Jackson Kosmacki
New York NY
I am a filmmaker and film writer from the DC area, relocated to NYC, where I am earning my MFA in Directing from the Feirstein School at Brooklyn College. A lifelong cinephile, I have studied film at home and academically, earning a BA in Media Studies from the University of Virginia with a focus in film studies. My primary scholastic concerns are world cinema, including Latin American, Italian, and Post-Imperial cinema traditions, as well as the traditions of LGBTQ+ cinema, the gangster film, and Golden Age Hollywood. As a filmmaker myself, my artistic goals surround constructivist visual storytelling, political subtext, genre subversion, and emotional resonance.
Radical!
Colossal Youth
(Juventude Em Marcha)
After his home neighborhood is destroyed, an aging immigrant is forced him to squat in the slums outside Lisbon.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Portugal, France, Switzerland • 2006
- Director Pedro Costa
- Cast Ventura, Vanda Duarte, Beatriz Duarte, Gustavo Sumpta, Cila Cardoso, Isabel Cardoso
- Genre Documentary, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Theorem
(Teorema)
There are only 923 words spoken in “Teorema” – but it says everything!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1968
- Director Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Cast Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti, Anne Wiazemsky, Andrés José Cruz Soublette, Laura Betti
- Genre Mystery, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Firemen's Ball
(Hoří, má panenko)
A fiery political comedy about a party turned disastrous.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Czechoslovakia, Italy • 1967
- Director Miloš Forman
- Cast Jan Vostrčil, Josef Šebánek, Josef Valnoha, František Debelka, Josef Řehořek, Vratislav Čermák
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV
That Obscure Object of Desire
(Cet obscur objet du désir)
In flashback, an aging man recounts his sexual frustrations when falling for his 19 year-old former chambermaid Conchita.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Spain • 1977
- Director Luis Buñuel
- Cast Carole Bouquet, Ángela Molina, Fernando Rey, Milena Vukotić, Julien Bertheau, André Weber
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
I Am Cuba
(Soy Cuba)
Four stylized stories explore Cuba's transition from the totalitarian rule of the Batista regime to widespread revolution.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Cuba, Soviet Union • 1964
- Director Mikhail Kalatozov
- Cast Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, José Gallardo, Raúl García, Luz María Collazo, Jean Bouise
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Holy Motors
A day in the life of an actor who has many appointments. But no audience.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany • 2012
- Director Leos Carax
- Cast Denis Lavant, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue, Michel Piccoli, Edith Scob, Big John
- Genre Drama, Fantasy
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Midnight Pulp, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Black God, White Devil
(Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Brazil • 1964
- Director Glauber Rocha
- Cast Geraldo del Rey, Yoná Magalhães, Othon Bastos, Sonia dos Humildes, Maurício do Valle, Lídio Silva
- Genre Drama, History, Crime, Adventure
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
(Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês)
The Beginning of the Exploitation of Brazil
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Brazil • 1971
- Director Nelson Pereira dos Santos
- Cast Arduíno Colassanti, Ana Maria Magalhães, Eduardo Imbassahy Filho, Gabriel Arcanjo, José Kleber, Luiz Carlos Lacerda
- Genre Comedy, Adventure, History
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Crazed Fruit
(狂った果実)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1956
- Director Kō Nakahira
- Cast Masahiko Tsugawa, Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Shinsuke Ashida, Harold Conway, Masumi Okada
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Tubi TV
Break the Power of the Manipulators
(Brecht die Macht der Manipulateure)
When a right-wing tabloid starts targeting student protests with falsehoods, the students begin a campaign against the paper's publisher.
