The 2026 TSPDT Poll - Your Favourite Films
(As voted by 1,289 film buffs)
(As voted by 1,289 film buffs)
August 18, 2026
(Bill Georgaris)
First-off, thank you to everyone who participated and submitted a valid ballot for this poll. Also, thank you for all the comments and feedback you provided during the voting process.
Following a half-decade hiatus, They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? once again invited you (between late-February to the end of May) to select your favourite films of all-time. Voters were asked to select their personal favourites ahead of what they may have considered the 'best' or 'greatest' films (though, of course, the two are often indistinguishable).
There were no restrictions placed on the films that could be chosen. This poll sought to celebrate the moving image in all its forms—spanning every language, length, and aesthetic.
Voters were asked to provide anywhere between ten and 100 selections (a minimum of ten films was mandatory, but there was no obligation to select 100; any number of selections between 10 and 100 was welcome). Each selection received one point (voters were advised that their lists need not be ranked). If voters specified a trilogy or multi-part film, then those films within their selection received a fraction of that one point (e.g., each film within a trilogy received 0.33 points).
All of the submitted ballots were carefully audited (perhaps too carefully; it kind of drove me nuts!) In the end, a total of 1,360 ballots were received. However, 44 ballots were omitted due to not adhering to the email verification process, and a further 27 ballots did not pass the 'sniff' test and were also omitted, leaving us with a total of 1,289 accepted ballots.
Ballots were received, alphabetically, from Andorra to Vietnam.
Now, onto the results.
A total of 10,900 individual films were voted for. I am featuring the top 998 online, which actually tallies up to 1,049 films, seeing as there was a 52-way tie for the 998th spot. The top 250 can be viewed here, and the films ranked from 998 to 251 can be viewed here (in a more subdued presentation).
Eight of the top-10 films from the 2021 poll retained their top-10 status within this year's poll. These films are now twice-proven, heavy favourites amongst TSPDT voters.
Stanley Kubrick once again took the top prize, as he did in 2021—not only for the number-one-ranked film, but also for attaining the most overall votes by a director. A list of the top 100 directors is presented below.
I will now zip it and just let the results do the talking. I encourage you to sift through the provided EXCEL spreadsheet of all 10,900 films. Often, with these sorts of ventures, the real interest lies in those obscure and/or odd titles that we may never have previously encountered. Dig in.
Please let me know what you think of the poll results, or if you have any general questions relating to this poll.
Resource: EXCEL spreadsheet containing all 10,900 films.
Begin browsing the 2026 TSPDT Poll results: Films Ranked 998 to 251 / The Top 250 Films
(Bill Georgaris)
First-off, thank you to everyone who participated and submitted a valid ballot for this poll. Also, thank you for all the comments and feedback you provided during the voting process.
Following a half-decade hiatus, They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? once again invited you (between late-February to the end of May) to select your favourite films of all-time. Voters were asked to select their personal favourites ahead of what they may have considered the 'best' or 'greatest' films (though, of course, the two are often indistinguishable).
There were no restrictions placed on the films that could be chosen. This poll sought to celebrate the moving image in all its forms—spanning every language, length, and aesthetic.
Voters were asked to provide anywhere between ten and 100 selections (a minimum of ten films was mandatory, but there was no obligation to select 100; any number of selections between 10 and 100 was welcome). Each selection received one point (voters were advised that their lists need not be ranked). If voters specified a trilogy or multi-part film, then those films within their selection received a fraction of that one point (e.g., each film within a trilogy received 0.33 points).
All of the submitted ballots were carefully audited (perhaps too carefully; it kind of drove me nuts!) In the end, a total of 1,360 ballots were received. However, 44 ballots were omitted due to not adhering to the email verification process, and a further 27 ballots did not pass the 'sniff' test and were also omitted, leaving us with a total of 1,289 accepted ballots.
Ballots were received, alphabetically, from Andorra to Vietnam.
