Best Pictures by Year
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- DirectorAndré CalmettesJames KeaneStarsRobert GempFrederick WardeAlbert GardnerRichard of Gloucester uses manipulation and murder to gain the English throne.
- DirectorLouis FeuilladeStarsRené NavarreEdmund BreonGeorges MelchiorInspector Juve is tasked to investigate and capture an infamous criminal Fantomas.
- DirectorYevgeny BauerStarsVitold PolonskyOlga RakhmanovaVera KaralliAndrei lives a secluded life with his aunt, studying and thinking about his now-deceased mother. His friend Tsenin is concerned, and tries to get Andrei to accompany him to social events. After watching the actress Zoya Kadmina perform, Andrei is fascinated with her, and is then astounded to receive a note from her. He has only one brief meeting with her, and then three months later he is shocked to learn of her death. He now becomes obsessed with her memory, and he decides that he must find out all that he can about her.
- DirectorMarshall NeilanStarsMary PickfordIda WatermanHerbert StandingTwo young women - a paraplegic girl sheltered by her wealthy guardians and a more experienced orphan - fall in love with a man separated from his violent wife.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsRomuald JoubéMaxime DesjardinsSéverin-MarsThe story of two men, one married, the other the lover of the other's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War, and how their tale becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBernhard GoetzkeLil DagoverWalter JanssenWhen a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsAlfred AbelFrida RichardAud Egede-NissenA shiftless young man becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman and yearns to find her again.
- DirectorWallace WorsleyStarsLon ChaneyPatsy Ruth MillerNorman KerryIn 15th-century Paris, the brother of the archdeacon plots with the gypsy king to foment a peasant revolt. Meanwhile, a freakish hunchback falls in love with a gypsy dancer.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.Runner-ups: Siegfried, Kriemhild's Revenge
- DirectorRupert JulianLon ChaneyErnst LaemmleStarsLon ChaneyMary PhilbinNorman KerryA mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.
- DirectorLotte ReinigerCarl KochA handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.Runner-up: Faust
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.Runner-up: The Unknown
- DirectorPaul LeniStarsMary PhilbinConrad VeidtJulius MolnarWhen a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.Runner-up: October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.Runner-up: M
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsHarry BaurCharles VanelPaul AzaïsThe lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsAdolf HitlerHermann GöringMax AmannThe infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsSylvia SidneySpencer TracyWalter AbelWhen a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
- DirectorArchie MayoMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartAnn SheridanDick ForanA hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.Runner-ups: You Only Live Once, Seventh Heaven, Night Must Fall, Kid Galahad, The Life of Emile Zola, Dead End, Stand-In
- DirectorMichael CurtizWilliam KeighleyStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandBasil RathboneWhen Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.Runner-up: Pygmalion
- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.Runner-ups: Fantasia, Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'Runner-ups: Suspicion, Sullivan's Travels
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongDavid HandStarsHardie AlbrightStan AlexanderBobette AudreyThe story of a young deer growing up in the forest.Runner-up: Mrs. Miniver
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTeresa WrightJoseph CottenMacdonald CareyA teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.Runner-up: Bataan
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsEddie BrackenElla RainesRaymond WalburnWoodrow is discharged from the military for hay fever, but fabricates receiving a heroic honorable discharge before returning home.Runner-up: Arsenic and Old Lace
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyJean-Louis BarraultPierre BrasseurThe theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.Runner-up: The Corn is Green
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMyrna LoyDana AndrewsFredric MarchThree World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.Runner-ups: It's A Wonderful Life, Murderers Among Us
- DirectorJohn FordEmilio FernándezStarsHenry FondaDolores Del RíoPedro ArmendárizAnti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining priest.Runner-up: Odd Man Out
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsJohn LauriePrince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.Runner-up: Bicycle Thieves
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsRonald ReaganPatricia NealRichard ToddIn the final days of WW2, in a M.A.S.H. unit in Burma, a seriously wounded corporal watches in dismay as fellow soldiers pack-up to return home but a caring nurse and five remaining soldiers bring him solace.Runner-Ups: The Set-Up, Thieves' Highway, The Emperor's Nightingale, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
- DirectorJules DassinStarsRichard WidmarkGene TierneyGoogie WithersA small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.Runner-ups: All About Eve, No Way Out, The Young and the Damned
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPatricia WaltersNora SwinburneEsmond KnightThe growing pains of three young women contrast with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold.Runner-ups: Diary of a Country Priest, The Day the Earth Stood Still
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiClaude DauphinThree gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsAlan LaddJean ArthurVan HeflinA weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act.Runner-ups: Ugetsu, Tokyo Story
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAnthony QuinnGiulietta MasinaRichard BasehartA care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.Runner-ups: On the Waterfront, Rear Window, Sansho the Bailiff
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSpencer TracyRobert RyanAnne FrancisA one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.Runner-ups: The Big Combo, Kiss Me Deadly, Blackboard Jungle
