List: Top 10 Films Of Every Year, By Year Of Production

I thought I’d keep something I could update on a semi-regular basis on here, showing my favourite films from each calendar year, separated by year of production (differing from my end-of-year lists, which favour UK release). I’m going back as far as 1940 for now, largely because the number of films per year that I’ve seen before that starts to rapidly diminish (and you’ll note that filling out a top 10 isn’t quite achieved in some cases). That’s something I hope to rectify over time, and hopefully I’ll eventually update this page, stretching further into the past. It’s an idea I’ve stolen wholesale from Vadim Rizov, whose intellectual integrity when writing about film is downright intimidating. Anyway, here’s where I am right now.

 

1940

1. Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen)
2. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch)
3. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
4. The Mortal Storm (Frank Borzage)
5. The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin)
6. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
7. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor)
8. My Favourite Wife (Garson Kanin)
9. When the Daltons Rode (George Marshall)
10. Dance, Girl, Dance (Dorothy Arzner)

1941

1. Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges)
2. Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks)
3. Hellzapoppin’ (H.C. Potter)
4. How Green Was My Valley (John Ford)
5. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
6. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges)
7. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
8. Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock)
9. Meet John Doe (Frank Capra)
10. Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (Yasujiro Ozu)

1942

1. Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper)
2. The Ox-Bow Incident (William A Wellman)
3. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur)
4. The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges)
5. There Was A Father (Yasujiro Ozu)
6. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
7. Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock)
8. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch)
9. Mrs Miniver (William Wyler)
10. You Were Never Lovelier (William A Seiter)

1943

1. Le Corbeau (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
2. Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock)
3. I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur)
4. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
5. The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur)
6. Hangmen Also Die! (Fritz Lang)
7. The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson)
8. Stormy Weather (Andrew L Stone)
9. Cabin in the Sky (Vincente Minnelli / Busby Berkeley)
10. Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak)

1944

1. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)
2. The Curse of the Cat People (Robert Wise, Gunther von Fritsch)
3. Christmas Holiday (Robert Siodmak)
4. Gaslight (George Cukor)
5. Laura (Otto Preminger)
6. A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
7. To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks)
8. Murder, My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk)
9. The Uninvited (Lewis Allen)
10. The Lodger (John Brahm)

1945

1. Leave Her to Heaven (John M Stahl)
2. Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz)
3. Brief Encounter (David Lean)
4. Detour (Edgar G Ulmer)
5. The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder)
6. Anchors Aweigh (George Sidney)
7. My Name is Julia Ross (Joseph H Lewis)
8. Dead of Night (Richard Hamer, Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton)
9. Strange Illusion (Edgar G Ulmer)

1946

1. The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett)
2. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler)
3. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks)
4. Let There Be Light (John Huston)
5. The Strange Love of Martha Ives (Lewis Milestone)
6. It’s A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)
7. The Dark Mirror (Robert Siodmak)
8. Panique (Julien Duvivier)
9. The Killers (Robert Siodmak)
10. A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)

1947

1. Black Narcissus (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
2. The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles)
3. Odd Man Out (Carol Reed)
4. The Woman on the Beach (Jean Renoir)
5. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)
6. Secret Beyond the Door (Fritz Lang)
7. Crossfire (Edward Dmytryk)
8. Down to Earth (Alexander Hall)
9. Ramrod (Andre de Toth)
10. Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding)

1948

1. The Last Stage (Wanda Jakubowska)
2. Yellow Sky (William A Wellman)
3. A Hen in the Wind (Yasujiro Ozu)
4. The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
5. Pitfall (Andre de Toth)
6. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston)
7. Fort Apache (John Ford)
8. A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder)
9. Raw Deal (Anthony Mann)
10. Sorry, Wrong Number (Anatole Litvak)

1949

1. Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu)
2. D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté)
3. The Heiress (William Wyler)
4. Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer)
5. The Third Man (Carol Reed)
6. On the Town (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly)
7. Colorado Territory (Raoul Walsh)
8. Thirst (Ingmar Bergman)
9. Border Incident (Anthony Mann)
10. I Shot Jesse James (Samuel Fuller)

