to Sozo) (2021)
- Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
- An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, the director of DRIVE MY CAR explores…
- Worst Person in the World, The (2021)
- Dir. Joachim Trier
Feat. Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum
- Gloriously provocative and richly perceptive comedy drama from talented Norwegian director Joachim Trier (THELMA), which follows an unpredictable,…
- A Friendly Tale (Le bonheur des uns) (2020)
- Dir. Daniel Cohen
Feat. Bérénice Bejo, Vincent Cassel, François Damiens…
- A charming four–hander from the director of LE CHEF in which a sparkling cast play two forty–something couples whose professional and…
- Another Round (Druk) (2020)
- Dir. Thomas Vinterberg
Feat. Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang…
- Another cheeky yet bittersweet provocation from Dogme 95 alumni Thomas Vinterberg that won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.
The…
- Antoinette in the Cevennes (2020)
- Dir. Caroline Vignal
Feat. Laure Calamy, Benjamin Lavernhe, Olivia Cote…
- A warm hearted French comedy from writer director Caroline Vignal, starring Laure Calamy as a school teacher on a journey of self–discovery in…
- Beginning (Dasatskisi) (2020)
- Dir. Déa Kulumbegashvili
Feat. Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli
- A devout women of the Jehovah's Witness faith undergoes a profound personal crisis in this triumphant cinematic achievement for Georgian…
- County, The (2020)
- Dir. Grimur Hakonarson
Feat. Arndis Hronn Egilsdottir, Sveinn Olafur Gunnarsson
- A quintessentially Icelandic serio–comedy from the director of RAMS about one woman’s fight against a monopolistic co–op stifling the…
- De Gaulle (2020)
- Dir. Gabriel Le Bomin
Feat. Lambert Wilson, Tim Hudson, Isabelle Carré…
- Spectacularly mounted biographical drama depicting a crucial period in the life of French army officer Charles de Gaulle, a famous figure in modern…
- Everything Went Fine (2020)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Sophie Marceau, Andre Dussollier, Géraldine Pailhas…
- When André, 85, has a stroke, Emmanuelle hurries to her father’s bedside. Sick and half–paralyzed in his hospital bed, he asks Emmanuelle to…
- How to Be a Good Wife (2020)
- Dir. Martin Provost
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Yolande Moreau, Noemie Lvovsky…
- Feather lite French comedy set in 1968, with the predictably scene–stealing Juliette Binoche playing an immaculate and morally upright teacher…
- Limbo (2020)
- Dir. Ben Sharrock
Feat. Amir El-Masry, Vikash Bhai, Ola Orebiyi…
- A moving cross–cultural comedy about the refugee experience, set on a remote Scottish island where a promising young Syrian musician is waiting…
- Man in the Hat, The (2020)
- Dir. Stephen Warbeck, John-Paul Davidson
Feat. Ciaran Hinds, Stephen Dillane, Maïwenn …
- Road–trip comedy–musical about a man who sets off from Marseilles in a small Fiat 500, with five angry men in a Citroën Dyane…
- Minari (2020)
- Dir. Lee Isaac Chung
Feat. Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim…
- Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at Sundance, this delicately drawn, sweeping story follows a Korean–American family in search of…
- Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
- Dir. Malgorzata Szumowska
Feat. Alec Utgoff, Maja Ostaszewska, Agata Kulesza…
- Assured Polish Oscar contender about a Ukrainian immigrant who unexpectedly develops a cult–like following while working as a masseur in a…
- Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
- Dir. Jasmila Zbanic
Feat. Jasna Djuricic, Johan Heldenbergh
- A devastating, personal account of a nightmarish dilemma for a wife and mother working as a translator between the UN, the Serbian aggressors and…
- Rosa's Wedding (2020)
- Feat. Candela Pena, Sergi Lopez, Nathalie Poza…
- Delightful Spanish comedy about a hard–working seamstress in her mid–40's who decides to turn her life around after spending years…
- Rose Maker, The (La fine fleur) (2020)
- Dir. Pierre Pinaud
Feat. Catherine Frot, Olivia Cote, Rukkmini Ghosh
- Gentle French comedy with Catherine Frot (THE MIDWIFE) playing a rose maker on the verge of financial ruin, who hires three hapless misfits with no…
- Ties, The (Lacci) (2020)
- Dir. Daniele Luchetti
Feat. Alba Rohrwacher, Luigi Lo Cascio, Laura Morante…
- Naples, early 1980s. The once–happy union between Aldo and his wife Vanda is ruptured one evening when Aldo admits, unprompted, that he has…
- Tigers (2020)
- Dir. Ronnie Sandahl
Feat. Erik Enge, Alfred Enoch, Johannes Bah Kuhnke…
- Sports biopic telling the true story of Swedish football talent Martin Bengtsson, an 18–year–old whose dreams turned into nightmares when…
- Wildland (2020)
- Dir. Jeanette Nordahl
Feat. Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Joachim Fjelstrup
- Powerful coming–of–age Scandi–noir about a Danish teenager who becomes embroiled in the ruthless criminal life of her aunt and…
- 1917 (2019)
- Dir. Sam Mendes
Feat. Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
- Immersive epic war film from director Sam Mendes (JARHEAD) which evokes the impression of a continuous take to follow two British soldiers on a…
- A White, White Day (2019)
- Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
Feat. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Ida Mekkin Hlynsdottir, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason…
- Aesthetically striking Icelandic drama which plunges the viewer deep into the psyche of a tortured former police officer who suspects a neighbour…
- Berlin, I Love You (2019)
- Dir. Peter Chelsom, Fernando Eimbcke, Claus Clausen
Feat. Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke…
- Anthology film continuing the "Cities of Love" franchise (PARIS, JE T'AIME, NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU) set in the German capital where ten sugary stories…
- Buoyancy (2019)
- Dir. Rodd Rathjen
Feat. Sarm Heng, Mony Ros, Thanawut Kasro
- A 14–year old who works in the Cambodian rice fields with his family decides to escape illegally to Thailand, but finds instead that he has…
- Dogs Don't Wear Pants (Koirat eivät käytä housuja) (2019)
- Dir. J.-P. Valkeapää
Feat. Krista Kosonen
- Finnish erotic drama about a lonely dad who is traumatized by the loss of his wife in a drowning accident, and stumbles into ecstasy via a powerful…
- Ema (2019)
- Dir. Pablo Larrain
Feat. Mariana Di Girolamo, Gael Garcia Bernal, Santiago Cabrera…
- A bold and distinctive film from director Pablo Larrain (NO), with newcomer Mariana Di Girolamo playing a young dancer who is coping with an adoption…
- Extraordinary, The (The Specials, Hors normes) (2019)
- Dir. Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Reda Kateb, Helene Vincent
- From the French directing team behind THE INTOUCHABLES comes this astute dramatisation of the true story of Stephane Benhamou (played by Vincent…
- Farewell to the Night (L'adieu à la nuit) (2019)
- Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Kacey Mottet Klein, Oulaya Amamra
- Catherine Deneuve anchors this French drama about a horse farmer whose grandson comes to visit, revealing that he has been radicalised by Islamic…
- In the Name Of The Land (2019)
- Dir. Edouard Bergeon
Feat. Guillaume Canet, Veerle Baetens, Anthony Bajon…
- Following the life of a stoic farmer across four decades, this bittersweet and deeply moving drama marks the directorial debut of French…
- Les Miserables (2019)
- Dir. Ladj Ly
Feat. Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga…
- This impressive feature debut from French director Ladj Ly is set in the French criminal underworld in aftermath of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when…
- Martin Eden (2019)
- Dir. Pietro Marcello
Feat. Luca Marinelli, Carlo Cecchi, Jessica Cressy…
- A dazzling adaptation of Jack London's semi–autobiographical 1909 novel about a sailor who abandons his working class roots to pursue an…
- Mystery of Henri Pick, The (Le mystère Henri Pick) (2019)
- Dir. Rémi Bezançon
Feat. Fabrice Luchini, Camille Cottin, Alice Isaaz…
- Delectable literary–themed French comedy caper based on the book of the same name by David Foenkinos.
The titular Henri Pick is a…
- Of Love and Lies (2019)
- Dir. Julien Rappeneau
Feat. François Damiens, Andre Dussollier, Maleaume Paquin
- Uplifting French dramedy about a diminutive but spirited 12–year old boy who challenges his lonely disillusioned dad into embracing life again…
- Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria) (2019)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Antonio Banderas, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Penelope Cruz…
- A more restrained, but no less pretty and witty outing for septuagenarian director Pedro Almodóvar, which narrates evocative vignettes from the life…
- Perfumes (2019)
- Dir. Gregory Magne
Feat. Emmanuelle Devos, Gregory Montel
- Anne (Emmanuelle Devos) was once the star of her industry – a perfumer whose ability to produce enticing new fragrances was second to none. She…
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
- Dir. Céline Sciamma
Feat. Noémie Merlant, Adele Haenel
- Céline Sciamma (GIRLHOOD) directs this devastatingly good, exquisitely executed lesbian period drama. Set in France in the 18th century, where a…
- Proxima (2019)
- Dir. Alice Winocour
Feat. Eva Green, Matt Dillon, Lars Eidinger…
- Eva Green plays a French astronaut enrolled in a demanding program at the European Space Agency in Cologne, struggling to maintain a relationship…
- Room 212 (Chambre 212, On a Magical Night) (2019)
- Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Chiara Mastroianni, Vincent Lacoste, Camille Cottin…
- Playful French rom–com from acclaimed writer–director Christophe Honore (MA MERE, DAN PARIS).
Set over the course of one night, where…
- Seberg (2019)
- Dir. Benedict Andrews
Feat. Kristen Stewart, Jack O'Connell, Margaret Qualley…
- Kristen Stewart is riveting as French New Wave actress Jean Seberg, in this drama set in the 1960's, when she passionately involved herself in the…
- Spread Your Wings (Donne-moi des ailes) (2019)
- Dir. Nicolas Vanier
Feat. Jean-Paul Rouve, Mélanie Doutey, Louis Vazquez
- A gorgeous boys' own eco–adventure from France, based on the true story of a visionary scientist and his 14–year–old son who bond…
- Truth, The (2019)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke…
- Dazzling modern family drama from master auteur Kore–eda Hirokazu (SHOPLIFTERS), pairing French screen icons Catherine Deneuve and Juliette…
- We'll End Up Together (Nous finirons ensemble) (2019)
- Dir. Guillaume Canet
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Gilles Lellouche…
- From the writer/director of the LITTLE WHITE LIES comes another chic French take on the formula of THE BIG CHILL, with the entire cast returning to…
- Weathering with You (2019)
- Dir. Makoto Shinkai
- Touching Japanese animated romance doubling as an eco–fable, about a high school boy who befriends a girl who can manipulate the weather. From…
- While at War (2019)
- Dir. Alejandro Amenabar
Feat. Karra Elejalde, Eduard Fernandez, Santi Prego
- From Alejandro Amenabar, acclaimed director of THE SEA INSIDE, comes this drama set in Spain in 1936 on the cusp of the Spanish Civil…
- Who You Think I Am (Celle que vous croyez) (2019)
- Dir. Safy Nebbou
Feat. Juliette Binoche, François Civil, Nicole Garcia…
- Juliet Binoche is outstanding at the helm of this elegant psychological thriller, playing a French literature professor and middle–aged…
- A Faithful Man (L'homme fidèle) (2018)
- Dir. Louis Garrel
Feat. Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta, Lily-Rose Depp
- Romantic farce with a whimsical, French new–wave sensibility directed by and starring Louis Garrel. A dashing journalist finds his life…
- A Man in a Hurry (Un homme pressé) (2018)
- Dir. Hervé Mimran
Feat. Fabrice Luchini, Leïla Bekhti
- French comic–drama based on the life of the former head of Peugeot, Christian Stieff, a high profile businessman who has let his personal life…
- Birds of Passage (2018)
- Dir. Ciro Guerra, Cristina Gallego
Feat. Natalia Reyes, Carmina Martinez, Jose Acosta
- Intelligent and engrossing narco–thriller set in Columbia in the 1960's, following an indigenous Wayuu man and his family as they turn to drug…
- Burning (2018)
- Dir. Chang-Dong Lee
Feat. Yoo Ah-in, Jeon Jong-seo, Steven Yeun
- Beautifully crafted film following a young aspiring novelist who reconnects with a childhood neighbour, before events take an unexpectedly sinister…
- By the Grace of God (Grâce à Dieu) (2018)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet, Swann Arlaud
- Hard–hitting French–Belgian drama about three sexual abuse victims who attempt to the to justice the Catholic priest who was…
- Capharnaum (2018)
- Dir. Nadine Labaki
Feat. Zain Al Rafeea
- A uniquely humanistic portrayal of tragic poverty in Beirut from the perspective of an extraordinarily gutsy 12 year old Lebanese boy. After…
- Claire Darling (La dernière folie de Claire Darling) (2018)
- Dir. Julie Bertuccelli
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Alice Taglioni
- Catherine Deneuve plays a reclusive millionaire who unexpectedly decides to get rid of all her belongings in a yard sale on the lawn of her mansion.…
- Climax (2018)
- Dir. Gaspar Noe
Feat. Sofia Boutella, Kiddy Smile, Roman Guillermic
- A dance movie like you're never seen, legendary provocateur Gaspar Noe helms this brilliant and intoxicating ensemble piece. Set in an abandoned…
- Cold War (2018)
- Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
Feat. Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot
- The director of 'Ida' (2013) follows up with a deeply romantic, immaculately composed tale of a Polish concert pianist and a charismatic singer who…
- Divine Order, The (2018)
- Dir. Petra Biondina Volpe
Feat. Marie Leuenberger
- A passionate drama set in Switzerland, following a mother and housewife who campaigns for a referendum on the right of women to vote – in 1971…
- Donbass (2018)
- Dir. Sergey Loznitsa
Feat. Tamara Yatsenko, Irina Zayarmiuk, Grigory Masliuk
- A 13–part exploration of the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian–supported Donetsk People's Republic throughout the…
- Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) (2018)
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darín
- Iranian maestro Asghar Farhadi assembles a powerhouse cast for this Spanish–language about a mother–of–two who returns from Buenos…
- Girls of the Sun (Les filles du soleil) (2018)
- Dir. Eva Husson
Feat. Golshifteh Farahani
- Powerful wartime film following a Kurdish female battalion who are fighting against ISIS extremists to take back control of their village. Stars…
- Happy as Lazzaro (2018)
- Dir. Alice Rohrwacher
Feat. Adriano Tardiolo, Nicoletta Braschi, Sergi Lopez…
- It's summer at Inviolata, an isolated rural estate, where an extended family of tobacco farmers toil under the rule of a domineering marchesa, and…
- Heiresses, The (2018)
- Dir. Marcelo Martinessi
Feat. Ana Brun, Margarita Irún, Anna Ivanova
- Slow–burn drama from Paraguay about a privileged middle–aged lesbian couple whose new found financial hardship results in one being…
- Ideal Palace, The (L'incroyable histoire du facteur Cheval) (2018)
- Dir. Nils Tavernier
Feat. Jacques Gamblin, Laetitia Casta, Florence Thomassin
- Affectionate biographical drama based on the extraordinary real–life story of a simple French postman who spent 33 years building a magnificent…
- In The Aisles (In den Gängen) (2018)
- Dir. Thomas Stuber
Feat. Franz Rogowski, Sandra Huller
- A German wholesale supermarket is the setting for this gentle romantic drama following a reclusive blue–collar shelf stacker (Andreas Leupold,…
- In Your Hands (Au bout des doigts) (2018)
- Dir. Ludovic Bernard
Feat. Lambert Wilson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jules Benchetrit
- A young delinquent with a talent for the piano captures the attention of the Director of the National Conservatory of Music in this feel–good…
- Keeper, The (Trautmann) (2018)
- Dir. Markus Rosenmüller
Feat. David Kross, Freya Mavor
- Biographical drama telling the story of Bert Trautmann, the German soldier who escapes a POW camp to become a footballing icon, marrying the daughter…
- Loro (2018)
- Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Feat. Toni Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarcio…
- The director of THE GREAT BEAUTY returns with another tale of Italian decadence and corruption, this time based on the life and times of the infamous…
- Mother is Wrong (TV Mini-series) (Maman a tort) (2018)
- Feat. Anne Charrier, Pascal Elbé
- French thriller following a detective who, despite being already consumed by a major robbery, takes on the chilling case of a child who tells her his…
- My Brilliant Friend (TV Mini-series) (L'amica geniale) (2018)
- Dir. Saverio Costanzo
Feat. Valentina Acca, Annarita Vitolo
- Evocative Neapolitan drama adapted from the international best–selling novel by Elena Ferrante, following an elderly woman as she recounts her…
- Never Look Away (Werk ohne Autor) (2018)
- Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Feat. Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer
- The director of THE LIVES OF OTHERS helms this drama spanning three eras of German history to tell the story of an artist who survives the Nazi…
- Non-Fiction (Non Fiction) (2018)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne…
- Buoyant drama set in the Parisian publishing world, with acclaimed director Olivier Assayas reuniting with actors Juliette Binoche and Guillaume…
- Photograph (2018)
- Dir. Ritesh Batra
Feat. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra
- A charming romance from the director of THE LUNCHBOX set in Mumbai, where a struggling street photographer convinces a shy stranger to pose as his…
- Roma (2018)
- Dir. Alfonso Cuaron
Feat. Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira
- Another masterclass in storytelling from Mexican maestro Alfonso Cuarón, about a year in the life of a middle–class family's maid in Mexico…
- Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku) (2018)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka
- Charming, funny and heartbreaking all at once, this drama from the Japanese master of humanism Kore–eda is set in Tokyo and follows a group of…
- Sink or Swim (Le grand bain) (2018)
- Dir. Gilles Lellouche
Feat. Mathieu Amalric, Guillaume Canet, Benoit Poelvoorde…
- A group of 40–something guys, all on the verge of a mid–life crisis, decide to form their local pool's first ever synchronized swimming…
- Sorry Angel (2018)
- Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Pierre Deladonchamps, Vincent Lacoste, Denis Podalydes
- Articulate and powerful love story set in Paris in the 90's, where a worldly writer falls for a younger, carefree university student.
- Third Wife, The (2018)
- Dir. Ash Mayfair
Feat. Tran Nu Yen-Khe
- Haunting and devastating period drama set in 19th century rural Vietnam, where a 14–year old girl is married off to a wealthy landowner and…
- Woman at War (2018)
- Dir. Benedikt Erlingsson
Feat. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir
- A droll yet heroic tale of a fifty–year–old environmental activist who is secretly waging a one–woman–war on the local…
- Working Woman (2018)
- Dir. Michal Aviad
Feat. Liron Ben-Shlush
- Workplace drama capturing the spirit of the "Me Too" movement to tell the story of a smart and capable mother of three who returns to the workforce…
- Yuli (2018)
- Dir. Iciar Bollain
Feat. Carlos Acosta, Santiago Alfonso, Keyvin Martinez
- Rousing biopic of the Cuban ballet superstar Carlos Acosta, nicknamed Yuli by his father, who saw recognised his talent for dance and sent him to…
- A Bag of Marbles (Un sac de billes) (2017)
- Dir. Christian Duguay
Feat. Dorian Le Clech, Batyste Fleurial
- The experience of the French occupation during WWII is told uniquely using a child's perspective in this latterday adaptation of the book by Joseph…
- A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica) (2017)
- Dir. Sebastián Lelio
Feat. Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco
- Another supremely elegant, substantive and compassionate character study from the director of GLORIA that this time focuses on a transgender woman in…
- Aurore (I Got Life!) (2017)
- Dir. Blandine Lenoir
Feat. Agnes Jaoui, Thibault de Montalembert, Pascale Arbillot
- Actress and co–writer Jaoui is the heart and soul of this witty if overly–familiar rom–com as the eponymous 50–year–old…
- Babylon Berlin (TV Series) (2017)
- A German neo–noir television series based on novels by Volker Kutscher that takes place in Berlin during the Weimar Republic, starting in 1929.…
- Back to Burgundy (Ce qui nous lie) (2017)
- Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Pio Marmaï, Ana Girardot, François Civil
- Sumptuous French family saga which will be a special treat for oenophiles, as three siblings attempt to save the family vineyard in picturesque…
- Bolshoi, The (Bolshoy) (2017)
- Dir. Valery Todorovsky
Feat. Margarita Simonova, Alisa Freindlikh, Valentina Telichkina…
- Russian drama about a young and talented ballet dancer from the provinces who is determined to find success on stage at the Bolshoi Theatre in…
- BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017)
- Dir. Robin Campillo
Feat. Nahuel Pérez Biscayar, Arnaud Valois, Adele Haenel
- Remarkable and inspiring drama by the director of EASTERN BOYS, set in 1990's France and following a group of passionate AIDS activists who take on…
- Call Me By Your Name (2017)
- Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Feat. Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg…
- Completing the "Desire" trilogy with I AM LOVE and A BIGGER SPLASH, this coming–of–age drama is set in Northern Italy in 1983, where a 17…
- Custody (Jusqu'à la garde) (2017)
- Dir. Xavier Legrand
Feat. Léa Drucker, Denis Ménochet
- Astonishing French drama charting a family struggling with the embittered fallout of divorce, and the resulting impact on the two children. The…
- Foxtrot (2017)
- Dir. Samuel Maoz
Feat. Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler
- The impressive sophomore effort of director Samuel Maoz (LEBANON) is a perceptive and bold exploration of war and grief. An affluent couple living in…
- Gauguin: Voyage de Tahiti (2017)
- Dir. Edouard Deluc
Feat. Vincent Cassel
- Vincent Cassel delivers a committed, absorbing performance as French painter Paul Gauguin. Set in 1891, when Gauguin exiled himself to Tahiti to…
- Happy End (2017)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz…
- Michael Haneke lends his impeccably chilly style to this blackest of comedies about the disintegration of family relationships amidst the enduring…
- I Am Not a Witch (2017)
- Dir. Rungano Nyoni
- Full of joy and tragedy in the equal measure, this assured debut from Zambian writer–director Rungano Nyoni follows the story of 9–year…
- Insult, The (2017)
- Dir. Ziad Doueiri
Feat. Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha
- An exchange on a Beirut street between a Palestinian construction worker and a Lebanese Christian escalates into a passionate dispute that opens…
- Ismael's Ghosts (2017)
- Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
Feat. Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marion Cotillard…
- The always impressive Mathieu Amalric (DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) anchors this ambitious and narratively complex story of a film maker whose life…
- Jeune Femme (Montparnasse Bienvenüe) (2017)
- Dir. Léonor Sérraille
Feat. Lætitia Dosch
- Drama set in Paris, following a spirited yet struggling woman in her 30's in the wake of a difficult break up with her wealthy boyfriend. A…
- Just To Be Sure (Otez-moi d'un doute) (2017)
- Dir. Carine Tardieu
Feat. François Damiens, Cecile De France, Andre Wilms
- A delightful French comedy–of–errors following a grounded 45–year old widower whose life changes abruptly when he learns that the…
- Legacy, The - Series 3 (TV Series) (Arvingerne) (2017)
- Feat. Trine Dyrholm, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Lene Maria Christensen…
- The excellent Danish family saga continues with the four siblings – Gro, Signe, Frederick and Emil entangled in emotional and financial…
- Let the Sunshine In (2017)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine…
- Juliette Binoche is radiant as a Parisian artist and divorced mother who bravely searches for sexual fulfillment and companionship in middle age.…
- Loveless (2017)
- Dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev
Feat. Matvey Novikov, Maryana Spivak, Aleksey Rozin
- Exquisitely austere Russian drama by modern master Zvyagintsev (LEVIATHAN, ELENA) which offers a dissection of a failed relationship against the…
- Midwife, The (Sage femme) (2017)
- Dir. Martin Provost
Feat. Catherine Frot, Catherine Deneuve
- Two of French cinema's most beloved actors, Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot, team up in this rich character study by the director of SERAPHINE.…
- Other Side of Hope, The (2017)
- Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji, Ville Virtanen…
- This Finnish take on the European migrant crisis – proclaimed to be last directed by auteur Aki Kaurismäki – is a poignant yet typically…
- Pop Aye (2017)
- Dir. Kirsten Tan
Feat. Thaneth Warakulnukroh
- Quietly uplifting road trip dramedy following a disillusioned Bangkok architect who embarks on a trek across the idyllic Thai countryside with the…
- Rodin (2017)
- Dir. Jacques Doillon
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Izia Higelin
- Austere drama set in Paris in 1880, where Auguste Rodin, widely considered the founder of modern sculpture, received his first state commission and…
- Screwed (Pihalla) (2017)
- Dir. Nils-Erik Ekblom
Feat. Mikko Kauppila, Sanna Majuri, Valtteri Lehtinen
- Sweet–natured Finnish coming–of–age drama about two teenage boys who fall in love during a summer in the countryside.
- See You Up There (Au revoir là-haut) (2017)
- Dir. Albert Dupontel
Feat. Albert Dupontel, Nahuel Pérez Biscayar, Laurent Lafitte…
- French film adaptation of the ambitious novel set a few days before the 1918 Armistice, where, among the ruins of WWI, a genius draftsman and a…
- Square, The (2017)
- Dir. Ruben Östlund
Feat. Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West
- A smart and ambitious art world satire from the director of FORCE MAJEURE set in and around a cutting–edge contemporary art museum, where a…
- Summer 1993 (2017)
- Dir. Carla Simón
Feat. Laia Artigas, Paula Robles, Bruna Cusí
- An evocative and affecting autobiographical depiction of Catalan writer–director Carla Simón's childhood. Set in 1993, 6–year old Frida…
- Thelma (2017)
- Dir. Joachim Trier
Feat. Eili Harboe, Henrik Rafaelsen, Kaya Wilkins…
- A gracefully unsettling Nordic thriller about a painfully shy young woman whose oppressed, conservative upbringing and burgeoning passion for a…
- Wajib - The Wedding Invitation (Wajib) (2017)
- Dir. Annemarie Jacir
Feat. Mohamed Bakri
- Wryly comedic drama set in Nazareth in the lead–up to Christmas, where a conservative father and his estranged hipster son attempt to reconcile…
- Western (2017)
- Dir. Valeska Grisebach
Feat. Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov
- As foreign construction workers build a dam in a rural Bulgarian village, a German man has a series of personal encounters with the local landscape…
- Wound, The (Inxeba) (2017)
- Dir. John Trengove
Feat. Nakhane Toure
- An unforgettable South African drama following a closeted relationship between two Xhosa men participating in a coming–of–age initiation…
- A Silent Voice (Koe no katachi) (2016)
- Dir. Naoko Yamada
Feat. Miyu Irino
- Unique Japanese anime following a deaf girl called Shoko, who is bullied at school by a boy who grows up to be tormented by his past behavior, and…
- After the Storm (Umi yori mo mada fukaku) (2016)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki, Yôko Maki
- After the death of his father, a morally bankrupt private detective struggles to find child support money and reconnect with his son and…
- Aquarius (2016)
- Dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho
Feat. Sonia Braga, Maeve Jinkings, Irandhir Santos…
- Gratifying portrait of a 65–year–old widow and retired music critic who battles a development company to retain her residency at the…
- Country Doctor, The (Irreplaceable) (2016)
- Dir. Thomas Lilti
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Marianne Denicourt
- Genteel drama starring François Cluzet (THE INTOUCHABLES) as a devoted doctor in a rural French town who himself is diagnosed with a serious illness…
- Dancer, The (La danseuse) (2016)
- Dir. Stéphanie Di Giusto
Feat. Soko , Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry…
- Dazzling rags–to–riches biopic following the true story of Loïe Fuller and Isadora Duncan, two dancers who together pioneered modern…
- Death of Louis XIV, The (La mort de Louis XIV) (2016)
- Dir. Albert Serra
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud
- A master of minimalist portraits of historical figures, Albert Serra directs French New Wave doyen Jean–Pierre Léaud as Louis XIV during the…
- Dheepan (2016)
- Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Antonythasan Jesuthasan
- A Sri Lankan refugee in France finds himself posing as the father and husband of two other refugees in order to gain asylum status. An unflinchingly…
- Elle (2016)
- Dir. Paul Verhoeven
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny…
- Controversial, unflinching drama closely following the perspective of a woman who is repeatedly raped by the same masked intruder, but whose…
- Frantz (2016)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Pierre Niney, Paula Beer
- A young woman in small–town Germany is mourning the death of her fiance in the wake of WWI, and forms an unexpected bond with an enigmatic and…
- Graduation (Bacalaureat) (2016)
- Dir. Cristian Mungiu
Feat. Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus
- Subtly engrossing drama follows the moral dilemmas of a well–meaning and respected doctor who succumbs to Romania's endemic corruption in order…
- Handmaiden, The (2016)
- Dir. Park Chan-Wook
Feat. Min-hee Kim, Tae-ri Kim, Jung-woo Ha…
- Delicious erotic thriller from the brilliant Park Chan–Wook, who lends his impeccable style to a provocative potboiler of lesbian love and…
- Happy Hour (2016)
- Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Feat. Tanaka Sachie, Kikuchi Hazuki, Mihara Maiko…
- Intelligent and novelistic drama exploring the private and professional lives of four Japanese women in their 30's across an ambitious, but…
- Innocents, The (Agnus Dei) (2016)
- Dir. Anne Fontaine
Feat. Lou de Laâge, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek…
- In Poland after World War II, a young French Red Cross intern who is sent to assist the survivors of the German camps discovers several nuns in…
- Julieta (2016)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Emma Suarez, Adriana Ugarte
- The complexities of a woman's past are unraveled after a chance encounter, in this loose adaptation of three short stories by Alice Munro. More…
- King's Choice, The (2016)
- Dir. Erik Poppe
Feat. Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo
- Vibrant war–time drama set during the three days in 1940 when German forces occupied Oslo and King Haakon VII and his family went into hiding.…
- Like Crazy (La Pazza Gioia) (2016)
- Dir. Paolo Virzi
Feat. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Micaela Ramazzotti
- Gratifying comedy–drama following two women, one a troubled introvert, one an impassioned mythomaniac, who break out of a psychiatric facility…
- Neruda (2016)
- Dir. Pablo Larrain
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Luis Gnecco, Mercedes Morán
- Universally acclaimed biographical drama about poet and communist senator Pablo Neruda, who was forced into hiding with his artist wife when the Cold…
- Odyssey, The (L'odyssée) (2016)
- Dir. Jérôme Salle
Feat. Lambert Wilson, Pierre Niney, Audrey Tautou
- A shimmering yet unvarnished biopic of pioneering Frenchman Jacques Cousteau, who invented the aqualung and went on to become a world–famous…
- Olive Tree, The (El olivo) (2016)
- Dir. Iciar Bollain
Feat. Anna Castillo, Javier Gutiérrez, Pep Ambros
- Spanish actor–director Iciar Bollain and Ken Loach's regular screenwriter Paul Laverty join forces for this warm and sometimes humorous road…
- Perfect Strangers (Perfetti sconosciuti) (2016)
- Dir. Paolo Genovese
Feat. Giuseppe Battiston, Anna Foglietta, Marco Giallini…
- A clever comedy of manners for the iphone–era, this Italian award–winner follows a dinner party debacle that unfolds after seven…
- Planetarium (2016)
- Dir. Rebecca Zlotowski
Feat. Natalie Portman, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger
- Natalie Portman and Lily–Rose Depp play two American sisters in pre–war France with apparent psychic abilities that engage the interest…
- Polina (2016)
- Dir. Valérie Müller, Angelin Preljocaj
Feat. Anastasia Shevtsova, Veronika Zhovnytska, Juliette Binoche
- Elegant, methodical drama about a gifted Russian dancer who gives up the chance to join the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet when she moves to France to…
- Rams (2016)
- Dir. Grimur Hakonarson
Feat. Sigurour Sigurjonsson, Theodor Juliusson
- Distinctively woolly Nordic tale of two estranged sheep–farming brothers as they attempt to save their flocks from pending eradication in a…
- Salesman, The (Forusande) (2016)
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti
- Another subtle yet powerful drama from the celebrated director of THE SEPARATION and THE PAST that replays his signature themes of fear, guilt and…
- Sami Blood (2016)
- Dir. Amanda Kernell
Feat. Lene Cecilia Sparrok , Hanna Alström
- Emotionally powerful female coming–of–age movie set in 1930's Sweden, where a reindeer–herding teenager, an indigenous Sami child,…
- Teacher, The (Ucitelka) (2016)
- Dir. Jan Hrebejk
Feat. Zuzana Mauréry
- Black comedy set in 1983 Bratislava, where a school teacher takes advantage of Communist traditions, manipulating the parents of her students into…
- Things to Come (L'avenir) (2016)
- Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Andre Marcon, Roman Kolinka
- A passionate and intelligent philosophy professor experiences a crisis of identity in this exquisitely detailed drama with Huppert terrific in the…
- Toni Erdmann (2016)
- Dir. Maren Ade
Feat. Peter Simonischek, Sandra Huller, Ingrid Bisu
- Brilliant, unclassifiable German comedy where a stern, career–focused woman is followed around a series of mundane board meetings and vapid…
- Two is a Family (Demain tout commence) (2016)
- Dir. Hugo Gélin
Feat. Omar Sy, Clemence Poesy
- An elegantly crafted, crowd–pleasing comedy–drama in fine French tradition, following a bachelor (Omar Sy, THE INTOUCHABLES) who enjoys a…
- Untamed, The (La región salvaje) (2016)
- Dir. Amat Escalante
Feat. Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio, Jesús Meza
- Unforgettable psycho–sexual horror featuring a multi–tentacled alien which becomes the source of obsession for members of a Mexican…
- Your Name (Kimi no na wa) (2016)
- Dir. Makoto Shinkai
- Another exquisite animated drama from Makoto Shinkai, an increasingly beloved and notable voice in the world of Japanese anime. The story is based on…
- A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove) (2015)
- Dir. Hannes Holm
Feat. Rolf Lassgard, Bahar Pars, Filip Berg
- Endearing Swedish hit about a grumpy 59–year–old widower who was deposed as president of the condominium association, but still presides…
- Arabian Nights (2015)
- Dir. Miguel Gomes
Feat. Crista Alfaiate
- Wildly original and ambitious triptych of films set in modern–day Portugal but structured on the sprawling Arabic fairy–tale collection…
- As it is in Heaven 2: Heaven on Earth (Heaven on Earth) (2015)
- Dir. Kay Pollak
Feat. Frida Hallgren, Niklas Falk, Jacob Oftebro
- Sequel to the beloved Swedish classic, follows on after the death of conductor Daniel Darius, where the soprano and love of his life expects his…
- Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) (2015)
- Dir. Eva Husson
Feat. Finnegan Oldfield
- A refreshingly non–judgemental account of female promiscuity, following a group of adolescents in a sleepy French town who start a sex party…
- Boomerang (2015)
- Dir. François Favrat
Feat. Laurent Lafitte, Mélanie Laurent, Audrey Dana…
- Proficient French thriller from the author of SARAH'S KEY concerns a pair of siblings and their pursuit for the truth behind their mother's death.
- Brand New Testament, The (2015)
- Dir. Jaco Van Dormael
Feat. Benoit Poelvoorde, Catherine Deneuve, François Damiens…
- Fantastical comedy in which God's teenage daughter gets fed up up with her overbearing father – who never gets off the computer – and…
- Cemetery of Splendour (2015)
- Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Feat. Jenjira Pongpas Widner
- Mesmerising film in the director's indefinable style, set in and around a rural Thai hospital which may be haunted.
A group of soldiers…
- Courted (2015)
- Dir. Christian Vincent
Feat. Fabrice Luchini, Sidse Babett Knudsen
- Denmark's Sidse Babett Knudsen (BORGEN) stars in this quietly accomplished French romantic drama as a juror who's shared past with a judge is…
- Decadence (Decadencia) (2015)
- Dir. Joaquin Rodriguez
Feat. Nataly Umaña, Alejandro Estrada
- Over–heated eroticism from Mexico with a young woman falling for a rich entrepreneur after he nearly runs her over with his car.
- Fencer, The (Miekkailija) (2015)
- Dir. Klaus Haro
Feat. Märt Avandi
- An accomplished Estonian fencer returns to his homeland after fleeing from the Russian secret police during WWII. He quickly becomes a role model and…
- Francisco: The Man Behind The Pope (Francis:Pray for Me) (2015)
- Dir. Beda Docampo Feijóo
Feat. Darío Grandinetti, Silvia Abascal, Leticia Bredice
- Somewhat fawning look at the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, form his early childhood days in Argentina to his becoming Pope Francis.
- Francofonia (2015)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Benjamin Utzerath
- A richly evocative and insightful historical cine–essay from celebrated dir. Alexander Sokurov (RUSSIAN ARK) that charts the relationship…
- Heat Wave (Coup de chaud) (2015)
- Dir. Raphaël Jacoulot
Feat. Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gregory Gadebois
- A peaceful French hamlet is turned upside down when a deranged local starts harassing the the villagers and causing hostilities to rise dangerously.…
- Heavy Water War, The (The Saboteurs) (2015)
- Dir. Per-Olav Sørensen
Feat. Espen Klouman-Høiner, Soren Pilmark, Anna Friel…
- Thrilling Norwegian mini–series tells the story behind Hitler's plan for obtaining the atomic bomb during WW2, and the heavy water sabotages in…
- Idol, The (Ya tayr el tayer) (2015)
- Dir. Hany Abu-Assad
Feat. Tawfeek Barhom, Kais Attalah, Hiba Attalah
- Comedy–drama based on the true story of an aspiring Palestinian musician who sets about overcoming the extraordinary goal of competing on the…
- In the Shadow of Women (L'ombre des femmes) (2015)
- Dir. Philippe Garrel
Feat. Clotilde Courau, Stanislas Merhar, Lena Paugam
- Romantic drama from Philippe Garrel, a prolific French auteur whose work is rarely available outside of France and often deal with the subject of…
- It's Only the End of the World (2015)
- Dir. Xavier Dolan
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard…
- French–Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan returns with this Cannes–winning melodrama about a terminally ill gay writer who returns to his…
- Ixcanul (Volcano) (2015)
- Dir. Jayro Bustamante
Feat. Maria Mercedes Coroy, Maria Telon
- Rare Guatemalan drama set on the slopes of an active volcano, where a marginalised Mayan community prepare for the arranged marriage of a…
- La Belle Saison (Summertime) (2015)
- Dir. Catherine Corsini
Feat. Cecile De France, Izia Higelin, Noemie Lvovsky
- Two women strike up a passionate affair against a backdrop of the feminist movement in early–1970's France, but struggle to reconcile of…
- Land of Mine (Under sandet) (2015)
- Dir. Martin Zandvliet
Feat. Roland Møller, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
- Multi award–winning historical drama following a unit of captured German soldiers who are put to work disabling Hitler's munitions by an…
- Legacy, The - Series 2 (TV Series) (Arvingerne) (2015)
- Feat. Trine Dyrholm, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Lene Maria Christensen…
- Second season of the gripping drama in which the death of a matriarch brings forgotten secrets out into the open and causes a prolonged battle for…
- Love (Love 3D) (2015)
- Dir. Gaspar Noe
Feat. Aomi Muyock, Karl Glusman, Klara Kristin
- French cinema's enfant–terrible Gaspar Noe finds some more envelopes to push in this explicit adult drama. An American living in Paris enters a…
- Marguerite (2015)
- Dir. Xavier Giannoli
Feat. Catherine Frot, Andre Marcon, Michel Fau…
- Touching French version of the story inspired by the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, a socialite who believed she was in possession of a beautiful…
- Mustang (2015)
- Dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Feat. Gunes Senoy, Doga Doguslu, Elit Iscan…
- Sublime female coming–of–age story set in a remote Turkish village, where five sisters face the stifling expectations of their…
- My Mother (Mia Madre) (2015)
- Dir. Nanni Moretti
Feat. Margherita Buy, John Turturro, Nanni Moretti…
- Affecting character study of a director in the middle of an film–making crisis who has to deal with the inevitable yet still unacceptable loss…
- Neon Bull (Boi neon) (2015)
- Dir. Gabriel Mascaro
Feat. Vinícius de Oliveira, Juliano Cazarré
- Transgressive and beguiling drama set in the Brazilian world of the vaquejada, a traditional style of rodeo, as seen through the eyes of a gender…
- One Wild Moment (2015)
- Dir. Jean-François Richet
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Francois Cluzet, Alice Isaaz…
- Exotic romantic comedy with Cassel and Cluzet as two friends who bring their daughters with them on a beach vacation and find themselves in an…
- Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary) (2015)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho …
- Another exquisite domestic drama from Kore–eda Hirokazu that revolves around the loves and working lives of three sisters who accommodate their…
- Passion of Augustine, The (2015)
- Dir. Lea Pool
Feat. Céline Bonnier, Lysandre Ménard, Valérie Blais
- A warm, intelligent drama set in a convent school in Quebec in the late 1960's, where women are given the opportunity to learn music regardless of…
- Second Mother, The (Que Horas Ela Volta?) (2015)
- Dir. Anna Muylaert
Feat. Regina Case
- An intelligent, touching and funny film exploring the complexities of class structure in Brazil. Tensions arise when a wealthy family allows their…
- Son of Saul (2015)
- Dir. László Nemes
Feat. Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn
- Masterful, but deeply disturbing glimpse into the horror of Auschwitz seen through the perspective of a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his…
- Suburra (2015)
- Dir. Stefano Sollima
Feat. Pierfrancesco Favino, Elio Germano, Claudio Amendola…
- Enthralling crime saga follows a gangster named Samurai as he attempts to turn the waterfront of Rome into an Italian Las Vegas.
- Truman (2015)
- Dir. Cesc Gay
Feat. Ricardo Darín, Javier Camara
- Spanish cinema stars Ricardo Darin and Javier Camara team up for this sensitive comedy as childhood friends who reunite after many years when one of…
- Wait, The (L'attesa) (2015)
- Dir. Piero Messina
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Lou de Laâge, Giorgio Colangeli
- Juliette Binoche plays a mother who slowly draws a connection to her son's fiancée while they await his arrival at a beautiful Sicilian villa.
- Zoom (2015)
- Dir. Paulo Morelli
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Alison Pill, Jason Priestley…
- A multi–dimensional interface between a comic book artist, a novelist, and a film director. Each lives in a separate reality but authors a…
- A Chance Encounter (Quantum Love) (2014)
- Dir. Lisa Azuelos
Feat. Sophie Marceau, Francois Cluzet, Lisa Azuelos…
- High–concept romantic comedy which blends fantasy with reality as a a married man's encounter with another woman develops into a mutual…
- Beloved Sisters (2014)
- Dir. Dominik Graf
Feat. Hannah Herzsprung, Henriette Confurius, Florian Stetter…
- Acclaimed period drama depicts the unconventional romance between two aristocratic sisters and a rebellious poet who took the European literary world…
- Court (2014)
- Dir. Chaitanya Tamhane
Feat. Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber
- A strikingly confident directorial debut that exposes the antiquity of the Indian legal system through the court trial of an ageing protest singer…
- Crow's Egg, The (Kaakkaa Muttai) (2014)
- Dir. M. Manikandan
Feat. Ramesh , J. Vignesh, Iyshwarya Rajesh
- Affecting Tamil comedy set in a Chennai slum follows two mischievous and resourceful brothers as they witness the opening of a local pizza shop, and…
- Diplomacy (2014)
- Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Andre Dussollier, Niels Arestrup, Burghart Klaussner…
- A thematically rich and expertly staged historical drama that depicts the relationship between Dietrich von Choltitz, the German military governor of…
- Eden (2014)
- Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Félix de Givry, Pauline Etienne, Vincent Macaigne…
- Peculiarly affecting drama set in the underground "garage" dance subculture of early–nineties Paris, where a teenager forms a DJ collective…
- Far from Men (2014)
- Dir. David Oelhoffen
Feat. Viggo Mortensen, Reda Kateb
- Viggo Mortensen stars in this existential western adapted from an Albert Camus' short story. Set in Algeria in the fifties, Mortensen is charged with…
- Folies Bergère (Paris Follies) (2014)
- Dir. Marc Fitoussi
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Michael Nyqvist…
- Isabelle Huppert stars in this lighty comic French tale as a as a farmer’s wife who takes off to Paris on a whim and finds romance in unexpected…
- Fool, The (Durak) (2014)
- Dir. Yuri Bykov
Feat. Artyom Bystrov, Boris Nevzorov, Natalia Surkova
- An idealistic Russian plumber discovers a building is about to collapse, and when he alerts the authorities of the need to evacuate the residents…
- Force Majeure (Turist) (2014)
- Dir. Ruben Östlund
Feat. Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Kristofer Hivju…
- A barbed and incisive Swedish black comedy of gender politics, centred around a family on a skiing holiday in the French Alps who face a recognizable…
- Giovanni's Island (2014)
- Dir. Mizuho Nishikubo
- Affecting anime drama in the mould of GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES set in the Kuril Islands during the aftermath of WWII where a friendship blossoms…
- Girlhood (2014)
- Dir. Céline Sciamma
Feat. Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh…
- Potent coming–of–age drama set on the margins of Paris that follows a 16–year–old girl whose poor prospects tempt her to join…
- Haemoo (2014)
- Dir. Sung-Bo Shim
Feat. Yun-seok Kim, Yoo-chun Park, Ye-ri Han
- Harrowing account of a fishing–boat crew that takes on a dangerous commission to smuggle a group of illegal immigrants from China to Korea.