- West Germany, Finland • 1968
- Director Helke Sander
- Cast Christian Ziewer
- Genre Documentary
- Available on myfilmfriend
Leopards of Locarno
Germany, Year Zero
(Germania anno zero)
The country is obliterated, the buildings are dilapidated and the people are desolated.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, Germany • 1948
- Director Roberto Rossellini
- Cast Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze, Franz-Otto Krüger, Erich Gühne, Heidi Blänkner
- Genre Drama, History, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel
Gate of Hell
(地獄門)
The most honored screen import in a decade!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1953
- Director Teinosuke Kinugasa
- Cast Kazuo Hasegawa, Machiko Kyō, Isao Yamagata, Yataro Kurokawa, Kōtarō Bandō, Jun Tazaki
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Fires on the Plain
(野火)
A tubercular private in the Japanese army struggles to survive in the twilight of the Second World War.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1959
- Director Kon Ichikawa
- Cast Eiji Funakoshi, Osamu Takizawa, Mickey Curtis, Mantarō Ushio, Kyū Sazanka, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Kanopy
Black Peter
(Černý Petr)
Petr's shyness complicates his job as a security guard, his interactions with beautiful Asa, and his relationship with his father.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Czechoslovakia • 1964
- Director Miloš Forman
- Cast Ladislav Jakim, Pavla Martínková, Jan Vostrčil, Vladimír Pucholt, Pavel Sedláček, Zdeněk Kulhánek
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Illumination
(Iluminacja)
A decade in the life of a physics student whose faith in reason is shaken by love and tragedy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1973
- Director Krzysztof Zanussi
- Cast Stanislaw Latallo, Małgorzata Pritulak, Monika Dzienisiewicz-Olbrychska, Jan Skotnicki, Edward Żebrowski, Wlodzimierz Zonn
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Chakra
A single mother tries to raise a moral son in the desperate slums of Bombay.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- India • 1981
- Director Rabindra Dharmaraj
- Cast Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Rohini Hattangadi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anjali Paigankar, Salim Ghouse
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Amazon Video
Distant Voices, Still Lives
A view of a working-class family in Liverpool during the 40s and 50s based on Terrence Davies own childhood experiences.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, West Germany • 1988
- Director Terence Davies
- Cast Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Lorraine Ashbourne, Dean Williams, Sally Davies
- Genre Drama, Music
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Fandor
The Mirror
(آینه)
When a young girl becomes lost in the hustle and bustle of Tehran, her journey turns into an exploration of the nature of film itself.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iran • 1997
- Director Jafar Panahi
- Cast Mina Mohammad Khani, Kazem Mojdehi, Naser Omuni, M. Shirzad, T. Samadpour
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Silent Waters
(Khamosh Pani: Silent Waters)
The Water Stirs
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Pakistan, France, Germany • 2003
- Director Sabiha Sumar
- Cast Kirron Kher, Aamir Ali Malik, Arshad Mahmood, Salman Shahid, Shilpa Shukla, Sarfaraz Ansari
- Genre Drama, Music
- Available on FlixFling, Kanopy
From What Is Before
(Mula sa kung ano ang noon)
An extraordinary epic that relates the strange, perhaps supernatural, occurrences that befall a remote village in the Philippine countryside.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Philippines • 2014
- Director Lav Diaz
- Cast Perry Dizon, Roeder, Hazel Orencio, Karenina Haniel, Reynan Abcede, Mailes Kanapi
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, OVID, Kanopy
Right Now, Wrong Then
(지금은맞고그때는틀리다)
Two parts: a married film director travels to a new town and falls in love with a young painter一twice.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2015
- Director Hong Sang-soo
- Cast Jung Jae-young, Kim Min-hee, Youn Yuh-jung, Ki Joo-bong, Choi Hwa-jeong, Yu Jun-sang
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Fandor, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy, Hoopla
Vitalina Varela
A Cape Verdean woman travels to Lisbon to reunite with her husband after two decades, but arrives soon after his funeral.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Portugal • 2019
- Director Pedro Costa
- Cast Vitalina Varela, Ventura, Lina Varela, Manuel Tavares Almeida
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy
West African Cinema
A Nation is Born
(Une nation est née)
A depiction of Senegal's history from the precolonial era through colonization to the sovereign post-colonial era of independence.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Senegal • 1961
- Director Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Criterion Channel
Oh, Sun
(Soleil O)
A Black immigrant searches Paris for his ancestors, desperate for work and shelter.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Mauritania • 1973
- Director Med Hondo
- Cast Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Ambroise Mbia, Gabriel Glissant, Akonio Dolo, Greg Germain
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Mandabi
An unemployed family man receives a money order from his nephew that he cannot cash due to endless bureaucratic obstacles.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Senegal • 1968
- Director Ousmane Sembène
- Cast Makhouredia Gueye, Ynousse N'Diaye, Isseu Niang, Mustapha Ture, Mouss Diouf, Christoph Colomb
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Yeelen
A young man with magical powers journeys to his uncle to request help in fighting his sorcerer father.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Mali, Burkina Faso, France • 1987
- Director Souleymane Cissé
- Cast Issiaka Kane, Balla Moussa Keita, Aoua Sangare, Ismaila Sarr, Niamanto Sanogo
- Genre Adventure, Drama, History
- Available on Kanopy
The Law
(Tilaï)
When his father takes his promised bride for himself, a man risks everything to continue an affair with his beloved.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, United Kingdom, France • 1990
