Great folk movies
Great movies with folk elements
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- DirectorMetodi AndonovStarsKatya PaskalevaAnton GorchevMilen PenevThe film sends us to the 17th century when Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire. Four hoodlums break into the house of the shepherd Karaivan, raping and killing his wife in full view of their little girl, Maria. Karaivan decides to take the law into his own hands and becomes enslaved by his violent wish for revenge. He burns their house with his wife's body inside and abandons the gentle life they had shared, choosing instead to take his daughter to live in a rough hut high in the hills. He raises Maria as a boy, training her to fight so that she can kill in cold blood and help her father avenge her mother's murder. Nine years pass before the two locate and kill three of the four perpetrators. At each body they leave a goat horn as the symbol of their revenge. While on a mission to kill the last one at his rich oriental house, Maria becomes the unwitting witness of a love scene and change comes over her. Now, from time to time she secretly dons a beautiful women dress and exults in her newly found femininity. She falls in love with young shepherd and the hate begins to melt from her heart. When Karaivan discovers the change that is taking place in her it is already late. He tries to bring Maria back to him and their life of revenge, with disastrous results.
- DirectorAnte BabajaStarsManca KosirVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicFabijan SovagovicBeautiful but ailing girl is married to a harsh man who doesn't care for her. Only after she dies does he realize that he actually loves her.
- DirectorRobin HardyStarsEdward WoodwardChristopher LeeDiane CilentoA puritan police sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the pagan locals claim never existed.
- DirectorDjordje KadijevicStarsDragan JovanovicBranka PujicAleksandar BercekSveto Mesto is based on a literary classic, Nikolai Gogol's 1835 short story, 'Viy'.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsJosef KemrMagda VásáryováNada HejnaA grim portrayal of the shift from Paganism to Christianity in medieval central Europe - as a young virgin promised to God is kidnapped and raped by a marauder who her religious father seeks to kill in return.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAnatoliy SolonitsynIvan LapikovNikolay GrinkoThe life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.
- DirectorRobert EggersStarsAnya Taylor-JoyRalph InesonKate DickieA family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsJulian BarrattPeter FerdinandoRichard GloverAmid the Civil War in 17th-century England, a group of deserters flee from battle through an overgrown field. Captured by an alchemist, the men are forced to help him search to find a hidden treasure that he believes is buried in the field.
- DirectorLukas FeigelfeldStarsAleksandra CwenCelina PeterClaudia MartiniAfter the loss of her tormented mother, the erratic behavior of a 15th century woman living in an isolated mountain village becomes a threat to the safety of her infant child.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsPetr CepekJan KacerVera GalatíkováOndrej, a young boy who loves bees and bats, is introduced to his new mother, a woman much younger than his father. He brings her a basketful of flowers which she starts to throw in the air and then gives out a shriek, as she discovers several bats in the bottom of the bowl. In a rage, Ondrej's father picks the boy up and hurls him against the wall. As the boy lays on the ground paralyzed the father promises the Holy Virgin to dedicate the boy to her if she spares his life. Ondrej survives and is raised in a strict Knightly Order, where he is mentored by a devout monk, Armin. But one day, an extraordinary event makes him doubt the Order and remember where he came from.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsVítezslav VejrazkaMiroslav MachácekCestmír RandaA priest travels to investigate a miller suspected to be working with the devil.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsSofiko ChiaureliMelkon AlekyanVilen GalstyanThe life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsIvan MikolaychukLarisa KadochnikovaTatyana BestayevaA timeless Carpathian story - the young Ivan falls in love with the daughter of his father's killer among the Hutsul people of Ukraine.
- DirectorAleksey GermanStarsLeonid YarmolnikAleksandr ChutkoYuriy TsuriloIn the distant future, a space traveler from Earth breaks a special law and interferes with the history of another, Medieval-like planet.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowBirgitta ValbergGunnel LindblomIn 14th-century Sweden, an innocent yet pampered teenage girl and her family's pregnant and jealous servant set out from their farm to deliver candles to church, but only one returns from events that transpire in the woods along the way.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
- DirectorElem KlimovStarsStefaniya StanyutaLev DurovAleksey PetrenkoMatyora is a small village on a beautiful island with the same name. The existence of the village is threatened with flooding by the construction of a dam. This is the story of the inhabitants of Matyora and their farewell to their homeland.
