Below are the 50 submitted best-of lists that contributed to our 2018 end-of-year poll.
Christopher Campbell
@thefilmcynic
Founding Editor, Nonfics
(see the full list plus write-ups at Thrillist)
1. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
2. Minding the Gap
3. The King
4. Free Solo
5. 24 Frames
6. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
7. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
8. McQueen
9. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
10. Monrovia, Indiana
11. Bisbee ’17
12. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
13. 306 Hollywood
14. The Cage Fighter
15. Fahrenheit 11/9
16. Generation Wealth
17. The Road Movie
18. A Dangerous Son
19. Hal
20. Three Identical Strangers
William Dass
@WBDass
Columnist, Nonfics and Film School Rejects
1. LA92**
2. The Money Stone*
3. Bathtubs Over Broadway
4. Wolfman’s Got Nards*
5. Science Fair
6. Life After Flash*
7. Life in the Doghouse
8. The Power of Glove**
9. Studio 54
10. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
11. Jane
12. United Skates
Valerie Ettenhofer
@aandeandval
Critic, Nonfics and Film School Rejects
1. Minding the Gap
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. Love, Gilda
4. Free Solo
5. Shirkers
6. Seeing Allred
7. The Rachel Divide
8. The Cleaners
9. Three Identical Strangers
10. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Unreleased: Monroni for President
Brad Gullickson
@MouthDork
Critic, Nonfics and Film School Rejects
1. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
2. Minding the Gap
3. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
4. Shirkers
5. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
6. Evil Genius
7. The King
8. The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling
9. Science Fair
10. Filmworker
Luke Hicks
@lou_kicks
Critic, Nonfics, Film School Rejects, and Birth.Movies.Death
1. Exit Music*
2. Minding the Gap
3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
4. Of Fathers and Sons
5. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
6. The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling
7. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
8. Science Fair
9. McQueen
10. Hal
J.R. Kinnard
@jrkinnard
Critic, Nonfics
1. Three Identical Strangers
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. 306 Hollywood
4. Science Fair
5. Shirkers
6. Hal
7. Minding the Gap
8. People’s Republic of Desire
9. Bisbee ’17
10. Love, Gilda
11. RBG
12. Filmworker
13. Free Solo
Meg Shields
@TheWorstNun
Critic, Nonfics and Film School Rejects
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
2. Filmworker
3. Bisbee ’17
4. Minding the Gap
5. RBG
6. McQueen
7. Studio 54
8. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
9. Monrovia, Indiana
10. 24 Frames
Jordan M. Smith
@Rectangular_Eye
Critic, Nonfics
1. Minding the Gap
2. Shirkers
3. Bisbee ’17
4. Love Means Zero
5. Free Solo
6. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
7. 306 Hollywood
8. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
9. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
10. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
11. Crime + Punishment
12. On Her Shoulders
13. El Mar La Mar
14. Fahrenheit 11/9
15. Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes
16. The King
17. Dark Money
Unreleased: América, Angels Are Made of Light, Artemio, Black Mother, Braguino, The Feeling of Being Watched, The Grand Bizarre, Screwball, Yours in Sisterhood, What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?
Of Fathers and Sons
Carlos Aguilar
@Carlos_Film
Critic, The Wrap, Remezcia, and MovieMaker Magazine
1. Of Fathers and Sons
2. On Her Shoulders
3. Shirkers
4. Bisbee ’17
5. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
6. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
7. Lots of Kids, a Monkey, and a Castle
8. Crime + Punishment
9. The Sentence
10. Makala
Edwin Arnaudin
@EdwinArnaudin
Critic, Asheville Movies
1. The King
2. Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
3. The Dawn Wall
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. McQueen
6. Three Identical Strangers
7. Free Solo
8. Andre the Giant
9. Whitney
10. Minding the Gap
Deanna Barton
Patron of Nonfics
1. RBG
2. Minding the Gap
3. The Staircase: An American Murder Mystery
4. Making a Murderer Part 2
5. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
6. Being Serena
7. Jane Fonda in Five Acts
8. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
9. Andre the Giant
10. Three Identical Strangers
Adam Benzine
@adambenzine
Canadian Bureau Chief, C21 Media
Director, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
1. 1999*
“In this criminally underseen Canadian documentary, filmmaker Samara Grace Chadwick revisits her Acadian hometown in New Brunswick, where a wave of high school suicides devastated the local community nearly two decades ago. Formally inventive, beautiful, moving and searingly honest, it’s a complex meditation on death and memory. As disheartened as I am by the failure of international festival programmers and the NFB to get the opus seen more widely, I’m heartened that the work marks the arrival of a bold new voice on the documentary landscape.”
