Criterion Challenge 2026
52 movies
https://letterboxd.com/benvsthemovies/list/the-criterion-challenge-2026/
- 20th Anniversary Releases
- Watch a film not on your watchlist
- Watch a film with a color in the title
- 2020s or an upcoming release
- Romance
- The Twenty Least Watched Films
- Queer Cinema
- 1930s
- 1990s
- Random Number Generator (Set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever film corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
- King Princess’s Top 10
- Judge a film by its cover
- Song and Dance
- 2000s
- Director Approved
- Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Closet Picks
- Prequel/Sequel/Remake/Reimagining
- 1980s
- Watch a film that starts with the first letter of your name
- Kathryn Bigelow’s Closet Picks
- 1940s
- Watch a film rated 2.0-2.9 stars
- Pick any category from a past Criterion Challenge year
- 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- “Good For Her” Cinematic Universe
- Guy Maddin’s Top 10
- 1960s
- Directed by Satyajit Ray
- Watch a film from any box set release
- Black Lives
- Watch a film rated 3.7 stars
- Elle Fanning’s Closet Picks
- War
- 2010s
- 1950s
- Glorious Restorations
- Must see Criterion released films as featured on Danny Peary’s “Guide for the Film Fanatic” (1986)
- Random Letter Generator - Watch a film that starts with the letter randomly generated
- The Best Movies of the 21st Century
- Directed by Mira Nair
- Spine #701-750
- 1970s
- Letterboxd Top 250
- Watch a film you haven’t seen that someone else watched as part of last year’s challenge
- Novels on the Big Screen
- Random Year Generator - Set values from 1915 to 2024 and watch a film from whatever year is randomly generated
- Women Directors: The Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films
- David Byrne’s Closet Picks
- Criterion Double Features: Film #1
- Criterion Double Features: Film #2
- 1920s
- Watch any Criterion film from your watchlist
Drive, He Said (1971) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
Drive, He Said
director:
杰克·尼科尔森
actor:
William Tepper
/
凯伦·布莱克
…
other title:
开车，他说
/
드라이브, 히 세이드
…
Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards. His girlfriend, Olive, doesn't know whether to stay with him or leave him. And his friend, Gabriel, who may have dropped out from school and become a protestor, wants desperately not to get drafted for Vietnam.
Shoah (1985) [Movie] WikiData IMDb Eggplant.place TMDB Douban
Shoah
other title:
Shoah - Extermínio
/
浩劫
…
Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.
Black Narcissus (1947) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB WikiData
Black Narcissus
other title:
黑水仙
/
思凡(港)
…
A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.
Sanjuro (1962) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB WikiData
椿三十郎
other title:
츠바키 산주로
/
椿三十郎
…
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
Aparajito (1956) [Movie] TMDB Douban IMDb WikiData
অপরাজিত
other title:
아푸 제2부: 아파라지토
/
অপরাজিত
…
Aparajito picks up where the first film leaves off, with Apu and his family having moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Varanasi (then known as Benares). As Apu progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother. This tenderly expressive, often heart-wrenching film, which won three top prizes at the Venice Film Festival, including the Golden Lion, not only extends but also spiritually deepens the tale of Apu. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1996.
Hollywood Shuffle (1987) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
Hollywood Shuffle
director:
Robert Townsend
actor:
Robert Townsend
/
Craigus R. Johnson
…
other title:
好莱坞洗牌
/
할리우드 셔플
…
Bobby Taylor wants to be a respected actor. From Sam Spade to Shakespeare to superheros, he can do it all. He just has to convince Hollywood that gangstas, slaves and “Eddie Murphy-types” aren’t the sum of his talents.
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985) [Movie] Douban IMDb WikiData TMDB
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart
other title:
点心
/
黑心
…
San Francisco's Richmond District. A widow welcomes the Chinese New Year. 62 years old, she wants to make a trip to China to pay last respects to her ancestors. A fortune teller has told her this is the year she'll die, and a daughter, Geraldine, remains unmarried. Geraldine's boyfriend lives in Los Angeles and she's not sure she's ready for marriage, nor does she want to leave her mother alone in her declining years. Mrs. Tan's cheerful brother-in-law, Uncle Tam, tries to help out.
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (2019) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
other title:
디스 이즈 낫 어 베리얼, 잇츠 어 레저렉션
/
L’ Indomptable feu du printemps
…
Amongst the mountains of Lesotho, an 80-year-old widow winds up her affairs and makes arrangements for her burial. But when her village is threatened with resettlement due to the construction of a reservoir, she finds a new will to live and ignites a spirit of resistance within her community.
Miracle in Milan (1951) [Movie] IMDb Douban TMDB WikiData
Miracolo a Milano
other title:
米兰的奇迹
/
Miracolo a Milano
…
Once upon a time a wise and kind old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Totò, enters an orphanage. Totò leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. But when greedy developers threaten the community’s land, Totò will need all the help he can get in order to find an impossible way out.
Journey to Prehistory (1955) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB WikiData
Cesta do praveku
6.3 (6 ratings)
director:
卡尔·齐曼
actor:
Vladimír Bejval
/
Petr Herrmann
…
other title:
史前之旅
/
Cesta do praveku
…
Four schoolboys go on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creatures that have long since vanished from the earth.
Five Easy Pieces (1970) [Movie] Douban TMDB WikiData IMDb
Five Easy Pieces
The Tree of Life (2011) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB Min reol WikiData
The Tree of Life
other title:
生命之树
/
生命树(港)
…
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Monsoon Wedding (2001) [Movie] Douban IMDb WikiData TMDB
Monsoon Wedding
7.3 (18 ratings)
director:
米拉·奈尔
actor:
纳萨鲁丁·沙
/
莉蕾特·杜贝
…
other title:
季风婚宴
/
偷欢嫁期(港)
…
As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi. This film traces five intersecting stories, each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class, continent and morality.