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsCharlton HestonYul BrynnerAnne BaxterMoses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.Runner-ups: Paths of Glory, 12 Angry Men, Throne of Blood, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Cranes are Flying
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaSusan StrasbergJoan GreenwoodA young woman arrives in New York City determined to become a great theatrical star, but discovers that her goal may not be as easily attainable as she had hoped.Runner-ups: Vertigo, The Hidden Fortress, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
- DirectorMarcel CamusStarsBreno MelloMarpessa DawnLourdes de OliveiraA retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.Runner-ups: Room at the Top, North by Northwest, Ben-Hur, Fate of a Man, Floating Weeds
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsGabriele FerzettiMonica VittiLea MassariA woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip. During the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other.Runner-ups: La Dolce Vita, Psycho, Testament of Orpheus, Purple Noon, The Good Time Girls, The City of the Dead, House of Usher
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonGunnar BjörnstrandMax von SydowRecently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.Runner-ups: The Hustler, Last Year at Marienbad, Viridiana, Il Posto, The Misfits
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.Runner-ups: Harakiri, The Exterminating Angel, Carnival of Souls
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.Runner-ups: Hud, The Birds
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsMonica VittiRichard HarrisCarlo ChionettiIn an industrial area, unstable Giuliana attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a co-worker at the plant her husband manages.Runner-ups: The Soft Skin, Dr. Strangelove, I Am Cuba, The Pumpkin Eater, Marnie, Woman in the Dunes
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsGiulietta MasinaSandra MiloMario PisuVisions, memories, and mysticism all help a 40-something woman to find the strength to leave her cheating husband.Runner-up: King Rat
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonGeorge SegalA bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.Runner-ups: Andrei Rublev, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Red Angel, Fantastic Voyage
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.Runner-ups: Branded to Kill, Bonnie and Clyde
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.Runner-ups: Les Biches, Rosemary's Baby, Once Upon a Time in the West, Planet of the Apes, Night of the Living Dead, Yellow Submarine, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.Runner-ups: Easy Rider, Gladiatorerna, Double Suicide, A Boy Named Charlie Brown
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJack NicholsonKaren BlackBilly Green BushA dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.Runner-ups: MASH, Catch-22, The Conformist, Patton, Beneath the Planet of the Apes
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.Runner-ups: The French Connection, The Andromeda Strain, Duel, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Devils
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsMichael SacksRon LeibmanEugene RocheBilly Pilgrim has mysteriously become unstuck in time. He goes on an uncontrollable trip back and forth from his birth in New York to life on a distant planet and back again to the horrors of the 1945 fire-bombing of Dresden.Runner-ups: Cries & Whispers, Greaser's Palace, The Godfather, Solaris, Deliverance, The Glass House, Echoes: Pink Floyd
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.Runner-ups: The Exorcist, Amarcord, Westworld, The Spirit of the Beehive, The Mack, American Graffiti
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraEl Hedi ben SalemBarbara ValentinA lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.Runner-ups: The Conversation, The Godfather Part Two, Chinatown, Effi Briest, And Now My Love, Phase IV, Young Frankenstein, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.Runner-ups: Dersu Uzala, The Mirror, Jaws, Dirty Hands, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Rollerball, The Man in the Glass Booth, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Dog Day Afternoon, Salo, Barry Lyndon
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.Runner-ups: Black and White in Color, Network, All the President's Men, Logan's Run, The Omen, Murder by Death
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherLuke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.Runner-ups: Sorcerer, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Stroszek, Eraserhead, Suspiria
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsRichard GereBrooke AdamsSam ShepardA hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.Runner-ups: Midnight Express, The Deer Hunter, Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, The Fury
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsPeter SellersShirley MacLaineMelvyn DouglasAfter the death of his employer forces him out of the only home he's ever known, a simpleminded, sheltered gardener becomes an unlikely trusted advisor to a powerful tycoon and an insider in Washington politics.Runner-ups: Apocalypse Now, The Tin Drum, Stalker, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Norma Rae, Hardcore, The Muppet Movie, Phantasm, The Amityville Horror, Alien
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.Runner-ups: The Shining, The Changeling
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsSean ConneryShelley DuvallJohn CleeseA young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.Runner-ups: The Evil Dead, Chariots of Fire, Lola, Bolero, The Woman Next Door, Mephisto
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBertil GuvePernilla AllwinKristina AdolphsonTwo young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.Runner-ups: Koyaanisqatsi, Blade Runner, Gandhi, Sophie's Choice
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsGene HackmanTheresa RussellRutger HauerIn 1925, a lone and obsessed Arctic prospector Jack McCann finally strikes gold. Twenty years later, he begins spiraling out of control when his only daughter becomes engaged to a man he strongly dislikes.Runner-ups: And the Ship Sails On, Nostlalghia, Testament, The Meaning of Life, Sole Survivor, Return of the Jedi
