Films of the Century?

In their Summer 2024 Edition Sight and Sound critics produced a list of era defining films. One film from each year of the new century. They cite the choices as films that are “significant within our cinematic era – the kind of film that could be put in a time capsule for the cinephiles of the 22nd century and beyond to marvel at, a movie that is both representative and of a high watermark of the years 2000 to 2024.” (p.41)

The films they chose are:

2000: The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, France)

2001: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, US)

2002: Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman, Palestine-France-Morocco-Germany)

2003: Oldboy (Park Chan-Wook, South Korea)

2004: Anatomy of Hell (Catherine Breillat, France)

2005: A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, US-Canada)

2006: Inland Empire (David Lynch, US)

2007: Unrelated (Joanna Hogg, UK)

2008: La Rabbia Di Pasolini (Pier Paolo Pasolini/Giuseppe Bertolucci, Italy)

2009: Everyone Else (Maren Ade, Germany)

2010: Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece)

2011: Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, US)

2012: Barbara (Christian Petzold, Germany)

2013: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Takahata Isao, Japan)

2014: The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, Australia)

2015: Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)

2016: Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil)

2017: Get Out (Jordan Peele, US)

2018: Kaala (Pa. Ranjith, India)

2019: Self-Portrait: Window in 47KM (Zhang Mengqi, China)

2020: This is not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Lesotho-South Africa-France-Italy)

2021: Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma, France)

2022: Walk Up (Hong Sang-Soo, South Korea)

2023: Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Radu Jude, Romania)

2024: The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams, Argentina)

“Films of the Century”, Sight and Sound, Summer 2024, Volume 34, Issue 6, pp.41-84.

What are your thoughts on their list?

Have you seen any of them?

Are there any you would/would not include?

Comment below.

Discussion Board: Honourable Mentions

This article was suggested and written by Razvan.

We are now only one week away from the deadline to complete and send our all time top 100 so I think it’s a good time to talk about the films that we love but sadly didn’t make it in our lists. Everyone probably has at least a few. We can also discuss the films that we considered at some point in our selection process, but were not that close in the end. And which are the most highly acclaimed films that we might like to some extent, but are not really among our all time favourites ?

Please discuss your honourable mentions and other films of note that didn’t make your list in the comments section.

REMINDER:

By 06/12/2020: The IFG Annual Film Poll:  Your top 100 favourite films of all time need to be in a rough order of preference. If you need some reminders check out the polls section here: Polls and also the results of last year: The 2019 IFG Film Poll & The 2019 IFG Film Poll – Further Details

Discussion Board: The Best Films You Have Never Watched

This discussion board was suggested by Razvan – thanks!

Being film fans, we know we ought to watch them, but for one reason or another we have not. What are the most famous/highly rated films you have never watched? Is The Godfather too gangstery to deserve your time? Are you frightened of sharks, so Jaws was just too nightmarish to endure? Had you heard Lost in Translation was just Scarlett being surly for seemingly 12 hours? Did you get 30 minutes into Stalker and decide to watch some paint dry? Was Dirty Dancing too dirty for your pure soul?

Please discuss the famous films you have yet to watch and why you have not watched them in the comments section.

To get the ball rolling, here is the IMDb Top 100 films voted by the public. Funnily enough it is a good reminder that you need to get your top 100s to me by the end of November. NOTE: The IMDb list is only an indicator/reminder of films many people have watched, you might want to discuss other well known films that that you have not watched…yet!

