2012, at the halfway mark

Best Film

Beauty

Magic Mike

Nostalgia for the Light

Tabu

War Witch

Best Director

Miguel Gomes (Tabu)

Patricio Guzmán (Nostalgia for the Light)

Mia Hansen-Løve (Goodbye, First Love)

Kim Nguyen (War Witch)

Steven Soderbergh (Magic Mike)

Best Actor

Kacey Mottet Klein (Sister)

Deon Lotz (Beauty)
Mads Mikkelsen (A Royal Affair)

Seth Rogen (Take This Waltz)

Paud Rudd (Wanderlust)

Best Actress

Marina Foïs (Polisse)

Clotilde Hesme (Angel & Tony)

Nina Hoss (Barbara)

Michelle Williams (Take This Waltz)
Deannie Yip (A Simple Life)

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Cruise (Rock of Ages)

Paul Giamatti (Cosmopolis)

Matthew McConaughey (Magic Mike)

Dallas Roberts (The Grey)

Joey Starr (Polisse)

Best Supporting Actress

Brid Brennan (Shadow Dancer)

Alice de Lencquesaing (Polisse)

Karin Lischka (Breathing)

Harriet Walter (The Wedding Video)

Michaela Watkins (Wanderlust)

2011's best films not made in 2011

I inaugurated this feature last year, and here it is again, by popular demand: the thirty best films I saw for the first time in rep, or screened myself, over the last twelve months. (Thanks are due again to Masters of Cinema, the BFI, Freeview's more enterprising programmers, the British silent film festival, the Criterion Collection, San Sebastián, and all the friends I saw these with, especially Maxie Szalwinska.)

1. The Ballad of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, 1983) A+
2. Les enfants du paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945) A 
3. The Last Laugh (F.W. Murnau, 1924) A

4. Love Me Tonight (Rouben Mamoulian, 1932) A

5. The Wind (Victor Sjöström, 1928) A–

6. La peau douce (François Truffaut, 1964) A–
7. Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955) A– 
8. Pavement Butterfly (Richard Eichberg, 1929) A–
9. Bad Timing (Nicolas Roeg, 1982) A–  

10. My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988) A– 

11. The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1977)  A–   

12. Far From the Madding Crowd (John Schlesinger, 1967)  A–   

13. Je t'aime, je t'aime (Alain Resnais, 1968) A–
14. Michael (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1924) A–
15. Cria Cuervos (Carlos Saura, 1975) A–
16. Taipei Story (Edward Yang, 1985) A– 

17. A Summer's Tale (Eric Rohmer, 1996) A–

18. Insignificance (Nicolas Roeg, 1985) A–

19. Profound Desires of the Gods (Shohei Imamura, 1968) B+

20. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (John S. Robertson, 1920) B+

21. Peau d'âne (Jacques Demy, 1970) B+ 

22. Summer Interlude (Ingmar Bergman, 1951) B+

23. La collectionneuse (Eric Rohmer, 1967) B+

24. Liebestraum (Mike Figgis, 1990) B+
25. Cœur fidèle (Jean Epstein, 1923) B+
26. Taxi Zum Klo (Frank Ripploh, 1980) B+

27. Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim, 1932) B+
28. Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowksi, 1970) B+
29. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (Pedro Almodóvar, 1984) B+
30. The Pawnbroker (Sidney Lumet, 1965) B+