The European Union, recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, is grappling with a financial crisis that’s become the biggest test of the bloc’s unity. But at least on screen, the 27 EU member states come together in stunning fashion for the annual AFI European Union Film Showcase.

Now in its 25th year, the showcase has screened more than 800 films for D.C. audiences, in cooperation with the EU embassies in Washington, including many now considered classics. This year’s showcase, running Nov. 9 to 20, features more than 40 films, including multiple award-winners, international festival favorites, local box-office hits and debut works.

The opening night film “Quartet” stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins in the directorial debut of legendary actor Dustin Hoffman, while the closing night film, “Renoir,” is an insightful biopic of the great painter’s later days and his son Jean’s awakening passion for the cinema.

Other highlights include the IRA thriller “Shadow Dancer, starring Clive Owen, Andrea Riseborough and Gillian Anderson; Germany’s Oscar selection, “Barbara,” about a doctor recently sent down from a desirable post in East Berlin to a rural hospital on the Baltic coast; “Rust and Bone” starring Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard as a killer whale trainer and rising newcomer Matthias Schoenaerts as a homeless singer father; Cannes Grand Prix winner “Reality” about a man who tries out for the Italian version of “Big Brother”; Cate Shortland’s “Lore,” an Australia-Germany co-production set in post-WWII Germany; “Hyde Park on Hudson,” director Roger Michell’s comedic chronicle of the king and queen of England’s visit to America in 1939, with Bill Murray as FDR; and Ireland’s “Stella Days,” featuring Martin Sheen as a free-thinking country priest.

For more information, visit www.afi.com/silver.

Arabic

 Asma’a
Directed by Amr Salama
(Egypt, 2011, 96 min.)
In a society where HIV/AIDS is still stigmatized, 45-year-old Asma’s stays under the radar by avoiding any situation that would reveal her positive status, until she needs a gall-bladder operation and finds that no doctor will operate on her. When an edgy TV talk-show host learns of her plight, he encourages Asma’a to speak out.
National Geographic
Fri., Nov. 2, 9 p.m.,
Sun., Nov. 4, 5:15 p.m.

El Gusto
Directed by Safinez Bousbia
(Algeria/France, 2011, 88 min.)
In the 1940s, Muslims and Jews defied class and religion at the Conservatory of Algiers, where they studied under the legendary master El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka.
National Geographic
Fri., Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m.,
Sat., Nov. 3, 9 p.m.

Heels of War
Directed by Joe Bou Eid
(Lebanon/UAE, 2011, 98 min.)
Clad in high heels and red lipstick, the director’s mother along with her family evacuate Beirut and move to a small Lebanese village after the 1982 Israeli invasion. Among those awaiting their arrival is a local heartthrob, priest-in training and the director’s future father.
National Geographic
Sat., Nov. 3, 6:30 p.m.,
Sun., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.

How Big Is Your Love
Directed by Fatma Zohra Zamoum
(Algeria/Morocco, 2011, 98 min.)
When his parents need some time to sort out their marriage, 8-year-old Adel goes to stay with his grandparents, who welcome him in with loving and sympathetic arms.
National Geographic
Sat., Nov. 3, 4 p.m.,
Sun., Nov. 4, 3 p.m.

Czech

 The Blue Tiger
Directed by Petr Oukropec
(Czech Republic, 2012, 90 min.)
In a city ruled by a diabolical mayor, only one thing can save the old botanical garden from demolition: the magical blue tiger.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Nov. 3, 11:05 a.m.

Rules of Lies
(Pravidla lzi)
Directed by Robert Sedlácek
(Czech Republic, 2006, 119 min.)
Roman decides to tackle his drug addiction by undergoing group therapy as part of a community holed up on an isolated farm in the Šumava mountains.
The Avalon Theatre
Wed., Nov. 14, 8 p.m.

