"Another black and white, this one from Belgium, 1992. I think I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival with Quentin Tarantino. It’s a hilariously dark, fake documentary about a serial killer and his concerned friends and family. It’s not for everybody, but it genuinely shocked me while I laughed my ass off. Kudos to directors Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, and Benoît Poelvoorde."

"Frenzal Rhomb are a big, loud, fast mess. I remember the first time I saw them – they had a friend dress up as Ronald McDonald come out on stage and then they pretended to kick the sh*t out of him. I thought the metaphor was a pretty funny one. They don’t take themselves too seriously, but they get their point across"

"High-tech and totally crude. The vintage computer is dope. And the yellow completes the alchemy. The back cover fascinated me when I was 12. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing behind that industrial console. When I saw the pocket-calculator video my life changed. I was already into Devo, but this went to a whole other level."

"I was thrilled by this short film when I first saw it at the age of seven in a public school gymnasium. I immediately went home and tried to carve my own little “paddle to the sea” (I quickly gave up—carving wood is hard!). The film still holds the same beauty and sense of wonder for me today. A perfect thing."

"One of my favorite love stories. A deaf-and-dumb garbage man/surfer and his deaf girlfriend who is in complete admiration of him. I remember thinking of them when I saw a group of surfers on a beach at 5 a.m. in Japan. They were waiting for waves that never came... This is the moment I fell in love with Japan."

"This was one of my favorite films when I was in high school. It’s funny and has a great soundtrack. Sal reminded me of my grandfather in his Canarsie store. The film helped humanize the perspective from both sides of the counter. It was the first film I saw that shed light on the African-American experience in a changing New York City."

"I had never heard of this film—I only saw it recently. It’s truly brilliant. An old couple from a small town in Japan decide to visit their children in Tokyo, who disappointingly have little time to spend with them. It’s a film about the misunderstanding between generations and the end of one’s life. It’s romantic, realistic, and very poignant."

"A completely different kind of samurai film. Actually, it’s a French gangster movie. It’s clear that director Jean-Pierre Melville digs old American gangster movies and filters that affection into creating his own unique genre. This is my favorite of his films. I first saw this baby when it was rereleased in theaters a few years ago, and was completely entranced."

"It’s a child’s view of losing a parent. The mother passes away and she comes back as an angel. I think I just saw it in a movie theater. Somebody told me about it and I went to go see it in Pasadena. I went to a matinee. Ponette spoke to me because I lost my mom when I was little."