By decade

The index compares each decade's share of single-film picks with its share of the collection. Box sets are excluded from it: taking the Bergman set is a decision about Bergman, not about the 1950s.

By country

Every country with at least 10 films

Country	In collection	Picks	Reached for	Films reached
United States	579	1436	1.48	80%
France	277	308	0.66	69%
Japan	216	165	0.46	62%
United Kingdom	142	269	1.13	70%
Italy	88	174	1.18	76%
Sweden	66	39	0.35	83%
Germany	40	56	0.84	60%
Hong Kong	38	12	0.19	79%
Iran	30	16	0.32	37%
Canada	19	37	1.16	79%
India	18	10	0.33	56%
Czechoslovakia	17	26	0.91	94%
Mexico	16	41	1.53	94%
Soviet Union	16	55	2.05	75%
Spain	15	36	1.43	80%
Denmark	14	22	0.94	100%
Belgium	11	10	0.54	82%
Poland	11	30	1.63	64%

Criterion's listing gives one country per film, so a co-production counts only under whichever country Criterion credits first. Countries with fewer than 10 films in the collection are left out.

By trade

Criterion says what each guest does for a living, and it turns out to predict the one thing you would expect it to least: whether they walk out with a film in another language. Guests who direct and do not act reach for subtitles 18 points more often than guests who act and do not direct. The guests who do both sit between them, which is the part that makes it an ordering rather than a coincidence.

Share of picks in a language other than English, by trade

the shelf 55%

acts, does not direct 29%

acts and directs 38%

directs, does not act 48%

0%20%40%60%80%

single-film picks films reached, box sets opened

Table view

Share of picks in a language other than English, by trade

	single-film picks	95% interval	Picks	films reached, box sets opened
acts, does not direct	29%	26% to 33%	821	46%
acts and directs	38%	32% to 43%	307	57%
directs, does not act	48%	44% to 51%	747	69%
the shelf	55%	·	·	·

Two things worth reading off the second lens. Everyone reaches for subtitles less often than the shelf offers when they choose a single film, and directors overtake the shelf once box sets are opened. The box sets are where the subtitles arrive.

The same share, year by year

acts, does not direct

23%

2022 2026

acts and directs

39%

2022 2026

directs, does not act

34%

2022 2026

Every panel is drawn to the same scale, topping out at 80%. The rule across all three is the shelf, 55%.

Table view

The same share, year by year

Filmed	acts, does not direct	acts and directs	directs, does not act
2022	33% of 36	·	35% of 40
2023	46% of 85	46% of 24	50% of 156
2024	30% of 205	33% of 57	49% of 163
2025	28% of 256	35% of 103	45% of 181
2026	23% of 214	39% of 80	34% of 38

Guests who act are a recent arrival: there were seven visits by directors and none by an actor in 2012, and the two are near parity now. So the pooled comparison above is also a comparison of eras, and this is the control. What survives it is the gap between the two ends: in every one of these years, guests who direct reached for subtitles more often than guests who act. The three-way ordering does not survive. The middle group is the smallest in every column and it sits a whisker under the actors in 2023 and over the directors in 2026, so read it as corroboration and not as a third result. Years need at least 25 single-film picks from both ends of the divide to earn a column, and the last one is a part-year, so its final point is the least settled figure on the chart.

Every trade, counted as many times as it applies

The three groups above are exclusive. This table is not: a guest described as an actor and a director is both, the same way a film is several genres at once. Trades are read off 299 of the guests and 124 carry no description to read.

A trade is read from Criterion's own description of the guest and only on a solo visit, so a pair filmed together carries neither person's job. The three groups in the divide are exclusive; the table above them is not, because a guest described as an actor and a director is both.

By genre

Genres are TMDB's, over the 1681 of 1718 collection films that carry one (98%). A film carries several at once, so these shares sum past 100%.

The canon or the new releases

A spine number is roughly release order, so low numbers are the films Criterion built its name on. Guests land almost exactly in the middle: the mean pick sits at the 49% mark, against the 50% a blindfolded guest would manage.

Over the 1260 films that carry a spine number. The other 458 are non-spine releases and are excluded rather than treated as spine zero.