Cinema that was invented in the last decade of 19th century, flourished in the 20th century and for the most part,it was the most popular and in a way the most creative art format, borrowing from other art forms. After the invention of television, and the production of TV films in the second half of the last century, and later on the internet media and the new age of digitalism and online streaming or stealing of the movies, at least over the past couple of decades, Cinema has lost its glory. At the same time, while in the first half or most of the 20th century, Cinema was heavily in the hands of story tellers, photographers, and actors, who were all led by the filmmaker or the creator, in the last few decades of the past century and more so in the present 21st century, it is dominated by digital special effects and out of reality. So cinema as an art format has greatly transformed to a technical/digital industry. Along the many efforts across the globe to save this modern art against the box office sales pressure and capital demand, this site hopes to contribute a small part in this endeavor!
Cinema initially sprang from photography, so that later on and to this day, it is called “motion picture” or “movies”, while the term “film” could be used for both cinema and photography. In the beginning, cinema was simply, pictures in motion with no other adding arts or technology, such as sound, music, or else, but acting. That is why for the first few decades since the birth of cinema, the movies were “silent” and this art form had to rely basically on the power of imagery with all its cinematographic components and the filmmakers like painters on canvas had to do whatever they could to create a powerful moving picture on the screen in addition to silent acting without talk. In this endeavor, some relied on set design, the use of light and shadows, like the German expressionists, and some relied on editing like Eisenstein, and some relied mostly on acting and sensible realism like Chaplin. At the time and even today, it is easier to rate and rank a silent film, as there were no white noise of sound or talk and all were imagery and picture in motion to measure. Due to simplicity, originality and the role of these pure ingredients, the silent films are still on the top of many best films of all time, such as the works of Serge Eisenstein, Fritz Lang, D.W.Griffith, and Charles Chaplin.
The sound brought theatrical acting to the cinema despite strong oppositions of silent films’ actors who were great action actors, specially in comedy. While 1920’s were still dominated by the silent movies, the 1930’s were the era of infiltration of theatrical acting to cinema that lasted for several decades until the recent domination of special effects and interception of digitalism into cinema. Orson Welles, Humphrey Bogart, Catharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, James Dean and Marlon Brando were such actors who stemmed from theatre or acted as such. This continued to the modern era so that the newer actors such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio continued with such legacy. The theatrical acting while added rich flavor to the story telling and content through dialogues to the cinema, in many instances became very close to theatrical plays and robbed the cinematic experience and presentation, and limited the filmmakers in showing their talents. This is somewhat parallel to the digital cinema nowadays, where digitalism and special effects have totally stolen the rich cinematic creation.
Lastly cinema as a common art medium unlike other arts, but like music cannot be “an art for art”, but “art for all”. This means that cinema as the only art medium, while being complex and applying other art media for enrichment, it has to be for everyone, entertaining and enlightening all. A great film could please the viewers of all kinds, from the ordinary minds to the most intellectual and critical ones.
Evaluation, rating and ranking movies, is not a matter of personal taste, likeness, or even a collective voting of majority, as the majority could be wrong and do not consider all the components of a film, with a delicate consideration of the differential factors. In other words, the role of camera, acting and editing are not the same and do not carry the similar weights as special effect. Unfortunately this has not been done closely in most rating and ranking of the motion pictures and the best lists, or awards such as Oscar. Beyond the different components of a film, that somewhat and singularly are recognized as in awards for script, acting, editing, directing, etc., the following factors in ranking the best films are essential. (Of course based on the following criteria, the earlier a film, the higher the rank would be, except the films that in addition to these factors, they have the “best impression” that could go beyond the time boundary. This is certainly very rare and on our list could include only a few rare top films such as “The Battleship Potemkin”, “Man with a movie camera” and “Metropolis”. Finally any originality and technicality if not cinematic or visual and at the service of story telling, entertainment or enlightening , like experimental works of some such as Godard do not count in this site evaluation and ranking of the films.
Originality: No matter how well a film has been made today, if it is a copy of an original work, or an adaptation in one form or another, it would put it out of any best rank. An original work, even if not well done to perfection, it is still original and a creation that needs to be considered. Of course the earlier films fairly take on a lot of credits from this factor, but this may encourage the true filmmakers not to be copiers or followers but original and creative!
Technicality: This factor should cover all the technical aspects of filmmaking from the story and script to the all works of camera, acting, editing, special effects, etc. The originality and proper application of each technique or component need to be considered in ranking.
Impact Factor/Significance: This is the factor influencing other films, urging them to copy and experience the original work in part or in whole. This factor is not only the influence that an original work has on the industry, but on people in general and other forms of art and aspects of life as well. In conjunction with the influence that a film could have on other films or else, the significance of the film on cinema as a whole and on the history of this art medium is important and will be counted on.
Survival: This shows how long a work, no matter how great, it will be remembered and looks fresh for years to come, specially in the eyes of the true cinema patriots.
Throughout this site, in writing on films and ranking them, the above factors will be delicately considered, though no evaluation or ranking could be rightful. Such comprehensive evaluation and ranking will hopefully encourage others to take on such or similar process in ranking and awarding, and avoiding a single factor such as the content of the story for political or trend of the time reasons!
The 93rd Academy Awards this year with a delay will be presented this evening of April 25, 2021. Worse than the Golden Globe awards that were presented a month ago, the Oscars have not nominated two good films, the anti-American “The Mauritanian”, and in the foreign section, the Italian film section “The Life Ahead” by Edoardo Ponti, the son of Carlo Ponti Sr. and Sophia Loren. Academy Awards have not also nominated “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” for more than the actress in leading role for Andra Day. Other than “The trial of the Chicago 7” that was also nominated by Golden Globe and did not win much, the only other award deserving films are “The Father”, “Minari” and “Judas and the Black Messiah”, another anti-American film on the fate of “Black Panthers” rebellious group in the 1960s.
The other nominated films for different awards with the following brief descriptions, are too ordinary and boring:
Nomadland: The story of Linda (Frances Mcdormand) who leaves civic life after the death of her husband and loss of job, to join other homeless American nomads like herself. The film is only credited for portraying the other true nostalgic side of American life, in contrast with the glittering ones always have been depicted by Hollywood and American media.
Sound of Metal: The story of Ruben (Riz Ahmed) a drummer who ends up deaf due to his hard and crazy playing. This is a personal nostalgic tale of self-caused misery, who finally appreciates the world in silence around him, being much better and peaceful than bad hearing through his implant.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: Based on the same name play, on a recording session of the blues singer, Ma Rainey, has no moving component to be considered a motion picture, and it’s boring and void of any content.
The Father:An exception to a bunch of boring nominees, a directorial debut by Florian Zeller, the young French novelist and playwright, the film with as always the great performance of Anthony Hopkins, portraying well the personal downfall life of a demented man. Anthony, a proud man and father, in denial of his profound memory loss, is depicted well with excellent twists the fate of his regression to a childish state of mind at the end, crying for his mother to take him back home form the nursing home.
Minari: One more exception among the boring nominees, is another Korean film, depicting the story of a Korean family, deciding to move from California to Arkansas, leaving city life for farming. Living in a trailer on their purchased big land, another American dream falls apart by the doom of nature, the system and individual differences and oppositions.
Mank: A cross-sectional life story of Herman Mankeiwicz during the writing the screenplay of “Citizen Kane” would be interesting to see Orson Welles’ reaction if he was alive. Written by Jack Fincher in 1990s who died and did not see his script on the screen, the film is another boring example of modern American cinema that only deserves Netflix.
Judas and the Black Messiah: Another anti-American true story of the “Black Panther Party” in late 1960s who were wiped out by the government in their struggle for the black power. The direction, acting and the story content deserve awards appreciation.
One night in Miami: The film that supposed to be about the night of Muhammad Ali’s title win over Sonny Liston, except for a fee minutes, goes on in a hotel room with four characters, and is mostly about Malcolm X who is pushing Ali to convert to Islam. This theatrical boring film defames both Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X who were both legends in their own terms in American history.
Pieces of a woman: Perhaps the most boring nominate film this year, it is more like a home video than a feature film. The very ordinary story of a still birth has been exaggerated out of proportion as if Hollywood has run out of subject stories to depict on the screen. With bad acting and directing, the film suites more Golden Raspberry Awards than Oscars.
Promising young woman: The story of woman seeing revenge of the death of her best friend by rape is an entertaining thriller, but not deserving Academy Awards.
Another Round: This foreign feature from Denmark that has been nominated for the best international film award and best direction among its American peers, is a promoting alcoholism feature. Four high school teachers try to experiment a psychiatrist’s theory that drinking to the blood level of .05% helps psychological and social performance, leads to more relaxation and creativity. While not purely comic, but serious about its theory is a self-defeat in its theory and filming as it is to the lives of its characters.
The two great films of last year “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and “The trial of the Chicago 7” that have been briefed in the post about Golden Globe’s will not be repeated here. In brief Oscars could quit this year like many other events that were cancelled since the outbreak of pandemic, due to lack of any major award deserving feature films.
2021 Golden Globe awards was a novelty like any other things and events in life these days that resists the lockdown and scarecrow of the COVID pandemic. The ceremony went on with a few audience and presenters without masks. Moreover and while all cinema theatres across the globe were shut down for a year, and majority of people thought there would not be any film productions, we witnessed a list of nominated films for different awards. The strange 78th Golden Globe awards ceremony brought hope back to the screen and beyond by celebrating a new line of protesting American cinema.
Golden Globe as always cherishes the TV productions and in a way acts against the art and the existence of the silver screen, in the film category as before, awarded lame films such as “Nomadland”, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, and “Soul”. But the Golden Globe at least recognized a few great new line of protesting American films against the system, such as “The trial of the Chicago 7” nominated for the best drama and direction, “The Mauritanian” nominated for the best actor, and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” nominated and won the best actress award for the magnificent “Andra Day” in performance and voice. Despite the failure as usual to recognize the great films, such as “The trial of the Chicago 7”, “The Mauritanian”, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” for different awards, and in the foreign section “The Life Ahead” from Italy for the best film, the Golden Globes at least nominated these great films. Therefore and in the recognition of these four great films of 2020, the year of COVID, the following brief critics will be posted here.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Perhaps the best film of 2020, the film heroically flashbacks to the life and anti-racial fight of the great Jazz and Blues Singer, Billie Holiday. The film perhaps is a shock to the star’s fans and lovers of her songs, to learn that beyond her personal suffering life with all kinds of abuses and struggling with addiction as self-healing a short-life long pains, Billie Holiday was a true legend. Indeed a true legend not only in her music that has barely surpassed to this day, but to her fight and resistance against the white American racism and Klan-type of treating her own black population up into the 50s and 60s. The great performance of Andra Day who also sings Billie Holiday’s songs beautifully aside, the film is a protesting voice against the American racism and mass murdering of her own black population just for the crime of their skin colour. Billie in real life as the film sadly depicts, has been a subject of prosecution by the police and the authorities for empathizing with the southern black victims by singing her song of “Strange Fruit”, as a protesting voice against the murdering of her people and hanging them up on the trees. The song that carried its grave guilt on the shoulders of all white supremacists since, has been bravely adapted by other great singers later on such as Nina Simone, Andra Day herself, and in our time, Dominique Flis-Aime, as an empathizing comradeship and tribute to the great Billie Holiday.
The film as its subject has also been a victim of ignorance for lack of recognition by American critics, such as “Rotten Tomatoes” that rates it as only 56% positive reviews by 126 critics, or on “Metacritic” weighing an average of 53. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter downgrades the film “It’s a mess, albeit an absorbing one, driven by a raw central performance of blistering indignation, both tough and vulnerable”. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gives the film 2 out of 5, criticizing it “Day’s rendition is heartfelt. But the direction and storytelling are laborious, without the panache and incorrectness of earlier Daniels movies…” The ignorance of these critics perhaps roots in their poor and narrow minded perception of missing the woods for the trees, criticizing the film for “isolated parts” shortcomings while disregarding the whole value of the film and its impact on the viewers.
The trial of the Chicago 7
This film is another depiction of American injustice at its highest anti-democratic and system self-preservation manner. This awakening feature documentary by Aaron Sorkin, reminds us again how the America system could be cruel and merciless, assaulting, injuring and sabotaging her own people, for just a peaceful demonstration against its invasive and war-mongering diplomacy. The true event of the anti-Vietnam War protest at the 1968 Democratic National convention in Chicago, where the peaceful demonstrators were incited by the police to a riot, were beaten, injured and its leaders arrested. The films goes back and forth from the demonstration to the trial in the court room, presided by the judge Julius Hoffman, where the truth of the US government of anti-democratic nature is stripped naked in a shocking dramatic way, while at the same time being a total mockery. The film depiction of over the six months of the trial ends truly with the defence statement of one of the defendant, Tom Hayden of the student leader by reading one by one the names of the 4,752 American soldiers who were killed in Vietnam during the period of the trial.
The Mauritanian
This film alone for being nominated for the best actor by Tahar Rahim in the role of the Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Salahi who was abducted from his home, taken to the American military prison in Guantanamo Bay of Cuba, with false evidence of his involvement in the September 11, 2001, is an accolade for the Golden Globe. The film depicts well to the bare naked bones, and to the very surprise of many viewers, the American injustice, brutality and deception. After seven years in torturous captivity, thanks to the benevolence of the anti-war defence attorney, Nancy Hollander performed well by Jodie Foster, Salahi is proved innocent. But he was still kept captive for another seven years by the Obama administration, until finally released after 14 years, basically due to the publicity of his autobiographic diary. Again like “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”, this film confronts with the ignorance of American critics and receives only 72% approval from 137 critics at “Rotten Tomatoes” and a score of 54 out of 100 and a “mixed or average reviews” by “Metacritic”.
The Life Ahead
This Italian film directed by Edoardo Ponti, the son of Carlo Ponti Sr. and Sophia Loren (who performs as Madam Rosa, a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor) loses the best foreign film award to “Minari” a story of South Korean immigrant family in US, directed by Lee Isaac Chung. The golden Globe seemingly like Oscar perhaps is still fixated since the last year with the South Korean film surprise, “Parasite” fails to recognize this great Italian film by a young director from a long Italian family line of film making, with a novel subject line of story and remarkable performance of Sophia Loren at the age of 86. Madam Rosa (Sophia Loren), a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor provides childcare for the children of other working women in the port city of “Bari” until “Momo” a 12 years old Senegalese street kid robs her. She takes care of the boy, in a Les Miserables’ way, and develops a deep bond with him, helping him to find his way in life ahead. The film that has already won quite a few awards such as the best acting for Sophia Loren in Alliance of Women Film Journalist Award, Capri Hollywood International Film Festival, and the best international film at San Diego Film Critics Society awards, was not recognized by the Golden Globe.
