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Essential Central & Eastern European Cinema

Daisies (1966)
Věra Chytilová, Rudolf Jaroš · 65 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them.
Sátántangó (1994)
Béla Tarr · 46 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Eternal Family
Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky · 18 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Klassiki
A naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.
The Decalogue (1989)
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 17 critic votes
The Ten Commandments, exact and uncompromising, literally cast in stone, continues to provide a source of moral conflict in contemporary society. In the ten part collection of films, The Decalogue, Krzysztof Kieślowski examines the dilemma of fundamental sin in the lives of ordinary Warsaw citizens.
The Turin Horse (2011)
Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky · 10 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy
A look at the monotonous daily struggle of a father and daughter in a windswept, desolate landscape. Over six days, their routine of eating boiled potatoes and tending a failing horse crumbles, symbolizing a slow descent into darkness, emptiness, and the end of existence.
Marketa Lazarová (1967)
František Vláčil · 9 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)
Cristi Puiu · 8 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
After suffering terrible headaches and stomach cramps, Mr. Lăzărescu, a lonely 63 year-old man, calls for an ambulance, beginning one man’s hellish journey through Bucharest hospitals in search of proper medical care. As the night unfolds, his health starts to deteriorate fast.
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Andrzej Wajda · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.
The Round-Up (1966)
Miklós Jancsó · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy
After the failure of the Kossuth's revolution of 1848, people suspected of supporting the revolution are sent to prison camps. Years later, partisans led by outlaw Sándor Rózsa still run rampant. Although the authorities do not know the identities of the partisans, they round up suspects and try to root them out by any means necessary.
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
Dušan Makavejev · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire Dušan Makavejev has the answers (or the questions). His surreal documentary-fiction collision begins as an investigation into the life and work of controversial psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and then explodes into a free-form narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl’s sexual liberation.
Adoption (1975)
Márta Mészáros · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
When middle-aged Kata realises that her life will only be complete if she has a baby of her own, her longstanding-but-married boyfriend Joska refuses to comply. But by developing an unlikely friendship with the angst-ridden teenage orphan Anna, who is also involved in a controversial relationship, Kata discovers aspects of herself, and her role as a woman, that have gone unexamined throughout her entire, lonely life.
Underground (1995)
Emir Kusturica · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Kino Film Collection
Black marketeers Marko and Blacky manufacture and sell weapons to the Communist resistance in WWII Belgrade, living the good life along the way. Marko's surreal duplicity propels him up the ranks of the Communist Party, and he eventually abandons Blacky and steals his girlfriend. After a lengthy stay in a below-ground shelter, the couple reemerges during the Yugoslav Civil War of the 1990s as Marko sees the opportunity to exploit the situation.
My 20th Century (1989)
Ildikó Enyedi · 6 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Klassiki, Kino Film Collection
A tale of twin girls, Dóra and Lili, who are born in 1880 Budapest at the same moment Thomas Edison presents his electric lightbulb to the world. The sisters are soon orphaned and separated in childhood, and follow different paths: one grows up to be a naïvely idealistic, bomb-toting anarchist, the other a pampered, hedonistic courtesan. Their paths cross once again on the Orient Express on New Year's Eve 1899...
Ida (2013)
Paweł Pawlikowski · 6 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV, Fandango at Home Free, Plex · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, MUBI, Kanopy
In 1960s Poland, young novitiate Anna is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.
Diamonds of the Night (1964)
Jan Němec · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Two Jewish boys escape from a train transporting them from one concentration camp to another. Beyond themes of war and anti-Nazism, the film concerns itself with man's struggle to preserve human dignity.
Loves of a Blonde (1965)
Miloš Forman · 5 critic votes
Free on Darkroom · Streaming on Criterion Channel
Andula, an innocent Czech girl from a factory town, is desperately in search of love. She believes she's found it when she beds Milda, a charming young musician visiting from Prague. Milda, however, is only looking for a casual encounter, and leaves town assuming he'll never see Andula again. But when Andula doesn't hear from him, she packs up and heads to Prague, to the surprise of Milda and his parents.
The Red and the White (1967)
Miklós Jancsó · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy
In 1919, Hungarian Communists aid the Bolsheviks' defeat of Czarists, the Whites. Near the Volga, a monastery and a field hospital are held by one side and then the other.
A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Cristian Mungiu · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Philo
Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.
Son of Saul (2015)
László Nemes · 5 critic votes
In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival trying to save from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son, seeking to give him a proper Jewish burial.
