The Island of the Fallen Angel

My Brother Is an Only Child

March 2007 •Italian

Accio and Manrico are siblings from a working-class family in 1960s Italy: older Manrico is handsome, charismatic, and loved by all, while younger Accio is sulky, hot-headed, and treats life as a battleground — much to his parents' chagrin. After the former is drawn into left-wing politics, Accio joins the fascists out of spite, but his flimsy beliefs are put to test when he falls for Manrico's like-minded girlfriend.

Ceplis

January 1972 •Latvian

Latvia in the 1920s. The enterprising Edgars Ceplis establishes a company to produce bricks from Latvian clay for export. Many are involved in his project, hoping for the huge profits the venture promises. Ceplis soon becomes infatuated with his office typist Austra Zīle and starts neglecting the business...

Z

February 1969 •French

Amid a tense political climate, the opposition leader is killed in an apparent accident. When a prosecutor finds evidence of a cover-up, witnesses get targeted. A thinly veiled account of the 1963 assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis and its aftermath, Z captures the outrage about the US-backed military junta that ruled Greece at the time of its release.

The Anarchist's Wife

June 2008 •Spanish

"The Anarchist's Wife" is the story of Manuela who is left behind when her husband Justo fights for his ideals against Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. He is deported to a concentration camp, and upon his release, continues the fight against nationalism in the French resistance. Years, pass without a word from him, but his wife never gives up hope of seeing him again.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

December 1970 •Italian

In 1930s Italy, a wealthy Jewish family tries to maintain their privileged lifestyle, hosting friends for tennis and parties at their villa. As anti-Semitism intensifies under Fascism, they must ultimately face the horrors of the Holocaust.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom

January 1976 •Italian

Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.

Hex Hollow: Witchcraft and Murder in Pennsylvania

November 2015 •English

A documentary film investigating the 1928 murder of a Pennsylvania farmer and the allegations of witchcraft that shocked the nation.

Skandál v Gri-Gri baru

February 1979 •Czech

The Hands of a Single Woman

September 1979 •Italian

A lesbian and vicious countess seduces the wife of an English writer in a creative crisis, during the couple's stay at her luxurious villa.

She's Dressed to Kill

December 1979 •English

A fashion designer gives a private showing at her mansion over a weekend, but someone starts killing off the models.

Memoirs of a Geisha

December 2005 •English

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

El Set

June 2025 •Arabic

From the 1920s on, Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.

Miller's Crossing

September 1990 •English

Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.

The Tin Drum

May 1979 •German

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

The Travelling Players

July 1975 •Greek

This expansive Greek drama follows a troupe of theater actors as they perform around their country during World War II. While the production that they put on is entitled "Golfo the Shepherdess," the thespians end up echoing scenes from classic Greek tales in their own lives, as Elektra plots revenge on her mother for the death of her father, and seeks help from her brother, Orestes, a young anti-fascist rebel.

The Last Emperor

October 1987 •English

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

V for Vendetta

February 2006 •English

In a world in which Great Britain has become a fascist state, a masked vigilante known only as “V” conducts guerrilla warfare against the oppressive British government. When V rescues a young woman from the secret police, he finds in her an ally with whom he can continue his fight to free the people of Britain.

Michael Collins

October 1996 •English

Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.

Prêtres interdits

November 1973 •French

The Tracker

August 2002 •English

Somewhere in Australia in the early 20th century outback, an Aboriginal man is accused of murdering a white woman. Three white men are on a mission to capture him with the help of an experienced Indigenous man.