Director Kantemir Balagov, who’s a precocious 28 years old, follows “Closeness,” his lauded 2017 debut, with “Beanpole,” a powerful period drama.…
Eastern European Focus
Ismet Sijarina
It is 1992 in Priština. Yugoslavia is falling apart, with war raging in Croatia and threatening to spread to Bosnia. Serbian dictator Slobodan…
Tamás Yvan Topolánszky
In this fictionalized account of “Casablanca’s” creation, Hungarian-born Jewish film director Michael Curtiz — whose credits include “Captain…
Jesús del Cerro
In 1988 — before the fall of the Iron Curtain — Andrei and his father, Vasile, live in Romania, whose impoverished citizens suffer under the…
Michael Idov
In “The Humorist,” set in the midst of the collapsing U.S.S.R., the favorite stand-up comedian of the regime begins challenging censorship. Boris…
This impressively diverse program of animation features drugs, dogs, motorcycles, and much, much more.
A selection of tales from different countries that speak to our universal connections.
This collection proves that laughter truly is a universal language.
Barnabás Tóth
A lyrical story of love in the midst of conflict, loss, and trauma, “Those Who Remained” — which debuted at Telluride — explores the healing…
Corneliu Porumboiu
In this wry, twisty noir thriller by Corneliu Porumboiu (“12:08 East of Bucharest,” “Police, Adjective”) — which debuted at Cannes — corrupt…
Olmo Omerzu
Complete with a canine sidekick, a fantastic escape scene, and the cringeworthy sexual frustrations of teenage boys, “Winter Flies” is a…
Marianna Yarovskaya
“Women of the Gulag” tells the compelling and tragic stories of some of the last survivors of the Gulag, the brutal system of repression that…