Now, onto the results.
A total of 10,900 individual films were voted for. I am featuring the top 998 online, which actually tallies up to 1,049 films, seeing as there was a 52-way tie for the 998th spot. The top 250 can be viewed here, and the films ranked from 998 to 251 can be viewed here (in a more subdued presentation).
Eight of the top-10 films from the 2021 poll retained their top-10 status within this year's poll. These films are now twice-proven, heavy favourites amongst TSPDT voters.
Stanley Kubrick once again took the top prize, as he did in 2021—not only for the number-one-ranked film, but also for attaining the most overall votes by a director. A list of the top 100 directors is presented below.
I will now zip it and just let the results do the talking. I encourage you to sift through the provided EXCEL spreadsheet of all 10,900 films. Often, with these sorts of ventures, the real interest lies in those obscure and/or odd titles that we may never have previously encountered. Dig in.
Please let me know what you think of the poll results, or if you have any general questions relating to this poll.
Resource: EXCEL spreadsheet containing all 10,900 films.
Begin browsing the 2026 TSPDT Poll results: Films Ranked 998 to 251 / The Top 250 Films
The Top 100 Directors
Position… Director… Film Votes
1 Stanley Kubrick 2128
2 Alfred Hitchcock 1889
3 Martin Scorsese 1722.5
4 Francis Ford Coppola 1406
5 David Lynch 1392.8
6 Akira Kurosawa 1351
7 Steven Spielberg 1319.8
8 Billy Wilder 1142
9 Paul Thomas Anderson 1126
10 Ingmar Bergman 1122
11 Joel Coen & Ethan Coen 1111
12 Quentin Tarantino 938
13 Andrei Tarkovsky 850
14 Hayao Miyazaki 839
15 Orson Welles 796
16 Ridley Scott 765.5
17 John Ford 727
18 Christopher Nolan 715
19 Federico Fellini 705.7
20 Howard Hawks 696
21 Sergio Leone 685
22 Wong Kar-wai 682.3
23 Jean-Luc Godard 657
24 Charles Chaplin 634
25 Sidney Lumet 620
26 David Fincher 610.2
27 Yasujiro Ozu 594
28 Peter Jackson 563.4
29 Wes Anderson 557
30 Roman Polanski 556
31 Richard Linklater 546
32 David Lean 545
33 Terrence Malick 535
34 Robert Altman 524
34 Fritz Lang 524
36 Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger 516
37 John Carpenter 500
38 Bong Joon-ho 484
39 Carl Theodor Dreyer 482
40 Michelangelo Antonioni 476.3
41 Robert Bresson 465
42 Woody Allen 463
43 Wim Wenders 461
44 James Cameron 460.2
45 Luis Buñuel 452
46 Frank Capra 430
46 Spike Lee 430
48 Michael Curtiz 422
49 Abbas Kiarostami 408
50 Krzysztof Kieslowski 404
51 Edward Yang 403
52 Michael Mann 400
53 David Cronenberg 385
54 Brian De Palma 383.1
55 Denis Villeneuve 379
56 Robert Zemeckis 377
57 Jean Renoir 374
58 Ernst Lubitsch 372
59 Jonathan Demme 368
60 F.W. Murnau 353
61 Park Chan-wook 342
62 Rob Reiner 339
63 Kenji Mizoguchi 338
64 Alfonso Cuarón 331.1
65 Milos Forman 331
66 Werner Herzog 327
67 Lars von Trier 323
68 John Cassavetes 318
69 William Friedkin 314
70 Buster Keaton 312
70 François Truffaut 312
72 Alain Resnais 308.7
73 Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly 305
