It’s safe to say that the start of this academic year isn’t the start we hoped for when we imagined returning to university. But if there’s any silver lining, it’s that most of us can use the extra time on our hands to discover something new. Whether you want to be uplifted, challenged or just want to escape from voluntary lockdown for a little while, here are ten films from around the world that you simply shouldn’t miss:

1. La Haine (1995)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKwcXt3JIaU

This year, perhaps more than any other, we have been forced to examine the institutional racism at the heart of our society. This makes La Haine a relevant watch. The film unfolds in a Parisian banlieue and follows Vinz, Hubert and Said over the course of one day after their friend Abdel is hospitalised after being attacked by the police. Unflinching, sobering and powerful, Kassowitz’s film is unfortunately still as relevant today as it was 25 years ago. It serves as a timely reminder of the devastating consequences of police brutality towards ethnic minorities.

2. Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLRTtHByPn4

Warm, funny and a little cliché, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis comes from the same country as La Haine – yet the two films could not be further apart. This light-hearted comedy is about a post office manager who is forced to move from the south of France to the rainy and gloomy north, and it is the perfect film to take your mind off the doom and gloom of recent events.

3. About Elly (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdqMICWhxuA

In this thought-provoking and mysterious psychological thriller by Ashgar Farhadi, a group of friends’ weekend getaway to the beach takes a series of wrong turns. After a child is found lying face down in the water, a chain of revelations exposes the fragility of the friends’ relationships and reveals how little they truly know about each other.

4. Queen (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGC6vl3lzf0

After her fiancé calls off their wedding at the last minute, saying that she is too conservative and cautious to ever make him happy, Rani decides to embark on what would have been her honeymoon alone. On her travels to Paris and Amsterdam, expect hilarity, heart and happiness as a shy young woman blossoms into a confident queen.

5. Mustang (2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABNB3zw5BAo

Set in rural Turkey, this haunting drama tells the tale of five teenage sisters who, after playing in the water with their male classmates, inadvertently cause a scandal that results in them being barred from leaving the house. As the family home slowly becomes more and more like a prison, the sisters fight to defy their restrictions and maintain their freedom. 

Mustang is a complex, defiant film about the harmful consequences of a patriarchal society on young women. It reveals how women can be just as complicit as men in maintaining a culture of female subjugation. Most of all, it’s about sisterhood and the importance of solidarity in the face of adversity. If you’re in need of a film to make you think, then this is the one for you.  

6. Campeones (2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo_PDXou77c

Inspired by a real basketball team, Campeones is a truly moving, heart-warming and entertaining affair. After being arrested for drink-driving, Marco, a high-profile basketball coach, is sentenced to 90 days of community service. During this service Marco coaches a basketball team made up of players with various learning difficulties. By being a mentor to this team, he discovers a new sense of purpose and begins to turn his life around. While perhaps a little predictable, Campeones is at once entertaining and warm-hearted without being patronising, making it one of the standout films on this list.

7. Le Grand Bain (2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-CwPDVfaYs

Unless you’ve watched Swimming with Men, which was bizarrely released in the same year and is also about a group of middle-aged men taking up synchronised swimming, Le Grand Bain (or Sink or Swim, to use the English title) is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Similarly inspired by a real-life team (this time the Stockholm Art Swim Gents), the film focuses on seven men, all struggling in their own way, who find a sense of community by being part of a male synchronised swimming team and competing for the World Championships. If you’re looking for light relief to forget about COVID-19, this is your best bet.

8. Roma (2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BS27ngZtxg

Shot entirely in black and white, Roma is an intimate and personal drama set in the 1970s in the Colonia Roma district of Mexico City. The film tells the story of Cleo, a young woman of indigenous descent who works as a live-in maid for a wealthy family.Throughout this slow-burn of a film we witness her place in the household and the complexities of her relationship with her employers and their four young children. While not as action-packed as other films on this list, this subtle yet breathtaking depiction of a type of person whose profession often leaves them overlooked by society is definitely worth your time.

9. Atlantique (2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4s9n5x-kz4

Just when you think that this film will go in one direction, everything is suddenly turned on its head. Part social commentary, part mystery, part romance, part revenge tragedy, part supernatural thriller, this surprising film defies simple definition. The film opens in a suburb of the Senegalese capital Dakar, onto a group of construction workers who haven’t been paid in over three months. The protagonist of the piece, Ada, is in love with one of the workers, Souleiman, despite being betrothed to someone else. When the workers decide to cross the ocean to find employment, things take a supernatural and sinister turn.

10. Parasite (2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xH0HfJHsaY

Parasite is the foreign-language film everyone has heard of – and for good reason. An intricate and subtle study of class conflict, every scene of this tragicomic drama seems faultless. If you’re looking for a film you’ll remember for years to come, this is the one.

There you have it – from understated indies, to brazen comedies, it is clear that there is a whole world of incredible films out there if we dare to look beyond the realm of the English language.

Feel free to recommend others in the comments below!