2023 Closet Picks

Closet Picks is a video series by The Criterion Collection. Involving its Criterion Closet where all of its distributed titles are stored, Criterion regularly invites individuals in the film and entertainment industries, as well as those adjacent to them, to peruse and choose from its selection of discs. The video series began in 2010 when director Guillermo del Toro visited the Criterion office, during which he was filmed making his selections from the Criterion Closet. Since then, Criterion has filmed over two hundred installments of Closet Picks; past visitors include the Daniels, Nicolas Winding Refn, Yorgos Lanthimos, and many others.^[1]

All dates are drawn from the closet picks database.^[2]

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed band talks about Japanese films about family, the rock music in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and a festival viewing experience of Carnival of Souls."^[3]

Film	Director	Ref
The Daytrippers	Greg Mottola	[3]
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival	D. A. Pennebaker
Black Girl	Ousmane Sembène
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls	Russ Meyer
I Wanna Hold Your Hand	Robert Zemeckis
The Velvet Underground	Todd Haynes
Tokyo Story	Yasujirō Ozu
The Girl Can't Help It	Frank Tashlin
Ministry of Fear	Fritz Lang
Carnival of Souls	Herk Harvey

Criterion citation: "The director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Fire of Love shares her passion for nonfiction filmmakers Chris Marker and Les Blank, and for the iconic love triangles in Jules and Jim and Y tu mamá también."^[4]

Film	Director	Ref
La Jetée/Sans Soleil	Chris Marker	[4]
Burden of Dreams	Les Blank
Faya Dayi	Jessica Beshir
Jules and Jim	François Truffaut
Y tu mamá también	Alfonso Cuarón
Me and You and Everyone We Know	Miranda July
The Complete Films of Agnès Varda	Agnès Varda

Criterion citation: "The Palme d'Or–winning Belgian duo talk about their friends Jane Campion and Cristian Mungiu, a Krzysztof Kieślowski masterpiece that has influenced their own work, and the 'profound loneliness' of Barbara Loden's Wanda."^[5]

Film	Director	Ref
The Age of Innocence	Martin Scorsese	[5]
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman	Roberto Rossellini
An Angel at My Table	Jane Campion
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	Cristian Mungiu
Dekalog	Krzysztof Kieślowski
Wanda	Barbara Loden
Death of a Cyclist	Juan Antonio Bardem

Criterion citation: "Three members of the team behind The Eight Mountains—directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch and actor Alessandro Borghi—share their formative experiences with films like The Piano and The Fisher King and help one another discover new movies to fall in love with."^[6]

Film	Director	Ref
Naked	Mike Leigh	[6]
Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood	Josef von Sternberg
World of Wong Kar Wai	Wong Kar-wai
Y tu mamá también	Alfonso Cuarón
The Piano	Jane Campion
The Fisher King	Terry Gilliam

Criterion citation: "The director of Beau Is Afraid talks about one of the best experiences he's had in a movie theater, the inspiration he's taken from Karel Zeman, and the possibility that Cure is 'the greatest movie ever made.'"^[7]

Film	Director	Ref
Closely Watched Trains	Jiří Menzel	[7]
Michael Haneke: Trilogy	Michael Haneke
Daisies	Věra Chytilová
Cure	Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Mr. Klein	Joseph Losey
The Koker Trilogy	Abbas Kiarostami
La Poison	Sacha Guitry
Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman	Karel Zeman
The New World	Terrence Malick
Secret Sunshine	Lee Chang-dong
Woman in the Dunes	Hiroshi Teshigahara
Che	Steven Soderbergh
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters	Paul Schrader
Bigger Than Life	Nicholas Ray
Brand upon the Brain!	Guy Maddin
Walkabout	Nicolas Roeg

Criterion citation: "The singer-songwriter and founding member of the Bangles recommends a must-see film for all rock musicians, highlights a favorite scene in Klute, and recounts her childhood memories of hanging out at Ben Gazzara's house."^[8]

Film	Director	Ref
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls	Russ Meyer	[8]
Seconds	John Frankenheimer
Klute	Alan J. Pakula
La Piscine	Jacques Deray
Love Streams	John Cassavetes
Midnight Cowboy	John Schlesinger

