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BBC Culture’s 100 greatest foreign-language films

Over the last three years BBC Culture has been carrying out critics’ polls, to find the 100 greatest American films, the best films of the 21st Century and the greatest comedies ever made, and now they’ve turned their thoughts to the best world cinema. They’ve polled 209 critics from 43 countries and published the top 100 films on the 30th October 2018. There has been some noise in the press surrounding the lack of many female directors and that 21st century film is not too well represented.

100. Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos, 1988)
99. Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958)
98. In the Heat of the Sun (Jiang Wen, 1994)
97. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
96. Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)
95. Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
94. Where Is the Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)
93. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)
92. Scenes from a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
91. Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)
90. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
89. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
88. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)
87. The Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957)
86. La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
85. Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, 1952)
84. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972)
83. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)
82. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
81. Celine and Julie go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974)
80. The Young and the Damned (Luis Buñuel, 1950)
79. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
78. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
77. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
76. Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001)
75. Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967)
74. Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
73. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
72. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
71. Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997)
70. L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
69. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
68. Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
67. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, 1962)
66. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1973)
65. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)
64. Three Colours: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993)
63. Spring in a Small Town (Fei Mu, 1948)
62. Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)
61. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
60. Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
59. Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)
58. The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls, 1953)
57. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
56. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
55. Jules and Jim (François Truffaut, 1962)
54. Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee, 1994)
53. Late Spring (Yasujirô Ozu, 1949)
52. Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
51. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)




50. L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
49. Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
48. Viridiana (Luis Buñuel, 1961)
47. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
46. Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945)
45. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
44. Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
43. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)
42. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, 2002)
41. To Live (Zhang Yimou, 1994)
40. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)
39.  Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
38. A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)
37. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
36. La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
35. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
34. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
33. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
32. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)
31. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
30. The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
29. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
28. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
27. The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973)
26. Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
25. Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
24. Battleship Potemkin (Sergei M Eisenstein, 1925)
23. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
22. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)
21. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
20. The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1974)
19. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)
18. A City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1989)
17. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)
16. Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
15. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
14. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (Chantal Akerman, 1975)
13. M (Fritz Lang, 1931)
12. Farewell My Concubine (Chen Kaige, 1993)
11. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
10. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
9. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
8. The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
7. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963)
6. Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966)
5. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
4. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
3. Tokyo Story (Yasujirô Ozu, 1953)
2. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948)
1. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)



The Most influential films of All-Time

After reportedly studying over 47,000 movies, researchers at the University of Turin named the musical The Wizard of OZ the most influential. It took top spot after the researchers found it was the most referenced film in other movies and had the most related works. According to the study, the adaptation of Baum’s fantasy finished ahead of Star Wars,  Hitchcock’s Psycho, 1930s classic King Kong and Kubrick’s visionary science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

“We propose an alternative method to box office takings, which are affected by factors beyond the quality of the film such as advertising and distribution, and reviews, which are ultimately subjective, for analysing the success of a film,” said lead researcher Dr Livio Bioglio (yahoo.com).

“We have developed an algorithm that uses references between movies as a measure for success, and which can also be used to evaluate the career of directors, actors and actresses, by considering their participation in top-scoring movies.”

  1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. Star Wars (1977)
  3. Psycho (1960)
  4. King Kong (1933)
  5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
  6. Metropolis (1927)
  7. Citizen Kane (1941)
  8. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
  9. Frankenstein (1931)
  10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  11. Casablanca (1942)
  12. Dracula (1931)
  13. The Godfather (1972)
  14. Jaws (1975)
  15. Nosferatu (1922)
  16. The Searchers (1956)
  17. Cabiria (1914)
  18. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb(1964)
  19. Gone With the Wind (1939)
  20. Battleship Potemkin (1925)




ASC’s List of 100 20th Century Cinematography Milestones

The American Society of Cinematographers, in celebration of the organisation’s 100th anniversary, has revealed its list of 100 milestone films in the art and craft of cinematography from the 20th century. Of the 100 films the ASC named a top 10, with Freddie Young’s work on David Lean’s Oscar-winning 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia” placing 1st. Organised by Steven Fierberg and voted on by ASC members, the milestones list is the first of its kind to showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.

