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Best International Films of 2021 – From India to Cameroon

Cinemas were open for most of 2021 which meant two things for us:

That we could watch films on the big screen
That we also missed a lot of films on the big screen to look after an extra family member and play it safer with the quarantine

Therefore, most of the inclusions on this list are thanks to the ever improving international slates of streaming services like Mubi, Netflix, and Hoopla, as well as the accessibility of a lot of festival films this year. 2022 is looking like it will be a repeat, with streaming services continuing to diversify their international releases and festivals (see Sundance and Rotterdam) sticking to a digital only schedule to prevent the spread of the ever evolving COVID virus. However, before we get into 2022, here’s 30 of the best international films of 2021. Some names you’ll recognize, some you may not, but the good thing about pretty much all of them is that they’re mostly available to watch or have 2022 release dates.

30 Best International Films of 2021

(In a fairly flexible order)

30. Tote Abuelo (Mexico)

In her debut feature, Maria returns to her ancestral home in Chiapas to reconnect with her estranged grandfather. The slow pace of the documentary matches both the slow straw-hat making process, as well as Maria’s patient questioning that slowly unlocks her grandfather’s stories. Tote Abuelo is a humble, heart-warming documentary that depicts the passing of family history (positive and negative) from one member to another.

29. The Pink Cloud (Brazil)

If there’s ever a movie that perfectly envisions the pandemic and quarantine, it’s The Pink Cloud. Made before COVID times, it follows Giovanna and Yago as their one night stand turns into a lifetime stuck together indoors as a poisonous cloud descends on the world. It’s probably one of the best portrayals of a relationship in lockdown.

Read the full review here.

28. The Dog WHo WOuldn’t Be Quiet (Argentina)

Dogs are everywhere. Before the pandemic, ownership seemed to be rising. Everyone either had a dog or knew someone who did, whether it was a neighbor or a colleague who brought their dog into work. Now, since the onset of the pandemic, they’ve become even more popular. It’s within this context that The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet is set, a perfectly relevant, quietly funny Argentinian satire along the lines of Martin Rejtman.

Read the full review here.

27. Paris, 13th District

If you’re a secret fan of love triangles but actually an art-house film snob, Paris 13th District is for you. You have your art-house credentials, with Jacques Audiard directing and Celine Sciamma writing, as well as a smooth black and white film. But you also have a light, free-flowing script with lots of sex that doesn’t slow down, making it an easy watch for anyone wanting to tune out.

Read the full review here.

26. Zinder (Niger)

In the city of Zinder, Niger, in the heart of the Sahel, young people form gangs to deal with the lack of work and prospects. These groups called “Palais” come from the Kara Kara district, historically home to lepers and outcasts. Zinder-born director and activist Aicha Macky returns to her hometown to tell the story of this disenfranchised youth. It’s an intimate tribute to the youth of her country which offers a hopeful portrayal of those marked by the neighborhood they were born into.

Read the full review here.

25. Hive (Kosovo)

In Hive, a struggling widow starts making Ajvar to get by. Setting an example for self sufficiency, the town’s widows flock to her to share their grief and start healing. However their independence faces backlash from the patriarchy. This drama features an inspirational story about a group of entrepreneurial women fighting the odds to overcome the patriarchy and the trauma from the Kosovo war.

Read the full review here.

24. Bendskins (Cameroon)

Bendskins fits Wanuri Kahui’s ‘Afro-Bubblegum’ movement perfectly. The three stories of motorbike taxi drivers in Cameroon are fun, frivolous, and fierce. They depict ‘normal’ modern African experiences instead of the typical stories of poverty, disease, or war. It also features a bunch of homages to some of the most iconic African films such as Touki Bouki and Quartier Mozart. So if you’re looking for an easy-going dramedy set in Yaounde, check out Bendskins.

23. Writing With Fire (India)

If you’re looking for an inspirational documentary that features a group of trailblazing women in India, watch Writing with Fire. It follows a group of Dalit women – Dalits being the lowest caste in the Indian caste system – that start a newspaper in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s largest and most politically important states. The newspaper, Khabar Lahariya, stands out from others both because its written only by women and because of the emphasis on seeking out the truth no matter the stakes. It’s a great documentary for anyone interested in learning a bit about the current state of India and how to run a newspaper. It’s no surprise it’s on the Academy Award’s Best Documentary shortlist.

Read the full review here.

22. Beginning (Georgia)

If you’re looking for a provocative transcendental film that captures a mother’s existential crisis you’ve come to the right place. Beginning uses slow pacing and a classic film look to shock Yana’s humble existence within a Jehovah’s Witness community in rural Georgia to the core. As her peace is shockingly disrupted, she’s forced to reevaluate her life as a mother as part of her remote community.

Read the full review here.

21. Son of Monarchs (Mexico)

A Mexican biologist living in New York returns to his hometown after the death of his grandmother. Unlike the urban jungle of New York, his hometown in Michoacán is surrounded by the Monarch Butterflies he studies. His isolation abroad forces him to contemplate his new identity, displayed on screen in vivid magical scenes and memories. Son of Monarchs is a brilliant character study of a lonely scientist abroad conveyed through his symbolic relationship with butterflies.

Read the full review here.

20. Riders of Justice (Denmark)

If you’re looking for a satire of Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise, look no further than Riders of Justice. It features Mads Mikkelsen as a soldier that returns home to console his daughter after his wife dies in a train crash. He gets embroiled in a revenge plot with a bunch of misfits that convince him the crash was planned. It humorously explores the one-dimensional male-leads in the slew of 21st Century revenge movies with the help of a group of nerds.

19. Taming The Garden (Georgia)

Taming the Garden is a slow documentary about a billionaire’s project to create a garden of the grandest trees in his country. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire, and former Prime Minister of Georgia, is the invisible villain of this film, as we follow his construction teams uproot trees from around the country to be transported across the seas to his home. The focus is not on his garden though, but the sublime images of the trees being transported; the huge efforts of the construction teams and the locals caught in-between.

Read the full review here.

18. Softie (Kenya)

If you’re looking for an observational documentary that follows a political activist trying to change a corrupt system by running for government whilst showing the effects this has on their family, Softie is the film for you. Boniface “Softie” Mwangi was drawn to political activism during his time photographing the post election violence in 2007. Now, he’s running for office in a regional Kenyan election. To succeed, he has to radically change a democracy tainted by corruption, violence, and mistrust.

