MOONLIGHT Among Film Comment's 2016 Best-of-Year Lists

Film Comment's annual end-of-year survey was released today with Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann, Barry Jenkins's Moonlight, and Paul Verhoeven's Elle taking the top spots among films released in 2016. Of the films that screened at festivals worldwide but have not announced stateside distribution, Cristi Puiu's Sieranevada, Matías Piñeiro's Hermia and Helena, and Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama received the top rankings.

Following the September 2016 launch of the new Film Comment, the annual poll has also refocused: poll participants are all Film Comment contributors in order to better reflect the magazine's voice. This year's voters included Margaret Barton-Fumo (FC columnist), Andrew Chan (The Criterion Collection), Ashley Clark (The Guardian), Nick Davis (FC contributing editor; Northwestern University), Nicholas Elliott (Cahiers du Cinéma, BOMB), David Fear (Rolling Stone), Graham Fuller (The Culture Trip), Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman (The New York Times), Eric Hynes (FC columnist and Museum of the Moving Image associate curator), Kristin M. Jones (The Wall Street Journal), Aliza Ma (Metrograph), Adam Nayman (Cinema Scope), Amy Nicholson (MTV News), Jonathan Romney (FC contributing editor), Jonathan Rosenbaum, Farran Smith Nehme (FC columnist; New York Post), Amy Taubin (FC Contributing Editor and NYFF Selection Committee member), Manu Yáñez (Otros Cines Europa), and Genevieve Yue (Reverse Shot; The New School).

Additionally, this week's Film Comment podcast features a lively discussion of the poll results with Editor Nicolas Rapold, Digital Editor Violet Lucca, and FSLC Director of Editorial and Creative Strategy, Michael Koresky.

Film Comment's Top 10 Films Released in 2016:

1. Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, Germany
2. Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, USA
3. Elle, Paul Verhoeven, France/Germany
4. Cemetery of Splendor, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/France/Germany/Malaysia
5. Certain Women, Kelly Reichardt, USA
6. Paterson, Jim Jarmusch, USA
7. Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan, USA
8. Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France
9. Things to Come, Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany
10. No Home Movie, Chantal Akerman, Belgium/France

Film Comment's survey also ranks films that have screened and made notable appearances at festivals throughout the year, but remain without U.S. distribution at press time.

Film Comment's Top 10 Unreleased Films of 2016:

1. Sieranevada, Cristi Puiu, Romania
2. Hermia and Helena, Matías Piñeiro, USA/Argentina
3. Nocturama, Bertrand Bonello, France/Belgium/Germany
4. The Dreamed Path, Angela Schanelec, Germany
5. Yourself and Yours, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
6. Kékszakállú, Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
7. By the Time It Gets Dark, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand/Netherlands/France/Qatar
8. Scarred Hearts, Radu Jude, Romania/Germany
9. The Woman Who Left, Lav Diaz, Philippines
10. Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa, Germany

"Our all-star contributors have voted for an outstanding roster of titles that demonstrate a daunting range of cinematic accomplishment," said Editor Nicolas Rapold. "These formally ambitious films also tend to pack an emotional wallop, whether it's top work by established directors or accomplished debuts. The balloting yields up an impressive selection of the best in cinema circa 2016, which has been reflected in the magazine's critical coverage throughout the past year."

The complete list of films and participants can be found on FilmComment.com, on the Film Comment app, and in the January/February issue, which hits newsstands the second week of January.

THE FILM COMMENT BEST OF 2016: THE COMPLETE LIST OF TOP 20 TITLES

RELEASED IN 2016
1. Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, Germany
2. Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, USA
3. Elle, Paul Verhoeven, France/Germany
4. Cemetery of Splendor, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/France/Germany/Malaysia
5. Certain Women, Kelly Reichardt, USA
6. Paterson, Jim Jarmusch, USA
7. Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan, USA
8. Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France
9. Things to Come, Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany
10. No Home Movie, Chantal Akerman, Belgium/France

Rankings #11-20
11. The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos, France/Netherlands/Greece/UK
12. Right Now, Wrong Then, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
13. Love & Friendship, Whit Stillman, Ireland/Netherlands/France/USA
14. Cameraperson, Kirsten Johnson, USA
15. Kaili Blues, Bi Gan, China Korea
16. The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook, South
17. Everybody Wants Some!!, Richard Linklater, USA
18. The Fits, Anna Rose Holmer, USA
19. Neruda, Pablo Larraín, Chile/Argentina/France/Spain
20. The Other Side, Roberto Minervini, France/Italy

FILMS WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION IN 2016
1. Sieranevada, Cristi Puiu, Romania
2. Hermia and Helena, Matías Piñeiro, USA/Argentina
3. Nocturama, Bertrand Bonello, France/Belgium/Germany
4. The Dreamed Path, Angela Schanelec, Germany
5. Yourself and Yours, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
6. Kékszakállú, Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
7. By the Time It Gets Dark, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand/Netherlands/France/Qatar
8. Scarred Hearts, Radu Jude, Romania/Germany
9. The Woman Who Left, Lav Diaz, Philippines
10. Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa, Germany

RANKINGS #11-20
11. Tempestad, Tatiana Huezo, Mexico
12. The Rehearsal, Alison Maclean, New Zealand
13. Safari, Ulrich Seidl, Austria/Denmark
14. Everything Else, Natalia Almada, Mexico
15. All the Cities of the North, Dane Komljen, Serbia/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Montenegro
16. Happy Times Will Come Soon, Alessandro Comodin, Italy
17. Dawson City: Frozen Time, Bill Morrison, USA
18. Suite Armoricaine, Pascale Breton, France
19. Women Who Kill, Ingrid Jungermann, USA
20. Le Parc, Damien Manivel, France

FILM COMMENT Published since 1962, Film Comment magazine features in-depth reviews, critical analysis, and feature coverage of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Today a bimonthly print magazine and a website, the magazine was founded under the editorship of Gordon Hitchens, who was followed by Richard Corliss, Harlan Jacobson, Richard Jameson, Gavin Smith, and Nicolas Rapold. Past and present contributing critics include Paul Arthur, David Bordwell, Richard Combs, Manohla Dargis, Raymond Durgnat, Roger Ebert, Manny Farber, Howard Hampton, Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman, Richard Jameson, Kent Jones, Dave Kehr, Nathan Lee, Todd McCarthy, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Tony Rayns, Frank Rich, Andrew Sarris, Richard Schickel, Elliott Stein, Amy Taubin, David Thomson, Richard Thompson, Amos Vogel, Robin Wood, and many more.

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