Something Different (1963)
Věra Chytilová · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
In her first feature, Věra Chytilová uses a combination of documentary and fiction film techniques to tell two stories in counterpoint. The first follows Olympic champion gymnast Eva Bosáková, who contemplates retirement as she undergoes a gruelling training schedule; the second, a housewife who is unappreciated and ignored by her husband.
Closely Watched Trains (1966)
Jiří Menzel · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Klassiki
At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot.
The Cremator (1969)
Juraj Herz · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, DocAlliance Films
In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.
Camera Buff (1979)
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.
On the Silver Globe (1988)
Andrzej Żuławski · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Eternal Family
After a group of astronauts crash-lands on a distant planet, their descendants build a civilization that gradually devolves into myth, prophecy, and tyranny.
DUPE OD MRAMORA (1995)
Želimir Žilnik · 4 critic votes
A trans couple from 1990s Belgrade beholds their profession as a pacifistic mission, curbing the urges of rapists, gamblers and horny young men during turbulent periods in war-torn country.
Cold War (2018)
Paweł Pawlikowski · 4 critic votes
Free on Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads, Amazon MX Player · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A man and a woman meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet drawn to each other.
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
Wojciech Jerzy Has · 3 critic votes
Streaming on Klassiki
During the Napoleonic wars, a Spanish officer and an opposing officer find a book written by the former's grandfather.
The Fireman's Ball (1967)
Miloš Forman · 3 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
The firemen of a provincial Czechoslovakian town throw a ball in honor of the old chief's retirement. There will be music and dancing, a beauty pageant and a raffle. The whole town will be in attendance. However, the proceedings are dogged by difficulty at every step. Workplace injuries, stolen prizes, a shortage of pretty girls... and fire.
Fruit of Paradise (1970)
Věra Chytilová · 3 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
An experimental retelling of the story of Adam and Eve which then progresses into an allegorical depiction of the loss of innocence.
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
Jaromil Jireš · 3 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Valerie, a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to the effects she experiences when she puts on a pair of magic earrings. Now seeing the world around her in a different light, Valerie must endure her sexual awakening while attempting to discern reality from fantasy as she encounters lecherous priest Gracian, a vampire-like stranger and otherworldly carnival folk.
Man of Marble (1977)
Andrzej Wajda · 3 critic votes
A young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.
Son of the White Mare (1981)
Marcell Jankovics · 3 critic votes
Free on Plex, Plex Channel · Streaming on Kanopy, Night Flight Plus, Fawesome
A horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.
Dimensions of Dialogue (1983)
Jan Švankmajer · 3 critic votes
Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
Pictures of the Old World (1988)
Dušan Hanák · 3 critic votes
Streaming on DocAlliance Films
A raw and telling portrait of a people left behind by the modern world, inspired by the work of photographer Martin Martinček - whose pictures of the inhabitants of the Liptov region in central Slovakia, encompassed by the Tatra mountains, distilled entire lifetimes into luminous and intransient images. Dušan Hanák's continuation of these photographs takes the shape of a poetic visual essay, capturing more comprehensive vignettes of their isolated human experiences.
Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
Jasmila Žbanić · 3 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV, Plex, Plex Channel · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Kanopy, Klassiki
Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people – rescue or death? Which move should she take?
From Saturday to Sunday (1931)
Gustav Machatý · 2 critic votes
Two secretaries go out on a double date, but the inexperienced Mary flees when offered money for sexual favors. She takes refuge in a cafe and encounters a plebeian Prince Charming. The film recounts the simple progress of their romance after they go home together.
Canal (1957)
Andrzej Wajda · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, TCM
In the last few days of the Warsaw Uprising during World War II, a modest group of Resistance members remains. The band must take refuge in the sewers under the orders of leader Zadra, but it's only a matter of time before they will have to emerge. However, when they try, they are met only with intense hostility from the Nazis. Despite their attempts stay resolute through immense mental strain, it becomes increasingly apparent that they may be doomed.
Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)
Jerzy Kawalerowicz · 2 critic votes
A Polish priest arrives at a convent hoping to save the Mother Superior who is supposedly possessed by eight demons.
Intimate Lighting (1965)
Ivan Passer · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Two classically trained musicians and childhood friends - one a successful cellist in Prague, the other a violinist who makes his money playing provincial funerals - reconvene on the eve of a small-town symphony concert.
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967)
Dušan Makavejev · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Klassiki
After many adventures, a young female switchboard operator starts a love relationship with a serious young man. But while he's away on business, she gets lonely and succumbs to her colleague's passes.
The Girl (1968)
Márta Mészáros · 2 critic votes
A young woman leaves a state orphanage to find her mother in this interesting examination of how the overt repression of women in the older pattern of village life has been replaced by the more subtle exploitation inherent in the apparently freer existence of young girls in the contemporary city.
