Dave Tompkins :: DVD Library :: Academy Awards (Oscars) :: Best Foreign Film :: nominations


(text-only version)

2013
The Great Beauty (2013)

Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

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The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)
The Missing Picture (2013)
The Hunt (2012)

A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.

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Omar (2013)
2012
Amour (2012)

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested.

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Rebelle (2012)
No (2012)

An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.

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A Royal Affair (2012)

A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.

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Kon-Tiki (2012)
2011
A Separation (2012)

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

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Bullhead (2011)
Footnote (2011)
In Darkness (2011)
Monsieur Lazhar (2011)

An Algerian immigrant is hired to replace an elementary school teacher who died tragically.

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2010
In a Better World (2010)

The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.

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Biutiful (2010)

This is the story of Uxbal, a man living in this world, but able to see his death, which guides his every move.

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Dogtooth (2010)
Incendies (2010)

Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history, and fulfill their mother's last wishes.

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Outside the Law (2010)
2009
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.

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Ajami (2009)
A Prophet (2009)

A young Arab man is sent to a French prison where he becomes a mafia kingpin.

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La teta asustada (2009)
The White Ribbon (2009)

Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

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2008
Departures (2008)

A newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals.

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Revanche (2008)

Ex-con Alex plans to flee to the South with his girl after a robbery. But something terrible happens and revenge seems inevitable.

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The Class (2008)

Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

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The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Waltz with Bashir (2008)

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

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2007
The Counterfeiters (2007)

The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936...

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Beaufort (2007)
Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007)

The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan who was a slave before going on to conquer half the world including Russia in 1206.

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Katyn (2007)
Twelve (2007)
2006
The Lives of Others (2006)

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

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After the Wedding (2006)

A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.

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Indigènes (2006)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

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Water (2006)
2005
Tsotsi (2005)

Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader (Chweneyagae).

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Merry Christmas (2005)
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)

A dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.

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Don't Tell (2005)
Paradise Now (2005)

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

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2004
The Sea Inside (2004)

The real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30 year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die.

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As It Is in Heaven (2004)
The Chorus (2004)

The new teacher at a severely administered boys' boarding school works to positively effect the students' lives through music.

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Downfall (2004)

Traudl Junge (Lara), the final secretary for Adolf Hitler (Ganz), tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

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Yesterday (2004)
2003
The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

During his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.

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Želary (2003)
The Twilight Samurai (2003)
Twin Sisters (2003)
Evil (2003)
2002
Nowhere in Africa (2002)

A German Jewish refugee family moves to and adjusts to a farm life in 1930's Kenya.

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The Crime of Father Amaro (2002)
The Man Without a Past (2002)
Hero (2002)

A series of Rashomon-like flashback accounts shape the story of how one man defeated three assassins who sought to murder the most powerful warlord in pre-unified China.

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Zus & zo (2002)
2001
No Man's Land (2001)

Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier is becomes a living booby trap.

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Elling (2001)
Amelie (2001)

Amelie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love.

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Son of the Bride (2001)
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

The people of a small village in Victorian India stake their future on a game of cricket against their ruthless British rulers...

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2000
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled, teenage nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.

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Amores perros (2000)

A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.

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The Taste of Others (2000)
Everybody Famous! (2000)
Divided We Fall (2000)
1999
All About My Mother (1999)

Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela.

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East-West (1999)
Himalaya (1999)
Solomon and Gaenor (1999)
Under the Sun (1999)
1998
Life is Beautiful (1997)

A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp.

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The Grandfather (1998)
Children of Heaven (1997)

Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes...

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Central Station (1998)
Tango (1998)
1997
Character (1997)

Jacob Katadreuffe lives mute with his mother, has no contact with his father who only works against him and wants to become a lawyer, at all costs.

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Beyond Silence (1997)
Four Days in September (1997)
Secrets of the Heart (1997)
The Thief (1997)
1996
Kolya (1996)

Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man...

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Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)
A Chef in Love (1996)
Ridicule (1996)
The Other Side of Sunday (1996)
1995
Antonia's Line (1995)

A Dutch matron establishes and, for several generations, oversees a close-knit, matriarchal community where feminism and liberalism thrive.

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All Things Fair (1995)
Dust of Life (1995)
O Quatrilho (1995)
The Star Maker (1995)
1994
Burnt by the Sun (1994)

Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends...

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Before the Rain (1994)

The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during war in Bosnia...

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Farinelli the castrato (1994)
Strawberry and Chocolate (1994)
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

A senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.

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1993
The Age of Beauty (1992)

In 1931, a young soldier (Fernando) deserts from the army and falls into a country farm, where he is welcomed by the owner (Manolo) due to his political ideas...

