A cinematically told, verité style portrait of a serial killer which is surprising in its execution and never relies on stock characters.

An exquisite matching of form and content. This film uses cinema as both a metaphor and a mechanism for the telling of unique national, cultural, and personal histories. Archival and contemporary footage are deftly interwoven to yield a result that is at once intimate and universal.

For the mastery of film director Aki Kaurismäki and his stylized yet very humane depiction of illegal immigration.

For its virtuoso and wide-ranging technical feats with a form and style that seem wholly its own, all in the service of characterizing a brilliant, acerbic scientist from cradle to grave, and beyond. The film's monochromatic palette, intriguing textures, wry narration, and imaginative aesthetic illuminate the life and mind of a potentially cold figure, yielding a precise vision of what dazzles and bores him during the finite time he will spend on this strange, wonderful planet.

Employs stunning cinematography and majestic mountain landscapes to tell a story which thrilled the jury with its capacity for the unexpected.

This film's dynamic realization of two souls searching for some better place in a flawed and fractured world is a compelling journey wrought with contradictions and surprises -- and ultimately hope.

The subject, Diana Vreeland, embodies the exuberance of the 20th century (often called the American Century) even though she was not born in the US and was a confirmed Europhile all her life. The filmmakers have used a range of techniques in the service of a central aim: to connect audiences with the essence of this unique woman who reflected her times.

For its beautifully observed, intensely moving, but rigorously unsentimental record of a small-town church faced with closing its doors, prompting complex questions about how we use our communal institutions, why we need them, and how to decide when it's time to let them go.

For addressing relevant social issues. It takes a strong stand on sexual harassment for women at home and work. It is a brave film for presenting women as an oppressor rather than a victim.

For combining the rich atmospheres and sterling production values of a feature with the eccentric rhythms of truly independent cinema, all braided into a deeply unnerving thriller that is manna for horror fans but a resonant, indelible experience for all audiences.

For a lovingly crafted story that takes us on an intimate journey through the fate of families that are ruled by the laws of honor and vengeance. The writers lay out for the audience the complexity of human relations and make us reconsider our own standards and convictions.

This documentary delivers an extraordinary level of access to the emotions of these courageous young Iraqi women who formed a basketball team at the American University of Iraq. There are so many ways the director could have sacrificed the sense of direct connection to steer our attention towards social and political analysis but this does not happen: we live with the players and their coach and with the complexities of ethnicity in post-Saddam Iraq.

A brilliant darkly comedic tale of one young man's grappling with fate, love, and the meaning of life.

A poignant, pivotal experience shared among three characters to a series of innovative character designs and unusual physical environments, reminding us that adolescence is a sad, weird, eye-opening journey, and that every person and every relationship is made of multiple, sometimes conflicting sides.

For its heartrending dissection of a seminal moment in time captured in a single photograph. The rupture between past and future is so beautifully articulated, and so deeply felt, that the final shot manages to leave you breathless.

Robert Czerniawski

A patient portrayal of an individual's life that peels away social history layer by layer. It connects audiences with aspects of US racial history they may know in general terms but will rarely have had the opportunity to access through the life of a man who is also an extraordinary visual artist compelled to tell his story in his work.

For the most inspired location to film a coming-of-age story. With a terrifying sound mix and amazing cinematography, the filmmakers turn a real life meat factory into a full-on haunted house for a young man facing the trials (and entrails) of adulthood.

The filmmaker demonstrates considerable courage and determination in this refreshing and candid film that naturalizes dying and death. She has a very special ability to preserve affection and intimacy even as she reveals the final months of her father's life to the world.

This short truly defies categorization - all at once an animated, short, student, documentary film combining a very personal (almost narrative approach) and an innovative visual specificity - painting a picture far beyond its 9 1/2 minutes of loss and recovery in the multi-generational search for Argentina's "disappeared."

It is purposeful, mysterious and formal in a way that heightened its expressiveness.

The Penguin Empire