Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story

Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story is an award-winning new film from American writer/director Scott Fivelson.
This brilliant mockumentary, a unique Hollywood story is the life-and-times chronicle of one of our greatest directors, Oskar Knight. He probably never should have made Oskar Knight's Moby Dick, but he did make They Came in Low.
Lenny Von Dohlen (Twin Peaks, Tender Mercies, Electric Dreams) brings the iconic director stirringly to life -- a legend of American cinema, forgotten by many, but remembered here by such real-life stars as Academy Award winner Margaret O'Brien, International Emmy winner David Suchet, Portuguese Golden Globe winner Joaquim de Almeida, Julianna Guill, Kristina Anapau, Rudolf Martin, Randall Batinkoff, Lawrence Pressman, Maya Stange, Noel Neill, Jon Provost, and many more.
The film has been named "Best Feature" at the 2016 Eurovision Palermo Film Festival, "Best Narrative Feature" at the 2016 Malta International Film Festival, and "Best Foreign Feature" at the 2016 Kiev Film Festival," as well as winning the "Best Director Spotlight" award at the 2016 Hollywood Reel International Film Festival and "Best Director" at the 2017 Vancouver Filmdance Festival.

5 Best War Movies Of The Decade So Far

5. Son of Saul

Two days in the life of Saul Auslander, Hungarian prisoner working as a member of the Sonderkommando at one of the Auschwitz Crematoriums who, to bury the corpse of a boy he takes for his son, tries to carry out his impossible deed: salvage the body and find a rabbi to bury it. While the Sonderkommando is to be liquidated at any moment, Saul turns away of the living and their plans of rebellion to save the remains of a son he never took care of when he was still alive.

4. Lone Survivor

Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.

3. Fury 

1945, in World War II Germany, the tough Sergeant Don 'Wardaddy' Collier commands a tank and survives a German attack with his veteran crew composed of Boyd 'Bible' Swan, Trini 'Gordo' Garcia and Grady 'Coon-Ass' Travis. He receives a rookie soldier Norman Ellison as the substitute for his deceased gunner and he tries to harden the youth along the way.

2. Hacksaw Ridge

The extraordinary true story of conscientious objector Desmond T. Doss who saved 75 men in Okinawa, during the bloodiest battle of WWII, without firing a single shot. Believing that the war was just but killing was nevertheless wrong, he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. As an army medic Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded near enemy lines - braving enemy fire and putting his own life on the line. He was the first conscientious objector to ever win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

1. Dunkirk

The film depicts the dramatic and true story of the Dunkirk evacuations from a war torn beach and harbour in France, following the seemingly doomed plight of allied soldiers in World War II. As the enemy forces close in it seems the troops have nowhere to go, but help is at hand and a fierce battle ensues.

10 Best Military Sci-Fi Movies

10. Soldier 

Sergeant Todd (Russell) is a veteran soldier for the an elite group of the armed forces of Earth. After being defeated by a new breed of genetically engineered soldiers, he is dumped on a waste planet and left for dead. He soon interacts with a group of crash survivors who lead out a peaceful existence on the planet. The peace is soon broken as the new breed of soldiers lands to eliminate the colony, which Sergeant Todd must defend.

9. Universal Soldier

An elite team of soldiers has been used against terrorists where they use astounding physical capabilities to overcome them. Victoria, a reporter, follows them and discovers a part of their secret. When one of the team kills her cameraman she tries to escape. Luc, one of the soldiers begins to have flashbacks and turns sides and helps her as the remainder of the team follows to protect their secrets.

8. Pacific Rim

As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.

7. Stargate

In 1928, in Egypt, a strange device is found by an expedition. In the present days, the outcast linguist Dr. Daniel Jackson is invited by a mysterious woman to decipher an ancient hieroglyph in a military facility. Soon he finds that the device was developed by an advanced civilization and opens a portal to teletransport to another planet. Dr. Jackson is invited to join a military team under the command of Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil that will explore the new world. They find a land that recalls Egypt and humans in a primitive culture that worship and are slaves to Ra, the God of the Sun. But soon they discover the secret of the mysterious "stargate".

6. Independence Day

What if aliens that look interesting actually came to earth? Well, this happens when an army comes to earth. But things go bad when the aliens do not come in peace and destroy Washington DC, New York, and Los Angeles. Instead of making peace, the U.S. decides to annihilate them. Now an extra terrestrial nerd (goldblum), a leader of an Air Force team (smith), and the president (Pullman) have to use their wits to kill the aliens, or die.