In making the following list of the greatest screen performances of all time, almost all major actors and actresses globally in the leading or supporting roles were evaluated. The greatest performances are colored in red (6 points), great performances in green (2 points) and if needed in ranking and differentiating between performances, the good performances that coloured in blue (1 point) were also considered. One sole greatest performance could not include in this greatest 100 screen performance of all time, but a career of such superb acting. But such great performances though not in this list are acknowledged here: (The examples of great performances by these actors and actresses or tribute to them could be watched by click on the names and some of their films):
Mean Streets/ The Godfather Part II/ Taxi driver/New York, New York/ The Deer Hunter/Raging Bull/The King of Comedy/Once upon a time in America/ The Mission/ The Untouchables/ Goodfellas/Awakenings/Cape Fear
The Godfather/Serpico/ The Godfather Part II/ Dog day afternoon/And justice for all/ Scarface/ The Godfather Part III/Scent of a woman/Carlito’s Way/Donnie Brasco/ The devil’s advocate
Deer Hunter/Kramer vs. Kramer/The French Lieutenant’s Woman/ Silkwood/ Sophie’s choice/Out of Africa/ Death becomes her/ Ironweed/ The Bridges of Madsion County/ The Hours/ Doubt/ Adaptation/ Julie & Julia/The Iron Lady
The Unbearable Lightness of Being/My left foot/ The last of the Mohicans/ The Age of Innocence/ In the name of the father/ The Boxer/Gangs of New York/There will be Blood/Nine/Lincoln/Phantom Thread
Rocco and his brothers/Un maledetto imbroglio/8 1/2/ Il bell’Antonio/Girl with a suitcase/The Leopard/ Lost command/ The Pink Panther/Nell’anno del Signore/I guappi/Once upon a time in the west
Edward Scissorhands/ What’s eating Gilbert Grape/ Don Juan DeMarco/Donnie Brasco/ Pirates of the Caribbean: The curse of the black pearl:Dead Man’s Chest/ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/ Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of the Fleet Street/ Alice in Wonderland
Based on the ranking of the greatest films of all time in this site, the following list of the greatest filmmakers of all time has been made. The points have been counted from the greatest films (in red color) and the higher the film, the more points given, but the greater films (in green) and the great films (in blue) have been counted as well, to differentiate among the filmmakers whose career has been prolific and the directors who have made only one greatest film.You can watch tributes and some examplary films of these great filmmakers by clicking on their names and some of their films.
Persona The Seventh Seal Wild Strawberries The Virgin Spring Through a Glass Darkly Winter Light Shame The Passion of Anna Cries and Whispers Fanny and Alexander Saraband
Un Chien Andalou (Andalusian Dog) L’Age d’Or Land without bread Los Olvidados ViridianaBelle de Jour Tristana The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie The Phantom of Liberty The Obscure Object of Desire
In this page, the greatest films of all time will be revisited and honoured. Unlike many other best and greatest films list that are based on the tastes and likes of voters, with not much explanation, here we attempt to discuss each film in some details, though nothing could justify what each of these great film truly deserves, other than perhaps the test of time. Here also unlike other lists, we could not limit ourselves to the top 50 or 100, hence we review the films that in one or another or all the ways deserve the recognition of the greatness.
Almost all available films in English or with English subtitles from the early years of inception of cinema in this list have been diligently reviewed. Since the originality criteria is very important and could affect the other criteria of technicality, impact and survival, this review has been so far until the year 2019. The following films that have been on some greatest films lists or have been ranked high or awarded by different organizations, have been particularly more carefully watched and reviewed.
In evaluation and recognition of the great and specifically the greatest films, beyond the factors of originality, technicality, impact factor and survival, the overall and instant impression of a film has been greatly considered. This impression that instantly in the first few minutes of the film befalls on the viewer, is what could move a film up the ladder of time and originality to the top of this list here. This impression factor also could include a film that’s not original in singularity, but original and novel in the application of previous original techniques.
The story content of the film does not bear any importance on this site in recognition and ranking the great films as it is customary in other awards and ranking recognitions. Also any adaptation from other sources such as novels or plays to the film takes off the originality of the film, unless such adaptation has become an original of its own. This list of greatest films of all time, unlike many other such lists is not limited to a certain number, e.g. 100, so it could be less or more and it is also ongoing, though the newer films have less chance or such recognition due to the lower chance of originality.
Lastly cinema as a common art medium unlike other arts, but like music cannot be “an art for art”, but “art for all”. This means that cinema as the only art medium, while being complex and applying other art media for enrichment, it has to be for everyone, entertaining and enlightening all. A great film could please the viewers of all kinds, from the ordinary minds to the most intellectual and critical ones.
The films in blue colour have been great, the films in green colour the greater, the films in purple second to the greatest, and the film in red colour have been the greatest films of all time in our list:
1906:The story of Kelly Craig (Charles Tait) (Australia)
1911:L’inferno (Francesco Bertolini) (France) / Defence of Sevastopol (A.Khanzonov/V.Goncharov) (Russia)
1912:Cleopatra (C.Gaskil) (USA) / Robin Hood (E.Arnaud/H.Blache) (USA)
1913:Ouo Vadis (Enrico Guazzoni) (Italy) /L’enfent de Paris (Leonce Perret) (France)
1914:Cinderella (J,Kirkwood Sr.)(USA)/The Mysterious X (B.Christensen) (Denmark)
1915:The Birth of a Nation (D.W.Griffith) (USA)/The Golem (P.Wegener/H.Galeen) (Germany) /Alice in the Wonderland (W.W.Young) (USA)/The Italian (R.Barker) (USA)
1916:Intolerance (D.W.Griffith) (USA)/20,000 Leagues under the sea (S.Paton) (USA) /Sherlock Holmes (A.Berthelet) (USA)/The end of the world (A.Blom) (Denmark)
1918:A trip to Mars (Holger-Madsen) (Denmark)
1919:Harariki (F.Lang) (Germany)
1920:The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (R. Wiene) (Germany)/Erotikon (M.Stiller) (Sweden)
1921:The Kid (Chaplin) (USA)
1922:Nanook of the North (R.J. Flahery) (USA)/Nosferatu (F.W.Murnau) (Germany)/Othello (D.Buchowetzki) (Germany)
1926:The General (B.Keaton) (USA) /Nana (J.Renoir) (France)
1927:Metropolis (Fritz Lang) (Germany)/Wings (W. Wellman) (USA) Sunrise: A song of two humans (F.W.Murnau) (USA)/The Jazz singer (A.Crosland) (USA)/Berlin: Symphony of a great city (W.Ruttmann) (Germany) /October (Ten days that shook the World) (Esienstein) (USSR)/The end of Petersburg (V.Pudovkin/M.Doller) (USSR)
1928:The Crowd (K.Vidor) (USA)/The passion of Joan of arc (C.T. Dreyer) (France)/The last command (J.v. Sternberg) (USA)/The circus (Chaplin) (USA)
1929:Man with a movie camera (D.Vertov) (USSR)/Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) (L.Bunuel) (Spain)/Pandora’s box (G.W.Pabst) (Germany) /The Broadway melody (H.Beaumont) (USA)/Tokyo March (Mizoguchi) (Japan)
1930:All quiet on the western front (L.Milestone) (USA)/Earth (A. Dovezhneko) (USSR)/L’age d’or (Luis Bunuel) (Spain)/The blue angel (E.Dmytryk) (Germany)/A’ propos de Nice (J.Vigo) (France)
1931:Dracula (T.Browning)(USA)/City lights (Chaplin) (USA) Grand Hotel (E.Goulding) (USA) /M (F.Lang) (Germany) Cimarron (W.Ruggles) (USA)/Frankenstein (J.Whale) (USA)
1932:Cavalcade (F.Lloyd) (USA)/A farewell to arms (F. Borzage) (USA)/Trouble in paradise (E.Lubitsch) (USA)/Freaks (T.Browning) (USA)/Boudu saved from drowning (J.Renoir) (France)/Scarface (H.Hawks) (USA)/L’Atlantide (G.W.Pabst) (Germany/France)
1933:Baby face (A.Green) (USA)/King Kong (M.Cooper/ E.Schoedsack) (USA) /Duck soup (L.McCarey) (USA)/42nd street (L.Bacon/B.Berkeley) (USA)/Zero for conduct (J.Vigo) (France)/Don Quixote (G.W.Pabst) (France/England))/Land without bread (L.Bunuel) (Spain)/The Invisible Man (J.Whale) (USA)
1934:It’s a gift (N.Mcleod) (USA)/Three songs about Lenin (D.Vertov) (USSR)
1935:The 39 steps (Hitchcock) (USA)/Triumph of the will (L.Rienfenstahl) (Germany)/The informer (J.Ford) (USA)/The Bride of Frankenstein (J.Whale) (USA)/A night at the opera (S.Wood) (USA)/Top hat (M.Sandrich) (USA)
1936:Modern times (Chaplin) (USA)/The great Ziegfeld (R.Z.Leonard) (USA)/Camille (G.Cukor) (USA)/The crime of Monsieur Lange (J.Renoir) (Franace)/Swing time (G.Stevens) (USA)/Night mail (H.Smith) (USA)
1937: La Grand illusion (J.Renoir) (France) /Pepe le Moko (J.Duvivier) (France) /Snow white and the seven dwarfs (USA)(W.Disney/D.Hand/W.Jackson/L.Morey/P.Pearce/B.Sharpsteen) Humanity and paper balloons (S.Yamanaka) (Japan)/The awful truth (L.McCarey) (USA)
1938:Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein) (Russia)/The lady vanishes (Hitchcock) (USA)/Pygmalion (A.Asquith/L.Howard) (USA)/You can’t take it with you (F.Capra) (USA)/Olympia (L.Reifenestahl) (Germany)/Jezebel (W.Wyler) (USA)/The Adventures of Robin Hood (M.Curtiz) (USA)
1939:Le jour se leve (M.Carne) (France)/The rules of the game (J.Renoir) (France)/The wizard of Oz (V.Fleming) (USA)/Gone with the wind (V.Fleming) (USA)/Stagecoach (J.Ford) (USA)/Ninotchka (E.Lubitsch) (USA)/Wuthering heights (W.Wyler) (USA)
1940:Fantasia (S.Armstrong/J.Algar…) (USA)/The great dictator (Chaplin) (USA)/The grapes of wrath (J.Ford) (USA)/Rebecca (Hitchcock) (USA)/Pinocchio (W.Disney/B.Sharpsteen…) (USA)/The Philadelphia Story (G.Cukor) (USA)
1941:Citizen Kane (O.Welles) (USA)/The Maltese Falcon (J.Huston) (USA)/How green was my valley (J.Ford) (USA)/Sullivan’s Travels (P.Sturges) (USA)/The Lady Eve (P.Sturges) (USA)
1943:The life and death of colonel Blimp (M.Powell) (England) Titanic (H.Selpin) (Germany)/Shadow of a Doubt (Hitchcock) (USA)
1944:Going my way (L.McCarey) (USA)/Double indemnity (B.Wilder) (USA)/Gaslight (G.Cukor) (USA)/Meet Me in St. Louis (V.Minnelli) (USA)/Laura (O.Preminger) (USA)
1945:Brief encounter (D.Lean) (USA)/The lost weekend (B.Wilder) (USA)/Spellbound (Hitchcock) (USA)/Children of paradise (M.Carne) (France)/Detour (E.Ulmer) (USA)/Rome, Open City (R.Rossellini) (Italy)/The turning point (Fridrikh Ermler) (Russia)/A diary for Timothy (H.Jennings) (England)
1946:The best years of our lives (W.Wyler) (USA)/It’s a wonderful life (F.Capra) (USA)/Notorious (Hichcock) (USA)/My darling Celmentine (J.Ford) (US)/Beauty and the beast (J.Cocteau) (France) The Killers (R.Siodmak) (USA)
1947:Gentleman’s agreement (E.Kazan) (USA)/Out of the past (J.Tourneur) (England)
1948:The Fallen idol (C.Reed) (England)/Bicycle thieves (De Sica) (Italy)/The treasure of Sierra Madre (J.Huston) (USA)/Hamlet (L.Olivier) (England)/Monsieur Vincent (M.Cloche) (France)/Letter from an unknown woman (M.Ophuls) (USA)/Red River (H.Hawks) (USA)/The red shoes (M.Powell) (England)/Macbeth (O.Welles) (USA)/Germany year zero (R.Rossellini) (Italy)/La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti) (Italy)/Le sang des bêtes (G.Franj) (France)/ Drunken Angel (Kurosawa) (Japan)
1949:Kind hearts and coronets (R.Hamer) (England)/The Third Man (C.Reed) (England)/All the king’s men (R.Rossen) (USA)/Late spring (Y.Ozu) (Japan)
1950:Rashomon (Kurosawa) (Japan)/All about Eve (J.Mankiewicz) (USA)/Sunset Blvd. (B.Wilder) (USA)/The walls of Malapaga (R.Clement) (France)/In a lonely place (N.Ray) (USA)/Orphee (J.Cocteau) (France)/Los Olvidados (L.Bunuel) (Spain)
1951:Miss Julie (Alf Sjoberg) (Sweden)/A streetcar named Desire (E. Kazan) (USA)/An American in Paris (V. Minnelli) (USA)/The African Queen (J. Huston) (USA)/Diary of a country priest (R.Bresson) (France)/The River (J.Renoir) (France)/Othello (O.Welles) (USA)/The day the Earth stood still (Robert Wise) (USA)
1952:Forbidden games (R. Clement) (France)/Ikiru (Kurosawa) (Japan)/The importance of being earnest (A. Asquith) (England) Umberto D. (De Sica) (Italy)/The white sheik (Fellini) (Italy)/High noon (Fred Zinnemann) (USA)/The quiet man (J.Ford) (USA)/Limelight (Chaplin) (USA)/Singin’ in the rain(G.Kelly/S.Donen) (USA)
1953:M.Hulot’s holiday (J.Tati) (France)/Ugetsu (K.Mizoguchi) (Japan)/The wages of fear (H.G. Clouzot) (France/Italy)/Tokyo story (Y.Ozu) (Japan)/The war of the worlds (B.Haskin) (USA)/Julius Caesar (J.Mankiewicz) (USA)/Shane (G.Stevens) (USA)/From here to eternity (F.Zinnemann) (USA)/Roman holiday (W.Wyler) (USA)/The robe (H.Coster) (USA)/The earrings of Madame De..(M.Ophuls) (France)
1954:Seven Samurai (Kurosawa) (Japan)/La Strada (Fellini) (Italy) / On the waterfront (Kazan) (USA)/Gate of hell (T.Kinugasa) (Japan) Journey to Italy (Rossellini) (Italy)/Rear window (Hitchcock) (USA) Godzilla (I.Honda) (Japan)/Twenty-four eyes (K.Kinoshita) (Japan) Johnny guitar (N.Ray) (USA)/Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi) (Japan)/ A star is born (G.Cukor) (USA)/Sabrina (B.Wilder) (USA)/Seven brides for seven brothers (S.Donen) (USA)
1955:Richard III (L.Olivier) (England)/Summertime (D.Lean) (USA) / Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali) (Satyajit Ray) (India)/Oklahoma (F.Zinnemann) (USA)/Rebel without a cause (Kazan) (USA)/Samurai, the legend of Musashi (H.Inagaki) (Japan)/Smiles of a summer night (I.Bergman) (Sweden)/The night of the hunter (C.Laughton) (USA)/Les diaboliques (H.G.Clouzot) (France)/Marty (D.Mann) (USA)/East of Eden (Kazan) (USA)/To catch a thief (Hitchcock) (USA)