Criterion citation: "The writer, director, and actor talks about a parallel between The 400 Blows and his popular show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the inspiration he has taken from Being There, and his excitement about exploring the work of Agnès Varda."^[9]

Film	Director	Ref
The 400 Blows	François Truffaut	[9]
The Player	Robert Altman
Being There	Hal Ashby
Punch-Drunk Love	Paul Thomas Anderson
Do the Right Thing	Spike Lee
Barry Lyndon	Stanley Kubrick
John Cassavetes: Five Films	John Cassavetes
The Complete Films of Agnès Varda	Agnès Varda
Tokyo Story	Yasujirō Ozu

Criterion citation: "The director of The Living End and The Doom Generation reminisces about writing papers on Bringing Up Baby in film school, defends one of David Lynch's most polarizing masterpieces, and calls John Waters 'the original godfather of everything.'"^[10]

Film	Director	Ref
Bringing Up Baby	Howard Hawks	[10]
Something Wild	Jonathan Demme
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	David Lynch
Masculin Féminin	Jean-Luc Godard
Pink Flamingos	John Waters
Stranger Than Paradise	Jim Jarmusch

Criterion citation: "The beloved singer-songwriter shares her longtime love for Hollywood star William Powell, talks about her friendship with Hedwig and the Angry Inch director John Cameron Mitchell, and reenacts a moment from A Taste of Honey."^[11]

Film	Director	Ref
My Man Godfrey	Gregory La Cava	[11]
Hedwig and the Angry Inch	John Cameron Mitchell
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival	D. A. Pennebaker
The Blob	Irvin Yeaworth
A Taste of Honey	Tony Richardson
Devil in a Blue Dress	Carl Franklin

Criterion citation: "The director, choreographer, and dancer talks about the evolution of Elia Kazan's cinematic style, Terrence Malick's unique ability to capture moments of grace on set, and Bob Fosse's use of editing as rhythm and movement."^[12]

Film	Director	Ref
On the Waterfront	Elia Kazan	[12]
The Tree of Life	Terrence Malick
Eclipse Series 23: The First Films of Akira Kurosawa	Akira Kurosawa
All That Jazz	Bob Fosse
L'Avventura	Michelangelo Antonioni
Qatsi trilogy	Godfrey Reggio

Criterion citation: "The director of One False Move and Devil in a Blue Dress talks about his love of Yasujiro Ozu, the exploration of crime in Pixote, the inspiration he took from Children of Paradise, and one of the greatest jazz films of all time."^[13]

Film	Director	Ref
The Killers	Robert Siodmak	[13]
My Life as a Dog	Lasse Hallström
Children of Paradise	Marcel Carné
Tokyo Story	Yasujirō Ozu
Late Spring
8½	Federico Fellini
To Sleep with Anger	Charles Burnett
Martin Scorcese's World Cinema Project No. 3	Various directors
Round Midnight	Bertrand Tavernier
Chimes at Midnight	Orson Welles

Criterion citation: "The actor, known for her roles in Transparent and Hustlers, pays tribute to the pioneering subjects of Paris Is Burning, muses about her dream of starring in a future remake of Thelma & Louise, and praises the sexy smoothness of love jones."^[14]

Film	Director	Ref
An Unmarried Woman	Paul Mazursky	[14]
Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films	Melvin Van Peebles
Moonstruck	Norman Jewison
Fellini Satyricon	Federico Fellini
Thelma & Louise	Ridley Scott
Paris Is Burning	Jennie Livingston
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	Pedro Almodóvar
All About My Mother
Love Jones	Theodore Witcher

Criterion citation: "The Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins and his collaborator James Deakins—who discuss filmmaking on their podcast, Team Deakins—share stories about the heyday of punk, childhood memories of watching The Seventh Seal, and commentary about one of the most stunning black-and-white films ever made."^[15]

Film	Director	Ref
Kameradschaft	G. W. Pabst	[15]
Come and See	Elem Klimov
Tokyo Olympiad	Kon Ichikawa
Fires on the Plain
The Burmese Harp
Sid and Nancy	Alex Cox
Le Cercle Rouge	Jean-Pierre Melville
Le Silence de la me
The Seventh Seal	Ingmar Bergman
L'Avventura	Michelangelo Antonioni
Mirror	Andrei Tarkovsky
Solaris
In Cold Blood	Richard Brooks

