A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father.

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Three characters: a land girl, a US and a UK sergeant, all arrive on the same train in a small wartime Kent village and set out to catch the local malcontent, the 'glue man'. The three of them start to explore the area to discover and expose him but then they get engrossed in the history of the area and the tales of The Pilgrim's Way. The local magistrate is a regional historian, and a very mysterious character, who leads them further into the mystery. A superb depiction of the tensions that ari find out more...

Emperor Asoka was ruler of Magadha in the 3rd century BC and after waging a savage war on the neighbouring kingdom of Kalinga he finally witnesses the consequences of his actions, a dreadful reality that causes him to renounce his war like ways and dedicate himself to spreading the teachings of Buddha. Asoka is by no means historically accurate but it is a lush and fascinating epic. find out more...

Guillermo Del Toro's blockbusting tale of a young girl struggling to make sense of the violent world around her was a big 2006 arthouse hit. Continuing his exploration of the impact of the Spanish Civil War on his generation (it was also the backdrop for his excellent ghost story, The Devil's Backbone) Del Toro's fantasy mixes strong horror with fairytale-style aesthetics to great effect, making Ofelia's escape into an imaginary realm a poignant response to the cruel realities of her existence. find out more...

The period between the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdom Periods is deeply engrained into Chinese myth, think of our own Arthurian legends, though Woo adapted this film from the historically accurate 'Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms' rather than the romantic 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' (one of the 'Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature'). find out more...

'The Duke' stars in this magnificent John Ford Oscar winning Western. Several of the themes, for example the contrast between the beauty of the wild and the corruption of 'civilization', in Ford's later films are touched upon, as is his choice of the Monument Valley setting, which he made his own. A taut psychological study of the occupants of a stagecoach ending in an Indian attack. find out more...