Two film lists are included below. The first includes what in my opinion were the best 15 films that had a theatrical release in North America in 2004 (although, in some cases, this might mean only a very limited run in New York and Los Angeles, for example). The second contains what seemed to me the 15 most successful artistic efforts that I saw in 2004, theatrical release or not.

Best theatrical releases

1. Crimson Gold (Iran, Jafar Panahi)

2. Fahrenheit 9/11 (US, Michael Moore)

3. Goodbye Lenin! (Germany, Wolfgang Becker)

4. Rosenstrasse (Germany, Margarethe von Trotta)

5. Vera Drake (UK, Mike Leigh)

6. Blind Shaft (China, Li Yang)

7. Kinsey (US, Bill Condon)

8. I Heart Huckabees (US, David O. Russell)

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (US, Michel Gondry)

10. Osama (Afghanistan, Siddiq Barmak)

11. Oasis (South Korea, Lee Chang-dong)

12. Maria Full of Grace (US, Joshua Marston)

13. The Merchant of Venice (US-UK, Michael Radford)

14. The Manchurian Candidate (US, Jonathan Demme)

15. James’ Journey to Jerusalem (Israel, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz)

Best films I saw in 2004

1. Land of Plenty (US-Germany, Wim Wenders)

2. Fahrenheit 9/11 (US, Michael Moore)

3. The World (China, Jia Zhang-ke)

4. Vera Drake (UK, Mike Leigh)

5. Turtles Can Fly (Iran, Bahman Ghobadi)

6. Stray Dogs (Iran, Marziyeh Meshkini)

7. Checkpoint (Israel, Yoav Shamir)

8. Woman Is the Future of Man (South Korea, Hung Sang-soo)

9. Kinsey (US, Bill Condon)

10. I Heart Huckabees (US, David O. Russell)

11. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (US, Michel Gondry)

12. Home of the Brave (US, Paola di Florio)

13. Memories of Murder (South Korea, Bong Joon-Ho)

14. Parapalos (Argentina, Ana Poliak)

15. Death Squads: the French School (France, Marie-Monique Robin)