Second Run

Shyam Benegal (1934-2024) is one of India's most venerated filmmakers whose early films were iconic in India's Parallel Cinema movement. Manthan ('The Churning', 1976) is not only one of his finest...

From Kelly Reichardt, acclaimed director of Meek's Cutoff, First Cow and The Mastermind. Homeless and desperate, Wendy is driving with her dog Lucy to Alaska in hopes of a summer job in a cannery...

From the director of Three Wishes for Cinderella, Václav Vorlícek's Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is a delightfully demented, absurdist 1966 comic book fantasy that is unlike anything else in the Czech...

Zoltán Huszárik was one of the great masters of international cinema. His unique and beautifully realised works set him apart from all other contemporary filmmakers, creating an intoxicating body of...

From Gabriel Mascaro, director of the award-winning Neon Bull and The Blue Trail, recent winner of the Silver Bear at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival. In a dystopian vision of Brazil, a deeply...

Barnabás Kos, a meek and modest triangle-player in a state orchestra finds himself unfathomably promoted to musical director. Now drunk with power, the once timid Kos turns into a poised, commanding...

In a dark dystopian future, a solitary worker suffers a breakdown after being interrogated about crimes he has no recollection of committing. Is he a real human, or a clone created by scientists in...

The first ever Czechoslovak film musical, Ladislav Rychman's sumptuous The Hop-Pickers was a sensation upon release. Its popularity has since endured for generations of Czech viewers with its...

The first director to be shortlisted for both the Grierson and Jarman Awards, the work of filmmaker, artist and cultural activist Andrea Luka Zimmerman presents tender portraits of community and...

Vaclav Vorlicek's 1973 reworking of the classic Cinderella is one of the most beloved films in all Central European cinema. Delightful and unconventional, Three Wishes for Cinderella places the...

Jerzy Kawalerowicz's dazzling epic revolves around a lethal power struggle in ancient Egypt. As the youthful Ramses XIII ascends the throne, he clashes with powerful priests who seek to undermine his...

Set in 13th-century Europe, Frantisek Vlacil's visionary medieval epic chronicles the tale of a young boy forced to join the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Years later he abandons the Crusaders, only...

Geoffrey Smith's multi-award-winning documentary film centres on the work of Henry Marsh, an exceptionally gifted leading British brain surgeon, and a pioneer of neurosurgical progress in Ukraine...

Set in Prague, this powerful tale is informed as much by Czech resistance to Soviet impositions as it is by the torments of the Nazi era. A Jewish former doctor is compelled to work cataloguing the...

The arrival of a travelling circus sends ripples through the inhabitants of a remote Keralan village. Aravindan Govindan's poetic and allegorical film The Circus Tent explores the often-marginalised...

Triple bill of Polish war dramas directed by Andrzej Wajda. In 'A Generation' (1955) a young man (Tadeusz Lomnicki) decides to fight against the Nazis after falling for a pretty Resistance leader...

Made in 1965, this Czechoslovak film is set in the German-occupied, 'independent' Slovak state during World War II. A carpenter is appointed 'Aryan Controller' of a button shop owned by an old Jewish...

1970s Czech sci-fi comedy directed by Jindrich Polák. Following the death of his identical twin brother, rocket designer Karel (Petr Kostka) is caught up in a plot involving a group of former Nazis...

Martin Sulík directs this Slovakian coming-of-age drama about a young man trying to find his path in life. The cast includes Maria Pakulnis, György Cserhalmi, Gejza Benkö and Iva Bittová.

Vitalina Varela stars as a fictionalised version of herself in this Portuguese drama from film-maker Pedro Costa. The story follows on from Costa's 'Horse Money' (2015) in which Vitalina told how she...

Kazuo Hara directs this documentary following Japanese war veteran Kenzo Okuzaki as he travels around Japan on a quest to expose Emperor Hirohito and his men who killed two Japanese soldiers during...

Czechoslovakian drama directed by Stefan Uher. The film follows the mysterious Anabella (Jolanta Umecka) as she inspires a group of young artists. The cast also includes Ladislav Mrkvicka, Otakar...

Czechoslovakian drama co-written and directed by Otakar Vávra. Set in 17th century Moravia, an old woman is accused of witchcraft after being caught stealing the bread passed out at communion...

Experimental documentary from director Pere Portabella. The film follows the shooting of Jesús Franco's 'Count Dracula' (1970) starring Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom and Soledad Miranda, featuring...

Foreign drama based on the novel by Ladislav Fuks. The film centres around the demonic, death obsessed Karl Kopfrkingl (Rudolf Hrusinsky). He is the owner of a crematorium in the early stages of the...

Czech drama from director Frantisek Vlácil. Set in 16th century Bohemia, a miller and his son find themselves at the centre of an investigation after they are suspected of working with the Devil...

Perhaps best known for being 'banned forever' in its native Czech Republic, Jan Nemec's experimental film is a surreal, creepy allegory about the cause and effects of power and conformity. A group of...

Karel Zeman co-writes and directs this fantasy adventure starring Milos Kopecky as eccentric adventurer Baron Munchausen. After coming across young astronaut Tonik (Rudolf Jelínek) on the moon, the...

Karel Kachyna writes and directs this Czech drama starring Radoslav Brzobohaty and Jirina Bohdalova as husband and wife Ludvik and Anna. Ludvik, a senior official of Prague's Communist regime,...

Second Run presents a selection of essential works by Polish filmmaker and iconoclast Jerzy Skolimowski, one of international cinema's most prolific and celebrated filmmakers. This special edition...

With delirious visuals conjured by cinematographer Jaroslav Kucera (Daisies, Diamonds of the Night) and often described as 'the last film of the Czechoslovak New Wave', Juraj Herz's delirious tale of...

In a 19th century German village, a young girl experiences fearsome night-time visions as a deranged child-killer stalks the streets...