Dear Friends: 

I hope that this finds all of you well. 

It seems that it does not matter where I turn my gaze. Whether I look to Europe or put my attention upon Asia – and I do not even know what to say about my own country – nothing seems to indicate that we are in a good moment. Too much blood, too much hatred, too much pettiness, too much lack of imagination. We cannot guess the farthest reaches of this malaise. The days go by, and I know that there persists in my consciousness some image of horror or some heinous discourse of those who shamelessly circulate amongst us. However, even so I insist, and obstinately, in channeling my will as much as I can, and once again, at this point in the year, calling upon all of you to share your impressions and reflections upon something we love: the cinema.

I must confess that it has been difficult for me to get the momentum going to start working on the 2023 edition of The International Cinephile. It begins, as always, with an e-mail, a general invitation to which the odd personalized note is always added for each guest. The invitation is repeated with the variations of each year. The guests are the usual suspects and others will join as well. The objective is constant: to constitute a polyphonic map of contemporary cinema. Critics, programmers, and filmmakers from all over the world choose the films of the year. The best? The ones we liked the most?

The selection criteria are inexorably open: each person will choose how to choose what they choose. This is not the time to point out the limits of taste nor the epistemological problems that aesthetic judgment faces. By bringing together people from different places and generations, all associated with specific domains of cinema, a general plan covered with discourses, not exempt from friction, about what could be understood as being contemporary cinema, as well as how consensus and dissent are built in our current time.

The lists are not merely lists. They can be accompanied by words; they can reveal a lot without saying anything when unknown films are brought to our attention. The fact is that each list can reveal titles that are outside the radar of the programmers of large and small festivals, or of the online platforms. There are beautiful films that have not attracted more than a hundred spectators, or maybe even fewer, because they have only been screened at a film festival on the fringes. At the same time, the choice of two or three recurring titles, probably premiered at the festivals that regulate global film culture, can provide material to analyze the effects that powerful festivals have on the formation of the canon that predominates in the present cinema.

I insist on emphasizing: this request does not comply with the preparation of lists. It is something more. And all of these lists together operate as a great montage work in which we document an impression of what contemporary cinema is at the end of 2023.

I do not want to take up any more of your time. This is the justification for my invitation.

I will anxiously await each of your lists with gratitude. Knowing that what you have seen and what you have stopped and marveled at is an irreplaceable help to me to know more and to continue learning. I know very well, dear friends, that if I have called upon you it is because I have learned something from you in the past and I would not like to be the only one who has benefited from your reflections. The Cinephile International, which has now been held for thirteen editions, has been nothing more than a compendium of knowledge and passions implicit in the chosen films.

I await your responses. Until December 26, a little before midnight, I will open my email to see what you have chosen and said.

Roger Koza 

RULES OF THE GAME, 2023

In this edition there will be only one change compared to other years, as always happens: it is an case (section D) for the current year, in addition to the three sections that are constant (A, B, C).

SECTIONS

Note:

One film (or more) of the five, if appropriate and meets the requirements, may be repeated in sections B and C.

A

THE 5 FILMS OF THE YEAR

Choose five films seen in 2023, whose world premiere (theater, platform, or festival) took place after August 2022 and up until December 25, 2023.

If I may ask, please, write title in the below format. The title below is purely an example (and a fantasy).

La ciénaga II / The Swamp II (Martel, Argentina, 2023)

The five films can be listed randomly or in alphabetical order or in order of priority. Only add “in order of priority” if you choose that criterion.

*Some lines can be added (not mandatory) at the beginning as an introduction and/or a text below each chosen film.

B

DEBUT

Choosing a debut film.

Please, write the chosen title in the below format. The title shown in the example is fantasy.

La ciénaga II / The Swamp II (Martel, Argentina, 2023)

*Some lines can be added (not mandatory) below the chosen movie.

C

FILM FROM MY COUNTRY

Choose a movie from the country in which you were born and/or live.

Please, use the below format and, again, the title shown in the example is fantasy.

La ciénaga II / The Swamp II (Martel, Argentina, 2023)

*Some lines can be added (not mandatory) below the chosen movie.

D

BOOKS

Choose three film books that have been essential in your biographies as cinephiles.

The title shown in the example is fantasy.

When Favio met Bresson (Eduardo Kenchin)

I can receive your responses until December 26 at 11.59 p.m.

ROGER KOZA / COPYLEFT 2023

Acá se puede leer la versión en español.