''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

(BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing since 1952.

History and content

''Sight and Sound'' was first published in Spring 1932 as "A quarterly review of modern aids to learning published under the auspices of the British Institute of Adult Education". In 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent

(BFI), which still publishes the magazine today. ''Sight and Sound'' was published quarterly for most of its history until the early 1990s, apart from a brief run as a monthly publication in the early 1950s, but in 1991 it merged with another BFI publication, the '' Monthly Film Bulletin'', and started to appear monthly. In 1949, Gavin Lambert, co-founder of film journal ''

Sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called ...

'', was hired as the editor, and also brought with him ''Sequence'' editor

Penelope Houston Penelope Houston (born December 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter best known as the singer for the San Francisco-based punk rock band the Avengers. She was raised in Seattle. In the mid-1970s she attended Fairhaven College in Bellin ...

as assistant editor as well as co-founders and future film directors Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reisz. Lambert edited the journal until 1956, with Houston taking over as editor until 1990. Philip Dodd became the editor following the merging of ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' with Nick James taking over in 1997. James was editor until August 2019. It is currently edited by Mike Williams. The magazine reviews all film releases each month, including those with a limited ( art house) release, as opposed to most film magazines which concentrate on those films with a general release. ''Sight and Sound'' has in the past been the subject of criticism, notably from Raymond Durgnat, who often accused it of elitism, puritanism and snobbery, although he did write for it in the 1950s, and again in the 1990s. Until 2020, the magazine's American counterpart was '' Film Comment'', a magazine that was published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City.

The ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time

Since 1952, ''Sight and Sound'' has asked an international group of film professionals every decade to vote for the ten films they consider the greatest of all time. Until 1992, the votes of the invited critics and directors were compiled to make one list. However, since 1992, directors have been invited to participate in a separate poll. The ''Sight and Sound'' accolade has come to be regarded as one of the most important of the "greatest ever film" polls. The critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

described it as "by far the most respected of the countless polls of great movies—the only one most serious movie people take seriously." ''Sight and Sound'' first ran the poll in 1952 following publication earlier in the year of a list of the Top Ten Films, headed by ''

Battleship Potemkin '' Battleship Potemkin'' (russian: Бронено́сец «Потёмкин», ''Bronenosets Potyomkin''), sometimes rendered as ''Battleship Potyomkin'', is a 1925 Soviet silent drama film produced by Mosfilm. Directed and co-written by S ...

'', based on a poll of mostly directors conducted by the committee of the Festival Mondial du Film et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Following publication of that poll, ''Sight and Sound'' decided to poll film critics for their choices and announced the results in their next issue. 85 critics from Britain, France, the United States, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were asked but only 63 responded including Lindsay Anderson,

Lotte H. Eisner Lotte H. Eisner (5 March 1896, Berlin – 25 November 1983, Paris) was a German-French writer, film critic, archivist and curator. Eisner worked initially as a film critic in Berlin, then in Paris where in 1936 she met Henri Langlois with whom she ...

, Curtis Harrington,

Henri Langlois Henri Langlois (; 13 November 1914 – 13 January 1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often ...

, Friedrich Luft, Claude Mauriac, Dilys Powell, Jean Queval, Terry Ramsaye, Karel Reisz,

G. W. Stonier George Walter Stonier or G. W. Stonier (1903 – 1985) was an English critic, novelist and radio playwright, and a literary editor of the ''New Statesman''. He wrote a weekly column for the ''New Statesman'' for twenty years until 1961 under the ...

(under the name William Whitebait) and Archer Winsten. Most critics found the question unfair. The first poll was topped by '' Bicycle Thieves'' with 25 out of 63 votes and contained six

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s. The five subsequent polls (1962–2002) were won by ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...

