WATCH THE WORLD

Our goal is to open up the world to everyone through film. Everyone should travel if they can (the world is amazing), but it costs time and money which we don't always have. That's where FilmRoot comes in. We bring the world of films to your couch, so you can travel wherever you want to without the flight fees.

Use our World Map to find the best films from each country, choose a continent below to explore the best films from each continent, or simply scroll down to see our latest posts featuring films from around the world. Or, if you're up for a challenge, work your way up to the top of our Film Difficulty Rankings to become a World Film expert.

Latest Posts

Anishoara – A Country Girl Dreaming of Escape

Anishoara Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Anishoara?

Follow a girl quietly determined to forge her own path
Hear the mythical origin story of the Sky Lark
See a rural Moldovan town that looks like it’s preserved in time

From: Moldova, Europe
Watch: Trailer, IMDb
Next: Yara, Mustang, Honeyland

The Breakdown

Anishoara starts with the most unique scene of the whole film. A charismatic man tells the mythical origin story of the Sky Lark in a close up shot with him looking directly at the camera. The story is about a beautiful princess who had suitors lined up for her from across the country. Instead of choosing one of the princes, she chose to love the sun and raced across the land and sea to be with him. But when the sun fell in love with her and embraced her, she burned to ashes and fell back down to earth. Devastated by her fate, the sun decided to reincarnate her as a Sky Lark; a bird that is known for flying vertically before falling back to earth as if it’s trying to reach the sun.

Anishoara a 15 year old is the movie’s Sky Lark. Just like the Princess in the myth, she has suitors lining up to be her partner. There’s a farm boy that teaches her to drive the tractor and a creepy old German tourist that also tries his luck. Instead, she chooses a typical mysterious bad boy named Dragosh that takes her around the country on his motorbike. However, just as the princess was destined to a doom of trying to get close to her love, Anishoara appears destined to chase after Dragosh without getting close to him.

However, her suitors and Dragosh unintentionally change her future, perhaps for the better. Each one of them gives her a gift which helps her to escape from the rural town. The farm boy teaches her how to drive – a method of escape. The old German leaves his binoculars – a tool for her to see outside of the bubble she lives in. Dragosh takes her to the sea, revealing that life exists outside of her town. She uses what she learns from her relationships to seek a new life away from her unchanging home town. Elsewhere she may have the chance to determine her own life. In her escape, she also breaks free from the myth of the Sky Lark.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for more films that take place in rural settlements that feel like they’re from another era, check out North Macedonia’s Honeyland and Lebanon’s Yara.

For more films about women trying to escape from their current lives check out Nevia from the streets of Napoli and Mustang from rural Turkey.

Or if you’d like to see more understated films about women chasing after lost relationships, watch Uski Roti, an Indian film about a woman waiting for her unfaithful husband to return, of When the Tenth Month Comes featuring a woman hoping for her husband to return from war.

Uski Roti – Waiting for Change in the Country

Uski Roti Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Uski Roti is the antithesis of your typical Bollywood film. Instead of bombastic musical numbers and extravagant costumes and decor, Uski Roti‘s rural setting is banal and empty. There’s minimal action as the characters are plagued by having too much time; the wife occupies herself with domestic work and waiting, whilst the husband kills time busing around the country spending time with different lovers to keep from boredom. Both characters seem compelled to live out of a duty rather than because of their own happiness which is reflected in the slow pace of the film. For those with patience, Uski Roti is a portrait of the downtrodden of the world – those condemned by poverty and the patriarchy to a life of nothingness.

From: India, Asia
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, IMDb
Next: When the Tenth Month Comes, Daughter in Law, The Cow

Daughter in Law – Alone in the Desert Waiting for A Soldier to Return

Daughter in Law Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Daughter in Law?

Feel the isolation of living alone in the Turkmen desert with your father in law.
Grasp onto the last threads of hope with a young woman dreaming of her husband returning from war.
For a ritualistic transcendental film from Soviet Turkmenistan.

