May Adadol Ingawanij
Academic, Centre for Research and Education, Arts and Media, University of Westminster
Thailand/UK
Voted in the critics’ poll
Voted for
| Aguaespejo granadino | 1955 | José Val del Omar |
| Black Girl | 1965 | Ousmane Sembene |
| Brighter Summer Day, A | 1991 | Edward Yang |
| Evolution of a Filipino Family | 2004 | Lav Díaz |
| House of Trubnaia Square, The | 1928 | Boris Barnet |
| I Was Born, But… | 1932 | Ozu Yasujirô |
| Manila by Night | 1981 | Ishmael Bernal |
| Night of Counting the Years, The | 1970 | Shadi Abdel Salam |
| Spirit of the Beehive, The | 1973 | Víctor Erice |
| Syndromes and a Century | 2006 | Apichatpong Weerasethakul |
Comments
Most of the films on this list were made under conditions of repression or during moments of profound change. Creativity and political tumult are somehow linked – this we see time and again. What intrigues me is the way that filmmakers turn to the melodramatic and the experimental at such moments. Experimental films are richest when they draw on the resources of melodrama, and melodramatic films are at their most radical when they have an experimental charge. Two films on this list don’t fit this description so well. One is here because it doesn’t seem to belong to any time – such is its creativity. The other is here because it teaches us that life is very disappointing.