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed actor, writer, and director praises Jackie Chan as one of the great creators of all time, talks about his love for 'uncomfortable' films like Benny's Video and Wages of Fear, and shares how becoming a father deepened his love for Bicycle Thieves."^[16]

Film	Director	Ref
Police Story/Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	[16]
My Life as a Dog	Lasse Hallström
Nayak	Satyajit Ray
The Wages of Fear	Henri-Georges Clouzot
Michael Haneke: Trilogy	Michael Haneke
Uncut Gems	Safdie brothers
Man Bites Dog	Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde
Bicycle Thieves	Vittorio De Sica

Criterion citation: "The prolific German actor recalls the time he met Paul Morrissey on a plane, the festival encounter that led to his first film shot in the United States, and his experience working with Lars von Trier."^[17]

Film	Director	Ref
Blood for Dracula	Paul Morrissey	[17]
Flesh for Frankenstein
My Own Private Idaho	Gus Van Sant
Breaking the Waves	Lars von Trier

Criterion citation: "The award-winning actor highlights performances he admires, including John Hurt in The Elephant Man, Peter Sellers in Being There, and Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich."^[18]

Film	Director	Ref
Down by Law	Jim Jarmusch	[18]
Being John Malkovich	Spike Jonze
Seconds	John Frankenheimer
The Elephant Man	David Lynch
Being There	Hal Ashby
Five Easy Pieces	Bob Rafelson
America, Lost and Found	Lance Bird, Tom Johnson

Criterion citation: "The director of American Psycho and I Shot Andy Warhol shares her love of B movies of the 1940s and '50s, the metal soundtrack of Lost Highway, and the rapid-fire pacing of '30s comedy."^[19]

Film	Director	Ref
The Naked City	Jules Dassin	[19]
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie	John Cassavetes
Sid and Nancy	Alex Cox
Mala Noche	Gus Van Sant
Lost Highway	David Lynch
My Man Godfrey	Gregory La Cava

Criterion citation: "The actor, whose work includes Barbie and Bad Things, praises Luis Buñuel's thorny explorations of desire, shares her Powell and Pressburger favorites, and shouts out the visionary costume and production design of Eiko Ishioka."^[20]

Film	Director	Ref
The Naked Kiss	Samuel Fuller	[20]
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	Pedro Almodóvar
Belle de Jour	Luis Buñuel
Grey Gardens	Albert and David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer
The Red Shoes	Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Black Narcissus
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters	Paul Schrader
Design for Living	Ernst Lubitsch
The Last Days of Disco	Whit Stillman

Criterion citation: "The legendary actor reminiscences about her collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, recalls a memorable lunch she had with John Cassavetes, and talks about her connection to films by Ingmar Bergman and Mike Leigh."^[21]

Film	Director	Ref
3 Women	Robert Altman	[21]
Scenes from a Marriage	Ingmar Bergman
The Leopard	Luchino Visconti
Husbands	John Cassavetes
Naked	Mike Leigh
Berlin Alexanderplatz	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
La Strada	Federico Fellini

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed photographer and music video director, whose film work includes Control and Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis), highlights favorite movies by Wim Wenders, Martin Scorsese, and Paweł Pawlikowski."^[22]

Film	Director	Ref
Sweet Smell of Success	Alexander Mackendrick	[22]
Midnight Cowboy	John Schlesinger
The American Friend	Wim Wenders
The Last Waltz	Martin Scorsese
Cold War	Paweł Pawlikowski

Criterion citation: "The legendary director—whose latest film, EO, is Poland's official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards—picks a few movies from our closet, including classics by his friends Jan Němec and Andrzej Wajda."^[23]

Film	Director	Ref
Diamonds of the Night	Jan Němec	[23]
Ashes and Diamonds	Andrzej Wajda
Come and See	Elem Klimov
Ivan's Childhood	Andrei Tarkovsky
La Strada	Federico Fellini
8½	Federico Fellini
Loves of a Blonde	Miloš Forman

