Films by Country

France

Alexandra

Aleksandra

Alexander Sokurov

The great Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark, Mother and Son) has made an eloquent anti-war film in which not a shot is fired. "Dream-like... a timely and humane film." — Sight and Sound

Animation Now! 2008

Cut-outs, paint-on-glass, puppetry, watercolour on tile, scratch films and hand-drawn work all feature in this year's selection of the best animated shorts from around the world.

The Band's Visit

Bikur Ha-Tizmoret

Eran Kolirin

A lost Egyptian band spends the night in a small Israeli town in this charming comedy. "Marries goofy deadpan comedy with a conciliatory spirit... you'll weep with laughter." — LA Weekly

Caramel

Sukkar banat

Nadine Labaki

This bittersweet comedy drama is filled with insight into women's lives in contemporary Lebanon. "Utterly entrancing and completely brilliant." — Film Comment

Christopher Columbus - The Enigma

Cristóvão Colombo – O Enigma

Manoel de Oliveira

Director Manoel de Oliveira (born 1908) recreates the real-life search of Manuel Luciano da Silva and his wife Sílvia to prove that Christopher Columbus was actually Portuguese.

Digital Panorama

A stunning collection of recent international short digital animations from the dark edge of the creative spectrum.

The Duchess of Langeais

Ne touchez pas la hache

Jacques Rivette

Jeanne Balibar and Guillaume Depardieu are superb in this adaptation of Balzac's tale of drawing room passion. "A nearly impeccable work of art – beautiful, true, profound." — NY Times

Eat, for This Is My Body

Mange, ceci est mon corps

Michelange Quay

This evocation of Haiti is cinema poetry of intoxicating lyricism, a powerful allegory of the racial and sexual politics of colonial heritage.

Fear(s) of the Dark

Peur(s) du noir

Blutch, Lorenzo Mattotti, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Richard McGuire

This French collection of animated shorts enlist the fevered imaginations of six gifted artists to create an inventive take on our primordial phobias of all things dark.

Flight of the Red Balloon

Le Voyage du ballon rouge

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien delivers a richly layered picture of life in Paris starring Juliette Binoche. "A movie of genius." — Village Voice

Frontier(s)

Frontière(s)

Xavier Gens

A gang of criminals take refuge in a hotel run by a family of degenerate Nazis. French cinema gets dragged kicking and screaming into the grindhouse in this gore-drenched debut.

Funny Games

Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher) channels his anger with mainstream media depiction of violence into a horrific and highly entertaining piece of cinema. Starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth.

In the City of Sylvia

En la ciudad de Sylvia

José Luis Guerin

Awash with the sights and sounds of the French city of Strasbourg, this lyrical tale of a young man's search for his lost love is a purely cinematic, virtually wordless treat for romantics and people watchers.

In Your Wake

Nos retrouvailles

David Oelhoffen

This taut, brooding crime drama plumbs the relationship between a dangerously immature, adrift father and his introverted son.

L'Invité

Laurent Bouhnik

It's business as usual in the polished world of French farce, where it's open season on the tasteless and the clueless; and heartless cads have the best lines. Starring Daniel Auteuil.

La France

Serge Bozon

Winner of France's Jean Vigo Award for the year's most remarkable debut, La France mixes genres – period romance, war movie and pop album – to confoundingly pleasurable effect.

Let's Say...

On dirait que...

Françoise Marie

What do kids think their parents do at work? French filmmaker Françoise Marie gets fascinating, often funny answers by having kids act out their parents' work days. "A real charmer." — Variety

Lorna's Silence

Le Silence de Lorna

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Actress Arta Dobroshi is a revelation as a young Albanian woman inveigled into a treacherous scam in acclaimed Dardennes Brothers' new film. Best Screenplay, Cannes Film Festival 2008.

The Man from London

A Londoni férfi

Béla Tarr

Cult director Béla Tarr's bizarre, ominous adaptation of a Simenon detective novel unfolds in amazingly choreographed mobile camera sequences. "Mesmeric." — The Guardian

Max & Co

Samuel Guillaume

This extravagantly mounted, endlessly inventive stop-motion puppet animation should appeal to admirers of films like The Nightmare Before Christmas or Wallace & Gromit's Were-Rabbit adventure.

Mutum

Sandra Kogut

A shy, uncannily philosophical country boy's view of a confused grown-up world is rendered with great charm and sensitivity in this beautiful film from Brazil.

O'Horten

Robert Hamer

A Norwegian bachelor faces retirement in this charming comedy, easily the best-loved film to debut at Cannes this year. "A small wonder... luminous and deliciously funny." — LA Times

Paris

Cédric Klapisch

From the director of The Spanish Apartment, a mult-character cavalcade of life and death and love and the lack of it in the City of Lights. "A rich and satisfying indulgence." — UrbanCinefile.com.au

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is one of the wonders of the year, an animated feature that's more richly populated, vigorous, succinct and shrewdly funny than many a flesh-and-blood drama.

The Red Balloon/White Mane

The classic romance of a Parisian boy and his huge red balloon returns with the same director's equally honoured White Mane, the tale of a country boy's passion for a beautiful wild horse.

The Romance of Astrea and Céladon

Les amours d’Astrée et de Céladon

Eric Rohmer

At 87, Eric Rohmer, lifelong connoisseur and satirist of the romantic misadventures of the young and self-absorbed, finds inspiration in a classic Arcadian romance.

Silent Light

Stellet licht

Carlos Reygadas

This tale of adultery in a Mennonite community in rural Mexico has the power of a story from the Old Testament. "This is a film of grace and greatness." — Financial Times

The Sky, the Earth and the Rain

El cielo, la tierra y la lluvia

José Luis Torres Leiva

A poetic meditation on solitude, this masterful debut frames its characters within the imposing, rugged setting of a rural coastal area in Chile.

Terror's Advocate

L'Avocat de la terreur

Barbet Schroeder

Fascinating portrait of the enigmatic lawyer who has defended the indefensible: Klaus Barbie, Carlos the Jackal, Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussain.

To Each His Own Cinema

Chacun son cinéma

Raymond Depardon, Kitano Takeshi, Theo Angelopoulos, Andrei Konchalovsky, Nanni Moretti, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, David Lynch, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Zhang Yimou, Amos Gitai, Jane Campion, Atom Egoyan, Aki Kaurismäki, Olivier Assayas, Youssef Chahine, Tsai Ming-liang, Lars von Trier, Raúl Ruiz, Claude Lelouch, Gus Van Sant, Roman Polanski, Michael Cimino, David Cronenberg, Wong Kar-wai, Abbas Kiarostami, Bille August, Elia Suleiman, Manoel de Oliveira, Walter Salles, Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Chen Kaige

A fascinating, entertaining compilation of short films about movie-going by some of the world's greatest directors: Cronenberg, Lynch, Campion, Kitano, Salles, Kiarostami, Polanski etc etc...

The Universe of Keith Haring

Christina Clausen

Lively, affectionate portrait of graffiti-influenced 80s artist Keith Haring, who painted on every surface he could find, including cars, walls, T-shirts and the subway.

Waltz with Bashir

Ari Folman

This extraordinary animated film captures director Air Folman's struggle to recover his lost memories of what he saw and what he did during Israel's ill-fated 1980s war in Lebanon.

Water Lilies

Naissance des pieuvres

Céline Sciamma

Crisply observed drama of schoolgirl crushes, jealousies and sexual exploration on a synchronised swimming team. "Very provocative and stylish." — The Guardian

Welcome to the Sticks

Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis

Dany Boon

This affectionate satire of an urban trendy transferred to a provincial town is now the most successful French film of all time.