MOST WATCHED 2021

Originally drawing from the cinema of Yannis Economides, Fokion Bogris soon develops his story by following his own unique path, and provides us with one of the finest samples of fresh Greek cinema, with noir references and remarkable realism in the depiction of his world. — Vaggelis, a remnant of the rave generation, gets by selling weed. He would like a steady job with no risks. Petros, a thug from the southern suburbs. He wants respect and a family. Katerina, unwittingly, brings them under the same roof. — Best Supporting Actor Award (Stathis Stamoulakatos) | Hellenic Film Academy | 2021

Absolutely current, absolutely modern and absolutely meta, this biting social satire by Romanian Radu Jude, which triumphed in Berlin and took home the Golden Bear, is the first great cinematic depiction of the Covid-19 era. — A couple films its own amateur porn tape, but when that leaks to the internet, its star tries to secure her position at the school where she works, while the fabric of society is being disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. — Golden Bear | Berlin Film Festival | 2020 Official Selection | San Sebastián International Film Festival

Cesc Gay ("Truman") adapts his delightful play for the big screen and sets the table of a civilised dinner party with all the neuroses and agonies of modern couples, in a funny and sexy way. — Julio and Ana are a couple that mostly just fights. One night, Ana decides to invite their upstairs neighbours, Salva and Lora, despite the fact Julio doesn't like them for multiple reasons, one of them being the fact they are often very loud when they have sex. As the night progresses, many secrets for the two couples will come to surface. — Best Supporting Actor Award (Alberto San Juan) | Goya Awards | 2021

The Palm d’Or that sent shockwaves through Cannes. After the triumph of Raw, Ducournau returns to become only the second woman in the festibal's history to have won its highest honor. She did it with a story that’s hard to stomach, where nothing is as it seems and nothing is out of limits. — After a series of unexplained crimes, a father rediscovers his son, who has been missing for 10 years. Titane: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys. — Palme d'Or | Cannes Film Festival | 2021

The resourceful spirit of the Greek immigrant in Germany magically mixes with soul music in an inventive and, often, hilarious escapist film by Fatih Akin, in the funniest and most optimistic moment of his career. — Zinos is a restaurant owner in Hamburg who can’t seem to catch a break: he’s hurt his back and can’t move, his old clients are abandoning him, and his girlfriend, Nadine, has left him to get a job in Shanghai. Fueled by desperation, he revamps the restaurant to bring in new crowds and does not hesitate to go to China to find Nadine. Except, in order to leave, he has to place the business in the hands of his brother, a choice that may be a recipe for disaster. — Official Selection | Venice Film Festival | 2009 Special Jury Prize | Venice Film Festival | 2009 Young Cinema Award Best Film | Venice Film Festival | 2009 Art Cinema Award | Hamburg Film Festival | 2009

La Belle Époque meets “Westworld” and the spirit of Charlie Kaufman. When and where would you travel if you could? Would you spend a night in the palace as Marie Antoinette? Would you go for a drink with Ernest Hemingway? Daniel Auteuil travels to the past to relive the moment that changed his life. — The quiet life of 60-year-old Victor is turned upside down the day young Antoine offers him a unique, innovative form of entertainment. Thanks to a combination of theatrical tricks and historical reenactment, Antoine’s company offers its clients the opportunity to travel back to any time period they choose. Victor chooses to go back to Lyon in 1974 and relive the most unforgettable week of his life: when he met his one true love 40 years in the past… Can he still feel the same way? — Best Production Design | César Awards | 2020 Best Supporting Actress (Fanny Ardant) | César Awards | 2020 Best Original Screenplay | César Awards | 2020 Directors to Watch | Palm Springs International Film Festival | 2020

"At our closest point, we were just 0.01 centimeters away from each other." Wong Kar Wai delivers a filmic nuclear bomb of emotion about lost love, memory, loss, and the places where we move in our cities. With Tony Leung, Faye Wong and "California Dreaming". — Every day, officer 223 buys a can of pineapple with the expiration date May 1st, symbolizing the day he will finally get over his lost love. At the same time he cannot take his eyes off a mysterious woman with a blonde wig, not knowing that she is a drug dealer. Officer 663 is consumed by grief because of a break up. But when his ex leaves a set of keys for his apartment in a neighbouring café, a waitress will use them to enter his house and brighten up his life. — Official Selection | Locarno International Film Festival | 1994 Best Picture | Hong Kong Film Awards | 1995 Best Director | Hong Kong Film Awards | 1995 Best Actor (Tony Leung) | Hong Kong Film Awards | 1995 Best Actress (Faye Wong) | Stockholm Film Festival | 1994

Chat rooms will never be the same after this shocking documentary - social experiment that dared to delve into the taboo subject of child sexual abuse on the internet. An experiment that soon turned into an act of activism and led to many criminal arrests in the Czech Republic. — Three over-18 actresses with very young appearances are tasked with pretending they are 12 on fake social network profiles. In faithful copies of children’s rooms created in a film studio they chat and Skype with men of all ages who have searched for and contacted them online. The vast majority of these men demand video sex and send photos of their penises or links to porn. Some even attempt blackmail.