Criterion citation: "The actor, who stars in Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, highlights a Clu Gulager performance that the director recommended to him, recounts how his wife introduced him to An Unmarried Woman, and shares his mother's favorite movie."^[24]

Film	Director	Ref
The Killers	Robert Siodmak	[24]
Under the Volcano	John Huston
Straw Dogs	Sam Peckinpah
An Unmarried Woman	Paul Mazursky
The Red Shoes	Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
The Bad Sleep Well	Akira Kurosawa
Local Hero	Bill Forsyth

Criterion citation: "The pioneering video game designer throws a spotlight on treasures of 1950s and '60s Japanese cinema, including Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Twilight and Nobuo Nakagawa's Jigoku."^[25]

Film	Director	Ref
High and Low	Akira Kurosawa	[25]
Late Spring	Yasujirō Ozu
Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu
Ugetsu	Kenji Mizoguchi
Kwaidan	Masaki Kobayashi
Harakiri
Jigoku	Nobuo Nakagawa
Onibaba	Kaneto Shindo
Woman in the Dunes	Hiroshi Teshigahara

Criterion citation: "The actor and comedian gravitates to 1940s film noir, the 'weirdly timely' shock comedy of John Waters, and movies with memorable soundtracks."^[26]

Film	Director	Ref
Forty Guns	Samuel Fuller	[26]
Detour	Edgar G. Ulmer
Female Trouble	John Waters
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice	Yasujirō Ozu
Le Samouraï	Jean-Pierre Melville
Frownland	Ronald Bronstein
Pale Flower	Masahiro Shinoda
Dekalog	Krzysztof Kieślowski
One False Move	Carl Franklin

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed actor shares his affection for the dark humor of The Cremator, credits Benicio del Toro with introducing him to the films of Kaneto Shindo, and praises Mexican-cinema classics like Canoa: A Shameful Memory and Amores perros."^[27]

Film	Director	Ref
The Cremator	Juraj Herz	[27]
Onibaba	Kaneto Shindo
Amores perros	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Canoa: A Shameful Memory	Felipe Cazals
The New World	Terrence Malick
Cold War	Paweł Pawlikowski

Criterion citation: "The writer, director, and actor admires the physical comedy of Pierre Etaix and the hallucinatory world of House, recalls formative experiences watching Y tu mamá también and The Virgin Suicides, and shares why he relates to the protagonist of Where Is the Friend's House?"^[28]

Film	Director	Ref
Pierre Étaix	Pierre Étaix	[28]
The Koker Trilogy	Abbas Kiarostami
WALL-E	Andrew Stanton
Amores perros	Alejandro González Iñárritu
After Hours	Martin Scorsese
Y tu mamá también	Alfonso Cuarón
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi
The Virgin Suicides	Sofia Coppola

Criterion citation: "During a trip to what he calls our 'city of movies,' the director of Afire talked about the jazzy qualities of Steven Soderbergh's films, the inspiration he has taken from Preston Sturges, and an overpoweringly erotic moment in Stromboli."^[29]

Film	Director	Ref
Wanda	Barbara Loden	[29]
The Lady Eve	Preston Sturges
Traffic	Steven Soderbergh
People on Sunday	Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer
Six Moral Tales	Éric Rohmer
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman	Roberto Rossellini
A Matter of Life and Death	Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Criterion citation: "The director of She Came to Me and Personal Velocity talks about the most disturbing films she has ever seen, the sad humor of Miloš Forman, and the poetic-realist masterpiece that might be her favorite movie of all time."^[30]

Film	Director	Ref
Devi	Satyajit Ray	[30]
The Color of Pomegranates	Sergei Parajanov
Dekalog	Krzysztof Kieślowski
Loves of a Blonde	Miloš Forman
Children of Paradise	Marcel Carné

Criterion citation: "The front man of the band Neon Indian—who just released his debut solo album, World of Hassle—praises the 'completely demented' Maîtresse, discusses the representation of Texas in True Stories, and gives us his best Peter Falk impression."^[31]