Read the full review here.

17. About Endlessness (Sweden)

In a collection of stylized vignettes, Roy Andersson captures the banal endlessness of humanity. The scenes vary from the everyday, such as a woman waiting at a train station thinking she’s been forgotten, to the brutally unforgiving, such as a man about to face a firing squad. It bundles historical scenes with others that could fit in our lives. In just under 80 minutes, these vignettes capture the absurdity of life.

16. Just Don’T Think I’ll Scream (France)

This is what happens when you lock a filmmaker in a room with a bunch of films and not much else. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream is the documentary diary of Frank Beauvais, who moved to the country in search of love, but instead became lost in a kind of mid-life crisis. He documented his experiences in a voice-over supported by an incredible puzzle of images from the 4-5 films he watched per day during the 6 months he was alone for.

15. Days (Taiwan)

Slow film isn’t for everyone, but Tsai Ming-Liang’s Days is a great film to meditatively watch. It forces you to watch an excessive amount of dead time as characters go about their chores (you’ll never flash wash a salad again) and literally stare into the horizon. The reward for your patience is an erotic ending with a memorable musical conclusion.

14. Azor (Argentina)

Azor is Heart of Darkness style journey into the underworld of Swiss Banking in Argentina. Instead of a physical jungle, Yvan has to navigate the corrupt upper echelons of Argentinian society to find his missing colleague. Azor is one of the best written films of 2021, interpreted brilliantly by debut filmmaker Andreas Fontana.

13. El Planeta (spain)

Spanish language films are a gold mine for deadpan humor and El Planeta is no different. It follows a mother-daughter double team grifting their way through life in a contemporary Spain with apparently little opportunity (even the successful people have made it abroad). Watch for the muted laughs, kooky clothing, and to see a triple-threat debut director.

12. Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)

After setting a date with a Hungarian neurosurgeon in Budapest, Marta flies home after twenty years in the United States to meet him. She goes all in on their relationship but is met with confusion as the ‘love of her life’ ghosts her; both standing her up at her date and claiming that they’ve never met. The film converts Marta’s uneasiness into images as she, the other characters, and the audience all question her memory and what is real.

11. Faya Dayi (Ethiopia)

Faya Dayi is a trip of an Ethiopian documentary. It’s a fully immersive sensory experience into the highlands of Harar, Ethiopia with the help of Khat. The style accentuates our senses, making us feel like we’re there, but dulls our understanding of the plot (which is left vague). Instead of a linear, easy to follow narrative, we’re given a handful of strands to grasp at, until we give up trying to follow them and surrender to the meditative, poetic style. Watch this film in a dark room with a good sound system or headphones and drift along with it.

Read the full review here.

10. All Hands on Deck (France)

In All Hands on Deck, Felix persuades a friend to road-trip with him from Paris to the sunny South of France to surprise his dream girl who he shared a great date with a week earlier. The summer-time vibes set the foundation for the warm dramedy, which is taken to even warmer heights with the buddy-movie tropes, karaoke, and laid-back comedy. It’s a film that goes with the flow and will make you happy – a perfect movie to feel the summer whatever time of year.

9. Ascension (China)

No film can avoid a point of view, but Ascension avoids obvious political bias by observationally shooting a wide range of images of Chinese society without commentary. From workers toiling away in factories to influencers planning their next social media post, Ascension captures a selective cross-section that illuminates the growing class divides in China and the widening distance between the country and Communism.

8.What Do We See When We Look At The Sky (Georgia)

What Do We See When We Look at the Sky is an enchanting summer romance along the quirky lines of La Flor, Whistler, and Amelie. After a chance encounter in the Georgian town of Kutaisi, pharmacist Lisa and footballer Giorgi set a plan for a date by the riverfront. However, as their appearance is magically transformed the next day, they lose both their job skills and their ability to recognize each other. As with true love, even with the change, they’re never far from each other in their wandering. If you’re looking for a slow dreamy romance by the river front, try this one.

7. The New Girl (Argentina)

The New Girl is an engaging coming of age story, as well as a worker protest movie like Made in Bangladesh and Salt of the Earth. It follows a transient migrating to an industrial region of Argentina to live and work with her brother. It highlights the privilege of crime – contrasting her experience stealing out of need vs. her brother’s smuggling to get rich. Plus there’s a union at the heart of the narrative to add to the anti-capitalist thread of the movie. It packs a lot into its relatively short run time (only 79 minute).

Read the full review here.

6. The Hand of God (Italy)

Paolo Sorrentino has a gift at making Italian city life look amazing and full of mad stories. This time, instead of Rome (see The Great Beauty), he dives into his own memories growing up in Napoli. The spontaneity and life of The Hand of God channels the spirit of Fellini whilst the richness colors and expansive shots of the city show Sorrentino’s mark. It’s a beautifully shot, lightly tragic, autobiography set in 1980’s Napoli.

5. Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy/Drive My Car (Japan)

Ryusuke Hamaguchi had not one, but two of the best films of 2021. Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy had the more intriguing stories (split into three parts), but Drive My Car had the benefit of time to fully build out another brilliant Haruki Murakami film adaptation (also see Burning). Both films are film drama at its best – you just get to pick if you’d rather short stories imbued with unlikely coincidences or a long brooding drama to fully immerse yourself in.

4. Landfall (Puerto Rico)

Landfall is a political documentary imbued with anger at the current state of Puerto Rico. It captures life in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, choosing to depict the current post-Hurricane tragedies instead of the actual Hurricane, and setting them within the history of U.S. imperialism. In doing so, Landfall presents a searing critique of disaster capitalism (see Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine) and the U.S. stranglehold on Puerto Rico and its ineffectual politicians.

Read the full review here.

3. Pebbles (India)

In Pebbles one angry father takes his young son out of school to visit his mother’s village. However, when they find out his mother has already left, they begin a long walk home under the burning sun. It’s simple storyline is hard to look away from as the camera brilliantly captures both the inhospitable landscape as well as the tension between the unpredictably violent father and his cautious son. So, if you’re looking for a film which compacts pure cinematic energy with a hot and arid environment in 75 minutes, you need to watch this film.