'' (which finished 13th in 1952). In 1992, an additional poll of 101 directors took place, with ''Citizen Kane'' also receiving the most votes. It also received the most votes from directors in 2002. For the 2012 poll, ''Sight and Sound'' listened to decades of criticism about the lack of diversity of its poll participants and made a huge effort to invite a much wider variety of critics and filmmakers from around the world to participate, taking into account gender, ethnicity, race, geographical region, socioeconomic status, and other kinds of underrepresentation. The list of people polled for the critics' poll expanded significantly from 145 to 846 and also included programmers, curators, archivists, film historians and other academics for the first time. Following the change, ''Citizen Kane'' only received the second highest number of votes, with '' Vertigo'' receiving the most. The directors' poll also expanded from 108 to 358 directors and '' Tokyo Story'' received the most votes with ''Citizen Kane'' receiving the joint second-most together with '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. In 2022, the number of people polled for the critics' poll increased even further from 846 to 1,639 and ''

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles ''Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles'' (, "Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels") is a 1975 drama film written and directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. It was filmed over five weeks on location in Brussels, ...

'' received the most votes, the first film to be directed by a woman to top the list. ''Vertigo'' received the second most and ''Citizen Kane'' third. Nearly 4,000 different films received at least one mention. ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' topped the directors' poll for the first time in 2022 with ''Citizen Kane'' in second place and ''Tokyo Story'' in joint fourth together with ''Jeanne Dielman''. Among the directors that participated were Julie Dash,

Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film '' Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Ind ...

, Lynne Ramsay,

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

and

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Apichatpong Weerasethakul ( th, อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล; ; ) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, ...

. ''La Règle du Jeu ( The Rules of the Game)'' appeared in the first seven of the magazine's decennial polls. ''Citizen Kane'' has appeared in the last seven.

Critics' Top Ten Poll

1952

#'' Bicycle Thieves'' (25 mentions) #''

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...

'' (19 mentions) #'' The Gold Rush'' (19 mentions) #''

'' (16 mentions) #'' Intolerance'' (12 mentions) #''

Louisiana Story ''Louisiana Story'' is a 1948 American black-and-white drama film directed by Robert J. Flaherty. Although it has historically been represented as a documentary film, the events and characters depicted are fictional and the film was commissioned ...

'' (12 mentions) #'' Greed'' (11 mentions) #''

Le Jour Se Lève ''Le jour se lève'' (, "The day rises"; also known as ''Daybreak'') is a 1939 French film directed by Marcel Carné and written by Jacques Prévert, based on a story by Jacques Viot. It is considered one of the principal examples of the French ...

'' (11 mentions) #'' The Passion of Joan of Arc'' (11 mentions) #'' Brief Encounter'' (10 mentions) #'' The Rules of the Game'' (10 mentions) #''

Le Million ''Le Million'' is a 1931 French musical comedy film directed by René Clair. The story was adapted by Clair from a play by Georges Berr and Marcel Guillemand. Plot Michel, a debt-ridden artist, is interrupted several times while romancing Van ...

'' (10 mentions) Closest runners-up: ''

'', '' La Grande Illusion'', and ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...

''. (9 mentions apiece)

1962

#''

'' (22 mentions) #''

L'Avventura ''L'Avventura'' ( en, "The Adventure") is a 1960 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Developed from a story by Antonioni with co-writers Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, the film is about the disappearance of a young woman ...

'' (20 mentions) #'' The Rules of the Game'' (19 mentions) #'' Greed'' (17 mentions) #'' Ugetsu'' (17 mentions) #''

'' (16 mentions) #'' Bicycle Thieves'' (16 mentions) #'' Ivan the Terrible'' (16 mentions) #'' La Terra Trema'' (14 mentions) #'' L'Atalante'' (13 mentions) Closest runners-up: '' Hiroshima mon amour'', '' Pather Panchali'' and '' Zero for Conduct''. (11 mentions apiece) The number of silent films on the list reduced from six to two. Films directed by

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...

received the most votes with 46 votes followed by Charles Chaplin with 43 and Jean Renoir with 35.

1972

#''

'' (32 mentions) #'' The Rules of the Game'' (28 mentions) #''

'' (16 mentions) #'' 8½'' (15 mentions) #''

'' (12 mentions) #'' Persona'' (12 mentions) #'' The Passion of Joan of Arc'' (11 mentions) #'' The General'' (10 mentions) #''

The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for ficti ...

'' (10 mentions) #'' Ugetsu'' (9 mentions) #'' Wild Strawberries'' (9 mentions) Closest runners-up: '' The Gold Rush'', '' Hiroshima mon amour'', ''

Ikiru is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co-written (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni) by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest for meaning. T ...

