Dear friends: 

On December 30^th, I will publish The International Cinephile. It is a demanding ritual that goes well with my lack of enthusiasm for the end-of-year festivities and with this stubborn desire that I sustain –without fully recognizing the reason why– for putting together a collective jigsaw puzzle of titles and words that orbit 

the life of cinema. As my own life has been entirely marked by cinema for decades, and this has allowed me to meet people from many regions of the world, I intend with this annual invitation to reconnect with you through this survey which, rather than asking what your favorite film of the year was, inquires as to the films that have meant something significant to you over the course of the year.

All of you, like me, have a vital relationship with cinema. All of you, I believe, hope to experience at least one or two films per year that restore that wonder that one once experienced in a movie theater. It is easy to forget when that unexpected moment occurs when you see something projected that produces a thought and a feeling: the emulation of the world’s stimuli, reinterpreted through mise-en-scène, containing a power of revelation that the eye, the ear and the imagination cannot access on their own. In effect, the very being of the world –to put it in bloodless terms– is revealed because someone has tried to film what is too fast and slippery to be perceived without the aid of cinema. Last Friday, without going any further, I witnessed the world as if I were observing it for the first time. Never before had I seen an ancient red flower like I did that day. I won’t name the film, but it was like this: Aristotle’s discourse on wonder as the origin of philosophy made sense again. Beyond skepticism, beyond daily perceptive alienation, the rich relationship between cinema and life exists, and can still keep alive the mystery of things.

Those of us who love cinema know that films are more than films. I know that you feel that way, and that is why I am writing to you. Would you like to share with me those films that are more than just films? Which ones were they? Which ones did you love? I see better when I watch with you, so I can’t imagine not knowing what you saw this year. Plus, I know that readers around the world can benefit from our exchange. We go to festivals often, see films before they’ve even been exhibited, and many of you have filmed them, as well.

Someone asked me what it meant to me to make The International Cinephile. He asked me because he has seen me spend time up close. It’s true: I dedicate an entire month almost exclusively to this event: I myself don’t understand the obstinacy of not doing something else. So, when he asked me, I did not know how to answer, even though when I announce everywhere that it is now online, I feel I have fulfilled my duty. That time when R. asked me, I dreamed that I lived in Antarctica, in a time without Internet and nobody accompanied me there. My only link with the rest of the world was a 1970 radio that could tune into stations from Moscow, London, Beijing, Puebla and Bucharest. I turned the dial and a voice summarized the news of the day. The only music the radio played was from Vietnam. It was a dream, but it also reminds me of a past experience. In 1992, after living in India for a year and, afterwards, for a few years in a community without electricity, I bought one of those old radios that allowed me to listen to distant stations. I wanted to keep in touch with those places I had visited, one of the most glorious moments of my own biography.

Recently, Nicole Brenez, someone I admire and from whom I always learn, told me that one day The International Cinephile will be studied. She did not say why, but she did say it without hesitation. It is a compliment, also a reason to continue in my commitment, although I do not know if this internationalist constellation has an epistemic value. Perhaps it does, perhaps not. I know that The International Cinephile can be conceived as a map of the present of cinema, which means an (incomplete) way of organizing and determining a cluster of films that can say something about contemporary cinema. The pragmatic sense of The International is undeniable to me: cinephiles, programmers, critics, filmmakers and curious people from all over the world consult all the lists in search of unknown films. Sometimes it has helped a film to be programmed at a festival; sometimes it has provided unknown pleasures to readers. It is a source of knowledge.

I thank you as always. Each of you has a vision of cinema from which I have learned, and that is why send this calling to you. Not having you join me in this would be a cause for sadness and an irreplaceable loss. I hope you will accompany me as always or for the first time. I hope you will take the time to write something and choose some films.

I know you know: beyond this annual assemblage of the most voted films, this project has never been a vote for competitive purposes. No one wins, no one is defeated. The most nominated, ultimately, only indicate a tendency and a shared conviction, and also an indication of study. Why are the most appreciated films repeated in different parts of the world?

Ever grateful, ever in your debt, I await you.

Roger Koza, Beijing, December 2, 2024

***

THE 2024 RULES 

I ask you to read the rules carefully and try to respect them.

As in every year, a list is always repeated that must reflect the most significant films of 2024 followed by a second order that changes from year to year. Below, the rules and the theme of this year are explained.

Each list can be ordered by order of preference (specify) or without any sense of hierarchy.

1

Choose five films from any country. They can be short, long or even medium length. It is preferable that they are released worldwide in 2024, but if there is any film that you consider important from 2023 and that was released late in your respective countries during this year, it can be included.

2.

Choose a film that is listed as a director’s first film.

3

Choose a film from your country.

4

SPECIAL INVITATION FOR 2024

This year marks 25 years since the beginning of the century. I know it won’t be easy to choose five films from the current century. Therefore, instead of five there will be ten, no more than that number. It can be in hierarchical or random order. They can be short, medium or long.

In all cases, if you can, write the titles as follows:

La Règle du jeu/ The Rules of the Game, France, 1939.

For this year’s films, it is not necessary to write any text, but it is very welcome. You can add an introductory text to each list or accompany each choice with a few words.

Introductory text: no more than 200 words.

Text for each film: no more than 70 words.

Regarding the ten films of this first quarter of the century, I ask you not to write about any, although you can add a short introductory text at the beginning of the group.

Introductory text: no more than 200 words.

The deadline for receiving the lists will be December 26th at the latest, 11:59 p.m. in Argentina, although I will be correcting and working on all this in Hanoi.