The line up of the foreign films at IFFI looks quite
impressive not to mention the retrospectives of legends like Krzysztof
Kieslowski and contemporary film makers like Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Jeon
Soo-Il. Here are 30 films to look out
for at IFFI this year.
1. Leviathan
(Russia) – If there is one and only one film I could watch at the fest, it
would be Leviathan directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. Among other awards, the film
won the best screenplay at Cannes earlier this year and has received tremendous
critical appreciation. Zvyagintsev was
at IFFI in 2011 when Elena was screened and it won the Best Actress award.
2. Timbuktu
(France, Mali) – Winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes this
year, Timbuktu is a film about a place where religious fundamentalists have
taken over and how the lives of the people get affected with it
3. The
Fool (Russia) – The film won a handful of awards at the Locarno film festival
including the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and Junior Jury award. The story is
about an honest plumber who fights against a corrupt system in order to help a
bunch of tenants.
4. Foxcatcher
(USA) – The film starring Steve Carell and Channing Tatum won director Bennett
Miller the Best Director prize at Cannes. It is about an Olympic Gold Medal
winning wrestler who forges a new partnership with a wealthy man to train and
how it affects the relationship with his brother.
5. A Hard Day (South Korea) – Amidst mostly
serious films, there is nothing like a crime thriller to break the
monotony. Screened at Cannes in the
Directors Fortnight along with the Toronto and London Festival, the story is
about a detective who knocks a man down while driving setting off a chain of
events
6. Ida
(Poland )- Winner of the FIPRESCI prize at Toronto and the Best Film at London
Film Festival (and other 30 odd awards), Ida is the story of a young woman
who is all set to take her vows as a nun when she discovers some family
secrets that changes everything.
7. Life
in a Fishbowl (Iceland) – Iceland’s official submission at the Oscars this
year, the story is about a writer who is on a drinking binge and a single
mother who has to resort to extremities to make ends meet.
8. Little
England (Greece)- Official submission of Greece to the best foreign language
film category at the Oscars, this drama of love, passion and relationships set
is in the 1930’s.
9. The
Postman's White Nights (Russia) – This mid festival film picked up a couple of
awards at the Venice film festival including the Silver Lion. The director
Andrei Konchalovsky has also made some English films as well like Runaway
Train.
10. Sivas
(Turkey) – Winner of the special jury prize at Venice, Sivas is a story about
an 11 year old boy and his friendship with a fighting dog named Sivas. The young boy also won accolades for his
performance.
11.The
Theory of Everything (USA)- Director James Marsh won an Oscar for his
documentary Man on wire, but this film is based on the life of the famous Physicist Stephan Hawking and the
relationship with his wife Jane
Hawking.
12.The
Tribe (Ukraine)- Winner of the Critics Week Grand Prize at Cannes, this
powerful film is without dialogues or subtitles. It about a deaf mute teenager
who struggles to be a part of the boarding school and the film is one of the
more remarkable films at the festival.
13.Turist
(Sweden) – Winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes, this gripping
tale is about a family on a vacation on the French alps which is struck by
avalanche. What follows is a family drama.
14.The
Way He Looks (Brazil) This crowd pleaser is also Brazil’s submission at the
Oscars this year. It is about two teenagers, their friendship and how it changes
when another young boy moves to their part of the town.
15.Blind
Massage (China) – Winner of the Silver Bear at Berlin, Blind Massage is about a
massage parlour where all the employees are, well, blind. This is a film with
interesting characters and has bittersweet moments.
16.Charlie’s
Country (Australia) – Director Rolf de Heer’s name may not be as popular as
some of the other directors from world cinema, but make no mistake, his
filmography is highly impressive. This film won David Gulpill (who also acted
in de Heer’s Tracker) the best actor award at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
17.Behaviour (Cuba)
- Part of the competition section, this film about a young boy who
becomes the breadwinner in his family has won quite a few accolades around the
world.
18.Corn
Island (Georgia) – Not surprisingly, this stunningly shot film is Georgia’s
entry at the Oscars. Impressively directed by George Ovashvili, with minimal
dialogues, this story is about a grandfather and his granddaughter who live on
a makeshift island.
19.Mommy
(Canada) – Xavier Dolan the 25 year old director’s Mommy is a whirlwind of a
film. Brilliant acting, especially from
Anne Dorval who has given one of the best performances of the year, Mommy has
set the bar very high for Dolan. It shared the Jury prize at Cannes this year
with a film that I loathed- Godard’s Goodbye to Language.
20.Difret
(Oblivion, Ethiopia) – Just for the sheer story of guts and glory of a girl who
is abducted and escapes from the clutches kidnappers and a lawyer who fights
for the girl’s rights, Difret, based on a true story is worth a watch. Anjelina
Jolie has also been promoting the film after it caught her attention.
21.Clouds
of Sils Maria (France) – Directed by Olivier Assayas (who served on the IFFI
jury in 2007) the film stars Juliette Binoche as an actress who is asked to
play the role that made her famous couple of decades ago. The film also stars
Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz.
22.Winters
Sleep (Turkey) – Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan the film won the top prize, the
Palm d’Or at Cannes. It is about an actor turned hotel owner living in Anatolia
with his wife with whom he has a tumultuous relationship. The film has a
daunting length of 196 minutes but it still is one of the highlights of the
festival.
23.The
Look of Silence (USA) – Director Joshua Oppenheimer stunned the world with his
documentary The Act of Killing and has followed it up with another remarkable
film. Based in Indonesia, a family confronts the men who killed one of their
brothers.
24.The
Salt of the Earth (France) – Directed by Wim Wenders and JulianoRibeiro Salgado,
this documentary won Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Special Mention and Un
Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at Cannes this year. The citation read “This
documentary masterpiece about photographer Sebastião Salgado is a compelling
testimony of our time and a reflection of the human condition worldwide that
shows the possibility of hope for humankind.”
25.A
Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden) - The final film of the
trilogy from director Roy Anderson, the other two being Songs From The Second
Floor (2000) and You, The Living (2007), this film with a rather interesting
title won the Golden Lion at Venice this year.
26.Flapping
in the Middle of Nowhere (Vietnam) –The film won the Fedeora award at Venice.
It is about a young woman who discovers that she is pregnant. Along with her
boyfriend, she tries to make money to have an abortion.
27.The
Imitation Game (USA, UK) – Based on the life of Alan Turing, the film has wooed
critics and audiences alike by winning a handful awards. Benedict Cumberbatch
stars in the lead role and since the film is likely to see a theatrical
release, don’t punish yourself if you miss it.
28.The Owners (Kazakhstan) - A young man along
with his sick sister and teenage brother are forced to leave their house. When
they move to an ancestral house, they discover it is occupied by someone else.
29.Mr.
Kaplan (Uruguay) – The country’s entry at the Oscars this year, the story is
about an elderly gent who goes on a mission of his own after he suspects that
there is a Nazi in hiding.
30.Dearest
(China) – This film is about a couple living in a village who are coming to
terms with the disappearance of their son.
Apart from these films White Shadow (Italy, Germany),
Susanne Bier’s A Second Chance (Denmark Sweden), Cold in
July (it made waves at the Sundance festival), Nabat (Azerbaijan’s entry at the
Oscars), The Guide (Russia) might just be worth it.
