Film series: The Greatest Films of All Time?
Every ten years, the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine publishes a list of the “Greatest Films of All Time” and, this fall, we invite you to join us at Cornell Cinema to revisit—or see for the first time—a selection of films from this year’s list.
Voted on by scholars, critics, and filmmakers, the Sight and Sound rankings frequently spark debate amongst film enthusiasts who may or may not agree that the films atop the list are indeed the “greatest.” When the BFI released the results of its most recent poll in December 2022, a film by a woman director topped the list for the first time in its history, unseating Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), which had gained the top spot in 2012 over Orson Welles’ landmark Citizen Kane (1941). Such changes create a fresh opportunity to question what makes a film “great”—and importantly, who gets to decide.
Our Cornell Cinema series will feature two films that have long been included in the top ten (Vertigo, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 and Tokyo Story, dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1953, in 35mm), two films that are new to the top ten this year (Beau Travail, dir. Claire Denis, 1999 and In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar Wai, 1987, in 35mm), two films that are new to the list entirely (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, dir. Céline Sciamma, 2019 and Tropical Malady, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004, in 35mm)—and, of course, the film that claimed this year’s top spot, Chantal Ackerman’s epic and mesmerizing Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, in 35mm).
As you watch throughout the semester, we encourage you to reflect on your own criteria for cinematic greatness. Our goal is to position Cornell Cinema as a space where we can at once appreciate, interrogate, and expand the cinematic canon, paying close attention to the ways lists of great films change over time and are shaped by various social, political, historical, and cultural conditions.
Featuring
Beau Travail
directed by Claire Denis (1998 France)
Friday, September 1, 2023, 7pm
Sunday, September 3, 2023, 5:30pm
In the Mood for Love
directed by Wong Kar-wai (2001 Hong Kong)
Screens in a 35mm restoration print, courtesy of Janus Films
Thursday, September 21, 2023, 9pm
Friday, September 22, 2023, 7pm
Contempt
directed by Jean-Luc Godard (1963 France)
4K Restoration
Saturday, October 14, 2023, 5:30pm
Sunday, October 22, 2023, 7:00pm
Tokyo Story
directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1953 Japan)
Screens in a 35mm print, courtesy of Janus Films
Saturday, October 14, 2023, 8pm
Thursday, October 19, 2023, 9pm
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
directed by Chantal Ackerman (1975 France)
Screens in a 35mm print, courtesy of Janus Films
Saturday, October 21, 2023, 8pm
Sunday, October 22, 2023, 2:30pm
Friday, October 27, 2023, 7pm
Vertigo
directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1958 USA)
Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 7pm
Saturday, October 28, 2023, 7:30pm
Tropical Malady
directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2004 Thailand)
Screens in a 35mm collection print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Saturday, November 11, 2023, 7pm
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
directed by Celine Sciamma (2019 France)
Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 7pm
Tuesday, December 5, 2023, 7pm