Danish

A Royal Affair
(En kongelig affære)
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
(Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic, 2012, 137 min.)
An intriguing love triangle between a young but strong queen, an ever-more insane Danish king, and the idealistic royal physician sparks a revolution that forever changes a nation (Danish, English, German and French).
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Nov. 16

English

Anna Karenina
Directed by Joe Wright
(U.K., 2012, 129 min.)
Set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Nov. 16

Chasing Ice
Directed by Jeff Orlowski
(U.S., 2012, 75 min.)
In 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a National Geographic assignment to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate, a trip that opened the skeptic’s eyes to the biggest story in human history.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Nov. 16

How to Survive a Plague
Directed by David France
(U.S., 2012, 109 min.)
Faced with their own mortality, an improbable group of mostly HIV-positive young men and women broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Hulk
Directed by Ang Lee
(U.S., 2003, 138 min.)
Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers an accident that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Nov. 24, 1:15 p.m.

The Ice Storm
Directed by Ang Lee
(U.S., 1997, 112 min.)
In 1973 suburban Connecticut, middle class families experimenting with casual sex, alcohol etc., find their lives skidding out of control.
Montgomery College @ AFI Show
Fri., Nov. 23, 9:45 p.m.,
Wed., Nov. 28, 6:30 p.m.

The Island President
Directed by Jon Shenk
(U.S., 2011, 101 min.)
Filmed at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, this documentary follows former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed on his quest to lobby for higher climate regulations for developed nations and newly industrializing countries.
Goethe-Institut
Mon., Nov. 19, 6:30 p.m.

Lincoln
Directed by Steven Spielberg
(U.S./India, 2012, 150 min.)
Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis in this revealing drama that focuses on the 16th president’s tumultuous final months in office.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Nov. 9

The Loneliest Planet
Directed by Julia Loktev
(U.S./Germany, 2011, 113 min.)
An engaged couple’s backpacking trip in the Caucasus Mountains is derailed by a single misstep that threatens to undo everything the pair believed about each other and about themselves.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Man with the Iron Fists
Directed by RZA
(U.S./Hong Kong, 2012, 96 min.)
On the hunt for a fabled treasure of gold, a band of warriors, assassins, and a rogue British soldier descend upon a village in feudal China, where a humble blacksmith looks to defend himself and his fellow villagers.
Area theaters
Opens Fri., Nov. 2

Ride with the Devil
Directed by Ang Lee
(U.S., 1999, 138 min.)
Jake Roedel and Jack Bull Chiles are friends in Missouri when the Civil War starts, joining a group loyal to the South, where their friendship, emotions and honor are tested.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., Nov. 25, 5:10 p.m.,
Mon., Nov. 26, 6:45 p.m.

Sense and Sensibility
Directed by Ang Lee
(U.S./U.K., 1995, 136 min.)
The two eldest Dashwood sisters, having been left with no inheritance, cope with heartbreak and love in very different ways.
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Nov. 30, 7 p.m.,
Sun., Dec. 2, 3:45 p.m.

Skyfall
Directed by Sam Mendes
(U.K./U.S., 2012, 143 min.)
James Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her and MI6 comes under attack.
Area theaters
Opens Fri., Nov. 9

Somewhere Between
Directed by Linda Goldstein Knowlton
(U.S., 2012, 88 min.)
“Somewhere Between” tells the intimate stories of four Chinese girls given to orphanages and eventually adopted by American families.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Stud Life
Directed by Campbell X
(U.K., 2012, 80 min.)
JJ, a black lesbian photographer, and Seb, a white gay man who assists at her shoots, are best friends in the grittier neighborhoods of London, until JJ falls for the beautiful Elle and soon must divide her time between her hot new lover and her best mate.
Carnegie Institution for Science
Sun., Nov. 4, 3 p.m.

Testimony
Directed by Tony Palmer
(Denmark/Netherlands/Sweden/W. Germany/U.K., 1988, 157 min.)
Tony Palmer’s epic version of Solomon Volkov’s edition of Shostakovich’s memoirs is a milestone of the biographical film, in part for the way the music illustrates the life.
National Gallery of Art
Sat., Nov. 3, 3:30 p.m.

