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Citizen Kane

In 1952 Sight & Sound polled the world’s leading film critics to compile a list of the best films of all time. The magazine has repeated this poll every ten years, to show which films stand the test of time in the face of shifting critical opinion. In 1992 we added a poll of directors asking them for their personal choices.

Now, in 2002, the magazine has published its largest poll to date, receiving contributions from 145 film critics, writers and academics, and 108 film directors. The results are intriguing, both for their certainty in choosing intense personal films as the best, and for their lack of agreement about which films of recent times can compete with the greatest.

Explore the lists

Browse through the full lists of directors, critics and films voted for. Read the critics’ and directors’ comments on their lists:

Historical results

See the results from the polls held every decade since 1952:

Last Updated: Friday, 08-Jun-2012 19:08:57 BST