List of movies of the year: 2021

China is playing an increasingly important role worldwide. Under President Xi Jinping, substantial investments are being made in communication and cooperation and industrious Chinese people are settling abroad in large numbers. Documentary maker and China expert Ruben Terlou visits them in the new VPRO travel series ‘The World of the Chinese’. Who are they, what do they want to achieve and what impact does their presence have on the local population?

The bullied outcasts at prestigious Al Rawabi School for Girls plot a series of risky takedowns to get back at their tormentors.

A casual encounter between Adriana and Sergio, two former high school friends, triggers the beginning of the game of the keys where four couples generate new sexual and emotional combinations in a dangerous and lustful game. The game consists of everyone putting their keys in a bowl. At random, each one chooses some keys and he must go to spend the night with the owner of the keys. This game will revolutionize the group of friends and their lives. It will make them discover who they are and what they really want.

A guy named Anthony finds a collection of VHS tapes created in the 1970s by the extinct Bunny Smiles Company that had vanished in the early 1980s. Said tapes contain a series of mysterious and unsettling events that show the fall of Bunny Smiles Inc, and the descend of its founders.

The series takes place in a small Russian town where a deadly virus appears. Most of the inhabitants die, only a few people remain alive, who are affected by sleeping sickness: people cannot wake up on their own, and after two hours of sleep they fall into a coma.

The off-kilter, unscripted comic vision of Larry David, who plays himself in a parallel universe in which he can't seem to do anything right, and, by his standards, neither can anyone else.

The life stories of history's greatest minds. From their days as young adults to their final years we see their discoveries, loves, relationships, causes, flaws and genius.

Amid the drug trade on Cape Cod, a body washes ashore and is discovered by an irreverent National Marine Fisheries Service officer, Jackie Quinones, who is determined to help solve the murder even if the state cops want her nowhere near the case.

Documentary series following the comedian and his long-suffering assistant Bev as they embark upon an ambitious plan to convert a collection of old vehicles into Britain's coolest glamping site

Elizabeth Vargas breaks down some of the toughest cases in the pursuit of justice.

Norwegian girls and boys check in at the Paradise Hotel in Mexico, where Triana Iglesias is the hotel manager. The hotel has great views and a fantastic pool. Cameras with a full view of the idyllic site tells the story of what happens when the single boys and girls meet in the hot surroundings of the hotel. The task they have is basically simple: Find a partner or check out.

A woman wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there, and must find a way out before running out of air.

JR is a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father — JR begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams, with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

In the streets of Istanbul, ailing waste warehouse worker Mehmet takes a small boy under his wing and must soon confront his own traumatic childhood.

The Ainsworth family's goal is to save the world from evil, but their success depends on the great sacrifice Magical Girl Miyu makes for them. Her brother Shirou, however, is not willing to let the family have his sister without a fight. That’s why he doggedly searches for a way to save not only the world but also Miyu...

When the clever but socially-awkward Tetê joins a new school, she'll do anything to fit in. But the queen bee among her classmates has other ideas.

After the death of her beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly meets a strangely familiar girl her own age in the woods. Instantly forming a connection with this mysterious new friend, Nelly embarks on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps her come to terms with this newfound loss.

When a homeless Romani boy is arrested at the Danish border for possession of a missing public servant's passport, police inspector Carl Mørck and Department Q are tasked with finding the connection.

The film is inspired by an incredible story of a shepherd dog named Palm who was inadvertently left in the airport by her owner. She befriends nine-year old Nicholas whose mother dies leaving him with a father he barely knows - a pilot who finds the dog at the airport. It's a story of amazing adventures, true friendship and unconditional love.

Johnny and his young nephew forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they embark on a cross-country trip to see life away from Los Angeles.

Elisabeth and John John are raised in the same city, yet they live light years apart, separated economically, socially and culturally. That is until the day they start in the same high school class.

18th century. Paola, a young, reckless street urchin inadvertently gets in the way of the plans of terrifying Baron De Michelis, a small and mean hunchback always escorted by his trusted (and abused) minion Marmotta, with an unquenchable thirst for power and an unmeasurable hate for witches. The intervention of the sweet and powerful Dolores, a good witch who has devoted her life to children, saves Paola from being burned at the stake. Through a magical apprenticeship, breakneck pursuits, incredible transformations and a whole lot of trouble, Paola will discover that fate has something really special in store for her… And so the legend begins.

Lucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class poet, leaves his family's printing house for Paris. Soon, he learns the dark side of the arts business as he tries to stay true to his dreams.

A documentary about Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. Famous fans—including Drew Barrymore, Kevin Smith, and Al Roker—share its influence on them, and a new animated story finds Charlie Brown on a quest.

TOBAKU MOKUSHIROKU KAIJI

A civilized dinner party in a country house sees four friends, Lucas, Adam, Chloe, and Eve, coming together for a birthday celebration. As the night progresses secrets and lies force themselves into the light and polite pretensions are dropped. A knock at the door reveals three masked intruders with an agenda of their own. Will their friendship stand the test? Can they survive the night or will their secrets eventually catch up with them?

Dreaming of making a way station for his sister and the villagers who have no choice but to commute along the dangerous train tracks every day, Joon-kyung sends many letters to the President, but with no reply. Ra-hee, who has a crush on Joon-kyung, does everything she can to help him meet the President.

When her elderly father has a stroke, Emmanuelle rushes to his bedside. Sick and half-paralysed in his hospital bed, he asks Emmanuelle to help him end his life.

After a romantic evening at their secluded lake house, a woman wakes up handcuffed to her dead husband. Trapped and isolated in the dead of winter, she must fight off hired killers to escape her late spouse's twisted plan.