This Must Be the Place
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
(Italy/France/Ireland, 2011, 118 min.)
Cheyenne, a retired rock star living off his royalties in Dublin, returns to New York City to find the man responsible for a humiliation suffered by his recently deceased father during World War II.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Nov. 9

Wuthering Heights
Directed by Andrea Arnold
(U.K., 2011, 129 min.)
This fresh take on Emily Brontë’s epic love story follows the turbulent life of Heathcliff, the poor boy taken in by a benevolent Yorkshire farmer who develops a passionate relationship with the farmer’s teenage daughter.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Flemish

 Mixed Kabob
Directed by Guy Lee Thys
(Belgium, 2012, 98 min.)
A young gay man caught between four worlds: gay, straight, modern and traditional. (Flemish and Turkish).
Goethe-Institut
Sat., Nov. 3, 7 p.m.

French

 The Double Steps
(Los pasos dobles)
Directed by Isaki Lacuesta
(Spain/Switzerland, 2011, 91 min.)
The best way to escape without a trace is to walk backwards over your own footprints. This is what French eccentric François Augiéras believed when he painted every inch of a military bunker in the desert of Mali, before burying it deep into the sand.
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Nov. 2, 3 p.m.,
Sat., Nov. 3, 12:45 p.m.

Holy Motors
Directed by Leos Carax
(France, 2012, 115 min.)
Monsieur Oscar is a shadowy character who journeys with his chauffeur Céline throughout Paris, morphing from one life to the next — captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Nov. 9

The Other Son
(Le fils de l’autre)
Directed by Lorraine Lévy
(France, 2012, 105 min.)
A young Israeli man discovers he is not his parents’ biological son, but that he was inadvertently switched at birth with the son of a Palestinian family from the West Bank. (French, Hebrew, Arabic and English)
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Sans Soleil
Directed by Chris Marker
(France, 1982, 100 min.)
Chris Marker uses modern Japan as the basis to explore memory as an alternate reality, touching on subjects as varied as poverty in Africa and the open spaces of Iceland (screens with “La Jetée” (1962, 29 min.), a futuristic photonovel about the power of memory).
National Gallery of Art
Fri., Nov. 23, 3 p.m.

Tales of the Night
Directed by Michel Ocelot
(France, 2011, 84 min.)
Drawing on the folk and fairytale traditions from every corner of the globe, acclaimed animator Michel Ocelot crafts six heroic quests and allegorical endeavors that will excite and delight audiences of all ages.
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Nov. 2, 5 p.m.

War of the Buttons
(La nouvelle guerre des boutons)
Directed by Christophe Barratier
(France, 2011, 100 min.)
In rural World War II occupied France, pre-teen rebel Lebrac leads a “war” between rival kid gangs, but when he falls for a young Jewish girl who is in danger of being exposed by the Nazis, his friends are faced with putting their own conflicts aside to protect her.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

German

Mondo Lux: The Visual Worlds of Werner Schroeter
Directed by Elfi Mikesch
(Germany, 2011, 97 min.)
“Mondo Lux,” an essential portrait of Werner Schroeter during the last four years of his life, offers revelatory insights into his artistry and legacy.
Goethe-Institut
Mon., Nov. 12, 6:30 p.m.

Salome
Directed by Werner Schroeter
(W. Germany, 1971, 81 min.)
Werner Schroeter’s virtuosic staging of this Oscar Wilde tragedy is a complex montage of image and sound, filmed on the grand steps of Baalbeck, the ancient Roman temple in Lebanon, and interweaving Lebanese and German folk songs with classical music.
Goethe-Institut
Mon., Nov. 26, 6:30 p.m.