Film	Director	Ref
Sid and Nancy	Alex Cox	[31]
Maîtresse	Barbet Schroeder
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Terry Gilliam
Medium Cool	Haskell Wexler
True Stories	David Byrne
Mystery Train	Jim Jarmusch
Canoa: A Shameful Memory	Felipe Cazals
Wings of Desire	Wim Wenders

Criterion citation: "The legendary filmmaker talks about the brilliance of Targets, his memories of collaborating with a young Martin Scorsese, and his experiences as a story analyst at Twentieth Century-Fox and as a distributor of art-house classics like Amarcord."^[32]

Film	Director	Ref
Targets	Peter Bogdanovich	[32]
The Gunfighter	Henry King
Amarcord	Federico Fellini
War and Peace	Sergei Bondarchuk
Raging Bull	Martin Scorsese

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed photographer and artist talks about bonding with his dad over films in the collection, praises the subtle power of Ozu's framing, shares his connection to Garrett Bradley's depiction of Black American life, and touches on his love for Paul Thomas Anderson."^[33]

Film	Director	Ref
The Watermelon Woman	Cheryl Dunye	[33]
L'Argent	Robert Bresson
Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu	Yasujirō Ozu
A Brighter Summer Day	Edward Yang
Claudine	John Berry
La ciénaga	Lucrecia Martel
Jalsaghar	Satyajit Ray
Love & Basketball	Gina Prince-Bythewood
Punch-Drunk Love	Paul Thomas Anderson
3 Women	Robert Altman

Criterion citation: "The Academy Award–winning producer praises Claire Denis's portrayal of masculinity in Beau travail, talks about the lessons he learned from Luis Buñuel's producer Serge Silberman, and selects favorites by friends and collaborators, including The Last Wave, The Double Life of Véronique, and Kings of the Road."^[34]

Film	Director	Ref
A Touch of Zen	King Wu	[34]
The Leopard	Luchino Visconti
Beau Travail	Claire Denis
The Last Wave	Peter Weir
Three Films by Luis Buñuel	Luis Buñuel
The Rules of the Game	Jean Renoir
Road Movie trilogy	Wim Wenders
La Strada	Federico Fellini

Criterion citation: "The writer, philosopher, and director of Orlando, My Political Biography praises Spanish cinema masters Pedro Almodóvar and Carlos Saura, talks about the 'visual therapy' of Jacques Tati and his love for the poetry of Chris Marker."^[35]

Film	Director	Ref
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	Pedro Almodóvar	[35]
Cría Cuervos	Carlos Saura
Pasolini 101	Pier Paolo Pasolini
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
The Complete Jacques Tati	Jacques Tati
La Jetée/Sans Soleil	Chris Marker
Red Desert	Michelangelo Antonioni

Criterion citation: "The Oscar-winning costume designer of Phantom Thread—whose latest work can be seen in Bradley Cooper's Maestro—reminisces about his enduring collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson, shares his love for the artistry of Italian designers Piero Tosi and Milena Canonero, and talks about looking to The Naked City for period-specific inspiration."^[36]

Film	Director	Ref
Heaven's Gate	Michael Cimino	[36]
The Damned	Luchino Visconti
Barry Lyndon	Stanley Kubrick
The Leopard	Luchino Visconti
The Naked City	Jules Dassin
Beauty and the Beast	Jean Cocteau
Sunday Bloody Sunday	John Schlesinger
My Beautiful Laundrette	Stephen Frears
Marriage Story	Noah Baumbach
Punch-Drunk Love	Paul Thomas Anderson

Criterion citation: "The prolific actor praises the old-school flavor of Cooley High, tells us about his first time seeing Edward James Olmos onstage, and reminisces about a chance encounter with Marlon Brando."^[37]

Film	Director	Ref
12 Angry Men	Sidney Lumet	[37]
Cooley High	Michael Schultz
Dr. Strangelove	Stanley Kubrick
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez	Robert M. Young
Punch-Drunk Love	Paul Thomas Anderson
On the Waterfront	Elia Kazan

Criterion citation: "The cinematographer of Bound and The Matrix talks about the thrill of watching John Ford's Stagecoach for the first time, praises Martin Scorsese's love of music, and picks up a recommendation from his granddaughter—Nobuhiko Obayashi's House."^[38]

