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Since 1984, the Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, has been dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements.

Before the Rain (Macedonia/UK) -Told in three parts, a mysterious incident in the Macedonian mountains blows out of proportion, threatening full-blown civil war.

Danton (France) - Georges Danton returns to Paris to speak against Robespierre and the Terror which betrays the principles of the French Revolution.

Dodes'ka-den (Japan) - Akira Kurosawa's first colour feature, this Oscar-nominated film follows the daily lives of slum-dwellers on the outskirts of Tokyo, each with his or her own compelling reasons to face each day.

Europa (Denmark) - German-American Leo Kessler moves to Germany after the Second World War, working on the Zentropa Railway for a Nazi sympathizer.  Though he tries to remain neutral to the ongoing purging of Nazi loyalists by the Allies, he falls in love with his employer's daughter.

Il generale della rovere (Italy) - Film of intrigue and heroism within the Italian underground during the German occupation of Italy.

Hobson's Choice (UK) -An owner of a Victorian-era boot shop finds himself in a battle of wills with his headstrong daughter, who wants to make her own professional and personal decisions in her life.

The Last Emperor (USA/Italy/France/China) - Bertolucci's epic chronicling the life of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China before the Communist reign.  Follows him from childhood to manhood to fugitive to puppet ruler to party proletariat.

Mon oncle Antoine (Canada) - An orphan comes to live with a foster family in a mining village and becomes part of the comic foibles and heartbreaks of the French-Canadian community. Considered by some critics to be the greatest Canadian film of all time.

El Norte (USA/UK) - The story of Mayan peasants, fleeing military oppression in Guatemala, hoping to find a new life in Los Angeles.  The first American independent film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Shadows (USA) - John Cassavetes' landmark improvisational film about interracial relationships among the Beat Generation.

Search for more Criterion Collection titles in the HPL catalogue here.