2. Sugar Daddy (Canada)

Musical Dramas Ema and Sound of Metal were amongst our favorite films from last year and Sugar Daddy felt more explosive than both of them. It follows a struggling artist that turns to a paid dating service to fund her music career. The standout is the lead actor, Kelly McCormack (who’s also the writer and producer behind the project), who gives one incredible performance. The music, craziness, and spiral of the lead make this film captivating. The only thing that we’d change is the misleading title.

Watch Sugar Daddy on Hoopla or Amazon Prime.

1. The Disciple (India)

The Disciple is our favorite film of 2021. It follows a struggling Indian classical musician in training with an aging guru from a rare musical lineage. His journey is presented as a leap of faith in his existential search for meaning. It’s presented patiently with long musical takes cut with some memorable nighttime shots of Sharad biking home listening to his prized philosophical musings from his enigmatic hero. This film is a must watch as long as you’re ready to spare a bit of time to fully immerse yourself in Indian classical music.

Watch The Disciple on Netflix.

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF 2021:

I’m Your Man (Germany), Nayattu (India), A Cop Movie (Mexico), Aurora (Costa Rica), Identifying Features (Mexico), Liborio (Dominican Republic), State Funeral (Ukraine), The Last Shelter (Mali), The Woman Who Ran (South Korea), Hit the Road (Iran)

If you think we’ve missed a film from a list that you think is one of the best international films of 2021, please get in touch on Twitter or by email.

Top 20 Movie Moments of Holiday Season 2022

By Sebastian Torrelio

As certain as there is a yearly selection of cheerful, yuletide merriments to go along with the frostbitten, theater-stricken audiences, so too do there seem to now be other forms of reliable content to establish itself every December. Whether it be self-aware horror – goreful parody charmers the likes of “Violent Night” and “The Menu;” gigantic, expectation-defying blockbuster ralliers presented by our James Camerons and Ryan Cooglers; odes to industry personalities seeking heartful attention from a more sentimental crowd with pleas to Whitney Houston’s anthemic legacy or a funeral for Dwayne Johnson’s superhero career. Altogether, theaters felt subjugated to competition from a league beyond the usual genre-fare, studios and distributors picking their respective niches and fighting for them.

The healthy domestic in-fighting still cannot shield us from the awards-season rallying call – prestige documentaries alongside Brendan Fraser under prestige degrees of makeup. The spectacular, the tearful, the memorable can come from any direction. The trouble then comes from blocking out audience’s attention, assuring they witness the product before its timely theatrical window expires, else they hear about such treasures when the guilds and Globes have already come and gone.

Here are the Top 20 Holiday movie moments that closed out 2022 with aplomb, a range of streaming highlights and Oscar-fodder, international charmers and non-fiction showstoppers alike.

Holiday Season 2022 considers films released theatrically in Los Angeles from November 4, 2022 thru January 5, 2023. This list contains light Spoilers where unavoidable in the description only.

20. Holy Spider: The foot

dir. Ali Abbasi

A simple shot of a bare foot – Saeed Hanaei (Mehdi Bajestani) notices a lone piece of a dead body sticking out from a rolled carpet in his hallway. Needless to say, he had been so hasty to cover up a sex worker’s corpse before distracting his wife with spontaneous lovemaking. Saeed’s neglect finally shows through, bleeding his irrationality into the thriller discourse “Holy Spider” hasn’t been so heavy-handed in depicting and clarifying thus far. It’s an amusing, bizarre, shocking image in a film that has no short time to spare viewers down its seedy underbelly of a spiraling journey through the afflictions of an indignant humanity.

19. Broker: The ferris wheel

dir. Hirokazu Koreeda

Singer-songwriter IU owns her role as So-young, a misguided new mother, led off the beaten path only to be misguided further by her confusing new company. Early on in the film, every word she utters is spiked with a complex indifference to anyone but her child. But before Koreeda’s plot resolves, she silently transforms into a rooted family member of ostensible passion. Dong-soo holds his gaze against hers, cut by a breath – then a tight grip, a hidden intensity, a tearful sentiment. They’ve reached the ferris wheel’s peak, hand-in-hand together, before they can begin to descend.

18. Sr.: “Had you two met before?”

dir. Chris Smith

In a way, it is the most predictable moment of Smith’s Downey-Downey retrospective. Robert, Jr. takes his son to visit their family patriarch’s bedside, onset with Parkinson’s, a figure slowly and selectively disintegrated throughout the documentary in physical health only. On the brink of a conclusive deal with his legacy on Earth, Downey, Sr. still laughs, still muses about the language of art and camera, still lauds his son’s obvious talents, admiring not his work but his demeanor for creations. The target of these words don’t, and didn’t matter, but a Nick Drake cue makes it hard not to wistfully lie on.

17. Bad Axe: The trucks

dir. David Siev

Among many abhorrent moments the Siev family has to endure, the most unnerving follows the most unpredictable motives. Following days of conflict between the restauranteurs and their more conservative Michigan neighbors, the family’s younger daughter Raquel Siev begins to notice teenagers following her route home at night. It’s the first direct contact the Sievs meet with the unknown that feels meant for them – a community outside of their grasp, a cautionary tale not yet written, an unsteadiness behind their leadership, within a documentary that excels when the unknowable becomes the unbearable.

16. The Eternal Daughter: Birthday dinner

dir. Joanna Hogg

The root of Hogg’s very refined form of haunted discourse is the suspicion there may not be anything coming from out of the ghostly, bespoke hallways at all. Turning a mirror to one’s own monster is a feat in itself, but the great trick of “The Eternal Daughter” is doing it twice over – even the snarky hotel waiter can’t hold a finger to the weight of Tilda Swinton ‘celebrating’ opposite herself, hurt reflected upon hurt, confusion infinitely spiraling like a mirror seeing backward onto itself.

15. Black Notebooks: Ronit: Feeding lines

dir. Shlomi Elkabetz

A diary of final moments, achievements and accomplishments, Schlomi Elkabetz captures an astounding moment of invigorating candidness from his late sister Ronit on her final acting project, feeding her lines on the set of “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem.” Ronit commands a vitriolic rage in her quick scene here, one that borrows into the turmoil of her character in “Gett” – but in Schlomi’s loving commemoration piece, plays a more ringing endorsement of what his filmmaking partner was capable of. “Black Notebooks” frequently depicts Ronit at the brink of her life questioning her identity, though for these all-too-powerful minutes, her stardom is incontestable.