1950

1. The Furies (Anthony Mann)
2. Winchester ’73 (Anthony Mann)
3. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder)
4. Gun Crazy (Joseph H Lewis)
5. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa)
6. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)
7. Woman on the Run (Norman Foster)
8. No Man of Her Own (Mitchell Leisen)
9. Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves)
10. To Joy (Ingmar Bergman)

1951

1. Fixed Bayonets! (Samuel Fuller)
2. The Tales of Hoffman (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
3. Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu)
4. Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson)
5. Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder)
6. The Prowler (Joseph Losey)
7. Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson)
8. Awaara (Raj Kapoor)
9. The Steel Helmet (Samuel Fuller)
10. The Day The Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise)

1952

1. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica)
2. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly)
3. The Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (Yasujiro Ozu)
5. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa)
6. Bend of the River (Anthony Mann)
7. The Lusty Men (Nicholas Ray)
8. Rancho Notorious (Fritz Lang)
9. Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (Douglas Sirk)
10. The Big Sky (Howard Hawks)

1953

1. The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann)
2. Tokyo Story (Yasujro Ozu)
3. Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller)
4. The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino)
5. Sawdust and Tinsel (Ingmar Bergman)
6. Calamity Jane (David Butler)
7. Hiroshima (Hideo Sekigawa)
8. Niagara (Bob Gosse)
9. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks)
10. Summer with Monika (Ingmar Bergman)

1954

1. Godzilla (Ishirô Honda)
2. Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray)
3. Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk)
4. Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock)
5. Crime Wave (Andre de Toth)
6. La Strada (Federico Fellini)
7. Touchez Pas au Grisbi (Jacques Becker)
8. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
9. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock)
10. Human Desire (Fritz Lang)

1955

1. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
2. Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
3. All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk)
4. Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
5. Lola Montès (Max Ophüls)
6. The Big Combo (Joseph H Lewis)
7. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray)
8. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)
9. House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller)
10. There’s Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk)

1956

1. A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)
2. Aparajito (Satyajit Ray)
3. Giant (George Stevens)
4. Early Spring (Yasujiro Ozu)
5. Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray)
6. The Killing (Stanley Kubrick)
7. Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville)
8. Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)
9. The Burmese Harp (Kon Ichikawa)
10. The Bad Seed (Mervyn LeRoy)

1957

1. The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov)
2. The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk)
3. The Tall T (Budd Boetticher)
4. Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) 
5. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini)
6. Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur)
7. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
8. 3:10 to Yuma (Delmer Daves)
9. Tokyo Twilight (Yasujiro Ozu)
10. Pyaasa (Guru Dutt)

1958

1. Equinox Flower (Yasujio Ozu) 
2. A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Douglas Sirk)
3. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)
4. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
5. Cairo Station (Youssef Chahine)
6. The Music Room (Satyajit Ray)
7. The Big Country (William Wyler)
8. Shadows (John Cassevetes)
9. Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle)
10. The Boy Who Came Back (Seijun Suzuki)

1959

1. Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
2. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (Masaki Kobayashi)
3. Day of the Outlaw (André de Toth)
4. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Masaki Kobayashi)
5. The Crimson Kimono (Samuel Fuller)
6. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)
7. Apur Sansar (Satyajit Ray)
8. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais)
9. Good Morning (Yasujiro Ozu)
10. The Wayward Girl (Edith Carlmar)

1960

1. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni)
2. Devi (Satyajit Ray)
3. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini)
4. The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
5. Eyes without a Face (Georges Franju)
6. The Good Girls (Claude Chabrol)
7. The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman)
8. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
9. Beat Girl (Edmond T Gréville)
10. Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla)

1961

1. Mother Joan of the Angels (Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
2. La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni)
3. Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
4. Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman)
5. The Hustler (Robert Rossen) 
6. Léon Morin, Priest (Jean-Pierre Melville) 
7. Viridiana (Luis Bunuel)
8. The Children’s Hour (William Wyler)
9. The Misfits (John Huston)
10. A Taste of Honey (Tony Richardson)

1962

1. Vivre Sa Vie (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi) 
3. Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey)
4. L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni)
5. Cape Fear (J Lee Thompson)
6. Lolita (Stanley Kubrick)
7. Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda) 
8. The Trial (Orson Welles)
9. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Bunuel)
10. Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa)

