2019
Intro
The following films appeared on year-end lists in Cinema Scope, Film Comment, The New York Times, and Sight & Sound. Selection for the Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, New York, Rotterdam, Sundance, Telluride, Toronto, and Venice film festivals is noted.
Films
Ad Astra
USA
James Gray
Lists: Film Comment (20, 2019)
Festivals: Venice (In Competition, 2019)
American Factory
USA
Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Lists: New York Times (8 - Dargis, 2019)
Festivals: Sundance (US Documentary Competition, 2019)
Atlantics
Atlantique
France, Senegal, Belgium
Mati Diop
Lists: Film Comment (5, 2019) | New York Times (10 - Scott, 2019) | Sight & Sound (7, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Contemporary World Cinema, 2019)
Bait
UK
Mark Jenkin
Lists: Film Comment (8 - Undistributed, 2019) | Sight & Sound (8, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019)
Belonging
Aidiyet
Turkey, Canada, France
Burak Çevik
Lists: Film Comment (9 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019)
Bird Island
L'Île aux oiseaux
Switzerland
Sergio da Costa, Maya Kosa
Lists: Film Comment (16 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Locarno (Filmmakers of the Present, 2019)
The Devil Between the Legs
El Diablo entre las Piernas
Mexico
Arturo Ripstein
Lists: Film Comment (20 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Toronto (Masters, 2019)
The Edge of Democracy
Brazil
Petra Costa
Lists: New York Times (8 - Scott, 2019)
Festivals: Sundance (World Cinema Documentary Competition, 2019)
Endless Night
Longa noite
Spain
Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro
Lists: Film Comment (2 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Locarno (International Competition, 2019) | New York (Projections, 2019) | Rotterdam (Bright Future, 2020) | Toronto (Wavelengths, 2019)
For Sama
UK, Syria
Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
Lists: Sight & Sound (15, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Special Screenings, 2019)
Heimat Is a Space in Time
Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit
Germany, Austria
Thomas Heise
Lists: Cinema Scope (6, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019) | New York (Projections, 2019) | Toronto (Wavelengths, 2019)
Honeyland
North Macedonia
Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov
Lists: New York Times (1 - Scott, 2019)
Festivals: Sundance (World Cinema Documentary Competition, 2019)
Hustlers
USA
Lorena Scafaria
Lists: Sight & Sound (19, 2019)
Festivals: Toronto (Gala Presentations)
I Was at Home, But…
Ich war zuhause, aber
Germany, Serbia
Angela Schanelec
Lists: Cinema Scope (1, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Masters, 2019)
The Irishman
USA
Martin Scorsese
Lists: Cinema Scope (10, 2019) | Film Comment (2, 2019) | New York Times (2 - Dargis / 4 - Scott, 2019) | Sight & Sound (3, 2019)
Festivals: New York (Main Slate - Opening Night, 2019)
It Must Be Heaven
France, Qatar, Germany, Canada, Palestine, Turkey
Elia Suleiman
Lists: Film Comment (12 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | Toronto (Masters, 2019)
Just 6.5
Metri shesho nim
Iran
Saeed Roustaee
Lists: Film Comment (15 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Rotterdam (Limelight, 2020) | Venice (Horizons, 2019)
Just Don't Think I'll Scream
Ne croyez surtout pas que je hurle
France
Frank Beauvais
Lists: Cinema Scope (Special Mention, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
USA
Joe Talbot
Lists: New York Times (10 - Dargis, 2019)
Festivals: Locarno (International Competition, 2019) | Sundance (US Dramatic Competition, 2019)
Liberté
France, Portugal, Spain
Albert Serra
Lists: Cinema Scope (5, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Rotterdam (Signatures, 2020) | Toronto (Wavelengths, 2019)
The Lighthouse
Canada, USA
Robert Eggers
Lists: Sight & Sound (17, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Directors' Fortnight, 2019) | Rotterdam (Limelight, 2020) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019)
Lina From Lima
Lina de Lima
Chile, Argentina, Peru
María Paz González
Lists: Film Comment (19 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Toronto (Discovery, 2019)
Little Women
USA
Greta Gerwig
Lists: New York Times (4 - Dargis / 6 - Scott, 2019)
Marriage Story
USA
Noah Baumbach
Lists: Film Comment (11, 2019) | New York Times (5 - Scott, 2019) | Sight & Sound (14, 2019)
Festivals: New York (Main Slate - Centerpiece, 2019) | Telluride (2019) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019) | Venice (In Competition, 2019)
Martin Eden
Italy, France
Pietro Marcello
Lists: Cinema Scope (3, 2019) | Sight & Sound (20, 2019)
Festivals: New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Platform, 2019) | Venice (In Competition, 2019)
Midnight in Paris
USA
James Blagden, Roni Moore
Lists: Film Comment (10 - Undistributed, 2019)
Midsommar
USA
Ari Aster
Lists: Sight & Sound (16, 2019)
Monos
Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Uruguay
Alejandro Landes
Lists: Sight & Sound (13, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Panorama, 2019) | Sundance (World Cinema Dramatic Competition, 2019)
MS Slavic 7
Canada
Sofia Bohdanowicz, Deragh Campbell
Lists: Film Comment (4 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019)
No Data Plan
USA
Miko Revereza
Lists: Film Comment (11 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Rotterdam (Bright Future, 2019)
Oh Mercy!
