You can’t talk about cinema without talking about its place of origin: Europe. Throughout the twentieth century, even as wars raged across the continent, Europe was crowned The Other Hollywood, and it’s easy to see why. From German expressionism, with masterpieces like Metropolis (1927), through to Italian Neo-realism and the New Wave of the swinging sixties, the continent turned out some of the world’s most diverse and influential film movements.
While cash-cow Hollywood blockbusters have come to define the eras that followed, contemporary European productions remain a driving force of cinematic innovation in spite of their comparatively modest budgets. To bring this point home, we present 50 of the best European movies to come out in the past ten years.