Dawid Ogrodnik

For his first film made in his native Poland, writer-director Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War) crafted the character study Ida: a personal and pensive historical drama, carefully composed and exquisitely rendered in black-and-white. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Feature.

The sophomore feature by Latvian director Juris Kursietis is a bracing and darkly funny account of Europe’s merciless migrant labor market. Evoking the humanist cinema of the Dardenne brothers, Oleg’s intimate, up-close cinematography and rich storytelling are truly transfixing.