https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time?ok=
"It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." - David Attenborough
The Japanese Contemporary Arthouse Guide asked 18 Japanese directors to name 5 documentaries to introduce new viewers to the charm of cinema.
Original answers (Japanese):
https://arthouse-guide.jp/#enquete
Translation by @Asian_docs:
https://twitter.com/Asian_docs/status/1574343628729683968
Which directors have selected a given film is indicated in the film's note.
Links to directors on Trakt:
Irie Yu: https://trakt.tv/people/yu-irie
Ogawa Sara: https://trakt.tv/people/sara-ogawa
Oda Kaori: https://trakt.tv/people/kaori-oda
Kusano Natsuka: https://trakt.tv/people/natsuka-kusano
Komori Haruka: https://trakt.tv/people/haruka-komori
Shimada Ryuichi: https://trakt.tv/people/ryuichi-shimada
Shiraishi Koji: https://trakt.tv/people/koji-shiraishi
Seta Natsuki: https://trakt.tv/people/natsuki-seta
Soda Kazuhiro: https://trakt.tv/people/kazuhiro-soda
Tomita Katsuya: https://trakt.tv/people/katsuya-tomita
Hirose Nanako: https://trakt.tv/people/nanako-hirose
Fukada Koji: https://trakt.tv/people/koji-fukada
Fujimoto Akio: https://trakt.tv/people/akio-fujimoto
Hokimoto Sora: https://trakt.tv/people/hokimoto-sora
Matsubayashi Yoju: https://trakt.tv/people/yoju-matsubayashi
Miyake Sho: https://trakt.tv/people/sho-miyake
Yamanaka Yoko: https://trakt.tv/people/yoko-yamanaka
Yokohama Satoko: https://trakt.tv/people/satoko-yokohama
Movies I need to see
The real good stuff.
The They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1,000 greatest films list is primarily compiled by using over 6000 individual critics' and filmmakers' best-films-of-all-time lists/ballots. The resulting list is very diverse and spans virtually all movie-producing decades and countries.
Source: http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm
Movies released during the 1990s to watch
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? (TSPDT) is a modest but growing film resource dedicated to the art of motion picture filmmaking and most specifically to that one particular individual calling the shots from behind the camera - the film director.
This list is based on TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films, a list compilated by Bill Georgaris using thousands of best-of/all-time lists.
www.theyshootpictures.com
Over 1,000 films are listed in this visually arresting, full-color celebration of the silver screen. Film personalities, including actors, directors, cinematographers, and animators, write about their favorite films from a variety of angles. Martin Scorsese, Nicole Kidman, and Nick Hornby are among those who weigh in. Writers are matched to suitable (or sometimes surprising) themes and genres within the wider subject of how films can alter the course of a life. Movie stills and posters, trivia, and top-ten lists make this a book that can be dipped into or read from cover to cover. Great screen moments — endings, beginnings, kisses, death scenes — are given special spreads. The eclectic approach speaks to fans of big Hollywood blockbusters and factoid-reciting film geeks alike.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Time-1000-Films-Change-Guides/dp/1904978738
The Story of Film: An Odyssey, a 15-part series written and directed by award-winning film-maker Mark Cousins, is the story of international cinema told through the history of cinematic innovation.
The series provides a worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made; an epic tale that starts in nickelodeons and ends as a multi-billion-dollar globalised digital industry."
Note: "Motion Capture Mirrors Emotion (2009) dir. Jorge Ribas," a documentary about the making of Avatar, is missing because it does not appear to have an imdb page.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Cinema-Hollywood-Dream/dp/B00AMQ1B1O
The top films in the 2012 Sight and Sound Poll from the combined votes of 846 critics and 359 directors. Contains films with 3 or more votes. In order by number of votes.
The following is a list of positions and the number of corresponding votes. 21-22 (66 votes), 27-28 (55 votes), 29-30 (54 votes), 36-37 (46 votes), 39-42 (44 votes), 43-46 (43 votes), 47-50 (41 votes), 51-52 (40 votes), 53-55 (39 votes), 56-57 (38 votes), 59-60 (35 votes), 62-74 (33 votes), 75-77 (32 votes), 78-79 (31 votes), 82-88 (28 votes), 89-90 (27 votes), 91-93 (26 votes), 94-99 (25 votes), 100-103 (24 votes), 104-106 (23 votes), 107-110 (22 votes), 111-118 (21 votes), 119-127 (20 votes), 128-139 (19 votes), 140-146 (18 votes), 147-153 (17 votes), 154-166 (16 votes), 167-182 (15 votes), 183-193 (14 votes), 194-206 (13 votes), 207-228 (12 votes), 229-243 (11 votes), 244-271 (10 votes), 272-302 (9 votes), 303-330 (8 votes), 331-375 (7 votes), 376-423 (6 votes), 424-497 (5 votes), 498-624 (4 votes), 625-817 (3 votes)
Source: http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012
In 2014, Sight & Sound polled 340 documentary critics, curators, academics and filmmakers asking for top 10 documentary lists. Over 1000 films got votes, from years as early as 1892 to as recent as 2013. This list is the combined critics and filmmakers list of all films that received 3 or more votes.
Source: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-sound-magazine/greatest-docs
From a poll of 100 notable Spaniards asking for their top 10s, conducted by the magazine Nickel Odeón for their Winter 1995 issue.
This list is "an educational resource that offers guidance and encouragement as students seek to find points of orientation within the vast history of film and video." It is not a list of the best films of all time. Rather, it reflects a variety of criteria.
Source: https://ves.fas.harvard.edu/files/ves/files/fvs_suggested_viewing_2012.pdf
This is a list compiled as a result of a poll by Caimán Cuadernos de Cinema magazine, which is the Spanish branch of Cahiers du Cinéma.
350 experts were consulted: journalists, film critics, historians, professors, intellectuals, festival managers... People involved in the creative process were left out. According to the magazine, this way provides an external approach, a more objective one.
Source: https://www.caimanediciones.es/la-encuesta-caiman-listado-completo/
100 Documentary Films is the first book to offer concise and authoritative individual critical commentaries on some of the key documentary films - from the Lumière brothers and the beginnings of cinema through to recent films such as Bowling for Columbine and When the Levees Broke - and is global in perspective. Many different types of documentary are discussed, as well as films by major documentary directors, including Robert Flaherty, Humphrey Jennings, Jean Rouch, Dziga Vertov, Errol Morris, Nick Broomfield and Michael Moore. Each entry provides concise critical analysis, while frequent cross reference to other films featured helps to place films in their historical and aesthetic contexts.
Source: http://shop.bfi.org.uk/100-documentary-films.html#.WgywgGhSzIU
Liste des films présents dans le livre et le site Movieland www.movieland.io
TSPDT's The 1,000 Greatest Films
13th Edition (January 2018)
List curated by Bill Georgaris on They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
Notes: Olympia (#750/751) is a single entry on TSPDT, but as two entries on Trakt.
Source: https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm
1500 Greatest Movies - 2
by OldrichFergus2