I recently found myself on a flight lasting more than nine hours. Some people would call that the perfect chance to sit back and relax. I would call it a slow, quiet torture session for both my back and my brain — the latter practically begging for a distraction. Which leaves one rather obvious question: what better way to occupy yourself than with a really good film?

But when you are faced with an endless catalogue of titles, where do you even begin?

That is precisely the question I set out to answer, with help from local artists generous enough to share the films they return to time and again. What I imagined would be a light-hearted collection of easy watches turned out to be something rather different. Every recommendation offered something to sit with long after the credits rolled — proper food for thought, or, if you prefer, brain food.

Here we go.

Houssem Boulifa, Algerian photographer

Houssem Boulifa, an Algerian photographer working between Algiers and France, couldn't settle on just one film — which feels rather fitting, considering his own life is split between the two countries.

His first pick is The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo's landmark 1966 political drama. Set during the Algerian War of Independence, it reconstructs the struggle between Algerian resistance fighters and the French colonial authorities throughout the 1950s.

One particularly interesting detail: despite winning major international awards and being widely regarded as one of the greatest political films ever made, The Battle of Algiers was banned in France for several years because of its unflinching portrayal of colonial violence and the war itself.

Houssem Boulifa, Algerian photographer

For his second pick, Houssem went with a film you have probably already seen — though, honestly, it is one of those that only gets better with a second watch. It is The Intouchables, a French comedy-drama inspired by a true story, following the friendship between Philippe, a wealthy Parisian aristocrat left paralysed after a paragliding accident, and Driss, a young man from the suburbs who reluctantly takes on the job of his carer simply to qualify for unemployment benefits.

Chiara Wettmann, a documentary photographer based between Beirut and Berlin

Chiara Wettmann has spent much of her career exploring questions of human rights, power and displacement. So it is hardly surprising that her film recommendation runs just as deep.

Her choice is An Hour from the Middle of Nowhere, a 2024 documentary directed by Ole Elfenkaemper and Kathrin Seward. Rather than approaching immigration through headlines or politics, the film tells its story through the lives of people living in the shadow of one of the largest immigration detention centres in the United States, tucked away in rural Georgia. At its heart is immigration attorney Marty Rosenbluth, whose work defending detained migrants becomes deeply intertwined with the local community and the families caught up in the system.

One detail makes the film even more interesting: although it centres on a major American detention facility, it was made by a German team. That perhaps explains its quietly observational approach, allowing the people and their stories to take centre stage rather than the politics surrounding them.

Mays Almousawi, Omani artist

For Mays Almousawi, questioning the assumptions and roles we inherit and quietly accept has long been part of her artistic practice. So it is hardly surprising that her pick is The Truman Show — the now-classic film starring Jim Carrey, who, fun fact, very nearly wasn't cast at all.

The story follows Truman Burbank, an ordinary insurance salesman who has no idea that his entire life is actually a television programme. Since the day he was born, everyone around him — his family, friends, neighbours and colleagues — has been an actor, while the town he calls home is really a giant enclosed set watched by millions across the globe. As tiny cracks begin to appear in his perfect world, Truman starts questioning everything he thought he knew.

What starts as an entertaining idea gradually turns into something far more thought-provoking, touching on free will, authenticity, surveillance and all the roles we inherit without ever really stopping to question them. The film struck such a cultural chord that it even gave its name to a real psychological phenomenon. Psychiatrists have described the Truman Show delusion — a rare condition in which people believe their lives are being secretly filmed or broadcast to an unseen audience.

Kenneth Sagar, photographer and host of the Chase Those Dreams podcast

As you would expect from a photographer, Kenneth Sagar isn't just drawn to a film's story — the visuals matter every bit as much. So it is hardly surprising that his pick is one of the most visually striking films of the past decade, and, depending on who you ask, one of those rare adaptations that even outshines the novel. (For what it is worth, I would be inclined to agree.)

Set against the glittering backdrop of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby follows the millionaire Jay Gatsby, whose extravagant parties become the talk of New York society. Yet behind all the spectacle sits a much quieter story. Everything Gatsby has built is driven by one hope: winning back Daisy Buchanan, the woman he never stopped loving.