I also tried out a totally original hand-made home-made application, quite unreminiscence of anything on Facebook! You might care to try it too. This is it..

After I had listed my 10 favourite films - very reluctantly leaving out in the process almost as many as I actually included (so stand by for my coming-soon second string list!) - I asked my wife Christine to list her top 10 films.

This was her list:

Oh brother where out thou? The Great Escape One flew over the cuckoo's nest Bladerunner Snatch Fight Club Cool hand Luke Clerks Getting Square (very Australian) Clockwork Orange

mmm not sure what happened to my formatting there

Liam Cullen said:

Oh brother where out thou?

The Great Escape

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

Bladerunner

Snatch

Fight Club

Cool hand Luke

Clerks

Getting Square (very Australian)

Clockwork Orange

This is really hard.

Except for Schindler's List and Persona the only thing I can say for sure is that these are movies I have see over and over and would see again. Schindler's List was just totally awesome from the story to the cinematography. I have only seen Persona once back in the 60's but it made a lasting impact.

EDIT for formatting

Thanks, Liam and Linda, for your lists.

I think I'd include eight (of those in your lists that I've seen) in my top couple of hundred films:

More usefully, though, I will really make a point of looking out for opportunities for watching these:

Thanks for the tips!

Just to start my list:

(Edited as I slowly complete my list)

The Sound of Music

The Music Man

A Man for All Seasons

Romeo & Juliette (Franco Zeffirelli)

Diva

O Lucky Man

The Last Waltz

Genghis Blues

Armarcord

Opps left one out: If I had a Million

This is always hard - ranking and remembering all in one multitasking action...

Anyway, here are a few of my favourites - some brought back to memory from previous postings:

1. Jurassic Park and ET - great music and in all ways spectacular
2. Home Alone - I can always recall the music from this film and Macauley was pretty cool too!
3. Le Chateau de ma mere - for some reason I loved this film, but I cannot remember why - I think it was the scenery (and the actress!)
4. Shawshank Redemption - for inspiration and belief in oneself
5. Chicken Run - ok it's just brilliant
6. Old Yeller - tearjerker from my formative years never forgotten
7. Dune - an exemplar for creativity in an SF environment. I needed an SF film in there, because I watch them all!
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azhkaban - I like the attention to detail and deliberate stimulating creativity (in all the films)
9. Bridge to Terabithia - for bringing magic from reality
10. Kite Runner - it's got to be here. Just a wonderful film in all ways - kite scenes, trauma, resolution, Afghanistan scenes, but an ending which promises, but does not proclaim happiness too much

Schindler's List - perhaps not a favourite but spellbinding and great viola playing

Sound of Music I love too, but maybe I've played it too much!

As someone commented earlier, this is an impossible task!

I think Shankshaw Redemption, Kite Runner, Sound of Music, Zefferelli's R&J, Chicken Run and Man for All Seasons are all excellent suggestions.

On the other hand, I could easiliy think of another dozen or so favourites that haven't been mentioned yet:

Sorry to be so prolific; I think Nicholas must be re-viewing each of his choices before he adds them to his list!

;)

Just a postscript to this thread.

I am interested in selecting 12 films, which are available on DVD and are mentally stimulating in a variety of ways. These would be for members of the Butterfly Project (Uganda) to view as part of their monthly programme and thus should be suitable for (likely academically-orientated) 11-15 year olds, most of whom have English at a middling level, and have viewed very few films.

I would pick some from the above listings, but wondered if people might help by throwing in some others..

Binta and the Great Idea is absolutely brilliant.

If you haven't seen it yet, view it here on Ned. Its also available on DVD.

I should perhaps have said that Binta and the Great Idea was my response to the challenge thrown out by Ben.

Of the films mentioned in this thread so far, perhaps the best two for Ben's purpose might be 42 Up and Kes. And The Kite Runner?

I'm delighted that what I started as an unashamedly self-indulgent thread could be turning into something of social value!

:)

Still thinking.

Wow - hard to limit to only 10!

1. The Gods Must be Crazy
2. Forrest Gump
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. The English Patient
5. Cinema Paradiso
6. The Shining
7. The Usual Suspects
8. Dangerous Liaisons
9. V for Vendetta
10. A Fish called Wanda

Re Ben's List:

I think these, for example, can safely be overlooked, but Peter Brook's Lord of the Flies might be considered, as well as Bicycle Thieves, Au revoir, les enfants and two films I've not actually seen, but which would seem to fit the bill: Cidade de Deus and Slumdog Millionaire.

Christina, you've added a few more excellent choices. I particularly like The English Patient.

