New York, NY (December 14, 2015) – Film Comment’s annual end-of-the-year survey of film critics, journalists, film-section editors, and past and present contributors was released today with Todd Haynes’s Carol, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin, and George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road taking the top spots among films released in 2015. Of the films that made appearances at film festivals or special screenings worldwide but have not received stateside distribution this year, Hong Sangsoo’s Right Now, Wrong Then, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Chevalier, and Ben Rivers’s The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers received the top rankings.

Offering the most comprehensive assessment of the year in film, Film Comment received responses from over 100 participants, including (in alphabetical order): Richard Brody (The New Yorker), Steve Dollar (The Wall Street Journal), David Edelstein (New York magazine), Nicholas Elliott (BOMB, Cahiers du Cinéma), David Fear (Rolling Stone), Graham Fuller (Screen International), J. Hoberman (The New York Times), Kristin M. Jones (The Wall Street Journal), Daniel Kasman (MUBI), Eric Kohn (Indiewire), Michael Koresky (Reverse Shot), Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter), Don McMahon (Artforum), Wesley Morris (The New York Times), Amy Nicholson (LA Weekly), Mark Olsen (The Los Angeles Times), Joshua Rothkopf (Time Out New York), Alan Scherstuhl (The Village Voice), Amy Taubin (Film Comment Contributing Editor and NYFF Selection Committee member), and Kenneth Turan (The Los Angeles Times).

Film Comment’s Top 10 Films Released in 2015:
1.    Carol Todd Haynes, U.S.
2.    The Assassin Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan
3.    Mad Max: Fury Road George Miller, U.S.
4.    Clouds of Sils Maria Olivier Assayas, France
5.    Arabian Nights Miguel Gomes, Portugal
6.    Timbuktu Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania/France
7.    Spotlight Tom McCarthy, U.S.
8.    Phoenix Christian Petzold, Germany
9.    Inside Out Pete Docter & Ronnie del Carmen, U.S.
10.  The Look of Silence Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark/Indonesia

The rankings of other films making strong showings during the awards season are John Crowley’s Brooklyn (#18), Frederick Wiseman’s In Jackson Heights (#13), and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (#20). Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin (#2) was the cover subject of Film Comment magazine’s September/October issue, and László Nemes’s Son of Saul (#14) was the cover subject of the November/December issue.

Film Comment’s survey also ranks films that have screened and made notable appearances at festivals throughout the year, but remain without U.S. distribution at press time.

Film Comment’s Top 10 Unreleased Films of 2015:
1.    Right Now, Wrong Then Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
2.    Chevalier Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
3.    The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers Ben Rivers, U.K.
4.    The Academy of Muses José Luis Guerín, Spain
5.    Don’t Blink – Robert Frank Laura Israel, U.S.
6.    Cosmos Andrzej Zulawski, Poland
7.    Journey to the Shore Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
8.    Happy Hour Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan
9.    Lost and Beautiful Pietro Marcello, Italy
10.  Minotaur Nicolas Pereda, Mexico

Film Comment editor Gavin Smith said: “The 20 films that critics have voted for can be divided into four categories: mainstream Hollywood critical and box-office hits (3), American art-house-inclined indies (7), foreign-language art movies in a variety of familiar modes (5), and foreign-language movies that challenge viewers to enter cinematic realms they’ve never previously experienced (5). That balance, which happens to be encapsulated in the top five in micro form, feels about right for the agenda of this magazine, which, since the very beginning, has been to champion the best in cinema wherever it hails from, all creatures great and small. Since we managed to run features on 11 of these and sung the praises of another five, it’s a pleasure to close out the year on a high note.”

The complete lists of films and participants can be found on the Film Comment website and in the January/February issue, which hits newsstands the second week of January.

The best-of-year list coincides with the release of Film Comment’s Essential Films, a year-end special-edition supplement featuring critical essays on 14 films not to be missed. Violet Lucca’s piece on Mad Max: Fury Road is available here as an exclusive excerpt from the supplement. The complete edition is available for purchase online and in our theaters.

THE FILM COMMENT 2015 BEST FILMS: THE COMPLETE LIST OF TOP 20 TITLES

RELEASED 2015
1.    Carol Todd Haynes, U.S.
2.    The Assassin Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan
3.    Mad Max: Fury Road George Miller, U.S.
4.    Clouds of Sils Maria Olivier Assayas, France
5.    Arabian Nights Miguel Gomes, Portugal
6.    Timbuktu Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania/France
7.    Spotlight Tom McCarthy, U.S.
8.    Phoenix Christian Petzold, Germany
9.    Inside Out Pete Docter & Ronnie del Carmen, U.S.
10.  The Look of Silence Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark/Indonesia

Rankings #11-20
11.    Hard to Be a God Aleksei German, Russia
12.    Anomalisa Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson, U.S.
13.    In Jackson Heights Frederick Wiseman, U.S.
14.    Son of Saul László Nemes, Hungary
15.    Horse Money Pedro Costa, Portugal
16.    Jauja Lisandro Alonso, Argentina
17.    Tangerine Sean Baker, U.S.
18.    Brooklyn John Crowley, U.K.
19.    The Diary of a Teenage Girl Marielle Heller, U.S.
20.    Bridge of Spies Steven Spielberg, U.S.

FILMS WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION 2015
1.    Right Now, Wrong Then Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
2.    Chevalier Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
3.    The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers Ben Rivers, U.K.
4.    The Academy of Muses José Luis Guerín, Spain
5.    Don’t Blink – Robert Frank Laura Israel, U.S.
6.    Cosmos Andrzej Zulawski, Poland
7.    Journey to the Shore Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
8.    Happy Hour Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan
9.    Lost and Beautiful Pietro Marcello, Italy
10.  Minotaur Nicolas Pereda, Mexico

Rankings #11-20
11.    Kaili Blues Bi Gan, China
12.    Sixty Six Lewis Klahr, U.S.
13.    Visit, or Memories and Confessions Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
14.    El Movimiento Benjamin Naishtat, Argentina
15.    88:88 Isiah Medina, Canada
16.    Microbe & Gasoline Michel Gondry, France
17.    Pervert Park Frida & Lasse Barkfors, Sweden/Denmark
18.    Afternoon Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
19.    Of the North Dominic Gagnon, Canada
20.    The Smell of Us Larry Clark, U.S.

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Art of the Real, Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, and Scary Movies. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist’s unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award, whose 2015 recipient was Robert Redford. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

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