My World Cinema Challenge

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Weird is relative.
Lately I've been encouraging myself to watch movies from as many countries around the globe as possible.

UPDATED: in 2018, I've viewed films from:

Japan
South Korea
Taiwan
Hong Kong
China
Thailand
Vietnam
Phillipines
Indonesia
India
Israel
Iran
Hungary
Austria
Czech Republic
Poland
Germany
Sweden
Norway
United Kingdom
Ireland
France
Spain
Italy
South Africa
Australia
United States
Senegal
Brazil
Armenia
Belgium
Russia (and former Soviet Union cinema)
Canada
Congo (filmed there, produced in Slovakia)


I have more on my watchlists. Right now I'm looking for recommendations from:

Venezuela
Bolivia
Colombia
Peru
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay
Argentina

Greenland
Finland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Belarus

Ukraine
Moldova
Romania
Bulgaria
Greece
Serbia
Bosnia
Croatia
Slovakia
Netherlands
Switzerland

Portugal
Morocco
Any of the African countries
United Arab Emirates
Saudi Arabia
Lebanon
Syria
Iraq
Georgia
Armenia
Afghanistan
Pakistan

Nepal
Bangladesh
Mongolia
Russia

Myanmar
Laos
Cambodia
Malaysia
Indonesia

Papua New Guinea
New Zealand


There are more countries I didn't mention, some of which I'm not even sure if they produce films or not. (I do have selections lined up for Turkey and Iran.)

Any suggestions will be appreciated!



One for a country you've not got listed:
Iceland : Hross í oss [Of Horses And Men] - can't say it particularly floated my boat in terms of humour or narrative but some of the cinematography is nice

One for a country you do:
Chile : Gloria - Slowly paced drama but I liked the lead performance and tone



I always thought that Alps (2011) looked interesting.

Serbia
Bosnia
Croatia
When Father Was Away on Business (1985)
Black Cat, White Cat (1998)

Stickmen (2001)
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)



You can't win an argument just by being right!
Well done. Thats pretty amazing!



“I was cured, all right!”
Colombia) Embrance of the serpent (2015) - Ciro Guerra;
Argentina) Nueve reinas (2000) - Fabian Bielinsky;
Portugal) Huesos (1997) - Pedro Costa;
Indonesia) The Raid: Redemption (2011) and The Raid 2 (2014) - Gareth Evans;
Estonia) Risttuules (AKA In the Crosswind) (2014) - Martti Helde;
Russia) Andrey Rublev (1966), Mirror (1974) Stalker (1979) and the rest of his filmography - Andrei Tarkovsky (aka one of the best directors of all time)



Don't forget Iranian cinema! :

'A Separation'
'About Elly'
'The Salesman'
'Turtles can Fly'

Belgium / Netherlands:
'The Broken Circle Breakdown'


selected others:

'Head On' (Germany / Turkey)
'Land of Mine' (Denmark)
'Lilyah 4 Ever' (Denmark / Sweden)
The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina)
'The Club' (Chile)
Trash (Brazil)
'Ida' (Poland)
'Son of Saul' (Hungary)
'Force Majeure' (Sweden)
'Leviathan' and 'Loveless' (Russia)
'The Ascent' (Russia / Soviet Union)
'Sin Nombre' (Mexico)
'Y Tu Mama Tambien' (Mexico)



Let's see.

Finland - Elina - Som om jag inte fanns (It's debatable whether it's Finnish or Swedish but it's pretty good)

Estonia - November (haven't seen it yet but I'm planning to pretty soon)

Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia - Sveto mesto (Again, it's a film I'm only planning to see so no idea if it's good but it surely looks interesting)



Argentina
Nine Queens, Nueve reinas (2000)
The Secret in Their Eyes, El secreto de sus ojos (2009)

Mongolia/Kazakhstan
Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007)

Netherlands
The Assault, De Aanslag (1986)
The Vanishing, Spoorloos (1988)

New Zealand
Once Were Warriors (1994)

Indonesia
Ada Apa dengan Cinta? What's Up with Love? (2002)
The Raid 1 & 2 (2011/2014)
The Night Comes For Us (2018)



Better one from Iceland if you're still interested: Hrútar [Rams] (2015)



Romania:

Dogs



aka Câini) 2016


Pakistan.


Maalik.




Russia

Mother****ing Russian Conan will get your grandma pregnant with hsi raw masculinity.


Scythian 2018.


Armenia


Bravo Virtuoso


Any of the African countries


South Africa not cheesy romance and crime


Hard to Get



2014





Chile

Action:

Redeemer















(Copied from an old post I made)

Portugal made there most well know films during a dictatorship, but I don't think you would enjoy those kind of movies, because they are mostly musicals with a strange comedy.

I do recommend Manoel de Oliveira, he was the oldest living director, died recently.

You would probably enjoy a director, one of my personal favorites called João César Monteiro.


His most famous trilogy God's Comedy, Recollections of the Yellow House and The Spousals of God

He had a very particular style, some people call him crazy because, uhhh, he just didn't give a f-word. He direct and plays on every movie. They say he selected his actors on the street, he saw someone he though would be a good actor and he just asked.

One of his last movies was called Snow White, a very controversial film, because the movie is just a black screen and audio. He had the movie completely finished and at the last minute he had this idea of just playing the Snow White on a black screen. He had a sense of humor.

Snow White (Branca de Neve)

Will not be the best movies you will ever see, but I'm sure you will not see anything like it. If you want any help getting the movies I can provide.



Weird is relative.
Update: I'm continuing this project in 2019. This month, January, I've already seen individual films from:

Japan (started off with this country as inspired by Chypmunk)
Czechoslovakia
Brazil
Australia
Sweden
India
Mexico
Portugal
Ukraine
Mali

I might write about what I watch in the Movie Tab thread.

Films from other countries currently lined up...

Argentina
Poland
South Korea
Norway
U.K.
China
Hong Kong
Germany
Russia/Soviet Union
France
Denmark
Bhutan
Hungary
Italy
Venezuala
Spain
Vietnam
Senegal
Turkey
Iran
Peru

Better one from Iceland if you're still interested: Hrútar [Rams] (2015)
I did see that a few years ago and liked it. I saw Of Horses and Men several years back too.

@JoaoRodrigues the film I saw from Portugal the other day was actually by Manoel de Oliveira - Benilde or the Virgin Mother. He does have an interesting style if that one is anything to go by. Will be checking out more from his filmography.