Every year, we invite our staff to pick their top 10 films of the year, as well to answer a few questions about their most memorable cinematic experiences of 2018. Happy New Year from everyone here at the Film Society of Lincoln Center!

Dennis Lim, Director of Programming

1. Transit (Christian Petzold)
2. La Flor (Mariano Llinas)
3. An Elephant Sitting Still (Hu Bo)
4. Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)
5. Classical Period (Ted Fendt)
6. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan)
7. Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher)
8. High Life (Claire Denis)
9. Dead Souls (Wang Bing)
10. What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? (Roberto Minervini)

Plus 10 shorts: in alphabetical order

Ada Kaleh (Helena Wittmann)
Fainting Spells (Sky Hopinka)
I Can See Forever (Jeremy Shaw)
The Labyrinth (Laura Huertas Millan)
Life After Love (Zachary Epcar)
Luminous Shadow (Mariana Calo and Francisco Quiemadela)
Parsi (Eduardo Williams)
A Moon Made of Iron (Francisco Rodriguez)
This Action Lies (James N. Kienitz Wilkins)
Walled Unwalled (Lawrence Abu Hamdan)

Eugene Hernandez, Deputy Director and Co-Publisher of Film Comment

1. Roma
2. Happy As Lazzaro
3. Leave No Trace
4. The Rider
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
6. Private Life
7. En el Septimo Dia
8. Free Solo
9. The Favourite
10. Hale County This Morning, This Evening

What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
The Female Gaze

What was your favorite repertory series elsewhere?
¡Si Se Puede! Pioneers of Chicano Cinema at BAM

What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
On a purely personal note, this year was a big birthday for me — during NYFF — and on my birthday Barry Jenkins surprised me with a cake moments after I introduced him for his afternoon Alice Tully Hall conversation. That was a truly special moment for me and his discussion, with Darryl Pinckney, was a major highlight of this year’s festival. Check out the Q&A podcast.

What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
It’s a tie: Ava DuVernay chatting with Kent Jones following a sneak screening of her latest film, A Wrinkle in Time and Ryan Coogler in conversation with Nic Rapold live from the Rafael Film Center in California during a free nationwide Film Comment screening of Black Panther simulcast to arthouse theaters around the country.

Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest (talent, member, or moviegoer).
For one of our final special events of the year, we were proud to host Focus Features’s New York premiere of On The Basis of Sex in the Walter Reade Theater. The film. a portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s early life as a lawyer, culminates with her rousing early-1970s legal argument aimed at reforming biased gender laws. After the screening, with Hillary Clinton and Gloria Steinem in the audience, RBG was greeted with a rousing standing ovation as she took the stage for a post-screening conversation. Having her at the Walter Reade was a memorable moment up there with the venue’s greatest moments.

Florence Almozini, Associate Director of Programming

Burning
Zama
High Life
Lazzaro Felice
Classical Period
Araby
Notes on an Appearance
Western
The Day After
Claire’s Camera

And La Flor as best undistributed!

What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
None Shall Escape by Andre de Toth
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Trouble in Paradise by Lubitsch
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2019?
Out of many, Ad Astra.
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
Predictably, Luchino Visconti
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
Seeing or mostly hearing Alex Ross Perry, Albert Serra and Louis Garrel talking together.
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
Any Q&A’s with Claire Denis

Dan Sullivan, Assistant Programmer

1. La Flor
2. An Elephant Sitting Still
3. Transit
4. High Life
5. Classical Period
6. What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?
7. Diamantino
8. Casanova Gene
9. Our House
10. Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Best older film I saw for the first time this year: Hyenas (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992)

Jordan Raup, Digital Marketing Manager

1. 24 Frames
2. Let the Sunshine In
3. Burning
4. Support the Girls
5. First Reformed
6. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
7. Minding the Gap
8. Happy as Lazzaro
9. Western
10. Summer 1993

What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Can’t pick just one! The Intruder, Stars in My Crown, Tokyo Sonata, The Heartbreak Kid, A New Leaf, Daisy Kenyon, French Cancan, 35 Shots of Rum, The Seashell and the Clergyman, My Winnipeg, Gold Diggers of 1933, La Cérémonie, Forty Guns, Orlando, all the Viscontis I hadn’t seen.
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Beau Travail or Miami Vice
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2019?
Uncut Gems
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
The Female Gaze, Luchino Visconti, and Jacques Tourneur
What was your favorite repertory series elsewhere?
Twin Peaks: The Return at MoMA
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
This.
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
Ethan Hawke’s Film Comment Talk, Juliette Binoche for Let the Sunshine In, or any of Lucrecia Martel’s Q&As

Bradford Burdick, House Manager

1. Roma
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. If Beale Street Could Talk
4. Avengers: Infinity War
5. Paddington 2
6. Black Panther
7. The Favourite
8. Wildlife
9. Sorry to Bother You
10. BlacKkKlansman

What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Marnie
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Singin’ In the Rain
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2019?
Star Wars: Episode IX
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
Jiri Trinka
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
Most memorable experience at NYFF was when we packed nearly 200 people into the Beale for Long Day’s Journey into Night.
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
Wildlife Q&A during NYFF when Carrey Mulligan had a great retort for a man with a sexist comment about her character in the film.
Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest (talent, member, or moviegoer).
During Hugh Jackman’s introduction for Free Solo he took the mic down for us, and asked me, “Is this alright, mate?” which I’ll never forget. What a guy!

