iCM Favorite Directorial Debut Features (2021)
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- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsMichel TerrazonLinda GutenbergRaoul BillereyAn anguished foster child takes to mischief and lies as his foster parents do their best to love and care for him. But it might be too little, too late in this emotionally devastating portrayal of the orphaned child.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean SebergVan DoudeA small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudAlbert RémyClaire MaurierA young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsPete PostlethwaiteFreda DowieAngela WalshThe lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
- DirectorSara GómezStarsMario BalmasedaYolanda CuéllarMario LimontaIn Miraflores, Cuba, the growing romance between Mario, a factory worker, and Yolanda, a schoolteacher, throws into relief the differences in their perspectives and values in Revolutionary Cuba.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceJackie CooganThe Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsBen CarruthersLelia GoldoniHugh HurdCassavetes' jazz-scored improvisational film explores interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City.
- DirectorChantal AkermanHotel Monterey is a cheap hotel in New York reserved for the outcasts of American society. Chantal Akerman invites viewers to visit this unusual place as well as the people who live there, from the reception up to the last story.
- DirectorHal HartleyStarsAdrienne ShellyRobert John BurkeChris CookeA man returns to his home town after serving a prison sentence for homicide, and finds that the details of the crime have been forgotten and replaced with local legends and rumors.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
- DirectorKent MackenzieStarsYvonne WilliamsHomer NishTom ReynoldsFollows a family of Native Americans living in the City of Angels.
- DirectorKenneth LonerganStarsLaura LinneyMatthew BroderickAmy RyanA single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsAbilio FernándezSalvador AllendeThe chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.
- DirectorHarun FarockiAndrei UjicaStarsIon CaramitruElena CeausescuNicolae CeausescuThis documentary uses news footage and amateur video to paint a vivid picture of Romania's 1989 revolution and the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
- DirectorAndrew BujalskiStarsKate DollenmayerMark HerlehyChristian RudderMarnie just graduated from college, drinks likes she's still in school, and is looking for a temporary job but a permanent boyfriend. She loves a guy who doesn't love her (?), ping-pongs between awkward romantic alternatives and even less suitable jobs.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsGustaw HoloubekAleksandra SlaskaTeresa SzmigielównaOne day in the life of an alcohol addict. With the help of his girlfriend Krysia, Kuba attempts to regain control of his life. But when she's at work, Kuba is home alone, and it becomes hard not to resist the temptation.
- DirectorJacques RozierStarsJean-Claude AiminiDaniel DescampsStefania SabatiniParis, summer 1960. Michel is about to leave for Algeria for military service. He meets Liliane and Juliette, two inseparable friends. Michel goes on vacation to Corsica, where the two girls decide to join him
- DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsJosh HamiltonEric StoltzSamuel GouldA bunch of guys hang around their college for months after graduation, continuing a life much like the one before graduation.
- DirectorMaren AdeStarsEva LöbauDaniela HoltzJan NeumannAs an awkward idealistic high school teacher begins her first job in the city, things turn out to be much tougher than she had imagined.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyEduard AbalovStarsNikolay BurlyaevValentin ZubkovEvgeniy ZharikovDuring WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.
- DirectorIlian MetevStarsMila MihovaNikolay MashalovTodor VeltchevYoung pianist Mila prepares for an audition abroad. Her brother Niki distracts her with his unwanted talent for the absurd. Their astrophysicist father Todor seems incapable of dealing with his children's anxieties.
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsSam De GrasseFrancelia BillingtonErich von StroheimAn Austrian officer sets out to seduce a neglected young wife.
- DirectorJerry LewisStarsJerry LewisAlex GerryBob ClaytonMute bellboy Stanley works at the luxurious Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. In spite of being a serviceable and friendly employee, the clumsy Stanley gets successively into trouble with his mistakes.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorClaudia WeillStarsMelanie MayronEli WallachAdam CohenA photographer and her girlfriend are roommates. She is stuck with small-change shooting jobs and dreams of success. When her roommate decides to get married and leave, she feels hurt and has to learn how to deal with living alone.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsRenée FaureJany HoltSylvieAnne-Marie joins a Dominican convent as a novice where she knows Therese. After shooting a man for which she was imprisoned, Therese protests her innocence, reluctant to tell her secret.
- DirectorJean-Marie StraubStarsHeinrich HargesheimerCarlheinz HargesheimerMartha StaendnerAn entangled story which details the lives of a German family throughout their various generations.
- DirectorBarbara LodenStarsBarbara LodenMichael HigginsDorothy ShupenesWanda, a lonely housewife, drifts through mining country until she meets a petty thief who takes her in.
- DirectorJoanna HoggStarsKathryn WorthHarry KershawEmma HiddlestonA woman in an unhappy relationship takes refuge with a friend's family on holiday in Tuscany.
- DirectorAmy HeckerlingStarsSean PennJennifer Jason LeighJudge ReinholdA group of Southern California high school students are enjoying their most important subjects: sex, drugs and rock n' roll.
- DirectorSusan SeidelmanStarsSusan BermanBrad RijnRichard HellA talent-challenged girl tries to promote herself to stardom in New York's waning punk music world.
