In West Bengal, both Harriet, the daughter of a jute mill owner, and her best friend, Valerie, become captivated by dashing visitor Captain John, who ignores them for sultry Melanie. However, all find that their lives are shaken up after Harriet’s brother is involved in a tragedy.  The future Indian film maker Satyajit Ray, then working in advertising, met Renoir while The River was in production and the two men became friends.

Drawing inspiration from Italian neo-realism of the late 1940s and the work of pioneering directors such as Fellini, Visconti and Pasolini, Volver addresses themes of sexual abuse, loneliness and death, mixing the genres of farce, tragedy, melodrama and magic realism. Set in the La Mancha region (Almodóvar’s place of birth) around an eccentric family of women, Penélope Cruz plays Raimunda, a working-class woman forced to go to great lengths to protect her teenage daughter. To assist in a family crisis, her mother comes back from the dead to tie up loose ends.

An account of the creation of the Israeli state from 1948 to the present.  In four episodes, Suleiman recounts family stories inspired by his father Fuad’s private diaries starting from when he was a resistance fighter in 1948, and his mother’s letters to family members who were forced to leave the country during the same period.  In addition, Suleiman also combines his own memories in an attempt to provide a portrait of the daily life of the Palestinians who were labelled “Israeli-Arabs” after they chose to remain in their country and become a minority.

As a 19-year-old infantry soldier in the 1982 war with Lebanon, Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacre, but realises that he has no memory of the event.  In 2006, he seeks out others who were in Beirut at the time to discuss their memories, including a psychologist specializing in post-traumatic stress disorders and the first journalist to cover the massacre.  The entire film is animated, excluding one short segment of news archive footage.  The film is officially banned in Lebanon.

Master Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos wrote and directed this downbeat look at his nation’s often blighted history, as seen through the eyes of an unfortunate young couple.  A band of refugees that returns to Greece after the Russian Revolution adopts an orphaned girl, Eleni, who becomes the focus of the story.  Eleni becomes pregnant by her musician half-brother Alexis and bears twin boys, who are sent away at birth.  Many years later she is forced to marry her widowed adopted father.  On her wedding day, Eleni escapes with Alexis to Thessaloniki, where they reunite with their sons.  Their lives are then ripped apart by World War II and the ensuing Greek Civil War.

When gypsy grifter Matko is abruptly swindled by his own partner, he is unable to pay the large debt he suddenly owes.  As an alternative form of payment, Matko forces his adolescent son Zare into an arranged marriage with his partner’s midget sister, Afrodita.  However, both Zare and Afrodita find the marriage objectionable, and their attempts to escape the situation lead to a series of unpredictable comic escapades. NB: Strong language!