14. Glass Onion: The flashback

dir. Rian Johnson

An example of a more complicated function of this list – not necessarily the most exciting, or even satisfying scene in the film, but the one on which the emotional crux lies. Tying back to the film’s opening scenes, Johnson brings Janelle Monáe back to life as Helen Brand, a desperate southerner with no one to turn but the world’s greatest detective. Johnson consistently makes use of good rug pulls throughout his work, but such an outlandish premise can only ride one tunnel of purpose: to give Monáe, now the empathic catalyst against a manifestation of capitalist evil, her biggest red carpet to date.

13. Avatar: The Way of Water: Payakan

dir. James Cameron

Time-bending, world-constructing, budget-decimating splendor – it’s all Cameron knows how to do. His hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of special effects go to great use in the second act of his “Avatar” sequel, but he saves his heaviest punch for one entrance in particular. Lo’ak Sully discovers a savage beast strayed from his pack, a desperado male whale he finds a communication line with. It takes a few scenes before their mutual pain entirely sheds, but their immediate connection shines brighter than the Pandoran sun off the oceanic surface.

12. EO: The horse trailer

dir. Jerzy Skolimowski

The cinematography of “EO” has been rightfully heralded in every possible way, across the global spectrum. Michal Dymek films a world from EO’s eyes, on occasion all too literally, for all the raw elements that make up our disheveled civilization. As EO rides in the back of a carriage, peering to the roaming, muscular horses out in the fields, the film’s natural-welfare perspective glistens like the reflections in the donkey’s pupils, a uncharacterizable self-consciousness supplanted onto Earth’s background screen.

11. UN Couple: The monologue

dir. Frederick Wiseman

A cheat of a selection. Wiseman’s first-ever narrative film is, in actuality, a single scene: Sophia Tolstaya (Nathalie Boutefeu) recites excerpts from her writings, embounding a story of lustful love and passionate struggle while the camera follows. Briefly interrupted by nothing more than nature at play, Leo Tolstoy’s marriage is broken down into calm, slow and sincere drama over roughly 60 minutes of runtime. Wiseman is never more delicate than when he is filming the undisturbed – not that Sophia’s words could be taken for anything less than the raw truth.

10. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: “Ciao Papa”

dir. Guillermo del Toro & Mark Gustafson

Not the most immediately intriguing moment in del Toro’s long-coming passion project (see: Pinocchio’s encounter with the snide afterlife guardians), but the genre-bending director has always been closely connected with the heart he wears on his sleeves. When not guiding and glowing with emotional guidance, “Pinocchio” leads this particular Geppetto on a hopeless chase for restitution that searches beyond the boundaries of safety or livelihood. Gregory Mann’s yearning, angelic ballad to his father speaks for itself. They cannot be reunited in this life apparent – but maybe, one wonders, of the next.

9. Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical: “Revolting Children”

dir. Matthew Warchus

Long live the TikTok brand of celebratory musical number. Red Beret Girl, as she’s known, played by Meesha Garbett leading the charge – a tightly choreographed scene among a mountain of them, blowing most of the last decade’s worth of cinematic dance sequences out of the water with an army of richly talented uniformed kiddos. The longer the hallway, the longer the take, the more hypnotizing the shuffle step. It’s hard to believe the West End was able to contain such imagination to a stage.

8. Living: “The Rowan Tree”

dir. Oliver Hermanus

There is no shame in the biggest swings of Hermanus’ Akira Kurosawa remake, itself an adaptation of Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” being replicated from the past. When it works it works – several beats are lifted, along with their emotional stakes, to allow Bill Nighy the chance to anchor what serves better a lifetime achievement reception. The most culturally significant pull in “Living” sees Nighy swashing an old Irish folk song to a bemused, wistful crowd. Context is everything in many of these choices, but to Nighy’s recognition, rarely with so much poignance.

7. Retrograde: Evacuating Kabul airport

dir. Matthew Heineman

“Retrograde” is filled with discordant rhymes and rhythms. At the beginning of Heineman’s unbelievably on-the-ground account, multiple factions are shown leaving a main flyaway base in Afghanistan – whether it be reluctant and regretful Green Beret soldiers or late-coming, torturous footage of the country’s citizens. At the peak of the movie’s third act, after nearly an hour of perilous footage of a nation out of options, comes the most harrowing repetition: children being handed over, papers being thrust into the arms of the helpless, a bottled-up world on the brink of scripted desecration.

6. Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb: Ending

dir. Lizzie Gottlieb

You can’t create a more demanding lens than the one these two literary giants peer through every time they even think about each other. Through numerous dimensions of context, the ending becomes all the more impressive: the two Roberts know that so far into their careers, it may only be mortality that separates their distinct identities. “Turn Every Page,” a project of Robert Gottlieb’s daughter, acknowledges the same, disintegrating to the smallest, immediate stakes. A muted reunion, a whimsical jazz score, a legacy inscribed on mounds of paper, and at least one (1) number two (#2) pencil.

5. Bones and All: Jake & Brad

dir. Luca Guadagnino

A dark intensity surrounds Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee’s (Timothée Chalamet) new company – two unearthly boys donning the costume of feral men, speaking of shared cravings, harsh origins and invisible intentions. Michael Stuhlbarg, no stranger to Guadagnino scene-stealing, carries a presence that makes even this teen-romantic cannibalism tale stop in its tracks – like the obliviously heartstruck leads, a bit too lost on the edge of darkness, not thinking too hard about where to go next. But certainly, away from here.

4. The Quiet Girl: Ending

dir. Colm Bairéad

Bairéad’s gentle tale of growth & understanding within one’s own identity hinges consistently on guidance & expectation. The final shot, nay interaction, that concludes “The Quiet Girl” is one viewers may see coming from miles away. That doesn’t take away from the profound, patient measures these endearing family figures take to get here. As Cáit (Catherine Clinch) runs back to embrace her surrogate father, she utters the quietest plea, befitting of her character, no disconnected from the commanding portrayal Bairéad has directed with thus far. What concludes our story in turn concludes hers. So why does the future feel so devastating?

