World Cinema Classics

In 2025, when Christopher Nolan was preparing to shoot The Odyssey, it was a film made 40 years earlier that he screened for his team to help inspire them. That film was Ran, directed by one of the true giants of world cinema, Akira Kurosawa.

Kurosawa is one of five directors whose work is explored in this celebration of international films. Celia Imrie shares interviews and key moments from the BBC's rich archives to look at his work and the work of four other greats who shared his vision and passion for film - Agnes Varda, Francois Truffaut, Luis Buñuel and Ingmar Bergman. We see how they and their groundbreaking, inspirational films changed the language of world cinema and showed those who came after them exactly what the movie camera is capable of achieving.