- Hidden Away (A escondidas) (2014)
- Dir. Mikel Rueda
Feat. German Alcarazu, Adil Koukouh, Joseba Ugalde
- Spanish romantic drama filmed in neighbourhoods throughout Bilbao, exploring themes of sexual awakening, racism and deportation through the story of…
- I Am Happiness on Earth (2014)
- Dir. Julien Hernandez
Feat. Hugo Catalan, Gabino Rodriguez, Andrea Portal
- Gay–themed Mexican film about the infatuation a commitment–phobic film director has for a talented dancer. Director Julian Hernandez…
- Labyrinth of Lies (2014)
- Dir. Giulio Ricciarelli
Feat. Alexander Fehling, Johannes Krisch, Friederike Becht…
- Thought–provoking drama set in 1950's Germany in which an ambitious young prosecutor's pursuit of an Auschwitz commandant exposes the…
- Legacy, The - Series 1 (TV Series) (Arvingerne) (2014)
- Feat. Trine Dyrholm, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Lene Maria Christensen…
- From the creators of BORGEN and THE KILLING comes this gripping drama in which the death of a matriarch brings forgotten secrets out into the open…
- Leviathan (2014)
- Dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev
Feat. Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Vdovichenkov…
- A bleak but compelling allegory of modern Russia is lensed through a fisherman's struggle against bureaucracy, corruption and demons of his own as he…
- Love at First Fight (Les Combattants) (2014)
- Dir. Thomas Cailley
Feat. Adele Haenel, Kevin Azais, Antoine Laurent…
- An intensely physical take on the romantic comedy, with an awkward summer romance taking place at a French survivalist camp between a…
- Mommy (2014)
- Dir. Xavier Dolan
Feat. Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément, Antoine-Olivier Pilon…
- Xavier Dolan directs this piercing account of a widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, who finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor…
- New Girlfriend, The (Une Nouvelle Amie) (2014)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
- Playful and stylish exploration of gender identity and eroticism based on a short story by Ruth Rendell, in which a grieving widower begins dressing…
- Phoenix (2014)
- Dir. Christian Petzold
Feat. Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf
- The director of YELLA and BARBARA reunites with his ingenue Nina Hoss for this romantic tale of deception about a concentration camp survivor who…
- Saint Laurent (2014)
- Dir. Bertrand Bonello
Feat. Gaspard Ulliel, Jeremie Renier, Louis Garrel…
- A decadent alternate portrait of the iconic fashion designer covering the peak of his career from 1967 to 1976. From the dir. of HOUSE OF PLEASURES.
- Samba (2014)
- Dir. Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Feat. Omar Sy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tahar Rahim…
- The creative force behind THE INTOUCHABLES return with this inspirational drama centered on the redeeming relationship between a Senegalese…
- Second Chance, A (2014)
- Dir. Susanne Bier
Feat. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Thomas Bo Larsen…
- Susanne Bier directs a haunting melodrama about the contrasting lives of two police officers, whose lives take a dark turn after finding a neglected…
- Silent Heart (2014)
- Dir. Bille August
Feat. Ghita Norby, Paprika Steen, Jens Albinus…
- Earnest chamber drama about three generations of a family coming together over a weekend. A sick mother's wish to die before her disease worsens gets…
- Someone You Love (2014)
- Dir. Pernille Fischer Christensen
Feat. Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
- Danish drama about an aging singer whose recording process is interrupted by the arrival of a grandson he's never met.
- Timbuktu (2014)
- Dir. Abderrahmane Sissako
Feat. Abel Jafri, Hichem Yacoubi
- A powerful and subtle drama set in the city of Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa. The city has been occupied by Jihadists, and the citizens are suffering…
- Two Days, One Night (2014)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salee
- Marion Cotillard stars as a young mother, discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal. She has…
- Winter Sleep (2014)
- Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Feat. Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen, Demet Akbag
- Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes this provocative drama follows a local celebrity who runs a small hotel with his wife. In winter…
- Wonders, The (Le Meraviglie) (2014)
- Dir. Alice Rohrwacher
Feat. Alba Rohrwacher, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Sam Louwyck
- A Tuscan family of beekeepers find their household disrupted by the arrival of a silently troubled teenage boy and a reality TV show intent on…
- Yves Saint Laurent (2014)
- Dir. Jalil Lespert
Feat. Pierre Niney, Charlotte Le Bon, Guillaume Gallienne
- A look at the life and loves of famed French designer Yves Saint Laurent.
- A Touch of Sin (2013)
- Dir. Jia Zhang-ke
Feat. Wu Jiang, Baoqiang Wang, Zhao Tao
- Another striking modern tale of urban discontent from leading Chinese auteur Jia Zhang–ke, one which remains as perceptive and…
- Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013)
- Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche
Feat. Léa Seydoux, Adele Exarchopoulos
- The Cannes Palm D'Or–winning drama that explores, in a series of elongated sequences, a young woman's blossoming sexuality and maturity when…
- Borgen - Series 3 (TV Series) (2013)
- Feat. Sidse Babett Knudsen, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Pilou Asbæk
- Further episodes from the Bafta–winning Danish political drama in which an idealistic prime minister's rise to power brings with it a web of…
- Broken Circle Breakdown, The (2013)
- Dir. Felix Van Groeningen
Feat. Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh, Nell Cattrysse
- Dynamic and sexy musical romance set in the Flemish region of Belgium over seven years of poignant love and loss, and featuring a magnificent…
- Camille Claudel, 1915 (2013)
- Dir. Bruno Dumont
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent
- Another acting masterclass from the formidable Juliette Binoche intensifies this clear–sighted portrait of misunderstood sculptress Camille…
- Child's Pose (2013)
- Dir. Calin Peter Netzer
Feat. Luminita Gheorghiu, Vlad Ivanov
- A manipulative mother contrives to keep her adult son out of prison following a manslaughter charge in this gripping character drama from the…
- Eastern Boys (2013)
- Dir. Robin Campillo
Feat. Olivier Rabourdin, Kirill Emelyanov, Danil Vorobyev
- Unconventional thriller explores the shifting dynamics in a relationship between an older man and a young immigrant male hustler.
- Father Brown (TV Series) (2013)
- Feat. Mark Williams, Hugo Speer, Sorcha Cusack
- A reboot of the 1970's British television detective period drama about the eponymous Roman Catholic priest who solves crimes in a fictional Cotswold…
- Finishers, The (De toutes nos forces) (2013)
- Dir. Nils Tavernier
Feat. Jacques Gamblin, Alexandra Lamy, Fabien Héraud
- Inspiring tale of a father's attempt to bond with his cerebral palsy–afflicted son by participating in an Ironman endurance contest. A real…
- Friends From France (Les interdits) (2013)
- Dir. Philippe Kotlarski, Anne Weil
- Two cousins pose as an engaged couple on a tour to Odessa in order to help liberate persecuted Jews in this suspenseful Iron Curtain thriller.
- Garden of Words, The (2013)
- Dir. Makoto Shinkai
Feat. Miyu Irino, Kana Hanazawa
- Another gorgeous animated romance from the director of 5 CENTIMETRES PER SECOND, centred on the poignant relationship between a sensitive teenager…
- German Doctor, The (2013)
- Dir. Lucía Puenzo
Feat. Àlex Brendemühl, Natalia Oreiro
- Chilling domestic thriller centred on the Argentine family who lived unknowingly with Josef Mengele, the notorious Auschwitz physician, after he fled…
- Gloria (2013)
- Dir. Sebastián Lelio
Feat. Paulina García, Sergio Hernández
- Another superb Chilean drama in the wake of the previous year's NO, Paulina Garcia plays a free–spirited 58–year–old divorcee who…
- Great Beauty, The (2013)
- Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Feat. Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli…
- This Academy–Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film has dir. Paolo Sorrentino's regular frontman Toni Servillo as an aging Roman…
- Heart of a Lion (2013)
- Dir. Dome Karukoski
Feat. Laura Birn, Peter Franzén
- Thoughtful character study of an ultranationalist skinhead whose racist attitudes soften through his desire for a family – specifically his…
- Homeland (2013)
- Dir. Mohamed Hamidi
Feat. Tewfik Jallab, Jamel Debbouze
- In this affecting tale of self–discovery, a French law student visits his father’s village in Algeria for the first time, only to have his…
- Ida (2013)
- Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
Feat. Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza
- The ghosts of the Holcaust and Stalinism haunt this modern masterpiece about a young nun, who on the verge of taking her vows, visits her only…
- In Bloom (2013)
- Dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili
Feat. Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria
- Set in the newly independent state of Georgia in the wake of the Soviet regime, this powerful story follows two young girls as they courageously…
- Jappeloup (2013)
- Dir. Christian Duguay
Feat. Guillaume Canet, Marina Hands, Daniel Auteuil…
- A workmanlike rendering of the feats of Jappeloup, a diminutive horse who went to triumph against the odds at the 1988 Seoul games, becoming a French…
- Just a Sigh (2013)
- Dir. Jérôme Bonnell
Feat. Emmanuelle Devos, Gabriel Byrne
- Emmanuelle Devos and Gabriel Byrne experience a brief encounter as an actress and a professor who trade glances on a Paris–bound train. A…
- Like Father, Like Son (2013)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yôko Maki…
- Two divergent families struggle to cope with the revelation that their young sons were swapped at birth in this moving domestic drama from dir.…
- Living is Easy with Eyes Closed (2013)
- Dir. David Trueba
Feat. Javier Camara, Natalia de Molina, Francesc Colomer…
- Award–winning Spanish comedy concerning a Beatles–obsessed school teacher on a quest to meet John Lennon, picking up two teenage runaways…
- Mood Indigo (2013)
- Dir. Michel Gondry
Feat. Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh…
- Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris star in this wild interpretation of Boris Vian’s cult novel 'Froth on the Daydream' from dir. Michel Gondry.
- Nightingale, The (2013)
- Dir. Phillippe Muyl
Feat. Baotian Li, Xiaoran Li, Xin Yi Yang
- Gentle drama that draws together an elderly farmer and his spoiled urban grand–daughter on a lengthy pilgrimage through beautiful…
- Norte, The End of History (2013)
- Dir. Lav Diaz
Feat. Sid Lucero
- Epic Dostoyevskian themes of cultural memory, national guilt and the origin of evil are translated to a modern–day Phillipines setting in this…
- Of Horses and Men (2013)
- Dir. Benedikt Erlingsson
Feat. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Charlotte Bøving, Kristbjörg Kjeld
- A series of comic vignettes of life in a rural Icelandic community, which shows the intertwined lives of humans and horses in sometimes awkward…
- Omar (2013)
- Dir. Hany Abu-Assad
Feat. Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany
- This gripping new film from the dir. of PARADISE NOW concerns a Palestinian freedom fighter who is tricked into becoming an informant for the Israeli…
- On My Way (2013)
- Dir. Emmanuelle Bercot
Feat. Catherine Deneuve
- A fine late–life outing for the ageless Catherine Deneuve, here playing a free–spirited grandmother who takes to the road with her…
- Paradise: Hope (Paradise Hope) (2013)
- Dir. Ulrich Seidl
Feat. Melanie Lenz, Joseph Lorenz
- Austrian provocateur Ulrich Seidl dispatches a typically unvarnished portrait of institutional ritual with this concluding chapter to his PARADISE…
- Past, The (2013)
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi's follow–up to the acclaimed A SEPARATION centres on a man who must face the complications of divorce after he leaves his…
- Rock the Casbah (2013)
- Dir. Laïla Marrakchi
Feat. Morjana Alaoui, Nadine Labaki, Lubna Azabal…
- Culturally–specific family comedy in which three women reunite in Morocco to mourn in accordance with Muslim tradition following the death of…
- Rocket, The (2013)
- Dir. Kim Mordaunt
Feat. Sitthiphon Disamoe
- The uplifting story of a cursed boy who strives to prove himself by building a giant rocket for the occasion of Laos' famous Rocket Festival.
- Siddharth (2013)
- Dir. Richie Mehta
Feat. Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee
- Another bracing neo–realist drama from the director of AMAL about a tea–seller from Delhi who travels across India in search of his…
- Tattoo (Tatuagem) (2013)
- Dir. Hilton Lacerda
Feat. Irandhir Santos, Jesuíta Barbosa, Rodrigo Garcia
- Singular Brazilian film set in the 70's, where the leader of a debaucherous cabaret theatre troupe falls in love with a soldier, and is torn between…
- Turning Tide (2013)
- Dir. Christophe Offenstein
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Samy Seghir, Virginie Efira…
- Francois Cluzet stars as an intrepid solo round–the–world yacht racer battling the elements, a crippled ship, and an immigrant boy…
- Venus in Fur (2013)
- Dir. Roman Polanski
Feat. Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
- Roman Polanski masterfully adapts David Ives' play–within–a–play about an actress who goes to great lengths to convince a director…
- Violette (2013)
- Dir. Martin Provost
Feat. Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet
- Emmanuelle Devos is hypnotic as Violette Leduc, the French writer whose fearless memoirs, championed by Simone de Beauvoir, broke new boundaries for…
- We Are the Best (Vi är bäst!) (2013)
- Dir. Lukas Moodysson
Feat. Mira Grosin, Mira Barkhammar, Liv LeMoyne
- Endearing portrait of teenage experimentation set in early '80s Stockholm where two decidedly unmusical 13–year–old girls decide to form…
- Wetlands (2013)
- Dir. David Wnendt
Feat. Carla Juri, Christoph Letkowski, Marlen Kruse
- Provocative comic tale of an eccentric girl who has strange attitudes towards hygiene and sexuality longs for the reunion of her divorced parents.
- A Gun in Each Hand (2012)
- Dir. Cesc Gay
Feat. Javier Camara, Ricardo Darín, Jordi Molla…
- A talk–em–up as opposed to a shoot–em–up, this lively portmanteau follows the dissatisfied lives of eight middle–aged…
- A Lady in Paris (2012)
- Dir. Ilmar Raag
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Laine Mägi, Patrick Pineau
- An Estonian woman bereft of loved ones moves to France to care for an elderly expatriate who still obsessively pines for a former younger lover. An…
- A Royal Affair (2012)
- Dir. Nikolaj Arcel
Feat. Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
- 18th Century Denmark is the backdrop for this high–costumed drama about the love affair between Queen Caroline Matilda and her royal physician…
- After May (Something in the Air) (2012)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Lola Créton, Clément Métayer
- Hatched from dir. Olivier Assayas' personal experiences, this bittersweet evocation of the leftist fervour that caught hold of young Europeans in the…
- Amour (2012)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert
- An octogenarian couple find their love put to the ultimate test when one of them suffers a stroke in this devastating humanist drama from master…
- Augustine (2012)
- Dir. Alice Winocour
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Soko , Chiara Mastroianni…
- Romantic drama speculating on a relationship (that in reality did not occur) between the 19th Century French neurologist Jean–Martin Charcot…
- Barbara (2012)
- Dir. Christian Petzold
Feat. Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock
- A doctor who dreams of defecting from 1980's East Germany is banished to a country medical clinic under the possible watch of Stasi informants in…
- Bekas (2012)
- Dir. Karzan Kader
Feat. Zamand Taha, Sarwar Fazil
- Two Iraqi orphans fantasize about travelling to America and summoning the help of Superman in this simple yet stirring childhood adventure, one that…
- Beyond the Hills (2012)
- Dir. Cristian Mungiu
Feat. Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur
- Cristian Mungiu directs this engrossing companion piece to his Cannes–winning 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, about the test of closeness between…
- Blancanieves (2012)
- Dir. Pablo Berger
Feat. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Angela Molina, Maribel Verdu…
- The legend of Snow White is transposed to the bullfighting, flamenco dancing netherworld of the Spanish provinces in this beautiful and beguiling…
- Dangerous Liaisons (2012)
- Dir. Jin-ho Hur
Feat. Cecilia Cheung, Jang Dong-Gun, Zhang Ziyi
- A sumptuous new adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' famous novel, relocating the grand sexual conspiracy to opulent 1930s Shanghai, where two wealthy…
- Farewell, My Queen (2012)
- Dir. Benoît Jacquot
Feat. Diane Kruger, Léa Seydoux, Virginie Ledoyen…
- Benoît Jacquot’s film goes behind the scenes of Louis XVI and — more specifically — Marie Antoinette’s court during…
- Fill the Void (2012)
- Dir. Rama Burshtein
Feat. Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein
- A young woman negotiates the fraught rite of arranged marriage in this austere insight into rituals of an Orthodox Hassidic family in Tel Aviv.
- Hannah Arendt (2012)
- Dir. Margarethe von Trotta
Feat. Barbara Sukowa, Janet McTeer, Julia Jentsch…
- Barbara Sukowa portrays famed German–American political theorist Hannah Arendt during her response to the 1961 trial of ex–Nazi Adolf…
- Haute Cuisine (2012)
- Dir. Christian Vincent
Feat. Catherine Frot, Hippolyte Girardot
- A heavenly food biopic of the life of Danièle Delpeuch, celebrated private chef to the French president, François Mitterrand.
- Hunt, The (2012)
- Dir. Thomas Vinterberg
Feat. Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen
- A hard–hitting moral drama of everyday persecution from dir. Thomas Vinterberg, starring Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher whose life is shattered by…
- In the Fog (2012)
- Dir. Sergey Loznitsa
Feat. Vladislav Svirskiy, Vladislav Abashin
- Intense, slow burning Russian drama exploring the moralities of war through the story of a man wrongly accused of collaboration with the German…
- In the House (2012)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Fabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner…
- Set in a literary milieu, this deliciously warped meta drama from dir. Francois Ozon concerns the writings of a precocious 16–year–old…
- Inch'Allah (2012)
- Dir. Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette
Feat. Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Sivan Levy
- A French Canadian doctor working in Ramallah experiences the conflict of the Israel–Palestine divide firsthand in this powerful…
- Italian Film Festival Collection, The - 2012: Volume One (2012)
- Comprehensive box–set collection of 16 of the best Italian films featured at the 'Italian Film Festival 2012' spread over 5 discs.
Films…
- Italian Film Festival Collection, The - 2012: Volume Two (2012)
- Comprehensive box–set collection of 14 of the best Italian films featured at the 'Italian Film Festival 2012' spread over 5 discs.
Films…
- Jackie (2012)
- Dir. Antoinette Beumer
Feat. Carice Van Houten, Jelka van Houten, Holly Hunter
- Two Dutch sisters (played by real life siblings Carice and van Houten) trek from the Netherlands to mid–west America in aid of a mother they've…
- Kon-Tiki (2012)
- Dir. Espen Sandberg, Joachim Roenning
Feat. Pål Sverre Hagen
- A rousing dramatisation of the 1947 voyage of the legendary Kon–Tiki, a balsa–wood raft lead across the Pacific by Norwegian explorer…
- Last Sentence, The (2012)
- Dir. Jan Troell
Feat. Jesper Christensen, Pernilla August
- Anchored by a superb Jesper Christensen, this serious and sombre biopic accurately reflects Swedish journalist Jesper Christensen's stubborn…
- Laurence Anyways (2012)
- Dir. Xavier Dolan
Feat. Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye…
- Young French–Canadian actor/director Xavier Dolan stays behind the camera of his third film (made at 23 years of age, no less), an assured…
- Looking for Hortense (2012)
- Dir. Pascal Bonitzer
Feat. Jean-Pierre Bacri, Kristin Scott Thomas, Isabelle Carré…
- This bittersweet comedy of manners finds familiar May–December pleasures in the mid–life journey of an unhappily married professor who…
- Lore (2012)
- Dir. Cate Shortland
Feat. Saskia Rosendahl
- A satisfyingly ambitious and haunting drama from the Australian dir. of SOMERSAULT, set in Europe in the aftermath of WWII.
Following the arrest…
- Man Who Laughs, The (2012)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Améris
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Marc-André Grondin, Emmanuelle Seigner…
- Victor Hugo's classic tale of two orphans – one disfigured, one blind – who become popular entertainers compels in this handsomely…
- Masquerade (2012)
- Dir. Chang-min Choo
Feat. Byung-hun Lee
- A Chosun Dynasty monarch under threat of assassination recruits a jester who specialises in satrising royals to impersonate him in this richly…
- My Straight Son (Azul y no tan rosa) (2012)
- Dir. Miguel Ferrari
Feat. Guillermo Garcia, Nacho Montes, Hilda Abrahamz
- Venezuelan drama about a successful gay photographer living in Caracas whose teenage son from a past relationship comes to stay. Unfamiliar with the…
- Neighboring Sounds (Neighbouring Sounds) (2012)
- Dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho
Feat. Irandhir Santos, Maeve Jinkings, Gustavo Jahn
- The striking feature debut of Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho (BACURAU) depicting life on a sheltered prosperous street adjacent to a poor…
- No (2012)
- Dir. Pablo Larrain
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro
- Gael Garcia Bernal plays an ad executive who conceives a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum in this unique celebration of…
- Oh Boy (A Coffee in Berlin) (2012)
- Dir. Jan Ole Gerster
Feat. Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler
- A college dropout wanders the streets of Berlin contemplating his place in the world in this ironic portrait of early adulthood.
- On Air (Parlez-moi de vous) (2012)
- Dir. Pierre Pinaud
Feat. Karin Viard, Nicolas Duvauchelle
- A solid character vehicle for French mainstay Karin Viard, here playing the sophisticated host of a radio talkback show, whose knack for delivering…
- Other Son, The (2012)
- Dir. Lorraine Levy
Feat. Emmanuelle Devos, Pascal Elbé, Jules Sitruk…
- Two families on either side of the Israeli–Palestinian divide learn that their sons were switched at birth in this moving human drama.
- Paradise: Faith (Paradise Faith) (2012)
- Dir. Ulrich Seidl
Feat. Maria Hofstatter, Nabil Saleh, Natalija Baranova
- The second installment of Ulrich Seidl's PARADISE trilogy follows Anna Maria, the sister of Teresa (in PARADISE: LOVE), a single woman in her 50s…
- Paradise: Love (Paradise Love) (2012)
- Dir. Ulrich Seidl
Feat. Margarethe Tiesel
- The first chapter of the Ulrich Seidl's PARADISE trilogy is a provocative take on exotic romance in which a middle–aged Austrian woman plays…
- Patience Stone, The (2012)
- Dir. Atiq Rahimi
Feat. Golshifteh Farahani, Hami Djavadan
- Atiq Rahimi's adapts his own bestselling novel about a Muslim woman whose paralyzed husband offers quiet relief amid the sorrows of life in a…
- Pieta (2012)
- Dir. Kim Ki-Duk
Feat. Min-soo Jo, Jung-Jin Lee
- Kim Ki–Duk directs this controversial Golden Lion winner, about a debt–collecting thug who is forced to confront his violent ways when a…
- Reality (2012)
- Dir. Matteo Garrone
Feat. Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Nando Paone
- A working class scam artist tries out for 'Big Brother' in this bustling, Fellini–esque satire of unrealised dreams from dir. Matteo Garrone…
- Renoir (2012)
- Dir. Gilles Bourdos
Feat. Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers…
- Sumptuous, sun–kissed art biopic based on the last years of impressionist painter Auguste Renoir (Bouquet) during World War I, and the…
- Rita (TV Series) (2012-2015)
- Feat. Mille Dinesen, Lise Baastrup, Carsten Bjørnlund…
- Danish comedy series following the life of a defiantly outspoken school teacher and single mother who excels in her teaching but struggles in her…
- Rust and Bone (2012)
- Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Celine Sallette…
- Jacques Audiard (A PROPHET) directs this searing drama of a broken woman (Marion Cotillard) who rediscovers the will to live through an itinerant man…
- Silent Youth (2012)
- Dir. Diemo Kemmesies
Feat. Martin Bruchmann, Josef Mattes, Linda Schule
- Low key German indie drama offering a story of gay first love, replete with palpable sexual tension and interesting, honest performances. Like so…
- Sister (2012)
- Dir. Ursula Meier
Feat. Léa Seydoux, Kacey Mottet Klein, Martin Compston…
- On the slopes of a Swiss ski resort, a resourceful 12–year–old boy steals to support his troubled older sister in this fine…
- Suskind (2012)
- Dir. Rudolf van den Berg
Feat. Karl Markovics, Jeroen Spitzenberger
- A serious, respectful historical dramatisation of the deeds of Walter Sueskind, a Jewish industrialist in Amsterdam who used his leverage as an…
- Tabu (2012)
- Dir. Miguel Gomes
Feat. Teresa Madruga, Laura Soveral, Ana Moreira…
- A retired woman seeks out a man with a secret connection to her past life as a plantation owner in Africa in this a beguiling black and white mystery.
- Taste of Money, The (2012)
- Dir. Sang-soo Im
Feat. Kang-woo Kim, Yoon-sik Baek, Yuh-jung Youn
- The dir. of THE HOUSEMAID buffs this heady class critique of Korea's impudent elite to a high sheen, with the lust and corruption of a wealthy family…
- Teddy Bear (10 Timer til Paradis) (2012)
- Dir. Mads Matthiesen
Feat. Kim Kold
- Real life body–builder Kim Kold stars as a shy and awkward 38 year–old Danish bodybuilder who still lives with his mum, but decides to…
- Thérèse Desqueyroux (Therese Desqueyroux) (2012)
- Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier
- In pre–war France, a free–spirited woman joins a wealthy landowner in a loveless marriage. Audrey Tautou dials down the cute to deliver…
- Third Half, The (2012)
- Dir. Darko Mitrevski
Feat. Katarina Ivanovska, Sasko Kocev
- A Macedonian football club hires a German coach to galvanize the team as Nazis prepare to enter the country in this wartime occupation drama.
- Wadjda (2012)
- Dir. Haifaa Al-Mansour
Feat. Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah
- This humanist triumph is the first ever feature to be shot in Saudi Arabia, centering on a plucky young girl who attempts to raise money for a…
- War Witch (Rebelle) (2012)
- Dir. Kim Nguyen
Feat. Rachel Mwanza
- A remarkable magical realist portrayal of the tragedy of child soldiering in one of Africa’s many civil wars, with the phenomenal Rachel Mwanza as…
- Welcome Aboard (2012)
- Dir. Jean Becker
Feat. Patrick Chesnais, Jeanne Lambert, Miou-Miou
- No stranger to movies about unlikely friendships, dir. Jean Becker balances sentiment with pathos in this finely drawn character study of a…
- White Elephant (2012)
- Dir. Pablo Trapero
Feat. Ricardo Darín, Jeremie Renier, Martina Gusman
- Two priests determined to build a hospital in a Buenos Aires shantytown encounter violent resistance from local drug lords in this superb social…
- Yossi (2012)
- Dir. Eytan Fox
Feat. Ohad Knoller
- A satisfying, exploratory follow–up to Israeli gay drama YOSSI AND JAGGER, this catches up with the titular Yossi, now ten years older and no…
- A Happy Event (Un Heureux Evenement) (2011)
- Dir. Rémi Bezançon
Feat. Louise Bourgoin, Pio Marmaï, Josiane Balasko…
- Keenly felt depiction of the baby blues as a young couple struggle to come to grips with parenthood.
- Against the Wind (Headwinds) (2011)
- Dir. Jalil Lespert
Feat. Benoit Magimel, Isabelle Carré, Bouli Lanners…
- Quality French drama explores the emotional wreck of a widower who tries to rebuild his life and make sense of his loss in the aftermath of his…
- Ages of Love (Manual of Love 3) (2011)
- Dir. Giovanni Veronesi
Feat. Robert De Niro, Monica Bellucci, Riccardo Scamarcio…
- Third installment in the fluffy romantic series has benefits from the presence of De Niro as a visiting professor seduced by his neighbour's…
- All Our Desires (2011)
- Dir. Philippe Lioret
Feat. Marie Gillain, Vincent Lindon
- Well–meaning social melodrama from the dir. of WELCOME follows the determined fight by a judge to defend an impoverished woman from ruthless…
- And If We All Lived Together (2011)
- Dir. Stéphane Robelin
Feat. Guy Bedos, Daniel Brühl, Geraldine Chaplin…
- Five 70–something friends resolve to move in together when faced with life in a retirement home, much to the fascination of a ethnology student…
- Back to Stay (2011)
- Dir. Milagros Mumenthaler
Feat. María Canale, Martina Juncadella , Ailín Salas…
- A spare, melancholic film that languidly reveals its narrative secrets as three bickering sisters clash in their neglected Buenos Aires family…
- Beginning of the Great Revival (The Founding of a Party) (2011)
- Dir. Sanping Han, Jianxin Huang
Feat. Andy Lau, Chow Yun-Fat, Daniel Wu…
- In the tradition of unashamedly jingoistic cinema comes this state–sanctioned celebration of ninety years of Chinese Communist Party rule.…
- Beloved (2011)
- Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier…
- An expressive, cosmopolitan musical about the life and loves of a mother and daughter spanning four decades, played by the Real McCoy, Catherine…
- Borgen - Series 2 (TV Series) (2011)
- Feat. Sidse Babett Knudsen, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Pilou Asbæk
- Further episodes from the Bafta–winning Danish political drama in which an idealistic prime minister's rise to power brings with it a web of…
- Bunohan (Return to Murder) (2011)
- Dir. Dain Said
Feat. Zahiril Adzim, Faizal Hussein, Wan Hanafisu…
- Somber martial–arts flick with three estranged brothers returning to their hometown to care for their ailing father. Interesting hybrid of…
- Café de Flore (2011)
- Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Feat. Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent
- Two parallel stories of love and hope transcend their time difference in this fantastical juggling act from French–Canadian filmmaker…
- Chinese Takeaway (2011)
- Dir. Sebastian Borensztein
Feat. Ricardo Darín, Muriel Santa Ana, Ignacio Huang…
- Wry comedy of clashing cultures centres on an unlikely friendship between a curmudgeonly hardware store–owner and a young immigrant.
- Circumstance (2011)
- Dir. Maryam Keshavarz
Feat. Sarah Kazemy, Nikohl Boosheri, Reza Sixo Safai…
- A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's dangerous obsession in this courageous, if…
- Corpo Celeste (2011)
- Dir. Alice Rohrwacher
Feat. Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli
- A thirteen–year–old girl moves back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister and struggles to find her place, restlessly…
- Declaration of War (2011)
- Dir. Valérie Donzelli
Feat. Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm
- A young couple go to war for their cancer–stricken child in this galvanizing drama, based on dir. Valérie Donzelli's fight for the life of her…
- Elena (2011)
- Dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev
Feat. Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov, Aleksey Rozin
- An old fashioned mortality play told through the eyes of Russia's new monied class, centred on the wife of a wealthy businessman whose sudden death…
- Elles (2011)
- Dir. Malgorzata Szumowska
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Anaïs Demoustier, Joanna Kulig
- Juliette Binoche plays an investigative reporter who becomes entangled in the world of student prostitution in this serious erotic thriller.
- Flowers of War, The (2011)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Paul Schneider
- Dir. Zhang Yimou tackles the Nanking massacre with equal parts grim realism and stylish melodrama – befitting of a lavish wartime epic, less so…
- Footnote (2011)
- Dir. Joseph Cedar
Feat. Shlomo Bar-Aba, Lior Ashkenazi, Micah Lewnsohn
- A father and son's complicated relationship is tested over the award of a vaunted academic prize in their shared field of Talmudic studies in this…
- Forgiveness of Blood, The (2011)
- Dir. Joshua Marston
Feat. Tristan Halilaj, Refet Abazi, Zana Hasaj
- Dir. Joshua Marston (MARIA FULL OF GRACE) helms this engrossing Albanian drama of family blood feuds and the tensions between tradition and…
- Giants, The (2011)
- Dir. Bouli Lanners
Feat. Zacharie Chasseriaud, Martin Nissen, Paul Bartel
- The misadventures of two teenage brothers and a local misfit are engagingly recounted in this balmy Belgium picaresque.
- Goodbye, First Love (2011)
- Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky
- The director of FATHER OF MY CHILDREN turns her nuanced lens on the passionate but slow–maturing romance between a couple who break up in their…
- Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
- Dir. Takashi Miike
Feat. Koji Yakusho, Naoto Takenaka
- The ever–versatile Takashi Miike changes tack from his rollicking samurai adventure, 13 ASSASSINS, to deliver a restrained and resonant tale of…
- Himizu (2011)
- Dir. Sion Sono
Feat. Shota Sometani, Tetsu Watanabe, Fumi Nikaido
- Bleak coming–of–age story with two teens scraping out an existence in post–tsunami Japan and embarking on a campaign of violence…
- House of Pleasures (House of Tolerance) (2011)
- Dir. Bertrand Bonello
Feat. Hafsia Herzi, Jasmine Trinca, Noemie Lvovsky…
- Richly designed elegy set in a Parisian bordello at the end of the 18th century follows the working lives of its varied inhabitants. Bonello's…
- I Wish (2011)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Koki Maeda, Ohshiro Maeda, Yui Natsukawa…
- Two brothers living in different cities because of their parents' separation conspire to reunite them through a mythical 'wish' in this delicate,…
- In Darkness (2011)
- Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Robert Wieckiewicz, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis
- A stirring, endlessly suspenseful wartime resistance drama from dir. Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA, EUROPA), about the ordinary men and women surviving…
- Intouchables, The (2011)
- Dir. Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny…
- Exemplary feel–good French comedy that details the unlikely friendship between an aristocratic quadriplegic and a young French–African…
- Italian Film Festival Collection, The - 2011 (2011)
- Comprehensive box–set collection of 11 of the best Italian films featured at the 'Italian Film Festival 2011' spread over 5 discs.
Film…
- Jewel, The (2011)
- Dir. Andrea Molaioli
Feat. Toni Servillo, Remo Girone, Sarah Felberbaum
- Mordant morality tale set in the world of big–business with Servillo as a very 'creative' accountant trying everything to keep his company…
- Kid with a Bike, The (2011)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Thomas Doret, Cecile De France, Jeremie Renier…
- Yet another impressive work of contemporary social realism from Belgian duo Jean–Luc and Pierre Dardenne, this time observing the growing pains…
- King of Pigs, The (2011)
- Dir. Sang-ho Yeon
- A tough, hard–glancing Korean anime about two adults who recall their violent school days as both purveyors and victims of systemic bullying.…
- Kiss Me (Kyss mig, aka With Every Heartbeat) (2011)
- Dir. Alexandra-Therese Keining
Feat. Ruth Vega Fernandez, Liv Mjönes, Krister Henriksson
- Heartfelt romantic drama about a woman who is engaged to be married when she finds herself falling for her soon–to–be stepmother's…
- Lan Kwai Fong (2011)
- Dir. Wilson Chin
Feat. Shiga Lin
- Hong Kong's answer to SEX AND THE CITY set in its central nightlife district, where lust is rampant and love elusive for an ensemble of handsome…
- Las Acacias (2011)
- Dir. Pablo Giorgelli
Feat. Germán de Silva, Hebe Duarte
- An improbable gem of the road movie genre, about the slow–forming relationship between a long–haul truck driver and the woman (and…
- Le Havre (2011)
- Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Andre Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin…
- An old–time shoe–shiner befriends a young African refugee in hiding from immigration authorities in this soft–centred comedy from…
- Life Without Principle (2011)
- Dir. Johnnie To
Feat. Lau Ching-wan, Terence Yin, Richie Ren
- Hong Kong's master of suspense crafts this swirling triumvirate of stories centred on unraveling lives amidst the global financial crisis.
Combing…
- Love Exposure (2011)
- Dir. Sion Sono
Feat. Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima
- Notorious cinematic oddity from Japanese director Sion Sono (WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL), following the adventures of a Catholic teenage boy who…
- Michael (2011)
- Dir. Markus Schleinzer
Feat. Michael Fuith
- Brilliant and disturbingly macabre directorial debut from Markus Schleinzer, observing a man who has imprisoned a 10–year old boy in his…
- Minister, The (2011)
- Dir. Pierre Schöller
Feat. Olivier Gourmet, Michel Blanc, Zabou Breitman…
- Nuanced political drama follows the daily process of governance from the vantage point of of the French Transport Minister as he negotiates the…
- Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
- Dir. Philippe Falardeau
Feat. Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nelisse, Emilien Neron…
- An asylum seeking Algerian attempts to pass himself off as teacher in a Canadian school bereft after the suicide of a popular teacher.
- My Best Enemy (2011)
- Dir. Wolfgang Murnberger
Feat. Moritz Bleibtreu, Georg Friedrich, Ursula Strauss
- A Jewish man switches places with his Nazi best friend in order to survive, in this dark WWII drama.
- My Piece of the Pie (2011)
- Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Karin Viard, Gilles Lellouche
- A Capra–esque satire shot in the mode of a French romantic comedy, replete with clunky political statements and glossy Euro visuals. Karin…
- Play (2011)
- Dir. Ruben Östlund
- Ruban Östlund (THE SQUARE) directs this acute observation of bullying based on true events, in which a group of adolescent boys robbed other…
- Policeman (2011)
- Dir. Nadav Lapid
Feat. Yiftach Klein
- With contemporary Israel as its disquieting backdrop, this sharp and incisive account of revolutionary action, witnessed through the eyes of a…
- Polisse (2011)
- Dir. Maïwenn
Feat. Karin Viard, Marina Fois, Nicolas Duvauchelle …
- A tough, unglamorous insight into the police work of a Parisian Juvenile Protection Unit, whose officers grapple with the moral and personal dilemmas…
- Separation, A (2011)
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat…
- Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this masterfully layered domestic drama sees the wheels of justice turn slowly against a…
- Source, The (La Source des femmes) (2011)
- Dir. Radu Mihaileanu
Feat. Leïla Bekhti, Hafsia Herzi, Hiam Abbass
- A dashing feminist dramedy sprung from the male bias in the Middle East, about a village of women who take up a 'sex strike' after their husbands…
- Spark of Life, The (As Luck Would Have It) (2011)
- Dir. Alex de la Iglesia
Feat. Jose Mota, Salma Hayek, Blanca Portillo…
- An aggressive media satire centred around the frenzied bidding war that erupts for a permanently and publicly immobile man's story, with the man…
- Tomboy (2011)
- Dir. Céline Sciamma
Feat. Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana
- An androgynous ten–year–old girl passes herself off as a boy during the summer holidays in this tender coming–of–age tale.
- Turin Horse, The (2011)
- Dir. Bela Tarr
Feat. Janos Derzsi, Erika Bok
- A final, uncompromising vision from Hungarian master Bela Tarr, whose ominous vision of two deathly souls hunkered down during a windstorm takes its…
- Turn Me On, Goddamit! (2011)
- Dir. Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
Feat. Helene Bergsholm, Beate Stofring, Malin Bjorhovde
- Deadpan sex comedy in a sleepy Norwegian hamlet with a hormone ravaged teen determined to lose her virginity.
- We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam) (2011)
- Dir. Nanni Moretti
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy
- Michel Piccoli plays a reluctant successor to the recently deceased pope in this comic look inside the Vatican Church.
- Well-Digger's Daughter, The (2011)
- Dir. Daniel Auteuil
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad, Sabine Azema…
- Daniel Auteuil covets the art house with his directorial debut, a bright, old–fashioned adaptation of a Marcel Pagnol novel centred on a feud…
- Whore, The (2011)
- Dir. Hansjörg Thurn
Feat. Alexandra Neldel, Thure Riefenstein
- A young woman falsely accused of harlotry on the eve of her wedding, takes up with a group of traveling whores and seeks revenge on those who've…
- Wunderkinder (2011)
- Dir. Markus Rosenmüller
Feat. Gedeon Burkhard, Natalia Avelon
- A history of Germany in broad strokes, this heartrending coming–of–age tale charts the upheaval of WWII through the eyes of three child…
- You Will Be My Son (2011)
- Dir. Gilles Legrand
Feat. Niels Arestrup, Lorànt Deutsch
- An intense, boldly flavoured father–son melodrama centred on a prestigious French wine label, whose arrogant owner (Arestrup) begins to groom…
- 18 Years Later (Diciotto anni dopo) (2010)
- Dir. Edoardo Leo
Feat. Edoardo Leo, Marco Bonini
- Picturesque road trip movie following two estranged brothers (played by writer and co–writer/director Marco Bonini and Edoardo Leo) who take a…
- 20 Cigarettes (2010)
- Dir. Aureliano Amadei
Feat. Vinicio Marchioni, Carolina Crescentini, Giorgio Colangeli
- Wry autobiographical story about an assistant director who receives an offer to fly to Iraq in order to shoot a film, surprisingly sincere.
- 3 (Three) (2010)
- Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow
- Dir. Tom Tykwer energises this simple love story of a forty–something couple who fall for the same man with the frenetic visual and narrative…
- A Quiet Life (2010)
- Dir. Claudio Cupellini
Feat. Toni Servillo, Marco D'Amore, Francesco Di Leva…
- Moody thriller with Servillo –outstanding once again– as a restauranteur who's past resurfaces after a chance encounter with two…
- Abel (2010)
- Dir. Diego Luna
Feat. Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Jose Maria Yazpik
- Sweet and satisfyingly unpredictable child fantasy about an imaginative young boy who returns from a psychiatric ward to declare himself the father…
- Africa United (2010)
- Dir. Debs Paterson
Feat. Eriya Ndayambaje, Roger Nsengiyumva
- An aspiring Rwandan footballer attracts a throng of like–minded soccer fans on a road trip to Johannesburg for the opening ceremony of the 2010…
- Aftershock (2010)
- Dir. Feng Xiaoning
Feat. Xu Fan, Daoming Chen, Chen Li…
- Tear duct busting melodrama of a young mother forced to make a horrifying decision in the wake of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake.
Maintaining…
- Angele and Tony (2010)
- Dir. Alix Delaporte
Feat. Clotilde Hesme, Gregory Gadebois, Evelyne Didi
- This quality, character–driven courtship between a prostitute with a past and a plainspoken fisherman successfully plays down obvious emotion…
- Another World (Un altro Mondo) (2010)
- Dir. Silvio Muccino
Feat. Silvio Muccino, Isabella Ragonese, Michael Rainey Jr…
- Glossy dramedy in which a wealthy slacker who after the death of his father finds himself the legal guardian of a half–brother he never new…
- Beyond (2010)
- Dir. Pernilla August
Feat. Noomi Rapace, Ville Virtanen, Outi Maenpaa…
- Bruising family drama of a young woman's childhood (played by the Millennium Trilogy's Noomi Rapace) in a family torn apart by alcoholism and…
- Biutiful (2010)
- Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Feat. Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez
- Proffering a seldom–seen, distinctly un–beautiful view of the city of Barcelona, a dishevelled Javier Bardem ambles its streets as…
- Borgen - Series 1 (TV Series) (2010)
- Feat. Sidse Babett Knudsen, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Pilou Asbæk
- Bafta–winning Danish political drama in which an idealistic prime minister's rise to power brings with it a web of consequences, sacrifices and…
- Carlos (Carlos the Jackal) (2010)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Édgar Ramírez, Nora von Waldstätten, Alexander Scheer
- An explosive, globe–trotting biopic of Venezuelan terrorist and fugitive Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – aka Carlos the Jackal – whose exploits…
- Certified Copy (2010)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Juliette Binoche, William Shimell
- Juliette Binoche steals the company of an erudite author for an afternoon of conversation and consternation in this breezy, yet cerebral stroll…
- Chicas (2010)
- Dir. Yasmina Reza
Feat. Carmen Maura, Emmanuelle Seigner, Andre Dussollier
- Carmen Maura plays a gracefully aging widower who finds love in the twilight of her life, only for her new companion to be met with cold disapproval…
- Chico & Rita (Chico and Rita) (2010)
- Dir. Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba
- A date move with a difference, this sensuous animated tale for adults traces the love affair of a big–dreaming piano player and a gifted singer…
- Copacabana (2010)
- Dir. Marc Fitoussi
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Aure Atika, Lolita Chammah
- Free–spirited and perpetually unemployed Isabelle Huppert must get with the program after learning her newly engaged daughter (played by her…
- Dark Love (L'amore buio) (2010)
- Dir. Antonio Capuano
Feat. Luisa Ranieri, Irene de Angelis, Gabriele Agrio
- Drama set in contemporary Naples in the aftermath of a brutal rape of a young woman by three teenage boys. Follows the experiences of both survivor…
- El Narco (2010)
- Dir. Luis Estrada
Feat. Damian Alcazar, Joaquin Cosio, Ernesto Gomez Cruz…
- Intense crime drama that offers a hellish version of Mexico and the drug war seen through the eyes of a man returning to his home country after…
- First Assignment, The (2010)
- Dir. Giorgia Cecere
Feat. Isabella Ragonese, Francesco Chiarello, Alberto Boll
- A young teacher who posted to a provincial town struggles to connect with the local children and pines for her aristocratic boyfriend.