The film that re-established Chan-wook Park's popularity on a scale similar to that of "Oldboy". An erotic thriller during the era of Japanese-occupied Korea that magnetizes the audience due to its amazing visual work that turns it into a true celebration of the senses. — In 1930s Korea, during the Japanese occupation, a young girl (Sook-Hee) is hired as a maid to a Japanese heiress (Lady Hideko) who lives a lonely life on a large estate in the countryside, with her domineering uncle (Kouzuki). But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket who has been hired by a fraudster to seduce the heiress, steal her property and have her locked up in a madhouse. Things seem to go according to plan, until Sook-Hee and Hideko "discover" an unexpected connection between them. — Vulcain Prize | Cannes Film Festival | 2016 Best Non-English Language Film | BAFTA Awards | 2018

In a vast metropolis full of antitheses, love could be hiding where you least expect. This ingenious rom-com from Argentina lives and breathes where the others merely begin, justifying why it’s been worshipped by audiences. Winner of the Golden Athena at the Athens International Film Festival. — Mariana and Martin live on the same block in Buenos Aires. They pass by each other daily, shop at the same stores, swim at the same pool but have never met. Martin rarely leaves his apartment after his breakup, while Mariana works as an architect and feels incapable of any serious commitment, since coming out of a 4-year relationship. — Golden Athena | Athens International Film Festival | 2011

A French dramedy unlike all the rest. Couples split up, come together and become entangled, in a masterfully woven web of serendipity. Starring Niels Schneider (“Heartbeats” by Xavier Dolan) and a stellar cast, this is the surprise hit of the summer, nominated for 14 César Awards. — When Francois must unexpectedly rush back to the city, pregnant Daphne takes over as host for Maxim, Francois’ cousin who’s spending a few days at the couple’s vacation home. The two strangers will pour their hearts to each other, going over old tales of romantic disappointment, which end up interweaving in a microcosm of romance absurdity. — Best Supporting Actress (Émilie Dequenne) | César Awards | 2021

Shortly before becoming world famous with Sky Rojo, director David Victori follows in the footsteps of Scorsese’s After Hours, to present an electrifying, speedy thriller that showcases the talent of its two leads and surprises the unsuspecting viewer at every turn. — Dani is an all-round good guy who has dedicated the last few years of his life to taking care of his sick father. After his dad passes away, he decides it’s time to get his own life back on track and buys a round-the-world ticket. But before his journey can get underway, he meets Mila, a young girl as attractive and sensual as she is disturbed and unstable. What starts out as a night of adventure quickly turns into a living nightmare, taking Dani to extremes he could never have imagined... — Best Lead Actor Award | Goya Awards | 2021

A lot of people swear to this day that this is the most beautiful film ever created and 4K restoration catapults this beauty to the moon. A hallmark of Wong Kar Wai's career, with shots, colours, music and slow motion coming together in a celebration of the senses. — Chow, editor-in-chief of a newspaper, moves with his wife to a new house. There he meets Li-zhen, the beautiful woman living next door, wife of a commercial agent, who is usually on business trips. Chow's wife is also often away from home. One day they will realize that their spouses are lovers and will find themselves in the footsteps of an erotic desire that neither of them admits is their own. — Best Actor (Tony Leung) | Cannes Film Festival | 2000 Best Foreign Language Film | César Awards | 2001 Best Actor (Tony Leung) | Hong Kong Film Awards | 2001 Best Actress (Maggie Cheung) | Hong Kong Film Awards | 2001 Best Film Editing | Hong Kong Film Awards | 2001

An impressive directorial debut from Tunisia, in a multi-layered story that begins on the pretext of family drama, leaving a dynamic set of social and political commentary to subtly emerge. — A couple and their son fall victim of a terrorist attack. 11 year-old Aziz is seriously injured and while the parents do everything they can to find an organ donor to save his life, a family secret will be revealed, endangering their son’s life. — Best Actor (Sami Bouajila) - Orizzonti | Venice Film Festival | 2019 OPANDA Jury Prize | French Film Festival of Greece | 2021 FISCHER Audience Award | French Film Festival of Greece | 2021

Boasting an Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and (yet another) masterful performance by Alfredo Castro, this surprisingly tender and emotional film from Chile uses the country’s dark past to talk about difference, acceptance and love. — The paradoxical meeting of a young revolutionary and an elderly transgender woman in Chile in 1986, amidst a climate of political turmoil, will change their lives in ways neither of them could have imagined. — Official Selection | Venice Film Festival | 2020 Audience Award - Open Horizons | Thessaloniki Film Festival | 2020

Not the ghost story you expect. A terrifying 16th century myth turns into a political allegory and metaphysical thriller in the hands of the talented up-and-comer, Jayro Bustamante, whose every new film is a surprise. With awards in Venice and San Sebastian. — In 1980’s Guatemala, Alma and her children are murdered during a military operation led by dictator Enrique Monteverde against the local Mayan population. 30 years later, the general who ordered the attack is found not-guilty, and Alma returns to the world of the living to haunt him. — Best Director - Giornate degli Autori | Venice Film Festival | 2019 Fedeora Award | Venice Film Festival | 2019 EFADs-CAACI Award | San Sebastián International Film Festival | 2018 Official Selection | London Film Festival | 2019

The origin story of an expression that has been imprinted in the world's vocabulary comes to life on screen with a fast-paced narrative, 70s pop aesthetics and a delightful Ethan Hawke in the leading role. — Stockholm, 1973. An American ex-convict breaks into the largest bank in the Swedish capital with the aim of not only emptying the safe, but also demanding that the authorities release his imprisoned friend. Gradually charming the hostage bank employees with his charismatic, sensitive, but slightly unbalanced personality, he will make them not only defend him, but want to help him.