Pawel Pawlikowski is a BAFTA-winning writer and director whose film Ida won the 2015 Academy Award for best foreign language film, as well as five European Film Awards and a Goya, among many other prizes. His latest film, Cold War, is in theaters now and has been shortlisted for the 2019 best foreign language film Oscar.

Pawlikowski shared this note about the following list: “As there are no objective norms in these matters, and as nobody is interested in another Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Bicycle Thieves . . . kind of list, it’s best to be very personal. I’ve lived a long life, and these are films that I’ve fallen in love with at some point, films I’ve watched over and over.”