2. Free Solo
“Sat in a dark cinema, no film produced a more physical reaction from me in 2018. Sweaty palms, scrunched legs, upstood neck-hairs, bitten lips, spontaneous applause… a remarkable feat of physical and emotional filmmaking.”
3. Minding the Gap
4. On Her Shoulders
5. They Shall Not Grow Old
6. McQueen
7. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
8. Amazing Grace
“Well worth the wait and well worth the drama.”
9. Shirkers
10. Lessons from a School Shooting: Notes from Dunblane
Bradley Bethel
@BradleyBethel
Creative Director, Carrboro Film Festival
1. Minding the Gap
2. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
3. Three Identical Strangers
4. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
5. Charm City
6. Shirkers
7. Bisbee ’17
8. Crime + Punishment
9. The Sentence
10. Recovery Boys
Colin Biggs
@wordsbycbiggs
Critic, CutPrintFilm
1. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
4. Free Solo
5. The Director and the Jedi
6. The Feeling of Being Watched*
7. RBG
8. Three Identical Strangers
9. Dark Money
10. Crime + Punishment
Alex Billington
@firstshowing
Critic, FirstShowing.net
1. Shirkers
2. Minding the Gap
3. Wild Wild Country
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. Shut Up and Play the Piano*
6. The Biggest Little Farm*
7. McKellen: Playing the Part
8. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
9. Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
10. Chris the Swiss*
Clint Bowie
@clintbowie
Artistic Director, New Orleans Film Festival
1. Shirkers
2. Minding the Gap
3. 306 Hollywood
4. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
5. United Skates
6. América*
7. Black Mother*
8. Blowin’ Up*
9. Crime + Punishment
10. Whitney
Dead Souls
Joshua Brunsting
Critic, The CriterionCast
1. Dead Souls
2. Do You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
3. Shoah: Four Sisters
4. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
5. 24 Frames
6. Infinite Football
7. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
8. Caniba
9. El Mar La Mar
10. Bisbee ’17
Unreleased: Fail to Appear
Jason Charnick
@TheRealCharnick
Director/Producer, Getting Over
1. Three Identical Strangers
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. The World Before Your Feet
4. RBG
5. Shirkers
6. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
7. Minding the Gap
8. Love, Gilda
9. Getting Over
10. North Pole, NY
11. The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons From a Mythical Man
Mario Diaz
@DiazFilm
Executive Producer, SI True Crime
1. Pope Francis: A Man of His Word
2. Of Fathers and Sons
3. Minding the Gap
4. The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling
5. United Skates
6. Crime + Punishment
7. Dark Money
8. The Silence of Others
9. Filmworker
10. Fahrenheit 11/9
Honorable Mention: Making a Murderer Part 2
“A flawed follow-up with lots of repetitive verite scenes with Avery’s family, it nonetheless features the most compelling character I’ve seen in any documentary this year: Kathleen Zellner. Watching her work to expose the holes in the state’s case against Avery was nothing short of thrilling.”
Unclassifiable: A Thousand Thoughts
“Sam Green’s ‘live documentary’ was unlike anything I’ve seen before; a wildly creative hybrid piece about the Kronos Quartet that combines live performance and traditional documentary elements on screen. Its power comes from the immediacy of having its subjects on stage responding, musically and verbally, to deeply personal stories about themselves and about the moving power of music. Since it didn’t have an ‘official’ or traditional release (I saw it at the ACE Hotel Theater in Los Angeles at a one-night only engagement) Ii’m keeping it separate from my main list, but it would definitely take the #2 spot if I could include it.”
