EUROPE

Humans Bound by Technology in the Sculpture and Paintings of Ángel Calvente

December 1st, 2020|Country: Andorra, Spain|

The works of this Andorran-Spanish artist are full of classical reverence for the human body and potential, but the reminders of technological subjugation offer a fresh, ominous spin

Surreal, Delightful Political Satire With Soccer, Gender-Bending and Giant Puppies—‘Diamantino’, dir. Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt, 2018

November 29th, 2020|Country: Brazil, France, Portugal, USA|

The end of a soccer legend’s career makes him an easy target for Portuguese nationalists, opportunism, and greed—but will his kind heart show him the way to love and truth?

Four Women Dance Innocence and Experience to the Choreography of Isadora Duncan’s Grief—‘Isadora’s Children’, dir. Damien Manivel, 2019

November 22nd, 2020|Country: France, South Korea|

A triptych in which different women reinterpret legendary dancer Isadora Duncan’s choreography she created after the death of her two small children

A Long Distance Art Practice Is Here to Heal a World Where Families Are Split Apart By the Pandemic —‘Sister Octopi’, Natalya Konforti & Justine Formentelli

November 19th, 2020|Country: France, Italy, UAE, United Kingdom, USA|

Two cousins separated by time zones and oceans create together to overcome shared trauma, lack of concrete roots and keep the family close-knit despite the distance

A Vulnerable Portrait of Girlhood Between Two Cultures Is a Searing Indictment of the Commercialization of Budding Sexuality— ‘Cuties,’ dir. Maïmouna Doucouré, 2020

September 24th, 2020|Country: France, Senegal|

In a much-discussed coming-of-age comedy-drama, French filmmaker of Senegalese origin does not pull any punches while shedding light on the way cultural excesses harm those caught between them

A Searing, Claustrophobic Portrait of Family Homelessness in Ireland—’Rosie’, dir. Paddy Breathnach, 2018

September 20th, 2020|Country: Ireland|

Based on a screenplay by Roddy Doyle, this film is as relevant as ever in the times of COVID economy and focuses on the hidden homelessness where families with kids are left without shelter

One of the Greatest Queer Love Stories of the 21st Century Hiding In the Gritty Alleys of Genoa— ’The Mouth of the Wolf,’ dir. Pietro Marcello, 2009

September 13th, 2020|Country: France, Italy|

Pietro Marcello’s documentary about a career criminal and a transsexual sex-worker who fell in love in prison is the director’s lesser-known film, but it deserves all the accolades

One of the Country’s Most Exciting Filmmakers Experiments with a Collective Portrait of Iceland at Christmas Time—’Echo’, dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson, 2019

September 7th, 2020|Country: France, Iceland, Switzerland|

56 short scenes allow an unprecedented pleasure to peek into the different households and community gatherings in Iceland during the holiday season

The Transformations of Albania and Its Femininity in the Works of Hasan Nallbani

August 30th, 2020|Country: Albania|

Whether he’s depicting socialist worker heroines, women alienated by their fragility, or experiments with the Byzantine heritage, Hasan Nallbani is Albania’s foremost master of the female portrait

Land, Labor and Alienation in Gentrifying Istanbul—‘Saf’, dir. Ali Vatansever, 2018

August 18th, 2020|Country: Germany, Romania, Turkey|

Migrant and local workers compete for jobs, as the urban sprawl overtakes the neighborhoods: a searing second feature centered around a young couple, where the husband suddenly goes missing

A Burning Desire to Belong and Some Heartbreak On a Roadtrip Across Bosnia & Herzegovina—‘Take Me Somewhere Nice’, dir. Ena Sendijarević, 2019

August 9th, 2020|Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Netherlands|

A young woman’s absurdist journey across her estranged homeland in an intelligent candy-colored debut from a Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker with an exhilarating young cast

The Kids Aren’t Alright In Danish Artist Ole Tersløse’s Digital Art

August 2nd, 2020|Country: Denmark|

Unsettling dystopias unravel in eerie sculptures and postapocalyptic scenes rendered in meticulous 3D, where nature, humanity and the neural networks converge and dissolve into each other

The Pragmatic, Wholesome Hip-Hop of Russia’s Musical Prodigy—Antoha MC, “Pro Menya”, 2019

July 16th, 2020|Country: Russia|

Antona MC dances like no one is watching, raps about healthy habits and routines, and his music is crystal-clear nostalgic futurism: see why there is no one else like him in the industry

The Breakaway State on the Cusp of Adulthood—‘Transnistra’, dir. Anna Eborn, 2019

June 8th, 2020|Country: Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Transnistria|

An intimate and haunting portrait of six teenagers in rural Transnistria shows the splintered prospects and the many limitations of growing up in a melancholy landscape

Balkan Beats and Battle Hymns—Dubioza Kolektiv, ‘#fakenews,’ 2020

May 3rd, 2020|Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina|

A Bosnian band with firm positions on civil rights and intellectual property and a fluid approach to genre has a song for every political issue you may care about