Alexandra Siladi, Membership Manager

1. The Favourite
2. The House that Jack Built
3. Roma
4. Zama
5. First Reformed
6. Eighth Grade
7. On the Basis of Sex
8. Private Life
9. Thoroughbreds
10. The First Purge

Honorable mentions: A Star is Born, Lean on Pete, Ballad of Buster Scruggs, If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace, Cold War, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Chappaquiddick, The Strangers: Prey at Night

What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Secrets of Women (Bergman)
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
Wings of Desire
What was your favorite repertory series at the Film Society this year?
The Female Gaze
What was your favorite repertory series elsewhere?
Bergman @ Film Forum
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
Paul Schrader / Ethan Hawke / Cedric the Entertainer for First Reformed

Isadora Johnson, Junior Publicist

1. ROMA, Alfonso Cuarón
2. Minding the Gap, Bing Liu
3. Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
4. Burning, Lee Chang-dong
5. Leave No Trace- Debra Granik
6. You Were Never Really Here-Lynn Ramsay
7. Can You Ever Forgive Me?-Marielle Heller
8. Annihilation-Alex Garland
9. Hale County This Morning, This Evening-RaMelle Ross
10. First Reformed-Paul Schrader

What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
I finally saw Chantal Ackerman’s masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles this year during our Female Gaze series. It’s between that, Visconti’s The Leopard, and I find myself thinking about Hou Hsiao Hsien’s Three Times often since I watched it for the first time this year. Whoops, that’s three!

What’s your most anticipated movie of 2019?
I am counting down the days until Jordan Peele’s Us.

Amanda Bogacz, Development Systems Associate

1. The Favourite
2. Burning
3. Thoroughbreds
4. The House That Jack Built
5. A Star Is Born
6. The Guilty
7. Black Panther
8. The Death of Stalin
9. Hereditary
10. RBG

Honorable mention: Sorry to Bother You, Searching, Her Smell, Incredibles 2, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Witch in the Window, Lords of Chaos, Tigers Are Not Afraid, Operation Finale, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., Widows

What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
It’s A Wonderful Life
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2019?
The Lion King
What was the most memorable experience you had at NYFF?
The Centerpiece Party, and going out for drinks with the DEVO team at Empire after check in for gala screenings
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
Lords of Chaos or Her Smell
Describe a memorable interaction you had with a Film Society guest (talent, member, or moviegoer).
Getting to know the volunteers & chatting with the members who came everyday to the member wheel

Laura Kern, Film Comment Managing Editor

10 Best Genre Films of 2018

Anna and the Apocalypse
Annihilation
Cam
Hereditary
The House That Jack Built
Hold the Dark
A Quiet Place
Satan’s Slaves
Upgrade
The Witch in the Window

Alysha Dixon, Development Associate

1. Roma
2. The Favourite
3. A Star is Born
4. Fahrenheit 11/9
5. First Reformed
6. Her Smell
7. Isle of Dogs
8. The Guilty
9. Hereditary
10. Thoroughbreds

What’s the best old movie you saw for the first time this year?
Best old movie I saw this year was probably David Lynch’s Elephant Man
What’s the best old movie you saw for the millionth time this year?
The best old movie I saw for the millionth time this year is The Apartment (the other film, although not technically old, would be The Invitation)
What’s your most anticipated movie of 2019?
I’m really looking forward to Jordan Peele’s Us
What was your favorite Q&A of the year?
Favorite Q&A was definitely Paul Schrader, Ethan Hawke, and Cedric the Entertainer for First Reformed

Matthew Dinda, Corporate Partnerships Associate

Annihilation
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Eighth Grade
The Favourite
First Reformed
Happy as Lazzaro
ROMA
Shoplifters
Tully
Wildlife

Manny Lage-Valera, House Manager

1. The Arboretum Cycle [Nathaniel Dorsky, 2017/2018]
2. Classical Period [Ted Fednt, 2018]
3. Hotel By the River [Hong Sangsoo, 2018]
4. The Image Book [Jean-Luc Godard, 2018]
5. Wishing Well [Sylvia Schedelbauer, 2018]
6. Pariyerum Perumal [Maari Selvaraj, 2018]
7. Unfriended: Dark Web [Stephen Susco, 2018]
8. The Glass Note [Mary Helena Clark, 2018]
9. Skyscraper [Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2018]
10. Notes on an Appearance [Ricky D’Ambrose, 2018]