Bicycle Thieves Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema. Drama 1948 89 mins Vittorio De Sica Breathless [À bout de souffle] Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature, an insouciant and iconoclastic crime film that paved the way for the French New Wave. Film noir 1960 90 mins Jean-Luc Godard The Arbor Clio Barnard's film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays. Biopic 2010 90 mins Clio Barnard All in Good Time A pair of newlyweds endure a honeymoon staying with the groom's parents in a comedy from East Is East writer Ayub Khan-Din. Comedy 2012 94 mins Nigel Cole Black Narcissus Tensions grow when a group of nuns open a convent in the Himalayas in Powell and Pressburger’s remarkable melodrama, starring Deborah Kerr. Drama 1947 101 mins Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Blancanieves Pablo Berger’s imaginative black-and-white ‘silent’ movie relocates the story of Snow White to 1920s Spain – complete with bullfighting dwarfs Drama Fantasy 2011 105 mins Pablo Berger Brick Lane Sarah Gavron’s subtle and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel charts the experiences of a Bangladeshi woman in London. Drama 2007 97 mins Sarah Gavron Brief Encounter Noël Coward’s tale of a love affair, thrillingly played out with tight British reserve. Romance 1946 86 mins David Lean Distant Voices, Still Lives Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory. Biopic Historical drama 1988 84 mins Terence Davies Dodes'Ka-Den Akira Kurosawa’s first colour film is an eccentric and joyous account of a group of disparate people living in a city dump. Drama 1970 140 mins Akira Kurosawa Dogtooth Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships Drama 2009 93 mins Yorgos Lanthimos The Elephant Man David Lynch's moving true-life tale of the severely deformed Joseph Merrick and his rescue from the hell of a Victorian circus sideshow. Biopic Historical drama 1980 124 mins David Lynch Fitzcarraldo One of Werner Herzog's most acclaimed and audacious films, Fitzcarraldo tells the incredible story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an opera-loving fortune hunter who dreams of bringing opera to the heart of the Peruvian jungle. Drama Historical drama 1981 157 mins Werner Herzog For Those in Peril An intense and mysterious drama about the lone survivor of a strange fishing accident who’s outcast and persecuted by his fellow villagers. Drama 2013 92 mins Paul Wright Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer’s final masterpiece centres on a woman who rejects the compromise of her marriage and retreats into a serene isolation. Drama 1964 116 mins Carl Th. Dreyer Great Expectations The first of David Lean’s two Dickens adaptations is one of the finest British literary interpretations and one of the most acclaimed of all British films. Drama Period drama 1947 118 mins David Lean Hamlet The first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar remains one of the strongest examples of Shakespeare on film. Drama 1948 153 mins Laurence Olivier Henry V Laurence Olivier rouses an all-star cast and an imperiled nation with his magnificent adaptation of Shakespeare's warrior monarch. Biopic Historical drama 1944 131 mins Laurence Olivier How I Ended This Summer Alexei Popogrebski's taut psychological drama depicts two Arctic meteorologists (a veteran and a novice); secrets, lies and isolation take their toll Drama 2010 124 mins Alexei Popogrebsky The Hunt Mads Mikkelsen stars in a distressing examination of a false indictment, and the collective hysteria that ensues, in this electrifying drama from Festen director Thomas Vinterberg. Drama 2012 111 mins Thomas Vinterberg My Brother the Devil Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them. Drama 2012 107 mins Sally El Hosaini Opening Night John Cassavetes’s emotionally charged film stands as one of the great American movies about theatre and the art of performance. Drama 1977 144 mins John Cassavetes Ordet. Carl Theodor Dreyer’s beautifully photographed tale explores the religious intolerance and familial tensions within a Danish farming family. Drama 1955 125 mins Carl Th. Dreyer Paisà Roberto Rossellini’s ambitious and enormously moving follow-up to his breakthrough Rome, Open City. War 1946 126 mins Roberto Rossellini Ran Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan. Drama 1985 154 mins Akira Kurosawa Red Beard Kurosawa’s episodic, poignant story of a 19th-century doctor (Toshiro Mifune) working in a clinic for the poor and his tumultuous friendship with a young intern. Drama 1965 180 mins Akira Kurosawa Red Road Andrea Arnold’s highly acclaimed film, winner of top prizes at Cannes and the BFI London Film Festival, is a haunting drama about a woman confronting past demons. Thriller 2006 110 mins Andrea Arnold Rome, Open City Roberto Rossellini’s landmark of Italian neorealism often cited as one of the greatest films ever made. Drama War 1945 103 mins Roberto Rossellini Seven Samurai Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since. Drama 1954 207 mins Akira Kurosawa She, a Chinese British-Chinese director Xiaolu Guo’s story of a young woman's journey from a remote Chinese village to London, in an attempt to realise the Western consumer dream. Drama 2010 99 mins Xiaolu Guo The Shout Cannes’ Grand Jury Prize was awarded to this unnerving drama about a man who claims to be able to kill people with a ‘terror shout’ learned from an Aboriginal shaman. Drama 1978 83 mins Jerzy Skolimowski A Simple Life A wealthy film executive reconnects with the nanny who raised him, in a touching drama from the great humanist of the Hong Kong New Wave, Ann Hui. Drama 2011 118 mins Ann Hui On-Wah This Sporting Life Lindsay Anderson’s fantastic first feature masterfully dissects the brutal life struggles of a rough-edged rugby footballer on and off the field. Sport 1963 129 mins Lindsay Anderson The Village Church Carl Theodor Dreyer recounts the history of churches in Denmark, in this hypnotic and powerfully realised short. Documentary 1947 14 mins Carl Th. Dreyer Whisky Galore! Ealing's thirstiest comedy: "the longest unsponsored advertisement ever to reach cinema screens"? Comedy 1949 83 mins Alexander Mackendrick A Woman Under the Influence John Cassavetes' powerful drama stars Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as a blue-collar couple struggling to cope with the wife's slide into mental illness. Drama 1974 146 mins John Cassavetes Yojimbo Kurosawa’s classic about a drifting samurai who plays two gangs off against each other, famously remade as A Fistful of Dollars. Crime Martial arts 1961 111 mins Akira Kurosawa
