Going to start a movie from every country thread. Starting with Côte d’Ivoire, we have the movie Moi, un Noir (1958) dir. Jean Rouch about three Nigérienne day laborers in Abidjan. It was one of the first movies made with a hand-held camera.
Russia
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇷🇺" title="Flag of Russia" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Russia">: Brother (Brat/Брат) (1997) dir. Aleksei Balabanov, pseudo-crime movie about the desperation following the collapse of the USSR and the Yeltsin years
Peru
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇪" title="Flag of Peru" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Peru">: Madeinusa (2006) dir. Claudia Llosa, about a girl at the center of a strange cult in her town, and the man who wanders in
Germany
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇩🇪" title="Flag of Germany" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Germany">: Axolotl Overkill (2017) dir. Helene Hegemann, about a vagabond lesbian youth who develops a romance with an older, wealthier woman
Senegal
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇸🇳" title="Flag of Senegal" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Senegal">: Atlantique (2019) dir. Mati Diop. About the women left behind in the story of migrant labor. My fav movie from last year hands down. Speaks to a global theme, while also being very much a Senegalese story. Drop dead beautiful, clever, surprising, and makes me cry
UK (England)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🏴" title="Flag of England" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of England">: Babylon (1980) dir. Franco Rosso, about Jamaican youth in South London during the Thatcher punk & dub years. initially banned in the US because of its portrayal of police violence and discrimination.
Madagascar
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇲🇬" title="Flag of Madagascar" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Madagascar">: Makibefo (1999) dir. Alexander Abela, a Malagasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, made with a two person production team and many actors who had never even seen a movie
Japan
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇯🇵" title="Flag of Japan" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Japan">: Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) dir. Toshio Matsumoto, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Oedipus Rex starring a young trans woman
Bonus (was very hard for me to choose between these two) Japan
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇯🇵" title="Flag of Japan" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Japan">: The Idiot (1951) dir. Akira Kurosawa, an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel of the same name, though modified to portray post-war Japan, about a foolish ex-soldier.
Will also note the movie AKA: Serial Killer, 1969 Japan. Retells the story of the Japanese serial killer Norio Nagama not by re-enacting it but by visiting all the places in his journey.
Estonia
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇪🇪" title="Flag of Estonia" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Estonia">: November (2017) dir. Rainer Sarnet, about life in a pagan village as they prepare for the winter
Kazakhstan
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇿" title="Flag of Kazakhstan" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Kazakhstan">: The Needle (Igla/игла) (1988) dir. Rashid Nugmanov, starring Viktor Tsoi of the infamous soviet band Kino as a drifter set on tracking down those who owe him debts
Guatemala
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇬🇹" title="Flag of Guatemala" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Guatemala">: Ixcanul (2015) dir. Jayro Bustamante, a coming-of-age story of star-crossed lovers and abandonment set beneath a volcano