2. The Substance (Coralie Fargeat)
5. A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg)
6. Between the Temples (Nathan Silver)
7. Dead Man's Switch / Arillo de hombre muerto
(Alejandro Gerber Bicecci)
8. Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier)
9. The Vourdalak (Adrien Beau)
Runners-up
11. The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)
12. Anora (Sean Baker)
14. The Girl with the Needle / Pigen med nålen (Magnus von Horn)
15. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
16. Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
17. Good One (India Donaldson)
18. The Fire Inside (Rachel Morrison)
21. Vermiglio (Maura Delpero)
22. Hard Truths (Mike Leigh )
23. Evil Does Not Exist / Aku wa sonzai shinai (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
24. Juror #2 (Clint Eastwood )
26. Femme (Sam Freeman and Ng Ping)
28. Universal Language (Matthew Rankin )
31. Dìdi (Sean Wang)
32. 20,000 Species of Bees / 20.000 especies de abejas (Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)
34. Conclave (Edward Berger)
35. September 5 (Tim Fehlbaum)
36. Vulcanizadora (Joel Potrykus)
37. The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi )
38. Ghostlight (Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan )
39. Sing Sing (Greg Kwedar)
40. Immaculate (Michael Mohan)
42. The Devil's Bath / Des teufels bad
(Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz)
43. Blitz (Steve McQueen)
44. Woman of the Hour (Anna Kendrick)
45. Trust / Confidenza (Daniele Luchetti)
46. Oh, Canada (Paul Schrader)
47. Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik)
48. Strange Darling (JT Mollner)
49. Gasoline Rainbow (Bill and Turner Ross)
50. The Order (Justin Kurzel)
Top Documentaries
1. No Other Land (Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham)
4. In the Rearview / Skąd dokąd (Maciek Hamela)
5. Resynator (Alison Tavel)
6. Rainier: A Beer Odyssey (Isaac Olsen)
7. All We Carry / Lo que llevamos (Cady Vogue)
8. Lyd (Sarah Ema Friedland and Rami Youniss)
9. Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill (Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom)
The rest (alphabetical): 7 Keys,
All Happy Families,
Anxious.,
Babygirl,
Band on the Run,
Banel & Adama,
Bastion,
Ben and Suzanne, a Reunion in 4 Parts,
The Black Sea,
Boca Chica,
Bound,
Brats,
Breakup Season,
The Brutalist,
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,
Challengers,
Chaperone,
Christmas Eve in Miller's Point,
Coma,
Close Your Eyes, A Complete Unknown,
The Dead Don't Hurt,
Emilia Pérez,
Faye,
Fish War,
Friend Divorce,
Future Date,
Heretic,
The Heirloom,
His Three Daughters, Hit Man,
I Am: Celine Dion,
It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This,
Lisa Frankenstein,
Longlegs,
Lone Wolves,
Maria,
Mother, Couch,
My Old Ass,
Nosferatu,
Not If I See You First,
The People's Joker,
Linda Perry: Let It Die Here,
Not Not Jazz,
The Piano Lesson,
Problemista,
Queer,
Sebastian,
Sometimes I Think About Dying,
Thelma,
Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light,
The Veteran,
Where in the Hell, and
Will & Harper.
Missed or haven’t seen yet: Alien: Romulus, All We Imagine as Light, All You Need Is Death, Close Your Eyes, A Different Man, Dune: Part 2, The End, The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Green Border, I'm Still Here, In a Violent Nature, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, Kneecap, Look Into My Eyes, Memoir of a Snail, Oddity, The Outrun, The Room Next Door, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Wicked, and The Wild Robot.
2023 films: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster,
Dream Scenario,
Maestro,
Nyad,
Pamela, a Love Story,
Radical Wolfe,
The Sales Girl,
Sisi & I,
Slide,
The Stones and Brian Jones, and
Youth (Spring).
2025 films: 7 Keys,
Anna Comes Home,
Chaperone,
Color Book,
Duino, Familiar Touch,
Future Date,
The Heirloom,
Ick,
Jackie Shane: Any Other Way,
Messy,
Operation Taco Gary's,
Rowdy Friends,
Slide, and
Where in the Hell.
At least six of these films would've been contenders if they had counted for this year, but I saw most of them at Cucalorus before they had distribution, or before their deals had been announced--
Familiar Touch was acquired by Music Box prior to its Cucalorus premiere. I was thrilled to moderate the Q&As for three of them, and I also got to chat with
Color Book filmmaker David Fortune, who impressed me on every level. Here's hoping these films make it to town. I know for sure that one of the directors has submitted their film to SIFF for the 2025 festival. FWIW, I counted
Scala!!! as a 2023 film last year, but 2024 would've made more sense if I was going by Seattle distribution dates.
Pre-2023 films: Another Country,
The Blackcoat's Daughter,
Blood Relatives,
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,
Broken Mirrors,
Candy,
Carlito's Way,
Caveat,
Cemetery Man,
Cockfighter,
The Comfort of Strangers,
Condo Painting,
Creepshow,
D-Day: The Finished Film,
The Day of the Locust,
The Dead Mother,
Demon Pond,
Demon Seed,
Demons,
Despair,
The Desperate Hours,
The Devil's Rain,
The Devil's Sisters,
Divine Intervention,
Dragon Superman / Dragon Ghost Flying Knight,
The Entity,
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,
Eve's Bayou,
Fanny: The Right to Rock,
Frankenhooker,
Frankenstein: The True Story,
Glen and Randa,
Green Fish,
Gretel & Hansel,
The Guest,
Hawk Jones,
Hester Street,
The Hidden,
High Crime,
Hollywood 90028,
Hugo,
Human Desire,
Hustle,
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House,
Impulse,
In the Radiant City,
July Rhapsody,
Le Combat dans L'ile,
The Last Island,
The Last Picture Show,
Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll,
Looker,
Lourdes,
Loving,
Messiah of Evil,
Mortal Thoughts,
Mud,
Nam June Paik: The Moon Is the Oldest TV,
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge,
Nightmares Come at Night,
Oasis,
Paris, 13th District,
La Piscine,
Please Baby Please,
Poetry,
The Primevals,
Querelle,
Re-Animator,
Red Sun,
Saint Maud,
Screamplay,
Stage Fright,
Stella Maris,
Strange M. Victor,
Stranger by the Lake,
The Strangler,
Sunday,
The Swiss Conspiracy,
Tchoupitoulas,
Vampire Circus,
The Velvet Vampire,
Victims of Sin,
The Wedding Party,
Willy/Milly,
You Are Not Alone, and
Young Soul Rebels.
Short films: And I Will Rise, If Only To Hold You Down,
Saint Frankenstein, and all 14 shorts on the
Scala!!! Blu-ray set.
TV: Babylon Berlin S4, The Bear S3, Brokenwood Mysteries S1-2, Call the Midwife S13, Cobra S3, The Crown S6, D.I. Ray S2, Feud: Capote and the Swans (mostly for Gus Van Sant), Funny Woman S1, George & Tammy, Grantchester S9, Guilt S3, The Good Place S3, Hotel Portofino S3, Law & Order S22, Law & Order: SVU S24, Miss Scarlet (and the Duke) S3-5, MaryLand, Moonflower Murders, Mr. Bates vs the Post Office, The New Look, Nolly, NYPD Blue S1-5, Professor T S3, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Ridley Road, Sex Education S4, Slow Horses S4, Tokyo Vice S2, True Detective (S4): Night Country, Twin Peaks: The Return, Unforgotten S5, Us, and Van der Walk S4.
