An annual tradition here at The End, this is a look at my favorite film discoveries of the year, any movie more than a few years old that I saw for the first time this year. Previous years include: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021,  2020,  2019,  2018,  2017,  2016,  2015,  2014,  2013,  2012,  2011,  2010,  2009,  2008,  2007, and 2006. I watched somewhere around 240 films this year, but only a sixth or so of them qualified for this list. Here are 30 of my favorites.

1. Girl Students’ Dormitory (Shi Shujun, 1983)
2. Seventh Code (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2013)
3. Angel’s Egg (Oshii Mamoru, 1985)
4. Scenes of City Life (Yuan Muzhi, 1935)
5. The Bullet Train (Sato Junya, 1975)
6. Killer Constable (Kuei Chi-hung, 1980)
7. The Cat (Lam Nai-choi, 1992)
8. Love Hotel (Somai Shinji, 1985)
9. Bright Future (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2002)
10. Blood on Wolf Mountain (Fei Mu, 1936)

11. Evil Cat (Dennis Yu, 1987)
12. Serpent’s Path (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 1998)
13. The Red Spectacles (Oshii Mamoru, 1987)
14. Three Days of the Condor (Sydney Pollack, 1975)
15. License to Live (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 1998)
16. Long Promised Road (Brent Wilson, 2021)
17. National Customs (Zhu Shilin & Luo Mingyou, 1935)
18. The Man Who Invented Christmas (Bharat Nalluri, 2017)
19. Queen of Triads (Venus Keung, 2021)
20. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times (Don Was, 1995)

21. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 2012)
22. Confucius (Fei Mu, 1940)
23. Female Special Police Officer (Zhang Zhen, 2022)
23. 42 (Brian Helgeland, 2013)
24. Final Destination 3 (James Wong, 2006)
25. Enter the Girl Dragon (Ram Gopal Varma, 2022)
26. Conan the Barbarian (Marcus Nispel, 2011)
27. David Lynch: The Art Life (Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Rick Barnes, & Jon Nguyen, 2016)
29. Scrooge (Ronald Neame, 1970)
30. The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002)