Wanting to watch more independent films? Streaming app Mubi specializes in indie works from numerous countries that may have gone under the radar, and they’re giving Letterboxd users a 30-day free trial (non-users receive a 7-day trial). Here are 18 feature films across several decades, genres, and themes to check out:
- Cocote (Dominican Republic, 2017)
A Christian man, kind-hearted Alberto visits home for his father’s funeral and learns his family wants him to avenge the death after discovering a powerful local is responsible.
- Run time: 1hr 46min
- The Fall (United States, 2006)
In 1920s Hollywood, a bedridden stuntman befriends a young girl in the hospital and tells her stories of great heroes defeating an evil ruler while her imagination runs wild.
- Run time: 1hr 57min
- The Girl with the Needle (Denmark, 2024)
Pregnant, young factory worker Karoline is taken in by a charming older woman to run an underground adoption agency in post-WWI Copenhagen. However, Karoline becomes suspicious of her business partner, loosely based on Danish murderer Dagmar Overby.
- Run time: 2hr 3min
- Silvia Prieto (Argentina, 1999)
After turning 27, Silvia Prieto decides to change her life. She finds a new job, gets a pet bird, finds new love – and has an identity crisis after discovering other women with her name.
- Run time: 1hr 32min
- Dahomey (France, 2024)
This docudrama by Mati Diop follows 26 treasures stolen from the Kingdom of Dahomey and displayed in Paris as they are returned to present-day Benin, garnering reactions from the Beninese people.
- Run time: 1hr 8min
- Bird (United Kingdom, 2024)
12-year-old Bailey looks for attention and adventure in other places outside of her distant relationship with her single father Bug (Barry Keoghan) and half-brother Hunter in this drama.
- Run time: 1hr 58min
- Following (United Kingdom, 1998)
Christopher Nolan directs this neo-noir about a struggling writer who researches strangers on the streets of London only to get roped into a world of crime by a burglar named Cobb.
- Run time: 1hr 10min
- Alcarràs (Spain, 2022)
In the Catalan town of Alcarràs, the peach-farming Solé family must stand their ground when they find themselves facing eviction in the placement of solar panels and chopped trees.
- Run time: 2hr
- A Leap in the Dark (Italy, 1980)
As the sister of Judge Mauro Ponticelli’s mental health begins declining, she unintentionally finds new love to improve her condition. A jealous Mauro attempts to use his position to intervene in their relationship.
- Run time: 2hr
- Pieces of April (United States, 2003)
Distanced from her emotionally detached family, eccentric April Burns invites her relatives over for a hectic Thanksgiving holiday after learning her mother has terminal breast cancer.
- Run time: 1hr 20min
- Swallow (United States, 2019)
The life of newly pregnant housewife Hunter is twisted when she develops a disorder that compels her to eat dangerous objects and must confront the reasons behind her addiction.
- Run time: 1hr 35min
- Crossing (Sweden, 2024)
A retired Georgian teacher must search for her transgender niece Tekla along with a lawyer when she finds out Tekla has crossed the Turkish border.
- Run time: 1hr 46min
- Decision to Leave (South Korea, 2022)
A man dies on a mountain peak and his wife is suspected of murder by the detective on the case, who develops feelings for the man’s wife amid disastrous consequences.
- Run time: 2hr 18min
- Humanist Vampire Seeking Consentual Suicidal Person (Canada, 2023)
Teenage vampire Sasha has one fatal flaw: she can’t kill. When her parents cut off her blood supply, she meets semi-suicidal Paul and embarks on a quest to carry out his last wishes before he gives his life for hers.
- Run time: 1hr 30min
- Omen (Belgium, 2023)
Suspected of being a sorcerer as a baby, Kofi is banished from his Congolese village and sent to Europe. Years later, he returns with his pregnant Belgian wife for a peaceful visit but traditional superstitions continue to haunt him.
- Run time: 1hr 35min
- East Palace, West Palace (China, 1996)
Young, gay writer Ah Lan is arrested and held overnight for an interrogation, his unwanted memories dredging up his troubled past and feelings of attraction in the policeman interrogating him. Named for the parks near the Forbidden City, this is the first mainland Chinese film with an overtly homosexual theme.
- Run time: 1hr 34min
- Medicine for Melancholy (United States, 2008)
Barry Jenkins makes his feature debut with this romantic drama about two Black San Franciscans who, after a one-night stand, explore the budding relationship between themselves and their city.
- Run time: 1hr 28min
- Golem (Poland, 1979)
Set in a dystopian 21st century, monstrous scientists and doctors use technology to invent a new human race out of degenerate people. When genetically engineered Pernat appears to be an ordinary product of their work, he’s accused of being a reverse golem: a human being.
- Run time: 1hr 30min