Money, Madness, and Mysteries of Outlaw Capitalism—‘My Father the Banker’, dir. Ieva Ozoliņa, 2015

April 30th, 2020|Country: Latvia, Malaysia|

A daughter’s search for her father who disappeared without a trace after enjoying a high roller life in the 90s becomes a window into the bizarre landscape of post-Soviet Latvia

The Great Black British Artist and the Fruit of Her Toils—Lubaina Himid

March 24th, 2020|Country: Comoros, Tanzania, United Kingdom|

A tireless scholar of the intersection of black identity and labor, visual artist Lubaina Himid creates work that has a lot to teach us about separating the self from production in the current moment

Fuzzy Fur and Fuzzier Ethics of Taxidermy: ‘Animus Animalis’, dir. Aistė Žegulytė, 2018 & ‘Stuffed,’ dir. Erin Derham, 2019

March 19th, 2020|Country: Canada, Lithuania, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, USA, Zimbabwe|

Two woman-made documentaries about people’s relationships with dead animals offer looks on the matter from various parts of the world and across the moral spectrum

An Intriguing Look Into France’s Labor Dynamics in Winemaking Documentary—‘Vas-y Coupe!’, dir. Laura Naylor, 2019

March 12th, 2020|Country: France, USA|

A winemaking family, seasonal laborers and grapes blighted by a fungus in this rigorous documentary that offers an outsider's exploration of the grind that goes into each glass of wine

The Dark, Brainy and Radiant Rap of an Ex-Offender From Belarus—Sirop, ‘Strashila,’ 2020

March 11th, 2020|Country: Belarus|

Once an aspiring musician, Sirop (Сiроп) became addicted to heroin and spent two decades in and out of detention. Now in his late forties, he is the rising star of Belarusian hip-hop.

A Treasure of Ethnofiction from Acclaimed Portuguese Master and His Cabo Verdean muse—‘Vitalina Varela’, dir. Pedro Costa, 2019

February 27th, 2020|Country: Cabo Verde, Portugal|

A migrant's forgotten widow tries to process grief in a Lisbon slum where he used to live: a vigorous, visually-stunning work based on the leading lady's lived experiences

Water Tells Its Own Story–‘Aquarela,’ dir. Victor Kossakovsky, 2019

February 10th, 2020|Country: Denmark, Germany, Greenland, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela, Water|

An elegiac documentary with an urgent message about climate change centers the narrative around aquatic bodies and lets the environment speak for itself

Wool Over the Eyes—‘This Magnificent Cake!’, dir. Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels, 2018

February 6th, 2020|Country: Belgium, DR Congo, France, Netherlands, South Africa|

Whimsical felt puppet fantasy from filmmaking couple tackles colonization of Congo by Belgian King Leopold in a graceful satirical exploration of the chaos that ineptitude sows

A Dog’s Heart—‘Marona’s Fantastic Tale’, dir. Anca Damian, 2019

February 4th, 2020|Country: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Romania, Spain|

Abstract art meets unconditional love in an animated film about a dog's history living with humans: a dazzling all-age feature from Romanian auteur and an international team of visual artists

6 Animated Shorts to See at New York City’s Animation First Festival 2020

February 2nd, 2020|Country: Argentina, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Tajikistan|

Family memories, heart-wrenching puppets, thrilling technological advancements and a lot of dark, delicious humor from the world’s finest animators, including two Oscars nominees

Shrouded in Hopelessness—‘The Swallows of Kabul’, dir. Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec, 2019

January 30th, 2020|Country: Afghanistan, Algeria, France|

The lives of two couples waiting for their real-life to begin in Taliban-run Kabul are entwined in a heart-breaking animated adaptation of Yasmina Khadra's novel

The Extremity of Loss—‘I Lost My Body’, dir. Jérémy Clapin, 2019

January 29th, 2020|Country: France|

A severed hand seeks to be reunited with its body in a highly imaginative, morbid yet affable animated feature co-written by one of the authors of "Amelie" and nominated for the Oscars

The Throbbing Heart of Unrest in the French Suburbs—‘Les Misérables’, dir. Ladj Ly, 2019

January 27th, 2020|Country: France|

A meticulous fictional inquiry into the incendiary social politics of Parisian suburbs in feature debut from a man who has experienced the 2005 Paris uprising in his backyard

Woman, Winter, Work Camp—Guzel Yakhina, ‘Zuleikha,’ trans. Lisa C. Hayden

January 26th, 2020|Country: Russia, Tatarstan|

A forceful, award-winning and debate-sparking debut novel about life in Gulag through the eyes of a diverse cast of characters, with fierce but timid Tatar woman at the forefront

The Ordinary Double Life of a Teenage Somali Model in Budapest—‘Easy Lessons’, dir. Dorottya Zurbó, 2018