Snow White
(Schneewittchen)
Directed by Thomas Freudner
(Germany, 2011, 59 min.)
To escape her murderous evil stepmother, Snow White hides at the home of seven dwarves in this German interpretation of the class fairytale.
Old Naval Hospital Hill Center
Sun., Nov. 11, 2 p.m.

Song of the Rivers
(Das Lied der Ströme)
Multiple directors
(E. Germany, 1954, 103 min.)
Shot by crews on the Volga, Mississippi, Nile, Yangtze, Amazon, and Ganges, “Song of the Rivers” is a footage compilation that became a classic expression of the international solidarity movement.
National Gallery of Art
Sun., Nov. 4, 4 p.m.

Tinguely
Directed by Thomas Thümena
(Switzerland, 2011, 87 min.)
Twenty years after his death, old friends and acquaintances of Jean Tinguely recall the life and personality of this revolutionary artist, who was as daring in his private life as he was in his work (German and French).
National Gallery of Art
Fri., Nov. 23, 1 p.m.

The Valiant Little Tailor
(Das tapfere Schneiderlein)
Directed by Christian Theede
(Germany, 2008, 59 min.)
A young tailor who can kill seven flies with one blow is summoned to the court of the eccentric king and given permission to marry his beautiful daughter, but first he must survive adventures and save the kingdom.
Old Naval Hospital Hill Center
Sun., Nov. 18, 2 p.m.

Greek

The Mountain in Front
(To vouno brosta)
Directed by Vasilis Douros
(Greece, 2008, 102 min.)
Pigheadedness and righteous anger pit an atheist foreigner and religious local against one another, with tragic consequences, during a Holy Saturday resurrection ceremony.
The Avalon Theatre
Wed., Nov. 7, 8 p.m.

Italian

 The Kingdom of Naples
(Neapolitanische Geschichten)
Directed by Werner Schroeter
(Italy/W. Germany, 1978, 125 min.)
Werner Schroeter took to the streets of Naples to make this unusual chronicle of a poor family, tracing the lives of a brother and sister from the 1940s through the 1970s (Italian and German).
National Gallery of Art
Sun., Nov. 25, 4:30 p.m.

Palermo or Wolfsburg
(Palermo oder Wolfsburg)
Directed by Werner Schroeter
(Switzerland/W. Germany, 1980 175 min.)
Young Nicola leaves his home in Sicily to seek a fortune in the industrial north, finding employment at a Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, but humiliation and isolation eventually drive him to settle some scores in this far-off, stressful place (Italian and German).
National Gallery of Art
Sat., Nov. 24, 4 p.m.

Hebrew

Yossi
Directed by Eytan Fox
(Israel, 2012, 83 min.)
Yossi Hoffman is a workaholic doctor in Tel Aviv who uses his job as a way to escape from dealing with his anguished life, looking for love in all the wrong places while trying to keep his gay lifestyle private.
Washington DCJCC
Fri., Nov. 2, 9 p.m.

Mandarin

The Ditch
(Jiabiangou)
Directed by Wang Bing
(Hong Kong/France/Belgium, 2010, 109 min.)
Prisoners of a forced labor camp in the Gobi Desert toil away at the very edge of human endurance and are resigned to death until a woman appears, searching for her husband — inspiring some of them to plot an escape.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., No. 4, 2 p.m.

Double Xposure
(Erci puguang)
Directed by Li Yu
(China, 2012, 105 min.)
Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing stars as a young urbanite whose façade of certainty and comfort—boyfriend, apartment, and car—violently splinters when she succumbs to an act of voyeurism (preceded by “Shanghai Strangers” (China, 2012, 24 min.)).
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., Nov. 2, 7 p.m.

Lust, Caution
(Se, jie)
Directed by Ang Lee
(U.S./China/Taiwan/Hong Kong, 2007, 157 min.)
Sexual passion and political intrigue are a combustible mix in this powerful espionage thriller set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in the years leading up to World War II, as a college student is drawn into a daring plot to seduce and assassinate a brutal intelligence agent.
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., Nov. 16, 7 p.m.