1956:The Searchers (J.Ford) (USA)/The ten commandments (C.B.DeMille) (USA)/Giant (G.Stevens) (USA)/The king and I (W.Lang) (USA)/The silent world (J.Cousteau) (France)/Invasion of the body snatchers (D.Siegel) (USA)/A Man Escaped (Bresson) (France)/The Burmese Harp (K.Ichikawa) (Japan)/Written on the wind (D.Sirk) (USA)/And God created woman (R.Vadim) (France)/Night and fog (A.Resnais) (France)/Apu trilogy (Aparajito) (S.Ray) (India)/Moby Dick (J.Huston) (USA)/The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse) (France)
1957: The seventh seal (Bergman) (Sweden)/Wild strawberries (Bergman) (Sweden)/12 angry men (S.Lumet) (USA)/Nights of Cabiria (Fellini) (Italy)/Sweet smell of success (A.Mackendrick) (USA)/ Peyton place (M.Robson) (USA)/Paths of glory (Kubrick) (USA)/The cranes are flying (M.Kalatazov) (USSR)/Throne of blood (Kurosawa) (Japan)/The bridge on the river Kwai (D.Lean) (USA)
1958:Ashes and diamonds (A.Wajda) (Poland)/Ivan the terrible, part II (Eisenstein) (USSR)/Cat on a hot tin roof (R.Brooks) (USA) /Mon Oncle (J.Tati) (France)/Vertigo (Hitchcock) (USA)/Touch of evil (O.Welles) (USA)/The hidden fortress (Kurosawa) (Japan)
1959:Ballad of a soldier (G.Chukhrai) (USSR)/Fires on the plain (K.Ichikawa) (Japan)/Floating weeds (Y.Ozu) (Japan)/The 400 blows (Trauffaut) (France)/Some like it hot (B.Wilder) (USA)/Ben Hur (W.Wyler) (USA)/Anatomy of a murder (O.Preminger) (USA) Black Orpheus (O.Negro) (France)/North by Northwest (Hitchcock) USA)/Hiroshima, mon amour (A.Resnais) (France)/Pickpocket (Bresson) (France)/Il generale Della Rovere (Rossellini) (Italy)/The human condition (M.Kobayashi) (Japan)/Moi, un noir (J. Rouch) (France)/Rio Bravo (H.Hawks) (USA)/The Great War (M.Monicelli) (Italy/France)/A summer place (D. Daves) (USA)/Apu Trilogy (The World of Apu) (S.Ray) (India)/The Unsent letter (M.Kalatazov) (USSR)
1960:L’Avventura (Antonioni) (Italy)/The virgin spring (Bergman) (Sweden)/Breathless (Godard) (France)/La Dolce Vita (Fellini) (Italy) Psycho (Hitchcock) (USA)/The apartment (B.Wilder) (USA)/Two women (De Sica) (Italy)/Eyes without a face (G.Franju) (France) / Rocco and his brothers (L.Visconti) (Italy)/When a woman ascends the stairs (M.Naruse) (Japan)/Purple Noon (R.Clement) (France)/The magnificent seven (J.Sturges) (USA)/Peeping Tom (M.Powell) (England)/Spartacus (Kubrick) (USA)/Cimarron (A.Mann) (USA)/ Ocean’s Eleven (L.Milestone) (USA)/The World of Suzie Wong (R.Quine) (England/USA)/Elmer Gantry (R.Brooks) (USA)/Shoot the piano player (Truffaut) (France)
1961:Il Posto (E.Olmi) (Italy)/Viridiana (Bunuel) (Spain) West side story (R.Wise) (USA)/Through a glass darkly (Bergman) (Sweden)/The long absence (H.Colpi) (France)/Yojimbo (Kurosawa) (Japan)/Splendor in the grass (Kazan) (USA)/La Notte (Antonioni) (Italy)/Breakfast at Tiffany’s (B.Edwards) (USA)/One, two, three (B.Wilder) (USA)/The Hustler (R.Rossen) (USA)/Barabbas (Richard Fleischer) (Italy)/A woman is a woman (Godard) (France)
1962:Jules and Jim (Trauffaut) (France)/Knife in the water (Polanski) (Poland)/Lawrence of Arabia (D.Lean) (USA)/To kill a mockingbird (R.Mulligan) (USA)/Sundays and Cybele (S.Bourguignon) (France)/Keeper of promises (A.Duarte) (Brazil)/La Jetee (C.Marker) (France)/The Manchurian candidate (J.Frankenheimer) (USA)Birdman of Alcatraz (J.Frankenheimer) (USA)/Cape fear (J.L.Thompson) (USA)/Lolita (Kubrick) (USA)/Sweet bird of youth (R.Brooks) (USA)/Ivan’s childhood (A.Tarkovsky) (Russia)/L’Eclisse (Antonioni) (Italy)/Salvatore Giuliano (F.Rosi) (Italy)/Harakiri (Kobayashi) (Japan)/Cleo from 5 to 7 (A.Varda) (France/Italy)/The trial (O. Welles) (USA)/Sanjuro (Kurosawa) (Japan)/Two weeks in another town (V.Minnelli) (USA)/Phaedra (J.Dassin) (France)/My life to live (Godard) (France)
1963:81/2 (Fellini) (Italy)/Eat (A.Warhol) (USA)/America America (Kazan) (USA)/How the west was won (J.Ford/ H.Hathaway/ G.Marshall) (USA)/Lilies of the field (R.Nelson) (USA)/The Leopard (Visconti) (Italy)/Charade (S.Donen) (USA)/ The Birds (Hitchcock) (USA)/Contempt (Le Mepris) (Godard) (France)/The house is black (F.Farokhzad) (Iran)/The Pink Panther (B.Edwards) (USA)/The Silence (Bergman) (Sweden)/Shock corridor (S.Fuller) (USA)/Winter Light (Bergman) (Sweden)/Jason and Argonauts (J.Chaffey) (USA)/The Great Escape (J.Sturges) (USA)/It’s a mad, mad, mad world (S.Kramer) (USA)/Cleopatra (J.Mankiewicz) (USA)/Lord of the flies (P.Brook) (USA)/The Servant (J.Losey) (Italy)/The fire within (L.Malle) (France)/Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perrault) (Canada)/Le petit soldat (Godard) (France)/The Big City (S.J.Ray) (India)
1964:Dr.Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb (Kubrick) (USA)/For a fistful of dollars (S.Leone) (Italy)/Becket (P.Glenville) (England/USA)/Yesterday, today, tomorrow(De Sica) (Italy)/The umbrellas of Cherbourg (J.Demy) (France)/Band a part (Band or outsiders) (Godard) (France)/A Hard day’s night (R.Lester) (England)/The naked kiss (S.Fuller) (USA)/Hamlet (S.Kozintsev) (USSR)/Marriage Italian style (De Sica) (Italy) The Gospel according to St.Matthew (Pasolini) (Italy)/Scorpio rising (K.Anger) (USA)/Nobody waved goodbye (Don Owen) (Canada)/Mary Poppins (R.Stevenson) (USA)/Goldfinger (G.Hamilton) (USA)/I am Cuba (Kalataov) (USSR)/The fall of the Roman Empire (A.Mann) (USA)/Diamonds of the Night (Jan Němec) (Czechoslovakia)/Before the Revolution (Bertolucci) (Italy)/Black Peter (M.Forman) (Czechoslovakia)/My Fair Lady (G.Cukor) (USA)/Red Desert (Antonioni) (Italy)/The night of the Iguana (J.Huston) (USA)/Kwaidan (Kobayashi) (Japan)/Gate of flesh (S.Suzuki) (Japan)
1965:Fists in the pocket (M.Bellocchio) (Italy)/Loves of a blonde (M.Forman) (Czechoslovakia)/Dr.Zhivago (D.Lean) (USA)/ The sound of music (R.Wise) (USA)/The shop on Main street (Jan Kadar/Elmar Klos) (Czechoslovakia)/The knack…and how to get it (Richard Lester) (England)/Pierrot le fou (Godard) (France)/Cat Ballou (Elliot Silverstein) (USA)/Repulsion (Polanski) (England)/Chimes at midnight (O. Welles) (USA)/Red beard (Kurosawa) (Japan)/ Sandra of a Thousand Delights (Visconti) (Italy)/Alphaville (Godard) (France)
1966:The battle of Algiers (Gilo Pontecorvo) (Italy/Algeria)/ The good, the bad and the ugly (S.Leone) (Italy)/A man for all seasons (Fred Zinnemann) (England)/The sand pebbles (R.Wise) (USA)/Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols) (USA)/A man and a woman (Claude Lelouch) (France)/Au hazard Balthazar (Bresson) (France/Sweden)/Persona (Bergman) (Sweden)/Andrei Rublev (A.Tarkovsky) (USSR)/Blow-up (Antonioni) (Italy)/Farenheit 451 (Trauffaut) (France)/Tokyo drifter (S.Suzuki) (Japan)/Black girl (O.Sembene) (France/Senegal)/War and Peace (King Vidor) (USA)/Alfie (Lewis Gilbert) (USA)/The Chase (Arthur Penn) (USA)/Torn Curtain (Hitchcock) (USA)/Is Paris burning? (Rene Clement) (France)
1967:Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn) (USA)/The Graduate (Mike Nichols) (USA)/In the heat of the night (Norman Jewison) (USA) Closely watched trains (Jiri Menzel) (Czechoslovakia)/Playtime (Jacques Tati) (France)/The producers (Mel Brooks) (USA)/Mouchette (Bresson) (France)/The dirty dozen (Robert Aldrich) (USA/England)/The taming of the shrew (Franco Zeffirelli) (USA)/Le Samurai (jean-Pierre Melville) (France)/Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel) (France/Italy)/Memories of underdevelopment (Tomas Gutieerz Alea) (Cuba)/Wavelength (Michael Snow) (Canada/USA)/Don’t look back (D.A. Pennebaker) (USA)/Titicut follies (Fredrick Wiseman) (USA)/Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke) (USA)/Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg) (USA)/Guess who’s coming to dinner (Stanley Cramer) (USA)/War and peace (Segei Bondarchuk) (Russia)/Doctor Faustus (Richard Burton/Nevil Coghill) (England) Barefoot in the park (Gene Saks) (USA)/Wait until dark (Terence Young) (USA)/In cold blood (Richard Brooks) (USA)/Camelot (Joshua Logan) (USA)/A countess from Hong Kong (Chaplin) (USA)/Oedipus Rex (Pasolini) (Italy)/Reflection in a golden eye (John Huston) (USA)
1968:Planet of the Apes (Franklin Schaffner) (USA)/2001: A space odyssey (Kubrick) (USA)/Night of the living dead (George Romero) (USA)/Oliver (Carol Reed) (England)/Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffirelli) Italy/England)/The Lion in the winter (Anthony Harey) (England/USA)/Once upon a time in the west (S.Leone) (Italy)Faces (John Cassavetes) (USA)/Rosemary’s baby (R.Polanski) (USA)The swimmer (Frank Oerry/Sydney Polack) (USA)/Two comrades were serving (Yevgeny Karelov) (Russia)/Kuroneko (The Black Cat) (Kaneto Shindo) (Japan)/Walden (Diaries, notes and sketches) (Jonas Mekas) (USA)/Bullitt (Peter Yates) (USA)/Shame (Ingmar Bergman) (Sweden)/Hour of the Wolf (Bergman) (Sweden)/Funny Girl (William Wyler) (USA)/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Ken Hughes) (USA/England)/The Party (Blake Edwards) (USA)/Isadora (Karek Reisz) (England/France)/Charly (Ralph Nelson) (USA) Stolen Kisses (Truffaut) (France)/Rachel, Rachel (Paul Newman) (USA)/The Boston Strangler (Richard Fleischer)/The Shoes of the Fisherman (Michael Anderson) (USA)/If…. (Lindsay Anderson) (England)
1969:Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill) (USA) Midnight cowboy (John Schlesinger) (USA)/Z(Costa-Gavras) (Algeria/France)/Wild bunch (Sam Pekinpah) (USA)/They shoot horses, don’t they? (Sydney Pollack) (USA) /Army of shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville) (France) /The sorrow and the pity (Marcel Ophuls) (France)/My night at Maud’s (Eric Rohmer) (France)/Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper) (USA)/The Red Tent (Mikhail Kaltozov) (USSR)/ Salesman (Albert & David Maysles/Charlotte Zwerin) (USA/Fellini’s Satyricon (Fellini) (Italy)/The passion of Anna (Bergman (Sweden)/Topaz (Hitchcock) (USA)/The Cow (Dariush Mehrjui) (Iran)
1970:Patton (Frankiln Schaffner) (USA)/Investigation of a citizen above suspicion (Elio Petri) (Italy)/Tristana (Luis Bunuel) (Spain/France/Italy)/The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci) (Italy/France)/Dodes’ka-den (Kurosawa) (Japan)/Love Story (Arthur Hiller) (USA)/MASH (Robert Altman) (USA)/The Wild Child (Truffaut) (France)/Little Big Man (Arthur Penn) (USA)/Le Boucher (Claude Chabrol) (France/Italy)/Goin’ Down the Road (Don Shebib) (Canada)/The Artistocats (Wolfgang Reitherman) (USA)/Ryan’s Daughter (David Lean) (England)/Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson) (USA)/Valerie and her week of wonders (Jaromil Jires) (Csechoslovakia) /Le cercle rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville) (France)/Claire’s Knee (Eric Rohmer) (France)/The twelve chairs (Mel Brooks) (USA)/Airport (George Seaton) (USA) The Kremlin letter (John Huston) (USA)/The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (de Sica) (Italy)/The Flight (Aleksandr Alov) (USSR)
1971:A Clockwork orange (Kubrick) (England/USA)/The French connection (William Friedkin) (USA)/Fiddler on the roof (Norman Jewison) (USA)/Straw dogs (Sam Peckinpah) (England/USA)/The go-between (Joseph Losey) (England/USA)/Death in Venice (Visconti) (Italy/France)/King Lear (Grigori Kozintsev) (USSR)/Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff) (Australia)/Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich) (USA)/Ragbar (Downpour) (Bahram Bayzai) (Iran)/Dirty Harry (Don Siegel) (USA)/Klute (Alan J. Pakula) (USA)/Mon Onlce Antoine (Claude Jutra) (Canada)/McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman) (USA)/Macbeth (Polanski) (USA/England)/A touch of Zen (King Hu) (China) Trafic (Jaque Tati) (France)/The Panic in the needle park (Jerry Schatzberg) (USA)/Johnny got his gun (Dalton Trumbo) (USA)/Land of Silence and darkness (Werner Herzog) (Germany)/Nicholas and Alexandra (Franklin Schaftner) (England)/Bananas (Woody Allen) (USA)/The working class goes to heaven (Eli Petri) (Italy)/Ragbar (Downpour) (Bahram Bayzai) (Iran)
1972:Fritz the cat (Ralph Bakshi) (USA)/The Godfather (F.Coppola) (USA)/The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie (Bunuel) (France /Spain/Italy)/Aguirre:The wrath of God (Werner Herzog) (West Germany)/Junior Bonner (Peckinpah) (USA)/Cabaret (Bobe Fosse) (USA)/Quiz Show (Robert Redford) (USA)/Last Tango in Paris (Bertolucci) (Italy/France)/Man of La Mancha (Arthur Hiller) (USA/Italy)/The True Nature of Bernadette (Gilles Carle) (Canada)/Roma (Fellini) (Italy)/The bitter tear of Petra von Kant (Fassbinder) (W.Germany)/Cries and Whispers (Bergman) (Sweden)/ Jeremiah Johnson (Sydney Pollack) (USA)/Deliverance (John Boorman) (USA)/Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill) (USA)/Frenzy (Hitchcock) (USA)/Everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask (Woody Allen) (USA)/State of Siege (C.Gavras) (France)
1973:The spirit of the beehive (Victor Erice) (Spain)/The Sting (George Roy Hill) (USA)/Day for night (Francois Truffaut) (France)/Badlands (Terrence Malick) (USA)/Don’t look now (Nicolas Roeg) (England/Italy)/The exorcist (William Friedkin) (USA)/Papillion (Frankiln Schaffner) ((USA/France)/We all loved each other so much (Etoore Scola) (Italy)/Amarcord (Fellini) (Italy)/American Graffiti (George Lucas) (USA)/Mean Streets (Scorsese) (USA)/Scenes from a Marriage (Bergman) (Sweden)/Paper Moon (Bogdanovich) (USA)/The Experience (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/Save the Tiger (John Avlidsen) (USA)/Serpico (Sydney Lumet) (USA)/Immoral Tales (Walerian Borowczyk) (France)/Harmonica (Sazdahani) (Amir Naderi) (Iran)/Sleeper (Woody Allen) (USA)/The way we were (Sydney Pollack) (USA)/A simple event (Sohrab Shahid-Saless) (Iran)
1974:Chinatown (Polanski) (USA)/The conversation (Francis Ford Coppola) (USA)/Scent of a woman (Dino Risi) (Italy)/Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks) (USA)/The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (Werner Herzog) (W.Germany)/Young Frankestein (Mel Brooks) (USA)/Ali: Fear eats the soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) (W.Germany)/The Great Gatsby (Jack Clayton) (USA)/Celine and Julie go boating (Jacques Rivette) (France)/The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent) (USA)/The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin) (USA)/The Godfather Part II (F.Coppola) (USA)/The Yakuza (S.Pollack) (USA/Japan)/The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper) (USA)/The Traveller (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/Les Ordres (Michel Brault) (Canada)/Murder on the Orient Express (S.Lumet) (USA/England)/Alice doesn’t live here anymore (Scorsese) (USA)/The Night Porter (Liliana Cavani) (Italy/USA)/Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff) (Canada)/The Phantom of Liberty (Bunuel) (France/Italy)/Arabian Nights (Pasolini) (Italy)/Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia (Peckinpah) (USA)