- First Beautiful Thing, The (2010)
- Dir. Paolo Virzi
Feat. Valerio Mastandrea, Micaela Ramazzotti, Stefania Sandrelli
- Winsome melodrama with a misanthropic professor returning to his home town to assist his dying mother. Delicately performed but perhaps overly…
- Gainsbourg (2010)
- Dir. Joann Sfar
Feat. Eric Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Sara Forestier…
- Freewheeling biographical account of singer/composer/actor Serge Gainsbourg, an enduring iconic figure of French popular culture.
Serves the…
- Happy, Happy (2010)
- Dir. Anne Sewitsky
Feat. Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Joachim Rafaelsen…
- Sharp comedy with a woman trapped in a loveless marriage finding her life taking an exciting turn for the better when an exciting new couple move in…
- Heartbeats (2010)
- Dir. Xavier Dolan
Feat. Xavier Dolan, Niels Schneider, Monia Chokri
- A quick turnaround for precocious French Canadian dir. Xavier Dolan; his sophomore feature an equally painful and amusing bifurcated romance, in…
- Henry The 4th (Henri 4, Henry of Navarre) (2010)
- Dir. Jo Baier
Feat. Julien Boisselier, Joachim Krol
- Henry IV (of France) is the subject of this grand and involving German–produced epic, originally conceived as a mini–series framed by the…
- House by the Medlar Tree, The (2010)
- Dir. Pasquale Scimeca
Feat. Giusepe Firullo, Antonio Curcia, Omar Noto
- Striking drama follows a family of fishermen struggling for survival in the face of harsh economic realities. Drawing from the same novel that…
- Housemaid, The (2010)
- Dir. Sang-soo Im
Feat. Do-yeon Jeon, Jung-Jae Lee, Seo Woo
- A sleek, sexual thriller of manipulation and revenge, centred on the consequences of a torrid affair between a wealthy industrialist and his newly…
- Human Resources Manager, The (2010)
- Dir. Eran Riklis
Feat. Mark Ivanir
- An absurdist odyssey from the director of LEMON TREE, about an Israeli bakery manager who must accompany the body of one of his employees back to…
- Hunter, The (Shekarchi) (2010)
- Dir. Rafi Pitts
Feat. Rafi Pitts
- Spare, lyrical drama with a low–paid security guard on the run from authorities after gunning down two police officers. Unfolding against the…
- In a Better World (2010)
- Dir. Susanne Bier
Feat. Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen
- This Oscar–winner for Best Foreign Language Film 2011 is another searing melodrama from celebrated Danish auteur Susanne Bier in which two…
- Incendies (2010)
- Dir. Denis Villeneuve
Feat. Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette…
- Twin siblings, against their better judgment, dig deeper into the backstory of their recently deceased mother in this powerful French Canadian…
- King of Devil's Island (2010)
- Dir. Marius Holst
Feat. Stellan Skarsgard, Kristoffer Joner, Benjamin Helstad…
- The boys of an early 20th century reform school revolt against an abusive regime in this stirring, snow–swept Norwegian drama. Featuring music…
- Kiss Me Again (Baciami ancora) (2010)
- Dir. Gabriel Muccino
Feat. Stefano Accorsi, Vittoria Puccini, Pierfrancesco Favino…
- The lives of young Italians struggling with issues of marriage, parenthood, and relationships are revisited in this pleasant sequel to THE LAST KISS.…
- La Nostra Vita (Our Life) (2010)
- Dir. Daniele Luchetti
Feat. Elio Germano, Raoul Bova, Luca Zingaretti…
- A construction worker's discovery of an illegal immigrant's body on site sets off a chain of events that radically alters his own life. An absorbing…
- Le Quattro Volte (2010)
- Dir. Michelangelo Frammartino
Feat. Giuseppe Fuda
- This mesmerizing blend of wordless narrative fiction and spontaneous nature documentary – about the 'cycle of life' in a rugged valley in Italy’s…
- Little White Lies (Les petits mouchoirs) (2010)
- Dir. Guillaume Canet
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoit Magimel…
- Airy ensemble from the dir. of TELL NO ONE about a group of French sophisticates whose annual seaside reunion is disturbed when one of them is badly…
- Longlasting Youth (TV Mini-series) (Le cose che restano) (2010)
- Dir. Gianluca Maria Tavarelli
Feat. Lorenzo Balducci, Daniela Giordano
- A four–part mini–series about a Roman family who take separate paths after the death of their youngest son.
- Lope (The Outlaw) (2010)
- Dir. Andrucha Waddington
Feat. Alberto Ammann, Leonor Watling, Pilar López de Ayala
- Splendid biopic of Lope de Vega, the Spanish playwright who dominated Spain's early Golden Age of theare.
- Lost Kisses (I baci mai dati) (2010)
- Dir. Roberta Torre
Feat. Carla Marchese, Donatella Finocchiaro
- A 13–year–old girl in the deprived outskirts of a sprawling Sicilian city becomes a local celebrity to her needy community when word…
- Love Like Poison (2010)
- Dir. Katell Quillévéré
Feat. Clara Augarde, Michel Galabru, Stefano Cassetti…
- A potent variation on an oft–told theme, this carefully observed drama considers the fraught adolescence of a 14–year–old girl torn…
- Monga: Gangs of Taipei (Báng-kah) (2010)
- Dir. Doze Niu
Feat. Ching-Tien Juan, Mark Chao, Ju-Lung Ma
- Pungent youth drama set in 1980s Taiwan, after the end of military dictatorship, concerns the intertwined fate of five troubled friends.
- Mozart's Sister (2010)
- Dir. Rene Feret
Feat. Marie Feret, Marc Barbe, David Moreau…
- Exuberant romp through pre–revolutionary France following the life of Mozart's talented older sister who was soon sidelined as her family's…
- My Afternoons With Margueritte (2010)
- Dir. Jean Becker
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus
- Gerard Depardieu plays an illiterate man who forges an unlikely friendship with a elderly writer in this gentle new film from the dir. of…
- My Name is Khan (2010)
- Dir. Karan Johar
Feat. Shahrukh Khan, Kajol , Christopher B. Duncan
- Well–meaning plea for racial tolerance with an Aspergers–afflicted Muslim detained in the U.S. as a terrorist and undertaking a journey…
- Mysteries of Lisbon (Mistérios de Lisboa) (2010)
- Dir. Raul Ruiz
Feat. Adriano Luz, Clotilde Hesme, Maria Joao Bastos…
- Sprawling, utterly beguiling tribute to the power of stories set in 19th century Lisbon where an orphan boy discovers the truth about his birth and…
- Names of Love, The (2010)
- Dir. Michel Leclerc
Feat. Jacques Gamblin, Sara Forestier, Zinedine Soualem…
- Witty cocktail of sex and politics about an extroverted left–wing activist who sleeps with her political opponents to convert them to her cause.
- Norwegian Wood (2010)
- Dir. Tran Anh Hung
Feat. Rinko Kikuchi, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Kiko Mizuhara
- Yearning, visually rapturous adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s widely read novel, about a devoted college student in the 60s whose relationships are…
- Of Gods and Men (2010)
- Dir. Xavier Beauvois
Feat. Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin
- Residing peacefully in a North African monastery, eight French Christian monks must confront the threat of an Islamic fundamentalist group in this…
- Princess of Montpensier, The (2010)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Mélanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Gaspard Ulliel
- French veteran Bertrand Tavernier tackles the period costume drama with a firm classical and intellectual grip, shifting effortlessly between the…
- Question in Details (2010)
- Dir. Zsombor Dyga
Feat. Ferenc Elek, Roland Raba, Katya Tompos
- Dark romantic drama with two strangers having their blind date take an odd turn when the woman's brother turns up.
- Rise and Fall (Jew Suss) (2010)
- Dir. Oskar Roehler
Feat. Tobias Moretti, Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Wrenching true story about German actor Ferdinand Marian who, despite being married to a Jewish woman chose to play lead in the antisemitic…
- Room in Rome (Habitación en Roma) (2010)
- Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Elena Anaya, Natasha Yarovenko, Enrico Lo Verso…
- Erotic chronicle of a brief encounter between two women set almost entirely within the confines of a hotel room. More porno–profundity from…
- Round Up, The (La Rafle) (2010)
- Dir. Rose Bosch
Feat. Jean Reno, Mélanie Laurent, Gad Elmaleh…
- A sensitive recreation of the tragic events and personal stories surrounding the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, where some 13,000 French Jews were…
- Sarah's Key (2010)
- Dir. Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup…
- Kristen Scott Thomas plays an American journalist whose life and work becomes entwined with a young Jewish girl whose family was torn apart during…
- School is Over (2010)
- Dir. Valerio Jalongo
Feat. Fulvio Forti, Valeria Golino, Vincenzo Amato
- Documentary–like account of a bored, and frequently stoned, teenager who comes to the attention of his science teacher, who believes she can…
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2010)
- Dir. Wayne Wang
Feat. Gianna Jun, Bingbing Li, Russell Wong…
- Wayne Wang (THE JOY LUCK CLUB) directs this unsubtle but sweeping multi–generational weepie, framed around the enduring bond between two women…
- Solitude of Prime Numbers (2010)
- Dir. Saverio Costanzo
Feat. Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Marinelli, Martina Albano…
- Mournful tale of two misfits whose awkward life paths never quite cross. Spanning from childhood into their forties this melancholic mosaic is…
- Sorelle Mai (2010)
- Dir. Marco Bellocchio
Feat. Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Elena Bellocchio
- A nostalgic "fantasy" documentary depicting six episodes of a family story in Bobbio filmed between 1999 and 2008 and featuring many members of the…
- Special Treatment (2010)
- Dir. Jeanne Labrune
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Bouli Lanners
- Playing a high class prostitute, Isabelle Huppert gets cosy with one her clients, a psychoanalyst, in this occasionally titillating, comically…
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
- Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Feat. Thanapat Saisaymar
- Weerasethakul's most acclaimed and accessible film to date centres on a man dying of kidney failure, whose twilight hours are spent joyously with…
- Vincent Wants to Sea (2010)
- Dir. Ralf Huettner
Feat. Florian David Fitz, Karoline Herfurth, Heino Ferch…
- Likeable though lightweight road comedy in which a Tourette's sufferer escapes from a clinic with two others (an obsessive and an anorexic) and…
- We Believed (Noi credevamo) (2010)
- Dir. Mario Martone
Feat. Luigi Lo Cascio
- Period drama set during the repressive Bourbon reign in Italy in 1828, where two aristocrats and a young peasant join Giuseppe Mazzini's Young Italy…
- What More Do I Want (Come Undone) (2010)
- Dir. Silvio Soldini
Feat. Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Teresa Saponangelo…
- Adroitly helmed exploration of infidelity with the two lovers juggling their hectic schedules around their clandestine meetings. Nothing new here,…
- Woman of My Dreams, The (La donna della mia vita) (2010)
- Dir. Luca Lucini
Feat. Alessandro Gassman, Luca Argentero
- Astute romantic comedy about the big and little lies people tell in their search for love, following the fallout of a friendship between two brothers…
- About Elly (2009)
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti…
- Though something of a dress rehearsal for Farhadi's Oscar–winning A SEPARATION, this tense and absorbing account of a beach holiday tainted by…
- Adrift (À Deriva) (2009)
- Dir. Heitor Dhalia
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Camilla Belle, Laura Neiva
- Delicately captivating drama set in an ’80s Brazilian beach resort, with a young teenager discovering her father's infidelity as her own sexuality…
- Albert Schweitzer (2009)
- Dir. Gavin Millar
Feat. Jeroen Krabbe, Barbara Hershey, Judith Godreche
- Admirable biopic of German medical missionary and philosopher Schweitzer (regarded for his text on the "Reverence for Life"), whose deed treating…
- Army of Crime, The (2009)
- Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Simon Abkarian, Virginie Ledoyen
- Part of a recent wave of prestigious WWII resistence dramas, this one reconstructs events around a group of Paris–based resistance fighters,…
- Baaria (2009)
- Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
Feat. Raoul Bova, Margareth Made, Francesco Scianna…
- Giuseppe Tornatore directs an autobiographical saga covering sixty years of turmoil through the eyes of three generations of a peasant family. Those…
- Besouro (The Assailant) (2009)
- Dir. Joao Daniel Tikhomiroff
Feat. Ailton Carmo, Flavio Rocha, Jessica Barbosa
- Set against the backdrop of the Brazilian civil rights struggle Invigorating tale told at breakneck pace of a young man's rise to folk hero status…
- Broken Embraces (2009)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, Lluís Homar…
- Typically juicy Almodovar number again features the gorgeous Penelope Cruz, here playing a mistress cast in the lead role of a movie her millionaire…
- Cezanne Affair, The (2009)
- Dir. Sergio Rubini
Feat. Sergio Rubini, Riccardo Scamarcio, Valeria Golino…
- Sentimental comedy–drama with a son returning home to his dying father who's thwarted artistic ambitions cast a dark shaodw over his childhood.
- Change of Plans (Le code a changé) (2009)
- Dir. Daniele Thompson
Feat. Dany Boon, Karin Viard, Emmanuelle Seigner…
- Stacked Gallic dramedy stars Karin Viard and Dany Boon as a swanky French couple who invite six equally wealthy Parisians to dinner – their evening…
- City of Life and Death (2009)
- Dir. Chuan Lu
Feat. Ye Liu, Yuanyuan Gao, Hideo Nakaizumi
- This first serious depiction of the atrocities wrought on Chinese refugees and soldiers during the occupation of Nanking is a harrowing, expertly…
- City of War (John Rabe) (2009)
- Dir. Florian Gallenberger
Feat. Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Bruhl, Steve Buscemi…
- Riveting dramatisation of an unlikely true story in which a Nazi industrialist conspires to save the lives of 200,000 Chinese during the infamous…
- Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel) (2009)
- Dir. Anne Fontaine
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola…
- Fittingly stylish and appealing biopic of legendary couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, tracing her early life from the rags of an orphaned childhood…
- Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (Coco & Igor) (2009)
- Dir. Jan Kounen
Feat. Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen
- Fashion icon Coco Chanel and composer Igor Stravinsky share a passionate, illicit love affair in this lavish period romance, which more or less takes…
- Dogtooth (Kynodontas) (2009)
- Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Feat. Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis…
- An astringent, blackly comic tale of a modern Greek family whose adult children have been imprisoned in their home since birth.
Something of a…
- Eagle Hunter's Son, The (2009)
- Dir. René Bo Hansen
Feat. Bazarbai Matei, Mardan Matei
- Wistful Mongolian adventure follows a 12–year–old boy and his rite–of–passage between the lure of city life, and the…
- East West East (2009)
- Dir. Gjergj Xhuvani
Feat. Ervin Bejleri, Helidon Fino, Gentiano Hazizi
- An amateur cycling team from Albania heads to France to take part in a tournament only to discover on the way that revolution has broken out back…
- Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl (2009)
- Dir. Manoel de Oliveira
Feat. Ricardo Trepa, Leonor Silveira, Catarina Wallenstein
- Bewitching tale of a young man's obsessive love for his blonde–haired neighbour. Elegant and gently surreal adaptation of José Maria Eça de…
- Eden is West (2009)
- Dir. Costa-Gavras
Feat. Riccardo Scamarcio
- A pictorial offering from Costa–Gavras – usually at the helm of taut political thrillers – here directing a travelogue centered around…
- Empire of Silver (2009)
- Dir. Christina Yao
Feat. Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang, Lei Hao…
- A family banking empire begins to crumble when father and son come to grief over the country's transition from silver to paper money. Visually…
- Father of My Children (2009)
- Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Chiara Caselli, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Alice de Lencquesaing…
- A convincing dramatic study of grief in the family, centred on a workoholic movie producer who leaves behind a legacy of financial burden to his wife…
- Fortapasc (Fort Apache) (2009)
- Dir. Marco Risi
Feat. Libero de Rienzo, Valentina Lodovini, Michele Riondino…
- Poignant account of the last days in the life of a young Italian journalist who's investigations into the Neapolitan Mafia resulted in his murder.
- Founding of a Republic, The (Jian guo da ye) (2009)
- Dir. Sanping Han, Jianxin Huang
Feat. Guoqiang Tang, Guoli Zhang, Qing Xu…
- The People’s Republic of China rolls out the big guns for this 60th anniversary epic, chronicling in big, sweeping gestures, the uprising of Mao…
- From Beginning to End (Do Começo ao Fim) (2009)
- Dir. Aluizio Abranches
Feat. João Gabriel Vasconcellos, Rafael Cardoso, Júlia Lemmertz
- Controversial Brazilian ode to incestuous half–brothers that's evocatively shot and titillatingly steamy but strangely coy on the consequences.
- Giulia Doesn't Go Out at Night (2009)
- Dir. Giuseppe Piccioni
Feat. Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Golino, Sonia Bergamasco
- Understated romantic drama with an enigmatic Golina as the titular character, a swimming instructor with a dark secret who embarks on a romance with…
- Hedgehog, The (Le hérisson) (2009)
- Dir. Mona Achache
Feat. Josiane Balasko, Togo Igawa, Garance Le Guillermic…
- Charming, melancholy comedy in which a precocious, jaded 11–year–old from a well–to–do family decides to commit suicide on…
- Human Zoo (2009)
- Dir. Rie Rasmussen
Feat. Rie Rasmussen, Hiam Abbass
- Gritty, naval–gazing immigrant story of a Serbian refugee (writer/dir. Rasmussen) who escapes the ethnic violence of her worn–torn…
- I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) (2009)
- Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Feat. Tilda Swinton, Edoardo Gabbriellini
- Tilda Swinton stars as the Russian–born matriarch of a wealthy Milanese family in this fabulously opulent Italian drama, centred around her…
- I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère) (2009)
- Dir. Xavier Dolan
Feat. Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément…
- An angst ridden teen grapples with growing up gay and his neurotic, overbearing mother in this feisty first feature from young French Canadian…
- I, Don Giovanni (2009)
- Dir. Carlos Saura
Feat. Lorenzo Balducci, Lino Guanciale, Emilia Verginelli…
- Veteran Spanish director Carlos Saura conducts this lavish, darkly–tinged story behind the making of Mozart's opera masterpiece, 'Don Giovanni'.
- Leaving (Partir) (2009)
- Dir. Catherine Corsini
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi Lopez, Yvan Attal
- Doctor's wife and mother–of–two Kristin Scott Thomas falls unrelentingly for a blue–collar ex–con in this steamy, captivating…
- Letters to Father Jacob (2009)
- Dir. Klaus Haro
Feat. Kaarina Hazard, Jukka Keinonen, Heikki Nousiainen…
- Gently engrossing character study with a pardoned convict finding employment helping a blind pastor answer letters from his troubled parishioners.
- Life Coach, The (Le Coach) (2009)
- Dir. Olivier Doran
Feat. Jean-Paul Rouve, Richard Berry, Annie Marivin…
- Affable comedy with a business coach, up to his eyeballs in debt, taking on a most difficult assignment help an irredeemable miquetoast close an…
- Lourdes (2009)
- Dir. Jessica Hausner
Feat. Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Elina Lowensohn
- A subdued, open–ended account of pilgrimage and the credibility of miracles, this measured drama stars the always–excellent Sylvie Testud…
- Mademoiselle Chambon (2009)
- Dir. Stéphane Brizé
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Sandrine Kiberlain, Aure Atika
- Though familiar bourgeois territory for the French, this softly finessed chamber drama of a blue–collar mason (Lindon) who contemplates an…
- Man Who Will Come, The (L'uomo che verrà) (2009)
- Dir. Giorgio Diritti
Feat. Maya Sansa, Alba Rohrwacher, Greta Zuccheri Montanari
- Moving Italian war drama told through the eyes of an eight–year–old mute, who witnesses the brutal struggle between Italian partisans and…
- Many Kisses Later (Ex) (2009)
- Dir. Fausto Brizzi
Feat. Claudia Gerini, Flavio Insinna, Silvio Orlando
- Breezy rom–com –a smash hit in Italy– follows six couples from Chistmas to Valetine's Day and their various entanglements.…
- Me Too (Yo, Tambien) (2009)
- Dir. Antonio Naharro, Alvaro Pastor
Feat. Lola Dueñas, Isabel Garcia Lorca, Antonio Naharro
- Affecting tale of a bittersweet friendship between an office worker with Down syndrome and his restless, free–spirited colleague.
- Milk of Sorrow, The (La Teta Asustada) (2009)
- Dir. Claudia Llosa
Feat. Magaly Solier, Susi Sanchez, Efrain Solis…
- Beguiling allegorical drama with a young woman afflicted with a rare disease passed down through the breast milk of a rape victim.
- My Tehran for Sale (2009)
- Dir. Granaz Moussavi
Feat. Marzieh Vafamehr, Amir Chegini, Asha Mehrabi
- Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. The authorities ban her theatre work and she is forced to lead a secret life in order to express…
- No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)
- Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Feat. Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad
- Unprecedented pseudo–documentary exploring Iran’s forbidden underground music scene, starring Tehranian rockers Negar Shaghaghi and Ashkan…
- Plan B (2009)
- Dir. Marco Berger
Feat. Manuel Vignau, Lucas Ferraro, Mercedes Quinteros
- Languid drama where a man's efforts to sabotage his ex–girlfriends new relationship – with a half baked plan of seducing her boyfriend,…
- Police, Adjective (2009)
- Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu
Feat. Dragos Bucur, Vlad Ivanov, Irina Saulescu…
- An ingenious, pared–back police procedural in the droll tradition of the Romanian New Wave that at once deconstructs the genre, and wittily…
- Prisoners of War (TV Series) (Hatufim) (2009)
- Dir. Gideon Raff
Feat. Yoram Toledano, Ishai Golan, Adi Ezroni…
- The source material for HOMELAND, this Israeli series is a more serious–minded and nuanced drama than its American successor, dealing with the…
- Puzzle (Rompecabezas) (2009)
- Dir. Natalia Smirnoff
Feat. María Onetto, Arturo Goetz, Gabriel Goity
- Low–key charmer with a bored housewife discovering her freakish aptitude for puzzles and partnering with a rich bachelor for an international…
- Ricky (2009)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Sergi Lopez, Alexandra Lamy, Mélusine Mayance
- Intriguing fusion of kitchen–sink drama and magical realism by the mercurial Ozon with a young baby afflicted by an alarming physiological…
- Road, Movie (2009)
- Dir. Dev Benegal
Feat. Abhay Deol, Tannishtha Chatterjee
- A literal road movie inspired by the flickering image, this Indian travelogue follows a ragtag group across the country, whose mode of transport…
- Sea Purple, The (2009)
- Dir. Donatella Maiorca
Feat. Valeria Solarino, Isabella Ragonese, Ennio Fantastichini
- Solid lesbian bodice–ripper centres on the eternal romance between two 19th century Sicilian women, destined to suffer for their forbidden…
- Sicilian Girl, The (La siciliana ribelle) (2009)
- Dir. Marco Amenta
Feat. Veronica D'Agostino, Gerard Jugnot
- A vivid, level–headed account of Mafiaso intrigue, based around real events surrounding a young woman’s testimony in court against Sicilian…
- Sister Smile (2009)
- Dir. Stijn Coninx
Feat. Cecile De France, Sandrine Blancke
- The poignant, still resonant true story of 60s popstar The Singing Nun, vividly played by actress Cécile de France.
- Someone I Loved (2009)
- Dir. Zabou Breitman
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Marie-Josee Croze, Florence Loiret Caille…
- Nuanced romantic drama with Auteuil reflecting on his great lost love while attempting to console his jilted daughter–in–law.
- Soul Kitchen (2009)
- Dir. Fatih Akin
Feat. Adam Bousdoukos, Pheline Roggan, Moritz Bleibtreu…
- Light but hearty food comedy from the dir. of THE EDGE OF HEAVEN, about a soulful Greek immigrant who sets about relaunching his failed restaurant…
- Storm (2009)
- Dir. Hans-Christian Schmid
Feat. Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, Stephen Dillane
- Accomplished international courtroom drama sees a determined prosecutor (Fox) risk life and limb in order to prove that the former commander of the…
- Thin Match Man, The (L'uomo fiammifero) (2009)
- Dir. Marco Chiarini
Feat. Francesco Pannofino, Marco Leonzi, Gabriele Manfredi
- Modern fairy–tale about a house–bound boy determined to find the thin–match man, a figure his mother once created who lights the…
- Undertow (Contracorriente) (2009)
- Dir. Javier Fuentes-Leon
Feat. Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona
- A beguiling drama set in a remote seaside Peruvian village, where a fisherman mourns for his deceased lover and experiences his ghost lingering in…
- Vincere (VIctory) (2009)
- Dir. Marco Bellocchio
Feat. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Timi, Fausto Russo Alesi…
- Provocative portrait of Benito Mussolini's spurned first wife and their brief romance as Il Duce begins ascent to Italy's leadership. Stylistically…
- Welcome (2009)
- Dir. Philippe Lioret
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Audrey Dana, Firat Ayverd
- An illegal Iraqi immigrant is befriended by a dispirited swim coach, who agrees to help smuggle the teenager into England by way swimming the English…
- White Material (2009)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert, Isaach de Bankole…
- Isabelle Huppert stars as a woman who refuses to abandon her plantation in Claire Denis' disquieting depiction of an African country on the verge of…
- White Ribbon, The (Das weisse Band) (2009)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur…
- Michael Haneke’s intellectual rigour is paired with a mesmerising sociological drama in this award–winning exploration of the roots of…
- Wind Journeys, The (2009)
- Dir. Ciro Guerra
- A Colombian accordion player makes the long trek to return his instrument – believed to be cursed by the devil – to a former mentor, in…
- 35 Shots of Rum (35 rhums) (2008)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Nicole Dogue…
- A gorgeous meditation on child–parental devotion, centred on a middle–aged widower (Descas) who, in the tradition of Yasujiro Ozu (which…
- A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël) (2008)
- Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny…
- KINGS AND QUEEN dir. Arnaud Desplechin spins another whirlwind tale of family relations, with Catherine Deneuve the terminally ill matriarch to a…
- As God Commands (2008)
- Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Filippo Timi, Elio Germano, Alvaro Caleca
- Bracing character study follows a teenager and his Neo–nazi father dealing with their outsider status in their small town. Second collaboration…
- Bride Flight (2008)
- Dir. Ben Sombogaart
Feat. Karina Smulders, Waldemar Torenstra, Anna Drijver…
- New Zealand in the 1950's from a Dutch perspective makes this melodrama an intriguing, unique experience for Kiwi audiences, which also has the…
- Butterfly Lovers (2008)
- Dir. Jingle Ma
Feat. Charlene Choi, Chun Wu, Ge Hu…
- Martial arts 'M Butterfly' charts the afflictions that befall two lovers destined to always be parted. Gaudy, gender–bending romance from Hong…
- Camino (2008)
- Dir. Javier Fesser
Feat. Nerea Camacho, Carme Elias
- An absorbing, sensationally–told true story of a devoutly Catholic Spanish schoolgirl whose willing death at the age of 14 – brought about by…
- Cherry Blossoms (2008)
- Dir. Doris Dorrie
Feat. Elmar Wepper, Hannelore Elsner, Aya Irizuki…
- Tender cross–cultural tale with a German widower travelling to Japan to honour his wife's wishes to see the famed cherry blossom festival.…
- Class, The (Entre les murs) (2008)
- Dir. Laurent Cantet
Feat. François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, Angélica Sancio
- This stimulating Palm d’Or winner engages with the toil and trouble of a multi–ethnic, inner–city French classroom, and the headstrong…
- Cloud 9 (Wolke 9) (2008)
- Dir. Andreas Dresen
Feat. Ursula Werner, Horst Rehberg, Horst Westphal
- A frank yet sensitive depiction of a passionate love affair between a man and a married woman in their autumn years.
Using a methodology similar…
- Departures (2008)
- Dir. Takita Yojiro
Feat. Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
- Poignant Oscar–winner that’s won over many hearts with its affecting tale of self–discovery, centered on a failed cellist whose career…
- Early Bird Catches the Worm, The (2008)
- Dir. Francesco Patierno
Feat. Elio Germano, Laura Chiatti, Martina Stella
- Leaden portrait of the rise and fall of popular Italian disc jockey Marco Baldini who's gambling addiction leads him tom make some decidedly rash…
- Everlasting Moments (2008)
- Dir. Jan Troell
Feat. Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen
- A touching, delicately shot memoir told from the perspective of a Finnish immigrant in Sweden who finds relief from her abusive husband in the art of…
- First Day of the Rest of Your Life, The (Le Premier Jour du Reste de ta Vie) (2008)
- Dir. Rémi Bezançon
Feat. Jacques Gamblin, Zabou Breitman, Deborah Francois…
- Five days in the life of an average, functional family form the basis of this universally appealing French comedy spanning the decade of the…
- Giovanna's Father (2008)
- Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Silvio Orlando, Francesca Neri, Alba Rohrwacher…
- Set during the second world ward this is a sad character study of a naive father who covers for his daughter's terrible crime.
- Gomorrah (2008)
- Dir. Matteo Garrone
Feat. Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale
- Justifiably celebrated, this ruthless expose of the Camorra underworld in Naples paints a stark and brutal picture of organised crime through five…
- Headless Woman, The (2008)
- Dir. Lucrecia Martel
Feat. María Onetto, Claudia Cantero, César Bordón…
- A mystery surrounding a woman's hit and run accident – and whether she in fact killed someone – is the riveting hook of this oblique,…
- Honey (Bal) (2008)
- Dir. Semih Kaplanoglu
Feat. Bora Altas, Erdal Besikçioglu, Tülin Özen
- A gorgeous, contemplative coming–of–age tale, centred on a young boy and his father, a rural beekeeper, in an idyllic mountainous region…
- I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) (2008)
- Dir. Philippe Claudel
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius
- Gratifying, melancholy French drama featuring a career–best performance by Kristen Scott–Thomas as an enigmatic woman struggling to fit…
- Il Divo (The Deity) (2008)
- Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Feat. Toni Servillo, Anna Bonaiuto, Flavio Bucci
- Dazzling, high–end political intrigue from dir. of CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE speculates on the years following Giulio Andreotti’s seventh term as…
- Last Stop 174 (2008)
- Dir. Bruno Barreto
Feat. Michel Gomes, Cris Vianna, Marcello Melo Junior
- Adrenalised dramatisation of the infamous bus–hijacking examines the life of the troubled young hijacker. As an action film this is…
- Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) (2008)
- Dir. Eran Riklis
Feat. Hiam Abbass, Doron Tavory, Ali Suliman…
- An out–of–bounds lemon tree poses as a metaphorical olive branch in this heartfelt Israeli–Palestinian fable.
When a…
- Maid, The (2008)
- Dir. Sebastián Silva
Feat. Catalina Saavedra
- The complex emotional attachment of a loyal live–in maid to the family she's served for more than twenty years is at the heart of this sly,…
- Man Who Loves, The (2008)
- Dir. Maria Sole Tognazzi
Feat. Pierfrancesco Favino, Monica Bellucci, Kseniya Rappoport…
- Melodramatic exploration of a heterosexual man's troubled relationships in comparison to his gay brother's blissful monogamy.
- Mid-August Lunch (2008)
- Dir. Gianni Di Gregorio
Feat. Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Marina Cacciotti
- A comedy of manners and good taste in form and content, this soulful comedy sets up a middle–aged man forced to play host to a gaggle of…
- Miracle of Berlin (Das Wunder von Berlin) (2008)
- Dir. Roland Suso Richter
Feat. Kostja Ullmann, Karoline Herfurth, Veronica Ferres
- Ambitious telemovie set in Berlin, 1988, where a rebellious young man is forced by his father – a high–ranking Stasi officer – to…
- Necessities of Life, The (2008)
- Dir. Benoit Pilon
Feat. Natar Ungalaaq, Paul-André Brasseur, Eveline Gelinas
- This warmhearted tale of a consumptive Inuit hunter who gets sent to Quebec for treatment is an insightful celebration of Inuit tradtion, yet the…
- Our Beloved Month of August (Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto) (2008)
- Dir. Miguel Gomes
Feat. Sonia Bandeira, Fabio Oliveira
- Beautifully idiosyncratic film blending documentary with drama, from distinctive Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (TABU).
A summery and romantic…
- Palermo Shooting (2008)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Campino , Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper
- A wild–living, world renowned German photographer travels to Sicily seeking a break from his past and encounters a beautiful woman and Dennis…
- Paris (2008)
- Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Mélanie Laurent…
- A sweet–natured, if rather slight romantic dramedy, weaving in and out of the lives of a diverse set of heart–worn and heart–won…
- Paris 36 (Faubourg 36) (2008)
- Dir. Christophe Barratier
Feat. Gerard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Kad Merad
- This period 30s French drama is set in a struggling music hall that seems destined for closure until a new star comes along to save the day. A love…
- Peaceful Times (Friedliche Zeiten) (2008)
- Dir. Neele Leana Vollmar
Feat. Katharina M. Schubert, Oliver Stokowski, Nina Monka
- A sweet, if slender trip back to 1960s West Germany, where a mother's mental health issues are remembered from the naive, but loving perspective of…
- Red Baron, The (Der rote Baron) (2008)
- Dir. Nikolai Müllerschön
Feat. Maxim Mehmet, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes…
- Biographical melodrama focused around Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the celebrated showboating WW1 pilot. Thrilling airborne set–pieces make up…
- Rest of the Night, The (Il resto della notte ) (2008)
- Dir. Francesco Munzi
Feat. Sandra Ceccarelli, Aurelien Recoing, Stefano Cassetti…
- When the depressed wife of a provincial industrialist becomes convinced that her young Romanian maid is swiping valuable objects from around the…
- Revanche (2008)
- Dir. Gotz Spielmann
Feat. Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko, Andreas Lust
- A botched bank robbery resulting in the death of a prostitute compels an embittered ex–con to contemplate revenge in this steely, impressive…
- Rudo and Cursi (Rudo y Cursi) (2008)
- Dir. Carlos Cuarón
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna
- The charismatic stars and co–writer of Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN reunite in this biting satire about two brothers from rural stock who have an intense…
- Seraphine (2008)
- Dir. Martin Provost
Feat. Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent
- Intimate, Cesar–winning portrait of troubled French artist Seraphine de Senlis, a little–known painter who worked as an impoverished…
- Shirin (2008)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Leila Hatami
- From Abbas Kiarostami's avant–grade phase, this non–narrative tableaux of Iranian actresses (and one Juliette Binoche) enthralled by a…
- Silent Light (Stellet licht) (2008)
- Dir. Carlos Reygadas
- Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas (JAPON, BATTLE IN HEAVEN) helms his third feature with maturity and restraint, offering a striking, earthbound…
- Song of Sparrows, The (Âvâz-e gonjeshk-hâ) (2008)
- Dir. Majid Majidi
Feat. Reza Naji
- Iranian film following the life of a simple and contented ostrich farmer whose life changes dramatically when he loses his job and travels to Tehran…
- Still Walking (2008)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Hiroshi Abe, You , Yui Natsukawa…
- A recently remarried son (Abe) pays visit to his quietly disapproving parents in this exquisitely observed family drama, shot in the tradition of…
- Summer Hours (2008)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jeremie Renier…
- Three siblings deliberate over the family estate following the death of their mother in this subtle, gorgeously rendered meditation on ‘moving…
- Tokyo Sonata (2008)
- Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Feat. Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi, Yû Koyanagi…
- A devastating contemporary drama from the master of modern malaise, this piercing study of social collapse focuses on an downsized Japanese corporate…
- Treeless Mountain (2008)
- Dir. So Yong Kim
Feat. Hee-yeon Kim, Song-hee Kim, Mi-hyang Kim
- Korean–American So Yong Kim directs this moderate, heartfelt drama of two sisters, aged 3 and 6 respectively, who are abandoned by their mother…
- Tulpan (2008)
- Dir. Sergey Dvortsevoy
Feat. Askhat Kuchinchirekov
- A goofy love story is eked out of this astonishing account of nomadic life, where a family not only survive but relish sheep and goat herding on the…
- Un Secret (2008)
- Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Cecile De France, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu…
- Graceful, poignant French wartime drama centred on the son of a Jewish family who uncovers a piece of unsettling family history at the time of the…
- Underdog Knight, The (Ying Han) (2008)
- Dir. Sheng Ding
Feat. Ye Liu, Yong You, Anthony Wong
- An offbeat, anti–heroic character study out of mainland China, in which a self–styled martial arts pretender lands a job as bodyguard for…
- Wild Blood (Sanguepazzo) (2008)
- Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana
Feat. Monica Bellucci, Alessio Boni, Luca Zingaretti
- Compelling melodrama traces the rise and fall of two movie stars who embrace Fascism under Mussolini's Italy.
- Wild Grass (Les Herbes Folles) (2008)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Andre Dussollier, Sabine Azema, Emmanuelle Devos…
- A masterful light–footed comedy of the surreal from veteran French dir. Alain Resnais, centered on a missing wallet responsible for triggering…
- Winter in Wartime (2008)
- Dir. Martin Koolhoven
Feat. Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, Jamie Campbell Bower…
- Sensitively handled account of a thirteen year old boy who joins the Dutch resistance at the tail end of World War II.
- Wushu - The Young Generation (2008)
- Dir. Antony Szeto
Feat. Sammo Hung, Fengchao Liu, Wenjie Wang
- Under the auspices of genre legends Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan (in producing role), this standard–issue kung fu flick introduces a bevy a…
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile) (2007)
- Dir. Cristian Mungiu
Feat. Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu
- Two women risk seeking an illegal abortion under Ceausescu rule in this staggering, high tension Cannes–winner from Romania.
Reminiscent of…
- After Him (Après lui) (2007)
- Dir. Gaël Morel
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Guy Marchand
- Unsettlingly intimate French drama stars Catherine Deneuve as a devastated mother who obsessively channels her dead son by using his best friend as a…
- Amal (2007)
- Dir. Richie Mehta
Feat. Rupinder Nagra
- A stoic tale of hardship and humanity in New Dehli, centred on an upstanding rickshaw driver whose code of honesty and responsibility sees a dying…
- An Old Mistress (Une vieille maîtresse/The Last Mistress) (2007)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Asia Argento, Fu’ad Ait Aattou, Caroline Ducey…
- Fervent, visually opulent costume drama finds feminist firebrand Catherine Breillat tempering her sexually explicit tendencies to present a…
- Angel (2007)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Sam Neill, Lucy Russell…
- Pretty costume drama follows the fortunes of an aspiring lady writer in Edwardian England.
Based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor (MRS PALFREY AT…
- Band's Visit, The (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) (2007)
- Dir. Eran Kolirin
- Sweet and sensitive Israeli comedy following an Egyptian police band who get way laid in a small Israeli town and unexpectedly break down cultural…
- Banishment, The (2007)
- Dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev
Feat. Konstantin Lavronenko, Maria Bonnevie
- A discordant marriage is framed against a breathtaking visual backdrop in this grand and elemental narrative from the dir. of the equally masterful…
- Ben X (2007)
- Dir. Nic Balthazar
Feat. Greg Timmermans, Marijke Pinoy, Laura Verlinden
- A provocative Dutch drama of 21st century teen angst, centred on an Asperger’s Syndrome–afflicted gamer whose addiction to online…
- Blind Mountain (2007)
- Dir. Yang Li
Feat. Huang Lu
- A superbly executed kidnapping drama that’s also surprisingly achieved given its critical portrait of Chinese society, this concerns the heinous…
- Caramel (Sukkar banat) (2007)
- Dir. Nadine Labaki
Feat. Nadine Labaki
- Charming Lebanese soap opera with a social conscience, the latest in an emerging wave of dissenting Middle Eastern dramas divulges the stifled lives…
- Chacun Son Cinema (To Each His Own Cinema) (2007)
- Dir. Theo Angelopoulos, Olivier Assayas, Bille August
- 35 auteurs convey the meaning of cinema in less than three minutes each, in this epic commission to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film…
- Chaotic Ana (Caótica Ana) (2007)
- Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Gerrit Graham, Manuela Vellés
- Spanish auteur Julio Medem (SEX AND LUCIA) returns with this abstractly ambitious, idiosyncratic undertaking, meshing the self–exploration of a…
- Checkmate Provenzano (2007)
- Dir. Claudio Mariano Cirino, Paolo Santolini
- Detailed docu–drama recreates the last few months in hiding of notorious Mafia don Bernardo Provenzano whose capture after forty–three…
- City of Men (Cidade dos Homens) (2007)
- Dir. Paulo Morelli
Feat. Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha
- Salty Rio back–blocks melodrama from the producers of CITY OF GOD revolving around two orphaned street kids on the brink of adulthood faced…
- Days and Clouds (2007)
- Dir. Silvio Soldini
Feat. Margherita Buy, Antonio Albanese, Giuseppe Battiston…
- Resonating drama about a well–heeled, sophisticated couple who struggle to stay together after the husband loses his job.
