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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 34 movies from Riva Film
A haunting sociopolitical drama blending fiction and documentary to elucidate the turbulent history of a Kurdish family. Mehmet (co-director Zeynel Dogan) lives with his pregnant wife in Diyarbakir, eastern Turkey. His father was fatally injured while working in Saudi Arabia and all he has left is an audio tape letter. Now he is to become a father himself, he visits his mother to ask about more of these cassettes but she’s evasive, reluctant to upset Mehmet’s view of his father with the whole dark story.
Nov 2012
The documentary filmmaker Robert Bober revisits the world of his great-grandfather, who left Poland to live in the modern and cosmopolitan city of Vienna, home to intellectuals such as Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, and Arthur Schnitzler, on the eve of the National Socialist regime's rise to power, which put an end to the city's status as Europe's cultural capital. What emerges is an emotionally powerful double portrait that reveals a search for identity with universal resonance.
Mar 2017
In 2007, Yahya works at his friend Osama’s falafel shop in Gaza, which doubles as a drug dealing front. His entanglement leads him to witness a terrible crime. A couple years later, Gaza’s Ministry of Culture randomly chooses Yahya to star in a TV series that highlights martyrs and heroes of the resistance. As conflict simmers in the distance, Yahya unexpectedly receives real weapons, heightening the stakes as the show provides him with an opportunity to confront the perpetrator of the offense that changed his life.
Jun 2025
A noir thriller told from the point of view of a femme fatale, who falls for the detective in charge of a murder case.
Mar 2012
A wellness hotel in a small German castle specializes in well-off couples, offering a wide range of services, including one some partners feel trapped into : relational therapy. It's truth time, for some liberating, forcing others to face their secrets of dysfunctional relationship.
Nov 2016
A supernatural encounter burdens the recently retired Mr. Melih with an existential awakening. Soon he, his wife, and their daughter are all haunted by the "ghosts" of lost opportunities, abandoned dreams, and alternate possibilities -- literally...
Nov 2025
While handing out food at a charity organization, Laura, Evîn and Julia unexpectedly cross paths. Laura, a released prisoner, defends Evîn, a Kurdish woman, when she is racially insulted by a man waiting in line. Eventually the situation gets out of hand.
Feb 2026
25-year-old Sibel lives with her father and sister in a secluded village in the mountains of Turkey’s Black Sea region. Sibel is a mute, but she communicates by using the ancestral whistled language of the area.
Jan 2019
Moving from the city to the countryside, 11-year-old Anni has a tough time settling in – until she encounters Wild Heart, an untamed horse, to whom she feels an almost magical connection. But soon after, their bond is put at risk, as some ruthless horse thieves are targeting Wild Heart’s herd.
Aug 2023
Eastern Cape, South Africa. A lonely factory worker, Xolani, takes time off his job to assist during an annual Xhosa circumcision initiation into manhood. In a remote mountain camp that is off limits to women, young men, painted in white ochre, recuperate as they learn the masculine codes of their culture. In this environment of machismo and aggression, Xolani cares for a defiant initiate from Johannesburg, Kwanda, who quickly learns Xolani's best kept secret, that he is in love with another man.
Apr 2017
Ada is an American journalist of Polish origin. She has just moved to Hamburg with her partner and is struggling to find her way in the new reality. One day, a mysterious package arrives at the editorial office where she works.
Sep 2024
Shattering the patriarchal concept that a true crime duo requires a man, Bonnie and Bonnie showcases the development of true friendship between two strong and independent women, determined to make their mark on the world.
Oct 2019
A psychological drama with thriller elements about despair of love. Forty year old Thomas stalks his ex-wife while struggling with his emotions.
May 2014
Salma Zidane, a widow, lives simply from her grove of lemon trees in the West Bank's occupied territory. The Israeli defence minister and his wife move next door, forcing the Secret Service to order the trees' removal for security. The stoic Salma seeks assistance from the Palestinian Authority, Israeli army, and a young attorney, Ziad Daud, who takes the case. In this allegory, does David stand a chance against Goliath?
Feb 2008
Deniz and her friends, who have been apart for the summer, have much to tell each other. While adults are busy with their professional lives, Deniz and her friends are still confused about their university plans. Through the worries of their daily routines, they make plans for the future, yet the challenges of teenage years/adolescence are burdensome. Deniz desires a life that is different than the ideals of her friends. A song nobody has heard of, a hopeless love, solitude. A different world, but where exactly?
Oct 2013
Based on the 80s Israeli rock opera “Mami” that generated a cult following. This is the story of Mami, a young woman who was born and raised in a small impoverished town down south. She works at the snack bar at the local gas station and is in love with Nissim, her neighbor. Nissim falls into a coma, but Mami doesn’t give up. Eventually her brain gets rewired by eccentric inventor and she becomes a media superstar. Mami establishes a satirical circus and new political party.
Sep 2019
Moshe and Tami are a couple, Moshe is in his fifties and Tami is in her early twenties. They live together in a cruel and violent relationship, from which Tami seems unable to set herself free. Tami and Moshe are father and daughter...
Aug 2014
In Gaza, 60-year-old fisherman Issa has been secretly in love with Siham, a widow who works at the market. One day, the discovery of an ancient phallic statue of Apollo in his fishing net changes his life. With newfound confidence, he decides to approach Siham but problems arise when authorities become involved with this mysterious and potent treasure.
Jun 2021
On 8th May 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler were the first humans to reach the 8,848m high summit of Mount Everest without additional oxygen. Therewith they exceeded a limit which wasn’t considered to be possible and initiated a new era of Alpinism.
May 2018
A middle-aged Orthodox Jew, Aaron, living and working in Jerusalem with his wife and children, meets a homeless 19-year-old student. Aaron offers to give Ezri work as his assistant at his family's butcher shop. The two men grow close and their attraction becomes sexual. Aaron must now confront his own sexuality, his feelings for Ezri, and his obligations to his family and faith.
May 2009