Top 10 Lists

The director of Blue Sun Palace chooses a selection of films that have taught her about the craft of cinema, including works by Chantal Akerman, Robert Bresson, Edward Yang, and Satyajit Ray.

The musician shares a selection of favorite movies that capture intense emotions and profound relationships, including actor-driven dramas like Breaking the Waves, Secret & Lies, and Thelma & Louise.

The director of Cane Fire focuses on films that have influenced his own work, including innovative nonfiction masterpieces by Agnès Varda, William Greaves, and Barbara Kopple.

The award-winning director of The Seed of the Sacred Fig is drawn to films that explore intricate psychological states with a limited set of cinematic tools.

The director of All Shall Be Well chooses a selection of films that reflect the joys and sorrows of life and explore themes of love, grief, ambition, and sacrifice.

The Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker chooses a selection of favorite movies that reflect the pain and beauty of human connection, including masterpieces by Yasujiro Ozu, Mike Leigh, and Aki Kaurismäki.

The director of A Different Man pays tribute to great American go-getters Harold Lloyd and Samuel Fuller, contemplates the unique qualities of different periods in a director’s career, and shares a personal story about Monte Hellman.

Among the Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter’s favorites are a music documentary she knows by heart, a Wes Anderson film with an iconic soundtrack, and a courtroom drama propelled by brilliant character actors.

The Oscar- and Emmy-winning actor and director gets personal with her selections, highlighting the work of friends, former collaborators, and filmmakers she admires.

The director of Cette maison chooses a group of favorite films that defy her attempts to explain and describe them, including works by Claire Denis, Charles Burnett, and Frank Borzage.

The director of Halloween, They Live, and other horror masterpieces embraces the darkness and doom of such noir classics as Double Indemnity, The Killers, and Kiss Me Deadly.

The award-winning writer and director of How to Have Sex shares her love for Carol Reed, discusses her favorite Adam Sandler performance, and names her ultimate feel-good movie.

The director of Godland pays tribute to Robert Bresson, Andrei Tarkovsky, Stanley Kubrick, and other filmmakers with an awe-inspiring command of their craft.

The director of Fair Play throws the spotlight on bracingly candid explorations of heartbreaking love and destructive obsession.

The actor, writer, and director offers irreverent commentary on some of his favorite films, including the gay classic Weekend and the provocative satire Putney Swope.

The writer-director of Computer Chess and Support the Girls lets his eye and heart wander freely through our collection, and gives us a list of some films he admires.

The director of Past Lives shares a list of favorite films, many of which reflect her background in theater and her interest in the smallness of human life in the face of time and history.

The director of Party Girl celebrates two favorite dance films; a classic noir by her favorite director, Billy Wilder; and a pair of comedies written by Edwin Justus Mayer, her grandfather.

The director of Enys Men celebrates the holy trinity of Bergman, Bresson, and Tarkovsky, and expresses his love for films that are narratively simple but thematically complex.

The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival throws the spotlight on filmmakers who have paved the way for the kind of stories she strives to tell.

The director of Return to Seoul expresses what he values most in cinema through this selection of ten favorite films.

One of Austria’s most lauded contemporary directors chooses some of her favorite movies, including a few that made a profound impression on her in film school.

The Nobel Prize–winning novelist shares a list of films that illuminate his artistic sensibility, including one British classic that inspired him to write his masterpiece The Remains of the Day.

The director of Queen of Diamonds shares a list of favorite films, including uncompromising classics of world cinema that reveal the mysteries of the human condition.