Edward Douglas
@EDouglasWW
Critic, The Weekend Warrior
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
2. Free Solo
3. Hal
4. Three Identical Strangers
5. Minding the Gap
6. RBG
7. Rock Rubber 45s
8. Crime + Punishment
9. Shirkers
10. Fahrenheit 11/9
Kate Erbland
@katerbland
Film Editor, IndieWire
1. Shirkers
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. Minding the Gap
4. RBG
5. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
6. Amazing Grace
7. Bisbee ’17
8. Three Identical Strangers
9. Free Solo
10. Studio 54
Scott Feinberg
@ScottFeinberg
Awards Columnist, The Hollywood Reporter
1. Free Solo
2. Science Fair
3. Quincy
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. Crime + Punishment
6. Filmworker
7. The Price of Everything
8. RBG
9. In Search of Greatness
10. McQueen
Unreleased: American Dharma
Anthony Ferranti
@AVFerranti
Columnist, “The Doc Life,” Film Independent
1. Minding the Gap
2. Wild Wild Country
3. The Price of Everything
4. Free Solo
5. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
6. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
7. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
8. Jane Fonda in Five Acts
Daniel Clarkson Fisher
@danielcfisher
Columnist, PopMatters
1. Graves Without a Name*
2. Dead Souls
3. Bisbee ’17
4. They Shall Not Grow Old
5. Nuuca*
6. Minding the Gap
7. Shirkers
8. Crime + Punishment
9. What is Democracy?*
10. A Night in the Garden
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Cynthia Fuchs
Critic, PopMatters
1. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
2. Minding the Gap
3. Shirkers
4. Bisbee ’17
5. The Other Side of Everything
6. Charm City
7. Makala
8. Crime + Punishment
9. Of Fathers and Sons
10. Angels Are Made of Light
11. Dark Money
12. The Last Race
Arlin Golden
@cerealburrito
Critic, Film Inquiry
1. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
2. Minding the Gap
3. Bisbee ’17
4. The Pain of Others
5. On Her Shoulders
6. Makala
7. Caniba
8. Monrovia, Indiana
9. Won’t You Be My Neighbors?
10. Of Fathers and Sons
11. Shirkers
Unreleased: Combat Obscura; The Distant Barking of Dogs
Tim Grierson
@TimGrierson
Senior U.S. Critic, Screen International
1. Makala
2. Amazing Grace
3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
4. Bisbee ’17
5. Shirkers
6. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
7. On Her Shoulders
8. Of Fathers and Sons
9. Minding the Gap
10. Monrovia, Indiana
Christian Hamaker
Critic, Crosswalk.com
1. The Price of Everything
2. The Great Buster: A Celebration
3. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
4. Minding the Gap
5. Free Solo
6. For the Birds
7. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
8. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
9. Filmworker
10. America to Me
Garret Harkawik
@GarretHarkawik
Director, Remote Viewing Memories
1. Minding the Gap
2. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
3. Normal Appearances**
4. Shirkers
5. How to Live With Regret
6. The Happiest Guy in the World
7. The Dundee Project
8. Wild Wild Country
9. Weaving
Kyle Kizu
@kylekizu
Critic, Freelance
1. Minding the Gap
2. Science Fair
3. Free Solo
4. Shirkers
5. Three Identical Strangers
6. Mercury 13
7. RBG
8. Nossa Chape
9. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
10. Reversing Roe
Paul Landriau
@PaulLandriau
Founder, Point de Vues
1. Free Solo
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
4. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
5. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
Kristen Lopez
@Journeys_Film
Critic, Freelance
1. Always at the Carlyle
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Tea With the Dames
4. RBG
5. Roll Red Roll*
6. Call Her Ganda
7. Love, Gilda
8. Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes
9. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
10. Making Montgomery Clift*
11. Blowin’ Up*
El Mar La Mar
Matthew Lucas
@matthew_lucas
Critic, The Lexington Dispatch and From the Front Row
1. El Mar La Mar
2. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
4. Dead Souls
5. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
6. Distant Constellation
7. Shirkers
8. Caniba
9. Infinite Football
10. Minding the Gap
Peter A. Martin
@peteramartin
Managing Editor, ScreenAnarchy.com
1. Shirkers
2. Minding the Gap
3. Three Identical Strangers
4. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
5. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
6. Free Solo
7. Crime + Punishment
8. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
9. RBG
10. Andre the Giant
Victor Morton
@vjmfilms
Critic, Rightwing Film Geek
1. Infinite Football
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Monrovia, Indiana
