Do you love world cinema (a.k.a. foreign films, or international movies, or auteur cinema, or just about anything that's not made in Hollywood)? Then you've no doubt noticed, as I have, how difficult it is to find information on the Internet about these films. That's why I've created this webpage devoted to international films, directors, and actors. (There are also pages of articles and other stuff which you might want to check out.)

The scope of this site may be somewhat limited, based largely upon areas of my own personal interest. Furthermore I have also attempted to focus, for the most part, on films and artists who are not already covered on the 'Net. I hope that you will find this page useful. (I do apologize, however, for the Eurocentric bias of this site. I'm not European, but most of the foreign films available to me are. I can't apologize, however, for focussing on foreign-language cinemas, to the virtual exclusion of English-language ones. At this time, it seems that even the least-worthy English-language films have a better chance of being seen—in North America, at least—than anything that might be subtitled.)

What kind of information is included in this site? For each subject, I have tried to select at least one interesting article or essay which will offer insights into the given film, director, or actor—regardless of whether or not you're already familiar with it, him, or her.

Why haven't I written these essays myself? Good question. It's partly because I'm quite busy—besides a full-time job, part-time school, and viewing as many movies as possible (usually at the cinémathèque; occasionally at the rep theatres; and, once a year, staggering and bleary-eyed, at the film festival), the rest of my time is spent trying to figure out this thing called HTML (and please don't even mention the word Java). But, to be honest, the main reason is that I'm debilitatingly uninsightful, as well as wholly incapable of writing anything halfway decent. And even if I weren't so encumbered, would you listen to me? Chances are, no. So I've taken the easy way out: I've reproduced (sans permission) articles by some well-known film writers and critics.

If you're the owner of the copyright for any materials reproduced here, I'd be happy to remove said material at your request. But, hey, what's a little copyright infringement when it's committed in the service of a good—no, great—cause: the promotion of an alternative cinema to the Hollywood hegemony?

Enjoy.

irmavep@geocities.com