The Best 25 Films of 2024

A Video Countdown by film critic David Ehrlich.

David Ehrlich is the Reviews Editor and Head Film Critic at IndieWire. He is responsible for overseeing — and writing many of — the site’s movie reviews. Somewhere along the line he learned how to edit. Every year since 2014, David has created an amazing video countdown of that year’s 25 best films, obviously representing his opinion.

I look forward to it every year as David creates a visual feast as well as putting a spotlight on some notable movies.

Here is David’s video countdown for 2024.

A statement from David Erhlich.

To help justify the embarrassingly absurd amount of time it takes me to make them, I’ve also used these videos as opportunities to fundraise for a series of invaluable non-profits.

For each of the last few years, I’ve partnered with the director of a film on my list to decide where the funds should go:

For the 2020 video, “Time” director Garrett Bradley selected the Rich Family Ministries, and thanks to the generosity of people on the internet, we exceeded our $10,000 goal and raised $13,700.

For the 2021 video, THE POWER OF THE DOG director Jane Campion selected a trio of vital Texas abortion funds, and we ultimately raised $22,660 against our $20,000 goal.

For the 2022 video/2023 fundraiser, AFTERSUN director Charlotte Well selected a New York City non-profit called Food with Fam that provides meals to food-insecure families in Brooklyn, and we raised $25,945 against our $25,000 goal.

For the 2023 video, I made the unilateral decision to donate to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a top-rated charity whose recent efforts have been dedicated towards providing urgent relief to displaced children and families in Gaza. We raised more than $57,000 against our $30,000 goal.

This year, I would again like to do what I can to support the people of Palestine. Eager to ensure that this fundraiser is as effective as possible at a time when aide isn’t reliably reaching the people who need it most, I asked “No Other Land” co-director and subject Basel Adra for advice, and he pointed me towards The Palestine Red Crescent Society, which provides emergency medicine and ambulance services in the Palestinian territories. It goes without saying that the PRCS is more vital and urgent right now than it has ever been, and you can follow the remarkable work they are doing on the ground in Gaza in harrowing detail via their Twitter account.

All donated funds will go to The Palestine Red Crescent Society, minus GoFundMe and Vimeo fees.

This additional incentive continues to be utterly meaningless by comparison, but — as usual — I’ll commit to making another one of these videos for the movies of 2025 if we hit our goal of $50,000.

These are hard times, and I understand that soliciting donations — even to the most valuable of causes — is a lot to ask. But this silly video is somehow the best leverage I have to help marshal urgently needed aid towards one of the worst humanitarian crises of my lifetime, so I sincerely hope those of you who can afford to give will join me in doing so. No amount is too small, and no amount is too big. Actually, I’m sure some amount is too big for the GoFundMe platform to handle, but, uh, I’d be happy to find that out the hard way. Sorry I re-used so much of the copy from last year’s fundraiser, I’m so tired you guys. But still a big “no thanks” to GoFundMe’s offer to “enhance your story with AI.”

Guess what?

I made a contribution. How about you? It’s a worthy cause, plus, we can look forward to another video countdown this year!

You may see all of David’s videos from 2014 to present by going to his Vimeo site here.