Filmed 2026-04-06
Boots Riley
The writer and director
Criterion's own upload · on criterion.com
The writer and director reminisces about seeing Black Girl in the cinema with his mom as a child, shares how True Stories and Election influenced his approach to filmmaking, and talks about the emotional truth behind the visual artifice of Pedro Almodóvar’s work.
What they took
12 cases, in the order Criterion lists them. Four are box sets, which is why 12 choices reach 32 films.
Least-picked choice here: Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène, taken by 2 other visits.
Table view
| Chose | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène box set, 3 films | · | · |
| 2 |  Black Girl | Ousmane Sembène | 1966 |
| 3 |  Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films box set, 4 films | · | · |
| 4 |  True Stories | David Byrne | 1986 |
| 5 |  Election | Alexander Payne | 1999 |
| 6 |  The Hero | Satyajit Ray | 1966 |
| 7 |  The Princess Bride | Rob Reiner | 1987 |
| 8 |  The Qatsi Trilogy box set, 3 films | · | · |
| 9 |  All About My Mother | Pedro Almodóvar | 1999 |
| 10 |  Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown | Pedro Almodóvar | 1988 |
| 11 |  Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters | Paul Schrader | 1985 |
| 12 |  Essential Fellini box set, 14 films | · | · |
United States accounts for four of their eight single films. The four box sets are what carry the reach to 32 films.
Closest taste
Jaccard overlap against every other visit, counted on what came off the shelf rather than on films, so a shared box set counts once rather than as the films inside it.
403 visits compared · 31 filmed-together pairs excluded
Their decades
Their eight single films with a release year on record, against where every guest's single-film picks land. Box sets are left out of both sides, so the two bars measure the same thing.