1975:Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam/Terry Jones) (England)/Jaws (Spielberg) (USA)/One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest (Milos Forman) (USA)/Barry Lyndon (Kubrick) (England/USA)/Dog day afternoon (Sidney Lumet) (USA)/Dersu Uzala (Kurosawa) (Japan/USSR)/The story of Adele H (Truffaut) (France)/Mirror (Andrei Tarkovski) (USSR)/The lost honour of Katharina Blum (Volker Schlondorff/Margarethe von Trotta) (W.Germany)/Jeanne Dileman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman) (Belgium/France)/Still Life (Sohrab Shahid-Saless) (Iran)/Grey gardens (Albert Maysles/David Maysles) (USA)/The battle of Chile Part I (Patricio Guzman) (Chile) /Nashville (R.Altman) (USA)/The Magic Flute (Bergman) (Sweden)/Requiem (Amir Naderi) (Iran)/Dayereh Mina (The Cycle) (Dariush Mehrjui)/The Messiah (Rossellini)(Italy/France)/ Shampoo (W. Beatty) (USA) /The Passenger (Antonioni) (Italy/Spain/France)/The man who would be King (J. Huston)(USA/England)
1976:Taxi driver (Scorsese) (USA)/Rocky (John Avildsen) (USA)/All the President’s Men (Alan J.Pakula) (USA)/Network (S.Lumet) (USA)/Black and white in color (Jean Jacques Annaud) (France)/ Seven beauties (Lina Wertmuller) (Italy)/Harlan county USA (Barbara Kopple) (USA)/In the realm of the senses (Nagisa Oshima) (Japan)/The Tenant (Polanski) (France)/The Omen (Richard Donner) (England/USA)/A Wedding Suit (Abbas Kiarostami)/Marathon Man (John Schlesinger) (USA)/1900 (Bertolucci) (Italy)/Fellini’s Casanova (Italy)
1977:Star Wars: Episode IV- A new hope (George Lucas) (USA)/Padre Pardone (Paolo/Vittorio Taviani) (Italy)/Annie Hall (W.Allen) (USA)/The Wishing Tree (Tengiz Abuladze) (Georgia)/Julia (Fred Zinnemann) (USA)/Office romance (Eldar Ryazanov) (Russia)/Report (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/Madame Rosa (Moshe Mirzahi) (France)/Stroszek (Werner Herzog) Germany)/The obscure object of desire (Bunuel) (France/Spain)/House (Nobuhiko Obayashi) (Japan)/Cross of iron (Peckinpah) (USA)/Saturday night fever (John Badham) (USA)/Close encounters of the third kind (Steven Spielberg) (USA)/High Anxiety (Mel Brooks) (USA)/New York, New York (Scorsese) (USA)
1978:The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino) (USA)/Get out your handkerchiefs (Bertrand Blier) (France)/Moliere (Ariane Mnouchkine) (France)/Grease (Randal Kleiser) (USA)/Autumn Sonata (Bergman) (Sweden/Germany)/The tree of wooden clogs (Ermanno Olmi) (Italy)/Superman (Richard Donner) (USA)/The Lord of the Rings (Raplh Bakhshi)(USA/England)/Heaven can wait (Warren Beatty) (USA)/Desiderium (Sooteh-Delan) (Iran)/The Inglorious Bastards (Enzo Castellari) (Italy)/Les Miserables (Glen Jordan) (England)/The Boys from Brazil (Franklin Schaffner) (USA)/Coming Home (Hal Ashby) (USA)
1979:Alien (Ridley Scott) (USA)/Apocalypse now (Coppola) (USA)/Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton) (USA)/The tin drum (Volker Schlondroff) (Germany/Yugoslavia/Poland/France)/Stalker (Tarkovsky) (Russia)/And justice for all (Norman Jewison) (USA)/The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) (Germany)/Laura (David Hamilton) (France)/Manhattan (W.Allen) (USA)/Monty Python’s Life of Brian (Terry Jones)(England)/Caligula (Tinto Brass) (USA/Italy)/All that jazz (Bob Fosse) (USA)/Being there (Hal Ashby) (USA)/First Case, Second Case (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/The Rose (Mark Rydell) (USA)/Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Robert Wise) (USA)/Tess (Roman Polanski) (France/England)/La Luna (Bertolucci) (Italy)/The China Syndrome (James Bridges) (USA)/Wise Blood (John Huston)
1980:The Shinning (Kubrick) (USA/England)/Airplane (Jim Abrahams/ David & Jerry Zucker) (USA)/Raging Bull (Scorsese) (USA)/Ordinary people (R.Redford) (USA)/Coal’s miner daughter (Michael Apted) (USA)/Moscow does not believe in tears (Vladimir Menshov) (Russia)/Kagemusha (Kurosawa) (Japan)/The last metro (Truffaut) (France)/Mon oncle d’Amerique (Alain Resnais) (France)/Atlantic City (Louis Malle) (France/Canada)/Good Riddance (Les Bons debarras (Francis mankiewicz) (Canada)/The Blues Brothers (John Landis) (USA)/American gigolo (Paul Schrader) (USA)/Health (Robert Altman) (USA)/Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino) (USA)/Star Wars : The Empire strikes back (Lucas) (USA)/The Elephant Man (David Lynch) (USA/ England)/Stardust Memories (W.Allen) (USA)
1981:Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson) (Germany)/Chariots of fire (Hugh Hudson) (England)/Reds (W.Beatty) (USA)/Coup de Trochon (Bernard Tavernier) (France)/Indiana Jones: Raiders of the lost Ark (Spielberg) (USA)/Escape from New York (John Carpenter) (USA)/Mephisto (Istvan Szabo) (Hungry)/Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan) (USA)/The postman always rings twice (Bob Rafelson) (USA)/History of the World Part I (M.Brooks) (USA)/Escape to Victory (J.Huston) (USA)/Man of iron (Andrzej Wajda) (Poland)/On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell) (USA)/The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Karel Reisz) (England)/The Bunker (George Schaefer) (USA)/Blow out (Brian De Palma) (USA)/Absence of Malice (Sydney Pollack) (USA)
1982:E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial (Spielberg) (USA)/Blade runner (Ridley Scott) (USA)/Pink Floyd: The Wall (Alan Parker/Gerald Scarfe) (England)/Gandhi (Richard Attenborough) (England/India)/Tootsie (Sydney Poolack) (USA)/Missing (Gavras) (France)/Volver a empezar: Begin the Beguine (Jose Luis Garci) (Spain)/Sophie’s choice (Alan J. Pakula) (USA)/Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog) (Germany)/First blood (Ted Kotcheff) (USA)/A Midsummer night sex comedy (W. Allen) (USA)/Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper) (USA)/The King of Comedy (Scorsese) (USA)/The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir)(Australia)/Diner (Barry Levinson) (USA)/The Verdict (Sidney Lumet) (USA)/The World according to Garp (George Roy Hill) (USA)/Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio) ((USA)
1983:Terms of endearment (James Brooks) (USA)/Fanny and Alexander (Bergman) (Sweden/France/Germany)/Tender mercies (Bruce Berestford) (USA)/The Ballad of Narayama (Shoheil Imamura) (Japan)/Le Bal (Ettora Scola) (Algeria/Italy/France)/Scarface (Brian De Palma) (USA)/A Nos Amours (Maurice Pialat) (France)/Monty Python: the Meaning of Life (Terry Jones) (England)/Local Hero (Bill Forsyth) (England)/Nostalghia (Tarkovsky) (USSR)/Sans Soleil (Chris Marker) (France)/ The Grey Fox (Phillip Borsos) (Canada)/Flashdance (Adrian Lyne) (USA)/L’Argent (R. Bresson) (France)/The Millenial Bee (Jurai Jakubisko) (Czechoslavakia)
1984:Amadeus (Milos Forman) (USA)/The killing fields (Ronlad Joffe) (England)/Dangerous moves (Richard Dembo) (France/Switzerland)/ Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders) (Germany/France)/The Terminator (James Cameron) (USA)/Once upon a time in America (Sergio Leone) (Italy)/A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven) (USA)/Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman) (USA)/Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom (Lucas) (USA)/The Never Ending Story (Wolfgang Petersen) (Germany)/The Natural (Barry Levinson)(USA)/Nineteen-Eighty-Four (Michael Radford) (England)/Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch) (USA/Germany)/ Children of the Corn (Fritz Kiersch) (USA)/Birdy (Alan Parker) (USA)/The Cotton Club (Coppola) (USA)/Maria’s Lovers (Andrei Konchalovsky) (USA)/A Passage to India (David Lean) (England/USA)/Broadway Danny Rose (W.Allen) (USA)
1985:Brazil (Terry Gilliam) (England/USA)/Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack) (USA)/The official story (Luis Puenzo) (Argentina)/When father was away on business (Emir Kusturica) (Yugoslavia)/Shoah (Claude Lanzmann)(France)/Purple rose of Cairo (W.Allen) (USA)/Lost in America (Albert Brooks) (USA)/The Runner (Davandeh) (Amir Naderi) (Iran)/Ran (Kurosawa) (Japan/France)/Tampopo (Juzo Itami) (Japan)/My Life as a Dog (Lasse Hallstrom) (Sweden)/My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears) (England)/Back to the future (Robert Zemeckis) (USA)/Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Paul Schrader) (USA)/After Hours (Scorsese) (USA)/The Breakfast Club (John Hughes) (USA)/Steaming (J.Losey)(England)/Witness (Peter Weir) (USA)/Death of a Salesman (Volker Schlondorff) (USA)/Plenty (Fred Schpisi) (England/USA)
1986:Platoon (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Hannah and her sisters (W.Allen) (USA)/The assault (Fons Rademakers) (Netherland)/The Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand) (Canada)/The Mission (Roland Joffe) (England)/The singing detective (Keith Gordon) (USA)/Blue Velvet (David Lynch) (USA)/Bashu, the little stranger (Bahram Beizaei) (Iran)/ Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien)(Taiwan)/Hadsworth Songs (John Akomfrah) (England)/Top Gun (Tony Scott) (USA)/Nine ½ weeks (Adrian Lyne) (USA)/Stand by Me (Rob Reiner) (USA)/Boycott (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/The Name of the Rose (Jean-Jacques Annaud) (Italy/Germany/France)/The Tenants (Dariush Mehrjui) (Iran)/The Fly (David Cronenberg) (USA)/The Color of Money (Scorsese) (USA)/ Children of a Lesser God (Randa Haines) (USA)/Heartburn (Mike Nichols) (USA)
1987:The last Emperor (Bertolucci) (Italy/England)/Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel) (Denmark)/Au revoir les enfents (Louis Malle) (France/Germany)/Under the Sun of Satan (Maurice Pialat) (France)/Broadcast news (James Brooks) (USA)/Wings of desire (Wim Wenders) (Germany/France)/The Emperor’s naked army marches on (Kazuo Hara) (Japan)/Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick) (USA/England)/Dirty Dancing (Emile Adrolino) (USA)/The Untouchables (Brian De Palma) (USA)/Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lune) (USA)/Where is the Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami)(Iran)/Robocop (Paul Verhoeven) (USA)/Wall Street (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Empire of the Sun (Spielberg) (USA)/ Moonstruck (Norman Jewison) (USA)/Good Morning Vietnam (Barry Levinson) (USA)/Hope and Glory (John Boorman) (England/USA)/I’ve heard the Mermaids Singing (Patricia Rozema) (Canada)/The Peddler (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Ironweed (Hector Babenco) (USA)/Pelle the Conqueror (Bille August) (Denmark/Sweden)/Cry Freedom (Richard Attenborough) ((England/South Africa)/Radio Days (W.Allen) (USA)/September (W.Allen) (USA)/The Cyclist (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)
1988:The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese) (USA)/Rain Man (Barry Levinson) (USA)/Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/Dead ringers (David Cronenberg) (Canada/USA)/The unbearable lightness of being (Philip Kaufman) (USA)/Dekalog (Krzysztof Kieslowski) (Poland)/Frantic (Polanski) (USA/France)/Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore) (Italy)/The Accused (Jonathan Kaplan) (USA)/The Beast of War (Kevin Reynolds) (USA)/Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears) (USA)/Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo) (Japan)/The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris) (USA)
1989:Do the right thing (Spike Lee) (USA)/Indiana Jones and the last crusade (Spielberg) (USA)/Born on the fourth of July (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Dead poets society (Peter Weir) (USA)/Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford) (USA)/My left foot (Jim Sheridan) (Ireland/England)/Tie me up! Tie me down (Almodovar) (Spain)/Sex, lies and videotapes (Steven Soderbergh) (USA)/The Killer (John Woo) (China)/The Power of Kangwon Province (Hong San-Soo) (South Korea)/Roger and me (Michael Moore) (USA)/Henry V (Kenneth Branagh) (England)/ Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand) (Canada)/Glory (Edward Zwick) (USA)/Casualties of War (Brian De Palma) (USA)/Lean on Me (John Avlidsen) (USA)/Crimes and Misdemeanors (W.Allen) (USA)/New York Stories (Scorsese/Coppola/W.Allen) (USA)/Fat Man and Little Boy (Roland Joffe) (USA)/Marriage of the blessed (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)
1990:Goodfellas (Scorsese) (USA)/Dances with wolves (Kevin Kostner) (USA)/Journey of hope (Xavier Koller) (Turkey/Switzerland)/Wild at heart (David Lynch) (USA)/Miller’s crossing (Joel Coen) (USA)/Europa Europa (Agnieszka Holland) (Poland/Germany/France) /Close-up (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau) (France/Hungry)/The Witches (Nicolas Roeg) (England/USA)/The Godfather Part III (F.Coppola) (USA)/Dreams (Kurosawa) (Japan)/Nikita (Luc Besson) (France)/Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall) (USA)/Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton) (USA)/Revenge (Tony Scott) (USA)/Ghost (Jerry Zucker) (USA)/Havana (Sydney Pollack) (USA)/Hamlet (Franco Zeffirelli) (England/USA)/Reversal of Fortune (Barbet Schroeder) (USA)/Awakenings (Penny Marshall) (USA)/Home Alone (Chris Columus) (USA)/Henry & June (Philip Kaufman) (USA)/Hamoun (Dariush Mehrjui) (Iran)
1991:The silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme) (USA)/Mediterraneo (Gabriele Salvatores) (Italy)/Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou) (China)/Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro) (France)/Barton Fink (Joel Coen) (USA)/Europa (Lars von Trier) (Denmark)/The commitments (Alan Parker)(Ireland/England/USA)/Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott) (USA)/Shadows and Fog (W.Allen) (USA)/High Hills (Pedro Alomdovar) (Spain)/JFK (Oliver Stone) (USA)/The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan) (Canada)/The Doors (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Defending your life (Albert Brooks) (USA)/Fried Green Tomatoes (Jon Avnet) (USA)/Bugsy (Barry Levinson) (USA)/Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese) (USA)/In the Alleys of Love (Khosrow Sinai) (Iran)/Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg) (Canada/England)
