Foreign Film Series

Trailer IMDB

Description: Nominated for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards, Io Capitano narrates the epic journey of a teenage boy and his cousin as they decide to leave Senegal for the promise of Europe. Throughout this compelling odyssey, the young man confronts a myriad of challenges, from the harsh realities of the desert to the harrowing experiences in Libyan detention centers and the risks of the open sea. Filmed over a span of 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy, and Morocco, with a cast of non-professional actors, this film ventures into the intricacies and contradictions of the human experience. Within the narrative, the aspirations, dreams, and ambitions of the main characters evolve into a gripping struggle for survival, reflecting the indomitable spirit of those who dare to seek a better life. Io Capitano stands as a powerful exploration of human resilience, navigating the delicate balance between hope and the unforgiving realities of the world.

Director: Matteo Garrone

Performers: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo

Reviews:

This is a film that, for all its brutal horrors, keeps a kernel of hope and faith in the inherent decency of humankind (or some of it at least). –Wendy Ide, Observer (UK)

The film makes brilliant if often harrowing cinema. But Garrone’s boldest strokes are also subtle. –Danny Leigh, Financial Times

Io Capitano is a deeply moving film that takes us into a world utterly removed from our own. –Stephen Romei, The Australian

There have been other films about the perils of illegal immigration, but few have struck me with the force of Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano. –Sandra Hall, Sydney Morning Herald

This is no walk in the park, but a work of exceptional value. –Sergio Burstein, Los Angeles Times

The films of Italy’s Matteo Garrone always bloom at the meeting point of two different realisms: social and magic. They’re alive to the hardships of ordinary life, but also its comedy and strangeness... –Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph (UK)

If you’ve ever wondered what an immigrant’s backstory might be, you ‘re not alone. It’s a subject worth exploring. That’s why this sobering but illuminating parable by Italian writer/director Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah) is so compelling. –Dwight Brown

Io Capitano takes a news story that’s mostly about numbers, and puts a human face on it. –Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post

Garrone’s film has a three-dimensional and devastatingly realized human soul at its core. The world could do with paying attention to Seydou’s story and the millions of other real ones like it. –Leila Latif, IndieWire

Trailer IMDB

Description: Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a dedicated, idealistic young teacher in her first job at a middle school. Her relaxed rapport with her seventh-grade students is put under stress when a series of thefts occur at the school, and a staff investigation leads to accusations and mistrust among outraged parents, opinionated colleagues, and an enigmatic student. Caught in the middle of these complex dynamics, the more Carla tries to do everything right, the more desperate her position becomes.

Director: Ilker Çatak

Performers: Leonie Benesch, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Rafael Stachowiak

Reviews:

It's incredibly tense . . . it almost has a Hitchcockian edge. –Mark Kermode, Kermode and Mayo’s Take

Çatak resists neat answers, and Benesch anchors the film with a performance of contained subtlety. –Ed Potton, Times (UK)

It’s a sound lesson in politics – or is it biology? – but more importantly, it’s a chalk-snappingly tense watch. –Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph (UK)

A nail-biting thriller in which director İlker Çatak and sensational star Leonie Benesch turn a tale of petty theft at a German middle school into a battle between freedom of expression and institutional control all too easily recognizable as our own. –Peter Travers, ABC News

A taut and tight examination of the concept of justice folded into an absorbing character study. –Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times

The director, screenwriters, production team and cast turn a small story about a well-intentioned teacher into a modern classroom parable. An amazing achievement. –Dwight Brown

The Teachers’ Lounge is a hard-hitting observation of the human power play and how it dredges out the divides and sharpens the fault lines even in a close and seemingly well-knit community. –Namrata Joshi, The New Indian Express

Trailer IMDB

Description: Set in post-World War II Japan, former kamikaze pilot, Koichi Shikishima, returns home to a devastated Tokyo. As Shikishima begins to rebuild his life, he is haunted by the horrors of war and survivor’s guilt after encountering a giant monster called Godzilla. He joins a team of scientists and veterans to protect Tokyo from the destructive power of Godzilla.

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Performers: Munetaka Aoki, Minami Hamabe, Ryunosuke Kamiki

Reviews:

Yamazaki’s screenplay has subtly framed Shikishima as a stand-in for the nation at large, sloughing off macho Imperial dogma from underneath a suffocating shroud of survivor’s guilt. Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph (UK)

It gets the balance between drama and spectacle, and proper content. It has substance. Mark Kermode, Kermode and Mayo’s Take

You wouldn’t believe a monster movie could make you sob, as well as think, but Godzilla Minus One does. Jonathan Romney, Financial Times

This really shows Hollywood how it's done. Nick Clark, London Evening Standard

It puts the trauma of history at the very centre of the story, ultimately crafting a story about human beings pulling together to heal and defeat an inexplicable force of destruction. Leslie Felperin, Guardian

Godzilla Minus One returns the titular beast to its roots as a metaphor for Japan’s postwar anxiety and grief, in the process delivering a stirring spectacle that also contains a palpable emotional undercurrent. Tim Grierson, Screen Independent

In Japan, the monster gives food for thought: it offers pretexts to illuminate dark passages of history, to explore the complexities that exist in some human beings, to denounce and expose guilt. Hugo Hernandez Valdivia, Cinexcepcion

Godzilla Minus One is a welcome return to retro Godzilla filmmaking that puts more emphasis on character development, instead of the overblown visual effects and annoying characters than can be found in Hollywood versions of Godzilla movies. Carla Hay, Culture Mix