Martin Scorsese has had quite a prolific career throughout his lifetime. He stormed onto the mainstream movie world with the release of films like Taxi Driver and New York, New York in the 70s, bringing life as an NYC native, particularly an Italian-American one, to screens all over the world. Even in the decades to come after the release of some of his most iconic movies, he continued to put out hits and blockbusters like Gangs of New York, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Hugo. These are only a few of Scorsese’s hits out of a career that has lasted over 50 years. However, one of Scorsese’s most admirable works is the creation of the World Cinema Project.
Often, European and American films dominate discussions of what constitutes good movies, and in 2007, Scorsese sought to help change that when he founded the World Cinema Foundation. Also known as the World Cinema Project, its primary goal is to restore and preserve movies from around the world. These films are often left out of the overarching conversations about movies and distribution, although they are considered classics in their home countries and inspired some of the biggest award-winning directors working internationally. These movies that the World Cinema Project worked on should be on everyone’s list to watch next.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Memories of Underdevelopment
Cuban State Film
Released in 1968, Memories of Underdevelopment would become director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s most famous release globally. This Cuban film was adapted from a novel and was Alea’s fifth feature film out of many. Its protagonist is a wealthy intellectual who decides to stay in Cuba. His wife, family, and friends have all left the country due to the Cuban Revolution and the ensuing conflicts that came after it, but still, he remains reflecting on his country’s history. He narrates the events through his point of view, filtering through various memories to show how he experiences the events as an elite–a completely different perspective than someone who might be on the ground during the revolution.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 The Color of Pomegranates
Armenfilm
4 A Brighter Summer Day
Yang & His Gang Filmmakers
Taiwanese director Edward Yang would become well known for his 2000 hit Yi Yi, but he had a complex body of work even before that movie came out. A Brighter Summer Day, which came out in 1991, is an example of that. Classified as an epic coming-of-age crime movie, Chang Chen stars in the leading role of Zhang Zhen. In 1959, when the story begins, he is falling behind in school, becoming the worry of his family. As he continues to struggle with school, he ultimately ends up joining a gang, leading to an unfortunate series of events.
3 A River Called Titas
2 The Housemaid
Kuk DongSeki Trading Co.
The Housemaid has become a classic in South Korean cinema and set the tone for future Korean directors like Bong Joon-ho. The 1960 film offers a glimpse into a post-war society in South Korea: a new middle-class family decides to hire a maid after the mother realizes she cannot do it all while pregnant again. However, the maid they hire proves to be a force of destruction after she seduces the household’s patriarch. This film falls in the vein of Hitchcock’s thrillers, offering many twists and turns as the story and situation evolve.
1 Black Girl
Filmi Domirev
A French and Senegalese production, Black Girl offers many insights into life as a Black, woman migrant worker in France during the 60s. Released in 1966, Black Girl’s protagonist is Diounna, a young woman from the capital of Senegal. She was raised in poverty, and to escape it decides to take a position as a nanny in France for a wealthy French couple. Excited by the prospects of moving to France and improving her situation, she becomes quickly disillusioned as the couple she works for treats her like she is inferior and experiences continuous racism. Black Girl is considered one of the first movies by a Sub-Saharan African director to receive widespread acclaim.