The Red Detachment of Women
(Hong se niang zi jun)
Directed by Fu Jie and Pan Wenzhan
(China, 1970, 105 min.)
The tumultuous Cultural Revolution (1966-76), remembered now as a dark period of political violence in China, also saw the creation of spectacular works of art known as yangbanxi (revolutionary model dramas).
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Nov. 11, 2 p.m.

Russian

Letters to an Angel
Directed by Ermek Shinarbaev
(Kazakhstan, 2009, 92 min.)
One winter night, Gulnara meets a young novelist and invites him to her apartment. When he tells her a story he’s written, she responds with a beguiling tale of her own about a woman, perhaps herself, who has simultaneous affairs with two men — a tale with a haunting twist.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Nov. 18, 2 p.m.

Silent

Kelin
Directed by Ermek Tursunov
(Kazakhstan, 2009, 84 min.)
Set in the Altai mountains of Kazakhstan, in a pre-historic society that does not use language, “Kelin” is a love triangle told without words about a daughter sold to a wealthy suitor whose true love comes looking for her.
Goethe-Institut
Sat., Nov. 17, 7 p.m.

Spanish

Iceberg
Directed by Gabriel Velázquez
(Spain, 2011, 84 min.)
This atmospherically observed drama tells interwoven stories of impending adulthood among three teens, whose emotions, like an iceberg itself, lie beneath the surface.
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Nov. 2, 1 p.m.,
Sat., Nov. 3, 11 a.m.

Madrid, 1987
Directed by David Trueba
(Spain, 2011, 104 min.)
On one hot summer day in Madrid, an accomplished journalist and a young journalism student are accidentally locked in a bathroom, naked and pitted against one another in an unevenly matched duel of age, intellect, ambition and experience.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Nov. 3, 2:30 p.m.,
Sun., Nov. 4, 2:30 p.m.

Mosquita y Mari
Directed by Aurora Guerrero
(U.S., 2011, 85 min.)
“Mosquita y Mari” is a coming-of-age story that focuses on a tender friendship between two young Chicanas.
Washington DCJCC
Sat., Nov. 3, 3 p.m.

Sleep Tight
(Mientras duermes)
Directed by Jaume Balagueró
(Spain, 2011, 102 min.)
A doorman in a Barcelona apartment complex, intent on wreaking havoc on the seemingly perfect life of the perpetually sunny Clara, descends into madness as he sneakily pulls the strings of his target.
AFI Silver Theatre
Thu., Nov. 1, 7 p.m.,
Wed., Nov. 7, 9:30 p.m.

Wilaya
Directed by Pedro Pérez Rosado
(Spain, 2012, 97 min.)
Born in a Sahrawi refugee camp before being sent to live with foster parents in Spain, Fatimetu returns to Algeria for the first time in 16 years after the death of her mother. (Spanish and Arabic).
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., Nov. 4, 12:30 p.m.,
Wed., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Swedish

The Ice Dragon
Directed by Martin Högdahl
(Sweden, 2012, 80 min.)
Mik lives in Stockholm with his dad and older brother, but when both of them are sent to jail, Mik must move to his aunt’s house in the north, where he quickly makes new friends and finds love.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., Nov. 4, 11 a.m.

Kiss Me
Directed by Alexandra-Therese Keining
(Sweden, 2011, 105 min.)
Mia, a 30-something upper middle-class woman, finds her life turned upside down when she unexpectedly falls in love with the free-spirited Frida.
Carnegie Institution for Science
Thu., Nov. 1, 7 p.m.

Swiss-German

Urs Fischer
Directed by Iwan Schumacher
(Switzerland/U.S./U.K./Australia/China, 2010, 98 min.)
Iwan Schumacher examines the life of artist Urs Fischer, whom he says “combines a pop immediacy with a neo-baroque taste for the absurd” (Swiss-German and Italian).
National Gallery of Art
Sun., Nov. 25, 2 p.m