3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed: Barbara

dir. Laura Poitras

Under Poitras’ guidance, a broad selection of photographs woven to fit artist and activist Nan Goldin’s story becomes anthological. Stories with their own rise, fall, twists and conclusions are fluently placed among other arcs and histories. They all come into connection with Nan’s life and hard-fought goals, but none more so than the tragedy of her late sister Barbara Holly Goldin, who is documented by medical professionals as having “seen the future” – among other things.

2. Women Talking: Census

dir. Sarah Polley

Perfectly fitting that the most interesting sequence in Polley’s recourse for the rehabilitation of feminine strength & heroism is not only devoid of pessimism or pain, but practically gleeful. A passing truck signals a great disruption for the time-dislocated Mennonite colony – a modern-day US census count is taking place, for all willing participants. August Epp (Ben Whishaw), the only citizen with a touch for the outside world’s culture, peeks out toward the light from within a farmhouse built on conflict and confusion. For August, ever thoughtful and forward-looking, is often both a daydreamer and a believer.

1. The Fabelmans: Prom

dir. Steven Spielberg

Without context, the post-prom breakdown of Sammy Fabelman’s character, relationships, and youthfully innocent connection to his art is Gabriel LaBelle’s most formidable acting showcase, angered and dazed by his own Godlike machinations. Sammy and Logan’s (Sam Rechner) final scene, an obdurate witness making contact with an infallible creator, serves a greater thesis to the fifty years of distance between their real-life squabble – a head full of pictures and dreams can be wrung dry for ideas, even played for laughs, but it cannot be mistaken for disingenuous. Spielberg’s been teaching us this entire time, and he’s been nothing if not in complete control.

Honorable Mentions:

Alice, Darling (dir. Mary Nighy), Corsage (dir. Marie Kreutzer), Drishyam 2 (dir. Abhishek Pathak), Leonor Will Never Die (dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar), Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (dir. Alek Keshishian)

The writer of Top 20 Holiday Movie Moments is a full-time employee for DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures. The DreamWorks release “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” was removed from consideration for this article.

Best International Films of 2022 – From Argentina to Iran

Better late than never! Here’s our favorite international films of 2022 which range from an Indian biopic/star vehicle for Alia Bhatt to a trio of +3 hour films from 3 separate continents.

12 of our top 30 were seen at the cinema as the theatrical film experience in 2022 was almost back to normal. New international films are given a pretty decent share of screen space in West Los Angeles, mostly thanks to the efforts of the Laemmle Theaters and The Nuart. There’s also a couple of bigger theater chains such as Cinemark and CGV that screen the latest big releases from the Indian, Korean, and Chinese film industries at a few of their locations. Outside of these theaters, international films also premiered at film festivals across the city such as AFI Fest, PAFF, and LALIFF amongst others. However, whilst most international films were easier to find theatrically, they weren’t easier to find on streamers as the streaming market became more split and the big names focused on U.S. releases vs. continuing to scout new international features. Mubi, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hoopla, Kanopy, and even Hulu have been streaming a good selection of new international films – we’ll see if HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, and Peacock join them in 2023.

30 Best International Films of 2022

30. Gangubai Kathiawadi (India)

An Alia Bhatt star vehicle. Gangubai Kathiawadi is the perfect film for her, and she is the perfect fit for Gangubai. Whilst it fails to pull off the conversion of Gangubai from prostitute gangster to feminist icon, its first half is memorable for its quest for vengeance through Mumbai’s criminal underworld. As a bonus, this film features some of the best songs of 2022’s movies.

29. Joyland

Whilst Joyland’s Queer Palm win promises a progressive or unique portrayal of Queerness, the film doesn’t really stretch any boundaries. Haider’s relationship with Biba, the only queer relationship in the film, is sacrificed for a melodramatic finale. However, Joyland is a technically faultless film – something you’d expect from a Cannes winner – and captures the dynamics of the patriarchy in Pakistan memorably.

Read the full review here.

28. EO (Poland)

Sure, the storyline in Eo is a bit clichéd, but there’s a reason why it’s in discussions amongst the best films of 2022: it’s amazing cinematography and sound. The vivid colors and striking sounds turn this Lassie Come Home replay into something that feels much more intense – like a Donkey version of Okja. I only wished the marketers conveyed this intensity in their PR, instead of this comforting image of Eo with carrots around his neck. It’s obviously more for the art-film crowd than for families.

27. Petite Maman (France)

Petite Maman is built around a beautifully mellow sci-fi premise which subtle depicts the fragile relationship between a mother and daughter. Whilst it manages to convey a lot of quaint emotion in its short runtime, it doesn’t celebrate the magic within it. This leaves the film feeling a bit flat to some, but quietly brilliant to others.

26. Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)

This is The Secret in Their Eyes if it was contained to the world of law. It examines the same historical moment in Argentina through the story of the lawyers that put the government on trial and also features Ricardo Darin. Even though the momentum from the thrilling lead up to the trial fizzles out once the film enters the courtroom, it’s always a pleasure to watch one of Argentina’s most iconic actors in their element.

25. All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)

This film is for all the fans of inspirational, patriotic war films. It shows the pointless brutality of war – crossing shocking violence alongside the bland bureaucracy that prolongs it. It also has a soundtrack that serves a similar purpose to a smoke-alarm running out of battery – its unpredictable, sudden loud drones make it un-ignorable. It prevents you from getting comfortable with all of the horrors present in this war film.

24. Murina (Croatia)

A psychological coming of age movie that features some extreme anxiety inducing scenes. The beautiful Adriatic coast masks the strained family relationships between Julija and her parents – a misogynistic dad and a fragile mother. The arrival of a foreign businessman with an ambiguous background and fortune brings the allure of an alternate future for Julija, but pits her against her family and everyone else against each other.

23. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (Mexico)

Genius at times and pretentious at others made Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths one of the most divisive movies of the year. Whichever side you fall on, there should at least be a universal appreciation of its originality. The sets and cinematography and the weird images they come together to create make this film brilliantly unique.

22. Il Buco (Italy)

Il Buco’s stunning landscape shots will push you to add Calabria to your travel wish lists. It follows a group of explorers in the 1960s as they descend into one of the World’s deepest caves in Southern Italy. It’s meditative pace, without any subtitled dialogue and natural sounds, creates a simpler world to contrast with the modern skyscrapers being built in Northern Italy. Il Buco is an ode to the eternal, calm beauty that nature and a simple life offer.