Love (1971)
Károly Makk · 2 critic votes
Luca, who regularly visits her bedridden mother-in-law, hides from her the fact that János, his son, has been arrested on a trumped up political charge.
Red Psalm (1972)
Miklós Jancsó · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Kino Film Collection
Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike in which they face harsh reprisals and the reality of revolt, oppression, morality and violence.
Who's Singin' Over There? (1980)
Slobodan Šijan · 2 critic votes
On the last bus to Belgrade before the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, a gallery of eccentrics turns an ordinary journey into a tragicomic portrait of a nation on the brink.
A Short Film About Love (1988)
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Klassiki
19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...
Alice (1988)
Jan Švankmajer · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, OVID
A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare - no matter how twisted or odd that way must be.
Damnation (1988)
Béla Tarr · 2 critic votes
Free on Plex, Plex Channel · Streaming on Kanopy, Fawesome, Eternal Family
Karrer plods his way through life in quiet desperation. His environment is drab and rainy and muddy. Eaten up with solitude, his hopelessness would be incurable but for the existence of the Titanik Bar and its beautiful, haunting singer. But the lady is married and Karrer is determined to keep her husband away...
Time of the Gypsies (1988)
Emir Kusturica · 2 critic votes
A young Romani man with telekinetic powers is drawn into a criminal underworld that promises wealth and belonging but exacts a devastating personal cost.
Twilight (1990)
György Fehér · 2 critic votes
Free on Plex, Plex Channel · Streaming on Kanopy, Fawesome
In the dense and murky woodlands of provincial Hungary, the search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession enshrouded by irresolution and despair, even long after he has been taken off the case. What emerges is not a crime story, but a harrowing venture through the darkness of the human soul.
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu (2010)
Andrei Ujică · 2 critic votes
The three-hour-long documentary covers 25 years in the life of Nicolae Ceaușescu and was made using 1,000 hours of original footage from the National Archives of Romania.
Sieranevada (2016)
Cristi Puiu · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Back from a professional trip to Paris, a neurologist at the pinnacle of his career has to pick up his wife so that they can attend a family meal to commemorate his father, who died a year before. At his mother's flat, the guests are waiting for the priest to arrive while arguing about all kinds of things connected and unconnected with the world’s events and wars.
On Body and Soul (2017)
Ildikó Enyedi · 2 critic votes
Two introverted people find out by pure chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous, a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their dream.
Spoor (2017)
Agnieszka Holland, Katarzyna Adamik · 2 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV, Pluto TV · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Kanopy, Hoopla
A story about Janina Duszejko, an elderly woman, who lives alone in the Klodzko Valley where a series of mysterious crimes are committed. Duszejko is convinced that she knows who (or what) is the murderer, but nobody believes her.
Honeyland (2019)
Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska · 2 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV · Streaming on Kanopy
When nomadic beekeepers break Honeyland’s basic rule (take half of the honey, but leave half to the bees), the last female beehunter in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance.
Erotikon (1929)
Gustav Machatý · 1 critic vote
Andrea, the beautiful daughter of a railway gateman, is seduced by a rich passenger, who missed his train. Left pregnant, Andrea marries another man and moves to Prague, only to encounter her former lover and recover her former lust.
Sa verom u boga (1932)
Mihajlo Popović · 1 critic vote
WWI comes to a small Serbian village of Kumodraž , disturbing its residents' quiet life.
Spring Shower (1932)
Paul Fejos · 1 critic vote
It tells the story of Marie, an austerely beautiful young peasant girl played by the French star, Annabella. She is seduced beneath a flowering tree by the admirer of one of the daughters of the prosperous family for whom she works, becomes pregnant and is cast out.
The Last Stage (1948)
Wanda Jakubowska · 1 critic vote
Poland, during World War II. Martha Weiss, a Jewish woman, arrives at the Auschwitz extermination camp with her family. She is assigned the role of interpreter, but her loved ones are much less fortunate.
Merry-Go-Round (1956)
Zoltán Fábri · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
In a rural scenery in the throes of difficult changes lives a humble but promising young farmer girl called Mari Pataki. Her father forbids her from seeing the man she loves. The father, above all preoccupied by work on the fields and prospective wealth, decides to give his daughter in marriage to an old but rich man with whom he does business. Land marries land, he says. This seems to be the unyielding rule of the Hungarian peasantry. But the young lover is ready to stand up to any challenge to keep Maris love.
Three Annas (1959)
Branko Bauer · 1 critic vote
A retired tram driver tries to find his daughter named Ana whom he lost in the Second World War.
