WHAT makes a film “memorable”? What makes it worth referencing, or remembering, or even watching in the first place? Why, at a moment when world events are often stranger than fiction, would we turn from the glorious escapism of big feature films and opt for something tiny, different, and rooted instead in the real?

The “tiny” films listed here are world-changing films, pivotal movies those who care about film should really get to know.

Alcarras, by female Spanish director, Carla Simon, is a semi-autobiographical, bittersweet tale about belonging, rooted in her native village (Alcarras). With stunning camerawork in deliberately natural colour, it is an elegant film, acted with real power and a strong feeling for its ordinary farmers faced with challenging circumstances that threaten to destroy their world.