Sight & Sound | The best films of 2025

The Voice of Hind Rajab

The annual “Top 10,” published on Sight & Sound, with some additional titles I have seen since the submission of the initial list. These have been marked with [x].

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025: Favourites & Discoveries

Artists and Models

Il Cinema Ritrovato XXXIX concluded on June 30. With 140,000 admissions, the attendance was comparable to that of the previous edition. However, the scorching temperatures resulted in more foot blisters.

This survey is not a competition but a compendium showcasing what you missed so that you can catch up later. (195 festival attendees have voted.) Your local cinematheques and festivals might consider showing these films if you can convince them that the diversity and adventurous selection is essential for keeping film culture alive. (And good luck doing that!) Those who complain that some strands were not as rewarding as they expected miss an important point: if we do not screen these films, nobody else will.

The festival has screened Battleship Potemkin and One Hour with You, yet they do not appear in any lists. I would like to think this suggests that these films have already been seen and enjoyed as both favourites and discoveries. Still, one person’s obvious title may be another’s revelation. I see that as part of the excitement of what we do. So, please take this list as just a reference—nothing more and nothing less.

There is a sense of purpose in programming Il Cinema Ritrovato, even if it is not immediately apparent to an outsider. Everything is centered on reevaluating the history of cinema, and with that come our political and social ideas and biases. However, the framework is almost always aesthetic—a bad film about a significant subject remains a bad film. Duke Ellington once said there are two kinds of music: the good music and the other kind. In our case, we avoid the "other kind."

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025 | Films on Film

Summertime by David Lean, shot in Venice, in colour, on 35mm

Il Cinema Ritrovato shows more films on film — from 35mm, 16mm, and 70mm prints — than any other festival in the world. (If you have any doubt, ask FedEx or DHL.)

This year, 130 titles will be projected from celluloid. It's true that a good number of these belong to early cinema, but there is an equally substantial selection—from the silent period to the early 21st century—shown in archival prints and occasionally brand-new prints.

Here is a list of 50 titles to be shown on film that I think are worth adding to your schedule, once the schedule is out!

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025: Twenty Recommendations

Il Museo dei sogni

Il Cinema Ritrovato XXIX is just around the corner, and I think you should not miss these twenty titles:

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2024: Favourites & Discoveries

70mm projection of North by Northwest in the Piazza Maggiore

The XXXVIII edizione of Il Cinema Ritrovato ran from June 22 to 30. In reality, it started a few days before the official date and stretched into one extra day at the tail end of it. Four hundred-plus titles were screened, from early cinema to documentaries made in 2023-2024, from great classics to obscure gems, from experimental films to pornography. This edition also finally saw the opening of the restored Cinema Modernissimo which now has turned into the heart of the festival.

5,700 from 72 countries acquired the festival pass, 700 higher than last year.

The title of all the films and moving images screened can be accessed here.

I asked some of the attendees about what they had taken from the festival. They generously sent me the titles they have liked and those they have discovered, or those they have rediscovered and now loved. 155 festivalgoers –  including curators, archivists, festival bums, film historians, 35mm fanatics, programmers, writers and critics – have responded to this call for building a new canon based on what we played this year.

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023: Favourites & Discoveries

The 37th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato concluded last week but its memories live on. 

In Silk Stockings (Rouben Mamoulian, 1957), a quintet of melancholic expats freshly returned from a seductive Paris to a drab shared apartment in Moscow start reminiscing about the joys of the high life in the French capital. Soon it turns into a competition in remembering. Getting too intense where disillusioned Marxist-Leninists accuse each other of stealing one another's memories, Ninotchka (Cyd Charisse), fervently dedicated to the equal distribution of all kinds of wealth, steps in and declares: "Comrades, there are enough memories for all of us." Judging from the range and diversity of this year's picks by festival attendees, it seems that we should not be too worried about running out of memories until next June.

Statistics tell me "120,000 spectators" have viewed "470 films [in] seven cinemas," a 12% increase in attendance compared to previous year. Feelings tell me billions of memories have been made.

Nearly 120 participants from 39 countries have picked their "favourite film" at the festival, as well as their "major discovery" this year. Some have accompanied their choices with additional notes. It's a delight to read.

See their picks below.

