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Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey are foundational works of Western literature, yet they are seldom adapted for the screen today. The Iliad was last made into a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster in 2004’s “Troy.” But you must go back to 1954 to find an equivalent for The Odyssey in “Ulysses” starring Kirk Douglas. Since then, The Odyssey has had some notable television adaptations: 1968’s Italian production “Odissea” (with Bekim Fehmiu and Irene Papas), 1997’s American production “The Odyssey” and 2013’s French production “Odysseus”.

Continue reading ‘The Return’ Review: Ralph Fiennes & Juliette Binoche Lead Deeply Satisfying Retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Experience the richness of world cinema with these classic foreign language films. From intense drama to thrilling action, each one offers an unforgettable cinematic experience that will stay with you long after watching. These iconic movies break boundaries while teaching viewers more about diverse cultures, so grab some popcorn today.

Related: 10 Best TV Movies of All Time, Ranked by Viewers

Foreign films have been inaccurately labeled as arrogant. However, these movies offer many genres, including action flicks, comedies, musicals, and thrillers. This list of best foreign movies includes those from non-English speaking countries but no silent films. This is your cinematic passport to the world’s movie scene.

10 Best Foreign Movies, Ranked on IMDb The Lives of Others (2006) – 8.4 Oldboy (2003) – 8.4 The Best of Youth (2003) – 8.5 Cinema Paradiso (1988) – 8.5 The Intouchables (2011) – 8.5 Parasite (2019) – 8.5 Harakiri (1962) – 8.6 Life Is Beautiful (1997) – 8.6 City of God (2002) – 8.6 Spirited Away (2001) – 8.6 10 The Lives of Others (2006)

IMDb: 8.4/10 396K | Popularity: 1,156 | Top 250: #58 | Metascore: 89

The Lives of Others...

Washington, Jan. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — In the new Italian drama, The Swan Company (Rai Com), learning music may be the easiest obstacle to navigate as the series follows seven talented musicians at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. They have talent, but discipline and focus are sometimes at a more amateur level, as they are also teenagers coming of age. Matteo (Leonardo Mazzarotto) is a violinist who is a sensitive newcomer. Barbara (Fotinì Peluso) is an accomplished singer whose ambitions don’t always match the expectations from her family. Dominic (Emanuele Misuraca) has effortless talent and finds himself in a love triangle with his new friend Matteo and Barbara. Music becomes a refuge for the insecure cellist Sofia (Chiara Pia Aurora) and shy pianist Robbo (Ario Sgroi), who are foils to the rebellious Rosario (Francesco Tozzi) on the drums. Visually impaired violinist Sara (Hildegard De Stefano) rounds out the seven. The students...

Chicago – Though you probably don’t know his name, Christopher McQuarrie’s involvement might sell you on paying to see “The Tourist” even more than “A”-list stars Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. After all, McQuarrie is the writer behind 1995’s Oscar-winning magnum opus by the name of “The Usual Suspects”.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

While these two films both embarked on the pursuit of conning you into one belief and then twisting you into another, “The Usual Suspects” masterfully succeeds in every fiber of its being while “The Tourist” can’t even play ball in the same league. And to even consider “The Tourist” as Hitchcockian would be a crime of blockbuster proportions bestowed upon the true man of mystery.

Though McQuarrie’s words might be found somewhere in this Angelina Jolie model fest, the ink from its two other writers (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and Julian Fellowes) clearly snuffs away McQuarrie’s natural skill.

We continue our look at the Top 50 best films of the decade.

#50-41

#40-31

#30-21

Click through for the latest installment.

20. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

In what can be seen as a mild precursor to No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a neo-western that is infatuated, in all the wrong ways, with love, friendship and self-discovery. Jones has created something haunting, something that makes vulnerable the human soul and shows how fragile and sad it can be. He has an eye for the imperfect as he submerges us in present-day Odessa, Texas, carefully mapping out the town’s inhabitants’ awkward mannerisms and the backwardness of a social system that has been disconnected from the contemporary world. The film follows the three different burials of one man, Melquiades, Pete’s (Jones) best friend who is an illegal immigrant,...