1963

1. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti)
2. The Silence (Ingmar Bergman)
3. Judex (Georges Franju)
4. Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller)
5. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini)
6. The Servant (Joseph Losey)
7. Bye Bye Birdie (Georige Sidney)
8. Le Mepris (Jean-Luc Godard)
9. Cleopatra (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Rouben Mamoulian)
10. Hud (Martin Ritt)

1964

1. Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni)
2. The Gospel According to Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
3. The Naked Kiss (Samuel Fuller)
4. Onibaba (Kaneto Shindō)
5. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy)
6. I Am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov)
7. The Pumpkin Eater (Jack Clayton)
8. Seance on a Wet Afternoon (Bryan Forbes)
9. Charulata (Satyajit Ray)
10. My Fair Lady (George Cukor)

1965

1. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Russ Meyer)
2. Juliet of the Spirits (Federico Fellini)
3. Le Bonheur (Agnes Varda)
4. Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard) 
5. Sandra (Luchino Visconti)
6. For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone)
7. Mudhoney (Russ Meyer)
8. The 10th Victim (Elio Petri)
9. Vinyl (Andy Warhol) 
10. Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard) 

1966

1. Daisies (Vera Chytilová)
2. The Nun (Jacques Rivette)
3. Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson)
4. Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
5. Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni)
6. Red Angel (Yasuzo Masumura)
7. Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène)
8. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecovo)
9. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols)
10. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone)

1967

1. Viy (Georgi Keopachyov, Konstantin Yershov)
2. In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks)
3. Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki)
4. La Chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard)
5. Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville)
6. Mouchette (Robert Bresson)
7. Dragon Inn (King Hu)
8. Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (Atsushi Yamatoya)
9. Spring Night, Summer Night (Joseph L. Anderson)
10. Accident (Joseph Losey)

1968

1. Theorem (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
3. Night of the Living Dead (George A Romero)
4. Mandabi (Ousmane Sembène)
5. The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey)
6. Kuroneko (Kaneti Shindo)
7. La Prisonniere (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
8. Outlaw Gangster VIP (Toshio Masuda)
9. Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski)
10. Funny Girl (William Wyler)

1969

1. Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto)
2. Blind Beast (Yasuzo Masumura)
3. Salesman (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin)
4. Fellini Satyricon (Federico Fellini)
5. Model Shop (Jacques Demy)
6. Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville) 
7. Eros + Massacre (Kiju Yoshida)
8. Sweet Charity (Bob Fosse)
9. The Cow (Deriush Mehrjui) 
10. Orgies of Edo (Teruo Ishii)

1970

1. The Things of Life (Claude Sautet)
2. The Vampire Lovers (Roy Ward Baker)
3. Valerie and her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jares)
4. Ucho [The Ear] (Karel Kachyna) 
5. Zabriskie Point (Michelangelo Antonioni) 
6. Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman)
7. Multiple Maniacs (John Waters)
8. Wanda (Barbara Loden)
9. Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (Yasuharu Hasebe)
10. A Touch of Zen (King Hu)

1971

1. Klute (Alan J Pakula)
2. Out 1 (Jacques Rivette)
3. The Shiver of the Vampires (Jean Rollin)
4. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (John D. Hancock)
5. A New Leaf (Elaine May)
6. Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti)
7. Vanishing Point (Richard C Sarafian)
8. Punishment Park (Peter Watkins)
9. Godzilla vs Hedorah (Yoshimitsu Banno)
10. Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg)

1972

1. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Shunya Ito)
2. The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
3. Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Sergio Martino)
4. Poem (Akio Jissoji)
5. What Have You Done to Solange? (Massimo Dallamano)
6. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds (Paul Newman)
7. Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion (Shunya Ito)
8. Season of the Witch (George A. Romero)
9. Toys Are Not For Children (Stanley H Brassloff)
10. Sisters (Brian De Palma)

1973

1. Coffy (Jack Hill)
2. Messiah of Evil (Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz)
3. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (Shunya Ito)
4. The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy)
5. Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto)
6. Torso (Sergio Martino)
7. Serpico (Sidney Lumet)
8. Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita)
9. Day for Night (Francois Truffaut)
10. Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn)

