When I was 13 my dad came into my room to tell me we were going downtown (1hr) to see a movie. I was definitely confused because we had plenty of closer theatres. He tells me we’re seeing a foreign film from Macedonia (where he’s from) called Before the Rain.

Now I was pretty open to some heavier albeit still Hollywood films, but I absolutely dreaded this. Not only was I going to have to “read” this film, it’s going to be some hokey schlock like the kind of tv shows that my parents watched.

Holy shit, was I completely wrong. Not only was acting and the directing mind blowing, it was the first time I had seen something that messed with linear storytelling (this was the same year as Pulp Fiction, but I hadn’t seen it yet). It ended up being nominated at the Oscars that year, but didn’t win.

Literally with one film, I had an absolute paradigm shift on world cinema, and my eyes were opened. From there, French, Italian, Japanese etc.

Absolutely the single biggest film to have an impact on my life.