Which country has made the best non-english speaking films?

[bobbyb5]

Or more accurately, which country has made the most non-English-speaking movies that you liked?
Heres mine.

Italy
Germany
Sweden
Spain
Japan
France
Mexico

[murmur]

Here are mine with favorite director(s) from each listed:

China (incl. Hong Kong and Taiwan) [Kar-wai, Ming-liang]
France [Godard, Resnais, Renoir, Kieslowski]
Japan[Suzuki, Miyazaki]
Russia [Tarkovsky]
Thailand [Weerasethakul]
Italy [Sorrentino]
Germany [Bergman]
South Korea [Sang-soo]

Kind of an interesting question. Obviously, country of origin influences a director's perspective and oeuvre, but I kind of question how much some "countries" produced certain films and how much it was the directors. For example, Weerasethakul is a Thai filmmaker, but he was educated in the US, and his films are produced by westerners. I don't think Thailand has a super robust filmmaking tradition that he works within, rather employing an idiosyncratic style cultivated in the west to tell tales based in and on Thailand. As an aside, I remember a particularly heated Criterion forums argument about how much Weerasethakul's films exploit Thailand for voyeuristic westerners' praise and accolades, as apparently he comes from one of the highest echelons of Thai society.

On the other hand, there are some countries with very robust film traditions that are often worked within or worked against by directors from those counties. Sorrentino, for example, could make films where everyone wore flannel shirts and cowboy hats, and his particular style would show through as hopelessly Italian (or at least continental) and very indebted to Fellini. I think it's also very fair to say the Soviet Union in many ways produced Tarkovsky's films, as they would have been very different without the political and social context of the country and the director's need to evade censorship.

[stangetzaway]

Comfortably France in my view. Not just for the quality of the films but with the French New Wave etc it's impact on the art of cinema is immeasurable. Japan, Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden have also veey impressive film histories.

[bobbyb5]