The 300 Best Films of All Time

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An incomplete list based on my current theories, biases, ignorances and memory lapses.

 

ARGENTINA

  • Lucretia Martel
  1. La mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman) 2008
  2. La niña santa (The Holy Girl) — 2004
  3. La ciénaga (The Swamp) — 2001

BRAZIL

  • Matheus Nachtergaele
  1. A Festa da Menina Morta (The Dead Girl’s Feast) — 2008

CANADA

  • Zacharias Kunuk
  1. Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) — 2001
  • Guy Maddin
  1. Cowards Bend the Knee or The Blue Hands — 2003
  2. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary — 2002
  3. The Heart of the World — 2000
  4. Twilight of the Ice Nymphs — 1997
  • Deepa Mehta
  1. Fire — 1996
  2. Water – 2005

CHINA

  • Jia Zhang-ke
  1. Sanxia haoren (Still Life) — 2006
  2. Shijie (The World) — 2004
  3. Zhantai (Platform) — 2000

CZECH REPUBLIC

  • Jan Švankmajer
  1. Otesánek (Little Otik) — 2000
  2. Spiklenci slasti (Conspirators of Pleasure) — 1996
  3. Faust — 1994
  4. Neco z Alenky (Alice) — 1988

DENMARK

  • Lars von Trier
  1. Manderlay — 2005
  2. Dogville — 2003
  3. Dancer in the Dark — 2000
  4. Medea — 1988

FRANCE

  • Chantal Akerman
  1. Demain on déménage (Tomorrow We Move) — 2004
  2. La captive (The Captive) — 2000
  3. Les rendez-vous d’Anna (Anna’s Meetings) — 1978
  4. News from Home — 1977
  5. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles — 1975
  6. Je, tu, il, elle (I, You, She, He) — 1974
  • Robert Bresson
  1. L’argent — 1983
  2. Mouchette — 1967
  3. Au hasard Balthazar — 1966
  4. Procès de Jeanne d’Arc (The Trial of Joan of Arc) — 1962
  5. Pickpocket — 1959
  6. Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped or The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth) — 1956
  7. Journal d’un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) — 1951
  • Leos Carax
  1. Les amants du Pont-Neuf (Lovers on the Bridge) — 1991
  2. Mauvais sang (Bad Blood) — 1986
  3. Boy Meets Girl — 1984

  • Claire Denis
  1. Trouble Every Day — 2001
  2. Beau travail — 1999

  • Jean Genet
  1. Un chant d’amour — 1950
  • Jean-Luc Godard
  1. Notre musique — 2004
  2. Éloge de l’amour (In Praise of Love) — 2001
  3. De l’origine du XXIe siècle — 2000
  4. Histoire(s) du cinema — 1997
  5. For Ever Mozart — 1996
  6. Hélas pour moi — 1993
  7. Nouvelle vague — 1990
  8. King Lear — 1987
  9. Armide — 1987
  10. Soft and Hard — 1986
  11. Détective — 1985
  12. Je vous salue, Marie (Hail Mary) — 1985
  13. Prénom Carmen (First Name: Carmen) — 1983
  14. Passion — 1982
  15. Ici et ailleurs — 1976
  16. Tout va bien — 1972
  17. Le gai savoir — 1969
  18. Week End — 1967
  19. La chinoise — 1967
  20. 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle (Two or Three Things I Know About Her) — 1967
  21. Made in U.S.A. — 1966
  22. Masculin féminin — 1966
  23. Pierrot le fou — 1965
  24. Alphaville — 1965
  25. Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) — 1964
  26. Le mépris (Contempt) — 1963
  27. Les carabiniers — 1963
  28. Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live) ­ — 1962
  29. Une femme est une femme (A Woman Is a Woman) — 1961
  30. À bout de souffle (Breathless) — 1960
  • Chris Marker
  1. Sans Soleil — 1983
  2. La Jetée — 1962
  3. Les Statues meurent aussi (with Alain Resnais) — 1953
  • Alain Resnais
  1. L’année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year at Marienbad) — 1961
  2. Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
  3. Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) — 1955
  4. Les Statues meurent aussi (with Alain Resnais) — 1953
  • Agnes Varda
  1. Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners & I) — 2000
  2. Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond)
  3. Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo from 5 to 7) — 1962

