Best Films List

50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012

The best movies you probably haven't seen this year

by Film Comment

* denotes self-distribution

Our Children

1. Our Children
Joachim Lafosse, Belgium/Luxembourg/France/Switzerland

Memories Look at Me

2. Memories Look at Me
Song Fang, China

First Cousin Removed

3. First Cousin Once Removed
Alan Berliner, U.S.

When Night Falls

4. When Night Falls
Ying Liang, South Korea/China

Bwakaw

5. Bwakaw
Jun Robles Lana, Philippines

Gebo and the Shadow

6. Gebo and the Shadow
Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France

Differently Moloussia

7. differently, Molussia
Nicolas Rey, France*

Perret in France and Algeria

8. Perret in France and Algeria
Heinz Emigholz, Germany

The Extravagant Shadows

9. The Extravagant Shadows
David Gatten, U.S.*

Three Sisters Wang Bing

10. Three Sisters
Wang Bing, France/Hong Kong

Dormant Beauty

11. Dormant Beauty
Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France

Far From Afghanistan

12. Far From Afghanistan
John Gianvito, Travis Wilkerson, Jon Jost, Minda Martin & Soon-Mi Yoo, U.S.*

Camille rewinds

13. Camille Rewinds
Noémie Lvovsky, France

Greatest Hits

14. Greatest Hits
Nicolás Pereda, Mexico/Canada/Netherlands

Small Roads

15. small roads
James Benning, U.S.*

Everybody in Our Family

16. Everybody in Our Family
Radu Jude, Romania/Netherlands

Shephard and Dark

17. Shepard and Dark
Treva Wurmfeld, U.S.

Hannah Arendt

18. Hannah Arendt
Margarethe von Trotta, Germany

Araf

19. Araf: Somewhere in Between
Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey/France/Germany

Thursday Through Sunday

20. Thursday Through Sunday
Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Netherlands

Goodbye

21. Goodbye
Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran

After Lucia

22. After Lucia
Michel Franco, Mexico

Reconversao

23. Reconversão
Thom Andersen, Portugal/U.S.

Tiger Tail in Blue

24. Tiger Tail in Blue
Frank V. Ross, U.S.

Traveling Light

25. Traveling Light
Gina Telaroli, U.S.

Sun Don't Shine

26. Sun Don’t Shine
Amy Seimetz, U.S.

Postcards from the Zoo

27. Postcards from the Zoo
Edwin, China/Germany/Hong Kong/Indonesia

3 Pablo Stoll

28. 3
Pablo Stoll,
Uruguay/Argentina/
Germany/Chile

The Invisible Ones

29. The Invisible Ones
Sebastien Lifshitz, France

Everyday

30. Everyday
Michael Winterbottom, U.K.

Twilight Portrait

31. Twilight Portrait
Angelina Nikonova, Russia

Age Is

32. Age Is…
Stephen Dwoskin, France/U.K.

The Strawberry Tree

33. The Strawberry Tree
Simone Rapisarda Casanova,
Italy/
Canada/Cuba

Here and Tehre

34. Here and There
Antonio Mendez Esparza,
Spain/U.S./Mexico

Louise Wimmer

35. Louise Wimmer
Cyril Mennegun, France

Outrage Beyond

36. Beyond Outrage
Takeshi Kitano, Japan

Back to Stay

37. Back to Stay
Milagros Mumenthaler,
Argentina/
Switzerland

The Final Member

38. The Final Member
Jonah Bekhor &
Zach Math, Canada

Kinshasa Kids

39. Kinshasa Kids
Marc-Henri Wajnberg, Belgium/France

The War

40. The War
James Benning, U.S.

Nights with Theodore

41. Nights with Theodore
Sébastien Betbeder, France

The Minister

42. The Minister
Pierre Schöller, France

Celluloid

43. Celluloid Man
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, India

Gangs of Wasseypur

44. Gangs of Wasseypur
Anurag Kashyap, India

Dead Man and Being Happy

45. The Dead Man and Being Happy
Javier Rebollo, Spain/France/
Argentina

Invader

46. The Invader
Nicolas Provost, Belgium

Foxfire

47. Foxfire: Confessions of
a Girl Gang
Laurence Cantet, France/Canada

Donoma

48. Donoma
Djinn Carrenard, France

Me and You

49. Me and You
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy

Miss Lovely

50. Miss Lovely
Ashim Ahluwalia, India

Don’t see your favorite films here? Proceed to the year’s best list.

This story is part of the November-December 2012 issue of Film Comment.

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