Sinners, which shattered the record for Oscar nominations, refuses to be just one thing - and that is precisely why it manages to mean so many different things to so many people. In an attempt to deconstruct the cinematic DNA of the motifs running through Ryan Coogler’s film, we put together a cinematic “playlist”: a selection of films that may not necessarily resemble Sinners, but enter into a dialogue with its many layers and points of fascination.

The Cinematic DNA of Sinners

Normal

In this true masterpiece of a film, made even more memorable by the collaboration between director Haneke and Isabelle Huppert, emotional detachment, the oppression of impulse and the painful realization of another's need play off each other, in an unforgettable artistic and revelatory event.

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A middle-aged piano teacher works at a Vienna conservatory and lives with her cantankerous, elderly mother; her father resided in psychiatric asylums for years. The teacher is deeply solitary and her sexual oppression is expressed through sadomasochistic and voyeuristic behaviors, as well as self-harm. When a younger student expresses interest in her, the teacher consents, but the relationship soon goes to extremes.

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Grand Prize of the Jury | Cannes Film Festival | 2001
Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert) | Cannes Film Festival | 2001
Best Actor (Benoît Magimel) | Cannes Film Festival | 2001

The Piano Teacher

In one of the most classic films of the world cinema of the '00s, a glance at organized crime against the background of Rio’s favelas turns into an epic of conflicts of jaw-dropping beauty. Nominated for 4 Oscars, including the Award for Best Director for Fernando Meirelles.

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In the poor favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer documenting the increasing drug-related violence in his neighborhood. Zé is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his reputation as a war breaks out with his rival. The conflict will be sweeping.

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Nomination for Best Director Oscar | Oscars | 2004
Nomination for Best Original Screenplay Oscar | Oscars | 2004
Best Editing | BAFTA Awards | 2003
Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film | Golden Globes | 2003
Visions Award - Special Mention | Toronto Film Festival | 2002

City of God

What happens when a tiny Brazilian village starts disappearing from the map? A bloody, futuristic neo-western that spews rage, with influences ranging from John Carpenter to Asterix. Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

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A few years from now... Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their community has vanished from most maps. There is no phone signal anywhere, strange visitors start showing up and an imperceptible threat lurks nearby…

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Jury Prize | Cannes Film Festival | 2019
Official Selection | Toronto Film Festival | 2019

Bacurau

The greatest love stories have yet to be told. An elderly woman embarks on a long journey and thus unleashes a grand, tender, peculiar, unique second part in a film for which just one time is not enough.

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A woman spends her retirement years taking care of the people around her. Most of all, she's troubled by her lonely neighbor, an eccentric 80-year-old who believes her maid is using voodoo on her. The old woman wants to meet a man from her past, so the retiree and the maid join forces to help her find him. The man has a story to tell. A story that unfolded 50 years ago, before the Portuguese colonial war, and begins as follows: "He had a farm in Africa, at the base of mount Tabu..."

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Alfred Bauer Award | Berlin International Film Festival | 2012
FIPRESCI Prize | Berlin International Film Festival | 2012
Audience Award | Las Palmas Film Festival | 2012

Tabu

Αward-winning and globally beloved, bearing the stamp of an instant classic, Thomas Alfredson's masterpiece holds a prominent position among the most original and tender interpretations of the vampire myth.

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Oscar, a neglected boy, finds love and redemption through Eli, a beautiful yet peculiar girl.

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Jury Prize | Tribeca Film Festival | 2008
Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film | BAFTA | 2010

Let the Right One In

Michael Haneke's magnum opus is a multidimensional study on the causes and birth of fascism, a film that travels into the past to highlight urgent and timelessly topical concerns about violence and all forms of terrorism, a pure and undisputed masterpiece.

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Germany, just before the First World War. A series of unexplained events disrupt the daily social life of a Protestant village, centred on a group of young children.

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Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 2010
Nomination for Best Cinematography | Oscars | 2010
Golden Palm | Cannes Film Festival | 2009
Best Foreign Language Film | Golden Globes | 2010
FIPRESCI Prize | San Sebastian Film Festival | 2009

The White Ribbon

The end of colonialism, but also the clash of religious faith and impulse are uniquely captured in the thrilling film by the leading directorial duo of Powell and Presberger, which won a prestigious Academy Award for Photography for its unique depiction of the Tibetan landscape.

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In a remote Himalayan monastery, an order of English nuns struggle not only with the wild beauty of the primitive landscape, but also with the sexual awakening caused by the arrival of an agnostic man.

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Best Cinematography | Oscars | 1948
Best Set Decoration | Oscars | 1948
Best Cinematography | Golden Globes | 1948

Black Narcissus

Valuable both cinematically and culturally, the Film Foundation's restored print of this landmark African cinema film is a must-watch, a haunting yet liberatingly decolonized look at the oppression of black people.

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Diouana is a young Senegalese woman living in a poor village near Dakar hoping to find a job. Soon, she starts working for a French family who suggests she join them in Antibes to look after their children. But Diouana soon realizes that her boss has brought her only to serve them, without any respite.

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Best French Film | Jean Vigo Prize | 1966

Black Girl

"Like opening a door to another dimension". This is how Sergei Parajanov's legendary film was described by Martin Scorsese, whose Film Foundation oversaw the restoration of this unique cinematic treasure, which almost magically transforms the poetry of words into a poetry of images.

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The life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death. His spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of 18th century Armenia.

The Color of Pomegranates

Not the ghost story you expect. A terrifying 16th century myth turns into a political allegory and metaphysical thriller in the hands of the talented up-and-comer, Jayro Bustamante, whose every new film is a surprise. With awards in Venice and San Sebastian.

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In 1980’s Guatemala, Alma and her children are murdered during a military operation led by dictator Enrique Monteverde against the local Mayan population. 30 years later, the general who ordered the attack is found not-guilty, and Alma returns to the world of the living to haunt him.

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Best Director - Giornate degli Autori | Venice Film Festival | 2019
Fedeora Award | Venice Film Festival | 2019
EFADs-CAACI Award | San Sebastián International Film Festival | 2018
Official Selection | London Film Festival | 2019

La Llorona

Globalization, consumerism, and the dead ends of modern lifestyle enter the mixer of an explosive satire and produce a vitriolic yet unbearably entertaining film that ranks among the best moments in John Carpenter's career.

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A worker from Los Angeles accidentally finds a pair of special glasses on the street that were probably never meant to come into his hands. Wearing them, he can see the subliminal messages behind every billboard or government announcement that nurture a world of people who stop thinking. Soon, he discovers a group of aliens behind this plan and takes it upon himself to awaken humanity.

They Live

Cannibalism as the perfect allegory for maturation and sexual awakening. A young vegetarian studying to become a vet, starts feeling... hungry. A triumph of Belgian fantasy cinema for extreme viewers.

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A promising 16-year-old student from a vegetarian family of veterinarians enters a merciless, dangerous and seductive world, as she begins her studies in veterinary medicine. Her first week is filled with strange rituals. Determined to be accepted, she renounces her principles and tastes raw meat for the first time. She will soon face the consequences of her actions as her true nature emerges.

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FIPRESCI Prize- Critics' Week | Cannes Film Festival | 2016
Best First Feature Award | London Film Festival | 2016