BFI Sight & Sound 250

(notes (date 2025-08-04) (category film) (status evergreen) (confidence certain) (importance 3) (tags cinephilia watchlists canon))

the top 250 greatest films of all time published by sight & sound magazine of the british film institute

This is the 2020 BFI list of "The Greatest Films of All Time". If you would like to view it directly on the BFI Site check here.

In 1952, the Sight and Sound team had the novel idea of asking critics to name the greatest films of all time. The tradition became decennial, increasing in size and prestige as the decades passed. The Sight and Sound poll is now a major bellwether of critical opinion on cinema and this year’s edition (its eighth) is the largest ever, with 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics each submitting their top ten ballot. What has risen up the ranks? What has fallen? Has 2012’s winner Vertigo held on to its title? Find out below.

Greatest Films of All Time

I have corrected the list to remove several ties at any specific number so the list stretches a bit longer than 250