1974

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
2. Céline and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette) 
3. Edvard Munch (Peter Watkins)
4. Hearts and Minds (Peter Davis)
5. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
6. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes)
7. Effi Briest (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
8. The Swinging Cheerleaders (Jack Hill)
9. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
10. Female Trouble (John Waters)

1975

1. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Nashville (Robert Altman)
3. Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir)
4. Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
5. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman)
6. Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
7. Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)
8. Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky)
9. French Connection II (John Frankenheimer)
10. Shivers (David Cronenberg)

1976

1. Duelle (une quarantine) (Jacques Rivette)
2. Harlan County, U.S.A (Barbara Kopple)
3. The Witch Who Came from the Sea (Matt Cimber)
4. Carrie (Brian De Palma)
5. Chinese Roulette (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
6. The Man Who Fell to Earth (Nicolas Roeg)
7. News from Home (Chantal Akerman)
8. The Pom Pom Girls (Joseph Ruben)
9. Marathon Man (John Schlesinger)
10. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula)

1977

1. 3 Women (Robert Altman)
2. The Ascent (Larisa Sheptiko)
3. Eraserhead (David Lynch)
4. One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda) 
5. The Child (Robert Voskanian)
6. That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Bunuel)
7. A Special Day (Ettore Scola)
8. Gay USA (Arthur J Bressan Jr.)
9. Suspiria (Dario Argento)
10. Scalpel (John Grissmer)

1978

1. Halloween (John Carpenter)
2. Girlfriends (Claudia Weill)
3. Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman)
4. Fedora (Billy Wilder)
5. Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick)
6. Blue Collar (Paul Schrader)
7. Sex World (Anthony Spinelli)
8. The Wasps Are Here (Darmasena Pathiraja)
9. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Liu Chia-Laing)
10. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)

1979

1. Alien (Ridley Scott)
2. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Legend of the Mountain (King Hu)
4. Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky)
5. Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog)
6. Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens (Russ Meyer)
7. My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong)
8. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
9. The Warriors (Walter Hill)
10. The China Syndrome (James Bridges)

1980

1. The Fog (John Carpenter)
2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
3. Airplane! (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker)
4. Nightmare City (Umberto Lenzi)
5. The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller)
6. Inferno (Dario Argento)
7. 9 to 5 (Colin Higgins)
8. The Ninth Configuration (William Peter Blatty)
9. Babylon (Franco Rosso)
10. The Elephant Man (David Lynch)

1981

1. Ms. 45 (Abel Ferrara)
2. Possession (Andrzej Zulawski)
3. Halloween II (Rick Rosenthal)
4. Kagero-Za (Seijun Suzuki)
5. Blow Out (Brian De Palma)
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)
7. Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (Shinji Sômai)
8. Mur Murs (Agnes Varda)
9. Maeve (Pat Murphy, John Davies)
10. Thief (Michael Mann)

1982

1. The Thing (John Carpenter)
2. One from the Heart (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Querelle (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
4. Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Robert Altman)
5. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
6. White Dog (Samuel Fuller)
7. A Good Marriage (Éric Rohmer)
8. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman)
9. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Tommy Lee Wallace)
10. The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese)

1983

1. Videodrome (David Cronenberg)
2. The Hunger (Tony Scott)
3. Burroughs: The Movie (Howard Brookner)
4. Pauline at the Beach (Éric Rohmer)
5. Christine (John Carpenter)
6. Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden)
7. Dark Habits (Pedro Almodóvar)
8. Pharos of Chaos (Manfred Blank, Wolf-Eckart Buhler)
9. Psycho II (Richard Franklin)
10. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Oshima)

1984

1. Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme)
2. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
3. Body Double (Brian De Palma)
4. The Terminator (James Cameron)
5. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki)
6. Special Effects (Larry Cohen)
7. Blood Simple (Joel Coen)
8. Diary for my Children (Márta Mészáros)
9. Next of Kin (Atom Egoyan)
10. The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein)

1985

1. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Paul Schrader)
2. Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch)
3. Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
4. Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood)
5. Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Siedelman)
6. Tampopo (Juzo Itami)
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (Jack Sholder)
8. Fool For Love (Robert Altman)
9. Vagabond (Agnes Varda)
10. Clue (Jonathan Lynn)