Film	Director	Ref
Bowling for Columbine	Michael Moore	[38]
Harlan County, USA	Barbara Kopple
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi
Stagecoach	John Ford
Band of Outsiders	Jean-Luc Godard
Two or Three Things I Know About Her
The Last Waltz	Martin Scorsese

Criterion citation: "The actor and director praises Midnight Cowboy as 'a miracle of a movie,' calls James Stewart his favorite actor, and talks about discovering John Cassavetes's films in his teenage years."^[39]

Film	Director	Ref
Eclipse Series 24: The Actuality Dramas of Allan King	Allan King	[39]
Midnight Cowboy	John Schlesinger
The Before Trilogy	Richard Linklater
Destry Rides Again	George Marshall
His Girl Friday	Howard Hawks
Yi Yi	Edward Yang
John Cassavetes: Five Films	John Cassavetes
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp	Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Criterion citation: "The Oscar-nominated writer and director of Anatomy of a Fall praises the perfection of An Unmarried Woman, talks about the feminist qualities of La vérité, and selects Petite maman for her daughter."^[40]

Film	Director	Ref
An Unmarried Woman	Paul Mazursky	[40]
La Vérité	Henri-Georges Clouzot
Eclipse Series 22: Presenting Sacha Guitry	Sacha Guitry
Eclipse Series 24: The Actuality Dramas of Allan King	Allan King
Petite Maman	Céline Sciamma
Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Steven Soderbergh
La Notte	Michelangelo Antonioni

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed writer, director, and producer of About Dry Grasses talks about how seeing Ingmar Bergman's The Silence changed his perception of cinema, praises the timeless and deceptively simple qualities of Stranger Than Paradise, and shares how Abbas Kiarostami gave him the courage to make his own films."^[41]

Film	Director	Ref
Ingmar Bergman's Cinema	Ingmar Bergman	[41]
Six Moral Tales	Éric Rohmer
Stranger Than Paradise	Jim Jarmusch
Andrei Rublev	Andrei Tarkovsky
The Apu Trilogy	Satyajit Ray
Knife in the Water	Roman Polanski
The Koker Trilogy	Abbas Kiarostami

Criterion citation: "The writer and director of The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman and Mambar Pierrette talks about being inspired by Ousmane Sembène and shares how Abbas Kiarostami's films freed her to blur the boundaries between documentary and fiction."^[42]

Film	Director	Ref
Mandabi	Ousmane Sembène	[42]
Black Girl
Bicycle Thieves	Vittorio De Sica
Close-Up	Abbas Kiarostami

Criterion citation: "The writer and director of All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt selects films that have left an indelible mark on her sensibility, praising the revelatory inspiration of Lynne Ramsay's short films and the visceral effect of The Piano Teacher, and shouting out the 'legend' Barry Jenkins."^[43]

Film	Director	Ref
Eve's Bayou	Kasi Lemmons	[43]
Ratcatcher	Lynne Ramsay
The Piano Teacher	Michael Haneke
Amores perros	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Medicine for Melancholy	Barry Jenkins
Fat Girl	Catherine Breillat
Weekend	Andrew Haigh
Faya Dayi	Jessica Beshir
La ciénaga	Lucrecia Martel
The Devil's Backbone	Guillermo del Toro

Criterion citation: "The legendary French auteur talks about the intimacy of discovering yourself in cinema, shares her lifelong connection to Viridiana and Black Orpheus, and praises directors whose work continues to inspire and transport her, from Elia Kazan and David Lynch to Shohei Imamura and Andrei Tarkovsky."^[44]

Film	Director	Ref
Viridiana	Luis Buñuel	[44]
Eraserhead	David Lynch
On the Waterfront	Elia Kazan
Vengeance Is Mine	Shōhei Imamura
Black Orpheus	Marcel Camus
Andrei Rublev	Andrei Tarkovsky
Ingmar Bergman's Cinema	Ingmar Bergman

Criterion citation: "The award-winning writer, director, producer, and critic shouts out a Marlon Riggs retrospective he programmed in Brazil, recalls watching Albert Brooks's Lost in America on VHS in the eighties, and shares how Agnès Varda became an 'imaginary friend' to him when he made his film Pictures of Ghosts."^[45]