4. The Cage Fighter
5. The Road Movie
6. The Great Buster: A Celebration
7. Bisbee ’17
8. Good Luck
9. Of Fathers and Sons
10. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
Patrick Mullen
@cinemablogrpher
Critic, POV Magazine
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
2. Minding the Gap
3. Bathtubs Over Broadway
4. The King
5. Maria By Callas
6. McQueen
7. Anthropocene: The Human Epoch*
8. 1999*
9. Gurrumul*
10. Call Her Ganda
Kimber Myers
@kimbermyers
Critic, Los Angeles Times and The Playlist
1. Shirkers
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. Minding the Gap
4. McQueen
5. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
Jenny Nulf
@jennyleighx33
Director of Programming, Austin Asian American Film Festival
1. Minding the Gap
2. People’s Republic of Desire
3. 24 Frames
4. I Am Evidence
5. Shirkers
6. Science Fair
7. Free Solo
8. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
9. Three Identical Strangers
10. Ask the Sexpert
Jessica Peña
@the_cinemabliss
Critic, The Cinema Bliss
1. McQueen
2. RBG
3. Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. Minding the Gap
6. Three Identical Strangers
7. Fail State
8. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
9. The World Before Your Feet
10. Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable
Jason Rabbitt
@realfilmscast
Critic, Reel Films Podcast
1. Three Identical Strangers
2. Saving Brinton
3. Minding the Gap
4. American Animals
5. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
6. RBG
7. Dina
8. Hitler’s Hollywood
9. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
10. Mercury 13
11. Free Solo
Evan Rosenfeld
@evansss
Director/Producer, Warriors of Liberty City
1. Warriors of Liberty City
2. Three Identical Strangers
3. Minding the Gap
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. Free Solo
6. America to Me
7. Studio 54
8. People’s Republic of Desire
9. Bumping Mics
Tom Roston
@DocSoupMan
Critic, POV’s Documentary Blog
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
2. Minding the Gap
3. American Animals
4. Dark Money
5. Of Fathers and Sons
6. RBG
7. Three Identical Strangers
8. Free Solo
9. Active Measures
10. Fahrenheit 11/9
Dan Schindel
@DanSchindel
Critic, Freelance
1. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
2. Ouroboros*
3. Bisbee ’17
4. Le Fort des Fous*
5. Prototype
6. Shirkers
7. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
8. Minding the Gap
9. Pure Flix and Chill: The David A.R. White Story
10. The Road Movie
Marshall Shaffer
@media_marshall
Critic, Marshall and the Movies
1. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
2. Bisbee ’17
3. Free Solo
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. Amazing Grace
6. Crime + Punishment
7. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
8. RBG
9. Minding the Gap
10. The Road Movie
Robert Sims
@lightscameraatx
Critic, Lights Camera Austin
1. Three Identical Strangers
2. Shirkers
3. Studio 54
4. Active Measures
5. Hitler’s Hollywood
6. Call Her Ganda
7. RBG
8. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
9. Free Solo
10. Filmworker
Shane Slater
@filmactually
Critic, AwardsCircuit.com
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
2. Whitney
3. Free Solo
4. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
5. Shirkers
6. Boom for Real: The Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
7. Liyana
8. United Skates
9. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
10. Reversing Roe
Sierra Slaughter
Press Director, Woodstock Film Festival
1. Free Solo
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. Minding the Gap
4. Three Identical Strangers
5. RBG
6. For the Birds*
7. Up to Snuff*
8. Shirkers
9. Old Dog
Sherry Thomas
Critic, Freelance
1. Springsteen on Broadway
2. Bad Reputation
3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
4. Love, Gilda
5. Evil Genius
6. Making a Murderer Part 2
7. Flint Town
8. The Bleeding Edge
9. Dogs
10. RBG
Basil Tsiokos
@1basil1
Director of Programming, DOC NYC and Nantucket Film Festival
Programming Associate, Sundance Film Festival
1. Minding the Gap
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
3. Three Identical Strangers
4. Bisbee ’17
5. Shirkers
6. Distant Constellation
7. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
8. 306 Hollywood
9. Free Solo
10. Of Fathers and Sons
Aaron l. White
@FeelinFilmAaron
Critic, Feelin’ Film
1. They Shall Not Grow Old
2. Free Solo
3. Minding the Gap
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
5. Science Fair
6. Mountain
7. Crime + Punishment
8. Pick of the Litter
9. Making Fun: The Story of Funko
10. The Russian Five*
* Unreleased
** Previously released
