This Chadian film was an underdog in the 2010 Cannes competition, but its transposition of a near fable-like story (reminiscent of F.W. Murnau’s silent masterpiece The Last Laugh) to an unexpected setting netted wide acclaim—and director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun went home with the Jury Prize.

Abderrahmane Sissako gathers enormous debates into this riveting film, putting the world’s financiers on trial. Opposing monolithic forms of power, the writer-director breaks up his excoriating critique with self-reflexive frolicking—a mini spaghetti western!—and the lilting details of Malian life.