- DirectorIvane PerestianiStarsAmo Bek-NazaryanMikheil ChiaureliTamar SakvarelidzeLegend of Surami Fortress. Love revenge can be very painful.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovDodo AbashidzeStarsVeriko AnjaparidzeTamari TsitsishviliDudukhana TserodzeA film version of a well-known Georgian folk-tale. A young boy has to be immured into the walls of a fortress in order to stop it from crumbling to pieces.
- DirectorEduard GrecnerStarsRadovan LukavskýGustáv ValachEmília VásáryováThis is a ballad about love, hate, and a search for a way out of loneliness. It is a dramatic story about the strange potter, Martin Lepis, nicknamed Dragon, who is suspected by the villagers as the cause of natural disasters. He loses his beloved, his home, and his freedom due to false accusations. After years he returns to his native village. Putting his own life to risk, he saves a herd of cattle from a forest fire in the hills. But not even this heroic deed helps him to win back the friendship of the locals.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
- DirectorOtakar VávraStarsVladimír SmeralElo RomancikJosef KemrIn the 1600s, an overzealous clergy hauls innocent women in front of tribunals, forces them to confess to imaginary witchery, and engages in brutal torture and persecution of their subjects.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
- DirectorIvan MikolaychukStarsLyubov PolishchukIvan MikolaychukLes SerdyukThe small town of Vavilon hears of the recent Russian Revolution, but attempts to communize it are met with resistance from the rich people living in the town. The Red Army finally puts down the resistance.
- DirectorYuri IlyenkoStarsDmitri MilyutenkoLarisa KadochnikovaFeodosiya LitvinenkoThe old man who lives a secluded life in the desert, alone with only his memories and photographs.
- DirectorYuri IlyenkoStarsBoris KhmelnitskiyLarisa KadochnikovaYefim FridmanPiotr is a modest farmhand living in an impoverished village in some unspecified long ago era. He wants to marry the lovely Pidorka, but her stern father won't hear of it. Luckily, the mischievous demon Bassaruv is loose in the land, and offers him a deal.
- DirectorYuri IlyenkoStarsLarisa KadochnikovaIvan MikolaychukBogdan StupkaColourful 'optimistic tragedy' of a poor family in Ukraine, living in the Carpathian mountains near the Romanian border, during the Second World War. Five sons of the family make up the village band, but as the battles between the Ukrainian nationalists and the Soviets go on, their band loses one player after another.
- DirectorChristo ChristovTodor DinovStarsDimitar TashevEmilia RadevaVioleta GindevaHistorical drama. The struggle of the Bulgarians in the south western part of the country (the region of Macedonia) for the spiritual and national self-determination at the end of 19-th century.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaYoshiaki HanayagiKyôko KagawaIn medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataSumiko SakamotoTonpei HidariIn a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An elderly woman is reaching close to her cut-off age during her last days with her family.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaTeiji TakahashiYûko MochizukiA kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaMieczyslaw VoitAnna CiepielewskaA priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.
- DirectorKonstantin ErshovGeorgiy KropachyovAleksandr PtushkoStarsLeonid KuravlyovNatalya VarleyAleksey GlazyrinA young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKichiemon NakamuraNobuko OtowaKei SatôTwo women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsVanessa RedgraveOliver ReedDudley SuttonIn 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier's protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsLeszek TeleszynskiWojciech PszoniakMalgorzata BraunekDuring the Prussian army's invasion of Poland in 1793, a young Polish nobleman, Jakub, is saved from the imprisonment by a stranger who wants in return to obtain a list of his fellow conspirators. Following his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub sees the overall chaos and moral corruption, including his father's death and the betrayal of his friend who stole his fiancee. Being apparently demented by what he has seen, he commits a number of seemingly motiveless and gory killings.
