Moolaadé (Burkina Faso)

Ousmane Sembene, 2004, 120 min, UK:15

A masterpiece of visual story telling spun around the controversial practice of female circumcision in African culture.

Ousmane Sembene of Senegal is widely regarded as the father of African Cinema. The film is critical in its view of female circumcision. But Moolaadé is not a documentary. It is a story of diversity and dynamism in the fabric of ideas among the traditional and evolving cultural landscapes of African societies.

Ten (Iran)

Abbas Kiarostami, 2002, 92min, UK:12

Directed by renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, the film allows the viewer to listen in on conversations with women whose voices are seldom heard.

While "Ten" is rooted in its particular Persian culture, the questions raised by the voices of the women have a global resonance. This is not Kiarostami’s best film, but it is quite recent. The camera work and format of the story – two static camera’s that watch the actors who spend all their time driving around in a car – have a creative simplicity that is as much a part of the film as the conversations that underpin it.

Munna Bhai MBBS (India)

Rajkumar Hirani, 2003, 155min, UK:PG

A recently acclaimed Bollywood comedy that many Indians have found rip-roaringly funny. The plot: a local Mafioso goes to medical school to restore the family honour and avenge an insult by the father of a would-be suitor!

The Indian Hindi Language film Industry centered around Bombay, thus dubbed Bollywood in English, is the largest film industry in the world. Beautiful settings, fast paced music and sensual dance routines are integral to this genre of films.

Munna Bhai MBBS has been included in the series for an authentic experience of Bollywood, and as a window in to popular construction of humor in Indian culture.

Beijing Bicycle (China)

Xiaoshuai Wang, 2001, 113min, PG13

A subtle film reflecting on the emerging contemporary life in urban China and the disorientations of social and economic change.

Beijing Bicycle, by the director Xiaoshuai Wang, is an example of the most recent wave of film-making in China. These films tend to have the gritty underground atmosphere of low budgets and handheld cameras (don't expect Hollywood!) -- using both style and content to generate a sense of subtly subverting state censorship.

This genre of film is also more individualistic and anti-romantic than the previous generation of Chinese films that were acclaimed in the 1990s. These changes and differences in the spectrum of Chinese films are perhaps a testimony to the diversity and dynamism of cultural sensibilities in contemporary China.