1992:Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)(USA)/Indochine (Regie Wargnier) (France)/A few good men (Rob Reiner) (USA)/The best intentions (Bille August) (Sweden)/A River runs through it (Robert Redford) (USA)/Leolo (Jean-Calude Lauzon) (Canada)/The crying game (Neil Jordan) (USA)/Damage (Louis Malle) (France/England)/The Player (Robert Altman) (USA)/Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)(USA)/Lessons of darkness (Werner Herzog) (Germany)/The Quince tree sun (Victor Erice) (Spain)/Bob Roberts (Tim Robins) (USA)/Basic instinct (Paul Verhoeven) (USA)/Batman returns (Tim Burton) (USA)/Life and nothing more (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/Once Upon a Time, Cinema (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Hard Boiled (John Woo) (China)/Shining through (David Seltzer) (USA/England)/Final Analysis (Phil Jaonu) (USA)/A Stranger among us (Sydney Lumet) (USA)/Single white female (Barbet Schroder) (USA)/The last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann) (USA)/Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley) (USA)/Hero (Stephen Frears) (USA)/Bram Stoker’s Dracula (F.Coppola) (USA)/Malcolm X (Spike Lee) (USA)/Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara) (USA)/Toys (Barry Levinson) (USA)/The Lover (Jean-Jacques Annaud) (France)/Scent of a woman (Martin Brest) (USA)/Hoffa (Danny DeVito) (USA)/Belle époque (Fernando Terueba) (Spain)/Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann) (Australia)
1993:Schindler’s list (Spielberg) (USA)/Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme) (USA)/Farewell my concubine (Chen Kaig) (China)/The scent of green papaya (Tran Anh Hung) (Vietnam/France)/Falling down (Joel Schumacher) (USA)/What’s eating Gilbert Grape (Lasse Hallstrom) (USA)/D’Est (From the East) (Chantal Akerman) (Russia/Poland/Germany)/ Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski) (Poland/Frnace/Switzerland)/Searching for Bobby Fischer (Steven Zailian) (USA) /Jurassic Park (Spielberg) (USA)/Benny’s video (Michael Haneke) (Austria/Switzerland) /Mrs. Doubtfire (Chris Columbus) (USA)/The Fugitive (Andrew Davis) (USA)/The Firm (Sydney Pollack) (USA) /Indecent Proposal (Adrian Lyne) (USA)/The Pelican Brief (Alan J. Pakula) (USA) /The Age of Innocence (Scorsese) (USA) /The Piano (Jane Campion) (New Zealand) /A Bronx Tale (Robert De Niro) (USA)/Shadowlands (Richard Attenborough) (England)/ Carlito’s Way (Brian De Palma) (USA)/A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Iron Monkey (Yuen Wo-ping) (China)/In the name of the father (Ireland/England)/ Manhattan Murder Mystery (W.Allen) (USA)
1994:Pulp Fiction (Qunetin Tarantino) (USA)/Burnt by the sun (Nikita Mikhalkov)/Forest Gump (Robert Zemeckis) (USA)/Eat, drink, man, woman (Ang Lee) (Taiwan)/Satantango (Bela Tarr) (Hungry)/Strawberry and chocolate (Tomas Gutierrez) (Cuba/Mexico)/Il Postino (Michael Radford/Massimo Troisi) (Italy)/Chungking express (Wong Kar-Wai) (China)/Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)/Ed Wood (Tim Burton) (USA)/Three colors: White (Krzysztof Kieslowski) (France/Poland/Switzerland)/Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski) (France/Poland/Switzerland)/Leon: The Professional (Luc Besson) (France)/Hoop dreams (Steve James)/The Lion King (Roger Allers/Rob Minkoff) (USA)/Crumb (Terry Zwigoff) (USA)/Four weddings and a funeral (Mike Newell) (England)/Through the Olive trees (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/The Mask (Chuck Russel) (USA)/Speed (Jan de Bont) (USA)/Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Disclosure (Barry Levinson) (USA)/Bullets over Broadway (W.Allen) (USA)/Immortal beloved (Bernard Rose) (England/USA)
1995:Seven (David Fincher) (USA)/Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis) (USA)/Apollo 13 (Ron Howard) (USA)/12 Monkeys (Terry Giliam) (USA) /Sense and sensibility (Ang Lee) (USA)/Toy story (John Lasseter) (USA)/Braveheart (Mel Gibson) (USA)/Antonia’s line (Marleen Gorris) (The Netherland)/Underground (Emir Kusturica) (Serbia/Bulgaria/France)/Ulysses’ gaze (Theo Angelopoulos) (Greece) /Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins) (USA)/Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater) (USA)/The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi)(Iran) /Mighty Aphrodite (W.Allen) (USA)/Hello Cinema (Mohsen Makhmalbaf)(Iran)/Babe (Chris Noonan) (USA)/Casino (Scorsese) (USA)/The usual suspects (Bryan Singer) (USA)/Rob Roy (Michael Caton-Jones) (USA)/The Bridges of Madsion County (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Sabrina (Sydnye Pollack) (USA)/Nixon (Oliver Stone) (USA) /Jade (William Friedkin) (USA)/To die for (Gus Van Sant) (USA)/Canadian Bacon (Michael Moore) (USA)/Les Miserables (Claude Lelouch) (France)/Don Juan DeMarco (Jeremy Leven) (USA)
1996:The English Patient (Anthony Minghella) (USA)/Fargo (Joel Coen) (USA/England)/Secret and Lies (Mike Leigh) (England/France)/Shine (Scott Hicks) (Australia)/Kolya (Jan Sverak) (Czech Republic)/Lone Star (John Sayles) (USA)/Breaking the waves (Lars von Trier) (Denmark/Englnad)/Mission impossible (Brian De Palma) (USA)/Kansas City (Robert Altman) (USA)/Gabbeh (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/The Island of Dr. Moreau (John Frankenheimer) (USA) /Michael Collins (Neil Jordan)(USA)/Sleepers (Barry Levinson) (USA)/Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton) (USA)/Jack (F.Coppola) (USA)/The Birdcage (Mike Nichols) (USA)
1997:Titanic (James Cameron) (USA)/Good will hunting (Gus Van Sant) (USA)/Midnight in the garden of good and evil (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Character (Karakter) (Mike van Diem) (Netherland/Belgium)/ Mad City (Costa Gavras) (USA/Fireworks (Hana-bi) (Takeshi Kitano) (Japan)/The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (Death in Granada) (Marcos Zurinaga) (Spain)/Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/As good as it gets (James Brooks) (USA)/The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan) (Canada)/Children of Heaven (Majid Majidi) (Iran)/A,B,C…Manhattan (Amir Naderi)(Iran/USA)/L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson) (USA)/Mimic (Guillermo del Toro) (USA)/The Fifth Element (Luc Besson) (France)/Jackie Brown ((Tarantino) (USA)/Amistad (Spielberg) (USA)/Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell) (USA)/The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Spielberg) (USA)/4 Little girls (Spike Lee) (USA)/Life is beautiful (Roberto Benigni) (Italy)/The Mirror (Jafar Panahi) (Iran) /The Rainmaker (F.Coppola) (USA)/U Turn (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Contact (Zemeckis) (USA)/Live Flesh (Almodovar) (Spain/France)/Night falls on Manhattan (Sydney Lumet) (USA)/Affliction (Paul Schrader)(USA)/The Boxer (Jim Sheridan) (Ireland)
1998:Saving private Ryan (Spielberg) (USA)/Central Station (Walter Salles) (Brazil)/Ringu (Hideo Nakata) (Japan)/Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer) (Germany)/The celebration (Festen) (Thomas Vinterberg) (Denmark)/Histoire du cinema (Jean-Luc Godard) (France)/The Legend of 1900 (Giuseppe Tornatore) (Italy)/The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Armageddon (Michael Bay) (USA)/Shakespeare in Love (John Madden)/American History X (Tony Kaye) (USA)/The Pear Tree (Dariush Mehrjui) (Iran)/The Truman Show (Peter Weir) (USA)/The Idiots (Idioterne) (Lars von Trier) (Denmark)/Elizabeth (Shekhar Kapur)(England)/The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen) (USA)/To be or not to be (Kianoush Ayari) (Iran)/Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon) (England/USA)/Primary Colors (Mike Nichols) (USA)/Ronin (John Frankenheimer) (USA)/Meet Joe Black (Martin Brest) (USA)/The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick) (USA)/The Red Violin (Francois Girard) (Canada/Italy/England)
1999:The Matrix (The Wachowskis) (USA)/The sixth sense (M. Night Shyamalan) (USA)/All about my mother (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/American Beauty (Sam Mendes) (USA)/Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze) (USA)/Rosetta (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) (France)/Angela’s ashes (Alan Parker) (Ireland/England/USA)/Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders) (Germany/USA/France/Cuba)/The Green Mile (Frank Darabont) (USA)/Second skin (Gerardo Vera) (Spain)/The Cider House Rules (Lasse Hallstrom) (USA)/Girl, Interrupted (James Mangold) (USA)/Peppermint candy (Lee Chang-dong) (South Korea)/The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella) (USA)/Audition (Takashi Miike) (Japan)//Cookie’s Fortune (Robert Altman) (USA)/Yana’s Friends (Arik Kaplun) (Israel)/Bringing out the dead (Scorsese) (USA)/Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (Errol Morris) (USA)/Solomon & Gaenor (Paul Morrison) (England)/Audition (Takashi Miike) (Japan)/Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter) (USA)/The Wind will carry us (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/The Hurricane (Norman Jewison)(USA)/Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson) (USA)/Himalaya (Eric Valli) (Nepal)/Music of the Heart (Was Craven) (USA)/Felicia’s Journey (Atom Egoyan) (Canada)/Under the Sun (Colin Nutley) (Sweden)/The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Luc Besson) (France)/Man on the Moon (Milos Forman) (USA)/Anna and the King (Andy Tennat) (USA)/The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola) (USA)/Celebrity (W.Allen) (USA) 1998/East/West (Regis Wargnier)(France/Bulgaria/Russia/Spain/Ukraine)/Random Hearts (Sydney Pollack) (USA)/Liberty Heights (Barry Levinson) (USA)/The Insider (Michael Mann) (USA)/Boys don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce) (USA)/Analyze this (Harold Ramis) (USA)/Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)(England/USA)/Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone) (USA)/Snow falling on cedars (Scott Hicks) (USA)
2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)(China/Taiwan)/ Gladiator (Ridley Scott) (USA)/Chocolat (Lasse Hallstrom) (USA/Englnd)/Djomeh (Friday) (Hassan Yektabakhsh) (Iran)/Traffic (Steven Soderbergh) (USA)/In the mood for love (Wong Kar-wai) (China)/Amores perros (1/3) (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) (Mexico)/The house of mirth (Terence Davies) (England/Germany/USA)/Blackboards (Samira Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Werckmeister harmonies (Bela Tarr) (Hungry)/Finding Forester (Gus Van Sant) (USA)/A time for drunken horses (Bahman Ghobadi) (Iran)/The Gleaners and I (Agnes Varda) (France)/Pay it Forward (Mimi Leder) (USA)/The Taste of Others (Agnes Jaoui) (France)/The Circle (Jafar Panahi) (Iran)/Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku) (Japan)/Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe) (USA)/Malena (Giuseppe Tornatore) (Italy)/Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis) (USA)/Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry) (England)/O Brother where art thou? (Joel Coen) (USA) (England/France)/The Legend of Bagger Vance (Robert Redford) (USA)/Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson) (USA)/Pollock (Ed Harris) (USA)/All the Pretty Horses (Billy Bob Thornton) (USA)
2001:Spirited away (Hayao Miyazaki) (Japan)/A beautiful mind (Ron Howard) (USA)/Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch) (USA)/The Lord of the rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson) (USA)/Baran (Majid Majidi) (Iran)/Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Chris Columbus) (USA)/Black Hawk down (Ridley Scott) (USA) /La Cienaga (The Swamp)(Lucrecia Martel)(Argentina/Spain/France)/Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh) (USA)/Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien) (Taiwan)/Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)/ (France/Germany)/ Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk) (Canada)/Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay) (USA)/A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg) (USA)/Hannibal (Ridley Scott) (USA)/Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann)/Ali (Michael Mann) (USA)/I am Sam (Jessie Nelson) (USA)/The Piano teacher (Michael Haneke) (Frnace/Austria/Germany)/Y TuMama Tambien (Alfonso Curaon) (Mexico)/Gosford Park (Robert Altman) (USA)/Kandahar (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Enemy at the Gates (Jean-Jacques Annaud) (US/France/Germany)/In Praise of Love (Godard) (France)
2002:The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson) (USA)/Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Chris Columbus) (England/USA)/Spider Man (Sam Raimi) (USA)/Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes) (USA)/Pinocchio (Roberto Benigni) (Italy)/Ice Age (Chris Wedge/Carlos Saldanha) (USA)/Catch me if you can (Spielberg)/Gangs of New York (Scorsese) (USA) /The Bourne identity (Doug Liman) (USA)/My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Joel Zwick)/Minority Report (Spielberg)(USA)/Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore) (USA)/Frida (Julie Taymor) ((USA)/The Cuckoo (Kukushka) (Aleksandr Rogozhkin) (Russia)/The Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan) (England/Ireland)/ Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass( (England/Ireland)/Talk to her (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/City of God (Fernando Meirelles/Katia Lund) (Brazil)/Hero (Zhang Yimou) (China)/About Schmidt (Alexander Payne) (USA)/The pianist (Polanski) (France/Germany/Poland/England)/ Confession of a dangerous mind (George Clooney) (USA)/Chicago (Rob Marshal) (USA)/The Hours (Stephen Daldry) (USA)/Solaris (Steven Soderbergh) (USA)/Adaptation (Spike Jonze) (USA)/Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link) (USA)/The Crime of Padre Amaro (Carlos Carrera) (Mexico/Spain)/Secret Ballot (Babak Payami) (Iran)/Bus 174 (Jose Padilha) (Brazil)/Marooned in Iraq (Bahman Ghobadi) (Iran)/In my skin (Marina de Van) (France) /Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov) (Russia)/ The Day I became a Woman (Marzieh Meshkini) (Iran)/Hukkle (Gyorgy Palfi) (Hungry)/Ten (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)