The dir. of BREAD…
- Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The (Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon) (2007)
- Dir. Julian Schnabel
Feat. Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze
- Justly celebrated adaptation of the autobiography of the late Jean–Dominique Bauby, who enjoyed the high life as editor of Elle magazine before…
- Don't Touch the Axe (Duchess of Langeais, The) (2007)
- Dir. Jacques Rivette
Feat. Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu, Bulle Ogier…
- A duchess and a general play out an unusual courtship in this engrossing period chamber piece, elevated by the superb interplay between the two…
- Edge of Heaven, The (Auf der anderen Seite) (2007)
- Dir. Fatih Akin
Feat. Hanna Schygulla
- Prompted by family upheaval, a university professor reconnects with his native Turkey, and other disparate lost souls, in this dramatic tapestry of…
- Empties (Vratné lahve) (2007)
- Dir. Jan Sverak
Feat. Zdenek Sverak, Tatiana Vilhelmova, Daniela Kolarova
- This cheeky Czech favourite comically indulges the disobedience of its retirement–aged protagonist, who, after losing his teaching position and…
- Ex Drummer (2007)
- Dir. Koen Mortier
Feat. Dries Van Hegen
- Ultra–violent Belgian black comedy mines similar territory to MAN BITES DOG and IRREVERSIBLE, albeit with a slightly higher dose of absurdity…
- Fighter (2007)
- Dir. Natasha Arthy
Feat. Semra Turan, Nima Nabipour, Cyron Bjørn Melville
- Girls–can–do–anything drama focused around a young Turkish–Danish teenager who is determined to become a kung–fu…
- Flight of the Red Balloon, The (Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge) (2007)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Juliette Binoche
- From Taiwanese grandmaster Hou Hsiao–hsien, this rhapsodic French sojourn evokes Albert Lamorisse’s enchanting 1956 short film, chronicling a…
- Girl by the Lake, The (La ragazza del lago) (2007)
- Dir. Andrea Molaioli
Feat. Toni Servillo, Denis Fasolo, Nello Mascia…
- A murder–mystery that swept Italy's Academy Awards set in an idyllic North Italian village where a beautiful young girl is found murdered.…
- Grocer's Son, The (Le fils de l'épicier) (2007)
- Dir. Eric Guirado
Feat. Nicolas Cazalé, Clotilde Hesme, Daniel Duval…
- Gentle coming–of–age story following Antoine, a self–centered young man living in Paris, who is forced to return to his provincial…
- Guru (2007)
- Dir. Mani Ratnam
Feat. Aishwarya Rai, Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan
- Rewarding rags–to–riches drama relates the story of an entrepreneurial young boy from a village in Gujarat who became the biggest…
- Heartbeat Detector (La Question Humaine) (2007)
- Dir. Nicolas Klotz
Feat. Mathieu Amalric, Michael Lonsdale, Lou Castel…
- A dense, demanding corporate thriller woven around a German multinational, whose human resources expert (Amalric), in investigating the mental state…
- Hunting and Gathering (2007)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker…
- A waif–thin artist/cleaner (Tautou) gains a new lease on life after a chance encounter with a dignified stutterer in this heartwarming lost…
- In the City of Sylvia (2007)
- Dir. José Luis Guerín
Feat. Xavier Lafitte, Pilar López de Ayala
- A bouquet of visual and aural pleasures, this sensually shot mood–piece follows an unnamed artist who in turn ‘stalks’ a fetching young…
- Joy Division (2007)
- Dir. Reg Traviss
Feat. Ed Stoppard, Tom Schilling, Bernadette Heerwagen…
- Ed Stoppard, son of Sir Tom, stars as a young German boy who becomes a KGB agent in this ambitious wartime saga that sweeps from WWII to swinging,…
- Kaidan (2007)
- Dir. Hideo Nakata
Feat. Kumiko Aso
- Period J–horror from the director of THE RING relays the ghostly tale of a samurai’s son attempting to escape an ancient curse laid on his…
- Katyn (2007)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Żmijewski, Pawel Malaszynski
- Andrzej Wajda cements himself as Poland’s greatest director with this late–career triumph, a war story addressing the eradication of some…
- Kite Runner, The (2007)
- Dir. Marc Forster
Feat. Khalid Abdalla, Homayon Ershadi, Shaun Toub…
- The ravages of Afghanistan and its effect on an American 'refugee' forms the basis of Khaled Hosseini's best–selling book, here given due…
- La Vie en Rose (2007)
- Dir. Olivier Dahan
Feat. Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Emmanuelle Seigner…
- Marion Cotillard excels (and deservingly won a Best Actress Oscar) in this stunning new biopic of the life and times of French singer Edith…
- La Zona (2007)
- Dir. Rodrigo Plá
Feat. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bardem, Daniel Tovar…
- Award winning, intensely scripted and thought provoking drama set in a wealthy Mexican compound where the residents have formed a vigilante group to…
- Lessons in Chocolate (Lezioni di Cioccolato) (2007)
- Dir. Claudio Cupellini
Feat. Luca Argentero, Violante Placido, Neri Marcore…
- A building contractor on the verge of closing his biggest deal to date finds his future jeopardized when an illegally hired worker is injured on the…
- Like Stars on Earth (Taare Zameen Par) (2007)
- Dir. Aamir Khan
Feat. Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra
- Drama from Indian actor–director Aamir Khan (3 IDIOTS) following the life of an imaginative 8–year old boy with diagnosed dyslexia, who…
- Lorna's Silence (Le Silence de Lorna) (2007)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Arta Dobroshi, Jeremie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
- Further tales of hardship from the Cannes–winning Dardenne brothers, concerning the plight of an Albanian woman seeking Belgian citizenship…
- Lust, Caution (Se, Jie) (2007)
- Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Joan Chen, Wei Tang…
- Dir. Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) returns to the mainland to present a slow–burn, psychologically dense and provocative spy thriller, based on…
- Manual of Love 2 (Capitoli successivi) (2007)
- Dir. Giovanni Veronesi
Feat. Carlo Verdone, Monica Bellucci, Riccardo Scamarcio
- Monica Bellucci climbs abroad in this wry sequel. Director Giovanni Veronesi delves once again into the mysterious recesses of the human heart and…
- My Brother Is An Only Child (Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico) (2007)
- Dir. Daniele Luchetti
Feat. Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Angela Finocchiaro…
- The struggle between popular Communist and Fascist groups in 60's Italy is the stage for this tale of hot–headed sibling and filial conflict.…
- Noodle (2007)
- Dir. Ayelet Menahemi
Feat. Mili Avital, BaoQi Chen
- Satisfying, well–realized tale of an Israeli flight attendant who becomes the reluctant guardian of a six–year–old Chinese boy…
- O'Horten (2007)
- Dir. Bent Hamer
Feat. Baard Owe, Ghita Norby
- The director of KITCHEN STORIES follows up with another comic delicacy about a 67–year–old engineer and his oddly challenging quest to…
- One Hundred Nails (Centochidi) (2007)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Raz Degan, Luna Bendandi
- Quiet, thoughtful drama involving a jaded professor who in a fit of apostasy flees to the countryside only to be taken for Jesus by the locals.
- Persepolis (2007)
- Dir. Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
- Exceptional black–and–white animated feature for adults based on the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, who grew up in…
- Romance Of Astrea and Ceadon, The (2007)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Stéphanie Crayencour, Andy Gillet, Cécile Cassel…
- Eric Rohmer, master of the seasonal romantic tryst, steps out with this playful adaptation of a 17th century French novel, in which a handsome…
- Rush Hour (The Trial Begins) (2007)
- Dir. Vincenzo Marra
Feat. Michelle Lastella, Fanny Ardant, Giulia Bevilacqua…
- Tightly directed drama about the temptation of amoral manipulation. Italian tax official Filippo makes himself guilty of fraud and bribery to join…
- Saawariya (Beloved) (2007)
- Dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Feat. Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor
- Notable for being the first mainstream Hindi movie to be funded by a U.S. studio, this stylistically decadent romance of unrequited love and desire…
- Saturn in Opposition (Saturno Contro) (2007)
- Dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Feat. Stefano Accorsi, Margherita Buy, Pierfrancesco Favino
- Sensitive ensemble drama exploring the relationships of a group of friends who meet regularly for dinner.
Ozpetek brings his characters…
- Secret of the Grain, The (Couscous) (2007)
- Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche
Feat. Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache…
- Acclaimed French film siphons the daily trials and tribulations of a working class Arab clan, whose patriarch dreams of opening a restaurant…
- Son Of A Lion (2007)
- Dir. Benjamin Gilmour
Feat. Niaz Khan Shinwari, Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad
- Pertinent, courageous drama filmed entirely in the Pashtun tribal area, telling the story of a young Pakistani boy who yearns to go to school and…
- Strangers (2007)
- Dir. Guy Nattiv, Erez Tadmor
Feat. Patrick Albenque, Lubna Azabal, Mila Dekker
- Balancing hopeful romanticism with political realism, this fatalistic drama brings together an Israeli and Palestinian in Paris during the frenzy of…
- Suso's Tower (La Torre de Suso) (2007)
- Dir. Tom Fernández
Feat. Javier Camara, Gonzalo de Castro, César Vea
- Forced to return to his native Spain following the death of a friend, a hard–living man decides to fulfill his dead mate’s dream of…
- Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) (2007)
- Dir. Patricia Riggen
Feat. Adrian Alonso, Kate del Castillo, Eugenio Derbez…
- Stirring drama following Carlitos (Alonso) a young boy living in Mexico and his mother Rosario (del Castillo) living in LA, and their epic journey to…
- Witnesses, The (2007)
- Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Sami Bouajila…
- Told in three chapters, this matter–of–fact ensemble drama centred on the AIDS crisis as it hit Paris during the eighties, develops into…
- XXY (2007)
- Dir. Lucía Puenzo
Feat. Ricardo Darín, Ines Efron, Martin Piroyanski
- Articulate portrayal of the life of an intersex teenager searching for identity and exploring the complexities of coming–of–age in a…
- You the Living (2007)
- Dir. Roy Andersson
Feat. Jessica Lundberg, Elisabeth Helander, Björn Englund
- Master of the painstaking, deadpan vignette, Roy Andersson, continues his singular and obsessive vision with this absurdist comedy of…
- Along the Ridge (Anche libero va bene) (2006)
- Dir. Kim Rossi Stuart
Feat. Barbora Bobulova, Kim Rossi Stuart
- Italian actor Kim Rossi Stuart's directorial debut is a heart–rending drama told through the eyes of an 11 year old boy whose family must cope…
- Ball, The (Liscio) (2006)
- Dir. Claudio Antonini
Feat. Laura Morante, Umberto Morelli
- Slender tale boasts a fine performance by Morante as a chanteuse and solo mother, whose son attempts to find her a boyfriend.
- Bamako (The Court) (2006)
- Dir. Abderrahmane Sissako
Feat. Aissa Maiga
- A mock trial of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank – whose representatives must defend charges of reckless lending and…
- Bartali - The Iron Man (Mini-Series) (Gino Bartali - L'intramontabile) (2006)
- Dir. Alberto Negrin
Feat. Pierfrancesco Favino
- Spirited made–for–TV biopic of Italy’s indomitable road cyclist Gino Bartali, twice winner of the Tour de France.
- Beauty In Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích) (2006)
- Dir. Jan Hrebejk
Feat. Anna Geislerova, Josef Abrhám, Jana Brejchová
- Exquisite Czech drama focused on a young woman living in Prague who, while struggling to care for her family after their home is destroyed by a…
- Blame it on Fidel! (La Faute à Fidel!) (2006)
- Dir. Julie Gavras
Feat. Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi
- A warm, wise and wryly observed evocation of a child's accelerated maturation in the midst of early 1970s social and political upheaval, Nina…
- Caiman, The (Il Camino) (2006)
- Dir. Nanni Moretti
Feat. Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy, Jasmine Trinca…
- Unflinching Italian film–within–a–film concerning a producer attempting to make a film about former Italian prime minister Silvio…
- Climates (Iklimler) (2006)
- Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Feat. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan
- The director of UZAK employs startlingly high definition photography and an Antonioni–inspired dissection of male–female relations to…
- Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places) (2006)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Sabine Azema, Laura Morante, Pierre Arditi…
- Romantic French drama with a vulnerable edge explores the modern dilemmas of loneliness and adoration through the lives of six alienated Parisians…
- Colossal Youth (2006)
- Dir. Pedro Costa
- A major work of contemporary art cinema, this mesmerizing sleepwalk throughout the demolished slums of Lisbon, Portugal is seen through the eyes of…
- Days of Glory (Indigènes) (2006)
- Dir. Rachid Bouchareb
Feat. Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Bernard Blancan…
- Epic Algerian WW2 drama focused on a determined group of Algerian soldiers fighting to defend France with little acknowledgement of their sacrifices…
- Dirty Carnival, A (Biyeolhan geori) (2006)
- Dir. Ha Yoo
Feat. In-sung Zo, Ku Jin, Tae won Kwon
- Dynamite entry in the burgeoning Korean gangster genre explores the meteoric rise – and inevitable fall – of one Byung–du, a lowly…
- Don't Worry, I'm Fine (Je Vais Bien, Ne T'en Fais Pas) (2006)
- Dir. Philippe Lioret
Feat. Mélanie Laurent
- Understated French drama centres on a distraught young woman's search for her twin brother after being told he has run away from the family…
- Eden (2006)
- Dir. Michael Hofmann
Feat. Josef Ostendorf, Charlotte Roche
- Charming romance revolves around an eccentric chef, and a random encounter with a mother trapped in a monotonous relationship.
Fans of…
- Etoile Du Soldat, L' (Star of the Soldier) (2006)
- Dir. Christophe de Ponfilly
Feat. Sacha Bourdo, Philippe Caubere, Hanns Zischler
- Maladroit war drama based on the true story of a Russian soldier captured by the Mujahedin in Afghanistan who becomes enthralled by his freedom…
- Family Law (Derecho de familia) (2006)
- Dir. Daniel Burman
Feat. Daniel Hendler, Arturo Goetz, Eloy Burman…
- Fatherhood and career jitters converge in this wry comedy of family matters.
Promising young dir. Burman displays a dry wit in looking at three…
- Fireworks Wednesday (Chaharshanbe-soori) (2006)
- Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Taraneh Alidoosti, Matin Heydar-nia
- This earlier feature from the director of A SEPARATION similarly explores the mores of the urban middle and lower classes with depth and complexity.…
- Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) (2006)
- Dir. Chris Kraus
Feat. Monika Bliebtreu, Hannah Herzsprung
- Unrelentingly gritty German drama of redemption details the hostile relationship between an incarcerated piano player and her emotionally chilly…
- Golden Door, The (Nuovomondo) (2006)
- Dir. Emanuele Crialese
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato
- Award–winning Italian drama from the dir. of RESPIRO follows the fortunes of a family of dirt–poor Sicilian peasants, from their homeland…
- Hula Girls (2006)
- Dir. Sang-il Lee
Feat. Yasuko Matsuyuki, Yu Aoi
- Feel–good true story of a depleted coal–mining town in Japan, and its residents’ efforts to build a Hawaiian–themed tourist…
- I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006)
- Dir. Ming-liang Tsai
Feat. Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen
- This achingly serene, Kuala Lumpur–set fable is one of Tsai Ming–liang’s best, starring his alter ego Lee Kang–sheng as a…
- Inside Paris (Dans Paris) (2006)
- Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Romain Duris, Louis Garrel, Guy Marchand…
- Sprinkled with the magic of the Nouvelle Vague, this hip and happening ode to big city Paris spends a night and day in the company of two brothers…
- Kiss Me Baby (Baciami Piccina) (2006)
- Dir. Roberto Cimapnelli
Feat. Neri Marcore, Vincenzo Salemme, Elena Russo
- Elegant blend of love–story, witty road movie and historical drama tells the story of a couple on their honeymoon at the most unlikely of times…
- Lady Chatterley (2006)
- Dir. Pascale Ferran
Feat. Hippolyte Girardot, Marina Hands, Jean-Louise Coulloc'h
- Sensuous, heartrendingly tender French/Belgian adaptation of an alternate version of D.H. Lawrence's once notorious novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'…
- Land, The (La Terra, Our Land) (2006)
- Dir. Sergio Rubini
Feat. Paolo Briguglia, Emilio Solfrizzi, Sergio Rubini
- Compulsive Italian dramedy depicting a man who returns to the home of his childhood to tie up the sale of the family estate, but is instead…
- Love and Dance (Sipur Hatzi-Russi ) (2006)
- Dir. Eitan Anner
Feat. Jenya Dodina, Avi Kushnir, Oksana Korostyshevskaya…
- This "Middle Eastern BILLY ELLIOT" sees the young protagonist oppose the macho aspirations of his secretly soft–centred Israeli father to…
- Love and Honor (Bushi no ichibun) (2006)
- Dir. Yoji Yamada
Feat. Takuya Kimura, Nenji Kobayashi, Ken Ogata
- Third chapter in dir. Yamada's revisionist samurai trilogy looks at a recently blinded samurai and the lengths his wife will go to protect his…
- Melissa P. (2006)
- Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Feat. Marcello Mazzarella, Maria Valverde
- Saucy, if ultimately restrained memoir of sexual adolescence, concerning a promiscuous teenage girl who seeks solace from her troubled life by…
- Nina's Journey (2006)
- Dir. Lena Einhorn
Feat. Agnieszka Grochowska
- Based on the captivating real–life story of writer–director Einhorn's mother, this restrained yet profoundly moving docudrama recaptures…
- Offside (2006)
- Dir. Jafar Panahi
- Filmed using non–professionals, in and around the unfolding events of an actual World Cup qualifier, Jafar Panahi expertly weaves a…
- Orchestra Seats (Fauteuils d'orchestre) (2006)
- Dir. Daniele Thompson
Feat. Cecile De France, Sydney Pollack
- A fetching French soufflé with a keen eye for Parisian charms, this dainty bohemian offering follows an appealing ensemble cast headed by café…
- Our Country (A Casa Nostra) (2006)
- Dir. Francesca Comencini
Feat. Valeria Golino, Giuseppe Battiston, Luca Zingaretti…
- Hard–nosed ensemble drama aims straight at the Italian big business jugular, levelling broadsides at capitalism and Big Brother as it critiques…
- Page Turner, The (2006)
- Dir. Denis Drecourt
Feat. Catherine Frot, Deborah Francois
- A typically frosty, femme–centric French chamber–piece about a classical music prodigy whose career is sabotaged by a concert pianist,…
- Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno) (2006)
- Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez…
- A stunning, sinister netherworld fantasy that parallels an equally compelling story of uprising against a fascist military unit in WWII Spain, this…
- Paris, Je T'aime (Paris, I Love You) (2006)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet
Feat. Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi…
- A prestige line–up of actors and filmmakers converge in this grand anthology of love letters to the city of romance. With each vignette…
- Prague (Prag) (2006)
- Dir. Ole Christian Madsen
Feat. Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade
- A journey to Prague to collect a deceased father's coffin turns into a prolonged, poignant and gruelling dissection of an estranged Danish couple's…
- Provoked (2006)
- Dir. Jag Mundhra
Feat. Aishwarya Rai, Miranda Richardson, Naveen Andrews…
- Provocative indeed, this is the true story of an Indian woman (played by Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai) who radically changed how the British public…
- Rang De Basanti (2006)
- Dir. Rakesh Omprakash Mehra
Feat. Aamir Khan, Alice Patten
- Progressive Bollywood fare bypasses musical melodrama for an overarching tale of history and self–discovery, guided by a British–Indian…
- Red Kebaya, The (2006)
- Dir. Oliver Knott
Feat. Ramli Hassan, Vanida Imran, Corinne Adri
- A lonely photographer with an excessive amount of haunting childhood baggage discovers the key to his past while recording abandoned houses in this…
- Red Like the Sky (2006)
- Dir. Cristiano Bortone
Feat. Luca Carpriotti, Paolo Sassanelli, Marco Cocci
- Affecting drama testifies to a young boy's steely resolve after being blinded, after he discovers a newfound joy in sound. An understated narrative…
- Reprise (2006)
- Dir. Joachim Trier
Feat. Anders Danielsen Lie, Espen Klouman-Høiner, Viktoria Winge…
- Touching, keenly perceptive Norwegian film fest favourite centres on two twenty–something writers whose vastly divergent personalities and…
- Requiem (2006)
- Dir. Hans-Christian Schmid
Feat. Sandra Huller
- Tightly coiled within Sandra Huller’s commanding lead performance, this riveting account of a young woman’s struggle with epilepsy and religious…
- Science of Sleep, The (2006)
- Dir. Michel Gondry
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Emma de Caunes…
- A delightfully self–conscious, self–indulged fantasy for cine–wizard Michel Gondry, the director's follow–up to ETERNAL…
- Secret Journey (Viaggio Segreto) (2006)
- Dir. Roberto Ando
Feat. Marco Baliani, Alessio Boni, Emir Kusturica
- Leo, a psychoanalyst in his forties lives with his younger sister, Ale. When Harold , a famous and hugely successful artist, announces his intention…
- Singer, The (Quand j'étais chanteur) (2006)
- Dir. Xavier Giannoli
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Cecile De France, Mathieu Amalric
- Gerard Depardieu works his rotund charm as a journeyman lounge singer, crooning his way through half–empty nightclubs while forging an unlikely…
- Still Life (Dong) (2006)
- Dir. Jia Zhang-ke
Feat. Zhao Tao
- Another arresting globalisation story from China's leading contemporary filmmaker, situated on the banks of the Yangtze River, where once thriving…
- Suddenly (Underbara älskade) (2006)
- Dir. Johan Brisinger
Feat. Michael Nyqvist, Anastasios Soulis, Moa Gammel…
- Quality Swedish drama explores themes of grief and solace in its portrait of a bereaved family man, who must come to terms with the sudden death of…
- Syndromes and a Century (2006)
- Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Feat. Arkanae Cherkam, Jaruchai Iamaram, Nu Nimsomboon
- A rural hospital surrounded by Thailand's evergreen jungle is the setting for this blissful meditation on memory and desire, shot in the exquisite…
- Time to Leave (2006)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi…
- Dir. Ozon expands on the theme of death and mourning, first explored in UNDER THE SAND, with this carefully composed, if somewhat underdeveloped male…
- Times and Winds (Bes Vakit) (2006)
- Dir. Reha Erdem
Feat. Ozkan Ozen, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan
- Set in a remote Turkish village three friends on the cusp of adolescence struggle with both with their changing emotions and growing resentment of…
- TranSylvania (2006)
- Dir. Tony Gatlif
Feat. Asia Argento, Birol Unel, Amira Casar
- Tony Gatlif tones his freewheeling musical romanticism down a notch, but doesn’t discard the ramshackle sensuality of his earlier films, in this…
- Vanaja (2006)
- Dir. Rajnesh Domalpalli
Feat. Mamatha Bhukya
- Heartfelt story of empowerment centres around the rape and subsequent pregnancy of a 15–year–old Indian girl who aspires to be a…
- Vitus (2006)
- Dir. Fredi M. Murer
Feat. Julika Jenkins, Urs Jucker, Bruno Ganz…
- Sweet–natured chronicle of a young prodigy whose parents demand success as a pianist.
The problem of trying to foster a child’s talent but…
- Volver (2006)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas
- Formidable Spanish brand–name dir. Almodovar re–embracing what he knows best – womanhood – in a vibrant and tempestuous tale of…
- What is Love? (Quale Amore) (2006)
- Dir. Maurizio Sciarra
Feat. Giorgio Pasotti, Arnoldo Foa, Vanessa Incontrada…
- Sullen adaptation of Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata" has jealous Pasotti recount how he murdered his wife. Good looking film features some accomplished…
- Accused (Anklaget) (2005)
- Dir. Jacob Thuesen
Feat. Troels Lyby, Sofie Grabol
- Unnerving Danish chamber–piece concerns the accusation by a 14–year–old girl that her father has sexually abused her – a…
- Adam's Apples (2005)
- Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen
Feat. Mads Mikkelsen, Ulrich Thomsen, Paprika Steen…
- Roguishly sardonic Danish black comedy about a sanguine country vicar (CASINO ROYALE’s Mikkelsen) who encounters resistance from a neo–Nazi…
- Airlift, The (2005)
- Dir. Dror Zahavi
Feat. Heino Ferch, Ulrich Tukur, Bettina Zimmerman
- Sweeping historical drama set in post–WWII Berlin with the love affair between a German single mother and an American General complicated by…
- Always - Sunset on Third Street (Always san-chôme no yûhi ) (2005)
- Dir. Takashi Yamazaki
Feat. Koyuki, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Hiroko Yakushimaru
- A wistful Japanese drama, set against the backdrop of a developing Tokyo skyline in the 50's, centred on a handful of residents living in the…
- Angel-A (2005)
- Dir. Luc Besson
Feat. Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen
- This sleek, stylized departure for dir. Luc Besson dabbles in an unlikely romance between a statuesque blonde (Rassmusen), and a nebbish, diminutive…
- Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State (2005)
- The BBC present a comprehensive visual and verbal account of the "Final Solution" phase of the Nazi Holocaust, focused on the most infamous of the…
- Battle in Heaven (Batalla en el cielo) (2005)
- Dir. Carlos Reygadas
Feat. Marcos Hernández
- Heavyset follow–up to JAPON finds Mexican dir. Reygadas dealing in the spiritual and moral crises of two lost souls: one an underprivileged…
- Beast in the Heart, The (La Bestia nel cuore, Don't Tell) (2005)
- Dir. Cristina Comencini
Feat. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Stefania Rocca, Alessio Boni…
- Oscar–nominated Italian drama centred on the life of a successful career woman who finds herself haunted by nightmares of an abusive childhood…
- Beauty Remains (Mei ren yi jiu) (2005)
- Dir. Ann Hui
Feat. Vivian Wu, Xun Zhou
- Two sisters negotiate the turbulent rise of communism in China during the 1940s in this family melodrama.
Sensuously filmed in tones reminiscent…
- Cave of the Yellow Dog, The (2005)
- Dir. Byambasuren Davaa
- The dir. of THE WEEPING CAMEL weaves an enchanting tale of nomads through the eyes of a young girl, using her friendship with a stray dog as a launch…
- Child, The (L'enfant) (2005)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Jeremie Renier, Deborah Francois
- The latest humanist imprint from the Dardenne's is a gripping, logical extension of their socio–economic character studies, here following the…
- Crime Novel (Romanzo criminale) (2005)
- Feat. Kim Rossi Stuart, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria…
- Novel–based Italian crime drama concerning a group of small–town crims who went on to become Rome's most merciless crime family and a…
- Dark Horse (Voksne mennesker) (2005)
- Dir. Dagur Kari
Feat. Jakob Cedergren, Nicolas Bro
- Charmingly offbeat slacker comedy from the director of NOI THE ALBINO, following a Copenhagen graffiti artist who spends his days dodging parking…
- Days of Abandonment, The (I Giorni dell'abbandono) (2005)
- Dir. Roberto Faenza
Feat. Margherita Buy, Luca Zingaretti
- Shattering Italian drama with Margherita Buy in a breathtakingly brutal performance as a middle–age woman left by her husband who deteriorates…
- Death of Mr Lazarescu, The (2005)
- Dir. Cristi Puiu
Feat. Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminita Gheorghiu
- Whirling, labyrinthine black comedy follows with interest the Kafkaesque plight of an ailing elderly drunk, whose stomach pains are met with…
- El Violin (2005)
- Dir. Francisco Vargas
Feat. Angel Tavira
- A one–handed violinist commands this potent political history of Mexico’s 1970s Guerrero peasant revolt.
Plotting to befriend the…
- Elsa and Fred (2005)
- Dir. Marcos Carnevale
Feat. Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla
- Exquisitely acted romance between a pair of senior citizens expresses enough tenderness and fragility to overcome its rather prosaic storyline.…
- Familia (2005)
- Dir. Lousie Archambault
Feat. Mylene St-Sauveur, Macha Grenon, Sylvie Moreau
- Multi–faceted, thoroughly entertaining drama centres on the frequently discordant child–rearing beliefs of two friends as they attempt to…
- Fateless (Sorstalanság) (2005)
- Dir. Lajos Koltai
Feat. Marcell Nagy, Aron Dimeny, Daniel Craig
- Harrowing and distilled vision of the Holocaust adapted from a novel by concentration–camp survivor and Nobel prize–winning author Imre…
- Gabrielle (2005)
- Dir. Patrice Chereau
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory
- Absorbing adaptation of a Joseph Conrad short story coolly dissects the disintegrating marriage of a bourgeois French couple.
Gorgeously framed…
- Heading South (Vers le sud) (2005)
- Dir. Laurence Cantet
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Louise Portal
- Pensive women's drama from the dir. of TIME OUT, set on a Haitian beach resort frequented by wealthy westerners and male gigolos.
Set in the 70s…
- House of Sand, The (2005)
- Dir. Andrucha Waddington
Feat. Fernanda Montenegro, Fernanda Torres, Ruy Guerra
- Rapturous cinematography transforms this melodramatic saga of three generations of women stranded in Brazil’s inhospitable Maranhão region, into…
- How Much Do You Love Me? (Combien tu m'aimes?) (2005)
- Dir. Bertrand Blier
Feat. Monica Bellucci, Gerard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Darroussin…
- Akin to THE VALET’s improbable live–in relationship, but offering entirely different results, this peculiar comedy–romance stars Monica…
- In the Light of the Sun (Alla luce del sole) (2005)
- Dir. Roberto Faenza
Feat. Luca Zingaretti
- Grave Italian drama, set in a time of increased Mafia terrorism and based on the chain of events that led to the assassination of the Catholic priest…
- Italian Film Festival Collection, The - 2007 (2005-2006)
- Comprehensive box–set collection of 11 of the best Italian films featured at the 'Italian Film Festival 2007' spread over 6 discs.
Films…
- Italian, The (Italianetz) (2005)
- Dir. Andrei Kravchuk
Feat. Kolya Spiridonov, Nikolai Reutov, Maria Kuznetsova…
- Despite the title there is little Tuscan sunshine to be found here, but instead a frosty though warm–hearted tale from a Russian orphanage,…
- Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) (2005)
- Dir. Christian Carion
Feat. Ian Richardson, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl
- Fact–based WWI drama centred around how, on Christmas Eve, 1914, opposing French, German and British soldiers called a temporary ceasefire amid…
- Karol - A Man Who Became Pope (2005)
- Dir. Giacomo Battiato
Feat. Piotr Adamczyk
- A lavish TV biopic concerning the life of the Polish–born leader of the Roman Catholic church between 1978 and 2005, Karol Wojtyla or Pope John…
- L'Enfer (Hell) (2005)
- Dir. Danis Tanovic
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Karin Viard, Marie Gillain…
- Intense and twisting family psychodrama based on a script by Krystof Kieslowski (THREE COLOURS) has three French sisters finding their lives…
- La Maison de Nina (2005)
- Dir. Richard Dembo
Feat. Agnes Jaoui, Sarah Adler, Katia Lewkowicz
- Quietly accomplished French drama focused on the relationships within the fragile structures of the 'houses of hope': houses run by surrogate mothers…
- La Petite Jerusalem (2005)
- Dir. Karin Albou
Feat. Elsa Zylberstein
- Passion must be reconciled with faith for two sisters growing impatient with family and religious boundaries, while living in the drab Parisian…
- Live and Become (Va, vis et deviens) (2005)
- Dir. Radu Mihaileanu
- Set against a little–known human catastrophe in which thousands of Ethiopian Jews (Falasha) were evacuated to Israel during civil unrest in the…
- Lower City (Cidade Baixa) (2005)
- Dir. Sergio Machado
Feat. Lazaro Ramos, Jose Dumont
- Sensual, if sordid Latin American affair lustily relaying an ongoing threesome between two poverty–stricken ferrymen and a gorgeous Salvadorian…
- Mario's War (La Guerra di Mario) (2005)
- Dir. Antonio Capuano
Feat. Valeria Golino
- Confronting Italian drama focused on a young boy taken away from his abusive mother to be cared for by a generous upper–class couple attempting…
- Method, The (El Método) (2005)
- Dir. Marcelo Pineyro
Feat. Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri, Ernesto Alterio…
- This smart black comedy for the 21st century sees corporate ethics slyly dissected as seven candidates blindly compete for an executive position in a…
- Once You're Born (Quando sei nato non puoi più nasconderti) (2005)
- Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana
Feat. Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti
- Frank Italian adventure by acclaimed director Marco Tullio Giordana (THE BEST OF YOUTH) telling the coming–of–age story of a wealthy…
- One Stays, One Leaves (L' un reste, l'autre part) (2005)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nathalie Baye…
- Witty French comedy with an undercurrent of angst in which two philandering middle–aged husbands do their utmost to juggle fresh–faced…
- Princesses (Princesas) (2005)
- Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
Feat. Candela Pena, Micaela Nevarez
- A raw, heartfelt slice of social realism on Spain's unforgiving streets, this authentic drama about the tenuous friendship between two women who…
- Regular Lovers (Les Amants réguliers) (2005)
- Dir. Philippe Garrel
Feat. Louis Garrel, Clotilde Hesme
- A richly photographed, Nouvelle Vague–styled homage to the revolutionary spirit of protesters in 1968 Paris, dir. Garrel offers a lucid, at…
- Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Ken Takakura
- An unmistakably poignant, tear–jerking chronicle of an elderly Japanese man’s pilgrimage to Mainland China in the hope of reconciling a…
- Ring Finger, The (L'annulaire) (2005)
- Dir. Diane Bertrand
Feat. Olga Kurylenko, Marc Barbe, Stipe Erceg
- Ravishing to look at, if lacking so much as a storyline, this exquisite erotic fiction features Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko as a gorgeous laboratory…
- Sacred Heart (Cuore Sacro) (2005)
- Dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Feat. Erika Blanc, Barbora Bobulova, Camille Dugay Comencini…
- Invigorating Italian drama of a successful businesswoman forced to re–assess her life by way of an encounter with a street kid after two of her…
- Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
- Dir. March Rothemund
Feat. Julia Jentsch
- An interesting and worthy companion piece to the excellent DOWNFALL, this necessarily grim drama looks at the trial of 21–year–old…
- Speer And Hitler: The Devil's Architect (2005)
- Dir. Heinrich Breloer
Feat. Sebastian Koch, Tobias Moretti
- Painstaking docu–drama attempts to reevaluate the war crimes of one Albert Speer, Third Reich celebrity and Hilter’s personal architect…
- Stupid Boy (Garçon Stupide) (2005)
- Dir. Lionel Baier
Feat. Natacha Koutchoumov, Pierre Chatagny, Rui Pedro Alves
- Raw drama focused around Loic, a young gay swinger in Switzerland, and his attraction to an older man who offers unexpected emotional stability.…
- Takeshis' (2005)
- Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi…
- Returning to his comedic roots, dir. Takeshi Kitano springs layer upon layer of self–reference and in this conceptually ambitious, though…
- Three Times (2005)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Chen Chang, Shu Qi
- Taiwanese great Hou Hsiao–Hsien rekindles the memory of three of his finest films, linking a trio of elegant, erstwhile love stories (across…
- Tickets (2005)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach
- Surprisingly succinct take on the "omnibus" film sees the trifecta of Olmi, Kiarostami and Loach intersect three eclectic stories on a…
- Tony Takitani (2005)
- Dir. Jun Ichikawa
Feat. Issey Ogata, Rie Miyazawa
- A small jewel of a drama, based on a story by Haruki Murakami, about a lonely illustrator (Ogata) who meets the woman of his dreams, only later…
- Tsotsi (2005)
- Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Presley Chweneyagae
- Deserved winner of the 2006 Foreign Language Oscar, this gripping tale of a young homicidal street–thug ('tsotsi') in post–apartheid…
- U-Carmen Ekhayelitsha (2005)
- Dir. Mark Dornford-May
Feat. Pauline Malefane
- An inspired contemporary rendition of George Bizet's classic opera, with events relocated to the rich cultural hotbed of modern day South Africa.…
- Valley of Flowers (2005)
- Dir. Pan Nalin
Feat. Milind Soman, Mylène Jampanoï, Naseeruddin Shah
- Visually gorgeous, sprawling love story from the director of SAMSARA revises an epic Himalayan legend of a mischievous couple whose immortal love…
- Water (2005)
- Dir. Deepa Mehta
Feat. Seema Biswas
- The third and finest entry in dir. Deepa Mehta's 'Elements' trilogy (FIRE, EARTH) is an opulent depiction of the plight of a group of Hindu widows…
- When Will the Girls Show Up? (Ma quando arrivano le ragazze?) (2005)
- Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Vittoria Puccini, Paolo Briguglia, Claudio Santamaria…
- Charming Italian drama, billed as semi–autobiographical by its director Pupi Avati (A HEART ELSEWHERE), centred on two polar opposite musos who…
- White Masai, The (Die Weisse Massai) (2005)
- Dir. Hermine Huntgeburth
Feat. Nina Hoss
- A mysterious, well–textured tale of attraction concerns a young Swiss woman travelling in Africa with her boyfriend who becomes infatuated with…
- Yacoubian Building, The (2005)
- Dir. Marwan Hamed
- A downtown apartment building is the main setting for this lively, ambitious cross–section of Egyptian life: a melting pot of social, political…
- Zozo (2005)
- Dir. Josef Fares
Feat. Imad Creidi
- Sincere and occasionally dreamlike tale of displacement follows the plight of a 10–year old boy (Creidi) caught in the midst of Lebanon's civil…
- 2046 (2004)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li…
- A companion piece of sorts to IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, this has the seasoned stylist dir. Wong Kar–Wai sketch an impressionistic portrait of loss,…
- 3-Iron (Bin-jip) (2004)
- Dir. Kim Ki-Duk
Feat. Seung-yeon Lee, Hee Song Jae
- Odd, elliptical love story from the dir. SPRING, SUMMER concerns the blossoming romance between a domestic abuse victim and her savior, a…
- 5x2 (Five Times Two) (2004)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Stephane Freiss
- Simple and powerful 'deconstruction' of modern marriage, which offers five widely–spaced scenes from the relationship of an average French…
- Aftermath (2004)
- Dir. Paprika Steen
Feat. Sofie Grabol, Soren Pilmark, Mikael Birkkjaer
- A young couple struggle to cope following the death of their only daughter, in this somber Danish drama starring Sophie Grabol (THE…
- As it is in Heaven (Så som i himmelen) (2004)
- Dir. Kay Pollak
Feat. Michael Nyqvist
- A feelgood arthouse hit about a renowned classical music conductor who rediscovers his roots in the far north of Sweden.
Acquiring a rundown…
- Bad Education (Mala Educación, La) (2004)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Fele Martinez, Javier Camara
- Another fascinating work from Almodovar who, after TALK TO HER, again matches his renowned taste in decor with adventurous yet controlled…
- Blood and Bones (Chi to hone) (2004)
- Dir. Yoichi Sai
Feat. Takeshi Kitano, Joe Odagiri
- Harrowing biopic about the life and times of an infamous first–generation Korean immigrant who came to Japan in the 1920s and by dint of his…
- Bombon (El Perro) (2004)
- Dir. Carlos Sorin
Feat. Juan Villegas
- A middle–aged man (Villegas), struggling to maintain his meager lifestyle working as a mechanic in remote Patagonia, and selling knives on the…
- Brides (Nyfes) (2004)
- Dir. Pantelis Voulgaris
Feat. Damian Lewis, Victoria Haralabidou, Steven Berkoff
- Through the passages of unrequited love, this bittersweet tale set on board a ship en route to the United States evokes a universal story of…
- Bridge of San Luis Rey, The (2004)
- Dir. Mary McGuckian
Feat. Robert De Niro, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne…
- This star–studded costume drama of interlinked fates is the third celluloid incarnation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Thorton Wilder…
- Brothers (2004)
- Dir. Susanne Bier
Feat. Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
- Dialing–up the Dogme–95 credentials of its creators, this melodrama proffers a dangerous family triangle between a career soldier…
- C.R.A.Z.Y. (Crazy) (2004)
- Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Feat. Marc-André Grondin, Danielle Proulx, Michel Côté
- Rockin' and colourful rites–of–passage drama evolves out an adolescent boy's (Grondin) experiences as part of an unusual family during…
- Chorus, The (Les Choristes) (2004)
- Dir. Christophe Barratier
Feat. Gerard Jugnot, Francois Berleand, Jacques Perrin
- Crowd–pleasing drama set in post–WW2 France, where a sympathetic and patient music teacher strives to win over the troubled orphans in…
- Clean (2004)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte, Beatrice Dalle…
- An unorthodox drugs movie from the always–interesting Olivier Assayas (IRMA VEP), this distills with refreshing clarity the aftermath of…
- Consequences of Love, The (2004)
- Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Feat. Toni Servillo, Olivia Magnani, Adriano Giannini…
- Icy but utterly involving, this Italian mood piece features Toni Servillo as a mysterious, lonesome resident of a Swiss hotel whose cool facade is…
- Don't Move (Non ti muovere) (2004)
- Dir. Sergio Castellitto
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Sergio Castellitto
- A sweaty reflection on lust and responsibility from actor Sergio Castellitto (MOSTLY MARTHA) in his second directorial outing, here playing a…
- Downfall (Der Untergang) (2004)
- Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
Feat. Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Juliane Kohler…
- Widely acclaimed for its claustrophobic intensity, intelligence and detail, this vivid re–enactment of the last ten days in the life of Adolf…
- Edukators, The (The Educators) (2004)
- Dir. Hans Weingartner
Feat. Daniel Bruhl, Julia Jentsch, Stipe Erceg
- A compulsive slice of German youth angst about rebels struggling with their cause, this arthouse smash–hit concerns a trio of youthful…
- Exils (Exiles) (2004)
- Dir. Tony Gatlif
Feat. Romain Duris
- Possibly dir. Gatlif's most exuberant and personal film yet, this observes a bohemian French couple's journey southwards to their family's respective…
- Familia Rodante (Rolling Family) (2004)
- Dir. Pablo Trapero
Feat. Graciana Chironi, Bernardo Forteza
- Argentinian comedy from the director of EL BONAERENSE, following a large family who embark on an epic road trip from Buenos Aires to a village in…
- Fida (2004)
- Dir. Ken Ghosh
Feat. Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Fardeen Khan
- Typically likeable Bollywood item that intercrosses two love stories with the tale of an online bank heist. Treading lightly through the genre…
- Great Water, The (Golemata voda) (2004)
- Dir. Ivo Trajkov
Feat. Saso Kekenovski, Maja Stankovska, Mitko Apostolovski
- Serious–minded Macedonian drama traces the fortunes of an orphan (Kekenovski) after WW2, who despite religious repression struggles to become a…
- Head-On (Gegen die Wand) (2004)
- Dir. Fatih Akin
Feat. Birol Unel, Sibel Kekilli
- Set in scungy working–class Hamburg, this constructs an unusual love story around two Turkish immigrants – a drunken janitor (Unel) and a…
- Hidden Blade (Kakushi-ken: oni no tsume) (2004)
- Dir. Yoji Yamada
Feat. Masatoshi Nagase
- The fading glory of the Japanese feudal period in the Meiji Resoration is once again beautifully explored by the dir. of TWILIGHT SAMURAI through a…
- In Your Hands (Forbrydelser) (2004)
- Dir. Annette K. Olesen
Feat. Jens Albinus, Trine Dyrholm, Ann Eleonora Joergensen
- Denmark’s latest Dogme dispatch concerns a prison priest whose faith is tested by a young inmate claiming to perform miracles of…
- Innocence (2004)
- Dir. Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Feat. Zoé Auclair, Lea Bridarolli, Bérangère Haubruge…
- A strange and sinister – but also uttering beguiling – fantasy combining phantasmagorical imagery and a dewy atmosphere to metaphorically…
- Innocent Voices (Voces inocentes) (2004)
- Dir. Luis Mandoki
Feat. Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela
- The tumultuous upheaval of civil war is witnessed through the eyes of a terrified 12–year–old boy, whose approaching teenage years spell…
- Intimate Strangers (Confidences trop intimes) (2004)
- Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Sandrine Bonnaire, Fabrice Luchini, Anne Brochet
- Another stylish excursion into suspensful romanticism for dir. Leconte (MONSIEUR HIRE), here premised on a woman's mistaken assumption that she is…
- Intruder, The (L' Intrus) (2004)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Michel Subor, Beatrice Dalle, Katia Golubeva…
- More sensory cinema from the dir. of BEAU TRAVAIL, lodged in a globally sprawling, free–associative narrative encircled loosely around one…
- Jasmine Women (Mo li hua kai; Blossoming Jasmine; Jasmine Flower) (2004)
- Dir. Yong Hou
Feat. Joan Chen, Wen Jiang, Zhang Ziyi
- Intergenerational Chinese weepie about women who are unlucky in love, set during the 1920s, '50s and '80s, and based on the book by Su Tong (also the…
- Keys to the House, The (Chiavi di casa, Le) (2004)
- Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Kim Rossi Stuart
- Eloquent Italian drama directed by Gianni Amelio (OPEN DOORS) following a distant father attempting to reconnect with his disabled son by…
- Kings and Queen (Rois et reine) (2004)
- Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
Feat. Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve…
- A tragicomedy of multiple layers and degrees untangles the complicated life of one Emmanuelle Devos, and the various men she calls her own.
Spun…
- Land Has Eyes, The (Pear ta ma 'on maf) (2004)
- Dir. Vilsoni Hereniko
Feat. Sapeta Taito, Rena Owen, Voi Fesaitu
- The first ever Fijian feature film, this evokes WHALE RIDER with its tale of a young woman (Taito) who aspires to transcend an existence…
- Life I Want, The (Vita che vorrei, La) (2004)
- Dir. Giuseppe Piccioni
Feat. Luigi Lo Cascio, Sandra Ceccarelli
- Intriguing Italian romantic drama about two avid actors cast as lovers who begin to cross over the boundaries of stage–life and reality with an…
- Life is a Miracle (Zivot je cudo) (2004)
- Dir. Emir Kusturica
Feat. Slavko Stimac, Natasa Solak
- Another feverish, frenetic and heartfelt vision from Balkan dir. Emir Kusturica (UNDERGOUND), attempting here to fathom and unknot the bloody Bosnian…
- Light, The (L'Équipier) (2004)
- Dir. Philippe Lioret
Feat. Sandrine Bonnaire, Philippe Torreton, Anne Consigny
- Impeccable Gallic melodrama of family history concerns the arrival of a stranger to a xenophobic Breton community in the ‘60s to work on a…
- Look At Me (Comme une Image) (2004)
- Dir. Agnes Jaoui
Feat. Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui
- Another diverting comedy of manners from the husband–wife creative team behind THE TASTE OF OTHERS, set among the fragile egos of the literary…
- Love in Thoughts (2004)
- Dir. Achim von Borries
Feat. Daniel Bruhl, August Diehl, Anna Maria Muhe…
- Melancholic true story of two self absorbed teenagers who make a pact to kill themselves should they no longer feel love and kill those who robbed…
- Ma Mere (My Mother) (2004)
- Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, Emma de Caunes
- A perverse Mediterranean sex–romp that manages to skirt regularly between tasteless debauchery and absurd immorality.
