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For those of you who fancy a movie every now and then, there is good news — and some bad. While the list of films running at the cinemas this weekend is long, so are the queues! We suggest, instead, a no-fuss alternative: curl up at home with a mug of hot chocolate (or a can of beer), microwaved popcorn, and catch up on a few offbeat films, all new arrivals at your nearest DVD store.

UTV World Movies and Shemaroo are out with two new world cinema titles, and both sound promising. My Favourite Season, a French film directed by André Téchiné that was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, packs in two hours of high-octane drama. Family matriarch Berthe (Marthe Villalonga) goes to live with her daughter Emilie (Catherine Deneuve), when Emilie’s troubled brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) comes visiting for Christmas, sparking off a heady family conflict. Dark Spanish thriller The Art of Losing (2004), meanwhile, is set in Bogota, a city full of corrupt politicians, businessmen, prostitutes, enthusiastic nudists and journalists of every stripe. Journalist Victor Silampa and his companion Emir Estupiñán must uncover the intricacies of a murder that involves a major real estate scam. The film is directed by Sergio Cabrera. DVDs of both these titles are available for Rs 349 each, in stores such as Rhythm House, Planet M, Oxford Bookstore, Crossword and Reliance Mediamart.

Documentaries — don’t yawn! — aren’t always boring. You should check out www.synclinefilmstore.com, an online documentary store that lets you browse through an impressive collection of short feature films and documentaries. Among the new arrivals, we found particularly interesting Terrorist Turns Conservationist, a 2009 documentary filmed in the Manas National Park in Assam. The film, made by Rajiv Bedi and produced by PSBT, explores how the Bodo militants and poachers in the national park are now dedicated conservationists, saviours of the animals they once ravaged. Also worth a watch is Simple Present Future Perfect, a tongue-in-cheek documentary on ‘Indian English’. Now there are ways and ways to speak English — and Indian English is certainly one of them! Indians are eager to learn English, the reason English training schools are mushrooming everywhere. The documentary, made by Nandini Bedi and produced by Ranjani Mazumdar and Shikha Jhingan, focuses on one such school in Mumbai, which teaches a particularly flamboyant ‘Indian Variant of English’. Welcome to the brave new India of today! Both films are available for Rs 550 each, at www.synclinefilmstore.com.

If you haven’t seen them already, we highly recommend Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin’s delectable films which are available on DVD. Pick up Akin’s In July, a lovely romantic comedy, or Short Sharp Shock, if you like dark, pacey gangster flicks. We also recommend Akin’s most recent film, the complex drama The Edge of Heaven, set in Turkey and Germany. Akin’s collection is available on NDTV Lumiere DVDs, and you can buy them at leading music stores for Rs 499 each.

Here’s to many hours of happy viewing this new year!