Community Canon: Film

Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho. The film stars Rumi Hiiragi, alongside Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono, and Bunta Sugawara. It follows a young girl named Chihiro "Sen" Ogino, who moves to a new neighborhood and inadvertently enters the world of kami. After her parents are turned into pigs by…

Avengers: Endgame is a 2019 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the direct sequel to Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris…

Hereditary is a 2018 American supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Ari Aster in his feature directorial debut. Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, the film follows Annie Graham (Collette), a grieving miniature artist who uncovers disturbing secrets about her recently deceased mother. She is subsequently tormented by sinister paranormal occurrences, along with her husband Steve (Byrne) and their children, Peter (Wolff) and…

Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. He directed thirteen feature films and three short documentaries over the course of his career. His work as a director, spanning diverse genres, is regarded as highly influential.

Ben-Hur is a 1959 American religious epic film directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist, and starring Charlton Heston as the title character. A remake of the 1925 silent film with a similar title, it was adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg, but includes contributions from Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The cast also features Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Hugh…

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a 2025 American action spy film directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and the eighth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The ensemble cast includes Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett. In the film, Hunt and his IMF team continue their mission to prevent the Entity, a…

Black Panther is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character T'Challa / Black Panther. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Ryan Coogler from a screenplay he wrote with Joe Robert Cole, and stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia…

Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 American romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by Ossana and Larry McMurtry. The film stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams. Its plot depicts the complex romantic relationship between two American cowboys, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, in the American West from 1963 to 1983.

Drunken Master, also known as Drunken Master The Beginning, is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping and produced and co-written by Ng See-yuen. The film features much of the same crew as Yuen's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow released earlier the same year, including lead actors Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang-lee; although narratively unrelated, Drunken Master bears similarities to its predecessor in its story and style.

A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian crime film written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel. The film employs disturbing and violent themes to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and broader social, political, and economic issues in a dystopian near-future Britain.

Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk action film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, produced by Ryōhei Suzuki and Shunzō Katō, and written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, based on Otomo's 1982 manga Akira. Set in a dystopian 2019, it follows Shōtarō Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang whose childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima, acquires powerful telekinetic abilities after colliding with a child esper in a motorcycle accident, eventually threatening an entire military complex in the sprawling futuristic…

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, based on a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. It follows a commercial starship crew who investigate a derelict space vessel and are hunted by a deadly extraterrestrial creature. The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill through their company…

John Wick is an American media franchise created by Derek Kolstad. It centers on a neo-noir action thriller film series directed by Chad Stahelski featuring Keanu Reeves as Wick. Wick is a legendary hitman who is reluctantly drawn back into the criminal underworld after retiring. The franchise began with the release of John Wick: Chapter 1 (2014), which was followed by three sequels: Chapter 2 (2017), Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), and Chapter 4 (2023). Various spin-offs expanded the franchise:…

Cats is a 2019 musical fantasy film based on the 1981 West End musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which in turn was based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, another inspiration for the film. The film was directed by Tom Hooper, in his second feature musical following Les Misérables (2012), from a screenplay by Lee Hall and Hooper. It stars an ensemble cast including James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo in his feature film debut, Idris Elba,…

Avengers: Infinity War is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and the 19th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the film features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth,…

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is loosely based on the thriller novel Red Alert (1958) by Peter George, who wrote the screenplay with Kubrick and Terry Southern. Financed and released by Columbia Pictures, the film was a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Persepolis is a 2007 animated biographical drama film written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, based on Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The title references the historical city of Persepolis.

Greta Celeste Gerwig is an American actress and filmmaker. She was initially known for working on various mumblecore films, such as Baghead (2008) and Yeast (2008), in which she became an important figure in the movement. Since then she has expanded from acting in and co-writing independent films to directing major studio films. Gerwig was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2018.

Facing El Chapo is a 2026 Mexican crime action thriller film about the manhunt and subsequent recapture of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The film follows Alfonso Herrera and Noé Hernández as the Federal Police officers who unexpectedly capture El Chapo, played by Héctor Kotsifakis. The film is based on real events.

Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film about the Holocaust, directed by Claude Lanzmann. Over nine hours long and eleven years in the making, the film presents Lanzmann's interviews with survivors, witnesses and perpetrators during visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including extermination camps.

Toy Story 5 is a 2026 American animated comedy-drama film directed by Andrew Stanton written by Stanton and Kenna Harris, and produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack among those reprising their roles, joined by Conan O'Brien, Scarlett Spears, Greta Lee, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris, and Craig Robinson. Set two years after Toy Story 4 (2019), it follows Jessie as she, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the other…

Senna is a 2010 documentary film that depicts the life and death of Brazilian motor-racing champion Ayrton Senna, directed by Asif Kapadia. The film was produced by StudioCanal, Working Title Films, and Midfield Films, and was distributed by the parent company of the latter two production companies, Universal Pictures.

WALL-E is a 2008 American animated science fiction film directed by Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jim Reardon, based on a story by Stanton and Pete Docter. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, and Sigourney Weaver, with Fred Willard in a live-action role. The film follows a solitary robot named WALL-E on a future, uninhabitable, deserted Earth in 2805,…

Rec is a 2007 Spanish found footage horror film co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film stars Manuela Velasco as television reporter Ángela Vidal, who, along with her cameraman, accompany firefighters on a late-night call to an apartment building in Barcelona, where an outbreak prompts authorities to seal the building and place its occupants under quarantine.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, also known as Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, is a 2015 American epic space opera film produced, co-written, and directed by J. J. Abrams. The sequel to Return of the Jedi (1983), it is the first installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and chronologically the seventh film of the "Skywalker Saga". Set thirty years after Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens follows Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Han Solo's search for Luke Skywalker and their fight in…

Shelter is a 2026 action thriller film starring Jason Statham as a former British government assassin living in isolation off the coast of Scotland who is forced back into violent confrontation with his past while protecting a young girl from the agency determined to eliminate him. It is directed by Ric Roman Waugh and written by Ward Parry. The film also stars Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Bill Nighy, Naomi Ackie, and Daniel Mays.