Nobody’s Calling (1960)
Kazimierz Kutz · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
Shortly after World War 2 a young man arrives on the Recovered Territories and starts a romance with a young woman, all the while evading the ghosts of his past.
Labyrinth (1962)
Jan Lenica · 1 critic vote
A self-consciously Kafkaesque tale of a winged lonely man literally devoured by totalitarian rule.
How to Be Loved (1963)
Wojciech Jerzy Has · 1 critic vote
An actress travels from Warsaw to Paris and during the trip reflects on the last few years of her life. It goes back to the German occupation and her hiding of a fellow actor who has supposedly killed a collaborator.
Forest of the Hanged (1965)
Liviu Ciulei · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
In 1916 as an officer in the Habsburg Army ethnic Romanian Apostol Bologa is torn between remaining loyal to the Habsburgs or deserting to the Romanian Army across enemy lines.
Man Is Not a Bird (1965)
Dušan Makavejev · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Klassiki
A Serbian engineer falls for a younger woman, but he is inept at courtship.
The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.
A Report on the Party and the Guests (1966)
Jan Němec · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A group of the bourgeois head for a prominent figure's birthday party. As they venture through the woods and have a picnic, they're suddenly surrounded by some suspicious strangers.
Bariera (1966)
Jerzy Skolimowski · 1 critic vote
A dream-like meditation on post-industrial life in Communist Poland.
NAI-DULGATA NOSHT (1967)
Vulo Radev · 1 critic vote
The action takes place during the Second World War. Unexpectedly in a train compartment a fugitive - British captive - appears among the passengers. The human solidarity is stronger than the fear, and they do their best to save him.
The Naughty Ones (1967)
Vojislav Rakonjac Kokan · 1 critic vote
One night, after a disastrous traffic accident, witnesses reported seeing a woman behind the wheel who fled the scene. In reality, it was four teenagers who stole a Peugeot 404 for a spin. Later, one of them got out and began hitchhiking, while the others were involved in a fatal accident after being chased by the police shortly afterward. The police continue their intensive search for the fourth teenager.
The Tied Up Balloon (1967)
Binka Zhelyazkova · 1 critic vote
A barrage balloon appears unexpectedly over a Bulgarian village during World War II. The startled villagers decide to knock it down with a fusillade yet the balloon flies off to the mountains. The villagers, armed to their teeth, set off after it. But they are not alone in this undertaking...
When I Am Dead And Gone (1967)
Živojin Pavlović · 1 critic vote
The story about Jimmy Barka, a young vagabond who works as a seasonal worker. Having been sacked from the job, his dreams are to become a singer. As most of the things in the Balkans happen, he is destined to failure.
Innocence Unprotected (1968)
Dušan Makavejev · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A documentary about the famous athlete and movie enthusiast who made Serbia's first sound film, Innocence Unprotected. The Nazi occupation of Belgrade prevented the film from gaining wider acclaim. Director Makavejev intersperses clips of the original film with interviews of surviving cast and crew members, as well as newsreel and archival footage.
Libahunt (1968)
Leida Laius · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Cultpix
There are three children growing at Tammaru farm - one boy, Margus; and two orphan girls, Mari and Tiina. Margus' parents want him to marry Mari instead of Tiina as she is more their kind. Hotblooded Tiina is completely different from them and her mother was once executed for being a witch. Thinking that Tiina has bewitched Margus, Mari starts to publicly accuse her stepsister of being a werewolf.
322 (1969)
Dušan Hanák · 1 critic vote
Streaming on DocAlliance Films
A story of a man threatened by a fatal illness evaluating his life (the number 322 in the film title stands for the diagnosis of one kind of cancer). He understands his illness as a form of punishment for his cruel deeds in the 1950s. In the face of reality and his efforts to cleanse himself he hits a barrier of indifference, lack of interest, and individual and collective selfishness. He has to find his own reconciliation with his illness and his past and present life.
A Handful of Water (1969)
Ján Kadár · 1 critic vote
A fisherman saves Anada, a woman adrift, from drowning. He takes her to his home, and protects her. Eventually, she occupies a larger place than was to be expected. He commits adultery with her, but his own wife seems to be in love with the strange young woman.
Binding Sentiments (1969)
Márta Mészáros · 1 critic vote
Edit, who became the wife of a politician out of a simple peasant girl, suddenly becomes a widow as a result of an accident. She never loved her husband. She lives a wealthy and lonely life amidst false friends, facing one of the last alternatives of her life, i.e. having to face her past in the hope of an independent new beginning.
Don Juan (1969)
Jan Švankmajer · 1 critic vote
The age-old story of Don Juan, played by giant puppets.
