"You have these two towers that represent two contemporary mythologies. You have the business towers and on the other hand the towers of the military world."

"It's very convenient for a lot of families to send their kids [to dormitories] and just not have the responsibility of raising them. And I don't blame them."

Set in the countryside of their past, Mariana and Santiago Arriaga's coming-of-age revenge film showcases the benefits and drawbacks of letting characters stumble toward catharsis without any judgment.

"We also went through this teenage stage of life not so long ago, where we responded to our emotions rather than to a rational side."

Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, Shinya Tsukamoto's bleak but urgent anti-war film shows how so much suffering can take away our ability to make lasting connections.

"My film is meant more as a prayer, and my hope is that the future younger generations won’t go through war again."

Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz’s third feature captures a polarized nation through the lens of a young man coming of age.

“I couldn’t accept that politics is a taboo, which nobody talks about in film.”

Devashish Makhija's sobering crime drama about Indigenous resistance to eradication in India is a reminder of Indian cinema's thrilling diversity.

"This is me trying to go beyond the survival narrative and open up bigger questions."

Unlike other Scandinavian films, there is no broader bourgeois society or arts scene to disappear into in Karoline Lyngbye debut feature Superposition; there is only husband and wife, their resentment, and their child, which all further complicate their marriage.

“Usually doppelgänger stories, you meet either a great version of yourself, or you need a horrible version. But we were very interested in the fact that they were actually the same.”

“It felt like we'd lived through something together.”

George Ovashvili's multilayered but sincere movie-within-a-movie sees a woman returning home to Georgia and finding herself becoming the muse of an aging director.

"I felt that I had to somehow cut everything and finish everything, and to start anew, a new life."

“My films try to portray life. My life and films are very close to each other.”

A first-look review of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest drama.

The Oscar-nominated Irish film uses silence to convey grief and acceptance, and to emphasize the impact of a language in need of saving.

"There's a danger that if you make a film that's entirely in the Irish language, that it can feel like an overtly political act."

The first Sudanese film at Cannes tells a timely story of love, hatred, and hope for reconciliation between the Arabic North and the Black South.

“Revolution is the biggest form of change for any community, and it doesn’t happen overnight.”

In his documentary on rescue efforts in Ukraine, Maciek Hamela serves not just as director but as volunteer driver, with crucial access to refugees' stories.

"Is this war really about Ukraine? Or is it a war about all of you? Should we all be concerned by this? Have I done enough?"

Rodrigo Moreno's crime dramedy about a scheme to arrive at early retirement via bank robbery makes for a fascinating but uneven three hours.

"I believe much more in the present tense of acting than in character development."

In French-Swedish filmmaker Anna Novion’s third feature, a bright and dedicated scholar explores life beyond the classroom's four halls.

“A woman doesn’t need to choose between work and love. They can have both.”

Zoljargal Purevdash’s debut feature is a compelling coming-of-age tale of hardship and ambition set in one of Ulaanbataar's poorest districts.

“I wanted to make a story about this pure and innocent 15-year-old boy who dreams of a better future, but he needs to find something to burn every night because his family has fallen into poverty.”

Violet Du Feng's documentary on a secret script used among Chinese women challenges us to recalibrate how we see ourselves in a patriarchal world.

"The more that we actually project to the outside that we're strong and invincible, the more we're suppressing ourselves."

Much has already been said about how the Pakistani queer drama explores sexuality and desire, but what is often left out of the discussion is its ingenious ties to capital and labor.

“You have a complicated relationship with your family or your homeland no matter where you come from. It fuels your work.”

"Cinema is about heroes and heroism. I’m done with anti-heroes."

In his debut feature, Giovanni Bucchieri skillfully blends fiction with reality in a deeply intimate tale of grief and healing.

Francisca Alegría’s feature debut depicts the cost of taking from a landscape that gives so much.

“I was raised saying the cows were dumb, but I came to understand they’re amazing animals. They give so much but we give them pain.”

Floor van der Meulen's dark comedy about a father's request for assisted suicide validates every contrasting response as honest and human.

"For me, the ego is a big part of what is in the way of true connection or understanding each other."

David Wagner's romantic drama about a closeted drill sergeant is a study of self-inflicted alienation driven by two sensitive performances at its center.

"This is so much more interesting to put the audience in the perspective of the predator."

Cross-cultural conversation is key to deciphering Stone Turtle, a Southeast Asian tale by Malaysian director Woo Ming Jin.

"There's this idea about whether a narrative is real or true depending on how one person sees it, from your point of view or my point of view."

Anthony Shim's film about Korean immigrants in Canada sees the foreign language of English as both an unwieldy tool and an overwhelming obstacle.

"If I didn't understand, how could I have expected anyone else—any other Canadian or non-immigrant—to empathize?"

Danish-Korean director Malene Choi’s new film expresses the new language and new reality that foreign adoptees have to construct just to make sense of the world.

“The theme of immigrants has always been related to female identity.”

“If a film is predictable, it becomes boring.”

