This month, Ragtag Cinema kicked off the 10th year of its Passport series. The first screening in the series, the Jordanian film “Theeb,” attracted more than 100 viewers.

“There are a lot of international films that we love that don’t get very good distribution,” Ragtag Associate Programmer Chris Boeckmann says. “All of our series are created to take smaller movies and put our stamp on them so people feel like they can trust the films.”

The series features eight films over the course of eight weeks that take viewers to places like Ukraine, France, Iran and Mexico. Boeckmann attends international film festivals, such as last week’s Toronto Film Festival, and pays close attention to the festival line-ups and which films draw a lot of interest. Boeckman keeps a list of the movies year-round and watches them during the summer. He tries to select a variety of films from around the world.

“I don’t want all the movies to come from Europe,” Boeckmann says.

The series also includes a post-screening discussion, where guests from featured regions provide their insight to the films’ portrayal of the history and culture of their native countries. These speakers are able to provide any information that the film might have left out and are able to point out any of the film’s shortcomings in describing the culture of their countries.

The discussion provides viewers with an opportunity to challenge their preconceived notions as outsiders of these particular regions.

“We bring in guests because they have more knowledge about the culture and the history that the movies are dealing with,” Boeckmann says. “Sometimes we bring them in and they give a lot more background information about what you just watched, and it enriches the viewing experience. And other times, they tear into the movie and the way it presented that history. Ideally, we would do this for every movie we played, but it is a bit hard to organize these in the first place.”

For example, the screening of this week’s movie, the Ukrainian film “The Tribe,” will have a Ukrainian journalist as its guest speaker.

“The best Passport movies are the ones that are very much engaged and in-dialogue with the culture that they are set in,” Boeckmann says. “They result in much richer conversations.”

But before you rush to the box office to reserve your spot, please note that “The Tribe” is the most graphic film to be shown in the series. I recommend reading Boeckmann’s disclaimer on Ragtag’s website and researching the film before buying your tickets.

The other films in the series do not come with a disclaimer, but here are brief descriptions of a couple of them.

_“Breathe”_ is a beautiful and universal story directed by the actress Melanie Laurent, but according to Boeckmann, it may not be an accurate portrayal of French culture. The movie explores the intense friendship of two teenage girls from entirely different backgrounds.

_“Taxi”_ is a documentary-style film created by Jafar Panahi, an Iranian filmmaker who was given a 20-year ban on making films by the Iranian government back in 2010. His first film produced since his arrest was “This Is Not a Film” and was smuggled out of the country in a USB drive hidden inside a cake. “Taxi” is his third film since his arrest and Boeckmann’s personal favorite of the three.

“Jafar Panahi’s post-house arrest films seem to be winking at you and playing with the idea that maybe documentaries aren’t real films,” Boeckmann says. “And this film really surprises you throughout.”

Ragtag’s ultimate goal with the Passport Series is to give viewers something to think about post-screening. Boeckmann says he hopes viewers will look more into the issues discussed in the screenings and the open forums that follow.

“I hope people are inspired by most of the movies and people will look into the histories the films are dealing with,” Boeckmann says. “(I hope viewers) will look up the history behind the strikes in Mexico after watching “Gueros” or figure out what the censorship situation is like in Iran after you watch “Taxi” and figure out how artists are working there.”