From: Turkmenistan, Asia
Watch: YouTube, IMDb
Next: When the Tenth Month Comes, Uski Roti, Beatriz's War

Nofinofy – Life as a Barber in Contemporary Madagascar

Nofinofy Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

If you’re looking for a Madagascan film which documents a barber over the course of a few years, Nofinofy is the film for you. It’s mostly a humble slice-of-life movie that depicts the everyday nature of Romeo’s profession. But as one of Romeo’s friends mentions, his job is an honorable one; every day customers entrust him with their heads. But more than that, his customers also loan him their ears. Throughout each haircut, he gives his young customers unsolicited pieces of advice to help them through life, and for his older customers, he’s allowed to converse as he might to old friends, which gives him temporary relief from the burdens the government imposes on his barber shop. His dream of owning his own shop is repeatedly delayed by a city council that forces him to relocate every couple of months. His ever-moving barber shop mirrors the ever-changing city governments.

From: Madagascar, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Mubi
Next: Na China, Boxing Libreville, Inland Sea

Krabi 2562 – A Subtle Critique of One of Thailand’s Most Visited Regions

Krabi 2562 Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Why Watch Krabi 2562?

If you’re a fan of films built around a medley of scenes that segue between narrative and fiction
To jump between past, ancient past, and present day Krabi
For a subtle critique of the changing region

From: Thailand, Asia
Watch: Trailer, IMDb
Next: Mysterious Object at Noon, Mimosas, Android's Dream

A Political Opening

Krabi 2562 opens with a shot of a school assembly outdoors (see picture above). The students chant the national anthem, and salute the national religion (Buddhism) and the monarchy that rules ‘for the happiness of the people.’ It feels a bit dystopian, but this indoctrinated patriotism is pretty common throughout the world (even American school kids sing a bunch of patriotic songs in elementary school). After the singing stops, the camera cuts to an image of two plastic sheep. It’s a juxtaposition that symbolizes the blind patriotism of the kids and teachers.

I expected the film to contain more of a political message after the political jab in the opening. I also embarrassingly thought it would portray a dystopian future due to my ignorance that the date is in fact taken from the Buddhist calendar instead of the Gregorian one we’re familiar with; 2652 = 2019. Instead, Krabi 2562 is built around a series of clips of life in the region from interviews to deadpan narratives. There’s no main characters, not much of a continuous narrative, and it’s not a documentary either. In this sense, the style reminded me a bit of another Thai film, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Mysterious Object at Noon, and a bit of Andrea Bussman’s Fausto, two more films that weave together a mix of footage to create a feeling of story.

Time Traveling

Instead of following a particular character, the film hops between different scenes: some which seem real; and others that seem fictional. Seen together, they create a sense of the feeling of life in Krabi and how it’s changing. Some scenes, such as the interview with the boxer reminiscing on his past life, and the lady following in her parent’s footsteps, evoke a recent past. Other scenes, those that feature the ancient myths told by the Thai guide, and those that feature a pair of cavemen, evoke the ancient past. Whilst the contemporary present is represented by the tourists (foreign and domestic) visiting the region, and the advertising crew using the region’s natural beauty for an ad shoot. Whilst it doesn’t explicitly shout out that the region is taking a bad direction from past to present, it does show that local culture is being marginalized. The cavemen, boxer, and native crew member have been pushed aside (the native crew member literally disappears); the wildlife have turned into statues in a zoo inspected by people in Hazmat suits; and the myths and landscape have been converted into tourist draws. It’s as if the region is being ‘sanitized’ to cater to tourists and the outside world.

However, one thing that is lasting is the areas beautiful landscape. It still looks like the same place that the cavemen inhabited. It existed before stories. Despite the incursions of the outer world, the quiet soundtrack, populated mostly by the natural sounds of birds and cicadas, seems to hint that nature is also still in control. Whilst the people of Krabi can be pushed aside and marginalized, and the animals frozen in time, the beautiful landscapes’ immutability will continue to draw life to the region be it native or foreign.

What to Watch Next

If you want to watch more films built around a medley of scenes that segue between narrative and fiction, check out Andrea Bussman’s Fausto and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Mysterious Object at Noon.

Or if you want to watch another film whose narrative seamlessly jumps between the past and present, I strongly recommend watching Oliver Laxe’s Mimosas. (On a side note, Oliver Laxe actually makes a cameo in Krabi 2562 as the ad commercial director). You could also watch The Last of Us, another intriguing film which follows an African migrant that gets stuck with a modern day caveman in the wild, preventing him from reaching his European dream.

Finally, if you wanted to watch a slow, experimental sci-fi set in a touristic region (as I thought this film was going to be), check out Ion de Sosa’s Androids Dream, set in the Spanish beach resort town of Benindorm in the off-season.