Director Yui Kiyohara's second feature is a warm and plotless Japanese drama about three women who cross paths in a commuter town outside Tokyo.

“Unless I look in a mirror, I tend to forget that I am Asian.”

"If we continue this way, nothing good will come out of it."

"I wanted to tell a certain story, but at some point, it finds a life of its own. You need to listen to that and give way."

"That’s the perfect goodbye for me. You just give a glimpse, and look at each other [as if saying], 'I love you. But we’re never gonna live together. But I love you.'"

Veerle Baetens' directorial debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival is an uncompromising portrait of trauma bleeding from youth to adulthood.

“I see people around me and always wonder how this mechanism of silencing yourself works. I wanted to examine and go deeper into that.”

“Basically, I've always been a foreigner in every place I've been.”

With their new miniseries, acclaimed directors Lars von Trier and Nicolas Winding Refn push the boundaries for the kind of experiences we should have on streaming.

If Indian director Mahesh Narayanan's new drama looks through too limited a screen, then it makes for a fine portrait of man's insecurity.

In Abbas Kiarostami’s 1994 masterpiece, the Iranian director attempts to grasp some semblance of life, but never all of it.

In Carla Simón’s Catalan drama, a family of farmers fight to preserve their ties to land, livelihood, and each other.

In this biblical drama, Pier Paolo Pasolini recasts Jesus as a kind of maternal figure, connecting the protection he offered his adherents to one a mother offers her child.

These are the best titles international cinema had to offer this year.

“You don't need to reconcile with your immediate aggressors; you can find healing and compassion from people who've had similar experiences.”

“Jokes may not work when you expect them. Humor in pure comedy is pretty predictable.”

“When you're young, you just see so many injustices and you just want to change the world somehow. I thought about how I could use the medium of films to really change people’s opinions.”

Filmed in secret, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's latest meta-narrative serves as both a political statement against censorship and a reflection on a career under siege.

In Martika Ramirez Escobar’s debut feature, cinema becomes an opportunity to negotiate grief, atone for mistakes, and celebrate life in the Philippines.

“I think a lot of viewers understand image manipulation when they see it, but with sound, it's so manipulative. That started my wish to make a feature film.”

“There is no such thing as a ‘realistic’ film. We always mediate reality to make a film.”

Piggy takes Carlota Pereda’s short film of the same name and expands it to examine the horrors placed on the fat body — both in and out of cinema.

"The film progresses, and it imposes its own logic on you, and you have no choice but to submit, to accept its influence."

“This time around, I wanted to make sure that the audience will be able to really see the fundamental core that I wanted to convey.”

South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo continues interrogating his own attitudes toward art with another lowkey drama.

The RRR director may have a penchant for the loud and epic, but his indulgence always serves a purpose.

The Oscar-nominated film remains underseen, but it endures today as a portrait of the grotesque that exists in every society.

For the South Korean director, no one quite performs like a Lady Vengeance.

Mia Hansen-Løve’s latest feature explores universal tragedies in subtle but devastating ways.

“I was interested in a whole world of emotions and feelings, and they're very fragile.”

“Some films just want to show you how horrible life is, and that's not true for my films.”

With Ali Abbasi’s Border, we’re called to restore our connection with ourselves, our roots, and our land.

In Panah Panahi’s stunning debut film, every location becomes a site of freedom, paranoia, and emotional catharsis.

Having premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Renaud Després-Larose and Ana Tapia Rousiouk's new film celebrates bold filmmaking, from opening scene to closing credits.

This Rwandan sci-fi musical weaves political liberation and the struggle for revolution right down into its DNA.

“What you get to see is the trust, respect, and love everyone has for each other. They feel they're in safe hands.”

“I like to find a way of using the cinematographic language to be at the service of the subject.”

“We tried to balance between the cinematic and the authentic.”

“It is about invisible illnesses. There are so many of these illnesses that are very hard to be diagnosed and understood.”

How does Bong Joon-ho's ode to motherhood fare in his stacked filmography?

More than 20 years after its release, the French classic remains as relevant as ever.

Anita Rocha de Silveria’s stylish Brazilian horror has a lot to say about female and religious rage.

A necessary deep dive into the Western criticism of Japanese cinema.

Finally, a superhero flick rooted in its community’s own struggles.

A look into a unique era in filmmaking history.

An Oscar-shortlisted Austrian drama about the bittersweetness of finding love in confinement.

The 1976 film Once a Moth is just one of many Filipino classics that protested martial law just by existing.

Great pandemic storytelling requires striking a balance between inclusion and omission.

It’s time we acknowledge that Marvel doesn’t have a monopoly on the multiverse.

Fairy tales for adults are like lullabies for children: at once devastating and comforting.

The Argentinian filmmaker’s excellent study of aging has much in common with one Pulitzer-winning book.

98% of Palme D’Or winners are men, 94% come from the Global North, and almost 86% are White. We take a closer look at Cannes Film Festival's exclusive "club" status.

I find great comfort in what coming-of-age stories can do to observe and capture vulnerable youth. But what follows all that anticipated and feared change?

A new publication for international film.