5. Edge of Tomorrow

A major in the United Defense Force media relationship department, without any experience of war is taken to a warfront against extraterrestial beings that have invaded the earth. He manages to kill an omega and in doing so aquires the ability to reset time everytime he dies. This brings a new beginning, new hope on winning the war.

4. Predator

Dutch and his group of commandos are hired by the CIA to rescue downed airmen from guerillas in a Central American jungle. The mission goes well but as they return they find that something is hunting them. Nearly invisible, it blends in with the forest, taking trophies from the bodies of it's victims as it goes along. Occasionally seeing through it's eyes, the audience sees it is an intelligent alien hunter, hunting them for sport, killing them off one at a time.

3. Rogue One

As the Rebellion spreads its influence among people, the Galactic Empire builds a super weapon capable of destroying an entire planet. A group of rebels disobeys orders and take a shuttle to go on a mission to steal plans that hide secrets on how to destroy this weapon of mass destruction.

2. Starship Troopers

In the distant future high school kids are encouraged to become citizens by joining the military. What they don't know is that they'll soon be engaged in a full scale war against a planet of alien insects. The fight is on to ensure the safety of humanity.

1. Aliens 

57 years after Ellen Ripley had a close encounter with the reptilian alien creature from the first movie, she is called back, this time, to help a group of highly trained colonial marines fight off against the sinister extraterrestrials. But this time, the aliens have taken over a space colony on the moon LV-426. When the colonial marines are called upon to search the deserted space colony, they later find out that they are up against more than what they bargained for. Using specially modified machine guns and enough firepower, it's either fight or die as the space marines battle against the aliens. As the Marines do their best to defend themselves, Ripley must attempt to protect a young girl who is the sole survivor of the decimated space colony.

15 Greatest Palme d’Or Winners In Cannes Film Festival History

15. The Tin Drum (Volker Schlöndorff, 1979) - Germany

The story, described as a surrealist black comedy, touches on how the strains of war can affect family life but also through controversial means involving adultery, obscenity and death. Both The Tin Drum and Apocalypse Now have the framework of slow and absolute reaches of war and how surreal and dark those reaches can be.

14. The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993) - New Zealand

A haunting love story anchored by a powerful Oscar-winning performance from Holly Hunter (along with another award winner in Anna Paquin’s first role, and supported by Harvey Keitel and Sam Neill), Louis Malle’s jury to tap both of these films for the top prize speaks to the diversity that one can find at the festival.

13. The Class (Laurent Cantet, 2008) - France

While it may not be a masterpiece, it’s a fine piece of filmmaking that manages to capture different social classes and an extremely diverse crowd without ever making it seem artificial or resulting to cheap cliches. Initially, “The Class” was criticized for being boring or not having much a satisfying storyline, but that is exactly its strength – Cantet was able to capture the mood and feel of a classroom without pretending that there’s a unifying narrative behind everything that happens.

12. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) - USA

Terrence Malick’s epic poem about we our place is in life, whether it be within the confines of family, of community, of time, of space, of love, of essence, of nature and nurture, of rage and beauty, of being, of what does our place mean in this reality of where we are now.

11. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996) - UK

There is not a more personal and tailor-made style to one director than Mike Leigh, who has fashioned himself not only a master of kitchen-sink, working class drama focusing on the particulars of the lives of others, but is also a Cannes mainstay within his own right. This comes to the forefront with none other than his ensemble drama of Secrets and Lies.

10. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002) - Poland 

In this adaptation of the autobiography "The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945," Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish radio station pianist, sees Warsaw change gradually as World War II begins. Szpilman is forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, but is later separated from his family during Operation Reinhard. From this time until the concentration camp prisoners are released, Szpilman hides in various locations among the ruins of Warsaw.

9. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963) - Italy

Luchino Visconti and his star, Burt Lancaster, have made from Giuseppe di Lampedusa's fine novel "The Leopard" is a stunning visualization of a mood of melancholy and nostalgia at the passing of an age. Sentiment and sadness whisper through it like the soft Mediterranean breeze that flutters the curtains in the windows of the palace in the stark Sicilian hills, on the outskirts of Palermo, as the unhurried story begins. They waft through the slow and stately tableaux of incidents in the stilted, baroque life of a noble Sicilian family in the mid-19th century.

8. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) - USA

It’s fitting that it was 20 years ago now that Tarantino’s sprawling and chaotic masterpiece not only won the Palme d’Or, but is also screened at on the beaches of the festival in remembrance accordingly. The French and Tarantino have always had a fortuitous relationship; Tarantino credits them for discovering him and they are in love with his love letters to the mediums with references as wide-ranging to B-movies, martial arts pictures and spaghetti Westerns.

7. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984) - Germany

It may not evoke much of the most well known Paris, or even filmed in the actual Paris, Texas in the title, and resemble more of an odd space landscape at times, but Wenders’ meditation of family coming together and apart is harrowing. How does the connection of a fractured family, father and son and husband and wife, even begin to come together again after so much time apart? The film tackles that incredulous question almost in parts by finding these lost characters (played with such emotion by Harry Dean Stanton, Hunter Carson, Dean Stockwell and Nastassja Kinski) in Jury president’s Dirk Bogarde’s choice for the festival’s top prize.

6. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960) - Italy

That one co-writer of Robert Rossellini’s Rome, Open City that was mentioned before? Turns out he became a very good filmmaker in his own right, and his film in 1960 managed to show that to the entire international filmmaking community. Among inspiring the term that is commonly used now as ‘paparazzi,’ La Dolce Vita plays around with everything that it can with its scope and its structure while exploring themes of religion, narrative, love and others that have made the film a cornerstone of not only the festival, but in film general all over.

5. If… (Lindsay Anderson, 1968) - UK

Released in 1968, Anderson’s energetically turbulent film spoke to a number of cases that were happening around the world at the time; from the May students riots in France, to the riots in the United States and the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy to the counterculture at its apex in general. If… was just the film to come right around the perfect moment in time. Looking at the posh British school system with a very sarcastic and dark eye, students Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell, warming up for A Clockwork Orange) and his pals Wallace and Johnny rebel against the older students that supervise, and lord, over them and against the Headmasters and the overall establishment. Going through the school’s ceremonies, customs and traditions, Mick encounters The Girl and later on, having enough of authorities and their battles against them, spur on a brutal shooting spree on the rooftops to everyone in the school.


4. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) - USA

 “God’s lonely man.” Has there been a more exacting portrayal of loneliness that explodes outward than Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver? Following the depressive nature of Travis Bickle and even more so of New York City’s descent in the ‘70s, Taxi Driver is a raw and angry look into what makes a person who feels like an outsider, an outcast, and how that anger can manifest in so many different ways. Utilizing a creative mix of gritty and also highly stylized violence (the ending shootout is reminiscent of older Japanese samurai films), Scorsese in his usual manner lets the audience decide what is real or not; what is it worth to be recognized by society. What can be done to wash the supposed filth away?

3. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945) - UK

This film is anything but simple; co-written by acclaimed playwright Noël Coward, the story focuses on Laura Jesson and her marriage to husband Fred which appears to be a comfortable but dull marriage. It’s until she is on her weekly errands of shopping and going to the movies that she runs into a cataclysm that up ends her entire world – the affection of gentle doctor Alec Harvey. The film takes a nuanced approach in the couple’s final departure; instead of a drawn out and emotional goodbye, Laura and Alec barely get time by themselves and the anguish of that missed opportunity is felt instead. The final scene puts a timeless stamp on the film, in where Laura comes back home to Fred who simply thanks her for coming back home to him.

2. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) - USA

The crowning definition of brilliant insanity, or insane brilliance – the 1970s ended for the towering auteur of Francis Ford Coppola in a maelstrom of heart attacks, suicide, setbacks due to weather, war, drugs and Marlon Brando. Based off Joseph Conrad’s novella, ‘Heart of Darkness,’ Coppola’s effort changes the landscape from the heart of Africa to the heart of Vietnam and how the machinations of modern warfare can change us all. In the film, Captain Willard is charged to go down the Nung River into the deepest of jungle, find the rogue Colonel Kurtz and eliminate him ‘with extreme prejudice’. Despite it all, Brando tailored an incredible and mythological performance, the film breathed the epic scope of it’s aims and Jury president Françoise Sagan made the film the co-recipient of the Palme d’Or along with…

1. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945) - Italy

Along with Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, when you hear the acclaimed term ‘Italian neorealism’, Rossellini’s harrowing drama is exactly the kind of film the definition applies to. Co-written by Sergio Amidei and some fellow by the name of Federico Fellini, Rossellini takes a very stripped down and documented approach in crafting the setting of Italy’s world after Benito Mussolini’s fascist reign, after the end of the European theatre in World War II and an overall portrayal of a ravaged continent and where it can go from there. Combined with the idea of wanting to showcase the history of the people of Rome under Nazi Germany’s occupation, Rossellini crafts a tale of a resistance fighter fleeing from the Gestapo, the efforts of a caring priest (based off a real priest, Don Pieto Morosini, who helped the resistance movement and was captured, executed by the Germans accordingly) and various other characters who try to make the best of their situation in a seemingly bleak and oppressive new world.
True to neorealism fashion, Rossellini peppered the cast with non-professional actors and professional actors such as Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani and Marcello Pagliero, shooting with borrowed and discarded film stock and ending the film on the bleak note of death to the priest at the last second. At the time, it was a bleak world and what more powerful message is there for a film to portray than a reflection of real life?

10 Best European Film Award Winners

10. Riff-Raff (Ken Loach, 1991) - UK

Loach lightens up for this documentary-style comedy about the scams, laughs, dangers and camaraderie of work on a London building site. Newcomer Carlyle plays Stevie, a Scottish ex-con teenager who gets a job tearing the guts out of a closed-down hospital. His workmates are a mixed bunch: Irishmen, West Indians and Scousers with a healthy disrespect for their idle ganger, a talent for ducking and diving, and a keen eye for the main chance. The company's cavalier disrespect for basic safety standards eventually brings tensions on the site to a head. Bill Jesse's pointedly funny script skilfully evokes the texture of working life; Loach's handling of Stevie's tentative romance with would-be singer Susan (McCourt), on the other hand, wavers between the touchingly simple and curiously off-key. There are times, too, when the lively spontaneity of the improvised scenes slips into inaudible chaos. Sadly, Bill Jesse died without seeing the finished film, but this is as good an epitaph as he could have hoped for.

9. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999) - Spain

Considered to be one of the finest works of Almodóvar, ‘All About My Mother’ focuses on the life of a single mother and her quest to find the transvestite father of her son, who died in a tragic car crash. The narrative weaves itself around complex themes such as homosexuality, transvestism, nihilism, loneliness and death. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000.

8. The Stolen Children (Gianni Amelio,1992) - Italy

Gianni Amelio’s “The Stolen Children” is a powerful vision of a humanly rich but socially impoverished country, likely to earn a special niche in Italian film history. This small gem of a picture has a capacity to communicate profoundly, without cliches, to selected audiences; in its exclusive engagement in Rome, pic has attracted steady interest, and may do even better abroad.

7. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002) - Spain

Perhaps the best movie made by Almodóvar and one of the finest to have ever been made, ‘Talk to Her’ is a moving tale of an unusual relationship that develops between two men while caring for two women, both of whom are in comas. The movie makes a definite attempt at dealing with a number of complicated themes including loneliness, communication, love and humane instincts. Almodóvar clinched the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for this film in 2003.

6. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) - Germany

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Das leben der anderen (The Lives of Others) is a sleek and often times muted film that economizes its time and visuals in order to speak volumes. With a masterful performance by Ulrich Mühe, the film chronicles the covert espionage and surveillance of oppressive regimes in East Germany.

5. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2001) - France

Amelie Poulain is a curious girl with her own fantastic impressions about life and a deep love towards people. Her passion to help those around herself allows the viewer to meet the little people of Paris and, wrapped up in Amelie’s intense creative imagination, to go on a special walking tour around Montmartre.
Instead of the main touristic highlights, Amelie guides the viewer into the heart of the city, showing less renowned landmarks but more authentic scenes. This is in line with the main character’s idea that the beauty of life lies within the simplest, tiny little knick-knacks that one can only find when looking very close.

4. Lamerica (Gianni Amelio, 1994) - Italy

Two tough Italian con artists come face to face with the nightmarish despair of post-Communist Albania in “Lamerica,” a hard-hitting, often moving film by top Italo helmer Gianni Amelio. Pic’s uncompromising scorn for the two exploiters is matched by its hellish vision of a starving nation desperately searching for an escape hatch. Much tougher than Amelio’s previous “The Stolen Children,” pic could encounter resistance from more delicate filmgoers. But its evangelical sincerity and the sweeping emotion of its finale could win the director new admirers abroad with well-targeted handling.

3. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000) - Denmark

Dancer in the Dark is von Trier’s ironic and sadistic take on the musical genre in his true heart-wrenching melodramatic style. Impoverished single mother and Czech immigrant, Selma Ježková, (Björk), works two jobs in order to afford an operation for her son that will prevent his vision from deteriorating – a condition that she also suffers from. When her landlord tries to steal her money, a tragedy unfolds leading to heartbreaking consequences culminating in one of the most hard-hitting final scenes in cinema.

2. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) - UK

Bright and sassy, “The Full Monty” is a treat. Backed by inventive marketing, this small but muscular British pic about a bunch of gawky unemployeds launching a striptease act could turn into a winner for Fox Searchlight in the right locations, and looks set for solid business in other territories. Apart from Robert Carlyle, it’s a no-name cast, so word of mouth and the off-the-wall concept will play a large role in selling the movie.

1. Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997) - Italy

“This is a simple story, but not an easy one to tell”. Describing this intimate story taken from his own family history, Roberto Benigni mixes unremitting drama with comedy, creating a delicate and unique balance in this memorable film.

Quit Staring at My Plate - When family become your chains

Young Croatian filmmaker Hana Jusic's first feature film - Quit Staring at My Plate has shown on Tbilisi, Stockholm and Venice International Film Festivals etc. At Venice FF it won the Fedeora Award for Best Euro-Mediterranean Film. Jusic have made directorial debut with short film 'Smart Girls' (2010). Then she directed three another short films and was approached by Croatian production company to film segment contribution to 'Kratki spojevi' (2013).

Strong, dramatic and honest film around young girl Marijana's (Mia Petricevic) life. She lives with her parents and disabled brother. They live on top of one another in a tiny apartment. Marijana's dominant father has a stroke and is left completely bedridden. Marijana takes over his role as the head of the family. Then she's working two jobs for to taking care of her irresponsible mother and mentally disabled brother. She doesn't live like other girls of the same age. Soon Marijana finds comfort to explore her sexuality with random strangers. It gives her a taste of freedom. Hana Jusic is a filmmaker full of promise, who made a challenging, deeply troubling and intense film about social problems. Mia Petricevic's performance is one of the most impressive thing about the film, doubly so when we consider that it was her debut role. Film'll show at Belgrade Film Festival on February 28, 2017.

15 Best Italian Films of The 21st Century

1. I'm Not Scared (2003)
Genres: Crime / Mystery / Drama
Director: Gabriele Salvatores
Cast: Giuseppe Cristiano, Mattia Di Pierro, Adriana Conserva

Plot: While playing outside one day, nine-year-old Michele discovers Filippo, who is chained to the ground at the bottom of a hole. Michele witnesses town baddie Felice nearby and suspects something bad is happening. Michele is unsure whom he should tell about his discovery, eventually spilling the beans to his closest friend.

2. The Best Offer (2013)
Genres: Crime / Mystery / Drama
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks

Plot: In the world of high-end art auctions and antiques, Virgil Oldman is an elderly and esteemed but eccentric genius expert, known and appreciated by the world. Oldman is hired by a solitary young heiress, Ibbetson, to auction off the large collection of art and antiques left to her by her parents. For some reason, Claire always refuses to be seen in person. Robert aids Oldman in restoring and reassembling some odd mechanical parts he finds amongst Claire's belongings, while also giving him advice on how to befriend her and deal with his feelings towards her. Also a friend of Oldman, Billy Whistler helps him to acquire a secret private collection of master paintings.

3. Baarìa (2009)
Genres: Comedy / Drama
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cast: Francesco Scianna, Margareth Madè, Monica Bellucci

Plot: The film begins in the 1920's, in the Sicilian town of Bagheria (a.k.a. Baaria) where Giuseppe "Peppino" Torrenuova works as a shepherd to financially help his poor family. Over the next 50 years Giuseppe's life, as well as the life of the village, is observed. Giuseppe grows up, joins the Communist Party, marries a local girl (Mannina), has children and forges a political career for himself.

4. Youth (2015)
Genres: Comedy / Drama / Music
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Cast: Michael Caine, Rachel Weisz, Harvey Keitel

Plot: Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children's confused lives, Mick's enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.

