The Arts & Faith Top 100 — 2005 List

The 2005 Arts & Faith Top 100 list was the second iteration of the project and the first to rank the included films. It reflects a marked change in direction for the group. While the 2004 list was heavily populated with commercial Hollywood fare, the 2005 list highlights World Cinema. All ten of the highest ranking films are non-English language films. The membership would repeat the exercise in 2006, after which it would not be revised again until 2010. At the time, short films were ruled ineligible, which explains the omission of long-time Arts & Faith favorites such as The House Is Black, The Man Who Planted Trees, and the films of Stan Brakhage. To counter the dangers of recency bias, it was also determined that a film must be at least three years old to be eligible for inclusion. The most obvious omission created by this eligibility requirement was Terrence Malick’s The New World; it would join Arts & Faith’s Top 100 in 2010. — Kenneth R. Morefield (2025)

  1. Rosetta
  2. The Passion of Joan of Arc
  3. Dekalog
  4. Diary of a Country Priest
  5. Au hasard Balthazar
  6. Ordet
  7. The Gospel According to St. Matthew
  8. Babette’s Feast
  9. The Son
  10. Ikiru
  11. The Apostle
  12. Stalker
  13. The Mission
  14. The Seventh Seal
  15. Dead Man Walking
  16. A Man Escaped
  17. Jesus of Montreal
  18. Andrei Rublev
  19. A Man For All Seasons
  20. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
  21. Chariots of Fire
  22. Winter Light
  23. The Miracle Maker
  24. Day of Wrath
  25. Wit
  26. Sansho the Bailiff
  27. Magnolia
  28. Three Colors trilogy
  29. The Flowers of St. Francis
  30. Wings of Desire
  31. My Night at Maud’s
  32. La Promesse
  33. Nostalghia
  34. Europa ’51
  35. The Passion of the Christ
  36. Tender Mercies
  37. Jesus of Nazareth
  38. Ponette
  39. The Apu Trilogy
  40. Shadowlands
  41. Wild Strawberries
  42. The Trial of Joan of Arc
  43. Werckmeister Harmonies
  44. Mirror
  45. Becket
  46. The Sacrifice
  47. Nazarin
  48. To End All Wars
  49. Schindler’s List
  50. Breaking the Waves
  51. The Hiding Place
  52. It’s a Wonderful Life
  53. Peter and Paul
  54. The Big Kahuna
  55. Dogville
  56. Not of this World
  57. Solaris
  58. Yi Yi
  59. The Straight Story
  60. Luther
  61. A Taste of Cherry
  62. The Gospel of John
  63. Lilies of the Field
  64. Tokyo Story
  65. To Kill a Mockingbird
  66. Hotel Rwanda
  67. Dersu Uzala
  68. Faust
  69. Tales of Ugetsu
  70. The Last Temptation of Christ
  71. Stevie
  72. Millions
  73. Rome, Open City
  74. The Lord of the Rings trilogy
  75. Rashomon
  76. The Believer
  77. Jean de Florette / Manon of Spring
  78. Late Spring
  79. Night of the Hunter
  80. Life is Beautiful
  81. Bicycle Thieves
  82. Close-Up
  83. The Addiciton
  84. Cries and Whispers
  85. The Wind Will Carry Us
  86. The Virgin Spring
  87. Pickpocket
  88. Les Misérables (1998)
  89. The Trip to Bountiful
  90. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  91. Romero
  92. The Shawshank Redemption
  93. 13 Conversations About One Thing
  94. The Silence
  95. An Autumn Afternoon
  96. The Elephant Man
  97. Amadeus
  98. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  99. In America
  100. Unforgiven