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Most Popular World Cinema 2023
The international films that sparked our subscribers in 2023: stories that cross borders and unite us all.
Wherever the road begins - Italy, France, Ireland, Norway, South Africa - they eventually merge. The common factor is never giving up the fight. You can see it in the Gaelic girl, the mountain climbers, those farmers, the stubborn cop and even that donkey. Spirited people, different goals. They endure.
The Eight MountainsThe Eight Mountains
Drama2022147 minsDirector: Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch
An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set against a magnificent and breath-taking Italian landscape, winner of the 2022 Cannes Jury Prize.
The Quiet GirlThe Quiet Girl
Drama202191 minsDirector: Colm Bairéad
A neglected girl lives a joyful summer in Colm Bairéad's Academy Award-nominated debut that combines outstanding beauty and heart-wrenching performances.
The LoverThe Lover
Drama1992115 minsDirector: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Jean-Jacques Annaud's powerful, intimate, and sensual adaptation of the best-selling novel by Marguerite Duras.
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-PowerBrainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
Documentary2022107 minsDirector: Nina Menkes
You may never look at film the same way again after watching this illuminating journey, which deconstructs the male gaze in cinema.
HolidayHoliday
Thriller201888 minsDirector: Isabella Eklöf
A lavish trip to the Turkish Riviera goes horribly awry in this disturbing tale of power, exploitation and complicity from the writer of Border.
EOEO
Drama202286 minsDirector: Jerzy Skolimowski
The joint winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and Academy Award-nominated, EO is a strangely wonderful tale where the dark and light of humanity is laid bare.
Cairo ConspiracyCairo Conspiracy
Drama2022126 minsDirector: Tarik Saleh
A fisherman’s son is offered a place at a prestigious Islamic school in Cairo and finds himself drawn into a religious and political power struggle.
Her WayHer Way
Drama202197 minsDirector: Cécile Ducrocq
From writer-director Cécile Ducrocq comes a bold, provocative drama starring an electric Laure Calamy (Call My Agent!) as a single mother and sex worker in a desperate situation.
The Night of the 12thThe Night of the 12th
Drama2022114 minsDirector: Dominik Moll
A newly promoted detective is assigned to a young woman’s chilling murder in this deeply arresting crime thriller based on true events.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 BruxellesJeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Drama1975202 minsDirector: Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman's magnificent epic of experimental cinema offering a feminist perspective on recurrent events of everyday life.
The BeastsThe Beasts
Drama2022138 minsDirector: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Denis Ménochet (Peter von Kant) stars as a small-town farmer whose idyllic lifestyle turns into a living nightmare, in this rivetingly structured, slow-burn thriller.
19761976
Period drama202290 minsDirector: Manuela Martelli
An unnervingly brilliant portrait of the ways in which the Pinochet dictatorship realised its brute force and pervasive influence, from debut director Manuela Martelli. Winner of the 2022 BFI London Film Festival First Feature Competition.
Love LifeLove Life
Drama2022123 minsDirector: Koji Fukada
A couple find their relationship in a precarious state following a tragedy, in Kōji Fukada’s subtle portrait of the frailty of human relationships.
Christiane F.Christiane F.
Drama1981131 minsDirector: Uli Edel
David Bowie’s image and music gives brooding energy to this tale of a junkie sex-worker in 70s Berlin.
MapantsulaMapantsula
Crime1989104 minsDirector: Oliver Schmitz
Panic, a petty gangster, is caught up in Township riots in this cult classic crime drama, the first anti-Apartheid film shot guerilla style on the streets of Soweto.
Let the Sunshine InLet the Sunshine In
Drama201795 minsDirector: Claire Denis
Director Claire Denis gives a wry account of an artist’s search for love, in this witty black comedy starring Juliette Binoche.
Love According to DalvaLove According to Dalva
Drama202288 minsDirector: Emmanuelle Nicot
Dalva is a 12-year-old girl who dresses and acts like a woman, blinded by her father's pernicious affections. After being taken into care, she has to learn to live like a child again, in this delicate, compassionate and powerful drama.
IdaIda
Drama201482 minsDirector: Pawel Pawlikowski
The Best Film winner at the 2013 BFI London Film Festival is an exquisitely shot, moving drama about a Polish nun exploring her family past, from UK-based director Pawel Pawlikowski.
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