21. Happening (France)

Happening follows a similar path to Never, Really, Sometimes, Always. Like Autumn in the latter film, we join teenage Anne in the early 1960s as she finds out she’s pregnant and follow her quest to end her unwanted pregnancy. However, unlike Never, Really, Sometimes, Always abortion is illegal in the entire country, and Anne is forced to the underground for help. It’s also a little more raw, making it a harder, deliberately more uncomfortable watch.

20. Wet Sand (Georgia)

After Eliko is found hanged in a quiet village on the Georgian Black Sea, his granddaughter Moe comes to organize his funeral. Whilst Moe expects to be in and out of the village quickly, she’s confronted by a web of lies. The more time she spends in the village, the more secrets she finds. As with the best Iranian dramas (see Man of Integrity of A Hero), the tension builds and builds until something has to give.

19. Tug of War (Tanzania)

Tug of War is a beautifully shot, anti-colonial Tanzanian film inspired by Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. It features sumptuously warm cinematography, a slow burning romance, and a fight for independence. The only criticism is that it may borrow a little too much from its obvious influences.

Read the full review here.

18. Saint Omer (France)

In Saint Omer a novelist attends the trial of a woman that killed her 15-month old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in Northern France. The more time our protagonist (and the audience) listens to the killer, the more drawn to her we are. Like the best classic horror films, Saint Omer draws on dread and hidden fears – in this case a fear of motherhood and fear of ones own violent capabilities. It’s a brilliant addition to the legendary tales of La Llorona and Rusalkia.

17. Great Freedom (Germany)

At the end of the Second World War, Hans is moved from the Nazi concentration camps to the prisons of Post-War Germany because of his homosexuality. Over the next few decades, he’s repeatedly imprisoned for his sexuality, but he manages to find some slim semblance of freedom and love in the prisons which is always cut short outside of them. Great Freedom is one of the best prison dramas you can watch.

16. Ponniyin Selvan: Part One (India)

The downside of Ponniyin Selvan: Part One is it’s a long set-up for what should be an incredible sequel. Despite this, the upsides are still numerous: the AR Rahman soundtrack, the Game of Thrones conniving and conspiring against the King, and shots of Southern India and South East Asia are just a few examples. Make sure you watch this film now before the hype arrives with the release of part two.

15. Leonor Will Never Die (Philippines)

Leonor falls into a coma when a television lands on her head, sending her into a dimension that floats between her dreams and reality. It becomes a story within a story as Leonor enters her own unfinished B-movie action script to fulfill her own hero’s journey. Leonor will Never Die is an endearingly quirky ode to the simple fun of 80’s action films.

14. Alcarras (Spain)

What Alcarras does brilliantly is tell a very specific local story in order to highlight how capitalism is affecting not just the Sole family, but the local community and many other people around the globe. It’s set completely in one small municipality in Spain centered one family, all played by non-actors from similar backgrounds to the family on screen, living on one farm. Whilst a multi-family or multi-country film might fail to generate sympathy for it’s characters because of it’s broad scope, Alcarras, in spending time with one family in one region, gives the audience more time and closeness to sympathize with not just them, but everyone negatively affected by capitalism around the world.

Read the full review here.

13. Lingui: The Sacred Bonds (Chad)

Mahamat Saleh-Haroun is one of the most brilliantly consistent directors working today. Every one of his films focuses on Chadian’s facing dilemmas, and all are extremely grounded because of the patient pacing of each of his films. Lingui: The Sacred Bonds follows Amina, a single mother helping her daughter seek an abortion when its condemned by both religion in law. Unlike Happening or Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always their journey is shared and not carried out alone, allowing for their bond to grow in the extreme circumstances.

12. Night of Knowing Nothing (India)

Night of Knowing Nothing combines reality with fiction, fantasies, memories, and a range of experimental plots, to create one of the most interesting protest documentaries of recent years. The narrative follows, L, a fictional university student writing letters to her lover. Their unravelling relationship, partly due to their caste differences, runs alongside documentary footage of student protests and police violence, and in doing so, becomes a metaphor for the country’s decline.

11. Bantu Mama (Dominican Republic)

Bantu Mama looks like your typical Film Festival fare, but it’s propelled by a brilliant soundtrack of regional African music and Dominican trap. Both genres mesh together to represent the cultural dialogue with Africa that Emma, the French-Cameroonian fugitive, opens to the Afro-Latino children that shelter her. The Pan-African cultural dialogue they create make Bantu Mama unique. It’s a lean, music-powered cultural exchange linking the underworld of the Dominican Republic to Africa.

Read the full review here.

10. Clara Sola (Costa Rica)

Clara Sola is the year’s most subtle anti-colonialist film. It follows Clara’s awakening as she frees herself from her conservative Christian family in remote Costa Rica to embrace the indigenous roots of her miraculous powers. It uses colors and nature brilliantly to depict her gradual awakening from society and its colonial inherited culture.

Read the full review here.

9. RRR (India)

There wasn’t a more entertaining film than RRR in 2022. Whilst other Indian and American films tried to capture out-do each other with more ridiculous action scenes, RRR threw 3 or 4 of the top action sequences of the year into it’s 3 hour run time. Sure, it could be described as nationalist and the villains are cliched, and yes the CGI isn’t perfect, but it’s pure entertainment with a bromance for the ages.

Read our review of the RRR experience here.

8. Saloum (Senegal)

Saloum is a high energy genre film that creates a team of mythical African revolutionaries and pits them against a paranormal ambush. Whilst this may seem like a ridiculous plot, it never feels it. Everything we need to know is told on the go and each of the three main characters feel like they have a long backstory which gives the film credibility. The only disappointment is it ends as quickly as it starts, leaving you wanting more.

7. No Bears (Iran)

For a film that holds no punches in attacking censorship and freedom of movement, Panahi’s latest is a joy to watch. It’s filled with a dry humor that pokes fun of the establishment whilst retaining a serious message. Just as much as this, No Bears is also a testament to the filmmaking drive of Jafar Panahi. No matter how many restrictions are imposed against him, he’s continued to make films and inspire others. We hope he, and the Iranian filmmakers imprisoned with him earlier this year will be released and the filmmaking bans rescinded.

