1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die



1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is a film reference book edited by Steven Jay Schneider with original essays on each film contributed by over 70 film critics. It is a part of a series designed and produced by Quintessence Editions, a London-based company, and published in English-language versions by Cassell Illustrated (UK), ABC Books (the publishing division of Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and Barron's (US). The first edition was published in 2003; the most recent edition was published in 2014. Contributors include Adrian Martin, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Richard Peña, David Stratton, and Margaret Pomeranz.

Each title is accompanied by a brief synopsis and critique, some with photographs. Presented chronologically, the 7th edition begins with Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon from 1902; among the 21st century films included in the book are The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Fish Tank, The King's Speech, and the Coen brothers adaptation of True Grit.

The book has been popular in Australia, where it was the seventh best-selling book in the country for a week in April 2004 and was promoted alongside the presentation of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's My Favourite Film television special.

The book has been published in several languages such as English, Dutch, Swedish, Greek, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Portuguese (Brazilian and Portuguese editions), Romanian, Hungarian, French, Spanish, Slovene, Croatian, Turkish, Estonian, and Polish. The localized editions include a few of the country's own films.

Contributors
Jason Solomons, who writes movie columns for The Observer and The Mail on Sunday, contributed the book foreword; as of the "5th anniversary" edition over 70 critics contributed essays (of up to 500 words) on the films, including: Geoff Andrew, Linda Badley, Kathryn Bergeron, Garrett Chaffin-Quiway, Roumiana Deltcheva, Nezih Erdogan, Jean-Michel Frodon, Chris Fujiwara, Tom Gunning, Ernest Hardy, Aniko Imre, Kyung Hyun Kim, Frank Lafond, Adrian Martin, Kim Newman, Devin Orgeron, Marsha Orgeron, Richard Peña, Margaret Pomeranz, Jonathan Rosenbaum, David Stratton, Adisakdi Tantimedh, Michael Tapper, Sam Umland, Matt Venne, Ginette Vincendeau, Andy Willis, and Josephine Woll.

Editions

 * (cover: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in the paperback, a poster montage in the hardcover)
 * (cover: Gravity)
 * (cover: Life of Pi)
 * (cover: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
 * (cover: Black Swan – US / Inception – UK)
 * (cover: Avatar)
 * (cover: The Dark Knight)
 * (cover: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
 * (cover: Return of the Jedi)
 * (cover: The Shining)
 * (cover: Psycho / Pulp Fiction)
 * (cover: Psycho)
 * Source: WorldCat