- Director Idrissa Ouedraogo
- Cast Rasmané Ouédraogo, Ina Cissé, Roukietou Barry, Assane Ouedraogo, Sibidou Sidibe, Moumouni Ouedraogo
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Kanopy
Hyenas
(Hyènes)
Linguere returns after being exiled for pregnancy out of wedlock, offering aid to the village if they execute her child's absentee father.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Senegal, France, Switzerland • 1992
- Director Djibril Diop Mambéty
- Cast Djibril Diop Mambéty, Mansour Diouf, Ami Diakhate, Makhouredia Gueye, Calgou Fall, Faly Gueye
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Metrograph, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Bintou
In order to pay for her daughter's education, a mother starts her own business, against the wishes of her husband.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Burkina Faso, France • 2001
- Director Fanta Régina Nacro
- Cast Alima Salouka, Hyppolite Ouangrawa
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Criterion Channel
Bamako
A trial in Mali’s capital city debates whether to take action against the IMF and World Bank as life goes on around the courtyard.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Mali, United States, France • 2006
- Director Abderrahmane Sissako
- Cast Aïssa Maïga, Tiécoura Traoré, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Balla Habib Dembélé, Djénéba Koné
- Genre Drama
- Available on OVID, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy, Hoopla
Dry Season
(Daratt)
In postwar Chad, the government declares amnesty for war criminals and Atim is tasked by his grandfather with tracking down his father’s killer.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Chad, France, Belgium • 2006
- Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- Cast Ali Barkai, Youssouf Djaoro, Aziza Hisseine, Aziza Hisseine, Khayar Oumar Defallah
- Genre Action, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Video, Kanopy
October 1
A detective investigates a string of murders of women, trying to track down a serial killer before more are murdered.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Nigeria • 2014
- Director Kunle Afolayan
- Cast Sadiq Daba, Kehinde Bankole, Demola Adedoyin, Kayode Aderupoko, David Bailie
- Genre Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Chez Jolie Coiffure
A hairdresser in the African quarter of Brussels tells her stories, as do the lively clientele of the salon.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Belgium, Cameroon • 2019
- Director Rosine Mbakam
- Cast Sabine
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID, Amazon Video, Kanopy, Hoopla, myfilmfriend
Night of the Kings
(La nuit des rois)
African fairy tale meets stark realism in this powerful prison drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire • 2021
- Director Philippe Lacôte
- Cast Koné Bakary, Steve Tientcheu, Digbeu Jean Cyrille, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, Denis Lavant
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Neonrated
Werner Herzog
Signs of Life
(Lebenszeichen)
Three German soldiers in WWII are assigned to a quiet coastal community on a small Greek island that tests their sanity.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1968
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Peter Brogle, Wolfgang Reichmann, Athina Zacharopoulou, Wolfgang von Ungern-Sternberg, Wolfgang Stumpf, Henry van Lyck
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes)
A breathtaking journey into the heart of darkness.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany, Mexico • 1972
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Klaus Kinski, Helena Rojo, Del Negro, Ruy Guerra, Peter Berling, Cecilia Rivera
- Genre Adventure, Drama, History
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, History Vault, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
(Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle)
After being chained in a cellar for the first 17 years of life, Kaspar is freed and abandoned, left to wander.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1974
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira, Willy Semmelrogge, Kidlat Tahimik
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Shout! Factory TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Heart of Glass
(Herz aus Glas)
With the death of the foreman who holds the secret of a town's legendary glass-blowing works, the town slides into depression.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1976
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz, Sonja Skiba, Volker Prechtel, Brunhilde Klöckner
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Stroszek
After being released from prison, Bruno joins a sex worker and an elderly eccentric in moving from Germany to Wisconsin.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1977
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz, Wilhelm von Homburg, Burkhard Driest, Clayton Szalpinski
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
La Soufrière
(La Soufrière: Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe)
A volcano soon to erupt causes most of the island to evacuate, except for a few who will stay and face death.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1977
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Werner Herzog, Edward Lachman, Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV, Plex, Plex Channel
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(Nosferatu - Phantom der Nacht)
A real estate agent seeks to buy property from Count Dracula, whose true interests lie in the agent's wife.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany, France • 1979
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor, Walter Ladengast, Martje Grohmann
- Genre Drama, Horror
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Crackle, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Fitzcarraldo
A developer attempts to build an opera house in the Amazon rainforest, entailing a series of increasingly ambitious efforts.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany, Peru • 1982
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes, Paul Hittscher, Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez
- Genre Adventure, Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Cineverse, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