'', '' Ivan the Terrible'', '' Pierrot le Fou'', and '' Vertigo''. (8 mentions apiece) Films directed by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

received the most votes with 46 votes followed by Jean Renoir with 41 and

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoun ...

with 37.

1982

#''

'' (45 mentions) #'' The Rules of the Game'' (31 mentions) #'' Seven Samurai'' (15 mentions) #''

Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd C ...

'' (15 mentions) #'' 8½'' (14 mentions) #''

'' (13 mentions) #''

'' (12 mentions) #''

'' (12 mentions) #'' Vertigo'' (12 mentions) #'' The General'' (11 mentions) #''

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...

'' (11 mentions) Closest runners-up: '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and ''

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev ( rus, Андре́й Рублёв, p=ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf , also transliterated as ''Andrey Rublyov'') was a Muscovite icon painter born in the 1360s who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is considered to be one of th ...

''. (10 mentions apiece)

1992

#''

'' (43 mentions) #'' The Rules of the Game'' (32 mentions) #'' Tokyo Story'' (22 mentions) #'' Vertigo'' (18 mentions) #''

'' (17 mentions) #'' L'Atalante'' (15 mentions) #'' The Passion of Joan of Arc'' (15 mentions) #'' Pather Panchali'' (15 mentions) #''

'' (15 mentions) #'' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (14 mentions) Closest runners-up: '' Bicycle Thieves'' and ''

''. (10 mentions apiece)

2002

#''

'' (46 mentions) #'' Vertigo'' (41 mentions) #'' The Rules of the Game'' (30 mentions) #''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...

'' and '' The Godfather Part II'' (23 mentions) #'' Tokyo Story'' (22 mentions) #'' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (21 mentions) #''

'' (19 mentions) #'' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' (19 mentions) #'' 8½'' (18 mentions) #''

'' (17 mentions) Closest runners-up: '' Seven Samurai'' and ''

''. (15 mentions apiece)

2012

Vertigo 1958 trailer Kim Novak at Golden Gate Bridge Fort Point

A new rule was imposed for this ballot: related films that are considered part of a larger whole (e.g. ''The Godfather'' and ''The Godfather Part II'', Krzysztof Kieślowski's '' Three Colors trilogy'' and '' Dekalog'', or Satyajit Ray's '' The Apu Trilogy'') were to be treated as separate films for voting purposes. # '' Vertigo'' (191 mentions) # ''

'' (157 mentions) # '' Tokyo Story'' (107 mentions) # '' The Rules of the Game'' (100 mentions) # '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' (93 mentions) # '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (90 mentions) # ''

'' (78 mentions) # '' Man with a Movie Camera'' (68 mentions) # '' The Passion of Joan of Arc'' (65 mentions) # '' 8½'' (64 mentions) Closest runner-up: ''

''. (63 mentions)

2022

The number of participants in this poll nearly doubled to 1,639.

Chantal Akerman Chantal Anne Akerman (; 6 June 19505 October 2015) was a Belgian film director, screenwriter, artist, and film professor at the City College of New York. She is best known for films such as ''Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles' ...

became the first woman director to win the poll with her 1975 film ''

''. The poll reflected greater diversity than previous years with the number of films made by Black filmmakers increasing from one in 2012 to seven in 2022 and the number made by female filmmakers increasing from two in 2012 to eleven in 2022. 480 directors took part and selected

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

's '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' as their greatest film. #''

'' #'' Vertigo'' #''

'' #'' Tokyo Story'' #'' In the Mood for Love'' #'' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' #''

Beau Travail ''Beau Travail'' (, French for "good work") is a 1999 French film directed by Claire Denis that is loosely based on Herman Melville's 1888 novella ''Billy Budd''. The story is set in Djibouti, where the protagonists are soldiers in the French Fore ...

