Every year, we invite our staff to pick their top 10 films of the year. This time around, we also asked them to answer a few questions about their most memorable cinematic experiences of 2016. Happy New Year from everyone here at the Film Society of Lincoln Center!
Dan Sullivan, Assistant Programmer
1. Nocturama + Sarah Winchester, opéra fantôme (Bertrand Bonello)
2. The Death of Louis XIV + Singularity (Albert Serra)
3. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
4. The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
5. The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams)
6. Staying Vertical (Alain Guiraudie)
7. By the Time It Gets Dark (Anocha Suwichakornpong)
8. Yourself and Yours (Hong Sang-soo)
9. Short Stay (Ted Fendt)
10. The Dreamed Path (Angela Schanelec)
Florence Almozini, Associate Director of Programming
Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello)
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
My Golden Days (Arnaud Desplechin)
Kaili Blues (Bi Gan)
In the Shadow of Women (Philippe Garrel)
The Treasure (Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
The restoration of Andrzej Ĺ»uĹ‚awski’s On the Silver Globe. Not technically the first time I saw it, but the restoration is so incredible that it felt like it was the first time.
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Christiane F. It never gets old!
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2017?
Nothing specific, I just want to be surprised.
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
Tough choice, maybe Manoel de Oliveira’s Tetralogy of Frustrated Love.
What was your favorite repertory series elsewhere?
Jean Eustache at the Metrograph.
What’s the best movie you saw this year that never played at the Film Society?
Embrace of the Serpent
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
Meeting Jean-Pierre LĂ©aud in person, a.k.a. Mr. Antoine Doinel.
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
All the Q&As with Paul Verhoeven.
Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest.
A late night Q&A with Jonas Mekas, when he asserted: “I don’t make artistic statements!”
Tell us about something funny or interesting you overheard at the Film Society this year.
The kids’ discussion with the director after an educational screening of The New Kid in Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, asking if they could be cast in the American remake.
Harrison Asen, Ticketing Services Manager
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Rear Window, my girlfriend grabbed my arm due to the suspense, that’s how great that movie is.
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Taxi Driver, opening night at the Metrograph.
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2017?
Alex Ross Perry’s Golden Exits, great cast with a great director.
What’s the best movie you saw this year that never played at the Film Society?
Indignation, a great Philip Roth adaptation with one of the best two-handers of the year.
Matthew Dinda, Corporate Sponsorship Associate
Allied
American Honey
Arrival
The Handmaiden
Jackie
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
My Love, Don’t Cross That River
Sing Street
The Witch
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
I finally caught up with Suddenly, Last Summer, which I’ve been meaning to watch for so long. When it was over I wanted to restart and watch the whole thing again.
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2017?
Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled. It may be my Kidmania, but it sounds like a perfect match of auteur and material.
Alex Hunter, Digital Marketing Associate
20th Century Women
Aquarius
Elle
Embrace of the Serpent
I Am Not Your Negro
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
O.J.: Made in America
The Other Side
Toni Erdmann
The best old movies I saw for the first time this year were High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) and Husbands (John Cassavetes, 1970)–both the same week at Metrograph!–and the best one I saw for the millionth time was The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955).
Laura Kern, Managing Editor of Film Comment
Top 10 Horror Movies of 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Don’t Breathe
Emelie
Evolution
The Pack
The Shallows
Southbound
Train to Busan
The Witch
Special Mention: The first 10 minutes of The Devil’s Dolls
Fernando Martinez, Ticketing Systems Manager
10. Deadpool
9. Multiple Maniacs (4K restoration)
8. The Green Room
7. Captain America: Civil War
6. Rogue One
5. Streits: Matzo and the American Dream
4. Shin Gojira (had no business being as good as it was)
3. The Treasure
2. Rams
1. Embrace of the Serpent
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2017?
Honestly? Spider-man: Homecoming!
What’s the best movie you saw this year that never played at the Film Society?
Embrace of the Serpent
John Oursler, Senior Major Gifts Officer
1. Toni Erdmann
2. Elle
3. 20th Century Women
4. Moonlight
5. The Other Side
6. Certain Women
7. The Witch
8. The Neon Demon
9. Cemetery of Splendor
10. No Home Movie
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
The Damned (Luchino Visconti)
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2017?
The Beguiled – Kiki Dunst and Nicole Kidman in a film by Sofia Coppola? I need it yesterday.
Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest.
Meeting Terence Davies and telling him that The Long Day Closes perfectly captured what it felt like for me to grow up as a young gay boy finding refuge in the cinema.
Jeryll Adler, Consultant, Advertising
Tie for #1:
Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea
#2-10 in alphabetical order:
13th
20th Century Women
Aquarius
Florence Foster Jenkins
Julieta
Les Cowboys
Neruda
Slash
Toni Erdmann
Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest
Mine was after an NYFF screening of Moonlight at the Walter Reade Theater. I stayed for Amy Taubin’s Q&A with Barry Jenkins and approached Amy, standing with Barry, afterwards. I gushed like a fan girl and did something I have never done before—I asked for his autograph and presented my ticket stub for him to sign. He did. I will treasure it always.
