1980s

1988 film by Lars von Trier

Famed actress Susan Taslimi plays three roles here: Kian, who doubts her identity; Vida, the twin sister, a self-assured artist; and their mother, who gives up one child out of fear of poverty, then deprives the other of affection due to deep regrets regarding the child whom she has abandoned.

A young man lives through the end of World War II

1988 film by Terence Davies

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

The story of one shepherd's single-handed quest to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the French Alps throughout the first half of the 20th century.

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

1981 Polish film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

A young man narrates two conflicting accounts of his life, changing the details and incidents in both, as he slowly approaches madness.

A young film director is turning a movie with his friend Christa. In the film-within-the-film there are two couples, one real, one imagined , and the film - told through five dreams - is as much the story of a film on-production, as the birth of a child.

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

1983 film by Woody Allen

Prof. Henri Laborit uses the stories of the lives of three people to discuss behaviorist theories of survival, combat, rewards and punishment, and anxiety. René is a technical manager at a textile factory and must face the anxiety caused by corporate downsizing. Janine is a self-educated actress/stylist who learns that the wife of her lover is dying and must decide to let them reunite. Jean is a controversial career-climbing writer/politician at a crossroads in life.

A documentary about the film-maker's wife and co-worker, Peggy Lawson, who died in 1971.

Michail helps out Nicolai and Lubia giving them a ride to a nearby construction site. They will work there to build a new town and factory.

An old man is wandering round a badly signposted and as yet mostly under construction Prague housing estate looking for the high rise block into which he is supposed to be moving with his daughter's family. The old granddad from the countryside likes chatting, nothing escapes his eyes and he wants to give everyone a helping hand.

1988 film by Krzysztof Kieślowski

The film shows men and women models at work on TV commercials, fashion shows, print advertising,
posing for magazine covers and ads for a variety of products: designer's collections, fur coats, sports clothes
and automobiles. The models are seen at work with photographers whose techniques illustrate different
styles of fashion and product photography. Also, the business aspect of running an agency is shown:
interviewing prospective models, career counseling, arranging portfolios, talking with clients and planning
trips. The film presents a view of the intersections of fashion, business, advertising, photography, television
and fantasy.

1981 Filipino film

A student is devastated when he finds that his girlfriend is cheating on him. In order to find out why she did it, he decides to spy on her and her airline pilot lover. Then he sees the pilot with a blonde woman and he begins to follow them…