Avengers: Doomsday is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the 39th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, and written by Michael Waldron, Stephen McFeely, and the writing team of Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the film features an ensemble cast led by…

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) was an English director and filmmaker. Popularly known as the "Master of Suspense" for his use of innovative film techniques in thrillers, Hitchcock started his career in the British film industry as a title designer and art director for a number of silent films during the early 1920s. His directorial debut was the 1925 release The Pleasure Garden. Hitchcock followed this with The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, his first commercial and critical success. It…

The Incredibles is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox, Jason Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, and Elizabeth Peña. Set in a retro-futuristic version of the 1960s, the film follows Bob (Nelson) and Helen Parr (Hunter), a superhero couple respectively known as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, who hide their powers in accordance…

Roma is a 2018 historical drama film written, produced, and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who also served as cinematographer and co-editor. Set in 1970 and 1971, Roma follows the life of a live-in indigenous mixteca housekeeper of an upper-middle-class Mexican family. It is a semi-autobiographical take on Cuarón's upbringing in Mexico City's Colonia Roma neighborhood. The film stars Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira. It is an international co-production between Mexico and the United States.

The King's Speech is a 2010 historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne, the new king relies on Logue to help him make his first wartime radio broadcast upon Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1939.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is a 2025 American epic science fiction film directed by James Cameron from a screenplay he co-wrote with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Produced by Lightstorm Entertainment, it is the third installment in the Avatar film series and the sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). The film features Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet reprising their roles from previous films. The story follows the human-turned-Na'vi Jake Sully and his…

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Filmed and set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman (Bergman) and helping her husband (Henreid), a Czechoslovak resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis. The screenplay is based on Everybody Comes to Rick's, an…

Yi Yi is a 2000 Taiwanese drama film written and directed by Edward Yang. It centers on the struggles of an engineer, NJ, and three generations of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei.

The Seven Dwarfs are fictional dwarfs in the 1812 fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations.

Grizzly Man is a 2005 American documentary film written and directed by Werner Herzog. It chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast and conservationist Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard at Katmai National Park, Alaska. The film includes some of Treadwell's own footage of his interactions with brown bears before 2003, and of interviews with people who knew or were involved with Treadwell, in addition to professionals who deal with wild bears.

Mutiny is a 2026 action thriller film starring Jason Statham as a billionaire's head of security who uncovers a conspiracy aboard a cargo ship he is a stowaway upon. It is directed by Jean-François Richet and written by Lindsay Michel and J. P. Davis. The film also stars Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, and Adrian Lester.

Raid is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed by Raj Kumar Gupta starring Ajay Devgn, Saurabh Shukla and Ileana D'Cruz. Raid is based on the real life income-tax raid conducted by the officers of Income Tax Department on Sardar Inder Singh in the 1980s, which distinguished itself from others for being the longest raid in Indian history.

The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film released by United Artists. It was inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during the American Civil War. The story was adapted from the 1889 memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film stars Buster Keaton, who also co-directed it along with Clyde Bruckman.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a 2021 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, and Pascal Pictures, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man…

The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 Italian-Algerian war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. It is based on action undertaken by rebels during the Algerian War (1954–1962) against the French government in North Africa, the most prominent being the eponymous Battle of Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It was shot on location in a Roberto Rossellini-inspired newsreel style: in black and white with documentary-type editing to add to its sense of historical authenticity, with mostly…

Vengeance is a 2026 Indian Tamil-language political drama film written and directed by Rahul Ashok in his directorial debut. It stars Abarnathi in the lead role with Ilavarasu, John Vijay, J. Livingston, Y. G. Mahendran and Kaali Venkat in prominent roles. The film was theatrically released on 13 March 2026.

Jordan Peele is an actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for his duo sketch group Key & Peele with Keegan-Michael Key. He has also directed Get Out (2017), Us (2019), and Nope (2022).

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American crime comedy film produced, co-written and directed by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee and Nehemiah Persoff in supporting roles. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan from the 1935 French film Fanfare of Love. Set in the Prohibition era, the film is about two musicians who disguise themselves as…

Gone Girl is a 2014 American psychological thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by Gillian Flynn, based on her 2012 novel. It stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, and Carrie Coon in her film debut. Affleck plays Nick Dunne, a writing teacher who becomes the prime suspect following the disappearance of his wife, Amy (Pike), in Missouri.

In the Mood for Love is a 2000 romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Wong Kar-wai. An international co-production between Hong Kong and France, the film follows a man and a woman in 1962 who discover that their spouses are having an affair. As they spend time together, they gradually develop feelings for one another. It is the second installment in an informal trilogy, preceded by Days of Being Wild (1990) and followed by 2046 (2004).

Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian cannibal horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist who leads a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to locate a crew of filmmakers that have gone missing while filming a documentary on local cannibal tribes.

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious European dance academy but realizes, after a series of murders, that the school is a front for something sinister. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan…

Inception is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious. The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard,…

Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Danny Rubin. Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott, it tells the story of a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly. The film also features Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick…