Does the Duolingo owl haunt your dreams? Are you keen on practising your language skills, but travel as a first option seems out of reach? Or perhaps you're looking for gripping movies and TV shows in a language you've spoken all your life. Either way, SBS On Demand's makes finding great viewing from across the globe easier.
Featuring 16 languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese via Chinese, Danish, Hindi, Persian and more, this collection brings together a wide range of content. Along with a chance to discover masterful storytelling in movies and drama series from around the world, you might also find intriguing documentaries or travel shows.
Here are just a few of the outstanding films, TV series and documentaries to be found in the .
Animalia (Arabic)
Winner of the Best International Feature Film award at the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival, Animalia follows heavily pregnant Itto, who has married into an affluent family and is waiting for her husband to return from a business trip. However, things become complicated when extraterrestrial beings descend on Earth and a state of emergency is declared in her country of Morocco. Itto must navigate the chaos to try to reunite with her husband, all the while supernatural events indicate something sinister is closing in.
This is not your standard alien invasion romp. With a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Animalia is a slower, more introspective meditation on the issues that plague our society, much like Academy Award-winning sci-fi film Arrival.
Animalia is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Animalia
drama • Science fiction • 2023
drama • Science fiction • 2023
Last Train Home (Mandarin Chinese)
Every year, 130 million migrant workers in China travel back to their hometowns for Chinese New Year. This mass migration – the world’s largest human migration – is called Chunyun, and Last Train Home peeps into but a mere fragment of what this exodus can look like.
The multi-award-winning documentary follows the haunting story of the Zhang couple, who have worked in a garment factory in Guangzhou for almost two decades. Director Lixin Fan travels with the pair for years, documenting their tumultuous relationship with her daughter, who they have only seen once a year since she was born 16 years ago.
Last Train Home is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Last Train Home
documentary • 2009
documentary • 2009
The Runner (Persian)
The Runner is perhaps the first of the post-revolution films to come out of Iran that found worldwide acclaim, and in some ways, it became the blueprint for common themes in Iranian cinema: the perspective of children, impoverished neighbourhoods, and using children’s lives as analogies for greater truths.
The plot follows an orphan, Amiro, who has lost his family in the war and makes a living scrounging odd jobs that barely pay him at all. Eternally frustrated with the living he only barely ekes out, Amiro dreams of escaping to a better life. Instead, he enrolls in school and enters a competition so he may thwart his bullies and win the respect of his fellow peers.
The Runner is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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The Runner
drama • 1985
drama • 1985
Train to Busan (Korean)
Chances are you’ve heard of the indefinitely delayed American adaptation of this zombie horror, but have you seen the original? It’s been praised for having interesting and subtle commentary on class warfare while still being an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Train to Busan follows Seok-woo, a workaholic and father who is taking his daughter to Busan to see her mother. Unbeknownst to him or the rest of the passengers, a woman infected with an (un)deadly disease stumbles aboard, and after the train takes off, chaos ensues.
Train to Busan is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Train to Busan
action • horror • 2016
action • horror • 2016
Babylon Berlin (Deutsch)
This tense neo-noir TV series set in Berlin during the 1920s – a time marked by political unrest, poverty, wealth disparities and decadent hedonism – follows a young detective, Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), newly arrived in Berlin, who is investigating a series of blackmail cases which he believes are part of an extortion ring. Along the way he teams up with his partner, an old-school policeman, and also a female police clerk (with a secret life as a part-time sex worker in order to make ends meet) who dreams of becoming a detective. Across four seasons (with the final season set in the early 1930s) Babylon Berlin is visually stunning, politically intriguing and even romantic at times.
All four seasons of Babylon Berlin are streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Babylon Berlin
series • Crime drama • German
MA15+
series • Crime drama • German
MA15+
Margrete: Queen of the North (Danish)
Margrete: Queen of the North was one of the largest productions in the history of Danish cinema, with the largest budget ever for a Danish-language feature film – so expect elaborate costumes and set designs that will transport you to a different time and place.
The year is 1402. Queen Margrete has successfully pulled Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a union which she rules, and has arranged for her adopted son Erik to marry English royalty Philippa to solidify an alliance. However, threads begin to unravel, and Margrete’s power is threatened when Olaf, her birth son, reappears (after supposedly dying 15 years ago) to claim the throne.
Margrete: Queen of the North is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Margrete: Queen of the North
Historical drama • 2021
Historical drama • 2021
Black Stone (Greek)
This satirical social commentary on xenophobia and how it is enabled by Greece’s bureaucracy follows an anxious mother determined to find her missing adult son – who is also accused of fraud.
Told in the style of a mockumentary, the comedic story follows a film crew who are shooting a documentary about civil servants who never show up to work. They come across Charoula, an overprotective Greek mother whose son is one such civil servant, and a wild goose chase to find the son begins. Black Stone has won 18 awards for its incisive and comedic story-telling and has been particularly praised for the way it extends compassion toward characters who it simultaneously laughs at and presents as unlikeable or difficult.
Black Stone is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Black Stone
comedy • drama • 2022
comedy • drama • 2022
What’s Your Raashee? (Hindi)
Do not be fooled by IMDB’s 4.8-star rating, this Hindi rom-com played on repeat in Desi households in the early 2000s.
Yogesh is a university student at Chicago, who is set to inherit his grandfather’s wealth once he gets married. When his family gets wind of this, and find themselves desperate for cash, they blackmail him to find a girl and settle down. So, Yogesh sets out to meet 12 women (who all happen to be played by Priyanka Chopra in what is a record-breaking number of roles for one actor), one from each Rashee or sun sign.
Is it bonkers? Yes. Does the plot make any sense? No. But it was an icon of its time, and we’re going to put some respect on its name!
What’s Your Raashee? is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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What's Your Raashee?
comedy • romance • 2009
comedy • romance • 2009
Mussolini: Son of the Century (Italian)
This critically acclaimed biographical historical drama series follows the ascent of infamous Italian dictator Mussolini, from his early career in 1919, through his seduction of an entire nation, and eventually to the assassination of socialist Giacomo Matteotti in 1924.
While certainly a meditation on the allure of fascism to the disenfranchised, Mussolini: Son of the Century also explores the way fascists weaponise toxic ideals of masculinity and scrutinises the banality of evil.
Mussolini: Son of the Century is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Mussolini: Son Of The Century
series • biography • Italian
MA15+
series • biography • Italian
MA15+
Mary and the Witch's Flower (Japanese)
When you see an animated Japanese film in this style, chances are your first thought is of Studio Ghibli, with its stunning visuals and iconic storylines. However, this is not a Ghibli film, but instead a great opportunity to expand your knowledge of Japanese animated fantasy outside of Miyazaki and other more popular directors.
Mary and the Witch's Flower follows Mary Smith, a little girl who moves to the English countryside where she learns about a magical flower that temporarily gives her powers and makes her appear like a witch. However, when the wrong people discover that she has access to the plant, Mary falls into danger and her loved ones are threatened.
Mary and the Witch's Flower is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Mary and The Witch's Flower
adventure • anime • 2017
adventure • anime • 2017
Like Water for Chocolate (Spanish)
Like Water for Chocolate is the first adaption of the beloved and iconic novel in more than 30 years, a successor to by Alfonso Arau. Produced by Salma Hayek, the TV series is visually stunning and a perfect gateway into Mexican magical realism.
Set during the Mexican revolution, the series follows Tita De La Garza, the youngest of three daughters raised on a ranch by their cruel and domineering mother. Tita wants to marry the love of her life, but her mother forbids her so, wanting Tita to stay at home forever to look after her. Outraged and devastated, Tita’s emotions begin flowing into her cooking and influencing those around her.
Like Water for Chocolate is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Like Water for Chocolate
series • romance • Spanish
MA15+
series • romance • Spanish
MA15+
The movie is also streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Like Water for Chocolate
romance • 1992
romance • 1992
Paradise is Burning (Swedish)
Winner of Best Film at Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards, Paradise is Burning follows three sisters who are left to their own devices by their neglectful mother. Initially excited by the freedom they have gained, the girls receive a reality check when social services come knocking and demand a family meeting.
In a frantic bid to avoid being sent to foster care, the sisters search for a woman to impersonate their mother and maintain the image of a functional family.
Paradise is Burning is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Paradise Is Burning
drama • 2023
drama • 2023
The Wild Pear Tree (Turkish)
One of the best-reviewed films to premiere at Cannes in 2018, and Türkiye's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, The Wild Pear Tree is a beautiful and gentle tale of a young writer who seeks to publish his first novel but doesn’t have the means.
First and foremost an intimate and poetic film about the complex relationship between a father and son, the story weaves in conflicting ideas of religion, philosophy, and ethics through its characters’ meandering conversations. It’s a long movie with lots of dialogue, but entirely worth it!
The Wild Pear Tree is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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The Wild Pear Tree
drama • 2018
drama • 2018
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Vietnamese)
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell won the Caméra d'Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, which is the award for best first feature film. The film follows Thien, whose sister-in-law dies in a motorbike crash in Saigon. Suddenly in charge of his nephew who he doesn’t have a bond with, Thien travels back to their village to return his sister-in-law’s body and her son to their home.
The journey is almost a spiritual odyssey for Thien, especially after his sister-in-law is laid to rest, and he begins to ponder what happened to the man she was married to – his nephew’s father and his own brother.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
drama • 2023
drama • 2023
The Teach (Polish)
The body of a high school girl is discovered by her friends in a forest of a small town. Initially believed to be suicide, police eventually rule her death to involve foul play.
New teacher Pawel Zawadzki arrives at her school shortly after. As he begins to investigate her death, secrets unravel – local corruption, drug dealing and sinister relations between student and adult come to life. But Pawel’s own reasons for leaving his city job to come to this provincial town is unclear, so what is he hiding?
Three seasons of The Teach are streaming at SBS On Demand.
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The Teach
series • drama • Polish
MA15+
series • drama • Polish
MA15+
Breathless (French)
Shot low-budget, on-location by young critics-turned-filmmakers, Breathless centres on petty criminal Michel who steals a car and then kills a policeman. In over his head and on the run, he convinces his unwitting American girlfriend, who is a journalist, to hide him in her apartment while police look for him.
Arguably one of the most important French films, the French film, Breathless changed the scope of cinema forever and, along with a few other iconic films, marked the start of the French New Wave.
Breathless is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Breathless
