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Remember the time-turner from the Harry Potter series, which Professor McGonagall gave Hermione so that she could attend more classes at Hogwarts? We’d like one during the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, because that’s the only way of ensuring one sees all the big-ticket films from the World Cinema section and discovers hidden gems from the festival’s impressive line-up. Here are some of the foreign films that have caught our eye.
Afire, Christian Petzold
An encroaching forest fire, a writer faced with a deadline, mysterious strangers and flames of both the literal variety and the kind fanned by desire. This German film won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet
A writer tries to prove her innocence after she’s arrested for allegedly murdering her husband. The only witness is the couple’s 11-year-old, blind son. The French film won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Radu Jude
An experimental adventure that brings in everything from TikTok to Ceaușescu-era Romania. The film won the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.
Explanation for Everything, Gábor Reisz
An underachieving student becomes a right-wing cause célèbre thanks to tabloid journalism. This witty social satire won the Orrizonti award for best film at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki
No one does deadpan comedy with as much charm as this Finnish filmmaker. This one’s a romance (among other things) with a little bit of rock ’n’ roll. The film won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Monster, Hirokazu Kore-eda
Darkness lurks under this story of a single mother, her troubled son and an eccentric schoolteacher. The film won the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The Rye Horn, Jaione Camborda
A midwife working in rural Galicia in the 1970s has a difficult decision to make and is forced to flee to the border. The film won the Golden Shell, the highest prize for a competing film, at the San Sebastián International Film Festival this year.
The Settlers, Felipe Gálvez Haberle
A period drama that looks at Chile’s colonial past, highlighting the difference between truth and history. The film won the FIPRESCI prize at this year’s Cannes FiIlm Festival.
City of Wind, Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
A 17-year-old shaman in modern Ulaanbaataar feels his world shift when he develops a crush on a girl about to undergo heart surgery. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was selected as Mongolia’s entry for the best international feature film at the Oscars.
In Our Day, Hong Sang-soo
Crack open the soju and settle down for a gentle conversation piece that seems to go nowhere and yet feels packed with insight.
La Chimera, Alice Rohrwacher
A grieving Englishman who has lost the woman he loved teams up with a bizarre gang of grave-robbers. Folklore, realism, superstition, crime and dreams all come together — and there’s Isabella Rossellini.
Maestro, Bradley Cooper
A biopic of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, who (in addition to being a musical genius) was a devoted husband and unapologetically attracted to men.
Perfect Days, Wim Wenders
A slice-of-life drama that somehow manages to make cleaning toilets feel emotionally insightful. Koji Yakusho, who plays the protagonist, won the best actor award for his performance as Hirayama the toilet cleaner, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Slow, Marija Kavtaradzé
As a love story unfolds between a dancer and a sign language interpreter, the film pieces together a portrait of vulnerabilities and tenderness.
Sweet Dreams, Ena Sendijarevic
A satire set on a sugar plantation in colonial-era Indonesia, this lushly-filmed story is full of eccentricity and darkness. Renée Soutendijk won the Pardo for Best Performance at the Locarno Film Festival.
The Old Oak, Ken Loach
Life changes in a once-thriving mining community in Ireland when Syrian refugees are placed there. Who should find a friend among the newcomers, but pub landlord T.J. Ballantyne.
The Pot-au-Feu, Tran Anh Hung
Two ageing soulmates who come together both in and out of the kitchen. Arthouse food porn makes this story particularly delicious. The film stars real-life couple Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel.
20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov
A team of journalists who were trapped in the besieged city captured defining images of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The film won the audience award at Sundance Film Festival.
Anselm, Wim Wenders
A 3D documentary that is a reverent portrait of the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer. Wenders made this film over three years.
Bye Bye Tiberias, Lina Soulem
You know Hiam Abbass as Marcia in Succession, but in this film, she’s a Palestinian who returns with her daughter to the family she left behind to pursue her dreams of becoming an actor. The documentary is likely to feel particularly poignant in light of recent tragedies.
Celluloid Underground, Ehsan Khoshbakht
A cinematic essay saluting cinephile Ahmad Jurghanian, who, in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, hid thousands of reels of film in basement locations around Tehran to prevent their destruction.
Dario Argento Panico, Simone Scafidi
The Italian master of horror is writing his last film in a hotel room, complete with a film crew and interviewer to document this process.
In the Rearview, Marciek Hamela
A minimalist and raw look at the unfolding war in Ukraine as a Polish driver takes his van out to evacuate Ukrainians. The film won top prizes at Warsaw’s Docs Against Gravity and Sheffield DocFest.