1986

1. Working Girls (Lizzie Borden)
2. The Green Ray (Éric Rohmer)
3. Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
4. Mauvais Sang (Leos Carax)
5. Aliens (James Cameron)
6. True Stories (David Byrne)
7. The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky)
8. Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch)
9. Terrorizers (Edward Yang)
10. Positive I.D. (Andy Anderson)

1987

1. Where is the Friend’s House? (Abbas Kiarostami)
2. Daughter of the Nile (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
3. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (Éric Rohmer)
4. Housekeeping (Bill Forsyth)
5. Family Viewing (Atom Egoyan)
6. Diary for my Loves (Márta Mészáros)
7. China Girl (Abel Ferrara)
8. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
9. Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter)
10. Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow)

1988

1. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)
2. My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)
3. As Tears Go By (Wong Kar Wai)
4. Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo)
5. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)
6. Story of Women (Claude Chabrol)
7. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (Tony Randel)
8. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (James Signorelli)
9. Scrooged (Richard Donner)
10. Bird (Clint Eastwood)

1989

1. My Twentieth Century (Ildikó Enyedi)
2. Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee)
3. Speaking Parts (Atom Egoyan)
4. For All Mankind (Al Reinert)
5. Tetsuo: the Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto)
6. Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki)
7. sex, lies and videotape (Steven Soderbergh)
8. Patlabor: The Movie (Mamoru Oshii)
9. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway)
10. Homework (Abbas Kiarostami)

1990

1. The Exorcist III (William Peter Blatty)
2. Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen)
3. Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
4. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Joe Dante)
5. Wild at Heart (David Lynch)
6. The Hot Spot (Dennis Hopper)
7. Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven)
8. Jacob’s Ladder (Adrian Lyne)
9. Cry-Baby (John Waters)
10. Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston)

1991

1. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
2. Night on Earth (Jim Jarmusch)
3. The Stranger (Satyajit Ray) 
4. Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton)
5. Jacquot de Nantes (Agnès Varda)
6. The Lovers on the Bridge (Léos Carax)
7. Yumeji (Seijun Suzuki) 
8. Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg)
9. Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (Fax Behr, Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper)
10. Barton Fink (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

1992

1. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
2. And Life Goes On (Abbas Kiarostami)
3. Orlando (Sally Potter)
4. Candyman (Bernard Rose)
5. Alien³ (David Fincher)
6. Rebels of the Neon God (Tsai Ming-liang)
7. Light Sleeper (Paul Schrader)
8. The Player (Robert Altman)
9. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (Shinya Tsukamoto)
10. Simple Men (Hal Hartley)

1993

1. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater)
2. Patlabor 2 (Mamoru Oshii)
3. Three Colours: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
4. Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg)
5. The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese) 
6. Poetic Justice (John Singleton)
7. Calendar (Atom Egoyan)
8. Dangerous Game (Abel Ferrara)
9. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg)
10. Menace II Society (Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes)

1994

1. Exotica (Atom Egoyan)
2. Sátántangó (Béla Tarr)
3. Amateur (Hal Hartley)
4. Vive L’Amour (Tsai Ming-liang)
5. Chungking Express (Wong Kar Wai)
6. Three Colours: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
7. Hoop Dreams (Steve James)
8. Nadja (Michael Almereyda)
9. Serial Mom (John Waters)
10. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott)

1995

1. Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
2. Fallen Angels (Wong Kar Wai)
3. Tales from the Hood (Rusty Cundieff)
4. Clockers (Spike Lee)
5. Safe (Todd Haynes) 
6. The Addiction (Abel Ferrara)
7. Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii)
8. Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater)
9. The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
10. Welcome II the Terrordome (Ngozi Onwurah)

1996

1. Crash (David Cronenberg)
2. Bound (Lana Wachowski, Lily Wachowski)
3. Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
4. Gabbeh (Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
5. Set it Off (F Gary Gray)
6. Fargo (Joel Coen)
7. Barb Wire (David Hogan)
8. The Funeral (Abel Ferrara)
9. Nenette and Boni (Claire Denis)
10. Grace Of My Heart (Allison Anders)

