indieWIRE's List of the Best Undistributed Films of 2008

indieWIRE's year end polls are usually the best places to find either what you've missed from the year or a likeminded round-up of the finest the year had to offer. In conducting their annual list of the best undistributed films, Lucrecia Martel's The Headless Woman [La mujer sin cabeza] topped the charts, despite tepid reception when it premiered at Cannes (small proof that you can only take negaitve Cannes' reception so far). In the number two spot was Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day, the latest from a filmmaker whose name frequently appears on these lists. Pablo Larrain's Tony Manero, Albert Serra's Birdsong [El Cant dels ocells] and (tied for 5th) Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum [35 rhums] and Koji Wakamatsu's United Red Army round out the top 5. A handful of still-undistributed films from 07 hang onto the list including Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales (whose deal with IFC seems to have been erroneous), Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Ploy and Roy Andersson's You, the Living - all three of which rank among the finest films I've had a chance to see in the past two years. Check the full list via indieWIRE (particularly if you're a distributor).