Hyperallergic<\/em> is documentary. But as our coverage writ large \u2014 reviews, opinions, reporting, original art \u2014\u00a0demonstrates, there are many ways to tell a truth.\u00a0<\/p>\nWith that in mind, we\u2019ve compiled a list of the best art films of the year. This list, as you might expect, is eclectic, jump-roping between avant-garde short film and YouTube essays, feature-length investigative documentaries and the intrepid, iterative efforts of late-night talk shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These works of moving image tell truths that cannot be as thoroughly or artfully conveyed in any other medium, such as the \u201cwhirring body\u201d of Lo\u00efe Fuller in Obsessed With Light<\/em>, which Eileen G\u2019Sell likens to \u201ca lambent flower.\u201d Or the relentless use of extended footage of people doing the same repetitive work in sweatshops in Wang Bing\u2019s Homecoming <\/em>trilogy \u2014 \u201cif you think it\u2019s hard to sit through,\u201d Dan Schindel writes, \u201cimagine what it\u2019s like to do that work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nSorted by release date in North America, here are the top films of 2024. \u2014Lisa Yin Zhang<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n\n
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No Other Land<\/em>, directed by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor<\/h3>\n\n
\n\t\t\t\tNo Other Land<\/em> (2024), directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor 2024 (image courtesy Film at Lincoln Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nFrom the moment it debuted at the Berlinale Film Festival in mid-February, this was the most controversial documentary of the year, spawning death threats for its directors. This searing film, which looks into encroaching Israeli settlements in the West Bank, arrived just a few months into the country\u2019s ongoing assault against Gaza. In the back and forth between the Palestinian and Israeli members of the filmmaking collective behind the camera, the movie captures how a synthesis of viewpoints frames every media object we see. Amidst 2024\u2019s deluge of images of Palestinian suffering and resilience, this film\u2019s contribution \u2014 its portrait of constant rebuilding, and protest, and resistance \u2014 should not go overlooked, even as it still can\u2019t find a distributor in the United States. \u2014Dan Schindel<\/em><\/p>\nRead our original review.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n
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Pictures of Ghosts<\/em>, directed by Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho<\/h3>\nFilm still of Pictures of Ghosts<\/em> (2023), directed by Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho (image courtesy Cinetic Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAmong current filmmakers, Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho is one of the most adept at portraying the relationships between people, their homes, and their communities. In this hybrid of history and memoir, he explores his hometown of Recife, Brazil through the lives (and afterlives) of its movie palaces. Many are now derelict, some are gone, but together they embody their city in miniature. One theater\u2019s position next to a picturesque bridge, for instance, means it\u2019s been in the backgrounds of countless photos shot on that bridge, creating a timeline of that neighborhood\u2019s evolution. \u2014DS<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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The Other Profile<\/em>, directed by Armel Hostiou<\/h3>\nFilm still of The Other Profile<\/em> (2023), directed by Armel Hostiou (image courtesy True\/False Film Festival)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHow does a namesake shape identity? How does access to social media both exploit and empower individuals in the so-called Global South? When the French filmmaker discovers another \u201cArmel Hostiou\u201d via an active Facebook profile in the People\u2019s Republic of Congo, he sets out to find the impostor in person, leading to a madcap survey of Kinshasa, the largest Francophone city in the world. A Gallic, often droll version of Naomi Klein\u2019s Doppelganger<\/em>, this provocative documentary challenges how we see our doubles in the digital age, especially one fraught with massive economic global inequalities. \u2014Eileen G\u2019Sell<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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There Was, There Was Not<\/em>, directed by Emily Mkrtichian<\/h3>\nStill from There Was, There Was Not <\/em>(2024), directed by Emily Mkrtichian (photo by and courtesy Karen Mirzoyan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nProbing the fraught relationship between feminist solidarity and nationalist zeal, this debut documentary follows four ethnic Armenian women whose lives are riven by the Second Artsakh War. Mixing the fairy tales of her youth with the devastating reality of the region today, the Armenian-American director presents Artsakh as both a sun-swept \u201cparadise\u201d and a bastion of patriarchal control to which her diverse heroines refuse to succumb. A stirring tribute to a lost homeland, There Was\u2026<\/em> calls attention to the scourge of ethnic cleansing in corners of the world long overlooked by American media. \u2014EGS<\/em><\/p>\nRead our original review.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Problemista<\/em>, directed by Julio Torres<\/h3>\nFilm still of Problemista<\/em> (2024), directed by Julio Torres (courtesy A24)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhimsical and irreverent, Torres\u2019s directorial debut takes a fantastical approach to depicting the very real trials of immigration and creative work. To stay in New York, a young Salvadoran has less than a month to secure a visa sponsor, who comes in the flamboyant form of an embittered middle-aged art critic (Tilda Swinton). Narrated by Isabella Rossellini, the film visually scans as a ludic mashup of\u00a0Pan\u2019s Labyrinth<\/em> <\/em>(2006)\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind<\/em> <\/em>(2004) \u2014 but with an undercurrent of class consciousness that feels all too relatable to anyone hustling to get by on a creative\u2019s salary.\u2014EGS<\/em><\/p>\nRead our original review.<\/em><\/p>\n