1997

1. Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion (David Mirkin)
2. Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
3. Lost Highway (David Lynch)
4. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
5. Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon)
6. Affliction (Paul Schrader)
7. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
8. Funny Games (Michaek Haneke)
9. I Know What You Did Last Summer (Jim Gillespie)
10. The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)

1998

1. After Life (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
2. Bride of Chucky (Ronny Yu)
3. The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf)
4. New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara)
5. Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
6. Wild Things (John McNaughton)
7. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen)
8. Ring (Hideo Nakata)
9. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
10. A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi)

1999

1. Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
2. Audition (Takashi Miike)
3. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg)
4. The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola)
5. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
6. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)
7. The Straight Story (David Lynch)
8. Drop Dead Gorgeous (Michael Patrick Jann)
9. But I’m A Cheerleader (Jamie Babbit)
10. Dick (Andrew Fleming)

2000

1. Cecil B. Demented (John Waters)
2. In The Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
3. Shadow of the Vampire (E. Elias Merhige)
4. Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett)
5. Bamboozled (Spike Lee)
6. Dancer in the Dark (Lars Von Trier)
7. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
8. The State I Am In (Christian Petzold)
9. Erin Brockovich (Steven Soderbergh)
10. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku)

2001

1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
2. The Man Who Wasn’t There (Joel Coen)
3. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff) 
4. Josie and the Pussycats (Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont)
5. What Time is it There? (Tsai Ming-liang)
6. Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
7. Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
8. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)
9. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis)
10. Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon)

2002

1. In My Skin (Marina de Van)
2. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
4. Vendredi soir (Claire Denis)
5. Irreversible (Gaspar Noe)
6. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
7. Gerry (Gus Van Sant)
8. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chan-Wook)
9. The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
10. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay)

2003

1. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
2. Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-Ho)
3. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
4. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
5. Gozu (Takashi Miike)
6. Saraband (Ingmar Bergman)
7. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
8. Oldboy (Park Chan-Wook)
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
10. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki) 

2004

1. 2046 (Wong Kar Wai) 
2. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
3. Innocence (Lucile Hadzihalilovic)
4. Take Out (Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou)
5. A Dirty Shame (John Waters)
6. Mean Girls (Mark Waters)
7. Saw (James Wan)
8. Seed of Chucky (Don Mancini)
9. Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
10. The Consequences of Love (Paolo Sorrentino)

2005

1. House of Wax (Jaume Collet-Serra)
2. Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney)
3. War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg)
4. The Quiet (Jamie Babbit)
5. Caché [Hidden] (Michael Haneke)
6. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Park Chan-Wook)
7. The Wayward Cloud (Tsai Ming-liang)
8. Munich (Steven Spielberg)
9. Angel-A (Luc Besson)
10. Tale of Cinema (Hong Sang-soo)

2006

1. The Lighthouse (Mariya Saakyan)
2. Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt)
3. Volver (Pedro Almodóvar)
4. I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang)
5. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
6. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
7. INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch)
8. She’s the Man (Andy Fickman)
9. Jackass Number Two (Jeff Tremaine)
10. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)

2007

1. Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino)
2. All is Forgiven (Mia Hansen-Løve)
3. No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
4. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. Zodiac (David Fincher)
6. Water Lilies (Céline Sciamma) 
7. Hostel Part II (Eli Roth)
8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
9. Go Go Tales (Abel Ferrara) 
10. Lust, Caution (Ang Lee)

2008

1. Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt)
2. Home (Ursula Meier)
3. Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
4. Martyrs (Pascal Laugnier)
5. Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
6. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)
7. Hunger (Steve McQueen)
8. Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
9. Below Sea Level (Gianfranco Rosi)
10. Red Cliff (John Woo)

2009

1. The House of the Devil (Ti West)
2. A Serious Man (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
3. The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch)
4. Lourdes (Jessica Hausner)
5. Father of My Children (Mia Hansen-Løve)
6. Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland)
7. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (Werner Herzog)
8. The Happiest Girl in the World (Radu Jude)
9. Thirst (Park Chan-Wook)
10. The Girlfriend Experience (Steven Soderbergh)