January 23rd, 2020|Country: Hungary, Somalia|

After her narrow escape from becoming a child bride in Somalia, 17-year-old Kafia is building her life anew in Hungary. But she fears that her emerging European identity is a betrayal of her roots

Nothing Great About Great Britain: Alienation by Belonging in Zia Haider Rahman’s ‘In the Light of What We Know’, 2014

January 13th, 2020|Country: Bangladesh, United Kingdom|

A debut novel about a man trying to find acceptance despite the class and race separations is dense with thoughts and revelations, steeped in ice-cold loneliness—an outsider's usual bedfellow

Abkhazia	Czech Republic	Ireland	North Ossetia	Spain
Albania	Dagestan	Italy	Norway	Sweden
Andorra	Denmark	Karelia	Poland	Switzerland
Armenia	Estonia	Kazakhstan	Portugal	Tatarstan
Austria	Faroe Islands	Kosovo	Roma	Transnistria
Azerbaijan	Finland	Latvia	Romania	Turkey
Bashkortostan	France	Lithuania	Russia	Ukraine
Belarus	Georgia	Luxembourg	San Marino	United Kingdom
Belgium	Germany	Macedonia	Scotland	Wales
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Greece	Malta	Serbia
Bulgaria	Greenland	Moldova	Slovakia
Croatia	Hungary	Monaco	Slovenia
Cyprus	Iceland	Netherlands	South Ossetia

Abkhazia	Congo-Brazzaville	Indonesia	New Zealand	Spain
Afghanistan	Costa Rica	Iran	Nicaragua	Sri Lanka
Albania	Côte d’Ivoire	Iraq	Niger	Sudan
Algeria	Croatia	Ireland	Nigeria	Suriname
Andorra	Cuba	Israel	Niue	Sweden
Angola	Cyprus	Italy	North Korea	Switzerland
Antigua-and-Barbuda	Czech Republic	Iwaidja People	North Ossetia	Syria
Argentina	Dagestan	Jamaica	Norway	Taiwan
Armenia	Denmark	Japan	Oman	Tajikistan
Arrernte	Dominica	Jordan	Pakistan	Tamil Nadu
Aruba	Dominican Republic	Kanak People	Palestine	Tanzania
Australia	DR Congo	Karelia	Panama	Tatarstan
Austria	Dunghutti People	Kashmir	Papua New Guinea	Thailand
Azerbaijan	Ecuador	Kazakhstan	Paraguay	Tibet
Bahamas	Eelam Tamil	Kenya	Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians	Timor-Leste
Bahrain	Egypt	Kosovo	Peru	Tiwi Islands
Balochistan	El Salvador	Kurdistan	Philippines	Togo
Bangladesh	Estonia	Kyrgyzstan	Poland	Tonga
Barbados	Eswatini	Laos	Portugal	Torres Strait Islands
Bashkortostan	Ethiopia	Latvia	Puerto Rico	Transnistria
Belarus	Faroe Islands	Lebanon	Qatar	Trinidad and Tobago
Belgium	Fiji	Liberia	Rapa Nui	Tunisia
Belize	Finland	Libya	Reunion	Turkey
Benin	France	Lithuania	Roma	Turkmenistan
Bermuda	French Guiana	Luxembourg	Romania	Tuvalu
Bhutan	Gabon	Macedonia	Russia	Uganda
Biripi People	Gambia	Madagascar	Rwanda	Ukraine
Bolivia	Garifuna Nation	Malak Malak People	Saint Kitts and Nevis	United Kingdom
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Garrwa People	Malawi	Saint Lucia	Uruguay
Botswana	Georgia	Malaysia	Saint Vincent and The Grenadines	USA
Brazil	Germany	Mali	Samoa	Uyghur Nation
Brunei	Ghana	Malta	San Marino	Uzbekistan
Bulgaria	Golan Heights	Māori	Sao Tome and Principe	Vanuatu
Burkina Faso	Greece	Martinique	Saudi Arabia	Venezuela
Burundi	Greenland	Mauritania	Scotland	Vietnam
Buryatia	Grenada	Mauritius	Senegal	Wales
Cabo Verde	Guatemala	Mexico	Serbia	Wallis and Futuna
Cambodia	Guinea	Moldova	Sierra Leone	Water
Cameroon	Guyana	Monaco	Singapore	Yemen
Canada	Haida Gwaii	Morocco	Slovakia	Yöruk People
Central African Republic	Haiti	Mozambique	Slovenia	Zambia
Chad	Ho-Chunk Nation	Myanmar	Solomon Islands	Zimbabwe
Chile	Honduras	Namibia	Somalia
China	Hong Kong	Native American Tribes	South Africa
Chinook Nation	Hungary	Nepal	South Korea
Colombia	Iceland	Netherlands	South Ossetia
Comoros	India	New Caledonia	South Sudan

EUROPE

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