Read the full review here.

6. Decision to Leave (South Korea)

Decision to Leave is one of the best modern noirs we’ve seen, complete with a very normal romance, at least in comparison to the director’s other movies. The brilliance in the film comes from the little things, such as the humorous clues of a brewing romance (including expensive sushi), and a hilarious way to take part in a knife fight. Park Chan-wook also uniquely meshes two shots into one to more efficiently convey the detective process. These innovative scenes along with the injections of humor make Decision to Leave immensely engaging to watch.

5. Girl Picture (Finland)

If you’re a fan of Booksmart, Girlhood, or even Worst Person in the World you should try this cute but not shallow coming of age movie from Finland. Whilst there are plenty of similar films, Girl Picture feels more natural and humble because it contains more depth to the dialogue between best friends Ronkko and Mimmi, and Mimmi’s young relationship with Emma.

4. Rewind & PLay (France)

Rewind and Play is an incredibly uncomfortable example of how the Black experience has been written out of history. Alain Gomis digs up the outtakes from an interview Thelonious Monk did with French state television in 1969. It reveals that behind what perhaps appeared to be a simple profile of a Jazz musician, is a heavily edited, whitewashed version of one of the genres largest names. His talent and experience is deliberately reduced to a few stereotypical nuggets to fit a white European audience.

Read the full review here.

3. Mr Bachmann and His Class (Germany)

A couple of years ago, Frederick Wiseman released City Hall, a long documentary that showed viewers footage from all parts of Boston’s city government to give a fairly complete view of what it is like to work in local government. Similarly, Maria Speth’s Mr Bachmann and His Class, spends 3.5 hours in and around Mr Bachmann’s class to give you the experience of being a fly on the wall in a German middle school. What makes it great is that its not just any class; Mr Bachmann’s is composed of migrant children adapting to Germany and Mr Bachmann’s unconventional methods (including heavy metal rehearsals).

2. Memoria (Colombia/Thailand)

At the opposite end of the cinematic experience spectrum from RRR is Memoria. It is just as necessary to watch this film in the cinema, and it may be the only place we’ll ever be able to see it as it continues its theatrical rollout. Like other Apichatpong Weerasethakul films, Memoria‘s plot is intangible. It’s not a film you follow easy; instead it gently guides you towards a calm ecstasy. Watching Memoria in the movie theater is a spiritual experience.

1. Trenque Lauquen (Argentina)

If you’re ready to sit down for a few hours to indulge yourself in some cosy, trivial Argentine mysteries, meet the latest film from El Pampero Cine, Trenque Lauquen. Like La Flor and Extraordinary Stories, Trenque Lauquen is indulgent storytelling. It’s as if the filmmakers of El Pampero Cine have been challenging each other to come up with new quirky mysteries to keep audiences interested for longer periods of time. Each of their films is like following a maze or river cruise full of pleasant surprises. Serious things happen in these films, but because of the relaxed tone, it never feels real-world serious. They’re there to simply entertain and nothing more, and they do this better than anyone else in the industry.

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF 2022:

Pada (India), Inu-oh (Japan), Holy Spider (Iran), Monica, O My Darling (India), The Tsugua Diaries (Portugal), The Great Movement (Bolivia), Excess Will Save Us (France), Fire in the Mountain (India), Vikram (India)

If you think we’ve missed a film from a list that you think is one of the best international films of 2021, please get in touch on Twitter or by email.

Best International Films of 2023 – From South Africa to Japan

Here’s our (very delayed) list of the best international films of 2023. One big learning from 2023 is that having two kids under 3 in the household is not conducive to a lot of film watching. This will probably change in the not too distant future, but until then, we’re focusing on a top 20 instead of a top 30.

The list captures films from 5 continents (sorry Australasia) and features a lot of recognizable names as film festivals and distributors have returned to films that attract a wider range of film fans. Some of these films are brilliant – the returns of Aki Kaurismaki and Hayao Miyazaki are most welcome and there are also returns for less established names, such as Lila Aviles and Rebecca Zlotowski. In among are a few debuts, including an interesting and highly personal documentary from Milisuthando Bongela. We’re hoping to find more debut filmmakers in 2024 amidst some highly anticipated international releases from Mati Diop, Abderrahmane Sissako, Alonzo Ruizpalacios, and Victor Kossakovsky.

20 Best International Films of 2023

20. Milisuthando (South Africa)

Set in the past, present, and future of South Africa, Milisuthando is a memory-driven documentary that captures the South African experience with intimacy. Like the journal films of Jonas Mekas, it captures the feeling of a generation trying to put together the pieces of its past. In this case, an exploration of growing up through major political/historical events as South Africa ended apartheid.

19. Rimini (Austria)

Richie Bravo, once a ‘successful’ Schlager singer and ladies man, is now a middle aged hustler funded by half-filled restaurant concerts and prostitution. His character is a hilarious leftover from the easy-going 90s that just doesn’t fit in todays world. Whilst he assumes a free-loving Italian identity – maybe to counter his Dad’s Nazi days – he outwardly disdains the immigrants/refugees in the background. He’s a mess – but at least a big hilariously harmless one.

18. Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Uganda)

The inspiring leader battling political oppression road-show stops in Uganda after touring Russia (Navalny) and Kenya (Softie). In this documentary, our leader (Bobi Wine), is not just battling one of the worlds longest serving dictators, but continuing to release catchy reggae music. His fierce spirit and willingness to sacrifice himself for his country make this a captivating but difficult watch.

17. Other People’s Children (France)

A teacher full of life falls in love with Ali and grows close to his 4-year-old daughter, Leila. She becomes like a mother to her, provoking a desire for a family of her own. A rarely considered relationship and some great performances, makes Other People’s Children feel very touching and genuine.

16. The Blue Caftan (Morocco)

Touzani’s second feature follows the same style, setting, and structure as her first (Adam). It’s also filmed in close ups and a few mid distance shots to create a strong intimacy between the audience and her characters. The Moroccan setting is obvious but is subtly established through the close distance shots – we never see more than a few meters of streets, the tailor shop, or the bathhouse. Whilst many elements of the story follow Touzani’s debut, The Blue Caftan is another brilliantly warm portrayal of the battle between loyalty, friendship and love.

