58th BFI London Film Festival

Hong Sangsoo returns with this smart comedy of foreign manners, where a Japanese man searches for the Korean girl of his dreams, only he doesn’t know where she is and can only speak a little English.

There’s funny ha-ha, there’s absurdly funny and then there’s funny strange. These short films encompass all three. Sometimes in the same film.

This thrilling Dehli-set drama sees a youngster struggle to escape the influence of his criminal older brother.

The popular resistance to the current Greek economic crisis explored and expressed through the ethical and political writings of Ancient Greece.

A wickedly wonderful horror flic set in post-Civil War Spain produced by gore veteran Alex de la Iglesia.

Alina Rudnitskaya’s compelling documentary, shot in black and white, presents a vivid portrait of Russian rural life by following the work of a roving blood transfusion service.

A compelling observational study of a high school in Quebec from documentary filmmaker Jean-François Caissy.

Butter on the Latch director Josephine Decker wows with her second feature – a rural erotic horror romance.

A deftly told social drama about a Singhalese couple and their families, who struggle to come to terms with the emotional wreckage caused by an extra-marital affair.

A free-form love letter to the pleasures of wasting time, this episodic comedy is a mash-up of 90s nostalgia and arthouse homage.

The land of football, Brazil, and the love of this national sport is the subject of this passionate documentary, looking at the role it plays in the lives of ordinary Brazilians.

This hard-hitting shorts programme questions how we interact physically and emotionally with each other.

A boldly innovative debut feature about the mysterious unravelling of a female friendship at a Balkan musical festival in the woods of California.

One of the years most visually ravishing films is this tale of two youths growing up and falling in love on a small island off the Japanese mainland.

Unsparing and intensely moving portrait of the friendship between two young Kazakh women, against the backdrop of desperate poverty.

This moving hybrid of documentary and bromance charts the lives of two Belgian alcoholics.

A middle-aged man builds a magnificent hideaway in the heart of a Catalan forest in this fascinating documentary.

Taiwenese director Hsiang Chienn drama features a triumphant performance from Shiang-chyi Chen as a woman struggling with middle age.

A provocative, hard-hitting account of life in Syria during the civil war, and the pain of exile for Syrians living abroad.

High theatrics, red herrings and quickfire dialogue come together in this entertaining take on the culture of co-productions that shapes contemporary filmmaking.

A mother takes the potentially deadly decision to save her 10-year-old daughter from an arranged marriage to a wizened mountain tribal leader.

Born ‘Socialist baby of the decade’, Viktoria finds herself godchild of Communist leader Todor Zhivkov in Maya Vitkova’s beautifully achieved satire.

Joris Ivens and Marceline Loridan’s unique insight into the Chinese Cultural Revolution in new 2K digital restoration.

A wonderful collection of films from an eclectic array of contributors commissioned to raise funds for the Bristol independent cinema the Cube.

An account of life for young students in the Democratic Republic of Congo who face challenges beyond the curriculum.

A quasi-ghost story about a young urban Chinese couple returning to their dusty rural roots interrogates one child policy and authoritarianism.

A moving, blackly comic drama about the strains in coping with ageing parents.

A beautifully observed and quietly moving portrait of a friendship between two women set against the majestic beauty of the Sea of Japan.

A cop with a drink problem is re-assigned to a small backwater town only to discover that the main problem there is alcoholism, leading to an explosive climax.

A smart, blackly hilarious, and gleefully unhinged homage to the Spaghetti Western from Ning Hao.

A series of unexplained incidents within a gated Argentine community lie at the heart of Benjamín Naishtat’s exploration of a society on the brink of collapse.

Musicians from around the US lay down tracks on an antique recording device in this beguiling portrait of old time folk music.

An American musicologist’s life among the Bayaka pygmies is portrayed in this haunting documentary.

Petr Václav’s perceptive and unconventional study of a Czech Roma family features a magnetic performance by Klaudia Dudková as its determined heroine.

Kutluğ Ataman’s funny, touching fable about an impoverished Turkish family’s quest for a lamb to serve at a traditional banquet.

In 1930s Ethiopia, a young woman escapes Mussolini’s army and is almost attacked by bandits, were it not for the arrival of an otherworldly presence whom she befriends.

A close-knit community in Australia start up a not-for-profit funeral service in this life-affirming film about death and dying.

Documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins follows in the footsteps of DH Lawrence in this dazzling road-trip through Sardinia.