Rebecca Williamson, Events Manager
The Innocents
20th Century Women
Elle
Love & Friendship
I Am Not Your Negro
Manchester by the Sea
American Honey
Arrival
Handmaiden
Moonlight
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
Total Verhoeven
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
Petting Gary Fisher
Eugene Hernandez, Deputy Director and Co-Publisher of Film Comment
1. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
2. Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
3. I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck)
4. 13th (Ava DuVernay)
5. Julieta (Pedro AlmodĂłvar)
6. American Honey (Andrea Arnold)
7. Little Men (Ira Sachs)
8. Indignation (James Schamus)
9. Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet)
10. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
Honorable mention: Bright Lights (Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens). Plus 5 more: O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman), Fences (Denzel Washington), I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach), Loving (Jeff Nichols), Spa Night (Andrew Ahn)
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall (April 22 – May 1, 2016)
What was your favorite repertory series elsewhere?
Pedro Almodóvar at MoMA (November 29 – December 17, 2016)
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
Italian director Alice Rohrwacher attending this year’s festival as our Filmmaker in Residence with Jaeger-LeCoultre.
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
The NYFF Live discussion with Kevin Gannon, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Jelani Cobb, Ashley Clark, and Malkia Cyril discussing the issues and ideas explored in Ava DuVernay’s NYFF Opening Night film, 13th.
What was your favorite live performance of the year?
Angela Lansbury singing the theme song from Beauty and the Beast at our 25th Anniversary screening of the film.
Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest.
It was great to meet and greet activist DeRay McKesson on the opening weekend of NYFF, attending the opening night screening of 13th and then back the next day for the New York premiere of Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro.
Lisa Thomas, Senior Publicist
1. Certain Women
2. Toni Erdmann
3. Moonlight
4. Kaili Blues
5. Elle
6. Sunset Song
7. Cameraperson
8. The Ornithologist
9. Lemonade
10. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (120fps version)
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Couldn’t pick just one—here are 10!
1. In the Mood for Love (Metrograph) – 2nd viewing, but 1st in a theater in 35mm
2. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Film Forum)
3. Black Girl (BAM)
4. Comrades: Almost a Love Story (Metrograph)
5. A Brighter Summer Day (BAM)
6. Dragon Inn (Film Society)
7. The Age of Innocence (Metrograph)
8. From the Notebook Of… (Film Society)
9. The Man with the Suitcase (BAM)
10. Showgirls (Film Society)
Rachel Allen, Publicist
With the caveat that I unfortunately wasn’t able to see Toni Erdmann before the deadline for this list, my top 10 of 2016 are as follows, in alphabetical order:
Cameraperson
Demon
The Fits
IxcanulÂ
Julieta
Lemonade
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
The Other Side
Sunset Song
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles + Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Splendor in the Grass at BAM! Also, seeing Crossing Delancey on 35mm at Alamo Drafthouse was a treat.
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
It took a feat of maneuvering, but after the premiere of Bright Lights, we were able to convince Carrie Fisher to partake in our 20×24 Polaroid portrait studio. As a huge fangirl, I was in awe—she was as raw, open, emotional, and sardonic at the shoot as you’d expect. Afterwards, I took her back to her car and thanked her, and she surprised me by stopping and giving me a real hug. It meant so much that she was so kind as well—it was the highlight of my NYFF, and my year, and I’m still in disbelief that we’ve lost her.
Michael Koresky, Director of Editorial and Creative Strategy
1. Aquarius
2. Toni Erdmann
3. Cameraperson
4. Cemetery of Splendor
5. No Home Movie
6. Sunset Song
7. Silence
8. Certain Women
9. Moonlight
10. The Other Side
What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda)
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
The Dead (John Huston)
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall
What was your favorite repertory series elsewhere?
De Palma at Metrograph
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
Interviewing Terence Davies and Cynthia Nixon onstage for the sublime A Quiet Passion
Nicholas Kemp, Digital Marketing Manager
Aquarius
Certain Women
Chevalier
Elle
Fire at Sea
Happy Hour
Homeland: Iraq Year Zero
Kaili Blues
Manchester by the Sea
Toni Erdmann
Special recognition for serialized “nonfiction”: RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 2. Nothing I watched brought me as much joy in 2016.
What’s the best movie you saw this year that never played at the Film Society?
The Love Witch
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
The most memorable was Roberto Minervini discussing his eye-opening documentary The Other Side on opening night of Art of the Real. It was chillingly prescient and really made me stop and think about the divide between the audience sitting in the Walter Reade Theater watching the film and the people on screen.
Maddie Whittle, Programming Operations Assistant
20th Century Women
American Honey
Elle
Hell or High Water
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
The Neon Demon
The Other Side
Toni Erdmann
The Witch
Honorable mention: Other People, Neon Bull, Certain Women, Little Men
Brian Brooks, Manager of Talks and Artist Programs
1. I, Daniel Blake
2. Moonlight
3. Manchester By the Sea
4. I Am Not Your Negro
5. 20th Century Women
6. Loving
7. Neruda
8. Cameraperson
9. Julieta
10. Finding Dory
