As you should be aware by now, Spike Lee is the latest talent to turn to crowdsourcing, as the Brooklyn-based filmmaker is currently the midst of Kickstarting his next feature (after his studio effort, Oldboy). He’s currently around the 20% mark and to bring some attention to the project, he’s released a list of the most essential films a filmmaker must see.

If you’ve donated to the campaign, you got an alert about the update and we’re here to share it with you today. The list includes a bulk of the great masters, with Stanley Kubrick (happy birthday!), Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Terrence Malick, Federico Fellini and of course, his  “main, main, main, main man, Martin Scorsese.” It’s an excellent starter for cinephiles, even with a few outside-the-box choices, such as films from Neill Blomkamp, Stephen Chow and Mel Gibson. So, as Mr. Lee says, see how many of these films you’ve viewed by checking out the list, his message and a video below.

I’ve Been A Professor At The NYU Graduate Film For The Past 15 Years.The 1st Day Of Every Class I Hand Out My List Of Films That I Feel You Must See If You Want To Make Films. Please Look At This List And See What You Might Have Missed. As I Tell My Students If You Want Your Film “Game” To Be Tight You Must Have Seen Great Movies, World Cinema, It Just Can’t Be Hollywood Films. Educate Yourself. Learn. Grow. Evolve. Make Great Films.

Peace, Onward And Upward,

Spike Lee.

How many films from Spike Lee’s list are in here? Are any of your favorites missing?

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