Roubaix, une lumière
France
Arnaud Desplechin
Lists: Film Comment (6 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019)
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
USA
Quentin Tarantino
Lists: Cinema Scope (8, 2019) | Film Comment (3, 2019) | New York Times (5 - Dargis / 9 - Scott, 2019) | Sight & Sound (4, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | Locarno (Piazza Grande, 2019)
One Child Nation
China, USA
Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang
Lists: New York Times (9 - Dargis, 2019)
Festivals: Sundance (US Documentary Competition, 2019)
Pain and Glory
Dolor y gloria
Spain
Pedro Almodóvar
Lists: Film Comment (9, 2019) | New York Times (1 - Dargis, 2019) | Sight & Sound (6, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Telluride (2019) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019)
Parasite
Gisaengchung
South Korea
Bong Joon-ho
Lists: Cinema Scope (7, 2019) | Film Comment (1, 2019) | New York Times (3 - Dargis / 3 - Scott, 2019) | Sight & Sound (2, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | Locarno (Histoire(s) du cinéma, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Telluride (2019) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019)
Peterloo
UK
Mike Leigh
Lists: New York Times (7 - Scott, 2019)
Festivals: Telluride (2018) | Toronto (Masters, 2018) | Venice (In Competition, 2018)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
France
Céline Sciamma
Lists: Film Comment (19, 2019) | Sight & Sound (5, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Telluride (2019) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019)
Present.Perfect.
Wan mei xian zai shi
USA, Hong Kong
Shengze Zhu
Lists: Cinema Scope (Special Mention, 2019) | Film Comment (5 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Rotterdam (Tiger Competition, 2019)
So Pretty
USA, France
Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli
Lists: Film Comment (14 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019)
The Souvenir
UK
Joanna Hogg
Lists: Film Comment (6, 2019) | New York Times (2 - Scott, 2019) | Sight & Sound (1, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Panorama, 2019) | Sundance (World Cinema Dramatic Competition, 2019)
State Funeral
Gosudarstvennyye pokhorony
Netherlands, Lithuania
Sergei Loznitsa
Lists: Cinema Scope (Special Mention, 2019) | Film Comment (1 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: New York (Spotlight on Documentary, 2019) | Toronto (Wavelengths, 2019) | Venice (Out of Competition, 2019)
Synonyms
Synonymes
France, Israel, Germany
Nadav Lapid
Lists: Cinema Scope (9, 2019) | Film Comment (15, 2019) | New York Times (6 - Dargis, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Contemporary World Cinema, 2019)
To the Ends of the Earth
Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari
Japan, Uzbekistan, Qatar
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Lists: Film Comment (3 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Locarno (Piazza Grande, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Masters, 2019)
Tommaso
Italy
Abel Ferrara
Lists: Film Comment (7 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Special Screenings, 2019)
The Traitor
Il traditore
Italy
Marco Bellocchio
Lists: Cinema Scope (Special Mention, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Masters, 2019)
Transit
Germany, France
Christian Petzold
Lists: Cinema Scope (4, 2018) | Film Comment (4, 2019) | New York Times (7 - Dargis, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Competition, 2018) | New York (Main Slate, 2018) | Toronto (Masters, 2018)
Uncut Gems
USA
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Lists: Cinema Scope (4, 2019) | Film Comment (10, 2019) | Sight & Sound (12, 2019)
Festivals: New York (Special Events, 2019) | Telluride (2019) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019)
Us
USA
Jordan Peele
Lists: Film Comment (17, 2019) | Sight & Sound (9, 2019)
Vitalina Varela
Portugal
Pedro Costa
Lists: Cinema Scope (2, 2019) | Sight & Sound (10, 2019)
Festivals: Locarno (International Competition, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Rotterdam (Signatures, 2020) | Sundance (New Frontier, 2020) | Toronto (Wavelengths, 2019)
Wasp Network
France, Spain, Brazil
Olivier Assayas
Lists: Film Comment (13 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Special Presentations, 2019) | Venice (In Competition, 2019)
What We Left Unfinished
USA, Afghanistan, Qatar
Mariam Ghani
Lists: Film Comment (17 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Berlin (Forum, 2019)
You Will Die at Twenty
Sudan, France, Egypt, Germany, Norway, Qatar
Amjad Abu Alala
Lists: Film Comment (18 - Undistributed, 2019)
Festivals: Toronto (Contemporary World Cinema, 2019) | Venice (Venice Days, 2019)
Zombi Child
France
Bertrand Bonello
Lists: Cinema Scope (Special Mention, 2019)
Festivals: Cannes (Directors' Fortnight, 2019) | New York (Main Slate, 2019) | Toronto (Masters, 2019)