Position/Title/Year	IMDb Rating
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)	9.2
2. The Godfather (1972)	9.1
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)	9
4. The Dark Knight (2008)	9
5. 12 Angry Men (1957)	8.9
6. Schindler’s List (1993)	8.9
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	8.9
8. Pulp Fiction (1994)	8.8
9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)	8.8
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)	8.8
11. Fight Club (1999)	8.8
12. Forrest Gump (1994)	8.8
13. Inception (2010)	8.7
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)	8.7
15. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)	8.7
16. The Matrix (1999)	8.6
17. Goodfellas (1990)	8.6
18. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)	8.6
19. Seven Samurai (1954)	8.6
20. Seven (1995)	8.6
21. Life Is Beautiful (1997)	8.6
22. City of God (2002)	8.6
23. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	8.6
24. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)	8.6
25. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)	8.6
26. Saving Private Ryan (1998)	8.5
27. Spirited Away (2001)	8.5
28. The Green Mile (1999)	8.5
29. Interstellar (2014)	8.5
30. Parasite (2019)	8.5
31. Leon (1994)	8.5
32. The Usual Suspects (1995)	8.5
33. Harakiri (1962)	8.5
34. The Lion King (1994)	8.5
35. Back to the Future (1985)	8.5
36. The Pianist (2002)	8.5
37. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)	8.5
38. American History X (1998)	8.5
39. Modern Times (1936)	8.5
40. Psycho (1960)	8.5
41. Gladiator (2000)	8.5
42. City Lights (1931)	8.5
43. The Departed (2006)	8.5
44. Untouchable (2011)	8.5
45. Whiplash (2014)	8.5
46. The Prestige (2006)	8.5
47. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)	8.5
48. Hamilton (2020)	8.5
49. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)	8.4
50. Casablanca (1942)	8.4
51. Cinema Paradiso (1988)	8.4
52. Rear Window (1954)	8.4
53. Alien (1979)	8.4
54. Apocalypse Now (1979)	8.4
55. Memento (2000)	8.4
56. The Great Dictator (1940)	8.4
57. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)	8.4
58. Django Unchained (2012)	8.4
59. The Lives of Others (2006)	8.4
60. Joker (2019)	8.4
61. Paths of Glory (1957)	8.4
62. WALL·E (2008)	8.4
63. The Shining (1980)	8.4
64. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)	8.4
65. Sunset Blvd. (1950)	8.4
66. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)	8.4
67. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)	8.4
68. Princess Mononoke (1997)	8.4
69. Oldboy (2003)	8.4
70. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)	8.3
71. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)	8.3
72. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)	8.3
73. Aliens (1986)	8.3
74. Your Name. (2016)	8.3
75. Avengers: Endgame (2019)	8.3
76. Coco (2017)	8.3
77. American Beauty (1999)	8.3
78. Braveheart (1995)	8.3
79. 3 Idiots (2009)	8.3
80. Das Boot (1981)	8.3
81. Toy Story (1995)	8.3
82. High and Low (1963)	8.3
83. Amadeus (1984)	8.3
84. Capernaum (2018)	8.3
85. Inglourious Basterds (2009)	8.3
86. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)	8.3
87. Like Stars on Earth (2007)	8.3
88. Good Will Hunting (1997)	8.3
89. Reservoir Dogs (1992)	8.3
90. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)	8.3
91. Requiem for a Dream (2000)	8.3
92. Vertigo (1958)	8.3
93. M (1931)	8.3
94. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)	8.3
95. Dangal (2016)	8.3
96. The Hunt (2012)	8.3
97. Citizen Kane (1941)	8.3
98. 1917 (2019)	8.3
99. Full Metal Jacket (1987)	8.2
100. Bicycle Thieves (1948)	8.2

REMINDERS:

Please vote for the film selections for early 2021:

IFG 21, 22 & 23 Film Selection

Second Chance Poll: IFG 24 Special Edition (March 2021)

By the 30th November 2020 please send your rating for: Coming Soon: IFG 19: The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott, 1994)

By 30/11/2020: The IFG Annual Film Poll:  The results will be in December, so send your top 100s to me by the end of November. The lists need to be in a rough order of preference. If you need some reminders check out the polls section here: Polls and also the results of last year: The 2019 IFG Film Poll & The 2019 IFG Film Poll – Further Details

The annual end of year IFG Favourite Films of All Time poll

Every year the IFG will produce a list of participants’ top films of all time.  Participants will have the opportunity to submit their top 30 films and the results will be collated, analysed and debated.  Whilst many of your top films may not change from year to year the poll will be conducted each year to allow you the opportunity to incorporate any new films you have seen and to take into consideration the top films of new participants.

It might be an idea to start working on your list!

The number of films and any criteria are open for discussion.

NOVEMBER 2019 UPDATE:

It was decided that the lists should be your TOP 50 films.

Note: Although your Top 50 films will not need to be in definitive order, weighted points will be allocated to each film, therefore: Top 1-10 = 5 points, Top 11-20 = 4 points, … Top 41-50 = 1 point.