Directed by Austėja Urbaitė • 2022 • Lithuania

The debut feature from Lithuania’s Austėja Urbaitė, the compelling Remember to Blink charts the thin line between devotion and aggression. In the secluded French countryside, Jacqueline and Léon (Anne Azoulay and Arthur Igual) are set to welcome the...

Directed by Maya Vitkova • 2014 • Bulgaria

In 1979, Boryana’s dreams of escaping communist Bulgaria are undone by the miraculous birth, without an umbilical cord, of her daughter Viktoria. Symbolically proclaimed “baby of the decade” by the state, Viktoria lives a pampered life until the eventua...

Directed by Arūnas Žebriūnas • 1969 • USSR/Lithuania

A poignant portrait of innocence and experience, Arūnas Žebriūnas’ exquisite drama captures the inner world of childhood with unusual clarity. Six-year-old Inga (Inga Mickytė) lives with her devoted but melancholy single mother (Lilija Žadeiky...

Directed by Wojciech Marczewski • 1981 • Poland

Wojciech Marczewski’s chilling, beguiling sophomore feature transports the classic coming-of-age tale to 1950s Poland. Following his father’s arrest, 13-year old Tomek (Tomasz Hudziec) is sent to a youth camp designed to indoctrinate future Communi...

Directed by Olesya Morgunets-Isaenko • 2022 • Ukraine

Set against a backdrop of occupation and dispossession, Olesya Morgunets-Isaenko’s seasonal wartime melodrama is a heartbreaking but inspiring insight into Ukraine’s troubled history between empires. In the town of Stanyslaviv (now Ivano-Fran...

Directed by Rasmus Merivoo • 2020 • Estonia

Rasmus Merivoo’s playful horror-comedy take on Estonia’s local legends is a wicked treat. The director’s own children star as Mia and Kevin, phone-addled city kids who are whisked to the countryside and left in the care of their eccentric grandmother (...

Directed by Aktan Abdykalykov • 1998 • Kyrgyzstan

This award-winning film proved to be a catalyst for Kyrgyz cinema’s post-Soviet development. The second part of an autobiographical series based on director Aktan Abdykalykov’s own life, Beshkempir tells a tale of tumultuous adolescence. The pro...

Directed by Dinara Asanova • 1983 • USSR/Russia

A former athlete leads a sports summer camp for troubled teens in this drama from Dinara Asanova. Famed for her use of improvisation, Asanova uses this chronicle of a summer to investigate the paradoxical vulnerability of these supposedly “tough” o...

Directed by Radu Jude • 2006 • Romania

Radu Jude’s debut short announced a major filmmaking talent to the world back in 2006, winning at Sundance and Cottbus. A father and son haul a battered old TV set through mud and rain to the nearest town, hoping to get it fixed in time for a Bruce Lee film...