GERMANY

  • Pina Bausch
  1. Die Klage der Kaiserin (The Complaint of an Empress) — 1990

  • Carl Theodor Dreyer
  1. Vredens dag (Day of Wrath) — 1943
  2. Vampyr — 1932
  3. La passion de Jeanne d’Arc — 1928

  • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  1. Berlin Alexanderplatz — 1980

  • Peter Fischli and David Weiss
  1. Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go) — 1987

  • Werner Herzog
  1. Fitzcarraldo — 1982
  2. Woyzeck — 1979
  3. Stroszek — 1977
  4. Herz aus Glas (Heart of Glass) — 1976
  5. Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) — 1974
  6. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aquirre: The Wrath of God) — 1972
  • Fritz Lang
  1. Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse — 1933
  2. M — 1931
  3. Metropolis — 1927

GREECE

  • Theo Angelopoulos
  1. To vlemma tou Odyssea (Ulysses’ Gaze) — 1995

INDIA

  • Guru Dutt
  1. Kagaaz Ke Phool (Paper Flowers) — 1959

  • Satyajit Ray
  1. Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) — 1959
  2. Jalsaghar (The Music Room) — 1958
  3. Parash Pathar (The Philosopher’s Stone) — 1958
  4. Aparajito (The Unvanquished) — 1956
  5. Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road) — 1955

IRAN

  • Forugh Farrokhzad
  1. Khaneh siah ast (The House is Black) — 1963
  • Abbas Kiarostami
  1. Shirin (2008)
  2. Bad ma ra khahad bord (The Wind Will Carry Us) — 1999
  3. Ta’m e guilass (A Taste of Cherry) — 1997
  4. Nema-ye Nazdik (Close-Up) — 1990

ITALY

  • Michelangelo Antonioni
  1. Il deserto rosso (The Red Desert) — 1964
  2. L’eclisse (The Eclipse) — 1962
  3. L’avventura (The Adventure) — 1960
  • Bernardo Bertolucci
  1. La luna (Luna) —1979
  2. Il conformista (The Conformist) — 1970
  3. Agonia — 1969

  • Federico Fellini
  1. E la nave va (And the Ship Sails On) — 1983
  2. Amarcord — 1973
  3. Roma — 1972
  4. Satyricon — 1969
  5. 8 ½ — 1963
  • Pier Paolo Pasolini
  1. Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom) — 1975
  2. Il fiore delle mille e una notte (The Arabian Nights) — 1974
  3. Il Decameron — 1971
  4. Medea — 1969
  5. Teorema — 1968
  6. Edipo re (Oedipus Rex) ­— 1967
  7. Uccellacci e uccellini (Hawks and Sparrows) — 1966
  8. Mamma Roma — 1962

JAPAN

  • Katushito Ishii
  1. Naisu no mori: The First Contact (Funky Forest: The First Contact) — 2005
  2. Cha no aji (The Taste of Tea) — 2004

  • Akira Kurosawa
  1. Dreams — 1990
  2. Ran — 1985
  3. Kagemusha — 1980
  4. Dodesukaden — 1970
  5. Akahige (Red Beard) — 1965
  6. Tengoku to jigoku (High and Low) — 1963
  7. Tsubaki Sanjûrô — 1962
  8. Yojimbo — 1961
  9. Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (The Hidden Fortress) — 1958
  10. Kumonosu-jou (Throne of Blood) — 1957
  11. Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai) — 1954
  12. Rashômon — 1950
  • Hiyao Miyazaki
  1. Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) — 1997
  2. Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) — 1984
  • Yasujiro Ozu
  1. Sanma no aji (An Autumn Afternoon) — 1962
  2. Kohayagawa-ke no aki (The Last of Summer) — 1961
  3. Akibiyori (Late Autumn) — 1960
  4. Ukigusa (Floating Weeds) — 1959
  5. Soshun — 1956
  6. Tôkyô monogatari (Tokyo Story) — 1953
  7. Ochazuke no aji (Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice) — 1952
  8. Bakushû (Early Summer ) — 1951
  9. Banshun (Late Spring) — 1949
  10. Nagaya shinshiroku — 1947
  • Hiroshi Teshigahara
  1. Suna no onna (Woman in the Dunes) — 1964

