Directed by Hasse Ekman • 1950 • Sweden
Starring Eva Henning, Ulf Palme, Anders Ek

One of the most acclaimed Swedish films of all time (heralded as a masterpiece by no less than Ingmar Bergman), this moody, masterfully crafted psychological mystery unfolds in a tantalizing series of CITIZEN KANE...

Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho • 2012 • Brazil
Starring Irandhir Santos, Gustavo Jahn, Maeve Jinkings

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s masterful debut feature is an unsettlingly incisive study of class and simmering urban unrest in contemporary Brazil that unfolds with the gripping, slow-burn tension ...

Directed by Satoshi Kon • 2003 • Japan
Starring Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Toru Emori

Legendary animator Satoshi Kon brings his striking visual imagination and typically complex themes to this wonderfully offbeat holiday tale. On Christmas Eve on the margins of Tokyo, the lives of three lost...

Directed by Peter Howitt • 1998 • United States, United Kingdom
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch

The split-second moments that can take a life down one path instead of another form the crux of this wonderfully fresh, existential twist on the romantic comedy. Gwyneth Paltrow deli...

Directed by Kira Muratova • 1989 • Ukraine, Soviet Union
Starring Olga Antonova, Sergei Popov, Galina Zakhurdayeva

Widely considered Kira Muratova’s masterpiece, THE ASTHENIC SYNDROME is also Soviet cinema’s grand avant-comic opus, a deconstructive portrait of the nation in the final, frenzied s...

Directed by Tsui Hark • 1986 • Hong Kong
Starring Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh, Cherie Chung

In the aftermath of China’s first democratic revolution, three high-spirited young women (Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, Sally Yeh) from very different backgrounds cross paths on a quest for liberation. Fate fin...

Directed by John Woo • 1990 • Hong Kong
Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam

One of director John Woo’s most ambitious and emotionally charged films, this intense action epic follows the fates of three friends—gangsters Ben (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (...

Directed by John Woo • 1986 • Hong Kong
Starring Ti Lung, Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung

The box-office sensation that established director John Woo as the king of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema and set the standard for the heroic bloodshed genre, this electrifying gangster saga combines the directo...

Directed by Walerian Borowczyk • 1976 • France
Starring Sylvia Kristel, Joe Dallesandro, André Falcon

One of director Walerian Borowczyk’s most haunting and psychologically complex films, LA MARGE (“The Margin”) stars Joe Dallesandro as Sigismond, a happily married businessman who embarks on an...

Directed by Andrzej Żuławski • 1981 • France, West Germany
Starring Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent

Andrzej Żuławski’s stunningly choreographed nightmare of a marriage unraveling is an experience unlike any other. Professional spy Mark (Sam Neill) returns to his West Berlin home to fin...

Directed by Yuen Woo-ping • 1979 • Hong Kong
Starring Sammo Hung, Kwan Tak-hing, Yuen Biao

Hot on the heels of his blockbuster Jackie Chan hit DRUNKEN MASTER, the legendary martial-arts director Yuen Woo-ping helmed another rollicking star vehicle. This time, rising talent Sammo Hung plays Lam S...

Directed by Bigas Luna • 1993 • Spain, Italy, France
Starring Javier Bardem, Maribel Verdú, Benicio Del Toro

Bigas Luna’s follow-up to his international hit JAMÓN JAMÓN is a deliriously libidinous, scathingly satirical takedown of toxic machismo and capitalist excess. A superbly earthy Javier Ba...

Directed by Jacques Rozier • 1962 • France
Starring Jean-Claude Aimini, Daniel Descamps, Stefania Sabatini

In his bold yet playful feature debut—an overlooked gem of the French New Wave—Jacques Rozier satirizes several major cultural currents of early-sixties France: political myopia, romantic e...

Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 2001 • Taiwan
Starring Shu Qi, Jack Kao, Duan Chun-hao

Hou Hsiao-hsien’s neon-splashed reverie is a dreamlike drift through the night world of early-2000s Taipei. From the year 2011, the wayward Vicky (Shu Qi)—a bar hostess caught between a jealously possessive boyf...

Directed by Amir Naderi • 1984 • Iran
Starring Madjid Niroumand, Moussa Torkizadeh, Abbas Nazeri

Childhood takes on mythic dimensions in one of the defining works of postrevolutionary Iranian cinema. Inspired by director Amir Naderi’s own boyhood, THE RUNNER is lit from within by Madjid Nirouman...

Directed by David Schickele • 1971 • United States
Starring Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam, Elaine Featherstone, James Earl Garrison

When Paul Okpokam arrived in the U.S. in 1968, David Schickele decided to make a film about his Nigerian friend’s experience of coming to teach at San Francisco State Coll...

Directed by Paul Verhoeven • 2021 • France, Netherlands, Belgium
Starring Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphné Patakia

The ever-provocative Paul Verhoeven brings his subversive vision to a seventeenth-century convent for this ecstatically blasphemous tale of religion, sex, scandal, and pla...

Directed by Med Hondo • 1979 • Algeria, Mauritania, France
Starring Robert Liensol, Roland Bertin, Hélène Vincent

Mauritanian French director Med Hondo’s staggering WEST INDIES: THE FUGITIVE SLAVES OF LIBERTY is a sui generis amalgam of historical epic, Broadway revue, Brechtian theater, and joy...

Directed by Jacques Audiard • 2005 • France
Starring Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Jonathan Zaccaï

A riveting character study in the guise of a gritty underworld thriller, Jacques Audiard’s international breakthrough features an explosive performance from Romain Duris as a real-estate broker tor...

Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2004 • France
Starring Amira Casar, Rocco Siffredi

After attempting suicide, a young woman (Amira Casar) makes a startling proposition to the man (Rocco Siffredi) who rescued her: she will pay him to watch her naked body over the course of four nights as long as ...