A heady Isabelle…
- Machuca (2004)
- Dir. Andres Wood
Feat. Ariel Mateluna, Matias Quer
- Observing the onset of Augusto Pinochet's bloody coup d'etat in Chile in 1973, through the eyes of two boys who become friends across the…
- Maria Full of Grace (2004)
- Dir. Joshua Marston
Feat. Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola Vega, Guilied Lopez…
- An accomplished delve into the experience of a 'drug mule', a teenage Colombian girl who enlists to smuggle heroin into the United States, so as to…
- Masai - The Rain Warriors (2004)
- Dir. Pascal Plisson
- Simple and visually–sweeping, this African epic follows a group of teenage warriors from their drought–stricken village out into the…
- Me And My Sister (Les Soeurs Fachees) (2004)
- Dir. Alexandra Leclere
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Frot
- A deceptively simple French comedy, which has a bubbly and gauche rural–dwelling woman (Frot) visiting her arrogant and successful sister…
- Moolaade (2004)
- Dir. Ousmane Sembene
Feat. Fatoumata Coulibaly
- A rare glimpse for New Zealanders of the work of elderly Sengalese dir. Sembene – novelist, newspaper editor and founder of the New African…
- Mountain Patrol (Kekexili) (2004)
- Dir. Chuan Lu
Feat. Lei Zhang, Bujie Duo
- An enthralling eco–thriller which portrays the battle over the endangered Tibetan antelope between poachers and a hard–knit unit of…
- Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai) (2004)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, You
- Based on a notorious 1988 case where four abandoned children were found to have been living on their own devices out of a Japanese apartment for six…
- Offbeat (Kammerflimmern) (2004)
- Dir. Hendrik Hölzemann
Feat. Matthias Schoenaerts, Jessica Schwarz, Florian Lukas
- Fitfully intense indie drama is set around the daily rounds of a paramedic (Schweighöfer) struggling with his own dreams, memories and a few lurking…
- Overture, The (Hom rong) (2004)
- Dir. Ittisoontorn Vichailak
Feat. Anuchit Sapanpong, Aratee Tanmahapran
- Biopic exploring the life of Thai musical master Luang Pradit Pairoh (Sorn Silapabanleng), who was a palace musician and ra–nad ek (Thai…
- Queen of Sheba's Pearls, The (2004)
- Dir. Colin Nutley
Feat. Helena Bergstrom
- Set in post–WW2 England this centres its tale on a rural West Country family, whose members are on the cusp of various life passages, upset by…
- Raincoat (2004)
- Dir. Rituparno Ghosh
Feat. Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai
- Dramatically–ambitious dir. Ghosh here creates an understated chamber piece from the usual Bollywood melodramatics, staging a rainy–day…
- Rice Rhapsody (Hainan ji fan) (2004)
- Dir. Kenneth Bi
Feat. Sylvia Chang, Mélanie Laurent, Maggie Q
- Light, good–natured familial farce about a sturdy single mother who, fearing a drought of grandchildren, plots to ‘straighten’ the…
- Sea Inside, The (Mar Adentro) (2004)
- Dir. Alejandro Amenabar
Feat. Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueñas…
- A deserving winner of the Best Foreign Film Academy Award, this outstanding melodrama is based on the unique real–life story of Ramon Sampedro,…
- Shadows Of Time (Scatten der Zeit) (2004)
- Dir. Florian Gallenberger
Feat. Prushant Narayanan, Tanishta Chaterjee
- Sumptuous romantic melodrama of a high order, following the bittersweet relations between two abandoned children, who graduate from working in a…
- Stray Dogs (Sag-haye velgard) (2004)
- Dir. Marziyeh Meshkini
Feat. Gol-Ghotai , Zahed , Agheleh Rezaie
- A wrenching, emotionally gripping tale of two children, orphaned after their parents are imprisoned, who must fend for themselves in…
- Summer Storm (Sommersturm) (2004)
- Dir. Marco Kreuzpaintner
Feat. Robert Stadlober, Kostja Ullmann
- Two best friends – the pride of the local rowing club – find their loyalties and chances of winning threatened, as one gets serious about…
- Sun, The (2004)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Robert Dawson, Issey Ogata
- A lucid, painstaking portrait of Emperor Hirohito, whose authority over Japanese troops during WWII is contrasted against intimate scenes of…
- They Came Back (Les Revenants) (2004)
- Dir. Robin Campillo
Feat. Géraldine Pailhas, Jonathan Zaccai, Frédéric Pierrot…
- This disquieting, unconventional ‘zombie’ movie concerns a global phenomenon of returning dead, and their subsequent integration back into living…
- Three Dancing Slaves (2004)
- Dir. Gaël Morel
Feat. Nicolas Cazalé, Stephane Rideau, Thomas Dumerchez…
- French romantic drama set in a working class Annecy neighbourhood where three brothers are in and out of the criminal world after their mother dies,…
- Trilogy 1: The Weeping Meadow (To Livadi pou dakryzei) (2004)
- Dir. Theo Angelopoulos
- The first part of an intended trilogy of films dealing with 20th century Greece, this monumental epic depicts the travails of a Greek refugee family…
- Tropical Malady (2004)
- Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Feat. Banlop Lomnoi, Sakda Kaewbuadee
- A gorgeous two–hander from the dir. of BLISSFULLY YOURS begins as a tender romance between a farmer and a solider, before transforming into a…
- Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand) (2004)
- Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Feat. Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif
- The first widely–released film to emerge from post–Hussein Iraq, this wrenching tale concerns a raucous gang of children who scratch out…
- Twenty Thirty Forty (20 30 40) (2004)
- Dir. Sylvia Chang
Feat. Sylvia Chang, Rene Liu, Lee Sinji
- The destinies of three women in contemporary urban Taiwan – aged 20, 30 and 40 – evolve in parallel as each feels their way through the…
- Ushpizin (2004)
- Dir. Giddi Dar
- Respectful and dryly humorous parable of an ultra–Orthodox Jewish couple on the eve of the festival of Succoth, who invite two travellers…
- Very Long Engagement, A (Long dimanche de fiançailles, Un) (2004)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Clovis Cornillac…
- Another crowd–pleasing favourite from the dir. of AMELIE, which uses the Great War as setting for the fairytale search by Audrey Tatou for her…
- Wayward Cloud, The (2004)
- Dir. Ming-liang Tsai
Feat. Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen
- Eye–popping musical numbers burst forth from this outré Tsai Ming–liang offering, which couples the Taiwanese director’s usual…
- World, The (Shijie) (2004)
- Dir. Jia Zhang-ke
Feat. Zhao Tao
- The dir. of PLATFORM continues his perceptive and wry dissection of Chinese society reacting with surreal clumsiness to the forces of globalisation,…
- Yesterday (2004)
- Dir. Darrell Roodt
Feat. Kenneth Khambula, Leleti Khumalo
- A groundbreaking drama set in a South African village, which depicts a woman's (Khumalo) struggles with health, family and local superstition when…
- 15 (2003)
- Dir. Royston Tan
Feat. Melvin Chen, Erick Chun
- Doing for the tiny island nation of Singapore what LA HAINE did for France, this box–office hit follows the misfiring antics of three teenagers…
- A Heart Elsewhere (Il Cuore Altrove) (2003)
- Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Neri Marcore, Vanessa Incontrada
- Seemingly a soft–centred drama set in 1930s Italy, this curious tale of blind love carries its own insinuating mood of melancholy. Marcore…
- Anatomy of Hell (Anatomie De L'enfer) (2003)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Amira Casar, Rocco Siffredi
- A queasily explicit sex drama about a suicidal woman who challenges (and pays) a promiscuous gay man to participate in an uneasy nightly ritual of…
- Armaan (2003)
- Dir. Honey Irani
Feat. Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Gracey Singh
- A hospital soap–opera, Bollywood–style, centering around a doctor and his neurosurgeon son who dream of turning a private hospital into a…
- As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2003)
- Dir. Hardy Martins
- Based on the novel by Josef Martin Bauer, this film recounts the harrowing true story of Clemens Forell, the German POW who escaped a Siberian labour…
- At Five in the Afternoon (Panj é asr) (2003)
- Dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
Feat. Agheleh Rezaie, Abdolgani Yousefrazi
- Delivering perhaps her most visually poetic, yet dramatically starkest work to date, the dir. of THE APPLE and BLACKBOARDS has a father and daughter…
- Barbarian Invasions, The (2003)
- Dir. Denys Arcand
Feat. Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau, Dorothee Berryman…
- Another finely–wrought drama from French–Canadian dir. Denys Arcand, who invests his keen sense of history, politics, literature and sex…
- Best of Youth, The (La Meglio gioventù) (2003)
- Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana
- Sprawling and heady Italian saga tracks the lives of two brothers through the idealistic dreams of the 1960s and the long messy aftermath of…
- Cafe Lumiere (Kôhî jikô) (2003)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Tadanobu Asano, Yo Hitoto
- Luminous tribute to Japanese dir. Yasujiro Ozu from a Taiwanese admirer, which honours Ozu's aesthetic in a minimalist study of personal…
- Carandiru (2003)
- Dir. Hector Babenco
- An expressionist series of tales set within the notorious titular prison in Sao Paolo, Brazil, as seen through the eyes of a benevolent doctor and…
- Chokher Bali (2003)
- Dir. Rituparno Ghosh
Feat. Aishwarya Rai, Prasenjit Chatterjee
- Set in colonial Bengal, this adaptation of Nobel prizewinner Rabindranath Tagore's 1902 novel, concerns a beautiful widow (Aishwarya) who enters a…
- City of Men (TV Series) (Cidade dos Homens) (2003)
- Feat. Darlan Cunha, Douglas Silva
- Brazilian TV followup to the crime epic CITY OF GOD, continues the lives of Acerola and Laranjinha in the shanties of Sao Paolo dodging drug gangs…
- Crimson Gold (Talaye sorkh) (2003)
- Dir. Jafar Panahi
- Extraordinary, emotionally–compelling class fable set in contemporary Iran, which begins with a failed jewelery heist in Tehran, then…
- Dot The I (El Punto sobre la I) (2003)
- Dir. Matthew Parkhill
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, James D'Arcy, Natalia Verbeke
- A skillfully moody London romance, in which the relationship of an engaged couple is disturbed by a pre–wedding ritual in which Verbeke must…
- Evil (Ondskan) (2003)
- Dir. Mikael Håfström
Feat. Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundstrom, Gustaf Skarsard
- Based on a renowned novel, this dramatic thriller is set in the 1950s Sweden, where a high school bully (Wilson) is expelled and sent by his mother…
- Facing Windows (La Finestra di fronte) (2003)
- Dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Feat. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova
- An Italian woman finds her life and desires fraying away, as she struggles to support her family in the apartment blocks of Rome, while coming to…
- Father and Son (Otets i syn) (2003)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Andrei Shchetinin, Aleksei Nejmyshev, Aleksandr Razbash
- A loose 'sequel' to dir. Sokurov's arthouse hit MOTHER AND SON, this again uses an oblique, dreamlike visual style, here for an exploration of filial…
- Fear and Trembling (Stupeur et tremblements) (2003)
- Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Sylvie Testud
- A Belgian translator (Testud) takes a job in the corporate world of Tokyo (a city where she was born and grew up) hoping to rediscover the culture…
- Forest for the Trees, The (Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen) (2003)
- Dir. Maren Ade
Feat. Eva Löbau
- Impressively insightful German drama following an idealistic young teacher who starts a job at a Karlsruhe school and contends with her own…
- Goodbye Lenin! (2003)
- Dir. Wolfgang Becker
Feat. Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova
- This comedy of concealment set around the fall of the Berlin Wall was a justifiable success around the world, with a bittersweet mood of political…
- Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Classics: From 1983 to 1986 (The Boys From Fengkuei; A Summer at Grandpa's; A Time to Live, A Time to Die; Dust in the Wind) (2003)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
- A collection of four of the early films from director Hou Hsiao–Hsien, who is a leading figure in the Taiwanese New Wave.
The Boys From…
- I'm Not Scared (Io Non Ho Paura) (2003)
- Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Dino Abbrescia, Giorgio Careccia…
- Atmospheric thriller from dir. Gabriele Salvatores that deftly conveys a foreboding childhood experience during a long, hot summer in the country,…
- James' Journey to Jerusalem (Massa'ot James Be'eretz Hakodesh) (2003)
- Dir. Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
Feat. Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe
- A witty yet significant portrait of contemporary Israel that takes the form of a deceptively straightforward fable, charting the progress of a young…
- Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Never Come) (2003)
- Dir. Nikhil Advani
Feat. Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta
- Sporting a string of hit songs and featuring a troika of India's most popular stars, this giddy swirl of romantic comedy, musical, family melodrama…
- Kiss Me First (Prima dammi un bacio) (2003)
- Dir. Ambrogio Lo Giudice
Feat. Stefania Rocca, Marco Cocci
- Endearing Italian comedy following the fate of two separated lovers whose lives cannot help but intersect. The events of WW2 inevitably drive these…
- Kitchen Stories (Salmer fra kjøkkenet) (2003)
- Dir. Bent Hamer
Feat. Tomas Norstrom, Joachim Calmeyer, Reine Brynolfsson…
- A slyly humourous offering from Scandanavia, examining the efforts of the (real–life) Swedish Home Research Institute to improve lives of…
- Koktebel (2003)
- Dir. Boris Khlebnikov, Alexei Popogrebsky
Feat. Gleb Puskepalis, Igor Chernevich
- A delicately imagined journey through the Ukrainian countryside in the company of a widower and his 11–year old son, who set off on foot from…
- Last Life in the Universe (2003)
- Dir. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Feat. Tadanobu Asano, Riki Takeuchi, Sinitta Boonyasak
- With a cool command of the aloof, this strange, seductive noir–romance merges the soulless existence of a suicidal librarian (Asano), a…
- Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) (2003)
- Dir. Yann Samuell
Feat. Marion Cotillard, Guillaume Canet
- Two French kids develop an intense relationship through escalating games of "dare" that bond and haunt them through a turbulent teenage and…
- Miracle of Bern, The (2003)
- Dir. Sonke Wortmann
- Set in grim post–WW2 West Germany, this passionate, if broadly–handled drama respools a backdrop of events leading to the shock triumph…
- Monsieur Ibrahim (2003)
- Dir. Francois Dupeyron
Feat. Omar Sharif, Pierre Boulanger
- Set on the multicultural streets of 1960s working–class Paris, this warm–hearted tale has a Sufi grocery store owner befriend a lonely…
- Nathalie... (2003)
- Dir. Anne Fontaine
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant, Gerard Depardieu
- Steamy French confection involves frustrated wife Ardant in hiring prostitute Beart to seduce her philandering husband (Depardieu), and bring her…
- Noi Albinoi (Noi the Albino) (2003)
- Dir. Dagur Kari
Feat. Tomas Lemarquis, Pröstur Leó Gunnarsson
- Distinctive drama about a 'gifted' 17–year–old who rebels against the limits of life in a remote Icelandic town.
Brimming with…
- Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) (2003)
- Dir. Caroline Link
Feat. Juliane Kohler
- An old–fashioned epic of family survival, where a privileged Jewish family migrate from 1938 Nazi Germany into the exotic vastness of…
- Osama (2003)
- Dir. Siddiq Barmak
Feat. Marina Golbahari
- Though nothing to do with a certain infamous terrorist, this first Afghani film made since the rise and fall of the Taliban also happens to be a…
- Remember Me (Ricordati di Me) (2003)
- Dir. Gabriel Muccino
Feat. Fabrizzio Bentivoglio, Laura Morante, Monica Bellucci
- The dir. of THE LAST KISS constructs an equally heightened melodrama about the saga of a middle–class Italian family, their various personal…
- Return, The (Vozvrashcheniye) (2003)
- Dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev
Feat. Ivan Dobronravov, Vladimir Garin, Konstantin Lavronenko…
- A surprise arthouse hit about a couple of teenage brothers who are taken on a mysterious trip by their estranged and rather surly father, with his…
- Rosenstrasse (2003)
- Dir. Margarethe von Trotta
Feat. Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Martin Feifel
- Fact–based drama set around the wartime protest movement of Aryan German women in 1943 Berlin, who were distraught at the forced detention of…
- Since Otar Left (2003)
- Dir. Julie Bertuccelli
Feat. Dinara Droukarova, Nino Khomassouridze, Ester Gorintin
- Touching and wryly comic tale set in post–Communist Georgia, in which a mother, daughter and granddaughter partly survive through a romantic…
- Singing Behind Screens (Cantando dietro i paraventi) (2003)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Bud Spencer, Davide Dragonetti
- Visually opulent Italian epic directed by Ermanno Olmi (THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS) set in coastal China and centred on a plucky widow who takes her…
- Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom) (2003)
- Dir. Kim Ki-Duk
Feat. Oh Young-Soo, Kim Ki-Duk, Kim Young-Min…
- As the seasons pass through many years, the inhabitants of a floating temple on a woodland pond – a young boy and his wizened mentor –…
- Springtime in a Small Town (2003)
- Dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang
- Long–awaited followup to THE BLUE KITE for dir. Zhuangzhuang (who was banned from filmmaking for three years afterwards), constructing a…
- Story of Marie and Julien, The (Histoire de Marie et Julien) (2003)
- Dir. Jacques Rivette
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Jerzy Radziwilowicz
- Meandering and hypnotic tale of the supernatural from French master Jacques Rivette, which begins in the apparently nondescript world of a Parisian…
- Swimming Pool (2003)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance
- A beguiling psychological thriller, in which a British mystery–novelist (Rampling) travels to her publisher's holiday house in rural France for…
- Thousand Months, A (Mille Mois) (2003)
- Dir. Faouzi Bensaïdi
Feat. Fouad Labied, Nezha Rahile
- A rare international release from Morocco, this portrays languid months of existence for a boy who, following various family crises, moves with his…
- Time of the Wolf (Temps du loup, Le) (2003)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Beatrice Dalle, Olivier Gourmet
- Chilling, disconcerting post–apocalyptic nightmare that begins with Isabelle Huppert and children fleeing into a barren French countryside,…
- Touch of Spice, A (Politiki kouzina) (2003)
- Dir. Tassos Boulmetis
Feat. George Corraface
- Spices build bridges in this touching account of a Greek astrophysicist and his spice merchant grandfather, conjoined by that now–familiar…
- Travellers and Magicians (2003)
- Dir. Khyentse Norbu
Feat. Tsewang Dandup, Sonam Lhamo
- A puckishly effective road movie from the Himilayan kingdom of Bhutan, this follows a young villager who gets the opportunity to travel forth from…
- Twentynine Palms (2003)
- Dir. Bruno Dumont
Feat. Katia Golubeva, David Wissak
- Provocative in both form and content, dir. Dumont (L'HUMANITE) crafts an opaque thriller around a dysfunctional couple's 'holiday' in the American…
- Untold Scandal (2003)
- Dir. Je-yong Lee
Feat. Mi-suk Lee, Yong-joon Bae
- ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ translates seamlessly to Chosun Dynasty Korea, with temptress Lady Cho (Lee) assuming role of sexual power broker in this…
- Vodka Lemon (2003)
- Dir. Hiner Saleem
Feat. Romen Avinian
- The residents of a diminishing Armenian village eke out meagre living in this sombre, if delightfully deadpan post–communist…
- Zelary (2003)
- Dir. Ondrej Trojan
Feat. Anna Geislerova, Gyorgy Cserhalmi
- A layered tale of war and romance set around the 1943 purge of the Czech resistance by the occupying Nazis, and a young nurse's flight to…
- A Loving Father (Aime ton père) (2002)
- Dir. Jacob Berger
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Guillaume Depardieu, Sylvie Testud
- Gerard Depardieu and real–life offspring Guillaume star as estranged father and son in this MISERY–inspired scenario of gaping family…
- A Tale of a Naughty Girl (Mondo Meyer Upakhyan) (2002)
- Dir. Buddhadev Dasgupta
Feat. Samata Das, Rituparna Sengupta, Arpan Basar
- Caught between the push of tradition and the pull of the promise of a new life, a bright prostitute's daughter runs away to Calcutta to escape a…
- Abouna (Our Father) (2002)
- Dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- Set in the impoverished, dusty landscapes of Chad, this fable of African fragmentation follows two brothers (aged 8 and 15) as they search…
- And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (2002)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, Thierry Lhermitte…
- A smooth exercise in self–satire from dir. Lelouch, with Jeremy Irons playing a shifty jewel–thief who hooks up with lounge–singer…
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
- Dir. Dai Sijie
- Lovingly photographed fable of freedom, set during China's 'Cultural Revolution' in 1971 and based on the dir.'s own adolescence.
Two young…
- Blissfully Yours (Sud Sanaeha) (2002)
- Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- One–of–a–kind filmmaker Weerasethakul embarks on a delicate, ethereal journey through Thailand’s magical wilderness, to beguiling…
- Broken Wings (K’nafayim Shvurot) (2002)
- Dir. Nir Bergman
Feat. Orly Silbersatz Banai, Maya Maron
- The fraught shuffle of daily life for an Israeli family after the death of the male head of the household, is depicted with touching and intimate…
- Chaos (2002)
- Dir. Coline Serreau
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Catherine Frot
- A witty French thriller where, through a chance meeting, a middle–class woman comes to the rescue of an Algerian–born prostitute who is…
- Chihwaseon (Painted Fire) (2002)
- Dir. Kwon-taek Im
Feat. Min-sik Choi, Sung-kee Ahn
- A mainstay of Korean cinema, Im Kwon–taek helms this impassioned portrait of one of the country's most celebrated painters, Jang…
- City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002)
- Dir. Fernando Mierelles
Feat. Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmano da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen
- An incendiary Brazilian drama depicting two decades of blood–drenched rivalry between two youth gangs who control a slum area of Rio De…
- Crime of Father Amaro, The (El Crimen del padre Amaro) (2002)
- Dir. Carlos Carrera
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal
- Melodramatic and ironic critique of the crimes of the Roman Catholic church that was hugely successful in its native Mexico.
A young priest…
- Cuckoo, The (Kukushka) (2002)
- Dir. Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Feat. Anni-Kristiina Juuso, Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov
- An earthy drama of non–communication set amid the frozen WW2 battleground of Lapland, where a pacifist Finnish soldier, a survivalist Russian…
- Devdas (2002)
- Dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Feat. Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya Rai
- The most expensive production in Bollywood history to date is this gorgeously extravagant soap opera based on one of India’s most widely–read…
- Dolls (2002)
- Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Miho Kanno, Tatsuya Mihashi
- Beautiful to behold with its spectacular Japanese vistas, but unfocused in content, dir. Takeshi stumbles with an art film that feels stranded…
- El Bonaerense (2002)
- Dir. Pablo Trapero
- An authentically macho tale about the notoriously clannish and corrupt police force of Buenos Aires (members are known as 'el Bonaerense') which…
- Enlightenment Guaranteed (2002)
- Dir. Doris Dorrie
Feat. Uwe Ochsenknecht, Gustav-Peter Wohler
- Entertainment is guaranteed for those in the right headspace with this droll comedy, in which two befuddled German brothers on holiday in Japan stray…
- Gada Meilin (2002)
- Dir. Feng Xiaoning
- Lauded, but rather obscure action drama set in 1930s Mongolia, where the nomadic tribal leader Gada Meilin tried to prevent the 'desertification' of…
- Historias Minimas (Intimate Stories) (2002)
- Dir. Carlos Sorin
Feat. Javier Lombardo
- Gentle, uneventful road movie drifts between three separate journeys from a remote village in Argentina to San Julian. Softly observed, this quietly…
- House of Fools (Dom Durakov) (2002)
- Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky
- Based around the true story of a Chechen mental hospital which was abandoned by staff during the recent civil war, with patients left to fend for…
- In This World (2002)
- Dir. Michael Winterbottom
- A powerful, simply wrought story of two Afghani brothers who attempt to journey from their Pakistani refugee camp across Asia and Europe to…
- Japon (Japan) (2002)
- Dir. Carlos Reygadas
- A crippled man journeys into a remote Mexican canyon in order to end his life, but becomes entangled with a saintly old woman, village politics and a…
- L'Homme du Train (Man on the Train) (2002)
- Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday
- An elegantly amusing role–switching tale that's equal parts social comedy, existential drama and subtle thriller, tinged with melancholy…
- L'Idole (2002)
- Dir. Samantha Lang
Feat. Leelee Sobieski, James Hong
- Playing a troubled Australian actress, Sobieski arrives in Paris and befriends her elderly Chinese neighbour in this melancholy…
- Lilya 4-Ever (2002)
- Dir. Lukas Moodysson
Feat. Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogucharsky, Pavel Ponomaryov
- Lauded Swedish film–maker Lukas Moodyson turns his talents to the plight of a Russian teenage girl whose hopes for a brighter future (and…
- Madame Sata (2002)
- Dir. Karim Ainouz
Feat. Lazaro Ramos, Marcelia Cartaxo, Felippe Marques…
- The underbelly of 1930s Rio de Janeiro glistens in this atmospheric drama about the celebrated João Francisco dos Santos (Ramos), a flamboyant gay…
- Man Without a Past, The (2002)
- Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen
- Another understated, double–take comedy from Finnish dir. Kaurismaki, making perhaps his most cleverly balanced work yet.
An itinerant…
- Marie-Jo and her Two Loves (2002)
- Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gerard Meylan
- A dreamy, perceptive romance gently steered under the Mediterranean sun by dir. Guédiguian, who again uses the vibrant setting of his native…
- Monsieur Batignole (2002)
- Dir. Gerard Jugnot
Feat. Gerard Jugnot
- An ironic comedy set in WW2 Paris, in which the titular butcher helps himself to an apartment vacated by a Jewish family who have been rounded up by…
- Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)
- Dir. Aparna Sen
- A casual aquaintance between two passengers (one Hindu, one Muslim) on a bus journey in northern India becomes a matter of life and death when the…
- Oasis (2002)
- Dir. Chang-Dong Lee
Feat. Kyung-gu Sol, So-ri Moon
- Tough and emotionally powerful drama, highlighted by fearless performances, which charts the romance between a recent parolee and a cerebral…
- Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt) (2002)
- Dir. Susanne Bier
Feat. Mads Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter
- A touch edgier than recent 'Dogme 95' melodramas, this explores the consequences of a car accident on the previously steady lives of those…
- Ping Pong (2002)
- Dir. Fumisiko Sori
Feat. Yôsuke Kubozuka, Arata
- A madcap, yet gently humourous Japanese sports tale, set around two table tennis hotshots (Kubozuka and Arata) preparing for a ferocious battle at a…
- Private Property (2002)
- Dir. Joachim Lafosse
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Jeremie Renier
- Isabelle Huppert is held to emotional ransom by her two grown–up twin sons in this ‘Mexican standoff’ of family dysfunction and domestic…
- Radical Digital Cinema - Vol. 1 (Egoshooter, Half the Rent) (2002-2004)
- Dir. Christian Becker, Oliver Schwabe, Marc Ottiker
Feat. Tom Schilling, Stephan Kampwirth
- The brainchild of Wim Wenders, this digital cinema incubator provides a supportive framework for young filmmakers to push the envelope of the…
- Radical Digital Cinema - Vol. 2 (Summer Moon (aka Junimond), Fools) (2002-2003)
- Dir. Hanno Hackfort, Tom Schreiber
- The brainchild of Wim Wenders, this digital cinema incubator provides a supportive framework for young filmmakers to push the envelope of the…
- Respiro (Grazia's Island) (2002)
- Dir. Emanuele Crialese
Feat. Valeria Golino
- Highly charged and mostly insightful depiction of a free–spirited woman whose near–psychotic episodes have a profound effect on her small…
- Russian Ark (2002)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
- Distinguised by its dazzling cinematic conceit – 300 years of Russian history staged in the Hermitage Museum (with 2000 extras) and captured in…
- Satin Rouge (2002)
- Dir. Raja Amari
Feat. Hiam Abbass, Hend El Fahem
- A still–attractive but lonely widow is liberated through the world of belly–dancing in this infectious romantic drama from Tunisia.
At…
- Sea is Watching, The (Umi wa miteita) (2002)
- Dir. Kei Kumai
- Set in the red–light district of 19th century, Edo–period Tokyo, this sensitively mounted drama concerns the lives of prostitutes…
- Sex is Comedy (2002)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Anne Parillaud, Gregoire Colin, Roxane Mesquida
- A self–reflexive twist in the cinema of Catherine Breillat (ROMANCE), here recreating the filming of a lengthy and troublesome sex–scene…
- Son, The (2002)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
- Finding the perfect subject for their pared down visual aesthetic, the Bros. Dardenne follow up the Cannes–winning ROSETTA with an ostensibly…
- Summer Things (Embrassez qui vous voudrez) (2002)
- Dir. Michel Blanc
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Dutronc, Carole Bouquet…
- Rom–com with an ensemble cast led by Charlotte Rampling as an unhappily married woman who is off to stay at a seaside resort, where she…
- Swing (2002)
- Dir. Tony Gatlif
- The latest excursion into the music–rich culture of Europe's 'gypsy' population from dir. Gatlif (GADJO DILO), this time set around its…
- Talk to Her (2002)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Javier Camara, Geraldine Chaplin, Rosalie Flores…
- With his fourteenth film, star Spanish director Almodovar marries his supreme style with an original, emotionally resonant story for what might just…
- Ten (10) (2002)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
- Teasing but ultimately rewarding drama, in which a video camera, mounted on the dashboard of a car in Tehran, records the lives of the driver and…
- Together (He Ni Zaiyiqi) (2002)
- Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Tang Yun, Liu Peiqi, Chen Kaige
- Touching story of a father and his 13–year–old son, a shy violin prodigy, who scrape up their meagre savings and set off from their…
- Turning Gate (On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate) (2002)
- Dir. Sang-soo Hong
Feat. Sang-kyung Kim
- A wry and astute drama of romantic hang–ups, this follows a crestfallen actor’s trysts with two random women as he rebounds from a failed…
- Twilight Samurai, The (Tasogare Seibei) (2002)
- Dir. Yoji Yamada
Feat. Hiroyuki Sanada, Ren Osugi, Rie Miyazawa…
- Boldly subverting the masculine cliches of the genre, this refreshing and highly rewarding Samurai drama follows a dishevelled, low–status…
- Twin Sisters (De Tweeling) (2002)
- Dir. Ben Sombogaart
- An epic 'tale of two sisters', which follows their lives after being separated as children in 1920s Holland and sent to live with rich and poor…
- Uzak (Distant) (2002)
- Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Exuding a sense of melancholic accomplishment, this slowly unfolding Turkish drama centres on two cousins – one, a successful but cynical…
- Villa Des Roses (2002)
- Dir. Frank Van Passel
Feat. Julie Delpy, Shirley Henderson, Timothy West
- A visually stylish excursion to Paris on the eve of WWI, in a shabby boarding house run by an English couple (Henderson and West) into which a new…
- Waiting for Happiness (Heremakono) (2002)
- Dir. Abderrahmane Sissako
Feat. Khatra Ould Abder Kader, Mohamed Mahmoud
- A worldly 17–year–old returns to his coastal hometown, only to find himself a stranger amongst a community caught in limbo between…
- Warm Spring (2002)
- Dir. Tana Wulan
Feat. Chenren Tian, Yan Zhang
- Little–known but rather poignant story in which an orphan girl runs away from her abusive foster parents and is sheltered by a poor elderly…
- Yossi and Jagger (2002)
- Dir. Eytan Fox
Feat. Ohad Knoller
- Subversive, sweetly–natured gay drama set amid the close–quarters comraderie of the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) where a commanding…
- A Ma Soeur! (For My Sister, aka Fat Girl) (2001)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero de Rienzo…
- An artfully impassive study of sexual predation that takes place during the summer holidays of two teenage sisters – the dumpy Anais Reboux and…
- A Young Prisoner's Revenge (2001)
- Dir. Mu Deyuan
- Obscure, but supposedly award winning Chinese drama concerns the botched plans of a couple to bribe a judge so their son, guilty of robbery, gets a…
- Aimee and Jaguar (2001)
- Dir. Max Farberbock
Feat. Maria Schrader, Juliane Kohler
- A forbidden love story that crosses both ethnic and sexual lines, inspired by a true love affair between a role–model Nazi mother and a…
- All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
- Dir. Shunji Iwai
Feat. Hayato Ichihara, Yu Aoi, Ayumi Ito…
- Vogue Japanese dir. Shunji Iwai renders the contemporary teen malaise with poignancy and despair in this haunting commentary on the perils of…
- Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) (2001)
- Dir. Zacharias Kunuk
Feat. Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq
- A ‘cause celebre’ of recent film festivals worldwide, this filmed folktale from the ice–bound Innuit communities of northern Canada,…
- Autumn Spring (Babí léto) (2001)
- Dir. Vladimír Michálek
Feat. Vlastimil Brodsky
- Spry Czech comedy of elderly bad manners, concerns an aging prankster (Brodsky) who spends his retirement impersonating people in league with a…
- Baran (2001)
- Dir. Majid Majidi
- Patiently rewarding, bittersweet drama in which a young Afghan woman disguises herself as a man in order to assume her injured father's construction…
- Behind the Sun (2001)
- Dir. Walter Salles
Feat. Jose Dumont
- Worthy followup to CENTRAL STATION by dir. Salles, again accessing the underlayers of Brazil in a melodrama set in the dusty hinterlands of 1910. …
- Brief Crossing (2001)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Gilles Guillain, Sarah Pratt
- Compelling and explicit portrayal of the brief sexual encounter between a naive French teenager and a married English woman who meet on an overnight…
- Count of Monte Cristo, The (2001)
- Dir. Josee Dayan
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Ornella Muti, Jean Rochefort
- The classic tale of injustice and revenge (by Alexander Dumas), gets respectful treatment in this French TV mini–series starring Gerard…
- Crying... Silicon Tears (Klama) (2001)
- Dir. Thanassis Papathanassiou
- One of the biggest hits of recent Greek cinema, this is a lavish parody of 1960s Greek movie melodramas, mixing musical, comedy and suspense into a…
- Dark Blue World (Tmavomodry Svet) (2001)
- Dir. Jan Sverak
Feat. Krystof Hadek, Ondrej Vetchy, Charles Dance…
- From the dir. of KOLYA and based on the story of Czech pilots who fled the Nazis in WW2 to fly alongside the RAF, this is an unsentimental, yet…
- Devil's Backbone, The (2001)
- Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Eduardo Noriega, Frederico Luppi, Marisa Paredes
- This elegant amalgam of melodrama and horror movie set in a boys orphanage during the Spanish Civil War is rich in baroque atmospherics, and features…
- Divided We Fall (2001)
- Dir. Jan Hrebejk
Feat. Boleslav Polivka, Anna Siskova, Jaroslav Dusek
- In WW2 Czechoslovakia, couple Bolek Polívka and Anna Sisková shelter their Jewish neighbour during the Nazi Occupation, with much absurd comedy…
- Dog Days (2001)
- Dir. Ulrich Seidl
Feat. Maria Hofstatter, Alfred Mrva, Erich Finsches…
- A wilfully transgressive Euro–drama examining middle–class dysfunction and despair in a Viennese suburb over a few days in a summer heat…
- Eureka (2001)
- Dir. Shinji Aoyama
Feat. Aoi Miyazaki, Koji Yakusho
- Unforgettably beguiling Japanese road trip movie shot in sepia–toned cinema scope, following the existential odyssey of a group of emotionally…
- Ghislain Lambert's Bicycle (2001)
- Dir. Philippe Harel
Feat. Benoit Poelvoorde, Jose Garcia
- Less sports drama than celebration of the endearingly average, this comical biopic charts the 30–year career of big–hearted, but…
- I'm Going Home (2001)
- Dir. Manoel de Oliveira
Feat. Michel Piccoli, John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve
- Calmly balanced between drama and sly comedy, this excursion into the trials and experiences of old age, is a late tour–de–force by the…
- Ignorant Fairies, The (His Secret Life) (2001)
- Dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Feat. Stefano Accorsi
- A woman's life in Rome is thrown into relief after the death of her doctor husband – especially when she discovers a secret inscription on the…
- Italian For Beginners (2001)
- Dir. Lone Scherfig
Feat. Anders W Berthelsen
- A likeable ensemble comedy in which six vulnerable characters orbit a drab Copenhagen suburb, each seeking some form of solace, romance or…
- Kandahar (2001)
- Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- A Canadian–Afghani journalist travels incognito into the heart of wartorn Afghanistan to find her sister.
Filmed at the height of the…
- La Ciénaga (The Swamp) (2001)
- Dir. Lucrecia Martel
Feat. Graciela Borges, Mercedes Morán, Martín Adjemián…
- Dir. Lucrecia Martel's debut film is an abstract Chekhovian tale of two bourgeois families roasting under the Argentinian sun within the confines of…
- Lady and the Duke, The (2001)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Jean Claude Dreyfus, Lucy Russell
- Intellectually stimulating and strikingly anti–realist account of the French Revolution, told through the (true–life) relationship…
- Lagaan (2001)
- Dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
Feat. Aamir Khan, Gracey Singh, Paul Blackthorne…
- Bollywood epic that broke through to international awards and audience with its ‘test–match’ running–time, lavishness and periodic…
- Laissez-Passer (Safe Conduct) (2001)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydes, Marie Gillain
- A vivid and suspenseful drama set in the French film industry during the German occupation of WWII, this is a labour of love for leading French dir.…
- Last Kiss, The (L'Ultimo Bacio) (2001)
- Dir. Gabriel Muccino
Feat. Stefano Accorsi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Stefania Sandrelli
- Award–winning Italian melodrama investigates the anxieties of a young unmarried couple on the verge of parenthood.
Stefano Accorsi is torn…
- Merci Pour Le Chocolat (Nightcap) (2001)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Isabelle Huppert
- Slyly subversive psychodrama, with Isabelle Huppert excelling as the owner of a Swiss chocolate–business, who also happens to be a…
- Millennium Mambo (2001)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Shu Qi
- The first in dir. Hou’s ‘contemporary youth’ trilogy is a light–infused strobe of aimless young adults living in the accelerated urban…
- Minor Mishaps (2001)
- Dir. Annette K. Olesen
Feat. Jorgen Kiil, Maria Wurgler Rich, Jannie Faurschou
- Emerging from the lighter end of the Dogme 95 movement, this drama reunites a father and three children after the death of their mother in a car…
- Naked, The (Golasy) (2001)
- Dir. Witold Swiêtnicki
- Genuine oddity, this Polish satire upon the tedium of the Soviet era, as experienced by an office full of white–collar workers, is lent a…
- Night Shift (Trois Huit) (2001)
- Dir. Phillippe Le Guay
Feat. Gérald Laroche, Marc Barbe
- Tense French workplace drama about a mild–mannered factory employee who must cope with a vindictive and domineering co–worker.
Working…
- Pauline and Paulette (Pauline et Paulette) (2001)
- Dir. Lieven Debrauwer
Feat. Dora van der Groen, Ann Petersen
- An amusing, poignant tale of two elderly sisters and their unique relationship, portrayed by two grand old dames of Belgian theatre.
After her…
- Piano Teacher, The (2001)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoit Magimel
- Isabelle Huppert gives the bravest and possibly best performance of her career as a brittle, imbalanced music teacher in a drama that might prove too…
- Read My Lips (Sur Mes Levres) (2001)
- Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Emmanuelle Devos
- Sturdy, unconventional French thriller about an insecure, partially–deaf office clerk who tries to help an irascible ex–con integrate…
- Samsara (2001)
- Dir. Pan Nalin
Feat. Shawn Ku, Christy Chung, Neelesha Bavora
- A spiritual and visually resplendent drama based around the sexual awakening of a novice Buddhist monk in remote, mountainous Tibet.
After…
- Sex and Lucia (2001)
- Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Paz Vega, Tristan Ulloa, Najwa Nimri…
- Another sumptuous, stylistic meditation for dir. Julio Medem that interlocks his penchant for intricate, fractured narrative with a thrust of daring…
- Song for Martin, A (2001)
- Dir. Bille August
Feat. Sven Wollter, Reine Brynolfsson
- Touching drama of a composer and concertmaster who fall in love through classical music, only to battle the effects of Alzheimer's.
Foreseeable…
- Time for Drunken Horses, A (2001)
- Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Feat. Ayoub Ahmadi, Rojin Younessi, Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini…
- Set in remote Kurdistan, along the mountainous smuggling border between Iran and Iraq, this chronicles the pitiable circumstances of a recently…
- Time Out (2001)
- Dir. Laurence Cantet
Feat. Aurelien Recoing, Serge Livrozet
- A subtly layered account of middle–class businessman Aurelien Recoing, who pretends to his family and friends that he is corporate highflyer,…
- Trouble Every Day (2001)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Vincent Gallo, Beatrice Dalle, Alex Descas…
- This messy yet mesmerizing tale of visceral sexual obsession has vamp Beatrice Dalle spoiling a couple's Paris honeymoon when she develops a carnally…
- Tunnel, The (2001)
- Dir. Roland Suso Richter
Feat. Heino Ferch, Nicolette Krebitz
- An extended though by no means deep excavation of German Cold War history, in which an East German swimmer (Ferch) defects to West Berlin in 1961 and…
- Under the Sand (2001)
- Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Nolot, Bruno Cremer
- Charlotte Rampling enters a twilit zone of denial following her husband’s disappearance into the sea on a beach holiday, and mysterious…
- Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001)
- Dir. Shohei Imamura
Feat. Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu
- Nourishing sex fable in which Japanese everyman Koji Yakusho, down and out after losing his wife and job, discovers the joys of making love to a…
- What Time Is It There? (2001)
- Dir. Ming-liang Tsai
Feat. Kang-sheng Lee, Cecilia Yip, Jean-Pierre Leaud
- Three forlorn individuals bide their time between grief, ennui and loneliness in this minimalist – and unusually talky – masterpiece from…
- Wind Will Carry Us, The (2001)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Behzad Dourani
- Carried by the dir.’s deadpan comic instincts and more minimally poetic, this quasi–fable concerns (what seems to be) a documentary crew who…
- Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too!) (2001)
- Dir. Alfonso Cuaron
Feat. Maribel Verdu, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna
- Acclaimed universally (and here in NZ beset with censorship wrangles), this Mexican joyride, taken by two teenage boys and an older woman, is indeed…
- 101 Reykjavik (2000)
- Dir. Baltasar Kormakur
Feat. Baltasar Kormakur, Victoria Abril
- An endearingly skewed yet unexpectedly poignant sex comedy moored in the 30–below temperatures of the Icelandic winter, about a…
- Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch) (2000)
- Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Feat. Emilio Echevarria, Gael Garcia Bernal, Goya Toledo…
- Bursting forth with passion, cinematic mettle and pungent local flavours, this debut feature, a triptych of stories set in polyglot Mexico City, is…
- Beijing Bicycle (2000)
- Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai
Feat. Lin Cui, Bin Li, Yuanyuan Gao
- Set in the milieu of urban cycle–couriers, this retells De Sica’s BICYCLE THIEF on the teeming streets of Beijing where country–boy Lin…
- Blackboards (2000)
- Dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
Feat. Said Mohamadi, Behnaz Jafari
- Set in politically unstable Kurdistan, this followup to THE APPLE by dir. Makhmalbaf, traces the adventures of a group of teachers searching the…
- Bread and Tulips (2000)
- Dir. Silvio Soldini
Feat. Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Marina Massironi…
- When 40–something housewife Licia Maglietta is deserted by her family during vacation, she seizes on a chance to roll the romantic dice once…
- Circle, The (2000)
- Dir. Jafar Panahi
Feat. Brano Holicek, Pavlina Mourkova, Jeri Pecha
- Banned its native Iran, this compendium of linked stories circumscribes the various oppressions women must suffer under that country’s strict…
- Code Unknown (2000)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Arsinee Khanjian, Thierry Neuvic…
- Perhaps dir. Haneke's (THE PIANO TEACHER) least straightforward effort, this sketches a series of interconnected storylines loosely bound by themes…
- Comedie de L'Innocence (Comedy of Innocence) (2000)
- Dir. Raul Ruiz
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Jeanne Balibar, Charles Berling
- A spooky psychological thriller, in which a young boy of nine tells his mother (Huppert) that in fact he is the son of another woman.