The Ear (1969)
Karel Kachyňa · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Government bureaucrat Ludvik becomes suspicious after several colleagues disappear and he overhears something strange at a cocktail party. Returning home with his wife, Anna, he finds their house under surveillance and spends a fraught night worrying about his possible arrest in the morning. Marital difficulties come to light as Ludvik and his wife attempt to act normal in front of the cameras while dredging up their problems out of sight.
Beauty and the Vagabond (1970)
Márta Mészáros · 1 critic vote
Savanyú and his friend work at a plant. After the monotonous shifts they engage in the pleasures of the afternoon and the night, i.e. parties and concerts. Savanyú dates Juli, they are already engaged. The young men live as sub-tenants, the young women in workers' hostels. None of these places are suited for spending time together. They are in need of an apartment. Out of the ruinous apartment which they lay siege on, however, they are sent away by the otherwise friendly policeman. At a concert held in the Park of Youth, Juli gets to know Géza. They flirt, then go to the country with a pop-group. Savanyú and his friends follow them. A minor fight cools the atmosphere.
The Gratinated Brains of Pupilija Ferkeverk (1970)
Karpo Godina · 1 critic vote
Plotless and wordless, beautifully edited shots of young (often naked or semi-naked) people in various positions, illustrating different emotions, actions and situations, underlined by rock music.
Crni film (1971)
Želimir Žilnik · 1 critic vote
Director invites six homeless men to his flat for a few days (surprising his wife). He asks officials and people on the street if someone can help them, this being SFRJ, a state officially without those left on their own.
Healthy People for Fun (1971)
Karpo Godina · 1 critic vote
The Serbian province of Vojvodina is home to a multi-ethnic population of Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Romanians, and Roma. The different groups seem to coexist cheerfully and peacefully, full of respect for each other’s customs, songs and religions. But the filmmaker’s ironical gaze discovers cracks in a facade that has long been less harmonious than it seems…
How the Sausage Dog Work (1971)
Julian Antonisz · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Eternal Family
Polish animated short film that uses unconventional film techniques such as cut-out, drawing, filming miscible fluids and scratched images. Also uses non-camera technique such as drawing directly on film. The film is a humorous lecture on the internal structure of a dachshund. Parodying popular lectures at the same time, it contains a message about the superiority of the products of living organisms' techniques and calls for respect for the environment.
Plastic Jesus (1971)
Lazar Stojanović · 1 critic vote
Tom is a young guy from Zagreb, completely without money, trying to make films in Belgrade. He somehow manages to survive with a help of women. He doesn't believe in anybody, respects no one and is in constant conflict with the ruling system and order. After being left by a silly American girl, Tom binds with a woman whose husband is abroad. When she kicks him out, he moves in with her husband's sister, who later kills him in the attack of jealousy. All this is shown in the context of major historical events prior to 1968. with lots of archive footage of world leaders.
The Cat (1971)
Zlatko Bourek · 1 critic vote
Short animated inspired by the Aesop's fable.
Stone Wedding (1973)
Mircea Veroiu, Dan Pița · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
Two bleak stories about absent love. In the first, a widow is working hard in a desperate attempt to save her dying daughter. The second tells the story of two wandering singers who kidnap a bride from her wedding.
The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (1973)
Wojciech Jerzy Has · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki, Eternal Family
Jozef visits a dilapidated Sanatorium to see his father. Jozef undertakes a strange journey through the many rooms of the sanatorium, each which conjures worlds composed of his memories, dreams and nightmares.
The Last Word (1973)
Binka Zhelyazkova · 1 critic vote
The seven women inmates in Poslednata Duma are imprisoned because they have been associated with partisans opposing the fascist puppet government of the German Nazis. Each of them has the power to save herself if she will betray the others, and each bravely refuses to do so, even though it means they all will die. Despite their grim situation, and the atrocities perpetuated on them as political prisoners, they manage to laugh, and even celebrate a festival.
Sweet Movie (1974)
Dušan Makavejev · 1 critic vote
The winner of the Miss World Virginity contest marries, escapes from her masochistic husband and ends up involved in a world of debauchery.
What Are Gypsy Children Doing? (1974)
Schiffer Pál · 1 critic vote
Pál Schiffer's film reports on the injustices of the education system of the 1970s, the lies of the Kádár system, and the everyday life of Roma children.
The Promised Land (1975)
Andrzej Wajda · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
In nineteenth-century Łódź, Poland, three friends want to make a lot of money by building and investing in a textile factory. An exceptional portrait of rapid industrial expansion is shown through the eyes of one Polish town.
Portrait (1977)
Stanisław Lenartowicz · 1 critic vote
A poetic reflection on the passing of time and youth.
Family Nest (1979)
Béla Tarr · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A family slowly disintegrates under various pressures in late 1970s communist Hungary.