We continue our look at the Top 50 best films of the decade.

#50-41

#40-31

#30-21

Click through for the latest installment.

20. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

In what can be seen as a mild precursor to No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a neo-western that is infatuated, in all the wrong ways, with love, friendship and self-discovery. Jones has created something haunting, something that makes vulnerable the human soul and shows how fragile and sad it can be. He has an eye for the imperfect as he submerges us in present-day Odessa, Texas, carefully mapping out the town’s inhabitants’ awkward mannerisms and the backwardness of a social system that has been disconnected from the contemporary world. The film follows the three different burials of one man, Melquiades, Pete’s (Jones) best friend who is an illegal immigrant,...

We continue our look at the Top 50 best films of the decade.

#50-41

#40-31

#30-21

Click through for the latest installment.

20. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

In what can be seen as a mild precursor to No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a neo-western that is infatuated, in all the wrong ways, with love, friendship and self-discovery. Jones has created something haunting, something that makes vulnerable the human soul and shows how fragile and sad it can be. He has an eye for the imperfect as he submerges us in present-day Odessa, Texas, carefully mapping out the town’s inhabitants’ awkward mannerisms and the backwardness of a social system that has been disconnected from the contemporary world. The film follows the three different burials of one man, Melquiades, Pete’s (Jones) best friend who is an illegal immigrant,...

We continue our look at the Top 50 best films of the decade.

#50-41

#40-31

#30-21

Click through for the latest installment.

20. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

In what can be seen as a mild precursor to No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a neo-western that is infatuated, in all the wrong ways, with love, friendship and self-discovery. Jones has created something haunting, something that makes vulnerable the human soul and shows how fragile and sad it can be. He has an eye for the imperfect as he submerges us in present-day Odessa, Texas, carefully mapping out the town’s inhabitants’ awkward mannerisms and the backwardness of a social system that has been disconnected from the contemporary world. The film follows the three different burials of one man, Melquiades, Pete’s (Jones) best friend who is an illegal immigrant,...

We continue our look at the Top 50 best films of the decade.

#50-41

#40-31

#30-21

Click through for the latest installment.

20. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

In what can be seen as a mild precursor to No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a neo-western that is infatuated, in all the wrong ways, with love, friendship and self-discovery. Jones has created something haunting, something that makes vulnerable the human soul and shows how fragile and sad it can be. He has an eye for the imperfect as he submerges us in present-day Odessa, Texas, carefully mapping out the town’s inhabitants’ awkward mannerisms and the backwardness of a social system that has been disconnected from the contemporary world. The film follows the three different burials of one man, Melquiades, Pete’s (Jones) best friend who is an illegal immigrant,...

Rome -- The contemporary update of classic U.K. sci-fi series "Doctor Who" and the Italian premiere of Season 2 of "The Tudors" helped kick off the second RomaFictionFest on Monday.

The festival, which runs through Saturday, focuses on fiction made for the small screen.

"Doctor Who," filmed in part at Rome's historic Cinecitta Studios, stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate in the leading roles. It appeared in the Noon @ Night sidebar, meaning it began screening just past midnight on Monday morning.

"The Tudors," meanwhile, played in the Premiere sidebar.

Among the day's other highlights was the work-in-progress screening of "Puccini" -- based on the life of the Italian composer. Actors Alessio Boni, Andrea Giordana and Franco Castellano were on hand for the screening.

On the agenda for Tuesday is an appearance by Oscar winner Helen Mirren, who will receive a lifetime achievement award from the festival.

ROME -- The European premiere of Caravaggio was the highlight of Tuesday's first full day at the RomaFictionFest.

Veteran television director Angelo Longoni's biographical telefilm about the Renaissance master painter, screened to a full house Tuesday. It was only the second public screening for the film, which screened once in New York last month.

The RomaFictionFest encompasses some 140 programs created for television.