When this…
- Faithless (2000)
- Dir. Liv Ullmann
Feat. Erland Josephson
- Formidable high–brow drama directed by actress Ullmann from an autobiographical script by her veteran collaborator Ingmar…
- Girls Can't Swim (Les filles ne savent pas nager) (2000)
- Dir. Anne-Sophie Birot
Feat. Isild Le Besco, Karen Alyx, Pascale Bussieres…
- Moody French coming–of–age drama about two girls, one who lives in the coastal town in Brittany, the other from the city.
Best…
- Himalaya (2000)
- Dir. Eric Valli
Feat. Thilen Lhondup, Gurgon Kyap, Lhakpa Tsamchoe…
- A journey into the life of a remote Nepalese village which relies on an annual pilgrimage to collect salt from the Tibetan side of the Himalayas,…
- In the Mood for Love (2000)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Maggie Cheung
- As in DAYS OF BEING WILD, dir. Wong Kar–Wai portrays the languor of a 1960s Hong Kong in which two neighbours discover their respective spouses…
- Les Destinees Sentimentales (2000)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Charles Berling, Isabelle Huppert
- Genteel family saga from the trilogy of novels by Jacques Chardonne that follows the destiny of pastor Charles Berling through the first decades of…
- Lumumba (2000)
- Dir. Raoul Peck
Feat. Eric Ebouaney
- A strident and fittingly uncompromising biopic about an African political icon, Patrice Lumumba, who liberated the Congo from Belgium in the late…
- Malena (2000)
- Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
Feat. Monica Bellucci
- The dir. of CINEMA PARADISO throws an amber–lit glow around a man’s memory of a boyhood infatuation in his hometown in WWII Sicily.…
- One Hundred Steps, The (I Cento Passi) (2000)
- Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana
- Expansive, fact–based drama set around a young man's fight against local mafiosos in the small Sicilian village of Cinisi in the…
- Platform (Zhantai) (2000)
- Dir. Jia Zhang-ke
Feat. Zhao Tao
- Taking its title from a Chinese hit rock song of the 80s, this fetchingly spare epic meditates on the changes of that turbulent decade and the…
- Presque Rien (Almost Nothing) (2000)
- Dir. Sebastien Lifshitz
Feat. Jérémie Elkaïm, Stephane Rideau
- French drama of melancholic first love that, despite the common themes, sets itself apart with sensitive acting and a deeply felt approach to the…
- Shadow Magic (2000)
- Dir. Ann Hu
Feat. Jared Harris
- The 'shadow magic' in question is the early cinema, which is brought to Beijing in 1902 by a travelling promoter (Harris), who, along with a local…
- Sky Is Falling, The (Cielo cade, Il) (2000)
- Dir. Andrea Frazzi, Antonio Frazzi
Feat. Isabella Rossellini, Jeroen Krabbe
- Two young orphan girls are sent to live with relatives in Tuscany, Italy during WW2 and discover intriguing new perspectives through their Jewish…
- Town is Quiet, The (La Ville est Tranquille) (2000)
- Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin
- A characteristically gritty yet humanist urban drama that expands out in scope from the directors’ previous snapshots of life in his home town…
- Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
- Dir. Bela Tarr
Feat. Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla
- A visionary film to herald in the 21st century, Bela Tarr’s apocalyptic masterpiece begins with the arrival of a bizarre circus attraction to a…
- Afterlife (1999)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Arata Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima
- Original, intriguing conception of what happens after life – a panel of students challenge a succession of deceased persons to choose one…
- All About My Mother (1999)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Cecilia Roth
- Almodovar's "celebration of mother and womanhood" has been hailed as something of a departure for the director, though in fact all of his (beloved)…
- Butterfly's Tongue (La lengua de las mariposas) (1999)
- Dir. Jose Luis Cuerda
Feat. Fernando Fernan Gomez, Manuel Lozano
- Heartwarming Spanish coming–of–age drama set in Galicia in 1936.
Against the backdrop of the encroaching Spanish Civil War, a shy…
- Celebration, The (Festen) (1999)
- Dir. Thomas Vinterberg
Feat. Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen
- Conceived and executed under the "Dogma 95" manifesto, this corrosive black comedy sees the birthday celebrations of a wealthy family implode after…
- Children of the Marshlands (Les Enfants du Marais) (1999)
- Dir. Jean Becker
Feat. Jacques Villeret, Michel Serrault, Eric Cantona
- Old–fashioned French drama, whose 1930s Loire Valley setting is refreshingly free of the usual cliches, while remaining utterly charming and…
- Cup, The (1999)
- Dir. Khyentse Norbu
Feat. Orgyen Tobgyal, Neten Chokling, Jamyang Lodro
- This charming, slyly comic tale of soccer–mad young monks obsessed with viewing the World Cup has found broad worldwide appreciation with its…
- Girl on the Bridge, The (1999)
- Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Vanessa Paradis
- This glossy slice of modern 'poetic realism' has an attractive visual component but its arch–Romanticism won't be everyone's glass of Chablis.…
- Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied Von Liebe Und Tod) (1999)
- Dir. Rolf Schubel
Feat. Joachim Krol, Erika Marozsan, Ben Becker…
- Captivating drama which pivots around the apocryphal origins of the classic melancholy song 'Gloomy Sunday' in pre–WW2 Budapest.
An amiably…
- Gohatto (Taboo) (1999)
- Dir. Nagisa Oshima
Feat. Takeshi Kitano
- Visually stunning evocation of the tensions in a samurai–training school in 1860s Japan, with Kitano playing a captain who agonises over his…
- Harmonium in my Memory, The (1999)
- Dir. Young-jae Lee
Feat. Do-yeon Chun, Min-hie Kim, Byung-hun Lee
- Sweet, soft–spoken melodrama of jittery first love, recalling the innocent love triangle that forms between a handsome, fresh–faced…
- Human Resources (1999)
- Dir. Laurent Cantet
Feat. Jalil Lespert
- Astute French drama from director Laurent Cantet (THE CLASS) set in a white collar human resources department in Normandy, about the conflicts that…
- It All Starts Today… (1999)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Torreton, Maria Pitarresi, Nadia Kaci
- Determinedly humanist account of the difficulties facing a kindergarten teacher in impoverished northern France, based on the experiences of the…
- Moloch (1999)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Yelena Rufanova, Leonid Mozgovoy
- Typically Sokurov, the dir. of RUSSIAN ARK turns his filtered lens on a day in the life of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, concerned more with the…
- Not One Less (1999)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Wei Minzhi
- 13–year old peasant–girl Wei Minzhi is handed the responsibility of substitute–teaching a class of children in a rural China…
- Pornographic Affair, A (An Affair Of Love) (1999)
- Dir. Frederic Fonteyne
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Sergi Lopez
- A decidedly unpornographic meditation upon the mutability of human desires and emotions, with Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez as a nameless couple who…
- Postmen in the Mountains (Nashan naren nagou) (1999)
- Dir. Jianqi Huo
- A simply conveyed fable of 'youth' coming to an understanding of 'age', with a young man accompanying his father on a long–held postal delivery…
- Romance (1999)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stevenin
- A schoolteacher's boyfriend loses sexual interest in her, so she embarks on a series of unlikely sexual encounters in search of intimacy and…
- Rosetta (1999)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Emilie Dequenne
- Drawing creative parallels with the Danish 'Dogma' movement, this is a rigidly intense study in survivalism that forsakes any plot contrivance to…
- Three Seasons (1999)
- Dir. Tony Bui
Feat. Harvey Keitel
- The first US film to be shot in post–war Vietnam, this intertwined series of four tales set in contemporary Saigon, rapturously conveys a…
- Time Regained (Le Temps Retrouve) (1999)
- Dir. Raul Ruiz
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart, John Malkovich…
- Legendary surrealist Chilean director Ruiz takes a break from his schedule or runaway obscurities (most sadly unavailable in NZ) for this legit…
- Yi Yi (A One and a Two) (1999)
- Dir. Edward Yang
Feat. Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issey Ogata
- Masterful cinema – a drama that loosely surveys a middle–class family in contemporary Taipei, encompassing a wealth of human observation…
- 2 Seconds (1998)
- Dir. Manon Briand
Feat. Charlotte Laurier, Dino Tavarone
- A frothily enjoyable drama set around a mountain–bike rider (Laurier), who despite an addiction to the thrills of high speed cycling, is forced…
- An Autumn Tale (1998)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Marie Riviere, Beatrice Romand, Alain Libolt
- Completing his suite of films based on the four seasons, dir. Rohmer provides another mellow, seemingly unplotted comedy, in which Rhone valley…
- Beau Travail (1998)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Gregoire Colin
- Best Film of 2000 for many highbrow critics, this oblique study of jealousy and power in the ranks of the French Foreign Legion is pure…
- Besieged (1998)
- Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Thandiwe Newton, David Thewlis
- Returning to a 'chamber–piece' setting reminiscent of LAST TANGO IN PARIS, dir. Bertolucci unfolds an enigmatic relationship in a Rome…
- Bird People In China, The (Chûgoku no chôjin) (1998)
- Dir. Takashi Miike
Feat. Masahiro Motoki, Renji Ishibashi
- Visually rich and accomplished drama set around a parallel journey by a businessman and a yakuza gangster to a remote Chinese highland in search of a…
- Central Station (1998)
- Dir. Walter Salles
Feat. Fernanda Montenegro
- A cantankerous woman who writes letters for the illiterate at Rio De Janeiro's train station obliges to help a 9–year–old boy locate his…
- Children of Heaven (1998)
- Dir. Majid Majidi
Feat. Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi
- More simplicity from Iran in this child's tale of small disasters and small triumphs, as a lost pair of shoes provides a catalyst for change for a…
- Così ridevano (The Way We Laughed) (1998)
- Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Enrico Lo Verso, Francesco Giuffrida
- A superbly novelistic epic set amid the rigours of post–WW2 Italy where two poor Sicilian brothers settle in northern Turin in search of future…
- Dreamlife of Angels, The (1998)
- Dir. Erick Zonca
Feat. Elodie Bouchez, Natacha Regnier
- Displaying the laconic influence of Eric Rohmer, the French critical triumph of 1998 explores with a contemporary honesty the friendship between two…
- Earth (1998)
- Dir. Deepa Mehta
Feat. Maia Sethna, Nandita Das, Kitu Gidwani
- The director of FIRE takes on another controversial element of modern India with the second in her (proposed) trilogy – a humanistic view of…
- Eternity and a Day (1998)
- Dir. Theo Angelopoulos
Feat. Bruno Ganz
- A slow, austere cinematic journey in which memories and present–day events mesh in the thought–processes of a dying Greek writer (Bruno…
- Idiots, The (1998)
- Dir. Lars Von Trier
Feat. Bodil Jorgensen, Jens Albinus, Anne Louise Hassing…
- One of the fruits of Dogma 95, this sensationally conceived outing from von Trier will satisfy those with a penchant for the experimental, and…
- Inheritors, The (Die Siebtelbauern) (1998)
- Dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky
- An earthily subversive drama set among a rural community of peasants and masters in an idyllic Austrian valley in the early 20th century.
When the…
- L'Ennui (1998)
- Dir. Cedric Kahn
Feat. Charles Berling, Arielle Dombasle, Sophie Guillermin
- The tale of the restless and infuriating sexual obsession that a philosophy professor develops for an uncomplicated young woman.
Observing their…
- Late August, Early September (Fin août, début septembre) (1998)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Mathieu Amalric, Virginie Ledoyen, Francois Cluzet…
- Overlooked French drama from prolific and distinctive auteur Olivier Assayas (IRMA VEP, PERSONAL SHOPPER) following a group of friends and lovers as…
- Left Luggage (1998)
- Dir. Jeroen Krabbe
Feat. Isabella Rossellini, Marianne Sagebrecht, Laura Fraser
- Concerning a free–spirited young woman working as a nanny in a Jewish household in Antwerp, this resolutely serious drama struggles with…
- Life Is Beautiful (La vita e bella) (1998)
- Dir. Roberto Benigni
Feat. Roberto Benigni
- Winner of both Best Foreign Film and Best Actor Oscars (a first for an actor speaking a foreign tongue) as well as the top prize at Cannes, Roberto…
- Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998)
- Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Najwa Nimri, Fele Martinez, Nancho Novo
- Artful but humourless slice of 'magic realism' that follows the near–metaphysical long–term relationship between two childhood…
- Marquise (1998)
- Dir. Vera Belmont
Feat. Sophie Marceau
- Bawdy, naturalistically–styled period romp about the artistic clashes between playwrights Moliere and Racine at the court of Louis XIV. Sophie…
- Mother and Son (1998)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Aleksei Ananishnov, Gudrun Geyer
- Little–seen outside Europe, dir. Sokurov's dream–like films have been championed by critics (incl. Susan Sontag), and find their best…
- Red Violin, The (1998)
- Dir. Francois Girard
Feat. Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Flemyng, Greta Scacchi
- The contemporary auction of a prized antique violin becomes another suspenseful, passionate chapter in its lifespan as we learn of its 300 year…
- Show Me Love (Fucking Amal) (1998)
- Dir. Lukas Moodysson
Feat. Rebecka Liljeberg, Alexandra Dahlstrom
- Vivid depiction of teenage angst and restlessness that became a cause celebre (and box–office hit) in its native Sweden for frank, passionate…
- Sicilia! (1998)
- Dir. Jean-Marie Straub, Daniele Huillet
- An unnamed man engages in a series of idle discussions with family members and strangers upon his return to Sicily from America in this aesthetically…
- So Close To Paradise (Biandan, guniang) (1998)
- Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai
Feat. Wang Tong, Shi Yu, Guo Tao
- Chinese film set in the city of Wuhan before it was a household name, where two young migrant workers become embroiled in the city's criminal…
- Terrorist, The (1998)
- Dir. Santosh Sivan
Feat. Ayesha Dharkar
- Discovered and championed by the actor John Malkovich, this intensely concentrated thriller depicts the hardening and training of 19–yr old…
- Thief, The (1998)
- Dir. Pavel Chukhrai
Feat. Vladimir Mashkov, Yekaterina Rednikova, Misha Philipchuk
- Serious–minded trek across the landscapes and mindsets of post–WWII Russia that's been compared to BURNT BY THE SUN for dramatic impact.…
- Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998)
- Dir. Patrice Chereau
Feat. Pascal Greggory, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Charles Berling…
- Friends and associates of a deceased painter make a procession, via train, to the artist’s burial in this superb French drama. A highly nuanced…
- Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (Tian yu) (1998)
- Dir. Joan Chen
Feat. Li Xiaolu
- Coming–of–age story set in the 70's about a teenage girl who is sent to the countryside during the "Down to the Countryside" Movement in…
- Artemisia (1997)
- Dir. Agnes Merlet
Feat. Valentina Cervi, Miki Manojlovic, Michel Serrault
- Study of the first significant female painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, the daughter of Caravaggio's one–time assistant in 17th Century…
- Au Petit Marguery (1997)
- Dir. Laurent Benegui
Feat. Stephane Audran, Michel Aumont
- You are cordially invited to attend the farewell dinner of a long–loved Parisian restaurant whose Chef is losing his sense of smell. Memories…
- Character (1997)
- Dir. Mike van Diem
Feat. Fedja Van Huet
- A murderous confrontation bookends an elegantly told story of class, oppression and perseverance in 1920s Rotterdam, in which a young…
- Eel, The (1997)
- Dir. Shohei Imamura
Feat. Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu
- After doing eight years for killing his wife, an inhibited man (Yakusho Koji of SHALL WE DANCE) sets himself up at a quiet riverside barbershop, the…
- Gadjo Dilo (1997)
- Dir. Tony Gatlif
Feat. Romain Duris, Rona Harther, Izidor Serban
- Re–casting a spotlight onto the poor and downtrodden yet spiritually rich gypsy culture, film–maker/musician Toni Gatlif grafts a…
- Going to School with Dad on My Back (Bei qi baba shangxue) (1997)
- Dir. Youchou Zhou
- Straightforwardly touching tale of a young boy, who with the help of his selfless family, graduates from his impoverished Malian River village to the…
- Hamam - The Turkish Bath (1997)
- Dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Feat. Alessandro Gassman, Francesca d'Aloja, Carlo Cecchi
- Beautifully presented, exotic drama about a young Italian designer whose sexual and spiritual life takes a profound turn after inheriting a steam…
- Happy Together (1997)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Chen Chang
- Wong Kar Wai's South American gay love story features the usual dazzling Christopher Doyle camerawork, but replaces the genre thrills of FALLEN…
- Harmonists (Comedian Harmonists) (1997)
- Dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
Feat. Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen…
- The most popular singing group of 1920s Germany, the sextet Comedian Harmonists toured widely and were world–famous by the mid–30s.…
- La Vie de Jesus (Life of Jesus) (1997)
- Dir. Bruno Dumont
- Virtuoso bleakness from the dir. of TWENTYNINE PALMS, in his debut study of alienated existence for a group of unruly skinheads in rural Flanders who…
- Live Flesh (1997)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal
- Five aggrieved characters get wrapped in a sticky web of consequence after a fateful incident leaves one paralysed and another in jail.
Dir.…
- Lucie Aubrac (1997)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Carole Bouquet, Klaus Barbie
- French Resistance true–story from the period–eye of dir. Claude Berri (JEAN DE FLORETTE), offering a romantic sub–plot between…
- Ma Vie Sexuelle (1997)
- Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
Feat. Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Emmanuel Salinger
- Ponderous study of Parisian twentysomething ennui centering around a typically amoral, self–obsessed Frenchman who has few problems bedding…
- Marius et Jeannette (1997)
- Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Ariane Ascaride, Gerard Meylan
- A laidback yet buoyant slice–of–ordinary–life set on the low–rent side of Marseille, where two wounded fortysomethings strike…
- Taste of Cherry, A (1997)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Homayon Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari
- Kiarostami's Palme D'Or winner follows the 'last rites' of an affluent, suicidal middle–aged man who scours the streets of Teheran for an…
- Truce, The (1997)
- Dir. Francesco Rosi
Feat. John Turturro, Rade Serbedzija
- The aftermath of WWII locates Auschwitz survivor John Turturro on a difficult, redemptive journey back to his home town.
Based on Primo Levi's…
- Unknown Pleasures / Xiao Wu (1997-2002)
- Dir. Jia Zhang-ke
Feat. Zhao Tao
- Two astonishing features from gifted 'sixth generation' Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang–ke (PLATFORM, THE WORLD); his terrain the onset of popular…
- A Summer's Tale (1996)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Melvil Poupaud, Amanda Langlet
- Once more exploring the fickleness of love, dir. Rohmer involves holidaying student Melvil Poupard in a love–quadrangle of romantic options. In…
- Antonia's Line (1996)
- Dir. Marleen Gorris
Feat. Willeke van Ammelrooy, Els Dottermans, Jan Decleir
- The deserving winner of the '96 Best Foreign Film Oscar recalls the 50 year history of matriarch Antonia and her defiantly unconventional brood in…
- Autumn Sun (Sol de otoño) (1996)
- Dir. Eduardo Mignogna
Feat. Frederico Luppi, Norma Aleandro
- Argentine drama following a Jewish woman who pretends to be in a relationship with a Jewish man from Uruguay (Frederico Luppi, CRONOS) to appease her…
- Fire (1996)
- Dir. Deepa Mehta
Feat. Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das
- Blazing melodrama defiantly targets Indian sexual hypocrisy and tradition, not to mention trangressing 'Bollywood' taboo, in portraying two women…
- Flower of My Secret, The (1996)
- Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Marisa Paredes
- An artistic maturing for the director of kitsch sex comedies like HIGH HEELS and KIKA, this is an introspective study of a successful authoress…
- Gabbeh (1996)
- Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Feat. Abbas Sayah, Shaghayeh Djodat, Hossein Moharami…
- Unique combination of lyricism and social realism from one of the icons of Iranian cinema – a story of a remote struggling tribe, the…
- Goodbye South Goodbye (1996)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Jack Kao, Lim Giong
- Another exemplary, detailed effort from dir. Hsiao–Hsien, this time following a couple of small time grafters trying to put together 'the big…
- Irma Vep (1996)
- Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Nathalie Richard…
- Ranking up there with the best movies–about–movies, this supremely stylish, sexy film showcases an unseen side of Hong Kong action diva…
- Kama Sutra (1996)
- Dir. Mira Nair
Feat. Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram…
- The director of SALAAM BOMBAY returns to her native land for this enticing, beautifully photographed tale of love, jealousy and revenge among the…
- Kids Return (1996)
- Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Ando Masanobu, Kaneko Ken
- Two feckless delinquents discover the local boxing–gym, which provides inspiration for one and an entry into a yakuza gang for the other.…
- King of Masks, The (1996)
- Dir. Tianming Wu
Feat. Zhu Xu
- Touching paternal tale, in the Chinese mainland tradition, concerning an aging street performer determined to pass on his technique to a young…
- Kolya (1996)
- Dir. Jan Sverak
Feat. Zdenek Sverak, Andrei Chalimon
- A beautifully sentimental Oscar winner for Best Foreign film – set during the 1988 Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia, when a…
- Libertarias (1996)
- Dir. Vincente Aranda
Feat. Victoria Abril, Ana Belen, Miguel Bose…
- Examining the Spanish Civil War from a left–wing point–of–view, this passionate war drama focuses on a trio of women – a…
- Nelly and Mr. Anaud (1996)
- Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Michel Serrault
- Emmanuelle Beart gets caught up in a May–to–December romance with Michel Serrault in another elegant and subtle drama from the director…
- Nenette & Boni (1996)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Gregoire Colin, Alice Houri , Jacques Nolot…
- Minor, though beautifully rendered slice–of–life from Claire Denis casts an eye on two teenage siblings raised separately by divorced…
- Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
- Dir. Sadjan Dragojevic
Feat. Dragan Bjelorgrlic, Nikola Kojo
- Seen in flashback from a ward in triage, the Bosnian war is portrayed in a riveting counter–play of nihilism and theatre, as a band of Serbian…
- Promise, The (La Promesse) (1996)
- Dir. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Feat. Jeremie Renier, Olivier Gourmet
- A deceptively modest, altogether riveting early film from the Dardenne brothers, here test–driving the formal rigors of their unwavering…
- Temptress Moon (1996)
- Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Gong Li, Leslie Cheung
- Chen Kaige elevates the sumptuous Chinese epoch of FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE with this visually rapturous, though far less coherent saga of epic…
- Tierra (Earth) (1996)
- Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Carmelo Gómez, Emma Suarez, Karra Elejalde
- Intimate portrait of Angel (Gomez), an exterminator who travels to a remote wine–making town to rid them of a plague of woodlice, and gradually…
- Too Late (Prea Târziu) (1996)
- Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Razvan Vasilescu
- Bleak, unflinching examination of Romanian society from dir. Pintilie focuses on an inexperienced investigator who discovers a myriad of corruption…
- Beyond the Clouds (Al di là delle nuvole) (1995)
- Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Fanny Ardant, Chiara Caselli, Irene Jacob…
- Michelangelo Antonioni's final film weaves together four stories of discontented love in his characteristic cinematic style.
Featuring a huge…
- Campfire (Short Films by Bavo Defurne) (1995-2000)
- Dir. Bavo Defurne
- Four short films by the renowned gay Belgian filmmaker Bavo Defurne, whose work is distinguished by an aesthetic that combines an astute sense of…
- Chungking Express (1995)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Takeshi Kaneshiro, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung (Chiu-wai)…
- Influential urban style piece that brought its director serious attention in the West.
There's no plot to speak of; Kar–Wai's style is an…
- Cyclo (1995)
- Dir. Tran Anh Hung
Feat. Le Van Loc, Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Tran Nu Yen-Khe
- Brooding expose of corruption, poverty and violence in contemporary Vietnam follows the ill fortunes of a young taxi–cyclist.
Has potent…
- Fallen Angels (1995)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Leon Lai, Michelle Reis
- Seductive stylist Wong Kar–Wai here orchestrates the stories of three disreputable urbanites across a Hong Kong nightscape of impersonal…
- La Haine (Hate) (1995)
- Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui…
- A distinctive French urban crime drama in which the idle hands of male youth form fisticuffs on mean urban streets. A whole lot punchier, intelligent…
- Maborosi (Mabaroshi) (1995)
- Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
Feat. Makikio Esumi, Tadanobu Asano
- A young woman's fear that she brings death to those around her forms the basis for this contemplative, serene drama, the dir.'s debut. Suggestively…
- Promise, The (1995)
- Dir. Margarethe von Trotta
Feat. Corinna Harfouch, Meret Becker, August Zirner
- Separated while trying to cross the Berlin Wall to the West in 1961, two lovers traverse thirty odd years of German history apart, yet faithful. This…
- Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker (1995)
- Dir. He Ping
Feat. Jing Ning, Gang Wu, Xiaorui Zhao
- Exotic tale of forbidden passion set among the labyrinthine traditions of Chinese society. Like the work of Zhang Yimou, the immaculate imagery does…
- Shanghai Triad (1995)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li
- Richly–hued encounter with the criminal high–life of 1930s Shanghai, told through the hired servant of a pampered gangster's moll, and…
- Trick of the Light, A (Brothers Skladanowsky) (1995)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Udo Kier
- Quirky, pseudo–documentary in the tradition of FORGOTTEN SILVER recreates through faux interviews and found footage the exploits of the…
- Ulysses' Gaze (1995)
- Dir. Theo Angelopoulos
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Maia Morgenstern
- Returning from exile in America, Yugoslavian filmmaker Harvey Keitel quests after rare film footage in the wartorn Balkans. Shot under conditions…
- Underground (1995)
- Dir. Emir Kusturica
Feat. Miki Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Jokovic
- Palme D'Or–winning epic covering fifty years of Balkan history in fantastical, magic–realist style. While the brash satire may be too…
- Wild Reeds (Les Roseaux Sauvages) (1995)
- Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Frederick Gorny, Gael Morel
- Beautifully studied coming–of–age saga set in rural France at the end of the Algerian war, as four young friends on the cusp of adulthood…
- Zero Kelvin (1995)
- Dir. Hans Petter Moland
Feat. Gard B. Eidsvold, Stellan Skarsgard
- This tale of hardcore cabin fever in the 1930s has the Arctic wasteland as a backdrop for the face off between two romantic idealists – one a…
- 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Anne Bennent, Lukas Miko, Gabriel Cosmin Urdes
- A radical and virtuoso endpoint to Michael Haneke’s ‘Glaciation Trilogy’, this serves as a template for CODE UNKNOWN in its complex mosaic of…
- An Unforgettable Summer (Un été inoubliable) (1994)
- Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Claudiu Bleont
- Spare, well–realized drama taking place in 1925 on the Romanian/Bulgarian border, where Capitaine Petre Dumitriu (Bleont) and his wife…
- Burnt By the Sun (1994)
- Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Oleg Menshikov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
- Oscar–winning drama contrasts sunlit Chekhovian lyricism with the dark undercurrents of Stalinist Russia during the "Great Purge", when…
- Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
- Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Sihung Lung, Yu-Wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu
- Those that attended Ang Lee's WEDDING BANQUET will want to sample his tasty and sensual comedy about the perennial delights of life – sex and…
- Il Postino (Postman, The) (1994)
- Dir. Michael Radford
Feat. Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret
- The biggest international foreign language hit since LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE stars the late Massimo Troisi as a simple postie who learns the value…
- Kingdom, The (Riget) (1994)
- Dir. Lars Von Trier
Feat. Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, Kirsten Rolffes, Ghita Norby…
- A Danish medical soap opera from the director of BREAKING THE WAVES that's a bizarre yet compulsive combination of ghost story, TV drama and…
- Like Two Crocodiles (1994)
- Dir. Giacomo Campiotti
Feat. Angela Baraldi, Fabrizzio Bentivoglio, Sandrine Dumas…
- Various step–brothers feud like crocodiles when their bigamist father is forced by circumstances to reconcile his unknowing progeny. Attractive…
- Miracle Alley (Midaq Alley) (1994)
- Dir. Jorge Fons
Feat. Salma Hayek
- Miracle Alley is the setting for four pungent stories of urban lovelife among Mexico City residents. Strong pacing and local humour make this lengthy…
- Queen Margot (La Reine Margot) (1994)
- Dir. Patrice Chereau
Feat. Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Perez, Virna Lisi…
- A bodice–ripping yarn of treachery and forbidden passions between warring Catholic and Protestant factions in late 1500s France. Isabelle…
- Satantango (1994)
- Dir. Bela Tarr
Feat. Mihály Vig
- Daunting, one–of–a–kind event from Hungarian maestro Bela Tarr delves into seven formidable hours of East European malaise, where…
- Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate) (1994)
- Dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabio
Feat. Jorge Perugorria, Vladimir Cruz, Mirta Ibarra
- Oscar–nominated for Best Foreign Film 1995, a red–blooded conservative is befriended by a gay communist who challenges his prejudices.…
- Three Colours: Red (1994)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Julie Delpy
- A haunting conclusion to the acclaimed trilogy and the career of its late director. Irene Jacob plays a fashion model who becomes oddly connected…
- Three Colours: White (1994)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy
- The second in Kieslowski's trilogy is a lighter affair than BLUE but is no less exquisite or deeply philosophical. Embroided with more plot, its…
- To Live (1994)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li
- An absorbing tale of Chinese peasantry in the dark shadow of politics over three decades.
Distinguished by the star presence of Gong Li and her…
- Yvonne's Perfume (1994)
- Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Jean-Pierre Marielle, Hippolyte Girardot, Sandra Majani
- A deserter from the Algerian war falls for the charms of a beautiful actress and her gay companion at a lakeside hotel for pensioners. The director…
- Bandit Queen (1993)
- Dir. Shekhar Kapur
Feat. Seema Biswas
- Far and away from the innocuous fluff that dominates India's film industry, comes this bold, controversial true story of Phoolan Devi, a notorious…
- Blue Kite, The (1993)
- Dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang
Feat. Tian Yi, Wenyao Zhang, Xiaoman Chen
- Emotive and honest account of the realities of daily life under chairman Mao's regime as witnessed by one Beijing family from the 1950s through…
- Daens (1993)
- Dir. Stijn Coninx
Feat. Jan Decleir, Gerard Desarthe, Antje De Boeck
- Earnest historical epic concerns labour relations in 19th Century Europe and follows one man's struggle to lead a revolt against the village elite.…
- Faraway, So Close (1993)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz, Nastassja Kinski
- WINGS OF DESIRE sequel is again about an angel who finds himself sucked back into humanity. This discusses politics and philosophy more directly than…
- Farewell My Concubine (1993)
- Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Gong Li, Leslie Cheung
- Lavish, episodic journey through 20th Century Chinese history, encompassing more revolutions than a 45. Joint winner of the Palm D'Or at Cannes is…
- Germinal (1993)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Renaud , Gerard Depardieu, Miou-Miou…
- The director of the JEAN DE FLORETTE films reunites with Gerard Depardieu for this epic recreation of the French coal–miners strike during the…
- Like Water for Chocolate (1993)
- Dir. Alfonso Arau
Feat. Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos, Regina Torne
- Certifiable foreign–language block–buster blends the irresisistible ingrediants of primal female desire with old–fashioned…
- Maadadayo (Madadayo) (1993)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Tatsuo Matsumura, Kyoko Kagawa
- A masterful, understated last word from Japanese sensei Kurosawa, here paying tribute to an inspiration from his own life with the story of a retired…
- My Favourite Season (Ma Saison Préférée) (1993)
- Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, Marthe Villalonga
- Involving French character drama, which observes the cracks in a woman's family dynamic when her elderly mother must move in with her due to poor…
- Oh, Woe is Me (Helas Pour Moi) (1993)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Gerard Depardieu
- Gerard Depardieu is the most accessible thing on offer in Godard's latest enigma, a film that's controlling idea is perhaps 'the desire of a God to…
- Scent of Green Papaya, The (1993)
- Dir. Tran Anh Hung
Feat. Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Man San Lu, Thi Loc Truong…
- Drama as crisp and luxuriant as its title observes a wealthy Saigon family over two turbulent decades through the eyes of a peasant servant girl. Its…
- Temptation of a Monk (1993)
- Dir. Clara Law
Feat. Joan Chen, Zhang Fenyi
- Graphic chronicle of blood–letting by a fierce warrior general in 7th century China, that hews to the visual traditions of the classic Japanese…
- Three Colours: Blue (1993)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Benoit Regent, Emmanuelle Riva…
- Immaculate, introspective meditation on grief, redemption and liberty, Kieslowski's masterpiece borders on the pretentious. This redefines ART…
- Cronos (1992)
- Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Frederico Luppi, Ron Perlman
- Elderly antique dealer Federico Luppi discovers the ancient (and sought–after) 'Cronos' device, which has the power to give eternal life, but…
- Dear Diary (Caro Diario) (1992)
- Dir. Nanni Moretti
Feat. Nanni Moretti
- Often hilarious and inspiring film travelogue follows the endearing Nanni Moretti's personal experiences over 18 months. Over three chapters, he…
- Indochine (1992)
- Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, Linh Dan Pham…
- Oscar–winning Foreign Film of 1993 set during the Inochinese revolution of 1930. Catherine Deneuvre plays a French landowner coming to terms…
- La Sentinelle (The Sentinel) (1992)
- Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
Feat. Emmanuel Salinger, Thibault de Montalembert, Jean-Louis Richard…
- French chiller from director Arnaud Desplechin (A CHRISTMAS TALE) about a forensic medicine student who finds himself mysteriously in possession of a…
- Oak, The (Balanta) (1992)
- Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Maia Morgenstern, Razvan Vasilescu, Victor Rebengiuc
- Provocative director Pintilie strikes the perfect balance of surreal comedy and powerful realism as he examines the progressive disillusionment of a…
- Stolen Children, The (1992)
- Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Enrico Lo Verso, Valentina Scalici, Giuseppe Ieracitano
- Two kids are reluctantly escorted from Milan to Palermo after they are refused asylum at an orphanage. A warts–and–all, portrait of…
- Vacas (Cows) (1992)
- Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Emma Suarez, Ana Torrent, Karra Elejalde…
- Debut film of dir. Julio Medem follows in vivid, swift fashion the growing connections between two Basque families over the decades between the…
- A Heart in Winter (Un Coeur en Hiver) (1991)
- Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Andre Dussollier
- Impeccable romantic tragedy examines a love triangle between a virtuoso violinist, her violin–making boyfriend and his emotionally crippled…
- Amants Du Pont Neuf, Les (1991)
- Dir. Leos Carax
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant
- Extravagant production breathes fire into this unusual epic love story of two young Paris street punks. Through the ebbs and the flows, Carax adjusts…
- Brighter Summer Day, A (1991)
- Dir. Edward Yang
Feat. Chen Chang
- Sublime ode to adolescence set in early 1960's Taiwan, Edward Yang's sprawling, novelistic narrative reflects the personal and political turmoil of…
- Danzon (1991)
- Dir. Maria Novaro
Feat. Maria Rojo
- Lovely film about a phone operator and mother in Mexico City enthralled by the popular Cuban dance, known as "danzon". When her regular dance partner…
- Days of Being Wild (1991)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Leslie Cheung
- An excellent example of the other side of Hong Kong movie–making. Set in 1960, Leslie Cheung plays a disillusioned, spoiled youth who…
- Double Life of Veronique (1991)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Irene Jacob
- An incandescent meditation on the lives of two identical young women – one Polish, one French – both played by Irene Jacob (RED). A…
- Europa, Europa (1991)
- Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Marco Hofschneider, Salomon Perel, Rene Hofschneider
- A riveting account of the real–life ordeal experienced by German Jew Soloman Perel, who concealed his ethnicity for seven years when drafted…
- Jacquot De Nantes (1991)
- Dir. Agnes Varda
Feat. Philippe Maron, Edouard Joubeaud, Laurent Monnier
- Beautifully–crafted, affectionate tribute to the director's late husband, the film–maker Jacques Demy (UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, LOLA).…
- La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
- Dir. Jacques Rivette
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Emmanuelle Beart
- Rivette's four–hour portrait of an artist as an old man explores the process and politics of a retired artist painting a nude model. Subtle,…
- Madame Bovary (1991)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Francois Balmer, Christophe Malavoy…
- Chabrol remains faithful to the text of this oft–filmed classic of French literature, with Isabelle Huppert bringing a glacial refinement to…
- Mediterraneo (1991)
- Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Claudio Bigagli, Diego Abatanthono, Giuseppe Cederna
- Oscar–winning tale of eight Italian soldiers who find themselves stranded on a remote Greek isle during WW2. An affecting and surprising…
- Olivier Olivier (1991)
- Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Brigitte Rouan, Gregoire Colin
- After disappearing from his country home six years earlier, a boy's mysterious return brings with it a mix of salvation and suspicion to his…
- Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li
- Gong Li is unforgettable as an educated woman who bitterly serves as the fourth arranged wife of a feudal nobleman. A magnificent tragedy, enriched…
- Scene at the Sea, A (1991)
- Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Kuroudo Maki, Hiroko Oshima, Sabu Kawahara…
- One from dir. Kitano’s (HANA–BI) quieter side, this fable of deaf–mute garbageman’s obsession with surfing is deceptively minimal,…
- Van Gogh (1991)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Jacques Dutronc
- The ultra–naturalistic style of Maurice Pialat may not seem the best choice for a costume drama about probably the most–often filmed…
- Ages of Lulu, The (1990)
- Dir. Bigas Luna
Feat. Francesca Neri, María Barranco, Javier Bardem…
- Spanish erotic drama depicting the sexual explorations of a young woman as she descends into the dangerous and kinky underworld of Madrid –…
- Cinema Paradiso (1990)
- Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
Feat. Antonella Attili, Enzo Cannavale, Isa Danieli…
- Enchanting, achingly sweet film in which young Toto falls into a lifelong adoration of movies at the village theatre and its grumpy old…
- Close-Up (1990)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- A uniquely–devised work intermingling life and art, documentary and fiction, born of a real life incident in which an unemployed film buff is…
- Cyrano De Bergerac (1990)
- Dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez…
- Rostand's classic play filmed in its native tongue, with the man born to play the poet with the outsized hooter, Gerard Depardieu. Little expense has…
- Ju Dou (1990)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li
- Immaculately composed fable about a village girl who conducts an illicit affair with the nephew of the bitter factory owner she has been forced to…
- Kurosawa's Dreams (1990)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisho, Martin Scorsese
- Opinions vary wildly over this sequence of eight re–enactments of Akira's very own dreams – stunning photography and subtle use of…
- Little Gangster, The (Le Petit Criminel) (1990)
- Dir. Jacques Doillon
Feat. Gerald Thomassin, Richard Anconina, Clotilde Courau
- Jacques Doillon (PONETTE) combines his eye for youthful naturalism with technical and storytelling assurance in this neatly formed movie about a…
- Mahabharata, The (1990)
- Dir. Peter Brook
Feat. Erika Alexander, Maurice Benichou, Amba Bihler
- This 'great story of mankind' forms the basis of Indian religion and mythology. Some 15 times the length of the bible, stage maestro Peter Brook has…
- Match Factory Girl, The (1990)
- Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Kati Outinen, Elina Salo
- Aki Kaurismaki concludes his "Proletariat Trilogy" with this bleakly ironic fable following the drab fortunes of a factory–worker (Kati…
- My Father's Glory (La Gloire de Mon Pere) (1990)
- Dir. Yves Robert
Feat. Philippe Caubere, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain
- Archetypal French art movie adapted from the memoirs of author Marcel Pagnol (JEAN DE FLORETTE). Little Marcel takes to life in Provence where even…
- My Mother's Castle (Le Chateau de Ma Mere) (1990)
- Dir. Yves Robert
Feat. Philippe Caubere, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain…
- Sequel to MY FATHER'S GLORY continues life in Provence with the Pagnol family. The nostalgic vignettes unfold with each frame a scenic wonder to…
- Roselyne and the Lions (1990)
- Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix
Feat. Isabelle Pasco, Gerard Sandoz, Gabriel Monnet
- Another visual triumph from the director of DIVA, this is an absorbing account of a teen couple's yearning to tame and perform with lions. The…
- Black Rain (Kuroi Ame) (1989)
- Dir. Shohei Imamura
Feat. Yoshiko Tanaka, Katzuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara
- Alarming, mournful insider's view of post–nuclear devastation that focuses on a surviving family that have been contaminated by the fallout of…
- Milou En Mai (May Fools) (1989)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou
- In May of '68, a rural family gather for the reading of their matriarch's will, an event that will strangely affect their idyllic existence. Stephane…
- Nocturne Indien (1989)
- Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Jean-Hugues Anglade, Clémentine Célarié, Otto Tausig
- Moody drama from dir. Corneau (TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE) sees a young Frenchman travel to India to search for a missing friend, and get lost in…
- Rikyu (1989)
- Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara
Feat. Rentaro Mikuni, Tsutomu Yamazaki
- A unique dramatic meditation on the symbolic qualities of the Japanese tea ceremony, set around a Buddhist priest and the ruling Shogun of Japan in…
- Seventh Continent, The (1989)
- Dir. Michael Haneke
Feat. Dieter Berner, Leni Tanzer, Birgit Doll
- The disintegration of a seemingly content, middle–class family is at the center of this chilling domestic autopsy; a clinical and cynical…
- Why has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (1989)
- Dir. Bae Yong-kyun
- A mystical journey into the riddles and symbols of Zen Buddhism through various characters ensconced in a remote monastery.
Loosely threaded by a…
- Ariel (1988)
- Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Turo Pajala, Susanna Haavisto, Matti Pellonpaa
- A redundant miner takes his newly acquired Thunderbird to Helsinki in search of financial and emotional security, but is hampered with rotten luck. A…
- As Tears Go By (Wong gok ka moon) (1988)
- Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung
- Dir. Wong Kar–Wai debuted with this ambitious remake of MEAN STREETS, where best buddies Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung struggle through the…
- Camille Claudel (1988)
- Dir. Bruno Nuytten
Feat. Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Alain Cuny
- Intense, robust biopic of the French artist and lover of fellow sculptor, Auguste Rodin. Their tumultuous affair is passionately incarnated by…
- Chocolat (1988)
- Dir. Claire Denis
Feat. Isaach de Bankole, Giulia Boschi, Francois Cluzet
- Quietly rewarding autobiographical work follows a young woman to West Africa where she reminisces her childhood. Early work by the director of BEAU…
- Cobra Verde (1988)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Klaus Kinski
- Klaus Kinski stars for the last time for Herzog as another doomed outcast in an alien environment. West Africa is portrayed as a cruel, highly…
- Damnation (Karhozat) (1988)
- Dir. Bela Tarr
Feat. Miklós B. Székely, Vali Kerekes, Gyula Pauer
- A magnificent representation of the earlier feature films of Hungarian master of miserabilism Béla Tarr, telling the story of a lonely barfly who…
- Decalogue - Parts 1 - 5 (Dekalog) (1988)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
- The Polish master's extraordinary series of hour–long dramas, each pertaining to one of the ten commandments. He matches the high concept with…
- Decalogue - Parts 6 - 10 (Dekalog) (1988)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Continuing Kieslowski's exemplary series of hour–long dramas, with a further five 'commandments'.