For Ben's purposes, Cinema Paradiso might be worth considering, though, even for someone as shamelessly sentimental as me, the over-sentimentality of this film might disqualify it.

edited for clarity in light of Christina's post

Ben, have you seen a film called Freedom Writers? Great story about an inner city teacher in LA. Not so confident that non-english films w/subtitles would work well with kids in Uganda... English is already a foreign language and there is a reading speed issue that might get in the way.

I have not seen Freedom Writers, but I have heard of it. Perhaps I can dig it out, when I return.

Thanks for the ideas - Slumdog Millionaire is an interesting prospect. Babette's Feast and Pan's Labyrinth are interesting or maybe something like "Drowning by Numbers", although I've personally no idea what it's about, it's certainly a piece of art and I'm certain they will enjoy looking for the numbers, as I did.

I'm working towards "visual feast" as a kind of objective for the films, as opposed to intellectual stimulation, but if both can be achieved, then all the better. I also rather like AI, as a SciFi option.

I've met the selected kids now from Lyantonde and I am pretty certain that none has ever seen a film. The few that stayed up last night had not. We tried very hard to get HP Prisoner of Azhkaban to play, but it wouldn't:(

With their backgrounds, they would love Chicken Run...

Drowning by numbers is a great idea, though I agree it's pretty unfathomable.

Films that get their imaginations working might be just the thing you need. I've already revealed my devotion for Jacques Tati, but hadn't thought his films would necessarily fit the bill, despite their humour being universal; but an almost wordless film like Playtime can be watched time and again and you keep noticing new things to amuse you.

Ok, well Freedom Writers is available, but Drowning by Numbers and the Tati classic are a little pricey:)

I have Bridge to Terabithia, Kiterunner, Kes and Lord of the Flies and also City of God, so they can easily be added to the library. Jurassic Park I will order.

I'm sort of torn between giving them films which they can identify with and those which might be described as "mind-enhancing". I think perhaps a balance of the two would be best.

So here is my list of 12:

1. City of God - realism
2. Bridge to Terabithia - Beautiful and thought-provoking
3. Freedom Writers - realism and triumph over adversity
4. AI - oddly memorable, but a possible near future
5. Kite Runner - fantastic cinematography, realistic story
6. Chicken Run - clever and one they can laugh at and identify with
7. Jurassic Park - Answers "What are dinosaurs?" and I feel encourages interest in science, scary and great visuals
8. Dune - great visuals and a complete new galaxy creation
9. Slumdog Millionaire - long, but inspirational
10. TBC
11. TBC
12. TBC

So, three more to find. I'm avoiding the subtitled ones. Drowning by Numbers is not really available on DVD. Kes and Lord of the Flies I'm not sure about - they are very English:) The Sound of Music is an interesting idea, a bit off the wall, but a musical would be sensible. Perhaps Sister Act would appeal to their mainly gospel backgrounds.

Others above - many I don't know, so cannot really adjudge.

Still thinking...

Ben, I take you point about "very English" films, but I mwonder if Whistle down the wind might work. I'm not sure it would still work with 21st century kids from the UK, because they would find it hard to make sense of the social assumpions about religious belief, but to African kids, perhaps it would not be so very odd...

I like that idea, David, very much. What's your take on the Chronicles of Narnia?

Ben, last year Lars posted a link to a video - Binta and the great idea. I had a hard time watching it online in Thailand and David Bale found the video on a DVD and sent it to me. The DVD has the nominees and winners for the short film category for the 2007 Academy Awards. There are 5 or 6 short films and 2 animations that were nominated. They are all excellent. The DVD also has I think 6 additional bonus films that are not so good but some are made by college and high school students.

It would be a good DVD to see and discuss, compare and contrast.

Blatantly stolen from wikipedia:

"Binta and the Great Idea" ("Binta y la Gran Idea") is a 2004 Spanish-Senegalese co-production short film by writer-director Javier Fesser. The film stars Zeynabou Diallo as Binta, Agnile Sambou as Binta's Father, and Aminata Sane as Soda. The film duration is approximately 31 minutes, with dialogue in Diola and French. The film is included in Oscar Nominated Short Films by Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International; the theatrical release of this collection was February 16, 2007.

This film was made in collaboration with UNICEF, to which 100% of the profits will be given.

Thanks, Linda. Youtube is running at around 15m download time for every 1m of film at the moment (if it downloads at all), so I will wait to see this in ten days or so when I return to the UK.

On the issue of subtitles, I have a copy of Kiterunner from a Kampala Video Hire - there don't appear to be any DVD retail outlets - and we will test this out tonight in Kireka and also at the Induction weekend, to see how well they cope. I put it on last night, but the power went down after 5 minutes:)

Just for info, I subscribed to the Video Hire Club at Uchemi, Garden City and will give this membership to Butterfly Kampala members.