Caravaggio star Alessio Boni was among the stars on the event's orange carpet -- the festival uses an orange carpet rather than a red one to differentiate itself from a traditional cinema festival -- and he will appear here later in the week for Robert Dornhelm's War and Peace, the centerpiece film of the July 2-7 festival.

Also screening Tuesday were the TV film Dans L'Ombre du Maitre (In Her Master's Shadow), a film about a young genius from France's David Delrieux; Kai Wessel's miniseries Die Flucht (March of Millions); and The State Within, a miniseries about an air confrontation between the U.K.

VENICE -- Cristina Comencini's multilayered drama Don't Tell is a refreshingly insightful look at the lingering impact of child abuse, a subject that has been dealt with in all too many trite and exploitive television shows and feature films.

The well-crafted screenplay by Francesca Marciano, Giulia Calenda and Comencini, based on a novel by the director, explores how a brother and sister deal with their grown-up recollections of being abused by their late father.

The film, which screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, goes beyond the fate of Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorgno) and Daniele Luigi Lo Cascio) to include their lovers, friends and children.

Powerfully moving but laced with incisive wit, Don't Tell has terrific performances with a wise tone and polished look that should find appreciative audiences well beyond art houses.

There is a Richard Curtis feel to the intertwining relationships although the subject matter is handled with a depth way beyond the shallow waters of Four Weddings and a Funeral or Notting Hill.

Sabina's nightmares begin after she arranges for her father's cremation and while she wants a baby with her genial actor lover Franco (Alessio Boni), the reality of it spins her into an emotional trauma. Seeking answers, she flies to America to see her older brother Daniele, but she quickly sees in his awkward dealings with his own children that he has been traumatized too.

There are searing scenes that leave Sabina with some answers but no resolution and when she returns to Italy, her pregnancy becomes the nucleus of all her fears. Her friends, Emilia (Stefania Rocca), who is gay and blind, and Maria (Angela Finocchiaro), who is divorced and lonely, lend their support and develop an unlikely liaison themselves.

Franco's director (Giuseppe Battiston) also plays an important role as the characters deal with their own failings and strengths, helping each other to find a kind of love that is understanding and forgiving.

VENICE -- Cristina Comencini's multilayered drama "Don't Tell" is a refreshingly insightful look at the lingering impact of child abuse, a subject that has been dealt with in all too many trite and exploitive television shows and feature films.

The well-crafted screenplay by Francesca Marciano, Giulia Calenda and Comencini, based on a novel by the director, explores how a brother and sister deal with their grown-up recollections of being abused by their late father.

The film, which screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, goes beyond the fate of Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorgno) and Daniele Luigi Lo Cascio) to include their lovers, friends and children.

Powerfully moving but laced with incisive wit, "Don't Tell" has terrific performances with a wise tone and polished look that should find appreciative audiences well beyond art houses.

There is a Richard Curtis feel to the intertwining relationships although the subject matter is handled with a depth way beyond the shallow waters of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" or "Notting Hill".

Sabina's nightmares begin after she arranges for her father's cremation and while she wants a baby with her genial actor lover Franco (Alessio Boni), the reality of it spins her into an emotional trauma. Seeking answers, she flies to America to see her older brother Daniele, but she quickly sees in his awkward dealings with his own children that he has been traumatized too.

There are searing scenes that leave Sabina with some answers but no resolution and when she returns to Italy, her pregnancy becomes the nucleus of all her fears. Her friends, Emilia (Stefania Rocca), who is gay and blind, and Maria (Angela Finocchiaro), who is divorced and lonely, lend their support and develop an unlikely liaison themselves.

Franco's director (Giuseppe Battiston) also plays an important role as the characters deal with their own failings and strengths, helping each other a kind of love that is understanding and forgiving.

A triumvirate of screenwriters basing their script on a book of news reportage, not surprisingly, is a formula for story overload. Such is the case in Italian filmmaker Marco Tullio Giordana's ambitious attempt to address Italy's immigrant problem.

