19 Best Services to Watch International Movies on Roku

If you get the Sling TV's AMC+ extra, you're signing up for one of the most cost-efficient bundles of the cord-cutting era. For $8.99, you'll get AMC+ (which costs $6.99 as a standalone service), plus Shudder ($6.99 standalone), plus Sundance Now ($6.99 standalone), plus IFC Films Unlimited ($5.99). Name a better bundle deal. We'll wait.

Kanopy is an on-demand streaming service that schools and public libraries all around the US offer students and members for free. All you have to do is enter the details of your participating institution and you can start watching as you please. Because of the academic nature of the platform, Kanopy makes sure it streams only the most essential and important content available, which could mean hard-hitting films like Moonlight, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Lady Bird, Dogtooh, Memento, and Howard's End for certain viewers, or The Adventures of Paddington, Richard Scarry, and The Monster Math Squad for even other, younger viewers. There are also storybooks, documentaries, and educational programs available to watch as Kanopy makes sure to cater to every learner regardless of leaning or age.

Britbox is a streaming service born out of an alliance between two British broadcasters: BBC and iTV. If you like British humour, British detective shows, or anything British TV, it's the place for you. You won't be the only one, by October 2020, the platform had 1.5 million subscribers, a number that's growing.

If you like Korean drama or Asian content any general, this is the platform for you. There are even watch parties so you can feel like you are attending events for your favorite shows. A lot of content is free, but most of the new releases are paid. So you will have to either get a paid subscription (called "The Viki Pass") or wait until what you want to watch goes free.

For French expats in the US, the Sling TV French Pack covers all the bases from back home. To name a few, it has TV5Monde, beIN Sports, and France 24 for news, live sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and kid-friendly content. The French Pack also gives you access to TV5MONDEplus so you can watch films and TV shows on-demand. Like all the other international packs, you don't have to purchase a Sling base plan to get the French Pack; you can pay for it as a standalone for $15/month or at a discounted $150/year. You could bundle it with Sling Orange + Blue, but note that the French Pack already comes with 600 free live channels via Sling Freestream. You can try the French pack for free for 7 days.

The Sling Ala Keifak pack is one three Arabic live TV plans Sling offers. It carries 80 live channels spanning sports, news, entertainment, and music. There are channels from Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, and the greater pan-Arab region. The Ala Keifak pack costs $17.99/month, but Sling also offers the much cheaper Al Maalem add-on if you're on a budget and the more expensive Al Ostoura add-on if you're willing to shell out for more channels. The Ala Keifak pack also has on-demand titles from LBCI, ART Aflam, and Sling's own catalog of Arabic films. You can order Sling TV’s Arabic plans ala carte, but if you’d like more US channels, then you can stack it on top of base Sling Orange or Blue plan.

Ovid.tv is an on-demand streaming platform dedicated to independent movies, and is currently available in the US and Canada. In the US, Ovid.tv costs $6.99 per month or $69 per year. You can access Ovid.tv via mobile platforms including Android and iOS, as well as media streaming devices including Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku. However, Ovid.tv does not offer any apps for game consoles at the moment.

If you’re sick of the same old movies you’re seeing on this side of the world, then MHz Choice might come as a pleasant surprise for you. The streaming service specializes in international content, especially Nordic noir and British thrillers. Though the app itself can be a little clunky, at $8/month, it’s an affordable alternative to accessing quality foreign-language shows, films, documentaries, and more. It also recently merged with fellow subscription service Topic, so expect to see even more European fare there.

There are many streaming services out there dedicated to specific and underrepresented communities. Black-oriented streamers alone account for a significant portion. But Kweli TV stands out for its far-reaching and careful curation. It hosts films and series worldwide, many of which are festival winners and official selections from Africa and the Caribbean. It also claims to dedicate 60% of its revenue to content creators, so you can be sure your money goes to a good cause. On top of all this, Kweli TV also has a 24-hour live streaming service; a worthwhile package for just $1.99/month (without ads, it's $5.99/month).

