Movies

Watch the 10 best movies of all time with IFF Boston

IFF Boston's "Sight and Sound Summer Vacation" will screen the 10 best films in history, as selected by a long-running international poll of more than 1,600 film critics.

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The label “best movie ever” is a subjective one. But since 1952, the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound poll has been the most authoritative arbiter, publishing a list every 10 years of the best films ever made, as selected by more than 1,600 of “the most influential international film critics, academics, distributors, writers, curators, archivists and programmers.” As the late Roger Ebert put it, the Sight and Sound list is “by far the most respected of the countless polls of great movies — the only one most serious movie people take seriously.”

Following the publication of its most recent Sight and Sound list in December 2022, Independent Film Festival Boston announced this week that it will hold a “Sight and Sound Summer Vacation” series, bringing the entire top 10 from the most recent poll to the Somerville Theatre from Aug. 21-30.

Much like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has steadily increased the number of Oscars voters in recent years, the Sight and Sound poll more than doubled the size of its voting body following its 2012 list. With the size increase has come plenty of changes.

After a 40-year run as the consensus best film ever made, Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece “Citizen Kane” was dethroned by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 mystery “Vertigo” in 2012. The 2022 list changed things around again, with Chantal Akerman’s 1975 domestic drama “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” taking the No. 1 spot, a first for a female filmmaker.

IFF Boston’s screening series will count down from No. 10 to No. 1, starting with No. 10 (1952’s “Singin’ In the Rain”) on Aug. 21 and wrapping up with No. 1 “Jeanne Dielman” on Aug. 30. Given the expected popularity of the top film, which has rarely screened at repertory theaters in the area, IFF Boston will also have a bonus screening of Akerman’s film at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27.

Highlights of the series include a rare IB Technicolor 35mm print of “Vertigo” (Aug. 29), a 35mm print of Wong Kar-wai’s 2001 drama “In The Mood For Love” using its original color-grading (Aug. 26), and a live orchestra accompanying Dziga Vertov’s 1929 experimental silent film “Man with a Movie Camera” (Aug. 22).

Check out the full schedule below, and visit the IFF Boston website to buy tickets.

With the exception of the Aug. 27 screening of Jeanne Dielman” at 2 p.m., every film begins at 7:30 p.m.

Mon., Aug. 21: “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952)
Tue., Aug. 22: “Man with a Movie Camera” (1929)
Wed., Aug. 23: “Mulholland Dr.” (2001)
Thu., Aug. 24: “Beau Travail” (1998)
Fri., Aug. 25: “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
Sat., Aug. 26: “In The Mood For Love” (2001)
Sun., Aug. 27: “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” (1975)
Sun., Aug. 27: “Tokyo Story” (1953)
Mon., Aug. 28: “Citizen Kane” (1941)
Tue., Aug. 29: “Vertigo” (1958)
Wed., Aug. 30: “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” (1975)

Kevin Slane

Staff Writer

Kevin Slane is a staff writer for Boston.com covering entertainment and culture. His work focuses on movie reviews, streaming guides, celebrities, and things to do in Boston.