world cinema

We love

We love

Cinema 

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's three-hour triumph lost Best Picture at this year's Oscars, but deserved better. A delicate odyssey through grief and storytelling, Drive My Car was the best film of 2021

In the Know

Cinema 

Penélope Cruz stars in Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, which follows a soap-y and complicated relationship between two mothers

Oscar winner

In the Know

Cinema 

Former Dogma 95 filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (Festen) makes a drunken Danish odyssey about four teachers who experiment with daily drinking. Mads Mikkelsen stars

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Cinema 

Stellan Skarsgård and Harvey Keitel star in Václav Marhoul's The Painted Bird, a Jobian odyssey across eastern Europe during the Nazi occupation

Essential

Visual Arts 

From Willem Dafoe's turn at Vincent van Gogh to an epic depiction of Gerhard Richter's life, here are the most colourful portraits of the great artists

In the Know

Cinema 

Brazilian filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles love to confuse and raise adrenaline with their bizarre genre-clasher Bacurau

In the Know

Cinema 

In the Oscar-nominated Never Look Away, artist Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling) endures a lifelong search for his aesthetic identity following the Nazi occupation and Soviet rule

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Nordic folklore is combined with grisly crimes in a Swedish genre-bender Border, based on the writings of John Ajvide Lindqvist

We love

Cinema 

Innocence and experience jostle in Shoplifters, a beautiful, alchemical family drama from Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda who snapped up the Palme d'Or at Cannes

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Gaspar Noé returns with Climax, another piece of provocation, blending sex, drugs and faux-philosophical musings

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

The latest film from UK-based Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski, Cold War is a chilling black-and-white melodic odyssey through Communist Europe, Paris and beyond

Essential

Cinema 

From the fun to the feelgood to the fast and furious, here are the best blockbusters of 2018 coming out this summer

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Boasting a stellar performance from model-actress Diane Kruger, In the Fade tracks one woman's lonely fight for justice in a country not quite finished with its dark nationalist past

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

The Ciambra is an effective and affecting expose of life on the fringes of Italian society and an overdue update on one of the country’s defining cinematic ages

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

The latest offering from François Ozon, L'Amant double is a ripe gorgonzola of a film that will be enjoyed by drunk film students for years to come

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

A star-studded cast featuring Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsborough can’t save the latest from Arnaud Desplechin, Ismael's Ghosts from partially sinking under the weight of symbolism-induced hollowness

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Here's what you'll be watching next: the buzziest and best films that screened at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Gold Whisper members see Juliette Binoche in Let the Sunshine In at the French Institute

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

An accomplished debut from French director Xavier Legrand, Custody is a masterclass in Hitchcockian suspense centred on a child stuck in his parents' broken marriage

Tried and Tested

Best of 

Taking a satirical shot at the contemporary art scene, The Square is another immensely satisfying drama from Force Majeure director Ruben Östlund featuring Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Dull, voyeuristic and fetishising: Touch Me Not’s success at the Berlinale 2018 is a devastating decision for the festival

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Here's a list of the Oscars 2018 winners and nominees

Essential

Best of 

We interview Sebastián Lelio, director of Gloria and the Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman, about his chances at the Academy Awards, his influences and city life

Tried and Tested

Best of 

From Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, A Fantastic Woman is a compelling and deeply personal portrait of a trans woman's fight for recognition with a standout performance from Daniela Vega

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Jupiter's Moon has a dream-like premise but is very much set in reality

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name is a heady coming-of-age drama about desire, ripe for rewatching with dazzling performances from Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Killing Ground is a slightly twisty horror from Australia that is unfortunately not Wolf Creek – and seems to be a bit a little upset that it’s not

Essential

The debut feature from Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud, In Between, upset Islamic authorities. Not afraid of the controversy, she remains as fierce, funny and intelligent as her film

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud ruffled some feathers in the Middle East with her debut feature but, controversy aside, In Between is accomplished, poignant and, at times, genuinely empowering

In the Know

Ahead of his appearance in tennis biopic Borg/McEnroe (and filming for the Mamma Mia! sequel), Swedish star Stellan Skarsgård talks about life on set, Scandinavian culture and his talented sons

Book Now

Booking for the 61st BFI London Film Festival is open. Here's our pick of the latest and greatest films that are going to sell out fast

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

The first movie adaptation of Stephen King’s IT has plenty of terrifying tricks up its sleeve — but it’s the kids’ clowning around that steals the show