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Farewell My Concubine (1993)

The story of two men, who met as apprentices in the Peking Opera, and stayed friends for over 50 years.

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Hedd Wyn (1993)
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
1992
Indochine (1992)

This story is set in 1930, at the time when French colonial rule in Indochina is ending. An unmarried French woman who works in the rubber fields...

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Daens (1992)
A Place in the World (1992)
Schtonk! (1992)
Urga (1992)
1991
Mediterraneo (1991)
Children of Nature (1991)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

China in the 1920's. After her father's death, nineteen year old Songlian is forced to marry Chen Zuoqian...

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The Elementary School (1991)
The Ox (1991)
1990
Journey of Hope (1990)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Ju Dou (1990)
Open Doors (1990)
The Nasty Girl (1990)
1989
Cinema Paradiso (1988)

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

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Camille Claudel (1989)
Memories of a Marriage (1989)
Jesus of Montreal (1989)
Santiago, the Story of his New Life (1989)
1988
Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

The end of the 19th century. A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm...

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Hanussen (1988)
The Music Teacher (1988)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

A woman's lover leaves her, and she tries to contact him to find out why he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she. Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police...

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Salaam Bombay! (1988)
1987
Babette's Feast (1987)

In 19th century Denmark, two adult sisters live in an isolated village with their father, who is the honored pastor of a small Protestant church that is almost a sect unto itself...

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Course Completed (1987)
Au Revior Les Enfants (1987)

A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives...

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The Family (1987)
The Pathfinder (1987)
1986
The Assault (1986)
38 - Vienna Before the Fall (1986)
37.2 Degrees in the Morning (1986)
The Decline of the American Empire (1986)
My Sweet Little Village (1986)
1985
The Official Story (1985)

Alicia Marnet de Ibáñez is a high school history professor and a well-to-do housewife in Buenos Aires...

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Three Men and a Cradle (1985)
Angry Harvest (1985)
Oberst Redl (1985)
When Father Was Away on Business (1985)
1984
Dangerous Moves (1984)
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Camila (1984)
Beyond the Law (1984)
Double Feature (1984)
War-time Romance (1984)
1983
Fanny and Alexander (1982)

The title characters are children in the exuberant and colorful Ekdahl household in a Swedish town early in the twentieth century...

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Le Bal (1983)
Carmen (1983)
At First Sight (1983)
The Revolt of Job (1983)
1982
Begin the Beguine (1982)
Elsino and the Condor (1982)
Private life (1982)
Coup De Torchon (1981)

1938, in a French african colony. Lucien Cordier is the cop of this village, populated with blacks and a few whites (usually racialist and lustful)...

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The Flight of the Eagle (1982)
1981
Mephisto (1981)
The Boat is Full (1981)
Man of Iron (1981)
Muddy River (1981)
Three Brothers (1981)
1980
Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears (1980)

This is a life story of three girlfriends from youth to autumn ages. Their dreams and wishes, love, disillusions. Different careers. And big late love.

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Confidence (1980)
The Last Metro (1980)

In occupied Paris, an actress married to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.

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Kagemusha (1980)

When a powerful warlord in medieval Japan dies, a poor thief recruited to impersonate him finds difficulty...

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The Nest (1980)
1979
The Tin Drum (1979)

Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with...

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To Forget Venice (1979)
Mama Turns a Hundred (1979)
The Maids of Wilko (1979)
A Simple Story (1979)
1978
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)
White Bim Black Ear (1978)
The Glass Cell (1978)
Hungarians (1978)
The New Monsters (1978)
1977
Madame Rosa (1977)
That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

Just after boarding a train, much to the surprise of his fellow passengers, a man pours a bucket of water over a young girl on the platform...

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The Great Day (1977)
Iphigenia (1977)
Entebbe, Operation Thunderbolt (1977)
1976
Black and White in Color (1976)

French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors...

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Cousin, Cousine (1976)
Jacob the Liar (1976)
Night and Days (1976)
Seven Beauties (1976)
1975
Deruzu uzara (1975)

A Russian army explorer who is rescued in Siberia by a rugged Asian hunter renews his friendship with the woodsman years later when he returns as the head of a larger expedition...

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Letters from Marusia (1975)
Scent of a Woman (1975)
Sandakan 8 (1975)
Land of Promise (1975)
1974
Amarcord (1973)

A year in the life of a small Italian coastal town in the nineteen-thirties, as is recalled by a director...

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Lacombe, Lucien (1974)

A small town in the south-west of France, summer of 1944. Having failed to join the resistance, the 18 year old Lucien Lacombe...