Jovana Lukina (1979)
Živko Nikolić · 1 critic vote
A young married couple live alone in the Montenegrian mountains and work hard to make ends meet. Their ordinary life is interrupted by various different characters who pass by their home, and serve as a temptation, both carnal and spiritual, which threatens to corrupt the woman's innocent soul. Each new visitor is a threat of sorts and gradually she becomes suspicious towards the world and the unknown.
A Woman Alone (1981)
Agnieszka Holland · 1 critic vote
A struggling single mother forms a fragile bond with a disabled laborer as they confront poverty, isolation, and the hardships of life in late communist Poland.
Blind Chance (1981)
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
Ritam zločina (1981)
Zoran Tadić · 1 critic vote
Old houses in Zagreb are destroyed in order to build new, bigger blocks. A teacher who lives in one of these houses allows a stranger to share his home with him. The stranger has a fascination with statistics, and claims he can predict crimes based on statistical analyses. When a predicted murder did not occur, the stranger is adamant that the whole town will suffer unless a balance is achieved - and he leaves.
Interrogation (1982)
Ryszard Bugajski · 1 critic vote
In Stalinist Poland, cabaret singer Tonia decides to spend the evening drinking with a group of friends. The next morning, she awakes to find that, for reasons unknown to her, she has been jailed as a political prisoner. As prison officials interrogate, torture and humiliate her, she fights for survival and to maintain her innocence by refusing to sign a false confession. As her years of imprisonment pass, her relationship with her captors grows more complicated.
Kuća na pijesku (1985)
Ivan Martinac · 1 critic vote
An archaeologist returns from Spain. Living alone, he goes about his daily rituals. A haunting leads to tragedy, raising further questions of the man’s life.
My Sweet Little Village (1985)
Jiří Menzel · 1 critic vote
The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík's inability to perform even the simplest tasks. Pávek demands that Otík be transferred to assist another driver, who happens to be a choleric and suspicious man named Turek (Turk in Czech). Rather than work with Turek, Otík decides to accept an offer of employment in Prague, but finds he does not fit in to the city life. After discovering that the transfer of Otík to Prague was a trick by a crooked politician to get a deal on Otík's large inherited house, Pávek agrees to give Otík a second chance and retrieves him from the city to resume their work together.
O Tempo dos Leopardos (1985)
Zdravko Velimirović · 1 critic vote
As children, a Mozambique native and a Portuguese colonialist were friends. Years have passed and Mozambique is fighting for its independence. Two childhood friends meet on opposing sides.
Diary for My Lovers (1987)
Márta Mészáros · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A continuation of "Diary for My Children," the film picks up in 1950, when Juli, the diarist, is 18 and determined to become a movie director.
The Luncheon on the Grass (1987)
Priit Pärn · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Eternal Family
Several episodes, each focusing on a different figure. Towards the end they all come together to replicate the famous painting by Édouard Manet that provides the title.
The Meeting Point (1989)
Goran Marković · 1 critic vote
During the excavation of ancient Roman ruins, an old archaeology professor accidentally opens the gate between our world and the world of the dead.
Korczak (1990)
Andrzej Wajda · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Kanopy
The story of Polish pedagogue Janusz Korczak and his dedication to protecting Jewish orphans during the war.
Larks on a String (1990)
Jiří Menzel · 1 critic vote
In post-WWII Communist Czechoslovakia, several characters considered bourgeois are sentenced to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation. Among them is a young man who pines for a female convict.
Reci, reci, reci... (1991)
Michaela Pavlátová · 1 critic vote
In a cafe, people talk, their words become expresively-shaped balloons. An older waiter tries to connect with a young woman who's reading. She brushes him off, but gets into an animated and romantic conversation with a young man. A dog goes from table to table drinking beer and wine when people aren't looking. Older men talk about sexual conquests until one of their wives interrupts them. The young couple argues; he starts to leave, she pleads, he leaves anyway. The waiter tries to help. Old guys talk until they nod off. Women chat. Later, as the waiter cleans up, the finds the young woman's book. He sighs, the dog sleeps it off.
New Hyperion or Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1992)
Karel Vachek · 1 critic vote
Streaming on DocAlliance Films
From the behavior, discourse, and appearance of individual actors, Vachek composes, in the form of a mosaic, a broad and many-layered film-argument about Czechoslovak democracy in the period of its rebirth, all administered with the director’s inimitable point of view.
An Unforgettable Summer (1994)
Lucian Pintilie · 1 critic vote
In 1925 Romania, young Marie-Therese Von Debretsy refuses the flirtatious advances of her husband's commanding officer. As a result, the cosmopolitan family is reassigned to a brutally bleak and dangerous outpost on the Bulgarian/Romanian frontier where both their relationship and humanity are severely tested.