15. Godzilla: Minus One (Japan)

The 2024 Academy Award winner for Best Visual Effects is one of the most epic films of 2023. Without Godzilla, the film might resemble the overly patriotic notes of the new Chinese blockbusters a bit too closely. With Godzilla, it helps to reinforce the apocalyptic feeling of a country destroyed by World War 2 – not just by the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also by the carpet bombing of Tokyo where this film is set.

14. The Buriti Flower (Brazil)

2022 saw the release of National Geographic’s documentary The Territory, which followed the plight of indigenous people in the Brazilian rainforest. Whilst the documentary won awards for its coverage of deforestation and violence against indigenous people, The Buriti Flower tells it better. The Buriti Flower features the indigenous protagonists instead of processing their language and voices through mediators. In doing so, the Krahô are given a political voice and agency within their community and on the national scale.

13. City of Wind (Mongolia)

City of Wind covers the classic ‘tradition vs. modernity’ trope pretty well through its high-school coming-of-age romance. The setting stands out – Ulaanbaatar – which combines a mass of urban development with its rural, undeveloped outskirts, visualizing the encroaching development on tradition. Tradition is represented in a young shaman, balancing school with his cultural role as a ‘modern’ woman pulls him out of his focused life and into modernity. Will he or won’t he be the end of his cultural lineage?

12. Falcon Lake (Canada)

If there’s a genre that has a higher chance of landing on my best-of-the-year list than any other, it’s the summer vacation romance. The genre, especially when shot with grainy footage, always evokes a nostalgia for summer holidays filled with boredom-provoked spontaneity. Falcon Lake captures the summer vibes well and adds a layer of mystery fueled by lake based horror films.

11. Passages (France)

If a movie features Franz Rogowski, you can assume the acting is going to be worth watching, and Passages is no exception. He’s joined by a commanding Ben Wishaw and a naive Adele Exarchopoulos to make an electric love triangle that moves at Tomas/Rogowski’s whim.

10. Unrest (Switzerland)

It’s not easy to describe or categorize Unrest. It’s not a documentary, but it is too realistic to be a drama. The pacing feels closest to slow film, but with a unique historic lens that captures an era in the Industrial Revolution where everything has become farcically dictated by clock time (using different clocks – train, factory, home). The conflict between these clocks triggers a mini anarchist stand within a watch making factory in the Swiss mountains.

9. Chile 76 (Chile)

Chile 76 treads the same ground as a plethora of Chilean and Argentinian films which also cover their respective police states in the second half of the 20th Century. The red + blue paint scene is brilliantly memorable (if not a bit obvious), but this film stands out for its ability to drive anxiety like none of the films that preceded it. Thanks to a disruptive soundtrack, which turns mundane everyday scenes into ominously paranoid ones, we’re never allowed to settle.

8. Return to Seoul (France/South Korea)

Don’t even think about mentioning adoption or biological parents to Freddie. Perhaps the switch moments are a bit obvious, but Park Ji-Min flips her character brilliantly every time they come up. She plays the unpredictable character scarily – see Alfredo Castro in Pablo Larrains Tony Manero – or even a more edgy version of Renate Reinsve’s Julie in Worst Person in the World. But it’s not all about the performance, as the script keeps us invested in the growing identity crisis with each time-jump.

7. Fallen Leaves (Finland)

There’s no better film to break the anxiety-inducing Chile 76 and Return to Seoul than Fallen Leaves. It’s a beautifully simple love story featuring two down-to-earth lead characters, shot in an apparently ordinary style. Aki Kaurismaki makes filmmaking look easy.

6. Full Time (France)

Strap in for an everyday thrill ride. In Full Time, Eric Gravel turns managing hotel rooms into a high-octane thriller through frantic editing. The camera, like the lead actress, is always on the move creating anxiety-inducing cinema that will likely make you feel that your job and daily commute are a breeze.

5. Four Daughters (Tunisia)

Kaouther Ben Hania is back with more drama. Unlike her previous film, The Man Who Sold His Skin, Four Daughters is grounded in reality. Its authenticity and intimacy is granted by Olfa and her two daughters, who tell their family story with the help of actors playing their lost sisters within the confines of their four walls. Ben Hania encourages her cast to re-enact past trauma, like The Act of Killing, but on a more intimate scale, to create one of the most affecting movies of the year.

4. Rotting in the Sun (Mexico)

The best meta-comedy of the year, Rotting in the Sun features Sebastian Silva and Jordan Firstman playing satirized versions of themselves. It somehow manages to cross partying on gay nudist beaches with the mundanity of housework in Mexico City to create a film which will keep you guessing. It’s the most original film you’ll see from 2023.

3. The Delinquents (Argentina)

Argentina is the home of long, cosy, trivial mysteries. Our 2023 entry follows in the vein of El Pampero Cine, whose Trenque Lauquen was our favorite film of 2022. The Delinquents follows the stories of two men involved in a bank heist to escape unfulfilled lives as bank clerks. Their journeys take us to prison in remote Argentina, a beautiful riverside picnic spot, and famous pizza spots in Buenos Aires. If you have time for some indulgent storytelling – this is your best choice from 2023.

2. Totem (Mexico)

5 years after The Chambermaid and Lila Aviles is back with another affecting Mexico City film. This one takes place entirely within the confines of seven-year-old Sol’s family house as the family gets ready for a birthday party. Like the brilliance of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding, Totem throws us into a family event and forces us to make ourselves comfortable. As we (the viewers) immerse ourselves in the family, the film becomes more and more emotional as the seriousness of the occasion becomes apparent.

1. The Boy And The Heron (Japan)

Miyazaki is back, and this one feels like a departing film as it makes peace with all the existential angst of his previous films. It also comes to terms with a legacy that may not be continued. It’s a magnificent end to an incredible career and gives us all one more chance to enjoy his magic. This is one of his best, and will continue to grow in the next few decades.

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF 2023:

Mami Wata (Nigeria), Smoking Causes Coughing (France), Suzume (Japan), The Eight Mountains (Italy), Godland (Iceland), Tiger Stripes (Indonesia), Society of the Snow (Chile), Terrestrial Verses (Iran), Los Colonos (Chile), El Conde (Chile)

If you think we’ve missed a film from a list that you think is one of the best international films of 2023, please get in touch on Twitter or by email.