2003: Mystic river (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski) (USA)/Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton) (USA)/Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi) (Iran)/Goodbye Lenin (Wolfgang Becker) (Germany)/The last Samurai (Edward Zwick) (USA)/At Five in the afternoon (Samira Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/The fog of war (Errol Morris) (USA) /Five (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/21 Grams (1/3) (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) (Mexico)/The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson) (USA)/Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino) (USA)/Dogville (Lars von Trier)(Denmark/England/Sweden/Frnace…) /The Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand) (Canada)/Saraband (Bergman) (Sweden/Italy/Germany/Denmark/Austria)/Lost in translation (Sofia Coppola) (USA)/Oldboy (Park Chan-wook) (S.Korea) /Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir) (USA)/Seabiscuit (Garry Ross) (USA)/Dancing in the dust (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)/Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella) (USA)
2004: The passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson) (USA)/Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuaron) (England/USA)/Hotel Rwanda (Terry George) (South Africa/Italy)/Million dollar baby (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/The Aviator (Scorsese) (USA)/Turtles can fly (Bahman Ghobadi) (Iran) /Farenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore) (USA)/Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow) (Hong Kong/China) /2046 (Wong Kar-wai) (Hong Kong)/Cama Adentro (Jorge Gaggero) (Argentina/Spain)/Khabe-e Talkh (The bitter sleep) (Mohsen Amiryoussefi) (Iran) /The beautiful city (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)/Sideways (Alexander Payne) (USA)/Vera Drake (Mike Leigh) (England)/Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston) (Colombia/USA) /The Sea Inside (Alejandro Amenabar) (Spain)/Ray (Taylor Hackford) (USA)/Being Julia (Istvan Szabo) (Hungry/Canada/USA)/The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles) (Argentina/Brazil/Chile/Peru)/Head-On (Faith Akin) (Germany/Turkey)/Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Quentin Tarantino) (USA) /Man on Fire (Tony Scott) (USA)/Troy (Wolfgang Peterson) (USA/England)/The Terminal (Spielberg) (USA)/The Notebook (Nick Cassavetes)(USA/Canada)/Before Sunset (Richard Linklater) (USA) /Alexander (Oliver Stone) (USA)
2005:Crash (Paul Haggis) (USA)/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell) (England/USA)/Tsotsi (Gavin Hood) (South Africa/England)/Sex & Philosophy (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/The Interpreter (Sydney Pollack) (USA) /L’enfent (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) (Belgium)/Cache’ (Michael Haneke) (France/Austria)/Walk the Line (James Mangold) (USA)/Grizzly man (Werner Herzog) (USA)/Iron Island (Mohamad Rasoulof) (Iran)/Tickets (Olmi/Kiarostmai/K.Loach)/Man push cart (Ramin Bahrani) (Iran) /C.R.A.Z.Y (Jean-Marc Vallee) (Canada)/The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson) (England/USA)/War of the Worlds (Spielberg) (USA) /Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee) (USA)/Capote (Bennett Miller) (USA/Canada)/King Kong (Peter Jackson) (USA) /Cinderella Man (Ron Howard) (USA)/The Constant Gardner (Fernando Meirelles) (England/Germany/USA)/Memories of a Geisha (Rob Marshal) (USA)/Match Point (Woody Allen) (USA)/A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)/Good Night and Good Luck /Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Robins) (USA/England)/Munich (Spielberg) (USA)
2006: Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro) (Mexico/Spain)/Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Gore Verbinski) (USA)/Offside (Jafar Panahi) (Iran)/The Departed (Scorsese) (USA)/The lives of others (Florian Henckel) (Germany)/Babel(1/3)(Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) (Mexico)/The Good Shepherd (Robert De Niro) (USA)/Black book (Paul Verhoeven) (Netheralnd/Germany)/The Queen (Stephen Frears) (England)/Half Moon (Bahman Ghobadi) (Iran)/Volver (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/The Fall (Tarsem Singh) (India/USA)/The Davinci Code (Ron Howard) (USA)/Deliver Us from Evil (Amy J. Berg) (USA)/The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald) (England/Germany)/Fireworks Wednesday (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran) /Happy Feet (George Miller) (USA)/A Good Year (Ridley Scott) (USA)/Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron) (England/USA)/Akeelah and the Bee (Doug Atchison) (USA)/Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick) (USA/Germany)/The Wind that shakes the Barely (Ken Loach) (Ireland/England/Italy/Germany)/Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) (Turkey)/Bella (Alejandro Gomez) (USA)/Ten Canoes (Ralph de Heer/Peter Djigirr) (Australia)The Host (Bong Joon-ho) (S.Korea)
2007:The counterfeiters (Stefan Ruzowitzky) (Austria/Germany)/Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates) (England/USA)/My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin) (Canada)/No country for old men (Joel & Ethan Coen) (USA) /The diving bell and the butterfly (Julian Schabel) (France)/Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Gore Verbinski) (USA)/Buddha collapsed out of shame (Hana Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-hsien) (Taiwan/France)/Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney) (USA)/Chop Shop (Ramin Bahrani) (Iran)/Persepolis (Marjan Satrapi/Vincent Paronnaud) (Iran/France)/Atonement (Joe Wright) (England/France/USA)/[Rec](Jaume Balaguero/Paco Plaza) (Spain)/Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of the Fleet Street (Tim Burton) (England/USA)/Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy) (USA)/La Vie en Rose (Olivier Dahan) (France)/American Gangster (Ridley Scott) (USA)/City of Men (Paulo Morelli) (Brazil)/There will be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson) (USA)
2008: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Andrew Adamson) (England/USA)/Milk (Gus Van Sant) (USA)/Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes) (USA/England)/The Curious Case of Benjamine Button (David Fincher)/Shirin (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/The Reader (Stephen Daldry) (Germany/USA)/Cassandra’s Dream (Woody Allen) (USA)/I’ve loved you so long (Philippe Claudel) (France/Canada)/Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard) (USA/England)/Che (Steven Soderbergh) (Spain/Germany/France/USA)/The headless woman (Lucercia Martel) (Argentina/Spain)/The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel) (Germany/France)/Afghan Star (Havana Marking) (England)/Two Legged Horse (Samira Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Let the right one in (Tomas Alfredson) (Sweden)/Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle) (England)/Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman) (Israel)/Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Tambourine (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)/The Good, the Bad, the Weird (Kim Jee-woon) (S.Korea)/Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen) (Spain/USA)/W.(Oliver Stone) (USA)/Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley) (USA)/Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda) (Japan)/Burn after reading (Joel & Ethan Coen) (USA/England)/Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Gini Reticker) (USA)/Man on Wire (James Marsh) (England)/The Order of Myths (Margaret Brown) (USA)/The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky) (USA)/Departures (Yojiro Takita) (Japan)/The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan) (USA/England)/Taken (Pierre Morel) (France)/The Visitor (Tom McCarthy) (USA)/Mamma Mia (Phyllidia Lloyd) (England/Germany/USA)/The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow) (USA)
2009: Avatar (James Cameron) (USA)/The secret in their eyes (Juan Jose Campanella) (Argentina/Spain)/Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates) (England/USA)/Harry Brown (Daniel Barber) (England)/Angles and Demons (Ron Howard) (USA)/Green Days (Hana Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper) (USA)/The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke) (Germany)/Mr.Nobody (Jaco Can Dormael) (Belgium/Canada/France)/Twenty (Abdolreza Khani) (Iran)/Nine (Rob Marshal) (USA/Italy)/The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock) (USA)/Mother (Bong Joon-ho) (S.Korea)/Amelia (Mira Nair) (Canada/USA)/Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos) (Greece)/Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) (USA/Germany)/Last Train Home (Lixin Fan) (Canada)/Invictus (Clint Eastwood) (USA/South Africa)/Up (Peter Docter) (USA)/No one knows about Persian Cats (Bahman Ghobadi) (Iran)/The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson) (USA/England/New Zealand)/The Last Station (Michael Hoffman) (Russia/Germany)/A Single Man (Tom Ford) (USA)/Atashkar (Fire Keeper) (Mohsen Amiryoussefi) (Iran)/My son, my son what have you done? (Werner Herzog) (USA/Germany)/The White Meadows (Mohamad Rasoulof) (Iran)/Julie & Julia (Nora Ephron) (USA)/Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/A Prophet (Jacques Audiard) (France)/The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev) (Sweden)/About Elly (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)
2010: 127 hours (Danny Boyle) (England/USA)/Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)/Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky) (USA)/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1 (David Yates) (England/USA)/Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) (Thailand)/Social Network (David Fincher) (USA)/Incendies (Denis Villeneuve) (Canada)/Poetry (Lee Chang-dong) (S.Korea)/Even the rain (Iciar Bollain) (Spain/Mexico/France)/Inception (Christopher Nolan) (USA)/Nostalgia for the light (Patricia Guzman) (Chile/France/Germany/Spain)/Wall Street: Money never sleeps (Oliver Stone) (USA) /Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (Lev Anderson & Chris Metzler) (USA)/True Grit (Joel & Ethan Coen) (USA) /Shutter Island (Scorsese) (USA)/Waste Land (Lucy Walker/Joao Jardin/Karen Harley) (Brazil/England)/Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich) (USA) /Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton) (USA)/White Lion (Michael Swan) (USA)/The Kids are alright (Lisa Cholodenko) (USA) /The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper) (England/Australia)/The Fighter (David O. Russell) (USA) /In a Better World (Susanne Bier) (Denmark)/Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell) (USA)/You will meet tall dark stranger (W. Allen) (USA)
2011: Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen) (USA)/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2 (David Yates) (England/USA)/War Horse (Spielberg) (USA)/Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strager Tides (Rob Marshall)(USA)/Circumstance (Maryam Keshavarz) (Iran)/The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) (USA)/The Skin I live in (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain) /Goodbye first love (Mia Hansen-Love)(France/Germany)/A Separation (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)/The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi) (USA) /Samsara (Ron Fricke) (USA)/This is not a Film (Jafar Panahi/Mojtaba Mirtahmasb) (Iran)/Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness (Joseph Dorman) (USA)/Chicken with Plums (Marjan Satrapi/Vincent Paronnaud) (France/Germany/Belgium)/The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) (France)/The Descendants (Alexander Payen) (USA)/Goodbye (Be Omid-e Didar) (Mohamad Rasoulof) (Iran)/Hugo (Scorsese) (France/England/USA)/The Iron Lady (Phyiilida Lloyd) (English/France)/Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)(England/France/Germany)/The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (John Madden) (England)
2012: Life of Pi (Ang Lee) (USA/England/Canada/Australia/Taiwan)/ Amour (Michael Haneke) (France/Austria/Germany)/Wadjda (Haifaa Al-Mansor) (Saudi Arabia)/Like someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami) (Iran)/Holy Motors (Leos Carax) (France/Germany)/Post Tenebras Lux (Light after darkness) (Carlos Reygadas) (Mexico/France/Netherland)/ Rhino Season (Bahman Ghobadi) (Iran)/The act of killing (Joshua Oppenheimer) (Denmark/Norway)/The Waiting Room (Peter Nicks) (USA)/More Than Honey (Markus Inhoof) (Switzerland)/The Gardner (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley) (Canada) /Argo (Ben Affleck) (USA)/Lincoln (Spielberg) (USA)/Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow) (USA)/Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell) (USA)/Django unchained (Tarantino) (USA)/To Rome with Love (W.Allen) (USA)
2013: The Wolf of Wall street (Scorsese) (USA)/The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino) (Italy)/Ida (Powel Pawlikowski) (Poland/Denmark/France)/Closed Curtain (Jafar Panahi/Kambuzia Partovi) (Iran)/The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata) (Japan)/The Past (Asghar Farhadi) (France/Italy/Iran)/Ilo Ilo (Anthony Chen) (Singapore)/The Square (Jehane Noujaim) (Egypt/USA)/Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron) (England/USA)/Fish & Cat (Shahram Mokri) (Iran)/12 Years Slave (Steve McQueen) (USA/England)/At any price (Ramin Bahrani) (Iran)/American Hustle (David O.Russell) (USA)/Blue Jasmine (W.Allen) (USA)/Her (Spike Jones) (USA)/All is lost (J.C.Chandor) (Canada/USA)/Blue is the warmest colour (Abdellattif Kechiche) (France)/Third Person (Paul Haggis) (England/USA/Germany/Belgium)/ Rush (Ron Howard) (England/Germany/USA)/JOBS (Joshua Michael Stern) (USA)/Belle (Amma Asante) (England)/Fading Gigolo (W.Allen) (USA)