Before the Rain (1994)
Milcho Manchevski · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during the war in Bosnia, Christians hunt an ethnic Albanian girl who may have murdered one of their own. A young monk who's taken a vow of silence offers her protection. In London, a photographic editor who's pregnant needs to talk it out with her estranged husband and chooses a toney restaurant.
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
Srđan Dragojević · 1 critic vote
In the opening stages of the Bosnian War, a small group of Serbian soldiers are trapped in a tunnel by a Muslim force.
Black Cat, White Cat (1998)
Emir Kusturica · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
A small-time hustler makes a deal with a notorious gangster to whom he owes money: marry his teenage son to the latter's daughter. However, the young lovers are not as agreeable.
Chekhov's Motifs (2002)
Kira Muratova · 1 critic vote
The film is based on A. P. Chekhov’s play “Tatiana Repina” and short story “Difficult People”. At his wedding, the groom is horrified to see among the church crowd his former mistress who had recently committed suicide.
Hukkle (2002)
György Pálfi · 1 critic vote
Free on Tubi TV
Using almost no dialogue, the film follows a number of residents (both human and animal) of a small rural community in Hungary – an old man with hiccups, a shepherdess and her sheep, an old woman who may or may not be up to no good, some folk-singers at a wedding, etc. While most of the film is a series of vignettes, there is a sinister and often barely perceptible subplot involving murder.
The python (2003)
Laila Pakalniņa · 1 critic vote
Streaming on DocAlliance Films
An absurdist farce centering around a school in post-Soviet Latvia. After a rather disgusting prank (someone defecates in the school attic), the tyrannical headmistress deems that no one can leave until the culprit is caught. When the photographer's pet python escapes, havok breaks loose.
Czech Dream (2004)
Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda · 1 critic vote
Streaming on DocAlliance Films
Two students from the Czech Film Academy commission a leading advertising agency to organize a huge campaign for the opening of a new supermarket named Czech Dream. The supermarket however does not exist and is not meant to. The advertising campaign includes radio and television ads, posters, flyers with photos of fake Czech Dream products, a promotional song, an internet site, and ads in newspapers and magazines. Will people believe in it and show up for the grand opening?
A Guest of Life: Alexander Csoma de Kőrös (2006)
Tibor Szemzo · 1 critic vote
'A Guest of life' is inspired by the journey of Alexander Csoma de Koros. The eccentric 19th century set out from his native Transylvania to central Asia on foot, only taking his knowledge of 13 dead and spoken languages with him. He wanted to find the ancestors of the Hungarians, but once reaching Tibet he stayed there, compiling an English-Tibetan dictionary, translating and abridging Buddhist teachings and literature, including the Book of the Dead. The film however is not a biopic, but a collection of impressions of Tibet, recorded on an 8mm camera, overlaid with excerpts from Csoma's diary and translations, spoken on the many languages familiar to Csoma. Intercut with the documentary-style footage are animated segments, which tell Transylvanian folktales that have been weaved around the legendary figure of Csoma.
Taxidermia (2006)
György Pálfi · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Here TV, Here TV Amazon Channel
Set over three generations and beginning with a sexually frustrated orderly during WWII who relieves his tensions in the most outlandish, gross ways. The result of his liaison is a glutton who grows up to be a champion speed eater. He produces a child who becomes obsessed with taxidermy.
Nightmares (2007)
Yael Bartana · 1 critic vote
This film inaugurates Bartana’s “Polish trilogy”, building on the complex Polish-Jewish relations as the point of departure towards a more universal narration about the figure of a stranger or newcomer. Sławomir Sierakowski (leader of the Polish leftist group and magazine “Krytyka Polityczna”) acts here as an activist who passionately invites Jews to come back to Poland. The derelict Tenth Anniversary Stadium in Warsaw provides the scenery of his passionate speech: “Jews! Fellow countrymen! People! Peeeeople! This is a call, not to the dead, but to the living. We want 3 million Jews to return to Poland, to live with us again. We need you! We’re asking you to return!” Bartana relates here to the timeless aesthetics of propaganda films, e.g. Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will from 1934 (where the stadium also becomes an scene of political manipulation), but also the earlier Zionist film chronicles targeted at Jews settling down on the Palestinian territories.
Police, Adjective (2009)
Corneliu Porumboiu · 1 critic vote
Free on Plex, Plex Channel · Streaming on Criterion Channel
A cop named Cristi must go undercover to trail teen Victor who is suspected of selling pot in the north-eastern city of Vaslui.
