foreign films

Shyrakhy: Guardian of The Light begins in 1945 Germany during the Battle of Berlin. A Soviet soldier, an ethnic Kazakh (Muratzhan Mukazhanov), is thrown into action as his fellow soldiers die in his arms.

Running Against the Wind, the Ethiopian drama film by German director Jan Philipp Weyl focuses on the lives of two brothers who dream large and spend the rest of their lives pursuing their dreams. Abdi (Ashenafi Nigussu) wishes to one day become a long-distance runner while Solomon (Mikias Wolde) desires nothing more than to become a professional photographer.

Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia), a 20-year old criminal offender, experiences a spiritual transformation in a juvenile detention center. His dream is to become a Catholic priest, but his crime prevents him from applying to the seminary.

Spider (a name that refers to the fascist web of subversion which worked to oust Chile’s president Salvador Allende) is a historical thriller that explores the evolution of radical political activism as well as a dangerously charged love triangle. The film opens in present-day Santiago, Chile.

Indian writer/director Ritesh Batra’s Photograph follows his popular The Lunchbox (2013), after a tenure in Hollywood. Woven through a seemingly linear narrative, Photograph subtly presents the audience with contemplations on love and memory.

Lebanon, June 1982. It is the end of the year for 11-year-old Wissam at his private boarding school on the outskirts of Beirut.

For decades it’s been rumored that women desire bad boys and whether true or not, this well-known trope has been the basis for countless popular movies worldwide. Now celebrated Dutch actress Halina Reijn makes a courageous directorial debut with Instinct, which explores this phenomenon through the eyes of a psychologist.

"We decide for ourselves what will hurt," a father says to 15-year-old Trond as he is injured while working in the Norwegian wilderness in the summer. But several years later, when Trond returns to the same place as an older man, he learns that this is, in fact, not the case.

“My solemn gaze roved over your innocent face,” it says in a framed poem that Abdol-Hamid (Hootan Shakiba) brought to the woman he wants to marry at the beginning of Narges Abyar’s When the Moon Was Full. Faezeh (Elnaz Shakerdoost) catches his attention while shopping at the market in Zehedan, in southeastern Iran, and he is obviously smitten.

It is strange how the decade-long economic crisis in Greece has given rise to an unlikely beneficiary: women. Nikos Labôt’s feature Her Job details such a story.