A Note on Selection and Organization Criteria

The films in our canon were categorized according to the year of their U.S. theatrical release and the distributor behind it — except in cases where a.) the time between the film’s international release and its U.S. one exceeded five years, or b.) the film never received any U.S. theatrical release. Those films were instead categorized by the year of their earliest, at least semi-verifiable theatrical release (or otherwise first public exhibition, in the absence of any contemporaneous theatrical release, such as was the with Killer of Sheep), and the distributor behind it (if available). This also means that music videos, YouTube content, television series, etc., could be excluded with fair reason — a line had to be drawn somewhere. Generally, films were selected for this canon based on their critical regard, their subject matter, their historical relevance, and/or popularity. As such, not all films in our canon are great, or even necessarily good. They are, however, in our estimation, important: worthy of time from any discerning viewer who seeks to understand and appreciate the medium. (Also available is a searchable, full-text version of the Film Canon.)

JUMP TO:
2000s | 1990s | 1980s | 1970s | 1960s | 1950s