Whether you're a Korean expat living in North America or a true-blue Hallyu fan, you'll find much to like in OnDemandKorea, also sometimes known as Korea on Demand. The streaming service has both live TV and on-demand content, which it makes available in three tiers. The basic plan is ad-supported and free, the premium plan costs $10.99/month and gives you exclusive ad-free content, while the premium + box plan costs $19.99/month and gives you all the benefits of the previous plans plus five simultaneous viewings and 100 live channels. Korea on Demand also gives you the option to pay yearly to help you save up to $200 in costs. In terms of content, the platform has an impressively wide range. On the on-demand side, it has more than 500 films that range from mainstream to indie, while on the live TV side, it has multiple channels that cover news, entertainment, variety, and sports. It's important to note, however, that the entire site is in Korean and not all titles have English subtitles, making it most suited to native or advanced speakers of the language.

Klassiki is a streaming service dedicated to classic and modern films from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The platform's team carefully curate the titles that go into their library, and every week, they handpick a special film for you to enjoy. Since Klassiki is still new, their library is not too stacked (they have about 50 titles as of this writing), but the leanness is perfect for those who value quality over quantity. A monthly subscription costs $10.99 (£9.99 if you're in the UK), and along with on-demand content, you get exclusive program notes, reviews, and interviews from different critics and filmmakers via their journal section.

Formerly Kino Now, which only offered rentals, Kino Film Collection is an on-demand streaming service featuring films that could rival the catalogs of Criterion and Mubi. Here you'll find indie darlings, hard-to-find classics, and international gems by the likes of  Jean-Luc Godard, Jafar Panahi, Jia Zhangke, Joanna Hogg, and Alfred Hitchcock. Some examples of their carefully curated collections are "Cannes Winners," "New York Times Critcis’ Picks," "Visionary Black Directors," and "Women Filmmakers." You can watch the Kino Film Collection on major streaming devices.

Largely known as China's Netflix, iQiyi is a popular and wide-ranging streaming platform that hosts the best of East Asian content. Among its catalog are Asian blockbusters, Chinese variety shows, Japanese anime, and of course, Korean dramas. iQiyi also has multiple deals with studios all over the world, including Netflix, so it's able to stream global content to its Chinese audiences. 

Perhaps the best part about iQiyi is that it comes for free; no need to pay to see its plenty and diverse titles, although you will be subject to some ads. To avoid ads and avail of perks such as concurrent viewing and download privileges, iQiyi offers a VIP membership that costs $2 per month.

Hi-Yah is a niche streaming service for martial arts and Asian action content in general. The cheap monthly price of $3.99 makes it a service that's easy to add to more wholistic streaming platforms.

Fandor is a paid subscription streaming service that curates independent, foreign, award-winning, and classic films, as well as documentaries from all over the world, making it a standout option for cinephiles. Depending on your location, it also offers a number of free movie titles. But Fandor doesn't only cater to fans; rookie directors also get some love as the service allows them to debut their work on the platform. It's a great option for film lovers and makers alike.

DirecTV Stream's Vietnamese Add-on pack, currently priced at $20/month, is one of the few Vietnamese streaming packages currently available. It has a wide range of channels, including SBTN, Vietface, VGN TV, Vien Thao TV, and TViet, so you can be sure to get the latest news, sports, TV episodes, and films from the country. This is only available as an add-on, so you'd have to pair it with one of DirecTV Stream's base plans, which start at $101.98/month.

This add-on from DirecTV Stream may just have two channels, but it's the two of the biggest ones you'll find in Brazil. SporTV covers major sporting events and programs, while Globo has everything else: live news, telenovelas, documentaries, variety shows, and more. The add-on costs $30/month, but you'll need a base DirecTV Stream plan to purchase it, which means this bundle will cost you $131.98/month plus taxes. It's quite steep, but considering DirecTV Stream has some of the most comprehensive plans in the market, it could be worth it, depending on your needs.

Criterion Channel is a curated movie-streaming service that offers ad-free and on-demand access to films from The Criterion Collection in HD. It is currently only available in the US and Canada. The subscription costs $10.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Like Netflix, the Criterion Channel also offers a physical rental service. The number of movies you can rent each month, for a flat monthly rate, depends on how quickly you can return them. You don't need to subscribe to The Criterion Channel to buy or rent physical media on DVD and Blu-ray, but subscribers may get discounts.

While programming depends on your geographical location, Acorn TV in the US focuses on TV shows from dozens of international networks in countries of the Commonwealth, from British channels like the BBC and ITV as well as Oceanic shows from Australia and New Zealand. Aside from British shows, there’s also a solid selection of content from other major European networks from France, Italy and Ireland.