MACEDONIA

  • Teona Strugar Mitevska
  1. Kako ubiv svetec (How I Killed a Saint) — 2004
  2. Jas sum od Titov Veles (I am From Titov Velez) — 2007

POLAND

  • Wojciech Has
  1. Sanatorium pod klepsydra (The Hour-Glass Sanatorium) — 1973
  2. Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie (The Saragossa Manuscript) — 1965

  • Lech Majewski
  1. Pokój saren (The Roe’s Room) — 1997
  • Bela Tarr
  1. Werckmeister harmóniák (Werckmeister Harmonies) — 2000
  2. Sátántangó (Satan’s Tango) — 1994

PORTUGAL

  • Pedro Costa
  1. Tarrafal — 2007
  2. Memories — 2007
  3. Juventude Em Marcha — 2006
  4. Ne change rien — 2005
  5. Où gît votre sourire enfoui? — 2001
  6. No Quarto da Vanda — 2000
  7. Ossos — 1997
  8. Casa de Lava — 1994
  9. O Sangue — 1989

  • Manoel de Oliveira
  1. O Passado e o Presente (Past and Present) — 1972
  2. A Caça — 1964
  3. Acto de Primavera (Rite of Spring) — 1963

RUSSIA

  • Aleksandr Dovzhenko
  1. Zemlya (Earth) — 1930
  2. Arsenal — 1928

  • Sergei Eisenstein
  1. ¡Que viva Mexico! — 1932
  2. La destrucción de Oaxaca — 1931
  3. Romance sentimentale — 1930
  4. Bronenosets Potyomkin — 1925
  • Mikhail Kalatozov
  1. Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba) — 1964
  • Vsevolod Pudovkin
  1. Mat (Mother) —1926

  • Andrei Tarkovsky
  1. Offret (The Sacrifice) — 1986
  2. Nostalghia — 1983
  3. Stalker — 1979
  4. Zerkalo (The Mirror) — 1975
  5. Andrey Rublyov — 1966

  • Dziga Vertov
  1. Chelovek s kino-apparatom (The Man With the Movie Camera) — 1929

SERBIA

  • Emir Kusturica
  1. Underground — 1995

SWEDEN

  • Roy Andersson
  1. Du levande — 2007
  2. Sånger från andra våningen (Songs From the Second Floor) — 2000
  3. Giliap — 1975
  4. En kärlekshistoria (A Swedish Love Story) — 1970
  • Ingmar Bergan
  1. Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) — 1972
  2. Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf) — 1968
  3. Persona — 1966
  4. Tystnaden (The Silence) — 1963

SPAIN

  • Luis Buñuel
  1. Cet obscur objet du désir (That Obscure Object of Desire) — 1977
  2. Le fantôme de la liberté (The Phantom of Liberty) — 1974
  3. Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) — 1972
  4. Tristana — 1970
  5. La voie lactée (The Milky Way) — 1969
  6. Belle de jour (1967)
  7. Le journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid) — 1964
  8. El ángel exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) — 1962
  9. Nazarín — 1959
  10. L’âge d’or — 1930
  • Carlos Saura
  1. Goya en Burdeos (Goya in Bordeaux) — 1999

TAIWAN

  • Tsai Ming-Liang

  1. Hei yan quan (I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone) — 2006
  2. Tian bian yi duo yun (The Wayward Cloud) — 2005
  3. Ni na bian ji dian (What Time is it There?) — 2001
  4. Bu san (Goodbye Dragon Inn?) — 2003
  5. Dong (The Hole) — 1998
  6. He liu (The River) — 1997

