A re-visit for some, this is the film that brought Kieslowski to international attention and preceded the 3 Colours trilogy. It is the enigmatic story of doppelgängers: Weronika and Véronique are two young women in Poland and France, both singers, the same age and physically the same in every respect, unaware of each other’s existence, yet unconsciously sensing a spectral companion. Irene Jacob remarkable in the role of both women.

Winner of the Oscar for best foreign language film this is based upon Athol Fugard’s only novel, updated to the early 21st century. Tsotsi is the nick name of a young black gang leader escaping from a disruptive past. At a critical moment he has to make a decision which determines how his life will unfold.

Cairo Conspiracy, is an Arabic-language political thriller about Adam, a fisherman’s son, who is offered the ultimate privilege to study at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. When the Grand Imam suddenly dies, Adam becomes a pawn in a ruthless power struggle between Egypt’s religious and political elites. A boldly anti-clerical film juxtaposing the image of faith with a hidden reality of corruption on a par with that of the secular state.

Tarkovsky’s first film after leaving Russia to escape censorship, shot in Italy and characterised by an intense spirituality. He has explained that in Russian the word “nostalghia” conveys “the love for your homeland and the melancholy that arises from being far away.” It has been described as a mystical collision of East and West, and not so much a movie as a place to inhabit for two hours.

The busy, chaotic life of a Beirut beauty salon, this was the first film from Labaki. Rather than tackle political issues that have plagued Lebanon, she presents a comedy that deals with five Lebanese women who gather at the beauty salon and deal with issues related to love, sexuality, tradition, disappointment, and everyday ups and downs. The film won awards at many international festivals and the LA critics best foreign film.