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsSam WaterstonHaing S. NgorJohn MalkovichA journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.Runner-up: Where the Green Ants Dream
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJonathan PryceKim GreistRobert De NiroA bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.Runner-up: Death of a Salesman
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsMarie RivièreMaría Luisa GarcíaVincent GauthierIt's July, and Delphine has nowhere to go for the summer. She feels very bored and "empty", but this won't last; one day she accidently meets someone who seems to be totally made for her...Runner-up: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperJames Earl JonesMary McDonnellA labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsEric BogosianEllen GreeneLeslie HopeA rude, contemptuous talk show host becomes overwhelmed by the hatred that surrounds his program just before it goes national.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
- DirectorKevin CostnerStarsKevin CostnerMary McDonnellGraham GreeneLieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJeff BridgesRobin WilliamsAdam BryantA former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsJeff BridgesIsabella RosselliniRosie PerezA man's personality is dramatically changed after surviving a major airline crash.Runner ups: Madadayo, Faraway, So Close!, The Piano
- DirectorNikita MikhalkovStarsNikita MikhalkovIngeborga DapkunaiteOleg MenshikovIn the USSR in 1936, shadows of Stalin's repressions fall on a famous, revolutionary hero. The accusations of him being a foreign spy are nonsense, and everyone knows that. However, a slow process of his downfall has already started.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsMakiko EsumiTakashi NaitôTadanobu AsanoA young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant.Runner-up: La Ceremonie
- DirectorBilly Bob ThorntonStarsBilly Bob ThorntonDwight YoakamJ.T. WalshKarl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town.Runner-up: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKoji YakushoMisa ShimizuMitsuko BaishôA businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After the release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking almost to no one except an eel he befriended while in prison.Runner-up: Kundun
- DirectorErick ZoncaStarsÉlodie BouchezNatacha RégnierGrégoire ColinThe lives of two dissimilar girls turned out in different ways.Runner-up: I Stand Alone
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsTom CruiseJason RobardsJulianne MooreAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsFranka PotenteBenno FürmannJoachim KrólTwo enamoured strangers look for a warm place in a cold world.Runner-up: Requiem for a Dream
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsBruno PutzuluCécile CampJean DavyAn author works on a project on the subject of love, and, in the process, crosses paths with a former love in his life.
- DirectorMarina de VanStarsMarina de VanLaurent LucasLéa DruckerA woman grows increasingly fascinated with her body after suffering a disfiguring accident.Runner-ups: Punch-Drunk Love, The Twilight Samurai
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsSean PennBenicio Del ToroNaomi WattsA freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con.Runner-ups: Lost in Translation, The Triplets of Belleville, Seabiscuit
- DirectorGulshat OmarovaStarsOldzhas NusupbayevOlga LandinaEduard TabishevShiza is the nickname of a 15-year-old boy. Money, power, and women - he has none of these, yet, in his young life. But, he does have the illegal, underground circuit of bare-knuckle fist-fighting, where he is able to eke out a living by scouting for fighters. When a man is accidentally killed in the ring, though, his life is changed forever. He decides that he should return the dead man's money to his widow and child. But, after he meets the woman, Shiza understands that he has real feelings of love for her. Now, he knows for whom he must earn money, no matter what the cost...Runner-ups: Crash, Tony Takitani, The Incredibles
- DirectorMarc RothemundStarsJulia JentschFabian HinrichsAlexander HeldA dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.Runner-ups: The King, Corpse Bride
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsKarolina GruszkaKrzysztof MajchrzakGrace ZabriskieAs an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.
- DirectorShira GeffenEtgar KeretStarsSarah AdlerNikol LeidmanGera SandlerMeduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn't speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.Runner-ups: Noise, Grindhouse, Slipstream, The Mist
- DirectorMajid MajidiStarsMohammad Amir NajiMaryam AkbariKamran DehghanWhen an ostrich-rancher focuses on replacing his daughter's hearing aid, which breaks right before crucial exams, everything changes for a struggling rural family in Iran. Karim motorbikes into a world alien to him - incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence, thrill and challenge him. But his honor and honesty, plus traditional authority over his inventive clan, are tested, as he stumbles among vast cultural and economic gaps between his village nestled in the desert, and a throbbing international metropolis.Runner-ups: Gomorrah, The Reader, The Wrestler
- DirectorHenry SelickStarsDakota FanningTeri HatcherJohn HodgmanWandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsLubna AzabalMélissa Désormeaux-PoulinMaxim GaudetteTwins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history and fulfill their mother's last wishes.
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsThomas HornTom HanksSandra BullockA nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMathieu AmalricPierre ArditiSabine AzémaFrom beyond the grave, celebrated playwright Antoine d'Anthac gathers together all his friends who have appeared over the years in his play "Eurydice." These actors watch a recording of the work performed by a young acting company, La Compagnie de la Colombe. Do love, life, death and love after death still have any place on a theater stage? It's up to them to decide. And the surprises have only just begun...
- DirectorAlê AbreuStarsVinicius GarciaMarco Aurélio CamposLu HortaA little boy goes on an adventurous quest in search of his father.
- DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsMiles TellerJ.K. SimmonsMelissa BenoistA promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.