Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 1997 • Iran
Starring Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari
The first Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or, this austere, emotionally complex drama by the great Abbas Kiarostami follows the middle-aged Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) as he drives around the hilly outskirts of Tehran looking for someone who will agree to dispose of his body after he commits suicide, a taboo under Islam. Extended conversations with three passengers (a soldier, a seminarian, and a taxidermist) elicit different views of mortality and individual choice. Operating at once as a closely observed, realistic story and a fable populated by archetypal figures, TASTE OF CHERRY challenges the viewer to consider what often goes unexamined in everyday life.
Directed by Cristian Mungiu • 2007 • Romania
Starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov
Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu shot to international prominence with this rigorously realistic Palme d’Or–winning second feature. In 1987, during the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, colle...
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul • 2010 • Thailand
Starring Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjira Pongpas, Sakda Kaewbuadee
Winner of the Palme d’Or, UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES is an unclassifiable tale of a man embracing life’s greatest mystery. Suffering from acute kidney failur...
Directed by Jacques Audiard • 2015 • France
Starring Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby
With this Palme d’Or–winning drama, which deftly combines seemingly disparate genres, French filmmaker Jacques Audiard cemented his status as a titan of contemporary world ...