Film	Director	Ref
After Hours	Martin Scorsese	[45]
The Spirit of the Beehive	Víctor Erice
The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs	Marlon Riggs
Barry Lyndon	Stanley Kubrick
Lost in America	Albert Brooks
Martin Scorcese's World Cinema Project No. 3	Various directors
A Brighter Summer Day	Edward Yang
The Complete Films of Agnès Varda	Agnès Varda
Don't Look Now	Nicolas Roeg

Criterion citation: "The writer and director of Safe, Carol, and May December describes the influence that Brief Encounter and Beau travail have had on his work, praises classic Douglas Sirk movies as 'the most perfect films ever made,' and gives a shout-out to the late Terence Davies and his friend Kelly Reichardt."^[46]

Film	Director	Ref
Brief Encounter	David Lean	[46]
My Own Private Idaho	Gus Van Sant
All That Heaven Allows	Douglas Sirk
Written on the Wind
BRD Trilogy	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Masculin Féminin	Jean-Luc Godard
Sunday Bloody Sunday	John Schlesinger
The Night of the Hunter	Charles Laughton
The Long Day Closes	Terence Davies
Beau Travail	Claire Denis
All About Eve	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Now, Voyager	Irving Rapper
Old Joy	Kelly Reichardt
The Servant	Joseph Losey
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls	Russ Meyer
In a Lonely Place	Nicholas Ray

Criterion citation: "The writer-director of So Much Tenderness and This Time Tomorrow shares her love for the magnetic monstrousness of Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, praises the visual grammar of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and talks about 'impossible love' in Flowers of Shanghai and Exotica."^[47]

Film	Director	Ref
Wanda	Barbara Loden	[47]
Leave Her to Heaven	John M. Stahl
Portrait of a Lady on Fire	Céline Sciamma
Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema	Bo Widerberg
Eight Hours Don't Make a Day	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Flowers of Shanghai	Hou Hsiao-hsien
Exotica	Atom Egoyan

Criterion citation: "The Oscar-nominated writer and director of Io Capitano praises the courage and vision of Buster Keaton, shares his love for the soul of Kenji Mizoguchi and the subconscious of David Lynch, and shouts out one of his cinematic fathers, Roberto Rossellini."^[48]

Film	Director	Ref
The Cameraman	Edward Sedgwick	[48]
Andrei Rublev	Andrei Tarkovsky
A Story from Chikamatsu	Kenji Mizoguchi
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
Mulholland Drive	David Lynch
Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy	Roberto Rossellini

Criterion citation: "The writing and directing partners behind the new show A Murder at the End of the World talk about the influence of Alan J. Pakula, share their deep connection to The Double Life of Véronique and After Life, and praise the storytelling in Drive My Car."^[49]

Film	Director	Ref
Klute	Alan J. Pakula	[49]
Time Bandits	Terry Gilliam
Blood Simple	Coen brothers
The Double Life of Veronique	Krzysztof Kieślowski
After Life	Hirokazu Kore-eda
Drive My Car	Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Criterion citation: "The award-winning writer and director of Tótem shares her love for Aki Kaurismäki's 'strange, funny filmmaking spirit,' dedicates her selection of Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides to her mom, and talks about Werner Herzog as a 'warrior' in Burden of Dreams."^[50]

Film	Director	Ref
Yi Yi	Edward Yang	[50]
Onibaba	Kaneto Shindo
Eclipse Series 12: Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy	Aki Kaurismäki
Boat People	Ann Hui
The Prince of Tides	Barbra Streisand
In the Realm of the Senses	Nagisa Ōshima
Burden of Dreams	Les Blank

Criterion citation: "The writer and director of Godland—Iceland's 2023 Oscar submission—shares his love for Ana Torrent's performances in Cría cuervos and The Spirit of the Beehive, talks about the physicality of Naked and the fear and inspiration in L'humanité, and praises the craft of Bresson as 'like no other.'"^[51]

