Film Comment: 50 Best Released Films of 2011 [poll of over 120 critics and film journalists]
[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012]
- The Tree of Life — Terrence Malick
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives — Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Melancholia — Lars von Trier
- A Separation — Asghar Farhadi
- A Dangerous Method — David Cronenberg
- Mysteries of Lisbon — Raoul Ruiz
- Certified Copy — Abbas Kiarostami
- Meek’s Cutoff — Kelly Reichardt
- Hugo — Martin Scorsese
- Poetry — Lee Chang-dong
- Film Socialisme — Jean-Luc Godard
- Le Havre — Aki Kaurismäki
- The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu — Andrei Ujica
- Le quattro volte — Michelangelo Frammartino
- The Descendants — Alexander Payne
- Nostalgia for the Light — Patricio Guzmán
- A Brighter Summer Day — Edward Yang
- Midnight in Paris — Woody Allen
- Take Shelter — Jeff Nichols
- Margaret — Kenneth Lonergan
- Shame — Steve McQueen
- Drive — Nicolas Winding Refn
- Cave of Forgotten Dreams — Werner Herzog
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — Tomas Alfredson
- To Die Like a Man — João Pedro Rodrigues
- The Interrupters — Steve James
- The Artist — Michel Hazanavicius
- Tuesday, After Christmas — Radu Muntean
- Aurora — Cristi Puiu
- Weekend — Andrew Haigh
- The Skin I Live In — Pedro Almodóvar
- City of Life and Death — Lu Chuan
- Contagion — Steven Soderbergh
- Of Gods and Men — Xavier Beauvois
- Martha Marcy May Marlene — Sean Durkin
- Bridesmaids — Paul Feig
- The Trip — Michael Winterbottom
- Moneyball — Bennett Miller
- The Arbor — Clio Barnard
- The Future — Miranda July
- Incendies — Denis Villeneuve
- Super 8 — JJ Abrams
- United Red Army — Kôji Wakamatsu
- Road to Nowhere — Monte Hellman
- Tabloid — Errol Morris
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes — Rupert Wyatt
- Terri — Azazel Jacobs
- J. Edgar — Clint Eastwood
- Jane Eyre — Cary Joji Fukunaga
- Pina — Wim Wenders