Essentially divided into two distinctly different parts -- a movie and a film, "Once You're Born You Can No Longer Hide" has grains of what one might dub Italian Neo-neo Realism with its focus on the influx of African and Eastern European illegal immigrants into Italy. However, the opus' first movement, the movie part, is a family thriller, akin to a movie-of-the week as a young Italian boy falls overboard on his father's yacht.

Buoyed with the dynamics of the child's family, a hard-charging father (Alessio Boni) and a traditional mother (Michela Cescon), it's rousing and very involving. Most importantly, young Matteo Gadola's vibrant performance as Sandro draws us in. His decent character is, seemingly, our touchstone with Italy. Indeed, throughout this first section, Giordana's directorial hand is firm and the technical contributions top cabin, especially Roberto Forza's involving mix of subjective/objective shots

It's when the boy falls into the sea one evening that the production literally and figuratively goes overboard. After a harrowing, hallucinatory night in which the swim-team Sandro manages to keep afloat, he is picked up by what appear to be pirates. Not so, it's a boatload of African and Eastern European immigrants headed toward Italy. Crammed into a vessel that could best be called a junk( but not in the Chinese sense), the immigrants are at the mercy of their transporters, brigands. Sandro quickly bonds with a brother and sister from Rumania (Vlad Elexandru Toma, Ester Hazan), seemingly, the only Caucasians on the shabby boat.

In short, the storyline has takked from one survival trek to another as the immigrants must survive dehydration and the sadism of their transporters. They are ultimately cast adrift on their own and "saved" by Italian maritime border patrol.

Essentially, the scriptwriters have prismed the immigrant story through the most accessible foreigners, the two white European kids. The story now takks back and forth from a swing through the governmental bureaucracy to the personal reactions of Sandro's parents who contemplate adopting the youths. Ultimately, it drifts off toward ... well, toward nothing really. The film just fizzles and stops at an almost arbitrary point: We suspect that is some kind of summary statement of the whole immigrant situation, it just goes on. Indeed, another movie might involve the Ukrainian kids struggle to survive in a foreighn land that does not want them. Mainstream audiences, and even festival audiences, may not be as generous and feel like they've been cast adrift themselves.

Toronto International Film Festival

Spanning four decades in late 20th century Italy, Marco Tullio Giordana's "The Best of Youth" (La Meglio Gioventu) focuses on the intimate lives of two brothers who take divergent paths, as well as those of friends, lovers and children whose ideals are challenged by events and tragedies in their lives.

Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli approach their screenplay in a novelistic manner, using a six-hour-plus running time to layer in the details of these lives. This recent Miramax acquisition was originally filmed for Italian television, which explains the length of a movie presented theatrically in two parts. The film proved a major theatrical hit in Italy, but its length limits North American boxoffice to dedicated cineastes and festivalgoers. They will be amply rewarded.

The film begins in 1966, the year of the flood in Florence that brought out legions of young people determined to save that city's heritage of art and literature. It ends in the present day, which contains the film's only hint of magic realism. These years encompass the political upheaval of 1968 in Western Europe, where young people felt they could change the world

the tragedy of terrorism in the 1970s

the ups and downs of the economy

the Falcone assassination in 1992

and diversion of many characters' energies into family life and coming to terms with feelings of alienation and regret.

Of the brothers we meet in 1966, Matteo (Alessio Boni) is the more withdrawn and sullen, a man sensitive to the wrongs of society but one prone to fits of temper and frustration when things don't go his way. Nicola Luigi Lo Cascio) is more open and loving, at ease with women but reserved, engaged with the world and a seeker of love.

At a job in a mental hospital, Matteo meets Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca), a severely disturbed young woman who is being given electroshock therapy, the barbarity of which outrages him. When he, his brother and two pals take off on a summer trip to Norway, Matteo kidnaps Giorgia with the vague idea of rescuing her and returning her to her family. Only the family doesn't want her, and police pick her up at a train station.

Discouraged, Matteo abandons Nicola to return to Rome and impulsively joins the army rather than continuing with his studies. Nicola makes his way to Norway, where, out of money, he takes work in a lumber mill. He returns home to help in the flood in Florence, where he meets Giulia (Sonia Bergamasco), a free-spirited woman who becomes his lover and mother of his child, Sara.

