This is the middle story of Satyajit Ray's Bengali trilogy and, after Pather Panchali, we find Apu on the cusp of adulthood. The young lad moves with his family to Benares but with the death of his father, Apu's desire to continue his learning is affirmed and as his passion for knowledge grows so he and his mother find themselves drifting apart, especially as he wants to leave home and go to Calcutta to study. Aparajito is a beautifully drawn film and an immaculate observation of the characters find out more...

The 1960s and tradition is teetering on the edge, a group of minor public school boys can't hack it any more and rebellion brews. Discovering a cache of automatic weapons, they revolt bloodily against the establishment around them, from the rooftop they engage in a firefight with the teachers and other students, who are armed with the Army Cadet training rifles. A classic of the English cinema... rise up all teens. find out more...

Despite not living to his 30th birthday, Jean Vigo is still considered one of the great masters of French cinema. He only made 4 films and all of them are contained here, beautifully restored and with plenty of extras, including a feature length documentary on the director. L'Atlante tells the story of two newly weds living on board a barge on the Seine, Zero de Conduite contains a satirical tale of student revolt, A Propos de Nice is a documentary about the French coastal town, and Taris cinegr find out more...

Truffaut's first feature, the melancholy and revealing portrait (semi-autobiographical) of an adolescent boy growing up in Paris. We see the intense, destructive family background followed by an escape from reform school. Beautifully perceptive performances make this one of Truffaut's finest works. find out more...

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece. find out more...