Aguirre, Wrath of God This early masterpiece from Werner Herzog stars Klaus Kinski as a power-crazed explorer in sixteenth-century South America who leads a band of conquistadors through the Amazon in search of El Dorado. Historical drama 1972 94 mins Werner Herzog Battleship Potemkin A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content. Historical drama 1925 69 mins Sergei M. Eisenstein Red Desert Antonioni's mid-career masterpiece stars Monica Vitti as an emotionally anguished young woman embarking on a tentative affair with a businessman (Richard Harris). Drama 1964 117 mins Michelangelo Antonioni Breathless [À bout de souffle] Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature, an insouciant and iconoclastic crime film that paved the way for the French New Wave. Film noir 1960 90 mins Jean-Luc Godard Le Mépris Jean-Luc Godard conducts an autopsy of love and the creative process, as a boorish film producer dismantles a seemingly strong marriage. Drama 1963 103 mins Jean-Luc Godard Bicycle Thieves Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema. Drama 1948 89 mins Vittorio De Sica Journey to Italy Roberto Rossellini's acerbic but finally very moving masterpiece about marital crisis boasts great performances from Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders Drama 1954 86 mins Roberto Rossellini Ordet. Carl Theodor Dreyer’s beautifully photographed tale explores the religious intolerance and familial tensions within a Danish farming family. Drama 1955 125 mins Carl Th. Dreyer Rashomon Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives. Crime Period drama 1950 88 mins Akira Kurosawa A Woman Under the Influence John Cassavetes' powerful drama stars Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as a blue-collar couple struggling to cope with the wife's slide into mental illness. Drama 1974 146 mins John Cassavetes The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Powell and Pressburger’s masterpiece follows the rise and fall of a career soldier, from dashing and brave young officer in the Boer War to a pompous and old-fashioned Colonel by the time of World War Two. War 1943 164 mins Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Faces Richard and his wife Maria seek solace from their disintegrating marriage in the arms of other lovers in John Cassavetes's powerful 1968 feature. Drama 1968 130 mins John Cassavetes Rome, Open City Roberto Rossellini’s landmark of Italian neorealism often cited as one of the greatest films ever made. Drama War 1945 103 mins Roberto Rossellini Partie de campagne On a country picnic, a young girl leaves her family for a while and succumbs to an all-too-brief romance in Jean Renoir's sensuous tribute to the countryside. Period drama 1936 39 mins Jean Renoir L'Age D'Or Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali unite for this masterpiece of cinematic surrealism remains as brilliantly witty and shocking as ever, more than 80 years on. Animation & Artists Moving Image 1930 63 mins Luis Buñuel The Red Shoes Moira Shearer’s ballerina is torn between love and her career in Powell and Pressburger’s hugely influential melodrama. Drama Fantasy 1948 135 mins Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Spring in a Small Town Fei Mu’s newly restored 1948 masterpiece, a piercingly poignant study of adulterous desire, was once voted the greatest Chinese film ever made. Romance 1948 98 mins Fei Mu A Canterbury Tale Powell and Pressburger's most personal film combines a Chaucer-inspired pilgrimage with a war-time celebration of English landscape and values to create a gem of British cinema. War 1944 125 mins Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Seven Samurai Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since. Drama 1954 207 mins Akira Kurosawa Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer’s final masterpiece centres on a woman who rejects the compromise of her marriage and retreats into a serene isolation. Drama 1964 116 mins Carl Th. Dreyer Celine and Julie Go Boating Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, around an entrancing examination of making and watching films. Drama 1974 194 mins Jacques Rivette Black Narcissus Tensions grow when a group of nuns open a convent in the Himalayas in Powell and Pressburger’s remarkable melodrama, starring Deborah Kerr. Drama 1947 101 mins Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Un Chien Andalou A scabrous study of desire, the subconscious and anti-clericalism - Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative first film is a classic of Surrealist cinema. Animation & Artists Moving Image 1928 16 mins Luis Buñuel Ikiru A bureaucrat’s life finds new meaning in Kurosawa’s classic original, the source for Bill Nighy’s brilliant drama, Living. Drama 1952 143 mins Akira Kurosawa La Règle du jeu Renoir's depiction of an intransigent society teetering towards disaster was derided upon release and only later acclaimed as one of cinema’s most vital films. Drama 1939 102 mins Jean Renoir Paisà Roberto Rossellini’s ambitious and enormously moving follow-up to his breakthrough Rome, Open City. War 1946 126 mins Roberto Rossellini Germany, Year Zero The concluding part of Roberto Rossellini’s celebrated War Trilogy, set amid the war-torn ruins of Berlin. War 1948 73 mins Roberto Rossellini A Matter of Life and Death Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s timeless romantic fantasy, with David Niven as an airman trapped between life and death. Fantasy War 1946 104 mins Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Floating Clouds Mikio Naruse’s masterpiece about a wandering woman trying to find her identity amid the devastation of post-war Japan. Drama 1955 123 mins Mikio Naruse Brief Encounter Noël Coward’s tale of a love affair, thrillingly played out with tight British reserve. Romance 1946 86 mins David Lean Distant Voices, Still Lives Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory. Biopic Historical drama 1988 84 mins Terence Davies
