The best non-English language films and their directors
Minari, a big success in 2021
For the second year in a row, a non-English language film has made big waves at the international awards galas. In 2020, it was 'Parasite' by director Bong Joon-ho. In 2021, Lee Isaac Chung's 'Minari' - made in the U.S. but spoken in Korean - took home various important prizes.
Parasite, winner in 2020
Both 'Parasite' and 'Minari' were important contributions to non-English language cinema, because they introduced the merits of this enormous field to a wider international public. Let's revisit the Top 100 the BBC made of the best non-English language films ever.
1. Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa
Japan - 1954
2. Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio de Sica
Italy - 1948
3. Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu
Japan - 1953
4. Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa
Japan - 1950
5. The Rules of the Game - Jean Renoir
France - 1939
6. Persona - Ingmar Bergman
Sweden - 1966
7. '8 1/2' - Federico Fellini
Italy - 1963
8. The 400 Blows - François Truffaut
France - 1959
9. In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar-wai
China - 2000
10. La dolce vita - Federico Fellini
Italy - 1960
11. Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard
France - 1960
12. Farewell my concubine - Chen Kaige
China - 1993
13. M (Murderers among us) - Fritz Lang
Germany - 1931
14. 'Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles' - Chantal Akerman
Belgium - 1975
15. Pather Panchali - Satyajit Ray
India - 1955
16. Metropolis - Fritz Lang
Germany - 1927
17. Aguirre, The Warth of God - Werner Herzog
Germany - 1972
18. A City of Sadness - Hou Hsiao-hsien
Taiwan - 1989
19. The Battle of Algiers - Gillo Pontecorvo
Italy, Algeria - 1966
20. The Mirror - Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR - 1974
21. A Separation - Asghar Farhadi
Iran - 2011
22. Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo del Toro
Spain, Mexico, USA - 2006
23. The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer
France - 1928
24. Battleship Potemkin - Serguéi Eisenstein
USSR - 1925
25. Yi yi - Edward Yang
Taiwan, Japan - 2000
26. Cinema Paradiso - Giuseppe Tornatore
Italy - 1988
27. The Spirit of the Beehive - Victor Erice
Spain - 1973
28. Fanny and Alexander - Ingmar Bergman
Sweden - 1982
29. Oldboy - Park Chan-wook
South Korea - 2003
30. The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman
Sweden - 1957
31. The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnesmarck
Germany - 2006
32. All About My Mother - Pedro Almodóvar
Spain - 1999
33. Playtime - Jacques Tati
France - 1967
34. Wings of Desire - Wim Wenders
Germany - 1957
35. The Leopard - Luchino Visconti
Italy - 1963
36. La Grande Ilusion - Jean Renoir
France - 1937
37. Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki
Japan - 2001
38. A Brighter Summer Day - Edward Yang
Taiwan - 1991
39. Close-up - Abbas Kiarostami
Iran - 1990
40. Andrei Rublev - Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR - 1966
41. To Live - Zhang Yimou
China - 1994
42. City of God - Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund
Brazil - 2002
43. Beau Travail - Claire Denis
France - 1999
44. Cleo from 5 to 7 - Agnés Varda
France - 1972
45. The Adventure - Michelangelo Antonioni
Italy - 1960
46. Children of Paradise - Marcel Carné
France - 1945
47. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Cristian Mungiu
Romania - 2007
48. Viridiana - Luis Buñuel
Spain, Mexico - 1961
49. Stalker: The Zone - Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR - 1979
50. L' Atalante - Jean Vigo
France - 1934
51. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Jacques Demy
France - 1964
52. Late Spring - Yasujiro Ozu
Japan - 1949
53. Au Hasard Balthazar - Robert Bresson
France - 1966
54. Eat Drink Man Woman - Ang Lee
Taiwan - 1994
55. Jules and Jim - François Truffaut
France - 1962
56. Chungking Express - Wong Kar-wai
China - 1994
57. Solaris - Andrei Tarkovsy
USSR - 1972
58. Madame De... (The Earrings of Madame De...) - Max Ophuls
France - 1953
69. Come and See - Elem Klimov
USSR - 1985
60. Contempt - Jean-Luc Godard
France - 1963
61. Sansho the Bailiff - Kenji Mizoguchi
Japan - 1954
62. Touki Bouki - Djibril Diop Mambéty
Senegal - 1973
63. Spring in a Small Town - Mu Fek
China - 1948
64. Three Colours: Blue - Krzysztof Kiéslowski
France - 1993
65. Ordet - Carl Theodor Dreyer
Denmark - 1955
66. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Germany - 1973
67. The Exterminating Angel - Luis Buñuel
Mexico - 1962
68. Ugetsu - Kenji Mizoguchi
Japan - 1953
69. Amour - Michael Haneke
France, Austria - 2012
70. L'Eclisse - Michelangelo Antonioni
Italy - 1962
71. Happy Together - Wong Kar-wai
China - 1997
72. Ikiru - Akira Kurosawa
Japan - 1952
73. Man with the Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov
USSR - 1929
74. Pierrot le fou - Jean-Luc Godard
France - 1965
75. Belle de Jour - Luis Buñuel
France - 1967
76. Y tu mamá también - Alfonso Cuarón
Mexico - 2001
77. The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci
Italy - 1970
78. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee
China, Taiwan - 2000
79. Ran - Akira Kurosawa
Japan - 1985
80. The Young and the Damned - Luis Buñuel
Mexico - 1950
81. Céline and Julie go boating - Jacques Rivette
France - 1974
82. Amélie - Jean-Pierret Jeunet
France - 2001
83. La Strada - Federico Fellini
Italy - 1954
84. The Discreet Charme of the Bourgeoisie - Luis Buñuel
France - 1972
85. Umberto D - Vittorio de Sica
Italy - 1952
86. La Jetée - Chris Marker
France - 1962
87. The nights of Cabiria - Federico Fellini
Italy - 1957
88. The story of the last Chrysanthemum - Kenji Mizoguchi
Japan - 1939
89. Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman
Sweden - 1973
90. Hiroshima Mon Amour - Alain Resnais
France - 1959
91. Rififi - Jules Dassin
France - 1955
92. Scenes from a Marriage - Ingmar Bergman
Sweden - 1973
93. Raise the Red Lantern - Zhang Yimou
China - 1991
94. Where's the friend's home? - Abbas Kiarostami
Iran - 1987
95. Floating Clouds - Mikio Naruse
Japan - 1955
96. Shoah - Claude Lanzmann
France - 1985
97. Taste of Cherry - Abbas Kiarostami
Iran - 1997
98. In the Heat of the Sun - Jiang Wen
China - 1994
99. Landscape in the Mist - Theo Angelopoulos
Greece - 1988
100. Ashes and Diamonds - Andrzej Wajda
Poland - 1958
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