Sex, strikes and Nazis: the revered director making Austria spill its secrets

The Austrian film-maker is best known for investigating the uncomfortable corners of her country’s history. Now she’s won an award for her latest film, which explores male sexual fantasy

The Worst Person in the World review – Nordic romcom is an instant classic

Renate Reinsve is sublime as a young woman veering between lovers in a film that reminds us of the genre’s life-affirming potential

Why Drive My Car should win the best picture Oscar

Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s light yet profound drama is the kind of thrilling discovery that foreign-language cinema is all about

Master Cheng review – soupy tale of a Chinese chef in smalltown Finland

The dubious locals are won over by a Shanghai widower’s cooking in this hokey but soothing story of acceptance

The Metamorphosis of Birds review – poetic Portuguese documentary

A father and daughter are united by the absence of their mothers in Catarina Vasconcelos’s contemplative debut feature

Great Freedom review – powerful gay​​ prison drama​ ​set in postwar Germany

A concentration camp survivor is incarcerated for decades for his sexuality in this nonlinear film with a remarkable performance from Franz Rogowski

La Civil review – compelling cartel kidnap drama with a vérité edge

Teodora Miha imbues this harrowing tale of a mother’s search for justice with a documentarian’s gaze, in a solidly made descent into every parent’s worst nightmare

Streaming: the best Ukrainian films past and present

The embattled nation’s cinema is rich and distinctive, from 1929’s milestone Man With a Movie Camera to Sergei Loznitsa’s pitch-black comedy Donbass

The Last Journey review – Solaris-style sci-fi takes on astral body with Earth issues

French parable features a ‘red moon’ that provides Earth with fuel, but our last hope refuses a mission to destroy it

Rūrangi review – uplifting transgender tale set in rural New Zealand

A transgender activist returns to his farming community after a decade away, in a drama driven by the magnetic Elz Carrad

Gangubai Kathiawadi review – gutsy Indian true crime drama

The hard-hitting story of a sex worker who rises through the ranks of 60s gangland Mumbai is powered by a magnetic performance from Alia Bhatt

La Mif review – remarkable teenage care home drama

A cast of non-professionals give exceptional performances as fact meets fiction in this compelling drama with shades of The Class and Rocks

The Long Walk review – inventive Laotian horror of ghosts and time travel

A magnetic central performance from Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy anchors Mattie Do’s excellently spooky tale of destructive hubris

La Mif review – girl power triumphs in dynamic care home drama

A cast of nonprofessional newcomers captivate in a realist drama reminiscent of Sarah Gavron’s Rocks

Women dominate Berlin film festival awards as Alcarràs wins Golden Bear

Best director prize, both acting awards and two of the three best film prizes were won by female film-makers, led by the Catalan-language drama