Perhaps inspired by his encounter with Giorgia, Nicola pursues a career in psychiatry in Turin. Meanwhile, Matteo's career in the army and police -- jobs he seeks because they have "rules" -- is often jeopardized by a rebellious streak and violent behavior.

While on duty in Sicily in the late '70s, Matteo meets Mirella (Maya Sansa), a young photographer he will later encounter in Rome. They have a brief affair before tragedy overtakes Matteo. Meanwhile, Giulia becomes increasingly radicalized and deserts Nicola and Sara to enter the shadowy world of terrorism. Eventually, Nicola is faced with the decision of whether to aid police in capturing his ex-lover before she kills someone.

Perhaps the strongest influence here is Francois Truffaut in his early "Jules et Jim" period. For Giordana is less interested in social and political history than in how people fall in and out of love, how families operate and the role friendships play in the characters' lives. Giordana moves beyond psychology, viewing characters' behavior without trying to fully understand or explain them.

Lo Cascio and Boni inhabit their roles with keen intellectual and emotional vigor. Bergamasco and Sansa deliver sensitive portraits of conflicted women who struggle to bridge the gap between personal desires and responsibilities to others.

Production designer Franco Ceraolo and cinematographer Roberto Forza, shooting in Super 16mm, ably convey the changing landscape of Italy. The film's soundtrack consists in large measure of terrific pop songs from different eras.

THE BEST OF YOUTH

Miramax Films

Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana presents a Rai Fiction production

Credits:

Director: Marco Tullio Giordana

Screenwriters: Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli

Producer: Angelo Barbagallo

Director of photography: Roberto Forza

Production designer: Franco Ceraolo

Costume designer: Elisabetta Montaldo

Editor: Roberto Missiroli

Cast:

Nicola: Luigi Lo Cascio

Matteo: Alessio Boni

Giulia: Sonia Bergamasco

Carlo: Fabrizio

Mirella: Maya Sansa

Francesca: Valentina Carnelutti

Giorgia: Jasmine Trinca

Angelo: Andrea Tidona

Running time -- 373 minutes

No MPAA rating...

Toronto International Film Festival

Spanning four decades in late 20th century Italy, Marco Tullio Giordana's "The Best of Youth" (La Meglio Gioventu) focuses on the intimate lives of two brothers who take divergent paths, as well as those of friends, lovers and children whose ideals are challenged by events and tragedies in their lives.

Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli approach their screenplay in a novelistic manner, using a six-hour-plus running time to layer in the details of these lives. This recent Miramax acquisition was originally filmed for Italian television, which explains the length of a movie presented theatrically in two parts. The film proved a major theatrical hit in Italy, but its length limits North American boxoffice to dedicated cineastes and festivalgoers. They will be amply rewarded.

The film begins in 1966, the year of the flood in Florence that brought out legions of young people determined to save that city's heritage of art and literature. It ends in the present day, which contains the film's only hint of magic realism. These years encompass the political upheaval of 1968 in Western Europe, where young people felt they could change the world

the tragedy of terrorism in the 1970s

the ups and downs of the economy

the Falcone assassination in 1992

and diversion of many characters' energies into family life and coming to terms with feelings of alienation and regret.

Of the brothers we meet in 1966, Matteo (Alessio Boni) is the more withdrawn and sullen, a man sensitive to the wrongs of society but one prone to fits of temper and frustration when things don't go his way. Nicola Luigi Lo Cascio) is more open and loving, at ease with women but reserved, engaged with the world and a seeker of love.

At a job in a mental hospital, Matteo meets Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca), a severely disturbed young woman who is being given electroshock therapy, the barbarity of which outrages him. When he, his brother and two pals take off on a summer trip to Norway, Matteo kidnaps Giorgia with the vague idea of rescuing her and returning her to her family. Only the family doesn't want her, and police pick her up at a train station.