2010

1. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2. The Oath (Laura Poitras)
3. El Sicario, Room 164 (Gianfranco Rosi)
4. Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
5. The Myth of the American Sleepover (David Robert Mitchell)
6. Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
7. Piranha 3D (Alexandre Aja)
8. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
9. Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Edgar Wright)
10. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)

2011

1. The Woman (Lucky McKee)
2. House of Tolerance (Bertrand Bonello)
3. The Shining: Forward and Backwards (John Fell Ryan, Akiva Saunders)
4. Scream 4 (Wes Craven)
5. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
6. You’re Next (Adam Wingard) 
7. Goodbye, First Love (Mia Hansen-Løve)
8. I Wish (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
9. Pariah (Dee Rees)
10. The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies)

2012

1. Resident Evil: Retribution (Paul W. S. Anderson)
2. Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
3. American Mary (Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska)
4. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
5. Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel)
6. Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas)
7. Excision (Richard Bates, Jr)
8. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine)
9. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
10. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, Anonymous)

2013

1. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
2. Bastards (Claire Denis)
3. Like Father, Like Son (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
4. Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt)
5. The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki)
6. Palo Alto (Gia Coppola)
7. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)
8. Only God Forgives (Nicolas Winding Refn)
9. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
10. Magic Magic (Sebastián Silva)

2014

1. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Girlhood (Céline Sciamma)
3. Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
4. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako)
5. Heaven Knows What (Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie)
6. The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)
7. Phoenix (Christian Petzold)
8. Eden (Mia Hansen-Løve)
9. The Duke of Burgundy (Peter Strickland)
10. It Follows (David Robert Mitchell)

2015

1. Carol (Todd Haynes)
2. Tangerine (Sean Baker)
3. Right Now, Wrong Then (Hong Sang-soo)
4. Mistress America (Noah Baumbach)
5. Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
6. Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick)
7. The Witch (Robert Eggers)
8. Magic Mike XXL (Gregory Jacobs)
9. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
10. Queen of Earth (Alex Ross Perry)

2016

1. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
2. Raw (Julie Ducournau)
3. Jackie (Pablo Larraín)
4. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
5. Cameraperson (Kristen Johnson)
6. 10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
7. Hail, Caesar! (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
8. Lovesong (So Yong Kim)
9. The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra)
10. Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater)

2017

1. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
2. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. BPM (Beats Per Minute) (Robin Campillo)
4. Virus Tropical (Santiago Caicedo)
5. Princess Cyd (Stephen Cone)
6. mother! (Darren Aronofsky)
7. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)
8. The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
9. Happy Death Day (Christopher B. Landon)
10. Radiance (Naomi Kawase)

2018

1. Long Day’s Journey into Night (Bi Gan)
2. If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
3. Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino)
4. The Strangers: Prey at Night (Johannes Roberts)
5. Annihilation (Alex Garland)
6. Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Decker)
7. Widows (Steve McQueen)
8. Holiday (Isabella Eklof)
9. The Wolf House (Cristóbal León, Jpaquin Cocina)
10. Cam (Daniel Goldhaber)

2019

1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) 
2. Homecoming – A Film by Beyoncé (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter)
3. Us (Jordan Peele) 
4. Swallow (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)
5. Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov)
6. The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)
7. Black Christmas (Sophia Takal)
8. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)
9. Ema (Pablo Larraín)
10. An Easy Girl (Rebecca Zlotowski)

2020

1. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)
2. Zola (Janicza Bravo)
3. Relic (Natalie Erika James)
4. Purple Sea (Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed)
5. Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)
6. Dick Johnson is Dead (Kristen Johnson)
7. Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)
8. Small Axe: Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)
9. I’m thinking of ending things (Charlie Kaufman)
10. If It Were Love (Patric Chiha)

2021

1. The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski)
2. Malignant (James Wan)
3. Happening (Audrey Diwan)
4. Great Freedom (Sebastian Meise)
5. Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
6. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
7. Titane (Julia Ducournau)
8. Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond)
9. Azor (Andreas Fontana)
10. Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)

2022

1. One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Løve)
2. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)
3. Saint Omer (Alice Diop)
4. Alcarràs (Carla Simón)
5. Nope (Jordan Peele)
6. 1976 (Manuela Martelli)
7. Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)
8. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
9. Kimi (Steven Soderbergh)
10. Both Sides of the Blade (Claire Denis)