74 Michael Haneke 303
75 Chantal Akerman 301
76 Masaki Kobayashi 293
77 Peter Weir 290
78 Clint Eastwood 290
79 George Lucas 289
80 Agnès Varda 287.5
81 Nicholas Ray 283.5
82 Charles Laughton 280
83 Vittorio De Sica 279
84 Terry Gilliam 277.5
85 Satyajit Ray 277
86 Jacques Demy 272
87 John Huston 270.4
88 George Miller 270
89 William Wyler 266
90 Rainer Werner Fassbinder 265.5
91 Carol Reed 264
92 Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski 255.8
93 Damien Chazelle 254
94 Jacques Tati 253
95 Paul Verhoeven 251
96 Béla Tarr 250
97 Eric Rohmer 240
98 Jean-Pierre Melville 238
99 Luchino Visconti 235
100 Michel Gondry 234
Position… Director… Film Votes
1 Stanley Kubrick 2128
2 Alfred Hitchcock 1889
3 Martin Scorsese 1722.5
4 Francis Ford Coppola 1406
5 David Lynch 1392.8
6 Akira Kurosawa 1351
7 Steven Spielberg 1319.8
8 Billy Wilder 1142
9 Paul Thomas Anderson 1126
10 Ingmar Bergman 1122
11 Joel Coen & Ethan Coen 1111
12 Quentin Tarantino 938
13 Andrei Tarkovsky 850
14 Hayao Miyazaki 839
15 Orson Welles 796
16 Ridley Scott 765.5
17 John Ford 727
18 Christopher Nolan 715
19 Federico Fellini 705.7
20 Howard Hawks 696
21 Sergio Leone 685
22 Wong Kar-wai 682.3
23 Jean-Luc Godard 657
24 Charles Chaplin 634
25 Sidney Lumet 620
26 David Fincher 610.2
27 Yasujiro Ozu 594
28 Peter Jackson 563.4
29 Wes Anderson 557
30 Roman Polanski 556
31 Richard Linklater 546
32 David Lean 545
33 Terrence Malick 535
34 Robert Altman 524
34 Fritz Lang 524
36 Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger 516
37 John Carpenter 500
38 Bong Joon-ho 484
39 Carl Theodor Dreyer 482
40 Michelangelo Antonioni 476.3
41 Robert Bresson 465
42 Woody Allen 463
43 Wim Wenders 461
44 James Cameron 460.2
45 Luis Buñuel 452
46 Frank Capra 430
46 Spike Lee 430
48 Michael Curtiz 422
49 Abbas Kiarostami 408
50 Krzysztof Kieslowski 404
51 Edward Yang 403
52 Michael Mann 400
53 David Cronenberg 385
54 Brian De Palma 383.1
55 Denis Villeneuve 379
56 Robert Zemeckis 377
57 Jean Renoir 374
58 Ernst Lubitsch 372
59 Jonathan Demme 368
60 F.W. Murnau 353
61 Park Chan-wook 342
62 Rob Reiner 339
63 Kenji Mizoguchi 338
64 Alfonso Cuarón 331.1
65 Milos Forman 331
66 Werner Herzog 327
67 Lars von Trier 323
68 John Cassavetes 318
69 William Friedkin 314
70 Buster Keaton 312
70 François Truffaut 312
72 Alain Resnais 308.7
73 Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly 305
74 Michael Haneke 303
75 Chantal Akerman 301
76 Masaki Kobayashi 293
77 Peter Weir 290
78 Clint Eastwood 290
79 George Lucas 289
80 Agnès Varda 287.5
81 Nicholas Ray 283.5
82 Charles Laughton 280
83 Vittorio De Sica 279
84 Terry Gilliam 277.5
85 Satyajit Ray 277
86 Jacques Demy 272
87 John Huston 270.4
88 George Miller 270
89 William Wyler 266
90 Rainer Werner Fassbinder 265.5
91 Carol Reed 264
92 Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski 255.8
93 Damien Chazelle 254
94 Jacques Tati 253
95 Paul Verhoeven 251
96 Béla Tarr 250
97 Eric Rohmer 240
98 Jean-Pierre Melville 238
99 Luchino Visconti 235
100 Michel Gondry 234