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The Best Films of 2022

EO

My "top 10" of the year as submitted to and published on Sight & Sound. For the full list of the 97 voters and their picks go here. – EK

EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)

Compartment No. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen)

See You Friday, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)

The Eclipse (Nataša Urban)

The King of Laughter (Mario Martone)

Marx Can Wait (Marco Bellocchio)

Jacques Tati, tombé de la lune (Jean-Baptiste Péretié)

Maixabel (Icíar Bollaín)

I Am Trying to Remember (Pegah Ahangarani)

My Imaginary Country (Patricio Guzmán)

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2022: Favourites & Discoveries

Singin' in the Rain in Piazza Maggiore, July 1

When they unscrewed the heavy and majestic La Nonna (our carbon arc projector) from the pedestal in Piazzetta Pasolini and the ice cream vendor packed his stuff and went home it was clear that Il Cinema Ritrovato XXXVI was over. We had a ball. More than 400 films were shown during 8 and a half days. Cinema could be found in every corner of the city.

After the last year's round-up – seen and read by many – I asked colleagues, curators, film historians, silent film accompanists, scholars and the attendees to pick the title of the two films from the festival, one as their favourite film and the other of their major discovery at this year's edition. You can read them below.

The magic of Bologna lies in the fact that while we showed films by the masters we love (Hitchcock, Lang, Ophuls, Melville), the filmmakers that are championed in this poll are Niskanen, Muratova, Fregonese, Shahid Saless, Rossi, and Ovanessian. Rewrite the film histories now!

See you next year!

THIS BLOG POST IS BEING REGULARLY UPDATED. THE NEW ENTRIES WILL BE MARKED BY [new]

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Il Cinema Ritrovato 2021: Favourites & Discoveries

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2021 ended last week, on an uplifting note. More than 400 films and other projectionable audiovisual curiosities were shown and seen. While still in the post-festival haze, I sought the insight of some of the festival attendees on what they thought to be the essential — what was liked and cherished most, what was discovered and became a revelation.

I posed two questions on colleagues and friends who attended the festival in person: What was your absolute favourite film this year and which film turned out to be a major discovery or rediscovery at the festival. They were gracious enough to send me their picks which you can read here in alphabetical order. (Please feel free to add your favourites in the comment section of this post.) 

Some contributors have sent along some notes which I wanted to share with you. They come at the bottom of the post, marked by * (star)

You can also view this list on Letterboxd where it has been nicely compiled and illustrated by Jon M.

5 Nowruz Recommendations [1398]

جوسلین صعب

پنج پیشنهاد تماشا برای نوروز 1398، به درخواست ماهنامۀ سینمایی فیلم.

سه‌گانۀ بیروت (جوسلین صعب، 82-1976): این معادل تابلوی گِرنیکای پیکاسو در سینماست، همان اندازه تکان دهنده، موحش و ساخته شده سر یک بزنگاه تاریخی و اخلاقی. یک زن آن را در زیر بمباران‌های دائمی و در بین منظری از بچه‌هایی که بدن‌هایش از گرسنگی دفرمه شده و بدن‌های تحت تأثیر بمب‌های شیمیایی اسرائیل به رنگ آبی درآمده ساخته است. فیلم مناسب عید نیست، اما آیا واقعیت مخصوص مواقع مشخصی از سال است؟

ای آفتاب (مد هوندو، 1970): بزرگ‌ترین کشف من در سال گذشته. اگر چارلی مینگوس (نوازنده باس و رهبر ارکستر موسیقی جاز در طرف مدرنش) فیلمساز بود، فیلمش اثری چنین خشمگین، زیبا، و با فرمی سیال از کار درمی‌آمد. فیلم دربارۀ تنهایی یک آفریقایی در اروپاست و این فیلمساز اهل موریتانی هر ثانیه‌ این دنیای دشوار را تجربه و لمس کرده است.

5 Nowruz Recommendations [1399]

آخرین مرحله

پنج پیشنهاد تماشای نوروز، نوشته شده برای ماهنامۀ فیلم. — احسان خوش‌بخت

آتش‌ می‌آید (الیور لَکس، 2019) – بیرون از سینمایی که نمایش کار تازۀ این فیلمساز فرانسوی در آن تازه تمام شده بود، دوستی که نقشی جدی در جنبش‌های محیط زیستی دارد این فیلم غریب و دشوار برای طبقه‌بندی را فیلمی محیط زیستی و یک زنگ خطر موقر و غیرمستقیم می‌دانست. اما برای من داستان رابطه پسری تازه از زندان آزاد شده با مادر سالخورده‌اش در کوهستان‌های پردرخت گالیشیای اسپانیا طنینی انجیلی داشت. شاید نظر هردویمان تا حدی وارد باشد؛ هرچه باشد هم دنیای امروزمان پر از آتش‌های مهار نشده است و هم داستان‌های انجیل. فیلم بهترین سکانس آتش تاریخ سینما را دارد.