Film	Director	Ref
The Spirit of the Beehive	Víctor Erice	[51]
Cría Cuervos	Carlos Saura
Naked	Mike Leigh
Ratcatcher	Lynne Ramsay
The Passion of Joan of Arc	Carl Theodor Dreyer
Mirror	Andrei Tarkovsky
L'Argent	Robert Bresson
Humanité	Bruno Dumont
Blowup	Michelangelo Antonioni
Barry Lyndon	Stanley Kubrick

Criterion citation: "The acclaimed actor shares his deep connection to Onibaba, praises Isabelle Huppert and her performance in The Piano Teacher, recalls Gate of Flesh's influence on the Wooster Group, and selects a few of his collaborations with Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese."^[52]

Film	Director	Ref
Onibaba	Kaneto Shindo	[52]
The Leopard	Luchino Visconti
Pickpocket	Robert Bresson
Ashes and Diamonds	Andrzej Wajda
Gate of Flesh	Seijun Suzuki
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman	Roberto Rossellini
The Devil's Backbone	Guillermo del Toro
Mirror	Andrei Tarkovsky
The Piano Teacher	Michael Haneke
8½	Federico Fellini
The Last Temptation of Christ	Martin Scorsese
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	Wes Anderson

Criterion citation: "The legendary auteur returns to the Criterion Closet, where he selects new editions of favorite films like Down by Law and Wanda, talks about Kurosawa's genius for recreating weather on-screen, and shouts out his former assistant director Claire Denis."^[53]

Film	Director	Ref
A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds	Yasujirō Ozu	[53]
Down by Law	Jim Jarmusch
The 400 Blows	François Truffaut
The Cameraman	Edward Sedgwick
The Complete Jacques Tati	Jacques Tati
Kagemusha	Akira Kurosawa
Wanda	Barbara Loden
Beau Travail	Claire Denis
Until the End of the World	Wim Wenders
Au hasard Balthazar	Robert Bresson
Mouchette

Criterion citation: "The award-winning actor and producer discusses his work in such Mexican-cinema classics as Y tu mamá también and Amores perros, shares his love for the mysterious pleasures of Blow-Up and Purple Noon, and praises the brilliance of Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière."^[54]

Film	Director	Ref
Amores perros	Alejandro González Iñárritu	[54]
Memories of Underdevelopment	Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Blowup	Michelangelo Antonioni
Purple Noon	René Clément
Y tu mamá también	Alfonso Cuarón
Three Films by Luis Buñuel	Luis Buñuel

Criterion citation: "The legendary actor shares his love for the Akira Kurosawa classics Red Beard and Ikiru, recalls how Tatsuya Nakadai was his teacher when he first began acting, admires the visual storytelling of City Lights, and shouts out his latest collaborator, Wim Wenders."^[55]

Film	Director	Ref
Red Beard	Akira Kurosawa	[55]
Ikiru
Harakiri	Masaki Kobayashi
The Funeral	Juzo Itami
Cure	Kiyoshi Kurosawa
City Lights	Charlie Chaplin
Paris, Texas	Wim Wenders

Criterion citation: "The singer-songwriter of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service shares his love of the surreal worlds of Luis Buñuel; praises his favorite filmmaker, Kelly Reichardt; and talks about the emotional impact and importance of Streetwise."^[56]

Film	Director	Ref
The Exterminating Angel	Luis Buñuel	[56]
Three Films by Luis Buñuel
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival	D. A. Pennebaker
Old Joy	Kelly Reichardt
Take Out	Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Le Havre	Aki Kaurismäki
Eclipse Series 12: Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy
Streetwise/Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell	Mary Ellen Mark, Martin Bell

Criterion citation: "The writer and director, best known for creating and starring in the hit television show Schitt's Creek, talks about the eternal inspiration of Moonstruck, shares his love for Parker Posey, and reminiscences about watching Sofia Coppola direct on the set of The Virgin Suicides."^[57]

Film	Director	Ref
Moonstruck	Norman Jewison	[57]
Tokyo Story	Yasujirō Ozu
The Piano Teacher	Michael Haneke
Election	Alexander Payne
Love & Basketball	Gina Prince-Bythewood
Weekend	Andrew Haigh
The Daytrippers	Greg Mottola
The Virgin Suicides	Sofia Coppola
Kagemusha	Akira Kurosawa