- DirectorVincent GalloStarsVincent GalloChristina RicciBen GazzaraAfter being released from prison, Billy is set to visit his parents with his wife, whom he does not actually have. This provokes Billy to act out, as he kidnaps a girl and forces her to act as his wife for the visit.
- DirectorLisandro AlonsoStarsMisael SaavedraHumberto EstradaRafael EstradaA man chop down trees, organizes the trunks, clean them, stops to defecate, lunch, nap and continues to sell its timber.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsShirley MacLaineDebra WingerJack NicholsonFollows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsWang Yu-wenChen Chao-jungKang-sheng LeeWithin the urban gloom of Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJess HahnMichèle GirardonVan DoudeA French-American in Paris lives by sponging off his working friends, and throws a party using borrowed money when his rich American aunt dies, believing firmly in his horoscope.
- DirectorCorneliu PorumboiuStarsMircea AndreescuTeodor CorbanIon SapdaruA local talk show host organizes an alcoholic professor and a pensioner known for playing Santa Claus to decide whether there was ever a revolution in their town Vaslui.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsMerrill GruverMichael EdwardsMelissa BrownKaren Carpenter's battle with anorexia nervosa and the cultural influence of the Carpenters in the 70s.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsAndy LauMaggie CheungJacky CheungMid-level gangster Wah falls in love with his beautiful cousin, but must also continue to protect his volatile partner-in-crime and friend, Fly.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsBrian DonlevyMuriel AngelusAkim TamiroffDan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsDuangjai HiransriKome Kongkiat KomesiriSaisiri XoomsaiA film crew documents a folk story-exquisite corpse combination by random Thai people; the story is reenacted.
- DirectorLeos CaraxStarsDenis LavantMireille PerrierCarroll BrooksParis by night. Alex, 22, wants to become a filmmaker. He is fascinated by first times and his girlfriend, Florence, has just left him for his best friend, Thomas. First break-up, first attempted murder: Alex tries to strangle Thomas, but gives up and wanders the streets. That evening, Mireille, a girl from provincial France who has come up to Paris to make commercials, is left by her boyfriend. Alex witnesses this separation. These two tormented souls run into each other at a party....
- DirectorBen RiversHerzog-influenced imagining of ecological possibilities for four locations, anticipating Earth's impending post-societal collapse.
- DirectorJohn MagaryStarsJosh LucasCory NicholsLucy OwenA comic drama about rage, doubt, lust, madness, and other brotherly hand-me-downs.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDan O'BannonDre PahichBrian NarelleIn the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsSydney GreenstreetPeter LorreJoan LorringAfter an innocent man is executed in a case for which he was not responsible, a Scotland Yard superintendent finds himself investigating the murder of his key witness.
- DirectorBlake Williams
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMargaret LeahyWallace BeeryThe misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsHenry G. SandersKaycee MooreCharles BracySet in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
- DirectorMati DiopStarsMagaye NiangWasis DiopBen D. BeyeMagaye Niang, the main actor of Senegalese film classic Touki Bouki (1973), is an average farmer today. After a screening of the film he recalls his first love, who left the country years ago.
- DirectorYannis FilippouMihallis GaziadisStarsEllie LambetiLabros KonstadarasDinos IliopoulosA naughty, love-smitten teacher sets in motion an audacious scheme to woo a charming final-year student who is in love with her fisherman beau.
- DirectorWarren BeattyBuck HenryStarsWarren BeattyJames MasonJulie ChristieA Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
- DirectorDavid MametStarsLindsay CrouseJoe MantegnaMike NussbaumA psychiatrist comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led by a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men.
- DirectorTyler TaorminaStarsHaley BodellAudrey BoosGabriella HerreraA bizarre rite of passage at the local deli determines the fate of a generation of teenagers, leading some to escape their suburban town and dooming others to remain.
- DirectorKarolis KaupinisStarsAleksas KazanaviciusVaidotas MartinaitisValentinas MasalskisIt's late 1930's. Foreseeing the upcoming war in Europe, Lithuanian geographer Feliksas Gruodis comes up with an idea to save his country by establishing a Lithuanian colony overseas. The plan is a massive exodus to the so called "Reserve Lithuania" in case of occupation. Feliksas tries to sell his idea to one of the most important persons of the state - a grey cardinal of the president, the prime minister Jonas Servus. Dismissing the idea at first, soon the prime minister experiences a heart stroke as the country gets the first signs of war at it's borders. As the president uses his illness to turn him into a scapegoat, the already ex-prime minister gets back to Feliksas, persuades him to reveal his plan and offers his help. The hope to implement the plan doesn't bring much light to Feliksas' personal life. Him and his wife, a childless couple, live in a stiff and cold relationship. As Feliksas finds a fulfilment in his utopia, his wife Veronika finds no way to diminish her loneliness. As Feliksas' political dream comes to realisation, his marriage approaches a collapse. As the country loses the first piece of it's territory, ex-prime minister decides that the only way to implement the plan is to overthrow the president with the help of the military. He invites Feliksas to spend the last night at his home, together with his family. The ideal picture of it makes Feliksas to drop his plan at the last minute and try to save his personal life instead of saving the country.