50 Essential Iranian Films

Kako (Shapur Gharib, 1971)

Few years back, I asked Houshang Golmakani, the editor-in-chief of the Iranian Film Monthly, to produce a list of his 50 favourite Iranian films to be published on Keyframe. It was published around 2014 but later Keyframe went through some design and organisational changes, and the original posting, as well as some of my other contributions, vanished without any explanation. So I decided to re-post here with some minor alterations and more stills.

As I said, Golmakani edit the Film Monthly, the longest-running film magazine in Iran and one of the first to be established after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Aside from his full-time presence in the office of Film Monthly in downtown Tehran, he has written books on Iranian cinema and directed Stardust Stricken (1996), on Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

This is not a standard listing of Iranian arthouse classics but more of a personal map of Iranian cinema -- both commercial and arthouse -- sketched for those curious people who want to explore beyond what the English film literature on Iranian cinema manages to offer, reminding the reader that Iranian cinema is not limited to names like Kiarostami, Makhmalbaf or Panahi. Aside from the work of great filmmakers with artistic ambitions since 1960s -- often dubbed as Iranian New Wave -- there are certain kinds of commercial films that deserve attention, especially those working within the confines of “national genres". This list is rather good at that. Nearly 5 years have passed since this was first compiled by Golmakani and I'm sure now his take on the subject, especially concerning recent years, would be something very different.

Ehsan Khoshbakht

Fifty films essential to understanding Iranian cinema

By Houshang Golmakani
(Additional notes by Ehsan Khoshbakht)

Best of the Last Films

Terror in a Texas Town

فهرست «فيلم‌(هاي) آخر» محبوبم از تاريخ سينما براي ماهنامۀ حالا تعطیل شدۀ «صنعت سينما» (پانزدهم فروردين 1393)

*

فيلم آخر، بدون اين‌كه كارگردان قصد ساختن فيلم آخرش را داشته باشد. جبر حاكم بر شرايط فيلم‌سازي يا انتخاب فردي، با وجود عمر نسبتاً طولاني فيلم‌ساز باعث شده تا اين فيلم «آواز قوي» او باقي بماند:

The Best of 2016 | Senses of Cinema

Laughter in Hell

Senses of Cinema's World Poll results are online here. Below is what I picked from 2016.


Best new films:
Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu, 2016)
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea, Gianfranco Rosi, 2016)
Fai bei sogni (Sweet Dreams, Marco Bellocchio, 2016)
Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, 2016)
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016)
Neruda (Pablo Larraín, 2016)
El hombre de las mil caras (Smoke and Mirrors, Alberto Rodríguez, 2016)
Peter von Bagh (Tapio Piirainen, 2016)
I Called Him Morgan (Kasper Collin, 2016)

The best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2016

From Sight & Sound's annual poll, here's the list of some of my favourite DVD/Blu-ray releases in 2016:

• Napoleon BFI
• Shield for Murder Kino Lorber
• The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates Criterion
• Lumière! L’invenzione del cinematografo Cineteca Bologna
• Let There Be Light: John Huston’s Wartime Documentaries Olive Films

The Best Films of 2016 (Sight & Sound)

From the January 2017 issue of Sight & Sound, here are my top five films of the year:

• Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)
• Fuocoammare [Fire at Sea] (Gianfranco Rosi)
• Fai bei sogni [Sweet Dreams] (Marco Bellocchio)
• Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello)
• Khesht o Ayeneh [Brick and Mirror] (Ebrahim Golestan, 1964)

Tales from LFF#59: Waiting for Absolute Shot - Index

گزارش پنجاه و نهمين جشنواره فيلم لندن، 2015

در انتظار نماي مطلق

احسان خوش‌بخت

بخش اول: اين يك پيپ نيست

بخش دوم: اين موناليزا است + هفتاد سال بعد + چٌرت‌هاي سينماي دكوراتيو

بخش سوم: فرض‌ها و فانتزي‌هايي دربارۀ مهاجران + در مراسم چهلم اروپا + آن‌چهجوان در آينه بيند، همان بهتر كه كس ديگر نبيند

بخش چهارم: يك پيكسِل مرده + زنان تحت نفوذ

بخش پنجم: هنر و مستند + هنر زندگینامه

ده فيلم برگزيده:

10 Best Documentaries of 2015

 ده مستند برگزيدۀ سال 2015

احسان خوش‌بخت

سال ميلادي گذشته سال مهمي براي سينماي مستند بود، چون تقريباً بيش‌تر فستيوال‌هاي ردۀ الف اروپايي حداقل يك مستند در بخش مسابقه داشتند. اما مهم‌تر اين كه اين مستندها آثاري‌اند كه بر خلاف بسياري از فيلم‌هاي داستاني نمايش داده شده در طي سال بار سياسي مستقيمي دارند كه در تقابل با سينماي عقيم تجاري قرار مي‌گيرد. اين ده انتخاب، از بين آن آثاري‌اند كه در فستيوال‌ها يا در اكران‌هاي عمومي در اروپا به نمايش درآمده‌اند:

