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Award Winning
With garlands and glamour, cinema’s spirit of self-congratulation has long fascinated, allowing great works to gain recognition and reach wide audiences.
The famous example is Kurosawa’s Rashomon, which astounded Venice and thrust Japanese cinema on the world stage. But awards still have the power to elevate films and help secure their place in the pantheon. Our collection highlights the films that have won the praise of peers over the years, from Palme d’Or recipients to prize-winners from the BFI London Film Festival.
Bicycle ThievesBicycle Thieves
Drama 1948 89 minsDirector: Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema.
Breathless [À bout de souffle]Breathless [À bout de souffle]
Film noir 1960 90 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature, an insouciant and iconoclastic crime film that paved the way for the French New Wave.
The ArborThe Arbor
Biopic 2010 90 minsDirector: Clio Barnard
Clio Barnard's film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays.
All in Good TimeAll in Good Time
Comedy 2012 94 minsDirector: Nigel Cole
A pair of newlyweds endure a honeymoon staying with the groom's parents in a comedy from East Is East writer Ayub Khan-Din.
Black NarcissusBlack Narcissus
Drama 1947 101 minsDirector: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Tensions grow when a group of nuns open a convent in the Himalayas in Powell and Pressburger’s remarkable melodrama, starring Deborah Kerr.
BlancanievesBlancanieves
Drama 2011 105 minsDirector: Pablo Berger
Pablo Berger’s imaginative black-and-white ‘silent’ movie relocates the story of Snow White to 1920s Spain – complete with bullfighting dwarfs
Brick LaneBrick Lane
Drama 2007 97 minsDirector: Sarah Gavron
Sarah Gavron’s subtle and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel charts the experiences of a Bangladeshi woman in London.
Brief EncounterBrief Encounter
Romance 1946 86 minsDirector: David Lean
Noël Coward’s tale of a love affair, thrillingly played out with tight British reserve.
Distant Voices, Still LivesDistant Voices, Still Lives
Biopic 1988 84 minsDirector: Terence Davies
Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory.
Dodes'Ka-DenDodes'Ka-Den
Drama 1970 140 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s first colour film is an eccentric and joyous account of a group of disparate people living in a city dump.
DogtoothDogtooth
Drama 2009 93 minsDirector: Yorgos Lanthimos
Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships
The Elephant ManThe Elephant Man
Biopic 1980 124 minsDirector: David Lynch
David Lynch's moving true-life tale of the severely deformed Joseph Merrick and his rescue from the hell of a Victorian circus sideshow.
FitzcarraldoFitzcarraldo
Drama 1981 157 minsDirector: Werner Herzog
One of Werner Herzog's most acclaimed and audacious films, Fitzcarraldo tells the incredible story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an opera-loving fortune hunter who dreams of bringing opera to the heart of the Peruvian jungle.
For Those in PerilFor Those in Peril
Drama 2013 92 minsDirector: Paul Wright
An intense and mysterious drama about the lone survivor of a strange fishing accident who’s outcast and persecuted by his fellow villagers.
GertrudGertrud
Drama 1964 116 minsDirector: Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s final masterpiece centres on a woman who rejects the compromise of her marriage and retreats into a serene isolation.
Great Expectations Great Expectations
Drama 1947 118 minsDirector: David Lean
The first of David Lean’s two Dickens adaptations is one of the finest British literary interpretations and one of the most acclaimed of all British films.
HamletHamlet
Drama 1948 153 minsDirector: Laurence Olivier
The first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar remains one of the strongest examples of Shakespeare on film.
Henry VHenry V
Biopic 1944 131 minsDirector: Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier rouses an all-star cast and an imperiled nation with his magnificent adaptation of Shakespeare's warrior monarch.
How I Ended This SummerHow I Ended This Summer
Drama 2010 124 minsDirector: Alexei Popogrebsky
Alexei Popogrebski's taut psychological drama depicts two Arctic meteorologists (a veteran and a novice); secrets, lies and isolation take their toll
The HuntThe Hunt
Drama 2012 111 minsDirector: Thomas Vinterberg
Mads Mikkelsen stars in a distressing examination of a false indictment, and the collective hysteria that ensues, in this electrifying drama from Festen director Thomas Vinterberg.
My Brother the DevilMy Brother the Devil
Drama 2012 107 minsDirector: Sally El Hosaini
Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.
Opening NightOpening Night
Drama 1977 144 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes’s emotionally charged film stands as one of the great American movies about theatre and the art of performance.
Ordet.Ordet.
Drama 1955 125 minsDirector: Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s beautifully photographed tale explores the religious intolerance and familial tensions within a Danish farming family.
PaisàPaisà
War 1946 126 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini’s ambitious and enormously moving follow-up to his breakthrough Rome, Open City.
RanRan
Drama 1985 154 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.
Red BeardRed Beard
Drama 1965 180 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s episodic, poignant story of a 19th-century doctor (Toshiro Mifune) working in a clinic for the poor and his tumultuous friendship with a young intern.
Red RoadRed Road
Thriller 2006 110 minsDirector: Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold’s highly acclaimed film, winner of top prizes at Cannes and the BFI London Film Festival, is a haunting drama about a woman confronting past demons.
Rome, Open CityRome, Open City
Drama 1945 103 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini’s landmark of Italian neorealism often cited as one of the greatest films ever made.
Seven SamuraiSeven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.
She, a ChineseShe, a Chinese
Drama 2010 99 minsDirector: Xiaolu Guo
British-Chinese director Xiaolu Guo’s story of a young woman's journey from a remote Chinese village to London, in an attempt to realise the Western consumer dream.
The ShoutThe Shout
Drama 1978 83 minsDirector: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cannes’ Grand Jury Prize was awarded to this unnerving drama about a man who claims to be able to kill people with a ‘terror shout’ learned from an Aboriginal shaman.
A Simple LifeA Simple Life
Drama 2011 118 minsDirector: Ann Hui On-Wah
A wealthy film executive reconnects with the nanny who raised him, in a touching drama from the great humanist of the Hong Kong New Wave, Ann Hui.
This Sporting LifeThis Sporting Life
Sport 1963 129 minsDirector: Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson’s fantastic first feature masterfully dissects the brutal life struggles of a rough-edged rugby footballer on and off the field.
The Village ChurchThe Village Church
Documentary 1947 14 minsDirector: Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer recounts the history of churches in Denmark, in this hypnotic and powerfully realised short.
Whisky Galore!Whisky Galore!
Comedy 1949 83 minsDirector: Alexander Mackendrick
Ealing's thirstiest comedy: "the longest unsponsored advertisement ever to reach cinema screens"?
A Woman Under the InfluenceA Woman Under the Influence
Drama 1974 146 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes' powerful drama stars Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as a blue-collar couple struggling to cope with the wife's slide into mental illness.
YojimboYojimbo
Crime 1961 111 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s classic about a drifting samurai who plays two gangs off against each other, famously remade as A Fistful of Dollars.