Aba Jan

The Silence of the Sirens

2003 · ★ 6.5

The 10 days that came before the horrible 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The Adventures of Werner Holt

1965 · ★ 7.8

Two 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier; but at the front, Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war.

Earth and Ashes

2004 · ★ 5.9

Elderly Dastaguir and his newly deaf 5-year-old grandson Yassin hitchhike and walk, but mostly walk, as they make their way to the coal mine where Dastaguir's son Murad works. Dastaguir must tell Murad that the rest of their family were all killed in a recent bomb attack.

When Acacias Bloom

1962 · ★ 7.3

A man assists a woman in danger, but through her actions, she unintentionally causes his death. Everyone in the village knows that she visits his tomb every spring, but no one knows the details of her story.

Children of Nowhere

Across two timelines in the 1960s and the 1980s, young ex-con Nathan returns to the island in search of the parents who gave him away as well as Chantal, his orphaned girlfriend and a fellow victim of the relocation program, who is now working on an exposé to uncover its disturbing truths. French official Briance once orchestrated the relocations and now seeks redemption.

1980: The Unforgettable Day

2024 · ★ 5.2

There is HWAPYONG Restaurant with full of hopes of the family of three generations. Grandfather, the first-generation owner, and the first son, the second-generation owner, who lives as a fugitive after being branded as a communist and his wife and Cheol-soo’s mom who has to work hard by juggling work and family without complaint. The second son, Cheol-soo’s uncle, who sometimes acts like a child with an excuse of being the second son but loves Cheol-soo more than anyone and seriously cares about the restaurant. To the third generation, young Cheol-soo, family is the most precious. By the time when ‘Seoul Spring’ longing for democratization came to nothing due to ‘Retreat from Seoul Station’ in 1980, there were a series of peaceful protests in Gwangju, Jeolla Province. In warm May, a large dark cloud is looming over HWAPYONG Restaurant, the home and everything of this ordinary family of Cheol-soo, in the middle of Gwangju.

El brigadista

1978 · ★ 6.8

The Castro revolution was just consolidating its power when, in 1961, over 100,000 students were sent from their schools into the countryside to teach the peasants there how to read. Coinciding with the Bay of Pigs invasion, in this docudrama, 15-year-old Mario (Salvador Wood) has come to a tiny village in the Zapata swamps and gradually wins the villagers over to his task. At the same time, he receives an education in the realities of rural life from the hard-working peasants.

The Diary of Anne Frank

1959 · ★ 7.2

The true, harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends, is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

My Baba Bozorg

2023 · ★ 10

My Baba Bozorg was a professor of literature in Tehran, Iran. He moved to Canada in 2002 to live with his son, my father. He spends his days, at large, seldom in his room on the top floor of our suburban home in Scarborough, Ontario. Primarily reading and writing, studying English, watching Persian films, following Persian news, and keeping company to our family dog, Oreo. He never misses his daily walk, morning and evening cups of tea, and telling me Dooset Daram (I love you) when our paths cross. He has watched me grow in this house for 21 of my 22 years of life. Our verbal exchange is remarkably limited given our understanding of one another. A bond I believe can be largely attributed to the beauty our language barrier allows us to see. Nothing about this film was coordinated or discussed prior to shooting. I saw him sleeping, and he woke up and saw me. The rest unfolded. No questions or hesitations.

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

1944 · ★ 7.3

Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.

Philadelphia

1993 · ★ 7.7

Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.

Boycott

1986 · ★ 5.1

Valeh, a member of a leftist organization, is arrested by the SAVAK and sentenced to death. In prison, he reconsiders his relationships with members of his political cell, and begins to doubt the validity of the ideas for which he is condemned. At the same time, his comrades pressure him to make a sacrifice for their cause, and his beloved wife experiences personal problems and economic hardships.