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Great Debuts
First impressions count. These features launched some of cinema's highest achievers, showing the themes and techniques to which many would return.
Whether on land, at sea or on the road, these debuts show what happens when an instinct for storytelling meets the medium in which it will blossom.
Donnie DarkoDonnie Darko
Drama 2001 113 minsDirector: Richard Kelly
Richard Kelly's astounding debut feature is a mix of stylish eighties veneer and existential horror starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled teen who is haunted by a giant rabbit prophesying the apocalypse.
SutureSuture
Thriller 1994 96 minsDirector: Scott Mcgehee and David Siegel
David Siegel and Scott McGehee's sumptuously shot neo-noir is a moody, monochrome meditation on race and identity politics.
Spanking the MonkeySpanking the Monkey
Comedy 1994 95 minsDirector: David O. Russell
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) made his feature debut in 1994 with this biting black comedy, which caused a stir with its incestuous subplot and portrayal of adolescent restlessness.
Breathless [À bout de souffle]Breathless [À bout de souffle]
Film noir 1960 90 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature, an insouciant and iconoclastic crime film that paved the way for the French New Wave.
The Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth Configuration
Horror 1979 118 minsDirector: William Peter Blatty
From the writer of The Exorcist, one of the ultimate cult film experiences: William Peter Blatty's unclassifiable blend of unhinged psychological thriller and anarchic comedy.
ShadowsShadows
Drama 1959 82 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes' directorial debut follows the relationship between a mixed-race woman and a white man.
Under the SkinUnder the Skin
Melodrama 1997 83 minsDirector: Carine Adler
Carine Adler’s sexy and dark debut, starring Samantha Morton in her first major feature film role.
SixteenSixteen
Drama 2013 79 minsDirector: Rob Brown
A former child soldier in Congo, now living in London, witnesses a crime and is drawn into a violent world he'd hoped to leave behind.
The GoobThe Goob
Drama 2015 84 minsDirector: Guy Myhill
A teen seeks meaning as an East Anglian summer and a violent outsider threaten to overwhelm.
Distant Voices, Still LivesDistant Voices, Still Lives
Biopic 1988 84 minsDirector: Terence Davies
Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory.
The FallsThe Falls
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 195 minsDirector: Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway's epic first feature, constructed as an excerpt from an imagined, filmic directory listing everyone affected by VUE – the Violent Unknown Event
Radio OnRadio On
Road movie 1979 100 minsDirector: Chris Petit
Chris Petit's cult classic is one of the most striking feature debuts in British cinema – a haunting blend of edgy mystery story and existential road movie.
KatzelmacherKatzelmacher
Drama 1969 89 minsDirector: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
A Greek immigrant unleashes jealousy and xenophobia among a group of Munich neighbours in Fassbinder’s shocking adaptation of his own play.
Sanshiro SugataSanshiro Sugata
Crime 1943 79 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s assured debut film about a young man’s spiritual journey through the study and practice of judo.
The Immortal OneThe Immortal One
Drama 1962 101 minsDirector: Alain Robbe-Grillet
The debut feature from famed novelist and screenwriter Alain Robbe-Grillet is a daring examination of fantasy and memory set in Turkey.
Hotel SalvationHotel Salvation
Drama 2016 99 minsDirector: Shubhashish Bhutiani
This gentle, tender and award-winning Indian comedy follows the ordeal of an over-worked modern son forced to accompany his 77-year-old father to the holy city of Varanasi, where he plans to end his days.
CourtCourt
Drama 2014 116 minsDirector: Chaitanya Tamhane
Hailed as a modern classic channelling the spirit of Satyajit Ray, Chaitanya Tamhane's film is an absurdist portrait of injustice in contemporary India.
ChameleonChameleon
Drama 2016 82 minsDirector: Jorge Riquelme Serrano
Two women are terrorised by an unwanted stranger in this impeccably-styled bourgeois nightmare.
Loving MemoryLoving Memory
Drama 1970 52 minsDirector: Tony Scott
An unsettling portrait of love and loss by the director of Top Gun.
Mr. and Mrs. Kabal's TheatreMr. and Mrs. Kabal's Theatre
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1967 77 minsDirector: Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk's (The Beast, Immoral Tales) first feature-length work is an existential marital drama set in a bizarre wasteland populated by exotic flora and fauna.
Nocturna ArtificialiaNocturna Artificialia
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 21 minsDirector: Brothers Quay
The debut film from the Brothers Quay follows a dreamer who's seduced by the mystery of the city at night. He leaves his room and goes into the street, where a tram-car carries him away.
UnrelatedUnrelated
Drama 2008 96 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg
On a Tuscan break a fortysomething woman finds herself drawn to the company of a group of partying teens, including a young Tom Hiddleston (in one of his earliest roles).
In Which We ServeIn Which We Serve
War 1942 114 minsDirector: David Lean and Noël Coward
Noel Coward and David Lean direct this affecting drama of a Royal Navy crew recalling their lives in flashback, as their ship sinks.
A Moving ImageA Moving Image
Drama 2017 74 minsDirector: Shola Amoo
The gentrification of London’s Brixton is examined in this probing and stylistically ambitious debut feature.
Room 237Room 237
Documentary 2012 103 minsDirector: Rodney Ascher
Rodney Ascher's enigmatic essay film weaves together the contrasting theories of five different narrators who believe Stanley Kubrick deliberately buried hidden messages in his 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.
The IncidentThe Incident
Drama 2016 94 minsDirector: Jane Linfoot
Jane Linfoot's clinically constructed study of guilt, betrayal and responsibility concerns a comfortable family whose seemingly perfect lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil.
Gone Too Far!Gone Too Far!
Comedy 2014 88 minsDirector: Destiny Ekaragha
Riotous urban comedy adapted from the hit Royal Court play, about a Peckham teen affronted by the arrival of his long-lost Nigerian sibling.
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