10

نشنال گالري (فردريك وايزمن؛ فرانسه/آمريكا/بريتانيا)

اين مطالعه درخشانِ موزۀ نشنال گالري در لندن در ردۀ فيلم‌هاي «هنرهاي اروپايي» وايزمن جا مي‌گيرد (كه آثار پيشين آن فيلم‌هاي مثل رقص و كريزي هورس هستند) و در آن از خود كلكسيون عظيم موزه تا نحوۀ قاب گرفتن و مرمت كردنشان با چنان جزيياتي نمايش داده مي‌شود كه از تماشاي بتمن عليه سوپرمن غافل‌گيركننده‌تر است. صبر و دقت وايزمن مثل يكي از آن نقاش‌هاي منظر قرن هجدهمي است كه ماه‌ها را به مطالعه يك منظر و سپس ثبت آن روي بوم مي‌گذراند.

The Bloodless Battles of Documentary Cinema

يادداشت زير براي فصلنامۀ «سينما حقيقت» نوشته شده و در آن سعي كردم دلايل پشت انتخاب‌هايم براي «بهترين مستندهاي تاريخ سينما»، رأي‌گيري ماهنامۀ سينمايي «سايت اند ساوند» در سال 2014، را توضيح بدهم. محض يادآوري فيلم‌هاي انتخابي من اين‌ها بودند: صداي جاز (جك اسمايت، 1957)؛ روياي نور (ويكتور اريسه، 1992)؛ شوا (كلود لانزمان، 1985)؛ تاريخ‌(هاي) سينما (ژان لوك گدار، 1988)؛ خانه سياه است (فروغ فرخ‌زاد، 1962)؛ هتل ترمينوس: زندگي و دوران كلاوس باربي (مارسل افولس، 1988)؛ رابينسن در فضا (پاتريك كيلر، 1997)؛ درس‌هايي در ظلمت (ورنر هرتزوك، 1992)؛ پ مثل پليكان (پرويز كيمياوي، 1972)؛ نبرد شيلي (پاتريسيو گوزمان، 1976).

دربارۀ يك انتخاب

نبردهاي بي‌خونريزيِ سينماي مستند

احسان خوش‌بخت

اين رأي‌گيري بايد خيلي زودتر از اين‌ها انجام مي‌شد. در عين حال نگاه كنيد كه بيش‌تر فيلم‌هاي انتخابي، اگر بر حسب دهه دسته‌بندي‌شان كنيم، مال پنج دهه اخيرند، يعني فيلم‌هاي مستند محبوب سينماگران و منتقدان بيش از نيم قرن بعد از تولد سينما ساخته شده‌اند. اين نكته باعث مي‌شود تا حاصل اين انتخاب در نقطه مقابل سينماي داستاني قرار بگيرد كه غول‌ها و نام‌هاي ستايش شده‌اش به نيمه اول قرن تعلق دارند (گريفيث، اشتروهايم، چاپلين، ولز، هيچكاك). آيا نتيجه‌گيري مي‌‌تواند چنين بيان شود كه سينماي مستند هنوز بالنسبه جوان است و به همين خاطر كم‌تر از حدي كه مستحق آن بوده مورد توجه قرار گرفته است؟ اگر چنين استدلالي را بپذيريم بايد خودمان را براي دادن پاسخي قانع‌كننده براي پرسشي تاريخي آماده كنيم كه مگر سينما از همان آغاز– خروج كارگران از كارخانه يا معادل‌هاي آلماني، آمريكايي و انگليسي سينماي اوليه – مستند نبوده است؟

اگر نخواهيم تدوين مفهوم سينماي مستند توسط فيلم‌سازان بريتانيايي در دهه 1930 را در نظر بگيريم - كه يك‌ چشم‌پوشي بر حق است چرا كه آن‌ها فقط چيزي را تعريف كردند كه از آغاز سينما وجود داشته - بايد گفت اين حس اضطرار تاريخي سينماي مستند است كه باعث مي‌شود فيلم‌هاي مستند هر دوره بيش‌تر به معاصرانش خوش بيايد و با آن‌ها ارتباط برقرار كند. خر.ج كارگران از كارخانه‌اي در ليون براي ما سندي از اواخر قرن نوزدهم است، اما در زمان نمايش اوليه‌اش، سندي از «حال» بوده است.

Best Films of 2014

Some of my favorite films of the year as published (or to be published in early January) on Keyframe, Senses of Cinema, and MUBI Notebook.

فيلم‌هاي برگزيدۀ سال