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Great Debuts
First impressions count. These features launched some of cinema's highest achievers, showing the themes and techniques to which many would return.
Whether on land, at sea or on the road, these debuts show what happens when an instinct for storytelling meets the medium in which it will blossom.
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 Immortal OneThe Immortal One
Drama 1962 101 minsDirector: Alain Robbe-Grillet
The debut feature from famed novelist and screenwriter Alain Robbe-Grillet is a daring examination of fantasy and memory set in Turkey.
ShadowsShadows
Drama 1959 82 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes' directorial debut follows the relationship between a mixed-race woman and a white man.
Loving MemoryLoving Memory
Drama 1970 52 minsDirector: Tony Scott
An unsettling portrait of love and loss by the director of Top Gun.
UnrelatedUnrelated
Drama 2008 96 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg
On a Tuscan break a fortysomething woman finds herself drawn to the company of a group of partying teens, including a young Tom Hiddleston (in one of his earliest roles).
Radio OnRadio On
Road movie 1979 100 minsDirector: Chris Petit
Chris Petit's cult classic is one of the most striking feature debuts in British cinema – a haunting blend of edgy mystery story and existential road movie.
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.
Sanshiro SugataSanshiro Sugata
Crime 1943 79 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s assured debut film about a young man’s spiritual journey through the study and practice of judo.
The FallsThe Falls
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 195 minsDirector: Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway's epic first feature, constructed as an excerpt from an imagined, filmic directory listing everyone affected by VUE – the Violent Unknown Event
In Which We ServeIn Which We Serve
War 1942 114 minsDirector: David Lean and Noël Coward
Noel Coward and David Lean direct this affecting drama of a Royal Navy crew recalling their lives in flashback, as their ship sinks.