2014: American Sniper (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/The theory of everything (James Marsh) (England/USA)/Whiplash (Damien Chazelle) (USA)/The President (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (Iran)/We Are Many (Amir Amirani) (England)/Eden (Mia Hansen-Love) (France)/Court (Chaitanya Tamhane) (India)/Tales of the Grim Sleeper (Nick Broomfiled) (England/USA)/A girl walks home alone at night (Ana Lily Amirpour) (Iran/USA)/Seymour: An Introduction (Ethan Hawke) (USA)/Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz) (Israel/Germany/France)/Nas: Time Is Illmatic (One9) (USA)/Interstellar (Christopher Nolan) (USA)/Boyhood (Richard Linklater) (USA)/The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) (USA/Germany)/Birdman (Alejandro Inarritu) (USA)/Still Alice (Richard Glatzer/Wash Westmorelan) (USA)/Big Eyes (Tim Burton) (USA)/The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum) (USA) /Leviathan (Andrey Zyvagintsev) (Russia)/Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund) (France/Norway/Sweden)/Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me (James Keach) (USA)/I origins (Mike Cahil) (USA)/Jersey Boys (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Lucy (Luc Besson) (France)/The Voices (Marjan Satrapi) (USA/Germany)/Magic in the Moonlight (W.Allen) (USA/France)
2015: The Revenanat (Alejandro Inarritu) (USA)/Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes) (Hungry)/Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra) (Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina)/Taxi (Jafar Panahi) (Iran)/Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (Stig Bjorkman)(Sweden)/3 ½ Minutes, 10 Bullets (Marc Silver)(USA)/Inside Out (Pete Docter) (USA)/99 Homes (Ramin Bahrani) (USA)/Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) (USA)/Brooklyn (John Crowley) (England/Ireland/Canada) /It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) (USA)/Wednesday, May 9 (Vahid Jalilvand) (Iran)/The Martian (Ridley Scott) (USA/England)/Room (Lenny Abrahamson) (Canada/Ireland/England/USA)/Joy (David O. Russell) (USA)/Wild Tales (Damian Szifron) (Argentina/Spain)/Fifty shades of grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson) (USA)/Muhammad: The Messenger of God (Majid Majidi) (Iran) /The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper)(USA/England)/The Hateful Eight (Tarantino) (USA)/The Age of Adaline (Lee Toland Krieger) (USA)
2016:The Boy (William Brent Bell) (USA/China)/Knight of Cups (Terrence Malik) (USA)/Snowden (Oliver Stone) (France/Germany/USA)/Queen of Katwe (Mira Nair) (USA)/Nocturnal animals (Tom Ford) (USA)/The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)/Between Sea and Land (Manolo Cruz/Carlos del Castillo) (Colombia)/The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook) (S. Korea)/My life as a Courgette (Claude Barras) (Switzerland/France)/Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Love) France/Sweden)/Tower (Keith Maitland) (USA)/Monte (Amir Naderi) (Iran)/O.J. Made in America (Ezra Edelman) (USA)/Moonlight (Barry Jenkins) (USA)/Zootopia (Byron Howard/Rich Moore) (USA)/Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie) (USA)/La La Land (Damien Chazelle) (USA)/Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan) (USA)/Arrival (Denis Villeneuve) (USA)/The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour) (USA)/Finding Dori (Andrew Stanton/Angus MacLane) (USA)/The Jungle Book (John Favreau) (USA)/Fences (Denzel Washington) (USA)/Jackie (Pablo Larrain) (USA/Chile/France)/Elle (Paul Verhoeven) (France/Germany)/The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker) (USA)/Lion (Garth Davis) (Australia/England/USA)/Kubo and the two strings (Travis Knight) (USA)/Café Society (W. Allen) (USA)/Hidden Figures (Theodore Melfi) (USA)/I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach) (England/France)/Julieta (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu) (Romania)/Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)(Germany/Austria)/From the Land of the Moon (Nicole Garcia) (France)/Ma’Rosa (Brillante Mendoza) (Philippines)
2017:Get Out (Jordan Peele) (USA)/Three billboards outside Ebbing Missouri (Martin McConagh) (England/USA)/Darkest Hour (Joe Wright) (England/USA)/The Shape of Water (Guillermo de Toro) (USA)/A man of integrity (Mohamad Rasoulof) (Iran)/Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (Angela Robinson) (USA)/The Disaster Artist (James Franco) (USA)/BPM (Robin Campillo) (France)/Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) (USA)/Coco (Adrian Molina) (USA)/Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) (USA)/Alone in Berlin (Vincent Perez) (Germany/France)/A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) (Chile)/The Post (Spielberg) (USA)/The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola) (USA)/The Square (Ruben Ostlund) (Sweden/Germany/France)/In the Fade (Fatih Akin) (Germany)/Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)(Russia/France/Belgium)/April’s Daughter (Michel Franco) (Mexico)
2019:A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick) (USA/Germany)/It must be Heaven (Elia Suleiman) (France/Canada)/Once upon a time in Hollywood (Tarantino) (USA)/1917 (Sam Mendes) (England/USA)/Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodovar) (Spain)/Honeyland (Tamara Kotevsak/Ljubomir Stefano) (Macedonia)/Bombshell (Jay Roach) (USA)/Corpus Christi (Boze Cialo) (Poland)/Les Miserables (Ladj Ly) (France)/The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers)(USA/Canada)/Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi) (USA)/Ford Vs. Ferrari(James mangold) (USA)/Portrait of a lady on fire (Celine Sciamma) (France)/Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov) (Russia)/The invisible life of Euridice Gusmao (Karim Ainouz) (Brazil)/Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher) (England/USA)/Parasite (Bong Joon-ho) (S.Korea)/Monster (Anthony Mandler) (USA)
2020:Nomadland (Chloe Zhao) (USA)/Call of the Wild (Chris Sanders) (USA)/Sound of Metal (Darius Marder) (USA)/Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (George C. Wolfe) (USA)/The Father (Florian Zeller) (France/England)/ Swallow (Carlo Mirabella-Davis) (SA)/The last full measure (Todd Robinson) (USA)/ Minari (Lee Isaac Chung) (USA)/The Invisible Man (Leigh Wannell) USA)/Mank (David Fincher) (USA)/The Gentlemen (Guy Ritchie) (USA)/Bad Education (Cory Finley) (USA)/Judas and the Black Messiah (Shaka King) (USA)/The Banker (George Nolfi) (USA)/Horse Girl (Jeff Baena) (USA)/The Rhythm Section (Reed Morano) (USA)/One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers) (USA)/Sergio (Greg Barker) (USA)/The way back (Gavin O’Conner) (USA)/Pieces of a Woman (Kornel Mundruczo) (Canada/USA)/Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell) (England/USA)/Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg) (Denmark/Netherland)/The United States Vs Billie Holiday (Lee Daniels) (USA)/The Trial of Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin) (USA)/Falling (Viggo Mortensen) (Canada/England)/The Mauritanian (Kevin Macdonald) (England/USA)/Dangerous Lies Michael Scott) (USA)/The Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti) (Italy)/The World to come (Mona Fastvold)(USA)/French Exit (Azazel Jacobs) (Canada/Ireland)/New Order (Michel Franco) (Mexico/France)/Capone (Josh Trank) (USA)/Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas) (France/Brazil/Spain)/Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra) (USA)/Words on bathroom walls (Thor Freudenthal) (USA)/Tesla (Michael Almereyda) (USA)/Critical thinking (John Leguizamo) (USA)/Tenet (Christopher Nolan (USA/England)/ Mullan (Niki Caro) (USA)/The Secrets we keep (Yuval Adler) (USA)
2021: The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) (USA)/The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani) (India)/Locked Down (Doug Liman) (USA/England)/The Dig (Simon Stone) (England)/Palmer (Fisher Stevens) (USA)/No Man’s Land (Conor Allyn) (USA)/Penguin Bloom (Glendyn Ivin) (Australia)/Bliss (Mike Cahil) (USA)/The Little Things (John Lee Hancock) (USA)/Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson) (USA)/Little Fish (Chad Hartigan) (USA)/Son of the South(Barry Alexander Brown) (USA)/ The Ice Road (Jonathan Hensleigh) (USA)/Land (Robin Wright) (USA/England/Canada)/ Voyagers (Neil Burger) (USA/England)/I care a lot (J Blakeson) (USA)/Crisis (Nicholas Jarecki (USA/Canada)/Vanquish (George Gallo) (USA)/The Virtuoso (Nick Stagliano) (USA)/Wrath of man (Guy Ritchie) (USA/England)/The Woman in the Window (Joe Wright) (USA)/ Georgetown (Christoph Waltz) (USA)/No Sudden Move (Steven Soderbergh) (USA)/Four good days (Rodrigo Garcia) (USA)/Mainstream (Gia Coppola) (USA)/Here Today (Billy Crystal) (USA)/Cruella (Craig Gillespie) (USA)/Val (Leo Scott) (USA)/Lansky (Eytan Rockaway) (USA)/Stillwater (Tom McCarthy) (USA)/Together (Stephen Daldry) (England)/Best Sellers (Lina Roessler) (USA/Canada)/The Power of the dog (Jane Campion) (Australia/USA/Canada)/The Mad Woman’s Ball (Melanie Laurent) (France)/This is the Night (James DeMonaco) (USA)/Between Waves (Virginia Abramovich) (Canada)/ Bac Nord (Cedric Jimenez) (France)/ Cry Macho (Clint Eastwood) (USA)/Jolt (Tanya Wexler) (USA)/The Auschwitz Report (Peter Bebjak) (Slovakia)/Chernobyl:Abyss )Danila Kozlovsky) (Russia)/The Evening Hour (Braden King) (USA)/Black Widow (Cate Shortland) (USA)/The Green Knight (David Lowery) (USA)/John and the Hole (Pascual Sisto) (USA)/Beckett (Ferdinado Cito Filomarino) (USA)/Respect (Liesl Tommy) (USA)/CODA (Sian Heder) (USA/France/Canada)/No Man of God (Amber Sealey) (USA)/Cinderella (Kay Cannon) (USA)/Rushed (Siobhan Fallon Hogan) (USA)/Worth (Sara Colangelo) (USA)/Kate (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan) (USA)/Wild Indian (Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.) (USA)/The Card Counter (Paul Schrader) (USA)/Come from away (Christopher Ashley) (USA)/The Voyeurs (Michael Mohan) (USA)/Small engine repair (John Pollono) (USA)/Copshop (Joe Carnahan) (USA)/Blue Bayou (Justin Cohn) (USA)/The Guilty (Antoine Foqua) (USA)/Birds of Paradise (Sarah Adinah Smith) (USA)/Zeros and Ones (Abel Ferrara (USA/Italy)/The many Saints of Newark (Alan Taylor) (USA)/King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green) (USA)/Old Henry (Potsy Ponciroli) (USA)/Mayday (Grace Van Patten) (USA)/Dune (Denis Villeneuve) (USA)/The harder they fall (Jeymes Samuel)f (USA)/The electric life of Louis Wain (Will Sharpe) (USA)/Red Notice (Rawson Marshal Thurber) (USA)/Army of Thieves (Matthias Schweighfer) (Germany/USA)/Violet (Justin Bateman) (USA)/Finch (Miguel Sapochnik) (USA)/The Beta Test (Jim Cummings) (USA)/The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson) (US)/Nightmare Alley (Guillermo de Toro) (USA)/Dune (Denis Villeneuve) (USA)/West Side Story (Steven Spielberg) (USA)/Cyrano (Joe Wright) (USA/England)/ House of Gucci (Ridley Scott) (USA)/The Last duel (Ridley Scott) (England/USA)/The tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen) (USA)/Belfast (Kenneth Branagh) (England)/Being the Ricardos (Aaron Sorkin) (USA)/Spencer (Pablo Larrain) (England/USA/Germany)/Tic..tic…boom (Lin-Manuel Miranda) (USA)/Don’t look up (Adam McKay) (USA)/The hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino) (Italy)A Hero (Asghar Farhadi) (Iran)/
“Capernaum” by Nadine Labaki starring a real life 12 years old Syrian refugee, is the neo-realism of our modern era. A story of the third world countries that struggle not just with poverty and day to day living, but being thrown out of their poor life situations as refugees to other countries. The refugees from Syria and Ethiopia live and work illegally in Lebanon where their own people struggle with poverty and its war-stricken capital Beirut looks like a big slum. Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) a victim of such living condition, not knowing his age and why he was born to suffer demands suing his parents for bringing him to such a world. His parents themselves being victims of such unjust life situation, give his 11 years old sister, Sahar (Cedra Izam) away to marriage to a man, who soon dies from heavy bleeding during pregnancy.
A Modern Neo-Realism of the Third World
Co-written by Labaki, Jihad Hojaily and Michelle Keserway from their own story with Georges Khabbaz, the film looks more like a documentary within a story of everyday life in the war and poverty stricken Beirut of Lebanon. Played principally by Zain, a true Syrian refugee that after the success of the film and his popularity specially at the Cannes Film Festival where he became the main star and focus of attention, he is accepted as a refugee by Norway as of November 2018 and started school for the first time in his life.
The film starts in a flashback in the courtroom when Zain is brought in along with her lawyer, Nadine Labaki herself as “Nadine”, charged with stabbing Assad (Nour el Husseini) their landlord whom he calls a “son of a bitch” causing her sister, Sahar pregnant and die from bleeding without him being able to farewell her. Zain does not know how old he is, nor his parents, and to the judge he demands suing his parents for brining him to this unfair world. Then the film goes back to the beginning and showing the condition of the lives of Zain, his family of four kids living in desperate and poverty like all their neighbours. Zain and Sahar, the older of the children have to work with no schooling, first selling juices, then diluting forged prescription Tarmadol pills purchased from multiple pharmacies and selling it as a drink on the streets.
