What do some of the directors of the best movies of 2023 think about the year in cinema? Films in Frame polled Christian Petzold, Justine Triet, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice, Aki Kaurismäki, Bas Devos, Pham Thien An, Joanna Arnow, Radu Jude, Pedro Costa, Rodrigo Moreno, Lisandro Alonso, and more––and we’ll spotlight one of the best lists, from the Afire director, here.

While he admits he wasn’t able to check out the latest from Albert Serra, Jonathan Glazer, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Aki Kaurismäki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda (“A poor year for me as a member of an audience. Next year, it will be better.”), he did find time for this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Mexico’s 2023 Oscar entry, Ireland’s 2022 Oscar entry, and of course, the latest from one of his favorite actors on the planet, Gerard Butler.

Check out Petzold’s picks below and visit Films in Frame to see more lists.

The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairead)

Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)

Chun Xing aka A Journey in Spring (Tsu Hui Peng and Ping Wen-Wang)

Plane (Jean-François Richet)

Tótem (Lila Avilés)

Of course, it’s not the first time Petzold has praised a Butler-led genre programmer:

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