 5. Suburra (2015)
Genres: Crime / Romance / Thriller
Director: Stefano Sollima
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Greta Scarano, Giulia Gorietti

Plot: A gangster known as "Samurai" wants to turn the waterfront of Rome into a new Las Vegas. All the local mob bosses have agreed to work for this common goal. But peace is not to last long.

6. The Great Beauty (2013)
Genre: Drama
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli

Plot: Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

7. The Unknown Woman (2006)
Genres: Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cast: Kseniya Rappoport, Margherita Buy, Pierfrancesco Favino

Plot: A Ukrainian woman named Irena calculatedly insinuates herself into the lives of a young, affluent Italian family. Stopping at nothing to become the couple's trusted maid and the beloved nanny to their fragile young daughter, Irena risks everything in her quest to uncover the truth about the family. Like an intricately constructed jigsaw puzzle, The Unknown Woman reveals piece by piece the enigma of Irena's past.

8. Perfect Strangers (2016)
Genres: Comedy / Drama
Director: Paolo Genovese
Cast: Giuseppe Battiston, Alba Rohrwacher, Kasia Smutniak

Plot: Seven long-time friends get together for a dinner. When they decide to share with each other the content of every text message, email and phone call they receive, many secrets start to unveil and the equilibrium trembles.

9. Gladiators of Rome (2013)
Genres: Animation / Adventure/ Comedy
Director: Iginio Straffi
Cast: Stefano Alessandroni, Laura Chiatti, Daniela Abbruzzese

Plot: A new hero is born in this hilarious, animated adventure of epic proportions. Timo, a student at the Gladiators' Academy in Rome, has no desire to become a legendary gladiator like his stepfather. That is, until the mesmerizing Lucilla walks into his life. With the help of an unlikely band of sidekicks, Timo is determined to be the gladiator of her dreams and embarks on an action-packed journey to become the Colosseum's first victor.

10. Deadly Code (2013)
Genres: Crime / Drama
Director: Gabriele Salvatores
Cast: John Malkovich, Eleanor Tomlinson, Peter Stormare

Plot: A drama based on a memoir about growing up as a member of the Urka community in the small republic of Transnistria.

11. Twice Born (2012)
Genres: Drama / Romance / War
Director: Sergio Castellitto
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, Jane Birkin

Plot: A mother brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the Bosnian conflict years ago.

12. Tale of Tales (2015)
Genres: Drama / Fantasy
Director: Matteo Garrone
Cast: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones

Plot: The film serves as Garrone's English-language debut and will interweave three separate story strands bookended by brief bits in which Italians Alba Rohrwacher and Massimo Ceccherini will play a street circus family. In one tale Salma Hayek will play a jealous queen who forfeits her husband's life. In another, Vincent Cassel plays a king whose passion is stoked by two mysterious sisters.

13. Gomorrah (2008)
Genre: Crime / Drama
Director: Matteo Garrone
Cast: Gianfelice Imparato, Toni Servillo, Maria Nazionale

Plot: "Gomorra" is a contemporary Neapolitan mob drama that exposes Italy's criminal underbelly by telling five stories of individuals who think they can make their own compact with Camorra, the area's Mafia.

14. Respiro (2002)
Genre: Drama
Director: Emanuele Crialese
Cast: Valeria Golino, Elio Germano, Vincenzo Amato

Plot: Grazia is a mother of three who spends suffocating days packing fish while her husband Pietro is at sea. Her oft-erratic behavior leads Pietro into thinking she may need medical attention, and he prepares to send her off to a psychiatric institute in Milan. Their son Pasquale, the one person who understand his mother the most, vows to do whatever it takes to foil his father's plan.

15. The Ages of Love (2011)
Genres: Comedy / Romance
Director: Giovanni Veronesi
Cast: Robert De Niro, Monica Bellucci, Laura Chiatti.

Plot: Roberto is a young and ambitious lawyer who is going to marry Sara. His whole life is perfectly planned out. During a expropriation which he is in charge of, he meets Micol, a gorgeous and provocative young woman from a small village in Tuscany. This is when things start to get complicated... Fabio, a famous anchorman, has been the perfect husband for twenty five years. At a party one night, he meets Eliana, a femme fatale full of surprises. This one-night stand proves to be more than what he bargained for when she refuses to leave... Adrian is an American art history professor who moved to Rome after his divorce. He is friends with Augusto, the building's concierge, whose ebullient daughter Viola is about to disrupt his peaceful existence and relight his fire...