The ASC’s top 10 best-shot films of all time

1. “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), Freddie Young, BSC (Dir. David Lean)
2. “Blade Runner” (1982), Jordan Cronenweth, ASC (Dir. Ridley Scott)
3. “Apocalypse Now” (1979), Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
4. “Citizen Kane” (1941), Gregg Toland, ASC (Dir. Orson Wells)
5. “The Godfather” (1972), Gordon Willis, ASC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
6. “Raging Bull” (1980), Michael Chapman, ASC (Dir. Martin Scorsese)
7. “The Conformist” (1970), Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
8. “Days of Heaven” (1978), Néstor Almendros, ASC (Dir. Terrence Malick)
9. “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), Geoffrey Unsworth, BSC; additional photography: John Alcott, BSC (Dir. Stanley Kubrick)
10. “The French Connection” (1971), Owen Roizman, ASC (Dir. William Friedkin)

The Society’s full list of 100 cinematography milestones from the 20th century:

“Metropolis” (1927)
“Napoleon” (1927)
“Sunrise” (1927)
“Gone with the Wind” (1939)
“The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
“The Grapes of Wrath” (1940)
“Citizen Kane” (1941)
“How Green Was my Valley” (1941)
“Casablanca” (1942)
“The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942)
“Black Narcissus” (1947)
“The Bicycle Thief” (1948)
“The Red Shoes” (1948)
“The Third Man” (1949)
“Rashomon” (1950)
“Sunset Boulevard” (1950)
“On the Waterfront” (1954)
“Seven Samurai” (1954)
“The Night of the Hunter” (1955)
“The Searchers” (1956)
“The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957)
“Touch of Evil” (1958)
“Vertigo” (1958)
“Breathless” (1960)
“Last Year at Marienbad” (1961)
“Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)
“8 1/2” (1963)
“Hud” (1963)
“Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964)
“I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba)” (1964)
“Doctor Zhivago” (1965)
“The Battle of Algiers” (1966)
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966)
“Cool Hand Luke” (1967)
“The Graduate” (1967)
“In Cold Blood” (1967)
“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
“Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968)
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969)
“The Wild Bunch” (1969)
“The Conformist” (1970)
“A Clockwork Orange” (1971)
“The French Connection” (1971)
“Klute” (1971)
“The Last Picture Show” (1971)
“McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (1971)
“Cabaret” (1972)
“The Godfather” (1972)
“Last Tango in Paris” (1972)
“The Exorcist” (1973)




“Chinatown” (1974)
“The Godfather Part II” (1974)
“Barry Lyndon” (1975)
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next” (1975)
“All the President’s Men” (1976)
“Bound for Glory” (1976)
“Taxi Driver” (1976)
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977)
“The Duellists” (1977)
“Days of Heaven” (1978)
“The Deer Hunter” (1978)
“Alien” (1979)
“All That Jazz” (1979)
“Apocalypse Now” (1979)
“Being There” (1979)
“The Black Stallion” (1979)
“Manhattan” (1979)
“Raging Bull” (1980)
“The Shining” (1980)
“Chariots of Fire” (1981)
“Das Boot” (1981)
“Reds” (1981)
“Blade Runner” (1982)
“Fanny and Alexander” (1982)
“The Right Stuff” (1983)
“Amadeus” (1984)
“The Natural” (1984)
“Paris, Texas” (1984)
“Brazil” (1985)
“The Mission” (1986)
“Empire of the Sun” (1987)
“The Last Emperor” (1987)
“Wings of Desire” (1987)
“Mississippi Burning” (1988)
“JFK” (1991)
“Raise the Red Lantern” (1991)
“Unforgiven” (1992)
“Baraka” (1992)
“Schindler’s List” (1993)
“Searching for Bobby Fischer” (1993)
“Trois Couleurs: Bleu” (1993)
“The Shawshank Redemption” (1994)
“Se7en” (1995)
“The English Patient” (1996)
“L.A. Confidential” (1997)
“Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
“The Thin Red Line” (1998)
“American Beauty” (1999)
“The Matrix” (1999)
“In the Mood for Love” (2000)



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