During the Vietnam War, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and escaped against the odds.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, United Kingdom, France • 1997
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Dieter Dengler, Werner Herzog, Eugene Deatrick
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Fandor, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
The Wild Blue Yonder
Human astronauts attempt to find an alternate planet for humanity while an alien narrates the story of his dying planet.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, France, Austria • 2005
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Brad Dourif, Donald Williams, Ellen Baker, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Shannon Lucid, Michael McCulley
- Genre Documentary, Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Werner Herzog is given exclusive access to the Chauvet Caves in Southern France where he films the oldest pictorial creations of humankind in history.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States, France • 2010
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Werner Herzog, Dominique Baffier, Jean Clottes, Jean-Michel Geneste
- Genre Documentary, Family
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Pluto TV
Into the Inferno
What we worship can destroy us.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Germany, Canada • 2016
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer, Katia Krafft, Maurice Krafft, Sri Sumarti
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
New Polish Cinema
Ashes and Diamonds
(Popiół i diament)
A resistance fighter in WWII Poland questions his commitment to the cause.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1958
- Director Andrzej Wajda
- Cast Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela, Jan Ciecierski
- Genre Drama, Romance, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Eroica
A drunk becomes an unwitting hero of the Warsaw uprising and another man attempts to escape a prison camp.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1958
- Director Andrzej Munk
- Cast Edward Dziewoński, Barbara Połomska, Leon Niemczyk, Kazimierz Opaliński, Ignacy Machowski, Zofia Czerwińska
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Klassiki
Farewells
(Pożegnania)
Class differences frustrate Pawel and Lidka's undying love, but will their love survive when Pawel is sent to Auschwitz?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1958
- Director Wojciech Has
- Cast Maria Wachowiak, Tadeusz Janczar, Gustaw Holoubek, Stanisław Jaworski, Stanisław Milski, Zdzisław Mrożewski
- Genre Drama
- Available on Klassiki
Knife in the Water
(Nóż w wodzie)
A married couple invite a hitchhiker on their boating trip, creating a tense dynamic that leads to a cataclysmic outcome.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1962
- Director Roman Polanski
- Cast Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Roman Polanski, Anna Ciepielewska
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Illumination
(Iluminacja)
A decade in the life of a physics student whose faith in reason is shaken by love and tragedy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1973
- Director Krzysztof Zanussi
- Cast Stanislaw Latallo, Małgorzata Pritulak, Monika Dzienisiewicz-Olbrychska, Jan Skotnicki, Edward Żebrowski, Wlodzimierz Zonn
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Shout
An enigmatic traveler invades the lives of a young couple, claiming he has learned a shout that can kill.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1978
- Director Jerzy Skolimowski
- Cast Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Robert Stephens, Tim Curry
- Genre Drama, Horror
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Criterion Channel, TCM, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Tubi TV, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Plex, Plex Channel
Possession
Helen wants a divorce, but as her behavior grows more alarming, a sinister force is found to be operating on her.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, West Germany • 1981
- Director Andrzej Żuławski
- Cast Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer, Carl Duering
- Genre Horror
- Available on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Metrograph, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne
(Docteur Jekyll et les femmes)
When people start turning up dead at Dr. Jekyll's engagement party, inquisitive minds seek the identity of the killer.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, West Germany • 1981
- Director Walerian Borowczyk
- Cast Udo Kier, Marina Pierro, Gérard Zalcberg, Patrick Magee, Howard Vernon, Clément Harari
- Genre Horror
- Available on ARROW, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Blind Chance
(Przypadek)
Three different stories show how the simple act of either catching or missing a train profoundly changes one man's life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1987
- Director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Cast Bogusław Linda, Tadeusz Łomnicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Bogusława Pawelec, Marzena Trybała, Jacek Borkowski
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Art of Loving
(Sztuka Kochania)
Before her wedding, Anna seeks the advice of a sexologist to help her figure out if she is making the right choice.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1989
- Director Jacek Bromski
- Cast Piotr Machalica, Joanna Trzepiecińska, Anna Romantowska, Wiktor Zborowski, Jerzy Bończak, Ewa Ziętek
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Cultpix
Europa Europa
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, France, Poland • 1990
- Director Agnieszka Holland
- Cast Marco Hofschneider, Julie Delpy, René Hofschneider, Piotr Kozlowski, André Wilms
- Genre Drama, History, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel
The Big Animal
(Duże zwierzę)
A man adopts a pet camel despite the hostile neighbors in his small town.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 2000
- Director Jerzy Stuhr
- Cast Jerzy Stuhr, Anna Dymna, Dominika Bednarczyk, Błażej Wójcik, Andrzej Franczyk, Feliks Szajnert
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Kanopy