Episodes:
Dekalog 6 – "Thou Shalt…
- Hanussen (1988)
- Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer
- Klaus Maria Brandauer adds to his list of distinctive roles in this allegedly true tale of an Austrian soldier who recovers from shotgun wounds and…
- Last Stop Paradise (Terminus paradis) (1988)
- Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Costel Cascaval, Dorina Chiriac, Gheorghe Visu
- French/Romanian drama set against the outskirts of Budapest, centered around the ill–fated love affair between a waitress and a young pig…
- Legend of the Holy Drinker, The (1988)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Rutger Hauer, Anthony Quayle, Sandrine Dumas…
- Rutger Hauer plays a drunken homeless man in Paris who is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he…
- Music Teacher, The (1988)
- Dir. Gerard Corbiau
Feat. Jose Van Dam, Anne Roussel, Patrick Bauchau
- Sterling voiced Jose Van Dam plays an opera star who retires to train an aspiring nymphette and her wayward peer. Like the superlative operatic…
- Red Sorghum (1988)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li, Wen Jiang
- A love story set among village winemakers who fight back against Japanese marauders in 1930's China. Blackly humorous and agonisingly horrific, this…
- Salaam Bombay! (1988)
- Dir. Mira Nair
Feat. Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal
- Breakthrough Indian film that eschews Bollywood tradition is a compassionate account of an 11–year–old village boy, stranded on the…
- Short Film About Killing, A (1988)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz
- Feature–length version of Kieslowski's indelibly chilling Decalogue Pt.5 further protracts a cold–blooded murder and the subsequent…
- Short Film About Love, A (1988)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Grazyna Szapolowska, Olaf Lubaszenko, Stefania Iwinska
- Extended version of the director's DEKALOG Part 6 – "Thou shalt not commit adultery" shares its voyeuristic premise with MONSIEUR HIRE, though…
- Virgin Machine (1988)
- Dir. Monika Treut
Feat. Ina Blum, Marcelo Uriona, Gad Klein
- A frustrated German journalist takes her work to San Fransisco in this lesbian odyssey that proudly parades its fringe philosophy and contemporary…
- Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette…
- Dir. Malle has transformed a childhood memoir into a powerful and vivid account of a catholic schoolboy who unknowingly witnesses anti–semitism…
- Babette's Feast (1987)
- Dir. Gabriel Axel
Feat. Stephane Audran
- Oscar–winning and mouth watering delight which tells a wistful, wise tale with a subtle sense of humour. Exiled French housekeeper Stephane…
- Blind Chance (Przypadek) (1987)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Boguslaw Linda
- In the opening scene a young Polish medical student (Linda) hurries to catch a train departing from Lodz to Warsaw, from which point dir.…
- Boyfriends and Girlfriends (My Girlfriend's Boyfriend) (1987)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Emmanuelle Chaulet, Sophie Renoir
- Through a series of deceptions and misunderstandings, four Parisians come to discover their true feelings for each other. Entrancing tale of…
- Cry of the Owl, The (Le Cri du hibou) (1987)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Christophe Malavoy, Mathilda May, Jacques Penot
- Rich adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel from New Wave director Claude Chabrol, who probes the mind of a troubled artist obsessed with his…
- Debajo Del Mundo (Underground) (1987)
- Dir. Beda Docampo Feijóo
Feat. Oscar Ferrigno Jr., Gabriel Rovito
- Intense WW2 drama focused on a Polish family who make the drastic decision to bury themselves underground to hide from the Nazis. Based on a true…
- Intervista (1987)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Sergio Rubini
- An easy–going ode to dir. Fellini's early career at Cinecitta Studios, this takes the form of a mock interview–flashback, with the…
- Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
- Dir. Bille August
Feat. Max von Sydow
- Swedish widower Max Von Sydow emigrates in the 19th century to Denmark with his son, where they struggle against injustice and poverty. Won an Oscar…
- Under the Sun of Satan (Soues Le Soleil De Satan) (1987)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Sandrine Bonnaire, Maurice Pialat…
- Both booed and awarded the top prize at Cannes Film Festival, Pialat's visionary film exemplifies the director's style and his thematic preoccupation…
- Wings of Desire (1987)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander…
- Wenders ambitious and hypnotic film centres around two angels who can listen into human thought in pre–unified Berlin. This rich and surreal…
- Yeelen (Brightness) (1987)
- Dir. Souleymane Cisse
- One the few internationally–seen films from the African continent, this myth–like narrative concerns a young man of the Bambara culture…
- Betty Blue (1986)
- Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix
Feat. Beatrice Dalle, Jean-Hugues Anglade
- Beatrice Dalle stars as the ultra crazy and ultra sexy Betty in this lusty, over–the–top drama as only the French aspire to create.…
- Decline of the American Empire (1986)
- Dir. Denys Arcand
Feat. Pierre Curzi, Remy Girard, Yves Jacques…
- An astute and devastatingly frank expose of the sexes from the director of JESUS OF MONTREAL, that alternately eavesdrops on the separate gatherings…
- Green Ray, The (Summer) (1986)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Marie Riviere, Lisa Heredia, Beatrice Romand…
- Exemplary Rohmer material, this bittersweet story follows a reserved young woman on her Riviera holiday, who must assert herself if she is to find…
- Jean De Florette (1986)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Yves Montand, Gerard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil
- A modern classic of love, greed and revenge set against the beauty of 1920s French Provence, superbly performed by three of France's biggest…
- Manon Des Sources (1986)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Yves Montand, Emmanuelle Beart, Daniel Auteuil
- Indispensible sequel to JEAN DE FLORETTE concludes Marcel Pagnol's story of innocence, greed, envy and revenge in 1920s Provence.
At the time the…
- Melo (1986)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Sabine Azema, Fanny Ardant, Pierre Arditi…
- New Wave dir. Resnais explores unusually restrained, linear territory in this bittersweet melodrama centered around a love triangle between longtime…
- Peking Opera Blues (1986)
- Dir. Tsui Hark
Feat. Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, Sally Yeh
- One of prolific Hong Kong director/producer Tsui Hark's most celebrated films is a genre–blending romp set around the Peking Opera in 1913. A…
- Sacrifice, The (1986)
- Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edward
- Tarkovsky's final film is this harrowing tale of a man who vows to sacrifice all that he is in order for the world to avoid the apocalypse. Further…
- Colonel Redl (1985)
- Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer
- Klaus Maria Brandauer offers another tour–de–force performance for the second in Szabo's WW2 trilogy (between MEPHISTO and HANUSSEN)…
- Come and See (1985)
- Dir. Elim Klimov
Feat. Aleksei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Lauciavicius
- Shattering film that chronicles the devastating effect the Nazi occupation had on Russian peasantry, focusing on one impoverished youth. The brutal…
- Detective, The (1985)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Claude Brasseur, Nathalie Baye, Johnny Hallyday…
- Late, vague genre piece mismatches big name French stars (Baye, Leaud, and a young Julie Delpy) and trench coat chic with Godard’s newfound…
- Great Wall, A (The Great Wall is A Great Wall) (1985)
- Dir. Peter Wang
Feat. Peter Wang, Sharon Iwai, Kelvin Han Yee
- The first American film to be shot in China follows a Chinese–American computer executive (the director) and his family to Peking where they…
- Hail Mary (1985)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Myriem Roussel, Thierry Rode, Juliette Binoche
- Controversial and ultimately reverent update on the story of the immaculate conception, with Mary as a gas station attendant and Joseph as her cab…
- Heart of the Dragon (Long de xin) (1985)
- Dir. Sammo Hung, Fruit Chan
Feat. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Emily Chu
- Uncharacteristically serious Chan–Hung drama follows police detective Chan's difficulties in caring for his mentally disabled, child–like…
- Hour of the Star (1985)
- Dir. Suzana Amaral
Feat. Marcelia Cartaxo, Jose Dumont, Tamara Taxman…
- Distinctive Brazilian drama following the life of an impoverished, orphaned young girl who moves to Rio de Janeiro to take a job as a typist after…
- Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
- Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Ken Ogata
- Fascinating study of the controversial Japanese author/militarist whose desire to merge life and art led to his ritualistic suicide. A luminous…
- My Life As a Dog (1985)
- Dir. Lasse Hallstrom
Feat. Arnold Alfredsson, Ing-Marie Carlsson, Ralph Carlsson
- A young boy is taken away from his ill mother to a rural village where he confronts the likes of death, soccer, guilt and his first love. Ultimately…
- No End (Bez konca) (1985)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Grazyna Szapolowska
- Bleak but powerful drama about life under martial law in early–1980s Poland, centred around the consequences that follow the death of an…
- Official Story, The (1985)
- Dir. Luis Puenzo
Feat. Hector Alterio, Norma Aleandro, Chunchuna Villafane
- The heart–wrenching official story of a woman who discovers her adopted daughter was stolen at birth by the then military dictatorship. This…
- Ran (1985)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai
- The title translates to 'chaos'; it is Kurosawa's vast and bloody interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear. Grandiose in every sense – a…
- Vagabond (1985)
- Dir. Agnes Varda
Feat. Sandrine Bonnaire
- Award–winning drama that artfully presents poetic moments from young vagabond Sandrine Bonnaire’s last month alive, listlessly drifting…
- When Father Was Away on Business (1985)
- Dir. Emir Kusturica
Feat. Moreno de Bartolli, Miki Manojlovic, Mira Furlan
- A delightful dramedy of social upheaval, set during Yugoslavia’s Tito–Stalin conflict of the 1950s.
Kusturica filters the tribulations of…
- Element of Crime, The (1984)
- Dir. Lars Von Trier
Feat. Michael Elphick
- A detective’s unconventional methods qualify him for the investigation of child murders in a dark, decaying, post–apocalyptic Germany.…
- Full Moon in Paris (1984)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Pascale Ogier, Fabrice Luchini, Christian Vadim…
- From Rohmer's 'Comedies and Proverbs' series, wit and subtlety is derived from the simplest of plots. This time a headstrong woman's plans backfire…
- Kaos (1984)
- Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
- Marvellous but rarely seen compendium of four tales (and an epilogue) by Luigi Pirandello set in the parched landscape of Sicily.
'The Other Son'…
- Legend of the Suram Fortress (1984)
- Dir. Sergei Paradjanov
- Soviet dir. Sergei Paradjanov resumed his filmmaking career after years of exile with this visually rapturous, obscure folk tale.
More opaque in…
- Love Unto Death (L'amour à Mort) (1984)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Sabine Azema, Fanny Ardant, Pierre Arditi
- Alain Resnais (HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR) pursues his themes of love and death with this symbolic tale of lovers Simon (Arditi) and Elizabeth (Azema)…
- Sunday in the Country, A (1984)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Louis Ducreux, Sabine Azema, Michel Aumont…
- An elderly painter invites his family to his country villa; in a single day their happinesses and sorrows come to be expressed. Subtle, intelligent…
- À Nos Amours (To Our Loves) (1983)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Sandrine Bonnaire, Maurice Pialat, Cyril Collard
- One of dir. Pialat's most satisfying dramas, this concerns a journey of a teenage girl (Bonnaire, in a stunning debut) when her family life turns…
- Ballad of Narayama (1983)
- Dir. Shohei Imamura
Feat. Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Tonpei Hidari
- Austere beauty characterises this second retelling of a Japanese legend, originally filmed in stylised, Kabuki–inspired vignettes.
Ken…
- El Norte (The North) (1983)
- Dir. Gregory Nava
Feat. Zaide Silvia Gutierrez, David Villalpando
- The journey northward of a Guatemalan brother and sister (Zaide Silvia Gutierrez and David Villalpando) on the run is an epic saga of the modern…
- Fanny and Alexander (1983)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Kristina Adolphson, Borje Ahlstedt, Pernilla Allwin
- Dir. Bergman's last film is his least typical, yet one of his finest. It tells a semi–autobiographical family saga through the eyes of two…
- First Name: Carmen (Prenom Carmen) (1983)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Maruschka Detmers, Jacques Bonnaffe
- Late Godard standout is a markedly nostalgic throwback to his New Wavy years, combining an ad hoc terrorist, ill–fated romance, a…
- Hong Kong 1941 (Dang doi lai ming) (1983)
- Dir. Po-Chi Leong
Feat. Chow Yun-Fat, Alex Man, Kien Shih…
- One of Chow Yun–Fat's early classics, this portrays the disturbing invasion of Hong Kong by the Japanese in 1941, which disrupts the dreams and…
- L'Argent (1983)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Christian Patey
- This bleak, enigmatic crime study depicts the tragic chain of events which emanate from a counterfeit bank note being passed through a photo shop.…
- Life Is A Bed Of Roses (1983)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Ruggero Raimondi, Fanny Ardant, Geraldine Chaplin
- Ambitious fantastical oddity from dir. Resnais was made as a tribute to era–defining French directors Melies, L'Herbier and Rohmer, weaving…
- Makioka Sisters, The (Sasame-yuki) (1983)
- Dir. Kon Ichikawa
Feat. Keiko Kishi, Yoshiko Sakuma, Sayuri Yoshinaga
- Lyrical Japanese drama set in the 1930's, following the lives of four siblings who have taken on their father's kimono manufacturing business. Based…
- Nostalgia (Nostalghia) (1983)
- Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Oleg Jankovsky
- A lingering essay on the angst of living in exile, with Oleg Jankovsky as a beleaguered Russian academic subsisting in Italy (like Tarkovsky…
- Pauline a La Plage (Pauline at the Beach) (1983)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle
- Teenage Pauline visits her older cousin plagued with boy trouble. Rohmer again demonstrates his knack for eliciting candid performances from…
- Rembetiko (1983)
- Dir. Costas Ferris
Feat. Sotiria Leonardou, Nikos Kalogeropoulos, Michalis Maniatis
- Stirring fictionalized biopic of Marika Ninou, a Greek Rebetiko (urban Greek folk music) singer who lived through some of the most dramatic…
- A Good Marriage (Le Beau Marriage) (1982)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Beatrice Romand, Andre Dussollier, Féodor Atkine
- An art history student is growing tired of being the mistress of a married painter, then meets a handsome and wealthy younger man whom she vows to…
- Danton (1982)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Gerard Depardieu
- A gripping depiction of the political struggle faced by charismatic revolutionary Danton (Gerard Depardieu), whose campaign for peace and tolerance…
- Fitzcarraldo (1982)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale
- Colonialist visionary Klaus Kinski attempts to haul a huge riverboat over a hill in 19th century S. America with the help of Indian…
- Night of the Shooting Stars, The (Night of San Lorenzo, The) (1982)
- Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli
- Set during the German retreat from Italy in 1944, this tragicomedy of War carries a magical nostalgia by being told through the memories of woman who…
- Passion (1982)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Hanna Schygulla, Michel Piccoli
- 'Film within a film' from France's thorniest director, sowing narrative confusion in his story of director Michel Piccoli trying to make a arthouse…
- Querelle (1982)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Brad Davis, Jeanne Moreau
- Fassbinder's parting shot is a fittingly bleak, ultra–stylised adaptation of Jean Genet's writings about the (bi)sexual escapades of a…
- Return of Martin Guerre (1982)
- Dir. Daniel Vigne
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye
- A legendary French tale with Gerard Depardieu as the 16th century peasant who returns to his family after an eight year absense but is suspected of…
- State of Things, The (1982)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Patrick Bauchau, Samuel Fuller, Roger Corman
- Reliving the personal turmoil of his first American production (HAMMETT), Wenders fashions a scathing yet oddly comedic…
- Veronika Voss (1982)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate, Cornelia Froboess
- Fictionalised biography of a once famous actress whose career surrendered to drug–addiction, neurosis and the dubious motives of a medical…
- 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981)
- Dir. Aparna Sen
Feat. Jennifer Kendal, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Debashree Roy…
- An English spinster living out her twilight years teaching in India befriends a young couple whose motives might not be what she suspects.
Tender…
- Aviator's Wife, The (La femme de l'aviateur) (1981)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Philippe Marlaud, Marie Riviere
- A young student is devastated when he finds that his girlfriend is cheating on him. In order to find out why she did it, he decides to spy on her and…
- Choix Des Armes, Le (Choice of Arms) (1981)
- Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Yves Montand, Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu
- Two disparate ex–convicts face difficulties settling into normal society. Boasts France's greatest acting talents.
- Christiane F. (1981)
- Dir. Ulrich Edel
Feat. David Bowie
- Absorbing account of the decline and fall into the Berlin's degrading drug and prostitution scene of two young heroin addicts. Features the music and…
- City of Women (1981)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni
- Dir. Fellini pushes his fantasies to their zenith (or nadir), again with Marcello Mastroianni as the surrogate male. Falling asleep on a train, he…
- Coup de Torchon (Clean Slate) (1981)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Marielle…
- Mordantly humourous suspense set in dusty French Senegal, with Noiret playing a much–abused police chief who begins to have dreams of…
- Les Uns et Les Autres (Bolero) (1981)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. James Caan, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert Hossein…
- Sprawling extravaganza of questionable taste is not without its devotees. It charts the impact that music has made on the lives of four…
- Lola (1981)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf
- Shattering Fassbinder drama depicting an exotic singer searching for true happiness and survival in post–war Germany. Fassbinder again excels…
- Man of Iron (1981)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda, Marian Opania
- Angry sequel to MAN OF MARBLE covers much the same ground with an alcoholic journalist sent to cover the Polish Solidarity strike and to discredit…
- Mephisto (1981)
- Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer
- An astonishing portrait of the seductive allure of pre–war fascism, faced by a talented actor, aptly played by fine thesp, Klaus Maria…
- Pixote (1981)
- Dir. Hector Babenco
Feat. Marilia Pera, Ramos Da Silva
- Inspired by the plight of his country's homeless children, dir. Babenco created this semi–improvised odyssey of three boys in the slums of…
- Woman Next Door, The (1981)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant
- Emotional chaos ensues for a happily married man when his old flame, now also married, becomes his immediate neighbour. Taut, intimate melodrama…
- Berlin Alexanderplatz (TV Series) (1980)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Gunter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Elisabeth Trissenaar…
- This monolithic tome set in Weimar–era Germany represented the peak of dir. Fassbinder's filmmaking career. Across 15 hours, it details the…
- From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Robert Atzom, Heinz Bennent, Martin Benrath
- A dark themed and intricately plotted drama from dir. Bergman's later period, concerning a businessman who commits the sex–murder of a…
- Germany, Pale Mother (Deutschland bleiche Mutter) (1980)
- Dir. Helma Sanders-Brahms
Feat. Eva Mattes, Ernst Jacobi
- Bleak WWII drama that follows the tragic fate of a couple who marry the day before the war breaks out when he is drafted to the Eastern front only to…
- Last Metro, The (1980)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu
- Elegant war story in occupied France, Catherine Deneuve struggles to keep her Jewish husband's theatre operating while concealing his whereabouts.
- Lili Marleen (1980)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer
- Fassbinder's fact–based account of the recording of the Nazi anthem, sung by a jaded cabaret singer with a Jewish love interest.
- Loulou (1980)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Huppert, Guy Marchand
- Charismatic street rogue Gerard Depardieu lures an impetuous Isabelle Huppert out her stale, bourgeois partnership with Guy Marchand. Star chemistry…
- Mon Oncle D'Amerique (My American Uncle) (1980)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Marie Dubois, Jean Daste
- The dir. of LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD experiments with notions of human behaviour in this unusual drama, centred around the theories of a French…
- Un Mauvais Fils (A Bad Son) (1980)
- Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Patrick Dewaere, Brigitte Fossey, Yves Robert
- Affecting working–class drama about a young man returning to France after a jail term in the US for narcotics, where his attempt to restart his…
- Amour en fuite, L' (Love on the Run) (1979)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Marie-France Pisier
- The fifth and final entry in dir. Truffaut's loosely autobiographical 'Anoine Doinel' series. Here, the footloose hero reaches his 30s and a new…
- Camera Buff (Amator) (1979)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Pointed, if slightly familiar satire of Communist life, has a smalltown clerk in Poland buy a Super8 film camera and begin to film life around him,…
- Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)
- Dir. Francesco Rosi
Feat. Gian Maria Volente, Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny
- A writer is exiled to the remote South in the mid 1930s. Based on the autobiography of Carlos Levi, this film in four parts contrasts his political…
- La Luna (1979)
- Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Jill Clayburgh, Matthew Barry, Alida Valli…
- A wayward young junkie cuddles up to his Opera–singing mother (Jill Clayburgh) in this peculiar incest drama, shot in lush Bertolucci overtones.
- Laura (Laura, Shadows of a Summer) (1979)
- Dir. David Hamilton
Feat. Maud Adams, Dawn Dunlap, James Mitchell…
- One of the dreamy, soft focus movies of fashion photographer Hamilton, featuring his characteristic themes: the coming of age of a young girl in an…
- Legend of the Mountain (Shan zhong zhuan qi) (1979)
- Dir. King Hu
Feat. Shih Chun, Hsu Feng, Sylvia Chang
- A scholar translating Buddhist sutras visits a monastery filled with various mysterious characters, in this soothing spiritual drama with elements of…
- Passe ton Bac d'abord (Graduate First) (1979)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Sabine Haudepin, Philippe Marlaud, Bernard Tronczak…
- Dir. Pialat’s matter–of–fact realism and blasé cast of young actors conveys all the aimlessness and uncertainty of youth in this…
- Third Generation, The (Die Dritte Generation) (1979)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Margit Carstensen, Eddie Constantine…
- A scathing black comedy about terrorism, one of the final films of German provocateur Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
A hilariously indiscriminate plot…
- Tin Drum, The (1979)
- Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. David Bennett
- One the best films ever made with a child protagonist, David Bennett is unforgettable as a 12–year–old who refuses to grow up and…
- Autumn Sonata (1978)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman
- The resumes of director Bergman and actress Bergman intersect for the first and only time in this, ahem, Bergmanesque (sombre, brutally honest,…
- Blood Feud (Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova - si sospettano moventi politici) (1978)
- Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Giancarlo Giannini
- Convoluted romantic drama set against the rise of Mussolini has recently widowed Loren torn between an attorney and petty thief.
Overheated (and…
- Empire of the Passions (ai no borei) (1978)
- Dir. Nagisa Oshima
Feat. Tatsuya Fuji, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
- Searing, underrated crime of passion from the dir. of IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES focuses less on explicit sex, unfolding as a ghost…
- Hitler - A Film From Germany (1978)
- Dir. Hans-Jurgen Syberberg
- An epic and highly original exploration of the sources of German fascism, in which experimentalist dir. Syberberg weaves a tapestry of surreal…
- In a Year of 13 Moons (1978)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Volker Spengler, Ingrid Caven, Gottfried John…
- Volker Spengler plays a hopelessly insecure trans–sexual cast adrift amid imposing cityscapes of modern Berlin. Fassbinder trawls out the…
- Les Rendez-vous D'anna (Anna's Meetings) (1978)
- Dir. Chantal Akerman
Feat. Aurore Clement, Helmut Griem, Magali Noel
- Dir. Akerman channels her nomadic existence in this semi–autobiographical account of a female filmmaker's tour of Europe to promote her latest…
- Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla
- During the reconstruction of post–war Germany, a woman emerges from the ruins of war and marriage to build an empire. Hanna Schygulla oozes…
- Tree of Wooden Clogs, The (1978)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi
- Portrayal of early 20th century peasantry in Lombardy, this un–melodramatic alternative to Bertolucci’s NOVACENTO, examines with quiet…
- A Special Day (1977)
- Dir. Ettore Scola
Feat. Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon
- Quietly subversive drama set entirely in a working–class apartment building in Rome, on the fateful day in 1938 that Mussolini welcomed Hitler…
- Ascent, The (Voskhozhdeniye) (1977)
- Dir. Larisa Shepitko
Feat. Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Anatoli Solonitsyn
- A Soviet WWII classic shot in appalling winter conditions in which two partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the…
- Bilitis (1977)
- Dir. David Hamilton
Feat. Patti D'Arbanville
- Tissue–thin sex drama from famed 1970s photographer Hamilton (he of those misty images of nude or lace–clad women), going into dreamy…
- Man Who Loved Women, The (1977)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Charles Denner, Leslie Caron, Brigitte Fossey…
- Charles Denner plays a dedicated skirt–chaser, who falls in love with women so constantly he is brought to the point of…
- Padre Padrone (1977)
- Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Omero Antonutti, Saverio Marconi, Marcella Michelangeli…
- An affecting true story about a Shepherd's son who escapes the shackles of family expectations and returns mature and educated to confront his…
- Serpent's Egg, The (1977)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Isolde Barth, Heinz Bennent, Toni Berger
- Jewish trapeze–artist Keith Carradine endures the depravities and anti–semitism of 1920's Berlin. Out of the director's most grotesque…
- The Devil, Probably (Le diable probablement) (1977)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Antoine Monnier, Tina Irissari, Henri de Maublanc…
- Distinctive late–period inclusion into the incredible canon of films from director Robert Bresson (DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST), following a…
- 1900 (Novecento) (1976)
- Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Robert De Niro
- Spectacular saga spans the first half of 20th Century Italy, and follows two men, one a peasant (Gerard Depardieu), the other a nobleman (Robert de…
- Cria Cuervos (1976)
- Dir. Carlos Saura
Feat. Ana Torrent, Geraldine Chaplin
- The remarkable Ana Torrent (SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE) turns in another mesmerizing performance as the middle child of recently deceased parents. A…
- Desert of the Tartars, The (1976)
- Dir. Valerio Zurlini
Feat. Vittorio Gassman, Jacques Perrin, Helmut Griem…
- Italian drama set in a hostile East Asian desert, where a isolated Lieutenant defends an old, unmaintained border fortress while awaiting an attack…
- Face to Face (1976)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann
- A harrowing insight into a nervous breakdown suffered by a woman psychiatrist. Bleak yet compulsive through stylised photography and Liv Ullmanns…
- Fellini's Casanova (1976)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Donald Sutherland
- Fellini indulges himself just short of self–parody for a gorgeously stylised, absurdist revision of the life of the 18th Century lover. Donald…
- Heart of Glass (1976)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Clemens Scheitz
- Werner Herzog committed his cast to six months of hypnosis, before embarking on a spellbinding tale of an 18th Century Bavarian glassblower whose…
- In the Realm of the Senses (Ai No Corrida) (1976)
- Dir. Nagisa Oshima
Feat. Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda
- Hailed as an erotic masterpiece in some quarters and condemned as mere sexually explicit exploitation in others, Oshima’s indisputably elegant…
- Kings of the Road (1976)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Rudiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer
- Two men embark on an odyssey of discovery along Germany's East/West border. A thoughtful, illuminating road movie that will ultimately reward…
- L'Innocente (1976)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli, Jennifer O'Neill
- Visconti's swan–song is an exquisite noble period drama in which a faithless husband in driven to extremes when his wife bears a child to…
- Maitresse (1976)
- Dir. Barbet Schroeder
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Bulle Ogier
- An eye–watering, willfully transgressive tale of a petty crook (Depardieu) who enters into a seemingly conventional romance with a…
- Man of Marble (1976)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
- One of dir. Wadja's later masterpieces is a strong attack on the tactics and hypocrisy of the Communist government of the day.
A film student…
- Mr. Klein (1976)
- Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau
- A dark, dread–inducing moral tale, with Delon fleecing vulnerable Jews under German–occupied–France, only to be mistaken by…
- News From Home (La Chambre, Hotel Monterey) (1976)
- Dir. Chantal Akerman
Feat. Chantal Akerman
- A beautifully composed tableaux of New York in the seventies, cut to a reading of letters from dir. Akerman's mother.
Also includes the…
- Scar, The (Blizna) (1976)
- Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Feat. Franciszek Pieczka
- Dir. Kieslowski's debut theatrical feature follows on from his earlier documentary work in dramatising what happens when a large chemical plant is…
- Small Change (L'argent de Poche) (1976)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Nicole Felix, Chantal Mercier
- Childhood in a small French village is portrayed as a series of witty poetic moments in a comedy that’s sunny, tender and finally serious in…
- Stroszek (1976)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Bruno S., Eva Mattes
- Powerful tragi–comedy follows a simple–minded Bruno S to America with a prostitute trying to escape her unsavoury past. The film's…
- The Marquise of O (Die Marquise von O) (1976)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Edith Clever, Bruno Ganz
- An Eric Rohmer period drama set in 1799 telling the story of the Marquise von O, a virtuous widow, who finds herself pregnant who protests her…
- Woman at Her Window, A (Une femme à sa fenêtre) (1976)
- Dir. Pierre Granier-Deferre
Feat. Romy Schneider, Philippe Noiret
- Romy Schneider plays a lovelorn aristocrat torn between a nobleman and a political activist in 1936 Greece.
- Woyzeck (1976)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Klaus Kinski
- A version of Georg Buchner's play, matching Herzog to another gloomy Germanic visionary, with Klaus Kinski as the soldier tormented by visions and…
- Dersu Uzala (1975)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Maksim Munzuk, Yuri Solomin, Svetlana Danilchenko
- Kurosawa ventured to Russia for this Oscar–winning epic detailing the experiences of a Russian military explorer in Siberia, and his friendship…
- Emilienne (1975)
- Dir. Guy Cararil
Feat. Betty Mars, Pierre Oudry
- French art house erotica based on a novel by Claude Des Olbes about a threesome between a young model, an artist and his wife. Straight faced and as…
- Fear of Fear (Angst vor der Angst) (1975)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Margit Carstensen, Brigitte Mira
- Overlooked Fassbinder drama following an isolated young mother suffering from post–natal depression who turns to drugs to help her cope. A fine…
- Fox and His Friends (1975)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Peter Chatel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Adrian Hoven
- Fassbinder himself stars in one of his best melodramas as a working class lottery–winner who is exploited by his middle–class lover. A…
- Je tu il elle (I, You, He, She) (1975)
- Dir. Chantal Akerman
Feat. Chantal Akerman, Niels Arestrup, Claire Wauthion
- Dir. Chantal Akerman stars in her debut feature as a lonely drifter whose road trip to nowhere detours via encounters with a male truck driver and a…
- Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
- Dir. Chantal Akerman
Feat. Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte
- Delphine Seyrig plays a repressed housewife whose rigid domestic routine – with, secretly, the occasional trick turned on the side –…
- Lost Honor of Katherina Blum, The (1975)
- Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Angela Winkler, Jurgen Prochnow
- Taken from the novel by Heinrich Boll, this reproach to the powers–that–be in mid–70s West Germany portrays the hardheaded…
- Mother Kuesters Goes to Heaven (1975)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Karlheinz Bohm…
- A furiously witty political black comedy from New German Cinema iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder, heavily inspired by the melodramas of Douglas…
- Seven Beauties (1975)
- Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Shirley Stoler
- Wimpish Casanova Giancarlo Giannini is cast wherever the winds of WWII fling him: eventually into a German concentration camp run by Shirley Stoler…
- Story Of Adele H.,The (1975)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott
- A towering performance by Isabelle Adjani anchors this moody, but somewhat turgid romance. Based on the diaries of Victor Hugo's daughter that…
- Wrong Move (1975)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Rudiger Vogler, Nastassja Kinski
- A young writer works through his artistic angst and laments the decline of German society in Wenders disquieting road movie. Downbeat, but compelling…
- Xala (Impotence) (1975)
- Dir. Ousmane Sembene
- When a government official (Thierno Leye) in newly–independent Senegal marries a third wife he finds himself struck down with impotence, in…
- Alice in the Cities (1974)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Rudiger Vogler, Yella Rottlander, Lisa Kreuzer
- A German journalist's homeward trek is diverted through various cities when he helps a young companion re–locate her family. Wenders'…
- Amarcord (1974)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armendo Brancia
- Fellini's last bonafide masterpiece – an inspired recreation of his memories of growing up in small–town Italy during the Fascist 1930s…
- Arabian Nights (Il Fiore Delle Mille e Una Notte) (1974)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Tessa Bouche
- For the final part of his “Trilogy of Life”, Pasolini interweaves several of the tales of the ‘Thousand and One Nights’,…
- Conversation Piece (1974)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger, Silvana Mangano
- A retired professor, who leads of solitary and ordered existence is disturbed by rich and overbearing new tenants in his Roman palazzo.
Assembles…
- Effi Briest (1974)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla
- Thoughtful drama, from provocative German Dir. Fassbinder, recounting the story of a stifled married woman whose long hidden affair reveals itself…
- La Gueule Ouverte (The Mouth Agape) (1974)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Hubert Deschamps, Monique Mélinand, Philippe Leotard…
- Devastating drama from dir. Pialat distills autobiographical material into an edifying portrait of terminal illness, and the emotional state of the…
- Lacombe Lucien (1974)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clement
- A subtle, probing study of the psychology of collaboration set in WW2 rural France, sees young peasant lad Pierre Blaise drawn into the local…
- Lancelot Du Lac (1974)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Luc Simon, Laura Duke Condominas, Humbert Balsan…
- Bresson endows the legend of King Arthur with his unique style and vision, and exposes a density of ideas by stripping the story back to its base…
- Love in the Rain (Un amour de pluie) (1974)
- Dir. Jean-Claude Brialy
Feat. Romy Schneider, Nino Castelnuovo, Suzanne Flon
- More pomp and circumstance from Romy Schneider, here playing a well–to–do French woman indulging in various love affairs while holidaying…
- Martha (1974)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Margit Carstensen, Karlheinz Bohm
- Addressing his favourite subject, emotional cruelty, Dir. Fassbinder skillfully works a vein of pitch–black comedy in depicting Margit…
- Mirror (Zerkalo) (1974)
- Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev, Larisa Tarkovskaya
- Appropriately titled autobiography of Tarkovsky's childhood, impressioned by the volatile cultural environment. Unique in both form and vision, this…
- Stavisky (1974)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Francois Perier, Anny Duperey…
- Belmondo lends his shafty screen persona to the role of notorious financier, swindler, and raconteur Alexandre Stavisky, whose monetary exploits and…
- Burned Barns, The (Les granges brulées) (1973)
- Dir. Jean Chapot
Feat. Alain Delon, Simone Signoret
- Moody provincial drama of death and betrayal reunites Delon and Signoret, this time on opposite sides of the law.
More a character study than a…
- Day For Night (La Nuit Americaine) (1973)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Leaud…
- The blueprint film about film–making – made a few decades before it became fashionable – mirroring the first–hand experiences…
- Fear Eats the Soul (1973)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem
- A sort of remake of Douglas Sirk's older woman–younger man melodrama "All That Heaven Allows", with added plot weirds countered by typical…
- Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson
- Married couple Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson undergo a lengthy emotional ordeal as their marriage disintegrates. Shot in a sparse functional…
- Touki Bouki (1973)
- Dir. Djibril Diop Mambety
Feat. Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang
- A Senegalese drama, recently restored, about a cowherd and a university student try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past…
- A Gorgeous Girl Like Me (Une Belle Fille Comme Moi) (1972)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Bernadette Lafont, Andre Dussollier
- Twisted French black comedy of a licentious, manipulative murderess recounting her sordid past to a green criminology student. Dripping in silly…
- Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Klaus Kinski
- Stunningly shot on location in the Amazon, this spellbinding adventure details the decline and fall of a conquistador (Klaus Kinski) in his maniacal…
- Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, The (1972)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla
- Lurid, feverish masterpiece from the incredibly prolific Fassbinder, chronicles a doomed lesbian relationship from the claustrophobic confines of…
- Canterbury Tales, The (I Racconti di Canterbury) (1972)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Hugh Griffith, Tom Baker, Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Pasolini interprets four of Geoffrey Chaucer’s tales in the second of the director's medieval trilogy, set in a bawdy, perverse and dark vision of…
- Cesar & Rosalie (1972)
- Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Yves Montand, Romy Schneider, Sami Frey…
- French romantic drama with Yves Montand and Sami Frey playing contrasting romantic rivals to divorced single mum Romy Schneider. Montand is a coarse…
- Cries and Whispers (1972)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson…
- “It’s Monday morning and I’m in pain…” So begins one of Bergman’s most nerve–wrecking psychodramas, set in a 19th household of…
- Discreet Charm of the Bourgeiosie (1972)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Stephane Audran…
- Best Foreign Film Oscar–winner in which six guests convene for a meal they never actually get to eat! Bunuel veers between reality and illusion…
- Fellini's Roma (1972)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Federico Fellini
- The Italian master's eclectic home town portrait blends reconstructed memoirs and contemporary images (incl. a stunning traffic jam sequence) into a…
- Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972)
- Dir. Yuen Chor
Feat. Lily Ho, Yue Hua, Bei Di
- One of the most controversial, yet best directed films of Hong Kong erotic cinema, this shocked avid audiences in its day and exerts a raw power even…
- Love in the Afternoon (L'Amour l'après-midi) (1972)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Bernard Verley, Zouzou , Françoise Verley…
- The sixth and final movie in Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series concerning a bourgeois man who is still tempted to pursue other women despite being…
- Ludwig (1972)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Helmut Berger, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard…
- A sumptuous biopic of 'mad' Prince Ludwig II of Bavaria (Berger) who reigned in the mid–1800s, creating and inhabiting his own bizarre world of…
- Seduction of Mimi, The (1972)
- Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato
- Satirical comedy taking plenty of shots at Italianisms, about a poor labourer who is forced to leave his family in Sicily to take an illegal factory…
- Tout Va Bien (Everything’s All Right) (1972)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin
Feat. Yves Montand, Jane Fonda, Anita Caprioli
- Radical political drama from Nouvelle Vague luminary Jean Luc–Godard and frequent collaborator Jean–Pierre Gorin, set during a wildcat…
- We Won't Grow Old Together (Nous Ne Vieillirons Pas Ensemble) (1972)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Marlène Jobert, Jean Yanne, Christine Fabréga…
- A uniquely disquieting film covering the dissolution of an affair between an aged filmmaker and a much younger secretary, based on French director…
- Death in Venice (1971)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Dirk Bogarde
- Dirk Bogarde plays a gay composer whose unspoken obssesion with a young boy detains him in Venice during a cholera epidemic. This soft–focus,…
- Le Souffle Au Coeur (Murmur of the Heart) (1971)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Benoit Ferreux
- A much praised coming–of–age tale concerns a sickly, but promiscuous teenage boy growing up in a stilted bourgeois family in 1950s Dijon…
- Love (Szerelem) (1971)
- Dir. Karoly Makk
- A quiet miracle of the little–seen Hungarian cinema, this quietly impressive story follows a woman's ongoing attention to her vibrant but…
- Tristana (1971)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero
- Catherine Deneuve plays a beautiful young heroine burdened with a vulgar husband and a knee ailment that will require her leg to be amputated!…
- Two English Girls (Anne and Muriel) (1971)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Kika Markham, Stacey Tendeter
- A French writer encounters the delicate dilemma of falling in love with both English sisters at a Welsh coastal cottage. Tantalising romance is…
- A Swedish Love Story (1970)
- Dir. Roy Andersson
Feat. Ann-Sofie Kylin, Rolf Sohlman
- The debut feature film from director Roy Andersson (YOU, THE LIVING) is an unforgettably beautiful coming–of–age tale inspired by the…
- American Soldier, The (Der Amerikanische Soldat) (1970)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Karl Scheydt, Elga Sorbas, Jan George…
- The third in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career.
A…
- Claire's Knee (1970)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Jean-Claude Brialy
- The director's fifth moral tale gained him major international recognition. A curiously droll tale of a middle–aged man's obsession with the…
- Decameron, The (1970)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic
- The first part of dir. Pasolini’s ‘medieval trilogy’, this adapts ten of Boccaccio’s famously ribald tales of the Italian Middle Ages. With…
- Domicile Conjugal (Bed and Board) (1970)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud
- Serio–comic misadventures of Truffaut's alter–ego, Antoine Doinel, an immature father–to–be who is unsettled in matrimonial…
- Ear, The (Ucho) (1970)
- Dir. Karel Kachyna
Feat. Jirina Bohdalova, Radoslav Brzobohaty, Jiri Cisler
- Set over the course of an evening this is a searing look at life under an oppressive totalitarian system and an equally harsh examination of a…
- Fellini Satyricon (1970)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born…
- Freely adapted from the Roman author Petronious, this follows the adventures of two bisexual youths through the decadent, fragmented age of Rome's…
- Gods of the Plague (Götter der Pest) (1970)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Margarethe von Trotta, Harry Baer…
- The second in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career.
In this…
- Medea (1970)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Maria Callas
- Pasolini's stylised, passionate rendering of Euripides play blessed with the formidable presence of Maria Callas, in a non–operatic role, as…
- Double Suicide (Shinjû: Ten no amijima) (1969)
- Dir. Masahiro Shinoda
Feat. Kichiemon Nakamura, Shiwa Iwashita, Hosie Komatsu
- A landmark of avant–garde Japanese cinema aims to replicate the startling aesthetic of traditional 'bunraku' puppetry in its enactment of an…
- Femme Infidele, La (The Unfaithful Wife) (1969)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Michel Bouquet, Stephane Audran, Maurice Ronet
- French bourgeoisie couple Michel Bouquet and Stephane Audran form a murderous love–triangle with seducer Maurice Ronet, revealing the hidden…
- Love is Colder Than Death (Liebe ist kälter als der Tod) (1969)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Ulli Lommel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla…
- The first in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career.
Fassbinder…
- Ma Nuit Chez Maud (My Night at Maud's / My Night with Maud) (1969)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Francoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault
- Rohmer's fourth moral tale again presents the idea of a man's romantic dilemma with more than one woman in his life. The wordy philosophising is…
- Mississippi Mermaid (1969)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Tobacco baron Belmondo sends for a mail–order bride, gets the ravishing Deneuve. Too bad she's a con–artist with an inescapable past.…
- Passion of Anna, The (1969)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson…
- Unpleasant drama set on a barren island with widow Ullman finding misery loves company in the form of tortured ex–convict von Sydow. Meanwhile…
- Que La Bete Meure (This Man Must Die) (1969)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Michel Duchaussoy, Jean Yanne, Caroline Cellier
- Thriller based on the book called The Beast Must Die by Cecil Day–Lewis (under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake), about a man who becomes involved…
- Slogan (1969)
- Dir. Pierre Grimblat
Feat. Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg
- Vivacious French romance about a reckless advertising director who throws caution to the wind and abandons his preggers wife to embark on a worldwide…
- Bride Wore Black, The (La Mariée était en noir) (1968)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Brialy…
- Traumatised by her fiance's death, moments before due to be wed, Jeanne Moreau dedicates herself to a long–term plan of revenge, hunting and…
- Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968)
- Dir. Daniele Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub
Feat. Gustav Leonhardt, Christiane Lang
- Less astringent than the reputation of husband and wife filmmakers Straub–Huillet would suggest, this lean but invigorating treatment of Johann…
- Cremator, The (1968)
- Dir. Juraz Herz
Feat. Rudolf Hrusinsky, Vlasta Chramostova
- Widely considered one of the greatest films of the Czech new wave, a blackly humorous fantasy horror following the increasingly deranged impulses of…
- Damned, The (1968)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger
- Italian dir. Luchino Visconti casts a languorous eye over the decline of a German industrialist family during the Nazi era. Heavyweight cast includes…
- Hour Of The Wolf (Vargtimmen) (1968)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann
- One of dir. Bergman's most troubled visions, this concerns the descent of an unstable artist (von Sydow) and his sensitive wife (Ullmann) into a…
- L'Enfance-Nue (Naked Childhood) (1968)
- Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Michel Terrazon
- Astonishingly sober coming–of–age tale represents Pialat at his most profoundly unsentimental. The director brilliantly blends naturalism…
- La Chamade (Heartbeat) (1968)
- Dir. Alain Cavalier
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli
- Catherine Deneuve flitters between youthful passion and the comfort of an older, wealthy lover in this elegant menage a trios, lessened only by an…
- Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)
- Dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea
Feat. Sergio Corrieri
- Merging the political and personal to stunning effect, this witty and artful assemblage of documentary, still photography, and dramatic fiction…
- Milky Way, The (1968)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Alain Cuny…
- Bunuel experiments with narrative in relating theories of traditional Catholicism to the encounters of two wandering vagrants.
- Signs of Life (Lebenszeichen) (1968)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Peter Brogle
- An early descent into madness for dir. Werner Herzog, in which a soldier charged with guarding a remote island fortress must overcome the boredom of…
- Skammen (Shame) (1968)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand
- Bleak parable set against the back drop of a fictional war finds an apolitical couple aloofly living out their days on an island indulging in various…
- Stolen Kisses (Baisers Voles) (1968)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Delphine Seyrig
- Third film in the director's Antoine Doinel series (see also THE FOUR HUNDRED BLOWS) starring Jean–Pierre Leaud, here as a careless young man…
- Theorem (Teorema) (1968)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti…
- A mysterious stranger seduces and corrupts each member of a bourgeois family. Pasolini stitches religious, social and political metaphors into his…
- Belle De Jour (Beauty of the Day) (1967)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli…
- Cool and elegant comedy of manners about a virginal newlywed who works the day shift in a high class brothel. Bunuel's surrealist…
- La Chinoise (1967)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Anne Wiazemsky, Juliet Berto…
- Five Parisian students dabble in the possibilities of enacting a Mao–ist revolution in the West, in one of dir. Godard's more overt flirtations…
- Marketa Lazarova (1967)
- Dir. František Vláčil
Feat. Josef Kemr, František Velecký, Magda Vášáryová
- A revelation of the Czech new wave, this dark medieval tale of feuding family clans beautifully evokes the historical tensions between Christianity…
- Mouchette (1967)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Maria Cardinal
- An impoverished young girl in rural France bears the brunt of hard times in this perfectly formed study, taken from the novel by George Bernanos.…
- Oedipus Rex (1967)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Silvana Mangano, Franco Citti, Alida Valli
- Striking visual achievement, filmed amidst the Moroccan desert and Bologna, describes the Oedipal tale of a tortured soul who murders his father and…
- Red and the White, The (Csillagosok, katonak) (1967)
- Dir. Miklos Jancso
Feat. Jozsef Madaras
- Russia’s bloody civil war of 1918 is lamented in this visionary war movie from influential Hungarian auteur Miklos Jancso. A formally stunning…
- Thief of Paris, The (Le Voleur) (1967)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Genevieve Bujold, Marie Dubois
- Enjoyable comedy with Belmondo as a young man cheated of his inheritance who in turn develops a taste for thieving. Set in Paris at the turn of the…
- Young Girls of Rochefort, The (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort) (1967)
- Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Francois Dorleac, Gene Kelly
- The carrot of love is dangled in Jacques Demy's positively radiant follow–up to UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG: an unbridled, colour–saturated…
- Andrei Rublev (1966)
- Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Anatoli Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolai Grinko
- Enthralling historical drama vividly portrays the 15th Century Russian painter who was encumbered by the political turbulence of the time.
- Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Anne Wiazemsky, Francois Lafarge, Philippe Asselin
- Robert Bresson's immediately recognisable minimalist style is here lent to one of the few films whose central character is a donkey.
- Closely Observed Trains (1966)
- Dir. Jiri Menzel
Feat. Vaclav Neckar, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodsky
- Oscar–winning Czech film about a lonely train guard's attempt to lose his virginity while his country copes with the German occupation. The…
- Man and a Woman, A (1966)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pierre Barouh
- Classic love story is one of the most popular foreign films of all time. Intelligent, sensitive script is ignited with exotic locations and Francis…
- Masculin Feminin (1966)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Chantal Goya, Brigitte Bardot
- Godard steers toward the political with this bittersweet social comment about the Parisian youth culture of '65 through a series of oddly connected…
- Nayak (The Hero) (1966)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Sharmila Tagore
- Satyajit Ray deconstructs the male ego–centre in this tale of a Bengali movie star who must summon his own internal critic after coming under…
- Patriotism (Yûkoku) (1966)
- Dir. Yukio Mishima
Feat. Yukio Mishima, Yoshiko Tsuruoka
- Short film directed by Japanese writer and revolutionary Yukio Mishima, based on his short story of the same name published in 1961. Set in February…
- Persona (1966)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson
- Perhaps dir. Bergman's most renowned and haunting work, a study of the psychological processes between a mute patient and her repressed nurse.
Liv…
- War and Peace (1966)
- Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk
Feat. Lyudmila Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Irina Gubanova
- The definitive version of Leo Tolstoy's gargantuan novel, set during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in the early 19th century. Nothing else quite…
- Wings (Krylya) (1966)
- Dir. Larisa Shepitko
Feat. Maya Bulgakova, Zhanna Bolotova
- Elegant black and white drama about an ex–WWII Soviet fighter pilot, the directorial debut of Ukrainian filmmaker Larisa Shepitko.
A…
- Young Torless (Der junge Törless) (1966)
- Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Mathieu Carriere
- Early film in the career of German director Volker Schlondorff (THE TIN DRUM), set in an Austrain military academy in the early 20th century which is…
- A Blonde in Love (1965)
- Dir. Milos Forman
Feat. Hana Brejchova, Vladimir Pucholt, Vladimir Mensik
- This early film from the director of AMADEUS tells the simple story of a young girl's search for a pianist with whom she spent the night. Forman…
- Battle of Algiers, The (1965)
- Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
Feat. Brahim Haggiag
- Gripping account of the Muslim uprising which led to the withdrawal of France from Algeria was shot merely four years after the revolution, and as…
- Fists in the Pocket (1965)
- Dir. Marco Bellochio
Feat. Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora, Marino Mase
- A ferocious intensity pervades this bitter yet utterly startling tale of a family afflicted with epilepsy, blindness and frustration, unafforded the…
- Intimate Lighting (1965)
- Dir. Ivan Passer
Feat. Zdenek Bezusek
- Intimacy and lightness are two words that fit this excellent Czech New Wave film like a glove. Ivan Passar (CUTTER’S WAY) contrasts the urbane…
- Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Giulietta Masina
- Perhaps the female flipside of Fellini's 8 1/2, he again infuses stylised flashbacks and fantasies into the real world of a gregarious housewife who…
- Paris vu par (Six in Paris) (1965)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol
- Passionate, parochial anthology of New Wave shorts from six of France's best: Godard, Chabrol and Rohmer headline a concoction of Parisian sketches…
- Red Beard (Akahige) (1965)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki…
- An unusual hospital drama from dir. Kurosawa, collaborating for the final time with Mifune, who here plays a tough doctor coaching an intern (Kayama)…
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
- Dir. Sergei Paradjanov
Feat. Ivan Mikolajchuk, Larisa Kadochnikova, Tatyana Bestayeva
- A tragic, Carpathian folk tale of two lovers separated by a family feud is the basis for Parajanov’s staggering debut. Miraculous visuals and a…
- Shop on High Street, The (The Shop on Main Street) (1965)
- Dir. Jan Kadar
- A key film of the Czech film renaissance of the 1960s, that explores 'everyday fascism' through the story of a Jewish shopkeeper who mistakes her…
- Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1965)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Joseph Gehrard, Marina Vlady, Anny Duperey
- The life of a Parisian prostitute, analysing the likes of women, language, western society as well as cinema itself. Godard's cinematic essay broke…
- Assassination (Ansatsu) (1964)
- Dir. Masahiro Shinoda
Feat. Tetsuro Tamba, Eiji Okada
- Japan’s turbulent, late 19th century landscape is the backdrop to this fiercely stylized tale of a masterless whose sword edge thrusts between the…
- Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders) (1964)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur, Sami Frey
- One of the dir.’s more accessible films follows the carefree criminal adventures of Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey, while still…
- Charulata (The Lonely Wife) (1964)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Madhabi Mukherjee
- One of Satyajit Ray’s most accomplished (and Western–influenced) films, whose central female protagonist falls for the young, aspiring cousin…
- Diamonds of the Night (1964)
- Dir. Jan Nemec
Feat. Ladislav Jansky, Antonin Kumbera, Irma Bischofova
- Extraordinarily intense account, told with almost no dialogue, of two Jewish teenagers running for their lives after escaping from a train bound for…
- Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Georges Geret, Michel Piccoli
- Maid Jeanne Moreau manipulates two blue–blooded households to ascend her status in pre–war France. Another shrewd political jape from the…
- Gertrud (1964)
- Dir. Carl Dreyer
- Exploring similar territory to fellow Scandinavian Ingmar Bergman, Dreyer's final film is an intense psychological study about a middle–aged…
- Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini
- Acted entirely by non–professionals, this is a startlingly visual rendering of the biblical text, blending breath–taking photography with…
- Intentions of Murder (Akai satsui, Unholy Desire) (1964)
- Dir. Shohei Imamura
Feat. Masumi Harukawa, Ko Nishimura, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi…
- Unsentimental drama from Japanese director Shohei Imamura (THE INSECT WOMAN), depicting a rape survivor's determination to overcome her pitiless…
- Le Bonheur (Happiness) (1964)
- Dir. Agnes Varda
Feat. Jean-Claude Drouot, Claire Drouot, Marie-France Boyer
- Agnes Varda's sly subversion of romantic norms courted controversy with its frank depiction of the infidelity of a happily married man and the…
- My Way Home (Igy jottem) (1964)
- Dir. Miklos Jancso
Feat. Andras Kozak, Sergei Nikonyenko, Janos Gorbe
- In the final days of World War II, a young Hungarian is making his way home, through countryside full of the debris of war, when he is captured and…
- Onibaba (the Hole) (1964)
- Dir. Kaneto Shindo
Feat. Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura
- An eerie, brazenly sensual medieval folk tale about a mother and daughter–in–law who kill just to survive and eventually turn on each…
- Red Desert (il Deserto Rosso) (1964)
- Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Monica Vitti, Richard Harris
- Housewife Monica Vitti embarks on a casual affair with Richard Harris following a nervous breakdown. Set amidst an oppressive industrial landscape,…
- Soft Skin, The (La Peau Douce) (1964)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Francois Dorleac, Jean Desailly
- Moving New Wave drama from Francois Truffaut tells the story of a scholar pursuing a torrid affair with a stewardess while attempting to juggle his…
- Une Femme Mariee (A Married Woman: Fragments of a Film Shot in 1964 in Black and White) (1964)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Bernard Noël, Macha Meril, Philippe Leroy
- Key work from the first phase of Godard's career which deconstructs the life of a married woman in a series of complex and humorous portraits. Over a…
- Woman of the Dunes (1964)
- Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara
Feat. Eiji Okada, Kyoko Kishida
- From a simple premise – a man becomes trapped in a valley of sand in which a solitary woman lives – the director is able to draw out…
- An Actor's Revenge (1963)
- Dir. Kon Ichikawa
Feat. Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto
- Unusual storyline concerns a Kabuki female impersonator, who seduces and arranges the destruction of three nobles responsible for his parents'…
- Bay of Angels (La baie des anges) (1963)
- Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, Paul Guers
- A young bank employee is enticed into the world of gambling and travels to Nice where he falls in love with divorced mother and gambling addict…
- Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni
- Fellini's most revered film is a self–analytical exercise casting Marcello Mastroianni as a troubled director trapped by his own visions and…
- Hands Over the City (Le mani sulla città) (1963)
- Dir. Francesco Rosi
Feat. Rod Steiger, Salvo Randone, Guido Alberti
- An astute and ever–pertinent story of political corruption in post–World War II Italy starring Rod Steiger as a ruthless developer and…
- Insect Woman, The (1963)
- Dir. Shohei Imamura
Feat. Sachiko Hidari, Masumi Harukawa, Emiko Aizawa
- The social upheaval of Japanese life between the wars is examined through the eyes of a struggling but resilient women in a poor farming village. The…
- Le Feu Follet (The Fire Within) (1963)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Alexandra Stewart
- Brilliantly measured account of an alcoholic (Maurice Ronet) who makes a final social round to find reason why he should not take his own life. Rich…
- Le Mepris (Contempt) (1963)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang
- An insecure screen–writer struggles with vulgar producers as well as his movie–star wife on the set of Homer's Odyssey. Brigitte Bardot,…
- Leopard, The (Il Gattopardo) (1963)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale…
- An Italian classic, concerning the decline of the 19th century Sicilian aristocracy – represented by Burt Lancaster– that fulfils its…
- Little Soldier, The (Petit soldat, Le) (1963)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Anna Karina, Michel Subor
- Unheralded Godard sidebar has Michel Subor attempting to assassinate an Algerian sympathizer – if he can resist the charms of left–winger…
- Mahanagar (The Big City) (1963)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Anil Chaterjee
- Subtle and provoking satire of gender equality finds the wife of a once high–flying, but now redundant banker seeking employment, absorbing the…
- Organizer, The (I Compagni) (1963)
- Dir. Mario Monicelli
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot…
- Engrossing, beautifully filmed Italian drama about working class solidarity, set amidst the rapid expansion of industrial society in 19th Century…
- Silence, The (1963)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom
- Final part of Bergman's Faith Trilogy (begun with THROUGH THE GLASS DARKLY and WINTER LIGHT) is set in an anonymous war–torn country where…
- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
Feat. Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni
- A compendium of three stories starring Sophia Loren in her luscious prime in three very different roles. Together with Marcello Mastroianni, it…
- An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Chishu Ryu, Shiwa Iwashita, Keiji Sada
- Dir. Ozu's final work is one of his best – an appropriately autumnal evocation of age and dependency, set around a widower who sorrowfully…
- Boccaccio '70 (1962)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini
Feat. Anita Ekberg, Romy Schneider, Marisa Solinas…
- Naughty for the time, this all–star portmanteau film is loosely based on updated versions of the bawdy stories of 14th century writer Giovanni…
- Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
- Dir. Agnes Varda
Feat. Corrine Marchand
- One of the treasures of the French New Wave, dir. Varda’s debut is, Pauline Kael contends “one of the few films directed by a woman where the…
- Eva (1962)
- Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Sir Stanley Baker, Virna Lisi…
- Jeanne Moreau is that obscure object of desire which novelist Stanley Baker falls for, and is taken for a ride. Interesting, if lurid Losey melodrama…
- Exterminating Angel, The (1962)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Silvia Pinal
- A psychic 'disaster movie', in which guests become trapped at a dinner party by a mysterious forcefield. As the days go by, dinner–table…
- Grim Reaper, The (La Commare Secca) (1962)
- Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Carlotta Barilli, Lorenza Benedetti, Clorinda Celani
- Dir. Bertolucci's first film – with trademark technical virtuosity already in evidence – is a whodunnit about a prostitute murdered in a…
- Harakiri (Seppuku) (1962)
- Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama…
- Japanese jidaigeki (period drama) set at the beginning of the Edo period, following a masterless samurai (ronin) who wishes to commit suicide…
- Ivan's Childhood (1962)
- Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Nikolai Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Yevgeni Zharikov
- A teenage spy works behind enemy lines in WW2 Germany. The Russian master's first feature is his least self–conscious and most efficient…
- Le Combat Dans L'île (1962)
- Dir. Alain Cavalier
Feat. Romy Schneider, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Henri Serre…
- French drama exploring the tension between right and left wing politics in the early 60's, through the romantic conflict faced by a woman (Romy…
- Mamma Roma (1962)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Anna Magnani
- Pasolini, in this early minor–masterpiece, demonstrates a keen awareness of Italy’s altered social and political landscape in the…
- Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
- Dir. Francesco Rosi
Feat. Salvo Randone, Frank Wolff, Frederico Zardi
- An epic Italian political drama, charting in a non–linear fashion the true story of Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano, a criminal and…
- Sundays and Cybele (Les Dimanches de Ville d'Avray) (1962)
- Dir. Serge Bourguignon
Feat. Hardy Kruger, Patricia Gozzi
- Touching, if occasionally over–sentimentalised drama that contemplates the relationship between a mentally scarred bomber pilot and the…
- Trial of Joan of Arc, The (Procès de Jeanne d'Arc) (1962)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
- One of dir. Bressons' more difficult works, depicting the final days of 15th century French religious patriot Joan of Arc and utilising the actual…
- Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live) (1962)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Anna Karina
- While filtered through dir. Godard's preoccupations with genre, this series of twelve vignettes about a Parisian woman's marriage breakup and gradual…
- Winter Light (1962)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Gunnel Lindblom…
- The second in Bergman's faith trilogy, in which a village priest finds himself drawn towards atheism after the death of his wife. Crisp, reflective…
- Accattone (1961)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Franco Citti
- The debut feature of Italian filmmaker–novelist–poet–provocateur Pasolini, which depicts the underbelly of Roman street life in a…
- Antigone (1961)
- Dir. Yorgos Javellas
Feat. Irene Papas
- An impressive Irene Papas heads this black and white epic adapted from Sophocles' Greek tragedy, about the twisted family legacy left behind by…
- End of Summer, The (Kohayagawa-ke no aki) (1961)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Ganjiro Nakamura, Setsuko Hara
- Another intimate portrayal of Japanese family life
from the dir. of TOKYO STORY that explores the breakdown of traditional family values in the face…
- Femme Est Une Femme, Une (A Woman is a Woman) (1961)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Paul Belmondo…
- Godard flirts with the Hollywood musical, and any other idea that takes his fancy to tell his buoyant tale of a free–spirited stripper who…
- Il Posto (1961)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Loredana Detto, Sandro Panseri
- This Italian neo–realist classic is a simply told yet beautiful depiction of a small–town boy whose employment search in Milan lands him…
- Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) (1961)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre…
- Jeanne Moreau stars in this famous New Wave melodrama caught up in the spirit of its swinging times. A twenty–year love triangle, lightening…
- Last Year at Marienbad (L'Annee Dernier a Marienbad) (1961)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi
- All the rules of film–making are broken in this notorious question mark of a film in which a past event plagues the occupants of a grand…
- Mother Joan of Angels (Matka Joanna od Aniolow) (1961)
- Dir. Jerzy Kawalerowicz
- A landmark of post–WW2 Polish cinema recounts in stunningly composed b&w images the disturbing true–story of a 17th century French…
- Notte, La (The Night) (1961)
- Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau, Monica Vitti
- A compelling bout of urban alienation, with Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau as a despairing married couple coming slowly apart at the seams.…
- Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Max von Sydow
- Husband, father and brother must cope with the disintegrating mental health of a young woman on an island. The focus is on religion, madness and the…
- Two Women (1961)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
Feat. Sophia Loren
- Sophia Loren won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as a WW2 widow who endures turmoil with her 13–year–old daughter before they are…
- Viridiana (1961)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey
- Bunuel purges his spiritual demons in this potent psychological study of a novice nun who loses her innocence when she visits her…
- Bad Sleep Well, The (1960)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune
- A contemporary gangster saga that uses a Hamlet–esque narrative to indict corporate and political corruption. Government officials were not…
- Cloud-Capped Star, The (1960)
- Dir. Ritwik Ghatak
Feat. Supriya Choudhury
- The kind–hearted daughter of a middle–class refugee family from East Pakistan sacrifices her own happiness for her unappreciative family,…
- L'Avventura (1960)
- Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Monica Vitti
- The quintessential Euro–arthouse film of the 60s – a rambling yet elegant voyage through the sterile lives of the bourgeiousie, following…
- La Dolce Vita (1960)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni
- An episodic film following the very cool Marcello Mastroianni, a disillusioned journalist trapped in shallow, so called 'decadent' society. A…
- Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Bernadette Lafont, Clotilde Joano, Stephane Audran
- An early comedy from French new wave director Claude Chabrol (LE BOUCHER), following four single Parisian women as they encounter the romantic…
- Lola (1960)
- Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Marc Michel
- Irresistible 'New Wave' confection breezily spins its romantic tale around the alluring presence of Anouk Aimee, here a cheery cabaret–dancer…
- Moderato Cantabile (Seven Days...Seven Nights) (1960)
- Dir. Peter Brook
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jeanne Moreau
- New Wave two–hander stars Jeanne Moreau as a bored housewife who falls for Belmondo's brooding stranger. Stunning wide–screen…
- Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot…
- An uncompromising, richly detailed portrait of an impoverished family who travel to Milan where they are beset by violent misfortune.
- Testament of Orpheus (Testament D'orphee) (1960)
- Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Jean Cocteau, Yul Brynner, Jean-Pierre Leaud…
- Cocteau's swansong is an intensely personal odyssey, with the director himself immersed in a world of his cumulative creation. Like a moving…
- Virgin Spring, The (1960)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Max von Sydow
- Bergman won his first Oscar for this brooding yet gripping medieval tale about a peasant couple who avenge the savage murderers of their daughter.
- When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
- Dir. Mikio Naruse
Feat. Hideko Takamine
- Melancholic masterpiece from a largely overshadowed figure in Japanese cinema: concerning the post–war ‘water trade’ of bar hostesses in…
- 400 Blows, The (1959)
- Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy…
- Truffaut's first film rocketed him to fame as some kind of New Wave radical, but at a second glance this story of a teenage delinquent thrown in and…
- Amants, Les (Lovers, The) (1959)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny
- This helped push the envelope of frank sexuality in cinema and made a star of Jeanne Moreau, as the rich, bored housewife whose extra–marital…
- Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
- Dir. Grigori Chukhrai
Feat. Vladimir Ivashov
- Soviet poetic realism brings a contemplative tone to the theatre of war, following a soldier’s pilgrimage back home after being granted leave for…
- Come Dance with Me (Voulez-Vous Danser Avec Moi?) (1959)
- Dir. Michel Boisrond
Feat. Brigitte Bardot, Dawn Addams
- Surprisingly entertaining French mystery thriller tracking a wife attempting to clear her husband's name from involvement in a dance studio murder.…
- Floating Weeds (Ukigusa) (1959)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Ganjiro Nakamura
- An aging actor who returns with his troupe to his provincial town, and becomes caught between his long–lost family and his jealous…
- Good Morning (Ohayo) (1959)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Shimazu Masahiko, Koji Shidara, Chishu Ryu…
- Ozu’s most accessible and scathing film amuses with its deceptively light–hearted tale of two boys’ vow of silence after being refused a…
- Head Against the Wall (La tête contre les murs) (1959)
- Dir. Georges Franju
Feat. Pierre Brasseur, Paul Meurisse, Anouk Aimee…
- Georges Franju’s first film is a high–intensity examination of post–war psychiatric care, centred on the survival of a delinquent youth…
- Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada
- Romance between a French actress and a Japanese architect rekindles their traumatic wartime experiences. The twin threads of despair and sensual love…
- Human Condition, The (No Greater Love, Road to Eternity, A Soldier's Prayer) (1959-1961)
- Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratana
- An epic Japanese film trilogy following the life of a well–intentioned yet naïve pacifist and socialist as he tries to survive in the…
- Les Cousins (1959)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Jean-Claude Brialy, Gerard Blain
- Claude Chabrol continues his city / country theme from LE BEAU SERGE with this estranging drama following a country boy who ends up in a despicable…
- Pickpocket (1959)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
- Dir. Bresson's austere meditation on the motive personal forces of criminal enterprise, this trails a directionless young man into a flirtation with…
- Umberto D. (1959)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
Feat. Carlo Battisti, Maria-Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari
- A pensioner struggles to make ends meet in post–war Italy. Gloomy neo–realist piece wrenches the heart through a compassionate lead…
- World of Apu, The (1959)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Alok Chakravarty
- Final installment of the 'Apu trilogy' sees the complexities of adulthood painfully and euphorically realised for Apu through ambition, marriage and…
- Ballad of Narayama, The (Narayama bushiko) (1958)
- Dir. Keisuke Kinoshita
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka
- Sombre but stylised retelling of a Japanese legend, about a poverty–stricken village and its eldest resident who, in accordance with tradition,…
- Brink of Life (Nara Livet) (1958)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson…
- Minor, but accomplished Bergman potboiler concerns three women in a maternity ward, who must each decide whether to give up their babies for…
- Elevator to the Gallows (Lift to the Scaffold, aka. Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud) (1958)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly…
- A young Jeanne Moreau stars in this elegant thriller about a crime of passion that backfires when the murderer gets trapped in a lift. Ambience par…
- Le Beau Serge (1958)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Jean-Claude Brialy, Gerard Blain
- Accepted as the first film of the French New Wave, this Claude Chabrol drama tells the story of a man returning to his hometown only to discover his…
- Cranes are Flying, The (Letyat Zhuravli) (1957)
- Dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
Feat. Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksei Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev
- A Russian classic which conveys homefront anxieties during WW2 for a young bride whose original fiance has gone to the front.
Pursued by his…
- Il Grido (The Outcry) (1957)
- Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Betsy Blair
- This lesser–known work from Antonioni provides a missing link between Italian neorealism and the director's later works like L'AVVENTURA,…
- Le Notti Bianche (White Nights) (1957)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Maria Schell, Jean Marais…
- A departure from neo–realist beginnings, this surreal Visconti masterwork adapts Dostoyevsky’s ‘White Nights’ through dreamlike art…
- Lower Depths, The (Donzoko) (1957)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, Isuzu Yamada…
- Arresting Maxim Gorky stage adaptation (previously filmed by Jean Renoir) is transposed to Japan’s Edo–era slums. Social realisms and the…
- Nights of Cabiria (1957)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Giulietta Masina
- Giulietta Masina is marvelous as a waifish prostitute dreaming of a rich, wonderful life but always finding sorrow. Tragicomic masterpiece won an…
- Seventh Seal, The (1957)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Max von Sydow
- The solemn Swede garnered world prominence with this stunning, poetic allegory set in the plague–ridden 16th Century, where a disillusioned…
- Sissi - The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957)
- Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider
- Concluding film in the Sissi trilogy ends on a somber note with Romy Schneider struggling with Viennese court life as she moves towards a tragic end.
- Wide Blue Road, The (La grande strada azzurra) (1957)
- Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
Feat. Yves Montand, Alida Valli, Francisco Rabal…
- Italian neorealist melodrama drama which marks the feature debut of Gillo Pontecorvo (THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS).
Set on a small rugged island off the…
- Wild Strawberries (1957)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin
- A classic film of one man's reminiscences and his dramatic search for the meaning of human existence. The bleakness is imbued with a quiet optimism.
- Akasen Chitai (Street of Shame) (1956)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Machiko Kyo
- Prostitution and the female plight are the chief concerns of this sympathetic, heartbreaking ensemble piece examining the trade of five headstrong,…
- And God Created Woman (1956)
- Dir. Roger Vadim
Feat. Brigitte Bardot, Curt Jurgens, Jean-Louis Trintignant
- The Bardot movie, set in sleepy St. Tropez where Bridget is the misunderstood town hussy who impulsively marries the brother of a boyfriend. Works…
- Aparajito (1956)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Pinaki Sengupta…
- Sequel to PATHER PANCHALI sees Apu now as an adolescent who abandons his village and travels to Calcutta, where he is inevitably confused with his…
- Burmese Harp, The (Biruma no tategoto) (1956)
- Dir. Kon Ichikawa
Feat. Rentaro Mikuni
- Another muted anti–war elegy conceived during Japan’s post–WWII recovery, this tells the journey of a Japanese private, who upon…
- Crazed Fruit (1956)
- Dir. Ko Nakahira
Feat. Yujiro Ishihara, Masahiko Tsugawa, Mie Kitahara
- Two hedonistic brothers chase the skirt of a voracious young temptress in this scorching, jazz–infused statement on reckless youth. A seminal…
- Flowing (Nagareru ) (1956)
- Dir. Mikio Naruse
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Hideko Takamine, Isuzu Yamada
- Dir. Naruse’s compassionate portrait of the fading post–war geisha trade. Considered one of the director's best among his many films to…
- Kanal (1956)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar
- The darkest chapter of dir. Wadja's WWII 'Trilogy', is an unremitting portrayal of the last gasps of the 1944 Warsaw uprising. With desperate…
- Roof, The (Tetto, Il) (1956)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
Feat. Gabriella Pallotta, Giorgio Listuzzi
- Moving (and until recently, exceptionally hard to find) neo–realist drama that latches onto the hard times of a newly married couple who…
- Sissi - The Young Empress (1956)
- Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider
- Royal life is not quite the bed of roses for Princess Sissi, now married to her beloved Franz but under the constant gaze of her meddling…
- Dreams (Kvinnodröm; Journey Into Autumn) (1955)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Bjornstrand
- Early, flawed Bergman microscope on relationships focuses on two women – a photographer and her model on a fashion shoot – as they…
- French Can Can (French Cancan, Only the French Can) (1955)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Jean Gabin, Michel Piccoli, Dora Doll…
- Jean Renoir returned to France after 15 years absence to make this vibrant tribute to the Parisian world of his father, the Impressionist painter…
- I Live in Fear (Ikimono no Kiroku) (1955)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
- Convinced a nuclear holocaust is imminent, an elderly industrialist (Mifune) decides to uproot his reluctant family (even his mistresses!) from Tokyo…
- Il Bidone (The Swindlers) (1955)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Broderick Crawford, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart…
- An early work from dir. Fellini in which a trio of conmen roam the Italian countryside swindling peasants in order to fund the future they believe…
- La Strada (The Road) (1955)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Anthony Quinn
- Fellini hit his stride and won a Foreign Film Oscar with this gentle road odyssey about a simple–minded clown whose loyalty to her boorish…
- Lola Montes (1955)
- Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook
- The life of the famous 19th century courtesan provides the basis for this sophisticated portrayal of the capriciousness of fate, which leads to the…
- Ordet (1955)
- Dir. Carl Dreyer
- Hailed by many critics as dir. Dreyer's masterpiece, this deep exploration of the true meaning of Christianity, set in rural Denmark, will repay the…
- Pather Panchali (1955)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Bannerjee
- The first film from Asia's most respected film–maker also initiates his 'Apu trilogy', three of most admired films in history. A lyrical…
- Sissi (1955)
- Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider
- Regal saga finds 16–year–old princess Sissi fall in love with husband–to–be Franz Josef in the first of an ongoing series of…
- Yokihi (Empress Yang Kwei-Fei) (1955)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori
- Mizoguchi’s rare colour turn, a lush, poignant ancient fable centred on a commoner maid who marries an emperor, only to be destined for sacrifice.
- Crucified Lovers, The (Chikamatsu Monogatari) (1954)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyoko Kagawa, Eitaro Shindo
- Powerful, Bunraku–inspired tragidrama of adulterous lovers whose illicit romance is doomed in Feudal, 17th century Japan. Essential Mizoguchi.
- Generation, A (Pokolenie) (1954)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Roman Polanski
- Fast–moving account of the Polish Resistance during WWII, as a scrappy young recruit falls in love with his unit leader. Depicts the spirited,…
- Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff) (1954)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa…
- One of Mizoguchi's great classics, based on an 11th century Japanese folktale elaborated into a sprawling vision of a cruel, mysterious cosmos, where…
- Senso (1954)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Christian Marquand
- A period love story set in the tumultuous 1860's in Italy, when it was occupied by invading Austrians.
Dir. Visconti turns his eye on a love…
- Sound of the Mountain (Yama No Oto) (1954)
- Dir. Mikio Naruse
Feat. Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara, Soh Yamamura
- Dir. Naruse reprises the disintegrating marriage (and cast) of his earlier film, REPAST, in this profoundly affecting tale of a young woman (Hara)…
- Twenty-Four Eyes (24 Eyes/Nijushi no hitomi) (1954)
- Dir. Keisuke Kinoshita
Feat. Hideko Takamine, Chishu Ryu
- An elegiac triumph of nostalgia for youth and wartime humanism, this cherished landmark of Japanese cinema gracefully chronicles the 20–years…
- Uwasa no onna (Her Mother's Profession, The Woman in the Rumour) (1954)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiko Kuga
- Dir. Mizoguchi's longtime muse, Kinuyo Tanaka, plays the madame of a geisha house who falls prey to rumour when both herself and her daughter become…
- Victoria in Dover (The Story of Vickie) (1954)
- Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider, Adrian Hoven
- A prequel of sorts to the SISSI trilogy lovingly details the formative romance between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Romy Schneider features…
- Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) (1953)
- Dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa
Feat. Machiko Kyo, Kazuo Hasegawa, Isao Yamagata
- Tragic story of unrequited love set during the Heiji Rebellion in 1159, where a samurai warrior falls in love with a married…
- I Vitelloni (1953)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Franco Interlenghi, Alberto Sordi, Franco Fabrizi
- This neo–realist Fellini combines humour and pathos for a truthful study of aimless youths either ill–equipped or unwilling to embrace…
- Madame De... (Earrings Of Madame De..., The) (1953)
- Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Charles Boyer
- Widely considered one of the dir.'s peak achievements, this gracefully and ironically traces a doomed menage–a–trois in 18th century…
- Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas Afton) (1953)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Ake Gronberg
- This grim flipside to Fellini’s loony, carnivalesque films powerfully relays the degradation of several circus performers at the end of their…
- Tokyo Story (1953)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara
- The master of Japanese cinema, this is Ozu's masterpiece. An emotional tour–de–force is drawn from an elderly couple's ill–fated…
- Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka
- Stories by the 18th century writer Akinari Ueda are woven into an odyssey of civil–war misfortune, in which two peasant–potters and their…
- Voyage to Italy (Journey to Italy/ Journey in Italy) (1953)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders
- A meditative journey through the landscapes of Italy, accompanying Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders in the midst of a breakup. The ongoing drama of…
- Casque d'Or (Golden Marie) (1952)
- Dir. Jacques Becker
Feat. Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin
- A gangster’s moll falls in love with a reformed criminal, igniting underworld violence, in this lush, overwhelming tragi–romance set in Paris…
- Flavour Of Green Tea Over Rice, The (Ochazuke no aji) (1952)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Kōji Tsuruta
- Dir. Ozu once again explores the subtleties of Japanese family life, this time drawing our attention to the struggles of those in arranged marriages…
- Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits) (1952)
- Dir. Rene Clement
Feat. Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Laurence Badie
- After her parents are killed in an air raid during WWII, a small girl makes friends with a peasant boy, and the pair gradually come to terms with the…
- Ikiru (1952)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Takashi Shimura, Shinichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
- A patient meditation on life and death about a sullen yet dutiful office clerk of 30 years whose terminal illness compels him to rediscover his…
- Le Plaisir (House Of Pleasure) (1952)
- Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux, Simone Simon…
- Three tales by Guy de Maupassant go into this visually elegant treatise on the changing moods of love, youth and memory.
The most successful…
- Manina la Fille Sans Voile (The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter; The Girl in the Bikini) (1952)
- Dir. Willy Rozier
Feat. Brigitte Bardot
- An obscure, almost forgettable French frolic, save for the eye–catching debut of one Brigitte Bardot. Here, the future sex symbol plays a…
- White Sheik, The (Sceicco bianco, Lo) (1952)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Alberto Sordi, Leopoldo Trieste, Giulietta Masina
- Fellini’s against–the–grain feature debut coaxes the marital problems of a newlywed couple into a light, playful comedy that wasn’t…
- Early Summer (Bakushû) (1951)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima
- Another of dir. Ozu's majestic domestic dramas, this time concerning the inner–family conflicts over the spinsterhood of a daughter (Hara) and…
- Idiot, The (Hakuchi) (1951)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori…
- Flawed but compelling adaptation of Dostoyevsky's classic novel of human frailty, in which a madman and war criminal (Mori), is released from an…
- Rashomon (1951)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori…
- The film that brought Kurosawa to the attention of the world, and an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film.
Four wildly varying perspectives on a…
- Repast (Meshi) (1951)
- Dir. Mikio Naruse
Feat. Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara
- A perceptive study of a fading marriage, in which a housewife (Hara) confronts the tedium and unhappiness of her domestic life, brought into sharp…
- River, The (1951)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Nora Swinburne, Arthur Shields
- A sublime and serene drama set on the banks of India's holy Bengal River in the 1920s, where a trio of young English girls come under the spell of a…
- Susana (The Devil and the Flesh) (1951)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Rosita Quintana
- A sexually devious reform girl seeks refuge in a decent working class family, only to cause upheaval with her devilish ways.
Early Bunuel…
- Diary of a Country Priest (Journal D'Un Cure De Campagne) (1950)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Claude Laydu
- Compelling and uncompromising – this adaptation of Georges Bernanos' classic French novel is one of dir. Bresson's best examinations of the…
- Francesco giullare di Dio (Francis, God's Jester; The Flowers of St Francis) (1950)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Aldo Fabrizi
- Following after dir. Rossellini's more obviously left–wing films (ROME OPEN CITY, PAISA), this unusual biopic would prove a transition work to…
- La Ronde (1950)
- Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani…
- A witty chronicle of circular love–affairs and seductions in 19th century Vienna. Lavish sets and extravagent spiralling camerawork complement…
- Los Olvidados (The Young and the Damned, aka The Forgotten Ones) (1950)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
- Ground–breaking masterwork from dir. Luis Bunuel's Meixcan period, set among slum children in Mexico City, whose harsh circumstances and…
- Miracle in Milan (1950)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
Feat. Paolo Stoppa
- Memorable foray into satirical fantasy for dir. de Sica, in which a hobo philanthropist is given the power to work miracles in the…
- Scandal (Shubun) (1950)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Shirley Yamaguchi, Takashi Shimura…
- This excellent early Kurosawa, has Mifune playing a painter who becomes acquainted with a pop–singer, and thus the target of a tabloid…
- Story of a Love Affair (Cronaca di un amore) (1950)
- Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Lucia Bose, Massimo Girotti, Ferdinando Sarmi
- Although more stylistically conventional than his 'mature' films, dir. Antonioni's debut feature is a strongly delivered, almost film noir,…
- Variety Lights (1950)
- Dir. Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada
Feat. Giulietta Masina
- Fellini co–directed this carnivalesque drama about a mediocre theatre troupe in need of a crowd puller before breaking out solo with THE WHITE…
- 56 Rue Pigalle (1949)
- Dir. Willy Rozier
Feat. Raymond Cordy, Marie Dea
- Distinctive French noir telling the tale of a boss, suspected of murdering his blackmailing manservant, who flees to Africa with his mistress once…
- Late Spring (1949)
- Dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Feat. Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu
- Ozu’s greatest film outside of the universally acclaimed TOKYO STORY magically distils the director’s reoccurring family concerns: that of a…
- Orpheus (Orphee) (1949)
- Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Jean Marais, Maria Casares, Marie Dea…
- Cocteau's surrealist retelling of the classical tragedy stars Jean Marais as Orphee, the writer who retrieves his wife Eurydice from the dead. A…
- Quiet Duel, The (Shizukanaru ketto) (1949)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
- A pre–RED BEARD Toshiro Mifune plays an idealistic doctor who fatally contracts syphilis from performing surgery in this minor Kurosawa…
- Stray Dog (Nora Inu) (1949)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune
- An early film noir from Japan’s best–known director tracks police detective Toshiro Mifune into the underbelly of Tokyo in search of a pistol…
- Bicycle Thieves (The Bicycle Thief, Ladri di biciclette) (1948)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
Feat. Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell
- A huge sentimental favourite about a man whose chance at meaningful labour is taken from him when his precious bicycle is stolen from him. Though not…
- Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi) (1948)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
- The film that made Toshiro Mifune a star – playing a petty gangster with TB, who turns to an alcoholic doctor for help after a shoot–out.…
- Les Enfants Terribles (The Strange Ones) (1948)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
Feat. Edouard Dermithe, Nicole Stephane
- A poetic drama–fantasy from the pen of Jean Cocteau (who also directed several scenes), that centres round the narcissistic,…
- Germany Year Zero (1947)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
- A heart–breaking depiction of life in the post–WW2 ruins of Berlin, in which a boy struggles to help his family who are forced to live in…
- La Terra Trema (1947)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli
- Life–study of a poor Sicilian fishing village that is reverently neo–realist in its approach. Lovely B&W photography never distracts from…
- Ship Bound for India, A (1947)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Holger Löwenadler
- An early, overlooked play adaptation finds Bergman's visual and dramatic style in its formative stages. Four troubled souls are drawn together by a…
- Silence de la Mer, Le (The Silence of the Sea) (1947)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
Feat. Howard Vernon
- A German officer is billeted with an elderly man and his niece during the occupation of France in this introspective and talky chamber piece, heavy…
- Belle Et La Bete, La (Beauty and the Beast) (1946)
- Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Jean Marais, Josette Day
- Cocteau brings a fine sense of fantasy to the old fable, creating a luxuriant atmosphere unique to his film–making. A true classic.
- It Rains On Our Love (1946)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Barbro Kollberg, Birger Malmsten
- Bergman experiments with this awkward combination of romance and misery, in which a couple's happiness is dogged by their criminal and vagrant past.…
- Shoeshine (Sciuscia) (1946)
- Dir. Vittorio De Sica
- Perhaps Vittorio De Sica's first acknowledged masterpiece, concerns two young boys struggling to survive on the streets of post–WWII Rome by…
- Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne (1945)
- Dir. Robert Bresson
Feat. Maria Casares
- Dir. Bresson and writer Jean Cocteau are strange bedfellows in this lush, stylish drama, well–removed from the director’s austere later…
- Les Enfants Du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945)
- Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur…
- This resplendent evocation of nineteeth century Paris street theatre follows the love of mime Jean–Louis Barrault for the highly–strung…
- Rome: Open City (1945)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi
- Neo–realist war drama about resistance fighters in fascist Italy places the action right inside the everyday and humanises the heroic.…
- Day of Wrath (1943)
- Dir. Carl Dreyer
Feat. Thorkild Roose, Lisbeth Movin, Sigrid Neiiendam
- Witchcraft drama set in 17th century rural Denmark, where an innocent young woman is denounced following the death of her much older, harshly…
- Ivan the Terrible Pts. 1 & 2 (1943)
- Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikolai Cherkassov, Serafima Birman, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya
- Spectacularly staged chronicle of the life of Czar Ivan IV, and his struggle to consolidate the Russian empire in the 16th Century. One of the…
- Le Corbeau (1943)
- Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
Feat. Pierre Fresnay
- Fascinating as a wartime allegory made under the German Occupation of France, a small town becomes a hot–bed of paranoia following a rash of…
- Les Visiteurs Du Soir (1942)
- Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Arletty, Marie Dea, Fernand Ledoux…
- Two of the Devil's henchmen are dispatched to a fairytale–like 15th century castle with an eye to corrupting its inhabitants, especially a pair…
- Ossessione (1942)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Dhia Cristiani
- Visconti's awesome debut interprets James Cain's novel of lust, greed, murder and recrimination, The Postman Always Rings Twice. Its stark rendering…
- Jean Grémillon: During the Occupation (Remorques, Lumière d'été, Le Ciel Est à Vous) (1941-1944)
- Dir. Jean Gremillon
Feat. Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud
- Three character–driven dramas from the heralded French film director who has been little represented outside of his home country:
Remorques…
- Loyal 47 Ronin, The (47 Ronin) (1941)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Yoshizaburo Arashi
- Sombre rendition of a famous Japanese legend that's both quietly dignified and overtly nationalistic, tooled as propaganda during the height of…
- Jour Se Leve, Le (Daybreak) (1939)
- Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Jean Gabin, Arletty
- A renowned example of 'poetic realism', Jean Gabin gives another consummate performance as a doomed anti–hero. His tragic story is told in…
- La Regle Du Jeu (Rules of the Game) (1939)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Roland Toutain…
- Considered one the greatest films in history, this downbeat yet incisive satire centres around weekend shooting party that results in a myriad of…
- Alexander Nevsky (1938)
- Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikolai Cherkassov, Nikolai Okhlopkov
- Eisenstein's first sound film is a patriotic epic about the 13th century hero who led his people against the Teutonic Knights. Monumental battle…
- Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim…
- The heroics and hypocrasies of war are illustrated through an imprisoned French squadron in WW1 and their cultured German commandant. A hailed…
- César (1936)
- Dir. Marcel Pagnol
Feat. Raimu, Orane Demazis, Pierre Fresnay…
- Playwright Marcel Parcol takes over the director's reins himself for this concluding part of his Marseille trilogy, following 'Marius' and 'Fanny'.…
- Une Partie de Campagne (A Day in the Country) (1936)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Sylvia Bataille
- This evocative, unfinished short (originally part of a full–length feature) lovingly captures the flirtations of a young girl as she detours…
- L'Atalante (1934)
- Dir. Jean Vigo
Feat. Michel Simon, Jean Daste
- A recently restored master work from the French film archive combines lyrical romance with inspired touches of fantasy.
- Ecstasy (1933)
- Dir. Gustav Machety
Feat. Hedy Lamarr
- Hedy Lamarr came to world attention in this 1932 film, playing a sexually–frustrated bride who goes on a fifteen minute nude romp in an alpine…
- Fanny (1932)
- Dir. Marc Allegret
Feat. Raimu, Orane Demazis, Pierre Fresnay…
- Leisurely French romantic drama based on the play by Marcel Pagnol that marks the second part in the Marseille film trilogy that started with Marius…
- Marius (1931)
- Dir. Alexander Korda
Feat. Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis…
- Based on the play by revered French writer Marcel Pagnol, this is the first film in the Marseille Trilogy featuring the characters of Marius (Pierre…
- Blood of a Poet (1930)
- Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Lee Miller, Pauline Carton
- Cocteau's first film is a surrealist gem that sewed the seeds of his style. The Dali/Bunuel influence is clear, but this goes one step further with…
- Blue Angel, The (1930)
- Dir. Josef von Sternberg
Feat. Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings
- A masterwork of the twenties German grotesquerie, this enjoyed great success and gave an early career boost to Marlene Dietrich.
- Prix de Beaute (1930)
- Dir. Augusto Genina
Feat. Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, Augusto Bandini
- Louise Brooks is vivacious beyond compare in her first sound film, a jazz–age classic about a young office worker who enters a beauty…
- Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
- Dir. G.W. Pabst
Feat. Louise Brooks
- Exceptional follow–up to the eye–opening PANDORA’S BOX, with Louise Brooks again provoking disorder with her unrestrained vitality and…
- L'Argent (Money) (1928)
- Dir. Marcel L'Herbier
Feat. Pierre Alcover, Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel…
- Classic of the late silent era from French filmmaker, writer and film theorist Marcel L'Herbier, based on the book of the same name by Émile…
- End of St. Petersburg, The (1927)
- Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin
Feat. Vera Baranovskaya, Aleksandr Chistyakov
- The tensions that exploded with the 'October Revolution' in Russia, 1917 are schematised here using understated characterisations (of workers and…
- Battleship Potemkin (1925)
- Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Blasky, Grigori Alexandrov
- This landmark Soviet propaganda film about the 1905 revolution is one of the greatest classics of all time. The smart use of visual metaphor and that…