The 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century is a list compiled in August 2016 by the
British Broadcasting Corporation
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...
(BBC), chosen by a voting poll of 177 film critics from around the world.
It was compiled by collating the top ten films submitted by the critics who were asked to list the best films released since the year
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
.
Selection criteria
BBC Culture asked 177 film critics from around the world to rank the ten films produced in the twenty-first century that they considered the greatest. Participants were permitted to choose from titles released between January 2000 to June 2016 (when all responses were collected). Participants focused primarily on Western films, as indicated by the minimal representation of Asian films, with no South Asian representation in the compiled list. Each film listed in these responses was then given points based on their ranking. If a film was ranked first in a critic's list, that film would get ten points, whereas the one ranked in tenth place would get one point. The list features 102 titles because of a tie occurring with ''
Carlos'', ''
Requiem for a Dream'', and ''
Toni Erdmann'' for the 100th place ranking. With three films apiece, directors
Apichatpong Weerasethakul,
Christopher Nolan,
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...
,
Paul Thomas Anderson,
Michael Haneke, and the
Coen brothers have the greater number of titles on the list. ''
Spirited Away'' was the highest ranked animated film at #4, and ''
In the Mood for Love'' was the highest ranked non-English language film at #2 and ''
Children of Men'' at #13 was the top film with British production input (the BBC being a British company). Only four films from the list have won the
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...
: ''
No Country for Old Men'' (
2007), ''
The Hurt Locker'' (
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
), ''
12 Years a Slave'' (
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
), and ''
Spotlight'' (
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
).
A total of 177 critics from 36 countries participated in the poll, and the largest number (81) was from the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, followed by the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Out of the 177, 122 are men and 55 are women. Most participants are newspaper/magazine film reviewers, Internet film reviewers, academics, and cinema curators.
Partial list
See also
*
BBC's 100 Greatest Foreign-Language Films
*
BBC's 100 Greatest Television Series of the 21st Century
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
Official siteWhy Mulholland Drive is the greatest film since 2000Infographic
BBC-related lists
21st-century films
Top film lists
Film criticism