- DirectorAri AsterStarsFlorence PughJack ReynorVilhelm BlomgrenA couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
- DirectorErik BlombergStarsMirjami KuosmanenKalervo NissiläÅke LindmanA newlywed woman goes to the local shaman to get some help with her love life, but instead she gets turned into a white reindeer vampire.
- DirectorBranko SchmidtStarsIvo GregurevicLjiljana BogojevicFabijan SovagovicAfter Stipe Zvonarov returned from the Austro-Hungarian army to his Slavic village, he found his wife Mara and mother. Women rightly expect Stipe to accept rural jobs, but he can no longer accept the monotony and restrictions of rural life.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsThorkild RooseLisbeth MovinSigrid NeiiendamThe young wife of an aging priest falls in love with his son amidst the horror of a merciless witch hunt in 17th-century Denmark.
- DirectorDaniel VigneStarsGérard DepardieuNathalie BayeMaurice BarrierIn medieval France, some villagers challenge a man's claim of identity when he (as he says) returns home from some time in the army.
- DirectorChristopher SmithStarsEddie RedmayneSean BeanCarice van HoutenSet during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is given the task of learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life in a small village.
- DirectorSamu FuentesStarsMario CasasIrene EscolarRuth DíazA highlander that lives alone in the mountains buys a wife to relieve his loneliness.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTom HardyWill PoulterA frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
- DirectorKresimir GolikStarsPavle VuisicZdenka TrachAntun VrbenskiPajo is a hardworking, lonely but also very rich farmer. His son Toma was, however, bored with country life and tried to seek fortune in the city. Short on money, Toma returns to the farm for a handout while Pajo tries to convince him to stay.
- DirectorVáclav MarhoulStarsPetr KotlárNina SunevicAlla SokolovaA young Jewish boy somewhere in Eastern Europe seeks refuge during World War II where he encounters many different characters.
- DirectorMichelangelo FrammartinoStarsGiuseppe FudaBruno TimpanoNazareno TimpanoAn old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day.
- DirectorPeter BrosensJessica WoodworthStarsAurélia PoirierDjango SchrevensSam LouwyckIn a scenic Belgian village, nature is turning its back on man. How will the locals cope with this new reality?
- DirectorRainer SarnetStarsRea LestJörgen LiikArvo KukumägiIn a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.
- DirectorChristo ChristovTodor DinovStarsDimitar TashevEmilia RadevaVioleta GindevaHistorical drama. The struggle of the Bulgarians in the south western part of the country (the region of Macedonia) for the spiritual and national self-determination at the end of 19-th century.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsJaroslava SchallerováHelena AnýzováPetr KoprivaSurreal tale in which love, fear, sex, and religion merge into one fantastic world. Based on a classical Czech novel of the same title.
- DirectorDjordje KadijevicStarsMirjana NikolicPetar BozovicSlobodan 'Cica' PerovicA young man wants to marry the beautiful daughter of a landowner who refuses to allow the marriage. To prove his worth, the young man becomes a miller in a vampire-infested local mill.
- DirectorVatroslav MimicaStarsFabijan SovagovicVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicPavle VuisicEurope in second half of 16th century was very rough place to live. Peasants of Slovenia and Croatia had even rougher times because of the constant threat of Turk raids and being taxed to death in order to provide defence against the Turks. But, the worst things were arrogant local feudal lords led by Franjo Tahi who were oppresing the common folk. All that led to the great peasant revolt of 1573. The movie is made for the 400th anniversary of the event.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
- DirectorNikola TanhoferStarsBoris BuzancicMira NikolicZlata PerlicSoon after coming to small village, young doctor must fight against strong local superstitions.
- DirectorErmanno OlmiStarsLuigi OrnaghiFrancesca MoriggiOmar BrignoliPeasant life in a feudal farm in rural Italy at the end of the 19th century.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsRobert De NiroGérard DepardieuDominique SandaThe epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth-century Italy as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHildur CarlbergEinar RödGreta AlmrothA newly elected village parson is required to marry the previous parson's widow. However he's already married, and the woman is old enough to be his grandmother.
- DirectorJoaquín CociñaCristóbal LeónStarsAmalia KassaiRainer KrauseKarina HylandTells the story of Maria, a young woman who takes refuge in a house in southern Chile after escaping from a German colony.
- DirectorElchin MusaogluStarsFatemah Motamed-AriaVidadi AliyevRamil ZeynalovAn elderly couple confront the ravages of war in their poverty-stricken village.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiKazuko YoshiyukiTakahiro TamuraA married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well. After a while, his ghost comes to haunt them while the local gossip grows stronger.
- DirectorOndrej HavelkaStarsKarel DobrýVladimír PolívkaJirí LábusA strange nobleman returning after years abroad to a small Bohemian village in the beginning of 19th century. The nobleman feels closer to animals despite looking like a human. He is a Hastrman - a water spirit. Water is his element. He loves it, understands it and communicates with it. He needs water not only to sustain his life, but also to gain superhuman strength and dexterity. In this romantic, fantastical, yet ironic story, love brings Hastrman unexpected happiness with an agonizing dilemma: whether to remain a wild creature or to cross the boundaries and get closer to become a human. Vivid and earthy folklore of local villagers brings authenticity to pagan folkways, yet the story ends in present times.
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsMads MikkelsenMaarten StevensonAlexander MortonForced for some time to be a fighting slave, a pagan warrior escapes his captors with a boy and joins a group of Crusaders on their quest to the Holy Land.
- DirectorZivko NikolicStarsMerima IsakovicBogoljub PetrovicKrunoslav SaricA beautiful young woman lives with her husband in a rocky Montenegrin terrain. The different people who travel by their house share their fates with them, thus generating the evil inside her, and destroying her view of marriage as an idyllic process.
- DirectorGoran StolevskiStarsNoomi RapaceAlice EnglertAnamaria MarincaIn an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young girl is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit.
- DirectorDavid LoweryStarsDev PatelAlicia VikanderJoel EdgertonA fantasy retelling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
- DirectorVictor CanacheStarsMaia MorgensternMarius BodochiRazvan IlinaSecluded from the world, a single mother of three must defend what's left of her family from a cold-blooded killer, at all costs.
- DirectorRahi Anil BarveAnand GandhiAdesh PrasadStarsSohum ShahJyoti MalsheAnita Date-KelkarA mythological story about a goddess who created the entire universe. The plot revolves around the consequences when humans build a temple for her first-born.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsPetr CepekJan KrausVladimír KudlaAn ordinary man is lured into a strange puppet theatre by a map and finds himself embroiled in a production of the Faustian legend.
- DirectorVatroslav MimicaStarsFranco NeroDragan NikolicSanja VejnovicIn late 14th century medieval Serbia becomes the target of Ottoman invaders. One of their renegade gangs burns the castle and takes young wife of Banovic Strahinja, respected Serbian noble. Banovic Strahinja begins long and almost futile quest for his wife despite everybody else's doubts in her fidelity.
- DirectorVojislav NanovicStarsRade MarkovicVera Ilic-DjukicMilivoje ZivanovicEvil Bas-Celik is terrorizing people, but only the magic sword can harm him. A young hero goes on the dangerous quest to find that sword.
- DirectorNils GaupStarsMikkel GaupIngvald GuttormNils UtsiA young Sámi man witnesses a band of vicious raiders slay his family and flees to a nearby village, where he learns he must become a Pathfinder.
- DirectorZivko NikolicStarsSavina GersakDragan NikolicBoro BegovicA well-meaning man tries to convince the inhabitants of a small village who are busy gossiping about the new girl in the village to support his plan to build a tunnel that would connect their village to the sea. Things go horribly wrong.
- DirectorPiers HaggardStarsPatrick WymarkLinda HaydenBarry AndrewsIn early 18th century England, the children of a village slowly convert into a coven of devil worshipers.
- DirectorMohammad RasoulofStarsHassan PourshiraziYounes GhazaliMohammad RabbaniRahmat has been asked to meet the inhabitants of these islands to collect their tears. Although for years people have been giving their tears to Rahmat, no one knows exactly what he has been doing with them.