Aurora (2010)
Cristi Puiu · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Kanopy, Criterion Channel, Klassiki
A taciturn Romanian divorcee acquires a hunting rifle and initiates a killing spree.
If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (2010)
Florin Șerban · 1 critic vote
A teenager prisoner awaits his release when two weeks before that happens he's told that his mother is returned home. Meanwhile, he finds himself in love with a Sociology student, Ana, working in the penitentiary as an intern.
In Darkness (2011)
Agnieszka Holland · 1 critic vote
A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the Nazi-occupied city of Lviv. In Darkness tells the true story of Leopold Soha who risks his own life to save a dozen people from certain death. Initially only interested in his own good, the thief and burglar hides Jewish refugees for 14 months in the sewers of the Nazi-occupied town of Lviv (formerly Poland).
A Girl and a Tree (2012)
Vlado Škafar · 1 critic vote
Summertime, a meadow covered with flowers. Wrapped in the rustle of birds and crickets, an old woman tells us about her life. Her happy childhood, her career on stage, moments of sadness or heartfelt joy. Such is the common, exceptional fate of Stefka Drolc.
Eternal Homecoming (2012)
Kira Muratova · 1 critic vote
A woman is paid a surprise visit by her long-forgotten classmate, who needs her advice: should he choose a wife or a lover? An outrageously burlesque mise-en-scène is repeated many times but each time in a different place and performed by new actors. Why?
Something Better to Come (2014)
Hanna Polak · 1 critic vote
Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
The Second Game (2014)
Corneliu Porumboiu · 1 critic vote
Streaming on MUBI Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel
A deceptively simple set-up: the director and his father watch a 1988 football match which the father refereed, their commentary accompanying the original television images in real time. A Bucharest derby between the country’s leading teams, Dinamo and Steaua, taking place in heavy snow, one year before the revolution that toppled Ceaușescu.
The Tribe (2014)
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy · 1 critic vote
Free on Tubi TV · Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla
A deaf teenager enters a boarding school for the hearing impaired, where he becomes entangled in a violent criminal hierarchy known as the Tribe.
Afterimage (2016)
Andrzej Wajda, Marek Brodzki · 1 critic vote
Free on Pluto TV · Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Film Movement Plus
In 1945, as Stalin sets his hands over Poland, famous painter Wladislaw Strzeminski refuses to compromise on his art with the doctrines of social realism. Persecuted, expelled from his chair at the University, he's eventually erased from the museums' walls. With the help of some of his students, he starts fighting against the Party and becomes the symbol of an artistic resistance against intellectual tyranny.
Zavestanje (2016)
Ivan Jovic · 1 critic vote
In this film the last living witnesses of the events from Second World War are telling their stories and thus transferring silenced victim’s voices to present times.
The Dead Nation (2017)
Radu Jude · 1 critic vote
Free on Cineverse
A documentary-essay which shows Costică Axinte's stunning collection of pictures depicting a Romanian small town in the thirties and forties. The narration, composed mostly from excerpts taken from the diary of a Jewish doctor from the same era, tells the rising of the antisemitism and eventually a harrowing depiction of the Romanian Holocaust.
Sunset (2018)
László Nemes · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Klassiki
In 1913, an orphaned young woman arrives in Budapest to take up employment as a milliner at the hat store that belonged to her late parents but becomes mired in a search for a brother she had never known of.
Collective (2019)
Alexander Nanau · 1 critic vote
Free on Tubi TV, YouTube Free, Xumo Play · Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Dox Amazon Channel
In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.
The Painted Bird (2019)
Václav Marhoul · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Sundance Now, Kanopy, AMC+
After losing his parents, a young Jewish boy wanders Eastern Europe, seeking refuge during World War II.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021)
Radu Jude · 1 critic vote
Free on Xumo Play · Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla
Emi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure.
Dok smo bili tu (2021)
Sunčica Fradelić · 1 critic vote
Briefly depicted fragments from the characters' lives, through summer and winter, as each of them suffers a loss. Cinematic meditation on inevitable loss.
You Won't Be Alone (2022)
Goran Stolevski · 1 critic vote
In an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young feral witch accidentally kills a peasant. She assumes the peasant's shape to see what life is like in her skin, igniting a deep seated curiosity to experience life inside the bodies of others.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023)
Radu Jude · 1 critic vote
Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
On behalf of a multinational company, a production assistant drives around the Romanian city of Bucharest, interviewing various citizens who have been injured due to work accidents to cast one of them in a “safety at work” video.
Kontinental '25 (2025)
Radu Jude · 1 critic vote
Orsolya is a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day she has to evict a homeless man from a cellar, an action with tragic consequences that triggers a moral crisis which Orsolya must weather as best she can.

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