The Author's 10 Best Movies of 2015

(Click on the colored title to read the author's review of the film)

1. Youth (2015) dir. Paolo Sorrentino (Italy). Winner of the Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor (for Caine) at the European Film Awards.
2. Land and Shade (2015) dir. César Augusto Acevedo (Colombia). Winner of the Golden Camera award and three other awards at the Cannes film festival; the Best Film award at the Bratislava International Film Festival (Slovakia); the special jury award, the audience award and the Human Values award at the Thessaloniki film festival. 
3. The Pearl Button (2015)--feature length documentary--dir. Patricio Guzmán (Chile). Silver Bear awardee for the best script and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury winner at the Berlin film festival and the jury award winner at the Philadelphia film festival
4. An/Sweet Red Bean Paste (2015) dir. Naomi Kawase (Japan) Best director awardee at the Valladolid film festival and Audience award winner at the Sao Paulo and Cork film festivals. Best actress award at Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
5. Francofonia (2015) dir. Aleksandr Sokurov (Russia) Winner of the Fedora award for the Best Euro-Mediterrenean film at the Venice film festival
6. Mr Turner (2014) dir. Mike Leigh (UK) Best Actor award and the Vulcain Prize for Dick Pope's cinematography at the Cannes film festival. Best Actor award at the Euopean film awards.
7. Under Electric Clouds (2015) dir. Aleksey German, Jr. (Russia) Silver Bear awardee for outstanding cinematography at the Berlin film festival.
8. The Measure of a Man (2015) dir. Stéphane Brizé (France) Best actor award and the Prize of the Ecumenical jury winner at the Cannes film festival, Best actor award at the International Film Festival of India, ensemble acting award at the Denver international film festival, and the audience award at the Brussels international film festival.
9. Embrace of the Serpent (2015) dir. Ciro Guerra.(Colombia/Argentina/Venezuela) Winner of the Golden Peacock for the best film at the International Film Festival of India held in Goa, CICAE award at Cannes film festival, and Best Film award at the Mar del Plata film festival.
10. Rams (2015) dir. Grímur Hákonarson (Iceland) Winner of "Un Certain Regard" section's Best Film award at the Cannes film festival, the Silver Frog award at Camerimage, Golden Starfish award for best narrative feature at Hamptons film festival, Best film awards at the Thessaloniki and the Valladolid film festivals, Special Jury Award and audience award at the Transilvania film festival, and the best feature film at the Zurich film festival. 

The following films were impressive but narrowly missed the cut: Cemetery of Splendor (2015,Thailand), Wondrous Boccaccio (2015, Italy), Dheepan (2015, France), Ghosts (2014, Iran), Chronic (2015, Mexico), and A Childhood (2015, France).