The Missing Picture
Dir. Rithy Panh
The medium of cinema has been used as a tool for revolution, but so too was it complicit in genocide.…
Evil
This thriller is about a modern-day Catholic “assessor” who investigates supernatural cases to see if an exorcism is needed. Don’t…
Theeb
Dir. Naji Abu Nowar
Theeb is set in the Hejaz (now part of Saudi Arabia) on the eve of the Great Arab Revolt against…
As It Is in Heaven
Dir. Kay Pollak
A Swedish film about a world-famous conductor who suddenly interrupts his career to return alone to his childhood village in Norrland. It…
Before The Rain
Dir. Milcho Manchevski
Before The Rain is a very intriguing and unique film, to say the least. Its cyclical narrative structure may not…
A War
Dir. Tobias Lindholm
A War (Krigen) is a Danish war drama that focuses on Commander Claus Pedersen (Pilou Asbæk) as he leads a…
The Scent of Green Papaya
Dir. Anh Hung Tran & Tran Anh Hung
Warm, enchanting, poetic and delicate, this is an almost silent film about a poor Vietnamese girl who goes to work…
Land of Mine
Dir. Martin Zandvliet
Taking place entirely on beachside farmlands in Denmark, Land of Mine takes a particularly intimate—and visually distinct—approach to war. The…
Kon-Tiki
Dir. Espen Sandberg & Joachim Rønning
Adventure films now seem to only be CGI blockbusters, but it used to be about real world exploration. They were…
Mustang
Dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven & Female director
Five orphaned sisters are put under house arrest by their uncle and grandmother after they are seen horsing around with…
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Break-ups aren’t the easiest thing to overcome, but how we deal with them usually doesn’t get as ludicrous as the…
Waltz with Bashir
Dir. Ari Folman
In Waltz with Bashir, director Ari Folman grapples with the trauma and dehumanization of war by examining the role he…
Joyeux Noel
Dir. Christian Carion
Christmas isn’t usually the best time to watch a tense war drama, but there were some Christmases where war was…
A Royal Affair
Dir. Nikolaj Arcel
If you’ve been paying close attention to Royal Families in general, then get a snack and settle in, because A…
Eat Drink Man Woman
Dir. Ang Lee
Eat Drink Man Woman takes place in Taipei, Taiwan in the mid-1990s. It tells the story of an aging father…
The Man Without a Past
Dir. Aki Kaurismäki
The magic of this movie — and every other one directed by Aki Kaurismäki — is in the way it…
The Class
Dir. Laurent Cantet
Taking place almost entirely in a single classroom, the two-hour-plus runtime of this French drama breezes past thanks to its…
Amores Perros
Dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu & Alejandro González Iñárritu
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s cleverly layered directorial feature film debut follows three persons whose lives are connected by a car crash…
Under the Sun
Dir. Vitaliy Manskiy & Vitaly Mansky
When Russian director Vitaly Mansky is commissioned by the North Korean government to make a documentary about an average Pyongyang…
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Dir. Uli Edel
Given how plenty of the issues mentioned still linger today, The Baader Meinhof Complex is hesitant to take a side…
Monsieur Lazhar
Dir. Philippe Falardeau
After the sudden death of a teacher, 55-year-old Algerian immigrant Bachir Lazhar is hired at an elementary school in Montreal.…
Tangerines
Dir. Zaza Urushadze
A beautiful and touching story about staying true to your inner morals and humanity in the middle of a raging…
First Love
Young, free and madly in love. As teenagers, the world was their oyster—but, as adults, their lives seem dimmer, like…