Personal Lists featuring...

The Ambassador 2011

81

Documentaries of Mads Brügger, sorted by release order

75

Two times a year—at the halfway point and during list-making season in November—I send out a list of “significant” movies to the film staff so they can try to see as many as possible before our Year In Film feature. It’s just a simple checklist, presented in the order each film was released theatrically in New York City. The idea is to give our writers time to catch up and give relative obscurities like The Arbor (last year’s No. 13 on our conjoined Best Of The Year list) the same collective consideration as more widely heralded efforts like The Tree Of Life. In the interest of transparency—and recommending a bunch of movies we love—I’m making the halftime list public this year so our readers can play along at home. A few caveats:
- My staff inevitably comes back to me with omissions, and I suspect there will be many in the comments below. We’ll add the big ones to our year-end checklist.
- Normally, the list goes out without categories. The ones below, particularly “The Essentials,” are a reflection of my taste and priorities. Mileage will definitely vary.
- Within the categories, titles are still listed in order of release in NYC through the weekend of July 13th, not in order of preference.
- Overall, the momentum from last year’s embarrassment of cinematic riches has continued into 2012, so now’s the time to get those queues in order.

The Essentials: From "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" to "Django Unchained"
Hollywood: The System Works!: From "The Grey" to "Lés misérables"
Auteur Obligations: From "Crazy Horse" to "Killing Them Softly"
Notable Documentaries: From "West of Memphis" to "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"
Indie Curiosities: From "Return" to "Promised Land"
Imported Goods: From "Declaration of War" to "Sister"

Source: http://www.avclub.com/articles/best-films-2012,82513/ / http://www.avclub.com/articles/best-films-of-2012-so-far-an-annotated-checklist-p,89844/

2

Rare movies that I would like to watch but can't find. Can you help?

10

Politics, Sports, History and Music

85

Well, that’s all she wrote. Another year gone by and yet another list of great documentary films. I’d say overall 2012 was a pretty great year for film with a number of stand out docs that have continued to push the boundaries of non-fiction storytelling in an exciting, cinematic way. While I did miss a few films that I’d intended to catch (How to Survive a Plague being one of them), I’d say I’m pretty confident with this list overall. Lots of stand out films that I’ll be revisiting over and over and a few that deserved a nod simply due to big ambitions and unique visions. Congratulations to all of the great films and filmmakers of 2012 and here’s looking forward to 2013!"

Source: http://www.thedocumentaryblog.com/index.php/2013/01/01/the-documentary-blogs-top-20-documentaries-of-2012/

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