Exquisitely hand-painted frame by frame, this French-language arthouse animation is bleak yet hopeful, about two young siblings who are forced to leave their home in order to flee from war and persecution in Eastern Europe.
Purportedly the first-ever documentary made (or more accurately, staged) in the history of the medium, Flaherty’s eye-opening and intimate look at an Inuit family living in a harsh and cold environment poses age-old questions of authenticity and truth.
Becker’s swansong is one of the most underrated based-on-a-true-story prison escape movies in world cinema—its simple, efficient storytelling style hides a highly-detailed narrative that propels the story forwards through plot and action.
A decent Spanish comedy that pokes fun at the film industry, acting and the creative process, benefiting from the wonderful charisma of its trio of actors.
A young Swedish woman travels to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a porn star in this sexually explicit if eye-opening dramatisation of professionalism, as coded by pleasure, pain, power and submission.
It’s not easy to do a documentary about the life and work of arguably the world’s most extraordinary film composer, but Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore just about makes it work as it captures the sheer breadth and range of the maestro’s legacy.
A naïve teenage girl gives birth but her wily mother has other sinister ideas in this well-directed Mexican drama that is not afraid to go down a morally contentious path.
This finely-tuned Berlinale Golden Bear winner recalls the spirit of Rohrwacher’s The Wonders, showcasing a close-knitted inter-generational Spanish family of peach farmers who face the threat of eviction from their land.
A below-par effort by one of Israel’s established directors whose somewhat controversial film about a family trapped by a military lockdown of an Arab town in Israel has a great premise but suffers from an uninteresting execution.
A charming standout feature debut from Israeli filmmaker Eran Kolirin, whose work here explores culture and communication and the importance of co-existence and understanding in a divided world.
Eternality Tan 