THAILAND

  • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  1. Sang sattawat (Syndromes and a Century) — 2006
  2. Sud pralad (Tropical Malady) — 2004
  3. Sud sanaeha (Blissfully Yours) — 2002
  4. Dokfa nai meuman (Mysterious Object At Noon) — 2000

TURKEY

  • Semih Kaplanoglu
  1. Süt (Milk) — 2008
  2. Yumurta (Egg) — 2007

UNITED KINGDOM

  • Lindsay Anderson
  1. O Lucky Man! — 1973
  2. If…. — 1968

  • Peter Brook
  1. The Mahabharata — 1989
  2. Marat/Sade — 1967
  3. The Lord of the Flies — 1963

  • Peter Greenaway
  1. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover — 1989
  2. The Baby of Macon — 1993
  3. Prospero’s Books — 1991
  4. A Zed and Two Naughts — 1985
  5. The Falls — 1980
  6. A Walk Through H — 1978

  • Derek Jarman
  1. Blue — 1993
  2. Wittgenstein — 1993
  3. The Last of England — 1988
  4. Caravaggio — 1986
  5. The Angelic Conversation — 1985
  6. Jubilee — 1978
  7. Sebastiane — 1976

  • Mike Leigh
  1. Secrets & Lies — 1996
  2. Naked — 1993
  3. Life Is Sweet — 1991
  • Monty Python
  1. The Meaning of Life — 1983
  2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail — 1975
  • The Brothers Quay
  1. The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes — 2005
  2. Institute Benjamenta — 1995
  3. Rehearsal for Extinct Anatomies — 1988
  4. The Street of Crocodiles — 1986

UNITED STATES

  • Woody Allen
  1. Hannah and Her Sisters — 1986
  2. Manhattan — 1979
  3. Annie Hall — 1977
  4. Sleeper— 1973
  • Thom Andersen
  1. Los Angeles Plays Itself — 2003

  • Matthew Barney
  1. Drawing Restraint 9 — 2005
  2. Cremaster 3 — 2002
  3. Cremaster 2 — 1999
  4. Cremaster 5 — 1997
  5. Cremaster 1 — 1996
  6. Cremaster 4 — 1995

  • Charles Burnett
  1. Killer of Sheep — 1977
  2. The Horse — 1973

  • Maya Deren
  1. Meshes of the Afternoon — 1943

  • Richard Foreman
  1. Strong Medicine — 1981

  • Terry Gilliam
  1. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen — 1988
  2. Brazil — 1985
  • Todd Haynes
  1. Safe — 1995

  • Harmony Korine
  1. Julien Donkey-Boy — 1999

  • Stanley Kubrick
  1. The Shining — 1980
  2. A Clockwork Orange — 1971
  3. 2001: A Space Odyssey — 1968
  4. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb — 1964
  5. Paths of Glory — 1957

  • Spike Lee
  1. Crooklyn — 1994
  2. Do the Right Thing — 1989

  • David Lynch
  1. Inland Empire — 2006
  2. Lost Highway — 1997
  3. Wild at Heart — 1990
  4. Blue Velvet — 1986
  5. Dune — 1984
  6. Eraserhead — 1977
  7. The Alphabet — 1968
  • Kent Mackenzie
  1. The Exiles — 1961
  • The Marx Brothers
  1. Duck Soup — 1933
  2. Animal Crackers — 1930
  • John Sayles
  1. Men With Guns — 1997

  • Alan Schneider
  1. Film — 1965

  • Deborah Stratman
  1. In Order to Not Be Here — 2002

  • Frederick Wiseman
  1. Domestic Violence — 2001
  2. Belfast, Maine — 1999
  3. Public Housing — 1997
  4. Zoo — 1993
  5. Blind — 1987
  6. Deaf — 1986
  7. Multi-Handicapped — 1986
  8. Racetrack — 1985
  9. Seraphita’s Diary — 1980
  10. Meat — 1976
  11. Welfare — 1975
  12. Primate — 1974
  13. Juvenile Court — 1973
  14. High School — 1968
  15. Titicut Follies — 1967