In the history of International Cinema, there are some movies which stand above all others: these are films that can enter the collective imagination and stand the test of time, becoming a source of inspiration for filmmakers and screenwriters.
This collection of 44 screenplays are some of our Directors Rosters favorite films.
So, take a look and get inspired!
Take a look at our Feature, TV Pilot & Short Film Fund Contests.
American Beauty (1999)
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.
Annie Hall (1977)
Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall.
Antichrist (2009)
A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Back to the Future (1985)
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Beetlejuice (1988)
The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
Before Sunrise (1995)
A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.
Blade Runner (1982)
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Boogie Nights (1997)
The story of a young man’s adventures in the California pornography industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Clueless (1995)
A rich high school student tries to boost a new pupil’s popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone’s hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories.
Fargo (1996)
Jerry Lundegaard’s inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen’s bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
Her (2013)
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
Jackie Brown (1997)
A middle-aged woman finds herself in the middle of a huge conflict that will either make her a profit or cost her life.
Jaws (1975)
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach resort, it’s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Jurassic Park (1993)
During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.
The Last Picture Show (1971)
In 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied West Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Magnolia (1999)
An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
Moon (2009)
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet’s power problems.
Never Let Me Go (2010)
The lives of three friends, from their early school days into young adulthood, when the reality of the world they live in comes knocking.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
A psychologically troubled novelty supplier is nudged towards a romance with an English woman, all the while being extorted by a phone-sex line run by a crooked mattress salesman, and purchasing stunning amounts of pudding.
Raging Bull (1980)
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring destroys his life outside of it.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
A young couple moves in to an apartment only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.
Rushmore (1998)
The extracurricular king of Rushmore Preparatory School is put on academic probation.
Se7en (1995)
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
A man’s uneventful life is disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
Stand by Me (1986)
After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.
Take Shelter (2011)
Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father, questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.
Taxi Driver (1976)
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action by attempting to liberate a presidential campaign worker and an underage prostitute.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her teenage son, John Connor, from a more advanced and powerful cyborg.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.
The New World (2005)
The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
A young FBI cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
In late 1950s New York, Tom Ripley, a young underachiever, is sent to Italy to retrieve Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.
The Tree of Life (2011)
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents’ conflicting teachings.
The Wicker Man (1973)
A Police Sergeant is sent to a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl who the townsfolk claim never existed. Stranger still are the rites that take place there.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Toni Erdmann (2016)
A practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO’s life coach.
Zodiac (2007)
In the late 1960s/early 1970s, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.
Article by Alessandra Rocca