1560, Peru. In a beautiful poetic opening scene the conquistadors cross an Andes pass, situated between the peaks and the valleys, between conquered land and unexplored forests, between 'heaven' and 'earth', shrouded in mists, they make their way down a narrow path. Aguirre's meglomania grows as around him his comrades mutiny and die in his search for the lost city of El Dorado. Herzog's best film, an unforgetable tour de force. Made before the director himself gave in to meglomania on a later t find out more...

At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal is to take find out more...

Herzog's epic movie about a man's obsessive attempt to bring opera to the Indians living deep in the Peruvian jungle. To do this he must take a steamship/tub way up the Amazon river system, a monumental task, at one point involving transporting it over a not unconsiderable hill, with the help of a system of pulleys and massed Indian labour. A surreal comment on madness, power and vision. There is also a documentary, Burden of Dreams, about the notoriously fraught making of the film. find out more...

Polanski's first, and arguably his finest, feature film is an economically brilliant exercise in tension. Sparse of cast and props, the atmosphere grows painfully taut as a young couple on a yachting trip and the hitcher they've picked up engage in ever more dangerous emotional games. find out more...

A young Russian mother and her son arrive in the UK where they plan to start a new life with her British fiancé. When he fails to show up they claim political asylum and are detained in a hellish holding centre in a desolate seaside resort. When it seems that all is lost, the family find hope in the unlikely form of amusement arcade manager, Alfie. Visually brilliant with an outstanding cast, Last Resort offers a stark look at life in exile. find out more...

Critically acclaimed and visually ravishing story of the unlikely tryst between a runaway art student, distressed by impending blindness and a previous romance, and an avant-garde crusty, who meet while sleeping rough on Pont-Neuf. Director Carax takes us on an enchanted journey through a Paris of streets, rivers, bridges, escalators, the Metro and art museums as the movie progresses from the gritty reality of poverty and homelessness to a flamboyant firework lit fantasy land. find out more...

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A young boy lives in a small floating temple on a beautiful lake, together with an elderly master who teaches him the ways of the Buddha. Years later the boy, now a young man, experiences his sexual awakening with a girl who has come to the temple to be healed by the master. Returning from a disastrous trip to the outside world the young monk must pay penance and, in the last of four vignettes, he returns to the lake temple to find spiritual enlightenment. find out more...

Jane Campion's outstanding and acclaimed dramatic masterpiece. Hunter turns in an incredible performance as the mute Ada, sold into a marriage with Neill. Her piano is her voice and she must earn it back from Baines, key by key, in a moving emotional bargain. Stunning - the best film of the year. find out more...