Daniella Shreir

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For weeks, discussion of this poll (which, as a non-film friend pointed out, should actually be called a survey) has saturated social media. Being invited to contribute is, apparently, a mark of distinction, and both the lucky and the unlucky ones have taken it upon themselves to share lists of up to 100 films with their followers. As the U.K. waits to hear which terrible leadership candidate will accompany us into the next recession, as Europe combusts and Gaza and Ukraine burn, as Taiwanese independence is threatened, is a list that appeals to the masculinist and elitist notion of ‘greatness’ really the chosen diversion of us film workers? And how old does a film have to be for us to allow it to have its place within “All Time”?

Will we live to see the 2032 ‘top 100’? What is (almost) certain is that this decade’s list will contain more than two films by women. This will be down to the recent exhibition and restoration efforts of cinemas, festivals and archives, and it will also be down to optics. He who includes one – maximum two – women filmmakers on his list will have been on the right side of history! 

Because I am a hypocrite, here is a list that celebrates a more minor and formally challenging cinema. (I now realise that these films include a lot of mothers and lesbians).