You could do worse than to refer people to the Sight and Sound Top Ten Polls:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/
These are much more diverse and authoritative than the notoriously bland AFI lists, because they reflect the consensus of an *international* selection of critics and filmmakers. For instance, the 2002 Critic's Poll includes:
1. CITIZEN KANE
2. VERTIGO
3. LA REGLE DU JEU
4. THE GODFATHER, parts I and II
5. TOKYO STORY
6. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
7. THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN
8. SUNRISE
9. 8 1/2
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
Here are the "long" (more than four votes) and "all films voted for" lists:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/critics-long.html
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/list.php?list=films
The nice thing is that many of these are films that instructors I know actually use for courses, and not just in Film Studies programs. I've seen Chaplin's MODERN TIMES taught in a philosophy course, and a Creative Writing professor uses Keaton's THE GENERAL, to name just two examples.
It's great to see individual critics championing Indian, Iranian, and Latin American films, and there are several women filmmakers on the full list. One possible downside is that the list strongly favors narrative feature films over documentary and experimental/avant-garde films, though a few are included here and there.
Best,
James Steffen
--
James M. Steffen, PhD
Film Studies and Media Librarian
Theater and Dance Subject Liaison
Marian K. Heilbrun Music and Media Library
Emory University
540 Asbury Circle
Atlanta, GA 30322-2870
Phone: (404) 727-8107
FAX: (404) 727-2257
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Andrew Hutchins
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 3:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SCREEN-L] universal standard film curriculum
I'm often asked, especially because I have worked with small opera companies
both as singer and crew where most of the people are voice majors and have a
standard repertoire of familiarity, what films make up the basic curriculum, and
I generally say that aside from _Citizen Kane_ that there really is not one, and
then generally shock saying that I have never seen _Gone with the Wind_ in its
entirety. It doesn't seem like a favorite film to teach in the film studies
community.
After _Citizen Kane_, it seems to me that _Triumph of the Will_ and _Breathless_
are tops, followed perhaps by _Bicycle Thieves_, _2001: A Space Odyssey_, and
_Yojimbo_.
Am I far off the mark here? I'm not a professor yet--I'm looking into Ph.D.
programs.
--
Scott Andrew Hutchins
http://web.archive.org/web/20050304105837/mywebpages.comcast.net/scottandrewh/ [archive site; not currently active]
http://www.myspace.com/4637382
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Scottandrewhutchins
http://Cinemopera.dvdaf.com
http://akas.imdb.com/name/nm0003149/
"Those who had been successful adapted themselves to the world around them, had bent their greater mental powers into the pattern of acceptable action. And this dulled their usefulness, limited their capacity, hedged their ability with restrictions set up to fit less extraordinary people." -- Clifford D. Simak, "Census" (1944)
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Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex
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http://www.screenlex.org
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