Discouraged, Matteo abandons Nicola to return to Rome and impulsively joins the army rather than continuing with his studies. Nicola makes his way to Norway, where, out of money, he takes work in a lumber mill. He returns home to help in the flood in Florence, where he meets Giulia (Sonia Bergamasco), a free-spirited woman who becomes his lover and mother of his child, Sara.

Perhaps inspired by his encounter with Giorgia, Nicola pursues a career in psychiatry in Turin. Meanwhile, Matteo's career in the army and police -- jobs he seeks because they have "rules" -- is often jeopardized by a rebellious streak and violent behavior.

While on duty in Sicily in the late '70s, Matteo meets Mirella (Maya Sansa), a young photographer he will later encounter in Rome. They have a brief affair before tragedy overtakes Matteo. Meanwhile, Giulia becomes increasingly radicalized and deserts Nicola and Sara to enter the shadowy world of terrorism. Eventually, Nicola is faced with the decision of whether to aid police in capturing his ex-lover before she kills someone.

Perhaps the strongest influence here is Francois Truffaut in his early "Jules et Jim" period. For Giordana is less interested in social and political history than in how people fall in and out of love, how families operate and the role friendships play in the characters' lives. Giordana moves beyond psychology, viewing characters' behavior without trying to fully understand or explain them.

Lo Cascio and Boni inhabit their roles with keen intellectual and emotional vigor. Bergamasco and Sansa deliver sensitive portraits of conflicted women who struggle to bridge the gap between personal desires and responsibilities to others.

Production designer Franco Ceraolo and cinematographer Roberto Forza, shooting in Super 16mm, ably convey the changing landscape of Italy. The film's soundtrack consists in large measure of terrific pop songs from different eras.

THE BEST OF YOUTH

Miramax Films

Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana presents a Rai Fiction production

Credits:

Director: Marco Tullio Giordana

Screenwriters: Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli

Producer: Angelo Barbagallo

Director of photography: Roberto Forza

Production designer: Franco Ceraolo

Costume designer: Elisabetta Montaldo

Editor: Roberto Missiroli

Cast:

Nicola: Luigi Lo Cascio

Matteo: Alessio Boni

Giulia: Sonia Bergamasco

Carlo: Fabrizio

Mirella: Maya Sansa

Francesca: Valentina Carnelutti

Giorgia: Jasmine Trinca

Angelo: Andrea Tidona

Running time -- 373 minutes

No MPAA rating...

CANNES -- La Meglio Gioventu (The Best of Youth), a six-hour miniseries from Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana, snatched the top prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard sidebar, one of a raft of awards presented at the festival during the weekend. The film, which screened over two nights in Cannes, is a portrait of an Italian family spanning four decades from the 1960s to the turn of the millennium. It stars Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni as brothers Nicola and Matteo, whose lives go in starkly different directions after a prescient meeting with mentally ill girl Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca). The runner-up Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard went to Iranian helmer Jafar Panahi for his Talaye Sorgh (Crimson Gold), the story of lowly pizza delivery man Hussein (Hossain Emadeddin), who longs for the life of luxury he sees represented in the windows of a Tehran jewelry shop. The award for best first film in the Un Certain Regard selection went to Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi's feature-length debut Mille Mois (A Thousand Months), about a child living in a village in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.

La Meglio Gioventu (The Best Of Youth), a six-hour miniseries from Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana, snatched the top prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard sidebar, one of a raft of awards presented at the festival over the weekend. The film, which screened over two nights in Cannes, is a portrait of an Italian family spanning four decades from the 1960s to the turn of the millennium. It stars Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni as brothers Nicola and Matteo, whose lives go in starkly different directions after a prescient meeting with a mentally ill girl Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca). The runner-up Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard sidebar went to Iranian helmer Jafar Panahi for his Talaye Sorgh (Crimson Gold), the story of lowly pizza delivery man Hussein (Hossain Emadeddin) who longs for the life of luxury he sees represented in the windows of a Tehran jewelry shop. The award for first film in the Un Certain Regard selection went to Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi's feature-length debut Mille Mois (A Thousand Months), about a child living in a village in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.