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Cat's Play (1974)
The Deluge (1974)
The Truce (1974)
1973
Day for Night (1973)

A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.

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The House on Chelouche Street (1973)
The Pedestrian (1973)
The Invitation (1973)
Turkish Delight (1973)
1972
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.

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The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972)
I Love You Rosa (1972)
My Dearest Senorita (1972)
The New Land (1972)
1971
Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)

Celestine, the chambermaid has new job on the country. The Monteils, who she works for are a group of strange people...

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Tchaikovsky (1971)
Dodes'ka-den (1970)

Episodes from the lives of a group of Tokyo slum-dwellers: Rokkuchan, a retarded boy who brings meaning...

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The Policeman (1971)
The Emigrants (1971)
1970
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
First Love (1970)
Hoa-Binh (1970)
Peace in the Fields (1970)
Tristana (1970)
1969
Z (1969)

Following the murder of a prominent leftist, an investigator tries to uncover the truth while government officials attempt to cover up their roles.

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The Battle of Neretva (1969)
The Brothers Karamazov (1969)
My Night at Maud's (1969)

The narrator (Jean-Louis), a devout Catholic, moves to a provincial town and vows to marry Francoise...

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Adalen Riots (1969)
1968
War and Peace (1967)

Eight-hour epic based on the eponymous book by Leo Tolstoy.

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Stolen Kisses (1968)

Antoine Doinel joined the army but has just been discharged. The film tells his reunion with Christine Darbon...

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The Firemen's Ball (1967)

The fire department in a small town is having a big party when the ex-boss of the department celebrates his 86th birthday...

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The Boys of Paul Street (1968)
Girl with a Pistol (1968)
1967
Closely Watched Trains (1966)

An apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.

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El Amor Brujo (1967)
Portrait of Chieko (1967)
I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967)
Live for life (1967)
1966
A Man and a Woman (1966)

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly they reveal themselves to each other...

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The Battle of Algiers (1966)

A surprisingly unbiased account of the bloodiest revolution in modern history.

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Pharaoh (1966)
Loves of a Blonde (1965)

A factory manager in rural Czechoslovakia bargains with the army to send men to the area, to boost the morale of his young female workers...

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Three (1966)
1965
Shop on Main Street (1965)

Slovakia during WW2. Tono lives a poor life, but the authorities offer him a take over the Jewish widow Lautman's little shop for sewing material...

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Blood on the Land (1965)
Dear John (1965)
Kwaidan (1964)

This film contains four distinct, separate stories. ''Black Hair'': A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money...

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Marriage Italian Style (1965)
1964
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)

Stories about three very different women and the men they attract.

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Raven's End (1964)
Sallah Shabbati (1964)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Woman in the Dunes (1964)

Jumpei Niki, a Tokyo based entomologist and educator, is in a poor seaside village collecting specimens of sand insects...

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1963
8 1/2 (1963)

A harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.

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Knife in the Water (1962)

On their way to a sailing trip, an aging husband and wife invite along an emphatic young hitchhiker out of sheer patronization.

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La Tarantos (1963)
The Red Lanterns (1963)
Twin Sisters of Kyoto (1963)
1962
Sundays and Cybele (1962)
Electra (1962)
The Keeper of Promises (1962)
The Four Days of Naples (1962)
The Pearl of Tlayucan (1962)
1961
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

A young woman, Karin, has recently returned to the family island after spending some time in a mental hospital...

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Harry and the Butler (1961)
Immortal Love (1961)
The Important Man (1961)
Plácido (1961)
1960
The Virgin Spring (1960)

Set in beautiful 14th century Sweden, it is the sombre, powerful fable of wealthy land-owning parents whose daughter...

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Kapo (1960)
The Truth (1960)
Macario (1960)
The Ninth Circle (1960)
1959
Black Orpheus (1959)

A retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.

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The Bridge (1959)
The Great War (1959)
Paw (1959)
The Village on the River (1959)
1958
Mon Oncle (1958)

Monsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.

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Arms and the Man (1958)
Vengeance (1958)
The Road a Year Long (1958)
Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)

A motley quintet of inept small-time thieves bungle the burglary of a local pawnshop in this Italian farce.

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1957
Nights of Cabiria (1957)

A waifish prostitute wanders the streets of Rome looking for true love but finding only heartbreak.

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The Devil Came at Night (1957)
Gates of Paris (1957)
Mother India (1957)
Nine Lives (1957)
1956
La Strada (1954)

A carefree girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.

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The Captain of Köpenick (1956)
Gervaise (1956)
The Burmese Harp (1956)

In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.

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Qivitoq (1956)

Count: 94 / 290