'' #'' Mulholland Drive'' #'' Man with a Movie Camera'' #''

'' Closest runners-up: '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans''

Directors' Top Ten Poll

1992

''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
''
'' 8½''
''
Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: M ...
''
''
La Strada ''La strada'' () is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Federico Fellini and co-written by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano. The film tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman (Giulietta Masina) bought from her mother ...
''
'' L'Atalante''
''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
''
'' Modern Times''
'' Vertigo''
'' The Godfather Part II''
'' The Passion of Joan of Arc''
''
Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/ crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as v ...
''
'' Seven Samurai''

2002

''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'' (42 mentions)
''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
'' and '' The Godfather Part II'' (28 mentions)
'' 8½'' (19 mentions)
''
Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...
'' (16 mentions)
''
Dr. Strangelove ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and ...
'' (14 mentions)
'' Bicycle Thieves'' (13 mentions)
''
Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: M ...
'' (13 mentions)
'' Vertigo'' (13 mentions)
''
Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/ crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as v ...
'' (12 mentions)
'' The Rules of the Game'' (12 mentions)
'' Seven Samurai'' (12 mentions)

2012

'' Tokyo Story'' (48 mentions)
'' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (42 mentions)
''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'' (42 mentions)
'' 8½'' (40 mentions)
''
Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying ...
'' (34 mentions)
'' Apocalypse Now'' (33 mentions)
''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
'' (31 mentions)
'' Vertigo'' (31 mentions)
''
Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...
'' (30 mentions)
'' Bicycle Thieves'' (29 mentions)

2022

'' 2001: A Space Odyssey''
''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
''
''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
''
'' Tokyo Story''
''
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles ''Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles'' (, "Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels") is a 1975 drama film written and directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. It was filmed over five weeks on location in Brussels, ...
''
'' Vertigo''
'' 8½''
''
Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...
''
'' Persona''
'' In the Mood for Love''
'' Close-Up''

The Greatest Directors of All Time

This list was put together by assembling the directors of the individual films that the critics and the directors polled voted for. 2002 was the only year ''Sight & Sound'' compiled the list.

Critics' Top Ten Poll

2002

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
Jean Renoir
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
Akira Kurosawa
Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most ...
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...
Yasujiro Ozu

Directors' Top Ten Poll

2002

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most ...
Akira Kurosawa
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holly ...
Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoun ...
David Lean
Jean Renoir
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

Greatest Documentaries of All Time

2014

'' Man with a Movie Camera'' (100 votes)
'' Shoah'' (68 votes)
''
Sans Soleil ''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...
'' (62 votes)
'' Night and Fog'' (56 votes)
'' The Thin Blue Line'' (49 votes)
'' Chronique d'un été'' (32 votes)
'' Nanook of the North'' (31 votes)
'' The Gleaners and I'' (27 votes)
''
Dont Look Back '' Look Back'' is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England. In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library ...
'' (25 votes)
'' Grey Gardens'' (25 mentions)

Greatest film books

In 2010, ''Sight & Sound'' conducted a poll to find the greatest book written on film. *First place: David Thomson's ''

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film ''The New Biographical Dictionary of Film'' is a reference book written by film critic David Thomson, originally published by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd in 1975 under the title ''A Biographical Dictionary of Cinema.'' Organized by personality, ...

'' (1975)'' *Second place: Robert Bresson's '' Notes on the Cinematographer'' (1975), Andrew Sarris's ''The American Cinema'' (1968), and

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more th ...

's '' Hitchcock/Truffaut'' (1966) *Fifth place: André Bazin's ''What is Cinema?'' (1958-1962)

References

External links

''Sight & Sound'' official website"Listomania! Why we love best-films lists , Ahead of our Greatest Film of All Time poll, Michael Atkinson anatomises critics’ obsession with enshrining cinema's 'top ten'"
BFI, 17 July 2012.
''Sight & Sound'' September 2012
featuring "The Greatest Films of All Time".
Archived ''Sight & Sound'' magazines
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sight and Sound 1932 establishments in the United Kingdom British Film Institute Film magazines published in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1932 Magazines published in London Top film lists

History and content

The ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time

Critics' Top Ten Poll

1952

1962

1972

1982

1992

2002

2012

2022

Directors' Top Ten Poll

1992

2002

2012

2022

The Greatest Directors of All Time

Critics' Top Ten Poll

2002

Directors' Top Ten Poll

2002

Greatest Documentaries of All Time

2014

Greatest film books

See also

References

Further reading

External links