In 1952, the Sight and Sound team had the novel idea of asking critics to name the greatest films of all time. The tradition became decennial, increasing in size and prestige as the decades passed. The Sight and Sound poll is now a major bellwether of critical opinion on cinema and this year’s edition (its eighth) is the largest ever, with 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics each submitting their top ten ballot. What has risen up the ranks? What has fallen? Has 2012’s winner Vertigo held on to its title? Find out below.
Greatest Films of All Time
I have corrected the list to remove several ties at any specific number so the list stretches a bit longer than 250
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles2
Vertigo3
Citizen Kane4
Tokyo Story5
In the Mood for Love6
2001: A Space Odyssey7
Beau travail8
Mulholland Dr.9
Man with a Movie Camera10
Singin' in the Rain11
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans12
The Godfather13
La Règle du jeu14
Cléo from 5 to 715
The Searchers16
Meshes of the Afternoon17
Close-up18
Persona19
Apocalypse Now20
Seven Samurai21
The Passion of Joan of Arc22
Late Spring23
Playtime24
Do the Right Thing25
Au hasard Balthazar26
The Night of the Hunter27
Shoah28
Daisies29
Taxi Driver30
Portrait of a Lady on Fire31
Mirror32
Psycho33
8½34
L'Atalante35
Pather Panchali36
City Lights37
M38
Some Like It Hot39Sign in with GitHub to comment
Citation
Cited as:
Yotam, Kris. (Aug 2025). BFI Sight & Sound 250. krisyotam.com. https://krisyotam.com/notes/film/bfi-sight-and-sound-250
Or
@article{yotam2025bfi-sight-and-sound-250,
title = "BFI Sight & Sound 250",
author = "Yotam, Kris",
journal = "krisyotam.com",
year = "2025",
month = "Aug",
url = "https://krisyotam.com/notes/film/bfi-sight-and-sound-250"
}