Soon her sister, Sahar by force is sent away into the marriage to Assad as soon as the parents find out that she is in her puberty. Zain in anger and sorrow of the loss of sister, escapes from the house and lives on the street. Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) a young Ethiopian illegal immigrant woman while cleaning the windows at work watches Zain vagrant on the street, feels for him and takes him to her place. Soon Zain is of use for her as he babysits her infant boy, Yonas at home so she can go to work and not carry the baby with her. Rahil’s forged immigration documents are due to expire soon and she doesn’t have enough money to pay for the new documents, so she is arrested and put in jail for deportation along several other refugees mostly from Syria. Panicky Zain who is left alone with Rahil’s infant, has to take care of the baby all alone, steals milk and food for him, claiming to others the baby is his brother and beginning to sell tramadol again on the streets for him and Yonas to survive.
On the streets, Zain meets a young Syrian refugee girl named Maysoun (Farah Hasno) who breaks to him that Aspro (Alaa Chouchnieh), a travel document forger is going to send her to Sweden. Zain demands that Aspro send him to Sweden as well, which Aspro agrees if only Zain gives him Yonas. Zain reluctantly agrees and goes back home to his parents to get his birth certificate or any identification so to forge a passport and flee the country as a refugee. He is told by his parents mockingly that he has no birth certificate or any identification, and they kick him out of their house. Meanwhile they also reveal to him that Sahar has recently died due to heavy bleeding with her pregnancy. Zain in anger and vengeance runs out of the house with a knife, finds Assad and stabs him that leads to his arrest and sentence to five years in a juvenile Prison.
While in prison, Zain still with hatred towards his parents who sold his sister Sahar to Assad to be finally killed and for bringing them to this unjust world, calls a live radio show and demands suing his parents for neglecting their children. He also discloses Aspro in adopting children illegally and mistreating them that leads to his house being raided, his arrest and the children and their parents being reunited, including Yonas and Rahil. The end of the film shows Zain’s photo is taken for his ID card, when for the first time he forces himself to smile in front of the camera.
Debuted at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival to compete for the Palme d’Or, the film won the jury prize and the prize of Ecumenical jury and received a 15-minutes standing ovation. The highest grossing Arabic and middle east film of all time, with a low budget of only $4 million, the film earned over $68 million worldwide. Holding a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 159 reviews, the film was nominated for numerous international film awards including academy awards, and it won the best direction at the Asia Pacific screen Awards, the most valuable film of the year at the Cinema for Peace Foundation, best foreign film and audience award at FICFA Festival, best international film at St. Louis International Film Festival, best acting award for Zain Al Rafeeand best young jury award at International Antalya Film Festival, and many audience awards at numerous international film festivals around the world such as Film Fest Gent, Rotterdam, Leeds, Miami, Norway, Sao Paulo, Sarajevo, Stockholm, Calgary and Vilnius.
Conclusion:
In closing remarks “Capernaum” one more time will be redefined based on the following criteria:
Originality: “Capernaum” is original in being the first major feature film to depict the current situation of the middle east with its war-stricken and poor condition and loaded with refugees from surroundings. Like a documentary the film by showing the struggle for survival of the inhabitants of a major city such as Beirut through the eyes, heart and mind of a child becoming a tour de force on the screen.
Technicality: The technicality of “Capernaum” is in its script, direction, cinematography and above all performance of Zain in real life environment.
Impact Factor: The impact of “Capernaum” has been on all the audience of the world who have viewed the film so granting it numerous such awards, so will it be its impact on the new audience who will be watching the film in years to come.
Survival: “Capernaum” has survived and will into the future as long as misery, poverty and war exist in the third countries such as the middle east.
This year academy awards or Oscar did not follow as before much of the footstep of the Golden globe and voted differently for the major awards of the best picture, best director, best original screenplay, and best foreign film all for the first time in the history of the academy to the South Korean film “Parasite”.
Academy Award has been well known for her past omission of nominations of many great films such as “City Lights” and “Modern Times” of Charles Chaplin in 1931 and 1936, “King Kong” in 1933, “39 Steps” and “The Birds” of Alfred Hitchcock in 1935 and 1963,”Snow White and Seven Dwarfs” in 1937, “Casablanca” and “Sullivan’s Travels” in 1942, “Singin’ in the Rain” in 1952, “The Searchers” and “The Invasion of the body snatchers” in 1956, “Vertigo” and “Touch of Evil” of Orson Welles in 1958, “Some like it hot’ in 1959, “Dr.Strangelove” of Stanley Kubrick in 1964, “Rosemary’s Baby” of Roman Polanski in 1968, “They shoot the horses, don’t they” in 1969, “Straw Dogs” of Sam Peckinpah in 1971, “The last tango in Paris” and “The Exorcist” in 1973, “Sophie’s Choice” in 1982, “Full Metal Jacket” of Stanley Kubrick in 1987, “Toy Story” in 1995, “Finding Nemo” in 2003 and “Up” in 2009 (both nominate and awarded only the best animated feature films).
Many great films in the past have also lost at the Oscar to win any major awards such as “The Informer” of Alfred Hitchcock in 1935, “Grand illusion” in 1938, “The Great Dictator” of Charles Chaplin and “The Grapes of Wrath” of John Ford in 1940, “Citizen Kane” of Orson Welles in 1941, “Double Indemnity” in 1944, “The Killers” in 1946, “The treasure of Sierra Madre” of John Huston in 1948, “A Streetcar named Desire” of Elia Kazan and “The African Queen” of John Huston in 1951, “Roma Holiday” in 1953, “12 Angry Men” of Sydney Lumet in 1957, “To kill a Mockingbird” in 1962, “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967, “Love Story” in 1970, “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Network” of Sydney Lumet in 1975 and 1976, “Taxi Driver” of Martin Scorsese in 1976, “Close Encounters of the third kind” of Steven Spielberg in 1977, “Apocalypse Now” of Francis Ford Coppola in 1979, “Reds” of Warren Beatty in 1981, “E.T.” of Steven Spielberg in 1982, “The Aviator” of Martin Scorsese in 2004, “The Reader” in 2008, “Avatar” of James Cameron in 2009, , “Life of Pi” in 2012, and “The Revenant” of Alejandro Inarritu (he won only the best direction) in 2015.
Academy awards have also missed in recognition and awarding many great foreign films in the past since its first nomination in this category in 1947, such as “The Cranes are flying” of Kalatazov in 1957, “Ivan’s Childhood” of Tarkovsky in 1962, “The Seventh Seal” and “Wild Strawberries” of Ingmar Bergman in 1957 and 1966 while awarded his “Virgin Spring” and “Through a glass darkly” in two years in a row in 1960 and 1961 that were not as great, “L’Avventura” of Antonioni in 1960, “Women on the verge of nervous breakdown” of Almadovar in 1988 while awarding him later on for his less great film of “All about my mother” in 1999, “Children of Heaven” of Majidi in 1997, “Amores Perros”,”21 Grams” and “Babel” of Alejandro Inarritu in 2000, 2003, and 2006, “Kandahar” of Mohsen Makhmalbaf in 2001, “City of God” of Fernando Merielles in 2002, “At Five in the afternoon” of Samira Makhmalbaf in 2003, “Oldboy” of Park Chan-wook in 2003, “The driving bell and the butterfly” of Julian Schnable in 2007, and “The White Meadows” of Rassoulof in 2009.
This year as a redemption or correction of the past errors, academy awards surprised all by honoring the South Korean film of Bong Joon-ho not only for the best foreign film of 2019, but the best picture, best direction and best original screenplay in competition with Hollywood films of “The Irish Man” by Scorsese, “Once upon a time in Hollywood” of Tarantino, “1917” of Sam Mendes, “Joker” of Todd Phillips, and “Marriage Story”. A truly great and surprising film, but not one of the greatest coming out of S. Korea, “Parasite” is a mélange of dark comedy and thriller film with superb screenplay, direction and performances. Within a commercial and box office hit domestically and internationally and showered by upscale awards across the globe, the film bares to the bone the reality lives of ordinary people and their struggles with poverty in contrast with the lives of rich capitalists of their own in the third wealthiest Asian country.
An ordinary poor family of four, the father Ki-taek, the mother Chung-sook, the daughter Ki-jeong and the son Ki-woo struggle for survival in a basement apartment starting to invade and occupy an uptown rich family of the same four. First the son Ki-woo is offered a private tutoring job to Jung Ji-so, the young daughter of the rich Park family. Soon he brings in her sister Ki-jeong as an acquaintance and expert in art therapy for the toddler spoiled son of Park family, Jung Hyeon-jun who’s obsessed with the American Indian characters. Then the father Ki-taek is brought in to replace Park family’s chauffeur who was innocently being framed as a sexual pervert by Ki-jeong who leaves her underwear in his car one day when she was driven home. Lastly the mother, Chung-sook is replaced with the long time working nanny of Park family, Lee Hyeon-jun by spraying peach powder that she is extremely allergic to, heedlessly on the back of her neck so her to cough constantly then to claim she suffers from tuberculosis.
When on a weekend the Park family leave for camping, the Kim family of four have the whole luxury house comfortably in their possession, eating, drinking and daydreaming of owning it totally one day. While all drunk and in their comfort, the fired housekeeper, Lee Hyeon-jun rings the bell asking entry to get a belonging that she had forgotten to take from the basement when fired in a haste. Going to the basement of the house that is like an underground tunnel apparently built in every rich house in South Korea as shelters in the case of North Korean nuclear attack, we and the Kim family discover in surprise that Lee Hyeon-jun has hidden her bankrupt and poor husband down there for several years in secret. Both sides start threat each other reporting to Park family that the house phone rings informing them that the family will be home due to the rain and conclusion of camping within minutes.
The old housemaid and husband tied in the basement, and the Kim family except the mother who supposed to be the only one taking care of the house, hidden under a coffee table in the hallway of the house when Park family arrive is a quite thrilling and comic scene. Finally the Kim father, son and daughter manage to get out of the house in the middle of the night in pouring rain, when arriving at their own basement apartment that along with the rest of the poor neighborhood being all flooded and ruined. When in a community shelter along with hundreds of ordinary poor people stricken by the flood, all sleeping on the floor in a large hall, they’re called to work the next day at the Park family’s house for a surprise last minute birthday party for their son, Jung Hyeon-jun.
Indeed the party of the rich people is surprised at the end with a series of killings of Park young parents, the old housekeeper, her husband and Kim daughter, Ki-jeong. Kim’s son Ki-woo suffered a severe head injury and saved by a brain operation is not quite normal mentally, living with his mother, while the father Ki-taek is now hidden in the Park’s house basement away from the prosecution by the law. The film ends in Ki-woo’s daydream of getting rich to buy the Park’s house to release his father and join together again, a daydream that looks to the viewers as real.
Before being showered by four major awards at the Oscar, “Parasite” has been already the winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival with unanimous vote, and on numerous top 10 film lists of the year. The film has been a commercial as well literary and critics’ success for its thrill and comedy façade and its social content, well contrasting the poor and rich sects in South Korea. This social class contrast content of the film that is rarely seen on the screen these days, specially in a commercial film takes very well the message to the all lay audience if for one moment watch and think deep about the matter. While not one of the greatest film coming out of South Korea ever or one of the greatest of all time to be listed here, the film at the downfall era of cinema, when Hollywood with its famous directors, Martin Scorsese stuck with gangster films, and Quentin Tarantino in confusion making all kinds of film subjects for the lack of any ideology, it stands out above all the rest. So at this era that TV has replaced cinema with its television films, Netflix and now Amazon devaluing the art of cinema and as Bong Joon-ho has mentioned the true cinema partisans should focus only on foreign films if they could tolerate the subtitles.
Golden Globe awards that were presented on Sunday January 5, 2020 once again with its nominations and awards proved that cinema at least in Hollywood has fallen. Here the focus as examples will be on the major nominees and awards such as the best picture, direction, and best performances in both categories of drama & comedy/musical feature films.
“1917” by Sam Mendes that at first at lease by the title, one might think being about the most important event of that year, the Russian revolution, it is the story of an event during the first world war. But unlike the classic and masterpiece “All quiet in the western front” of 1930 by Lewis Milestone, that depicts the evil dark side of the war with its futility and millions innocent lives’ casualties, “1917” of Sam Mendes that took the best picture and direction awards, is about a rescue event on the British front to save 1600 English soldiers. Lewis Milestone, a frontier to start the first anti-war film of Hollywood to be followed by many other great anti-war films in later years needs to be a ring in the conscience of the present Hollywood filmmakers to continue on such legacy path instead of making pro-war and adventure war films.
In fact the best film of the last year happened to be a foreign film from South Korea by Bong Joon-ho that was nominated for the best direction and best foreign film and took the latter award. With no nomination for the best picture of the year, the film as his director mentioned while receiving the best foreign film award that the world needs watching more foreign films and tolerate the subtitles. The winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival with an unanimous vote, the film is on numerous top 10 film lists of the year. With its 6 nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards including the best picture, direction, original screenplay and the best foreign film, Hollywood needs to wake up and realize better films that are made outside their expensive studios with multi-million dollars budget.
While Martin Scorsese still stuck in his path of gangster films making with his last one with “The Irishman”, and Quentin Tarantino absorbed by the title of “Once upon a time” from the master Sergio Leone, makes a mockery of such a story in Hollywood, if it reminds the film scholars a minute about two Sergio’s great masterpieces. In fact Jojo Rabbit by the New Zealand actor and director Taika Waititi was the second best film of the year, followed by Joker of Todd Phillips, and Rocketman of Dexter Fletcher. The other nominated film for the best picture awards, Marriage Story is another lame film about separation like the Iranian “A Separation” that surprisingly astonished Hollywood 8 years ago just for the sake of publicity. “The Two Popes” that was also nominated for the best picture is another critical Vatican film over their pedophilic priests, another publicity films that Hollywood loves.
On the performances, the humanitarian Joaquin Phoenix deservedly, after years of great performances and nominations finally won his second best acting award after his first one for “Walk the line”. But the surprise was the best female performance award that was presented to Renee Zellweger for playing Judy Garland, with no looking or performance alike to the classic protagonist, Golden Globe had forgotten the great performance of Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” depicting Edith Piaf. Another surprise was the best performance award in a musical/comedy to Awkwafina for the boring film “The Farewell”, while Golden Globe missing the better performance of Charlize Theron in Bombshell. Eddie Murphy performs well with his surprising comeback in “Dolemite is my name”, so does Taron Egerton in “Rocketman” who wins the best actor performance in a musical or comedy.
With no great films coming out of Hollywood in 2019, the upcoming Academy Award once again at least could recognize a better film than their owns if “Parasite” will be awarded for the best picture, direction, original screenplay, and the best foreign film. The only other deserving award suggested by this website would be for Joaquin Phoenix in Joker.