Orlando, My Political Biography, Paul B. Preciado
Twenty-six contemporary trans and non-binary people are brought together to perform in an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando. The film won the Teddy Award for best documentary film.
Pictures of Ghosts, Kleber Mendonça Filho
A personal essay that revisits movie theatres that have shut down in Brazil, this documentary is a love letter to cinema.
Riders on the Storm, Jason Motlagh and Mark Oltmanns
A documentary about an Afghan athlete whose success at the national sport of buzkashi made him a marked man for the Taliban when they took over the country.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, Anna Hints
The warmth of a log-cabin sauna in Estonia becomes a place of healing as women come together and share confidences. Nothing is off limit and along with dirt, shame is also washed away.
The Contestant, Claire Titley
Aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu unwittingly became the star of a Japanese reality TV show when he was left alone and naked in a room for 15 months, staying alive by entering magazine competitions for money and free gifts. And he had no idea he was being watched by about 15 million people.
The Mother of All Lies, Asmae El Moudir
When the director learnt that her grandmother prohibited any images or photographs, she and her father make miniatures that recreate their past. Winner of the Un Certain Regard award for best director at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Art College 1994, Jian Liu
A group of art students are torn between tradition and modernity. The 2D animation incorporates elements of Chinese art into its visual style.
Heroic Times, József Gémes
This Hungarian film tells an epic tale using a visual style that resembles oil painting. It wowed the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 1985.
The Siren, Sepideh Farsi
The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war is recounted from the perspective of 14-year-old Omid who is in the besieged Iranian city of Abadan with his grandfather.
Sultana’s Dream, Isabel Herguera
The film brings together early feminist thinker Rokeya Hossain who dreamt up Ladyland, a Utopian land where women are dominant (Hussain’s 1905 sci-fi story, published in 1905, inspired this film) and a Spanish artist living in contemporary India.
The Altar, Moe Myat May Zarchi
The short film from Myanmar shows photographs that become animated when they’re painted using shades of gold and grey. The effect is eerie and beautiful.
They Shot the Piano Player, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
An animated docu-drama about a young Brazilian pianist who mysteriously disappeared, whose case is taken up years later by an American journalist voiced by Jeff Goldblum.
White Plastic Sky, Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó
It’s 2123, life is possible only in domed cities and once you turn 50, people are turned into trees with edible leaves. The film uses rotoscoping — animation is traced over a live-action performance — which feels particularly well-matched with this dystopia in which humans are being changed into more ‘useful’ forms.
20,000 Species of Bees, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
A gentle portrayal of how an eight-year-old’s gender crisis impacts her and her family. Sofia Utero (nine years old) won the Silver Bear for best leading performance at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Housekeeping for Beginners, Goran Stolevski
A crowded queer household and its chaos makes for a joyous domestic drama. The film won the Queer Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Strange Way of Life, Pedro Almodóvar
A Spanish Western, in English, about two gunslingers — Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal — who were once lovers and who are reunited after 25 years.
The Summer with Carmen, Zacharias Mavroeidis
While on holiday on a gay beach, two gay friends try to write a film which, as per the demands of the producer, has to be “fun, sexy, Greek and low-budget”. Carmen, incidentally, is a chihuahua.
Daaaaaaali!, Quentin Dupieux
Imagine trying to interview the surrealist painter Salvador Dali. This “real fake biopic” is a tribute to Dali and another surrealist legend, Luis Buñuel.
Man in Black, Wang Bing
Chinese composer Wang Xilin has endured 14 years of persecution and his naked body becomes a the instrument of a quietly radical political act.
Music, Angela Schanelec
Ostensibly a retelling of the Oedipus myth, this is one of those films that you watch not because it necessarily makes sense, but because of how it makes you feel.
Barir Naam Shahana, Leesa Gazi
Based on real events, this British-Bangladesh production follows a young woman who runs away from a marriage she’s forced into and comes into her own. Gazi is also the author of the wickedly thrilling Bengali novel Hellfire, about a woman who steps out of her home for the first time on her 40th birthday.
Foreigners Only, Nuhash Humayun
Remember the creepy cli-fi short Moshari? The Bangladeshi director is back with another horror short.
The Monk and the Gun, Pawo Choyning Dorji
Bhutan’s official entry to the Oscars, the film was part of the official selections at Toronto International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival.
Beyond Utopia, Madeleine Gavin
The documentary looks at people trying to escape from North Korea and has dramatic footage showing how perilous these attempts can be.
Terrestrial Verses, Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami
Nine stories of how ordinary Iranians navigate living under an oppressive regime.