Weekly movie themes
Every Friday the I Like Movies Discover tab gets a new themed collection: 21 hand-picked films around one idea, one featured film in front. The rules behind the curation are strict: no film repeats across the year, at most two films per director per theme, and every theme includes at least one film not in English. This archive republishes each collection once its week has run, newest first.
October 2026
- Modern black-and-white films: 21 picks
Week of October 16, 2026
21 modern films, most of them shot in black and white long after color took over, from The Artist, Ida and Cold War to Nebraska, The Lighthouse and Mank, curated as a weekly collection.
- Film noir: 21 essential films
Week of October 9, 2026
21 essential film noir and neo-noir titles, from The Third Man, Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon to Le Samouraï, Mulholland Drive and Brick, curated as a weekly collection.
- Horror movie marathon: 21 films for October
Week of October 2, 2026
21 horror films for an October marathon, from Alien, The Fly and Jaws to The Host, The Babadook and The Substance, curated as a weekly collection for Hooptober.
September 2026
- Western movies: 21 essential films
Week of September 25, 2026
21 essential westerns, from John Ford's Stagecoach and The Searchers to Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Unforgiven, No Country for Old Men and Hell or High Water, curated as a weekly collection.
- Latin American cinema: 21 essential films
Week of September 18, 2026
21 essential Latin American films from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Colombia, from Los Olvidados and City of God to Pan's Labyrinth, Wild Tales and Silent Light.
- TIFF audience favorites: 21 films
Week of September 11, 2026
21 films tied to the Toronto International Film Festival's audience award, from Chariots of Fire and The Princess Bride to 12 Years a Slave and Nomadland, plus three 2023 favorites.
- Movie musicals: 21 essential films
Week of September 4, 2026
21 essential movie musicals, from Singin' in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz and West Side Story to Cabaret, Moulin Rouge!, Once and La La Land, curated as a weekly collection.
August 2026
- Mafia cinema: 21 essential films
Week of August 28, 2026
21 essential mafia and gangster films, from The Godfather and Once Upon a Time in America to Election, New World and Gomorrah, curated as a weekly collection.
- 21 essential films by female directors
Week of August 21, 2026
21 essential films by female directors, from The Piano and Jeanne Dielman to Beau Travail, Lost in Translation and Toni Erdmann, curated as a weekly collection.
- True crime, eighties style: 21 films
Week of August 14, 2026
21 true-crime films told through 1980s film grammar, from Manhunter and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer to Mississippi Burning, Christiane F. and Pixote.
- Japanese cinema: 21 films from the masters
Week of August 7, 2026
21 essential Japanese films, from Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story to Harakiri, Perfect Blue and Drive My Car, curated as a weekly collection.
July 2026
- The greatest documentaries: 21 essential films
Week of July 31, 2026
The 21 essential documentaries, from Hoop Dreams and Shoah to The Act of Killing, Grey Gardens, Man with a Movie Camera and Stop Making Sense.
- Heat on film: 21 movies where the temperature breaks people
Week of July 24, 2026
21 films where heat drives people over the edge, from Do the Right Thing and Dog Day Afternoon to Burning, La piscine and Wake in Fright.
- Nature as protagonist: 21 films about the wild
Week of July 17, 2026
21 films where the natural world is the main character, from The Tree of Life and Fitzcarraldo to Princess Mononoke, Dersu Uzala and Honeyland.
- French New Wave and beyond: 21 films from sixties France
Week of July 10, 2026
21 essential films of 1960s French cinema, from Breathless and Cléo from 5 to 7 to Playtime, Belle de Jour and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
- Time travel movies: 21 essential films
Week of July 3, 2026
The 21 essential time travel films, from Back to the Future, Primer and Groundhog Day to Your Name, Hi, Mom and Tenet, curated as a weekly collection.
June 2026
- Directors filming their own lives: 21 autobiographical films
Week of June 26, 2026
21 autobiographical films where directors filmed their own childhoods and wounds, from Roma and The 400 Blows to Amarcord, Persepolis and Aftersun.
- Behind the Iron Curtain: 21 films that defied the censors
Week of June 19, 2026
21 films from Cold War Eastern Europe, from Closely Watched Trains and Daisies to Come and See, Andrei Rublev and Sátántangó, curated as a weekly collection.
- Sports movies: 21 films beyond the final score
Week of June 12, 2026
21 great sports films timed to the World Cup, from Bend It Like Beckham and Offside to Raging Bull, Senna, I, Tonya and Lagaan.
- Queer classics: 21 essential LGBTQ films
Week of June 5, 2026
21 essential LGBTQ films, from Cocteau's Orpheus and Paris Is Burning to Moonlight, Carol, Happy Together and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
May 2026
- The long take: 21 films built on unbroken shots
Week of May 29, 2026
21 films famous for their long takes, from Rope and Russian Ark to Children of Men, Goodfellas, Oldboy and Victoria, curated as a weekly collection.
- African cinema: 21 essential films
Week of May 22, 2026
21 essential films of African cinema, from Sembène's Black Girl and Touki Bouki to Timbuktu, Atlantics and The Battle of Algiers.
- Y2K romcoms: 21 films from the genre's last golden age
Week of May 15, 2026
21 romantic comedies from the flip-phone era, from Bridget Jones's Diary and Notting Hill to Amélie, Hitch and The Proposal, curated as a weekly collection.
- Classic literature on screen: 21 great adaptations
Week of May 8, 2026
21 film adaptations of the literary canon, from Pride & Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility to Barry Lyndon, The Trial and Frankenstein.
- Workers' cinema: 21 films about labor and dignity
Week of May 1, 2026
21 films about labor, strikes and the dignity of work, from Norma Rae and Modern Times to Office Space, I, Daniel Blake and Two Days, One Night.
April 2026
- Italian Neorealism: 21 essential films
Week of April 24, 2026
The 21 essential Italian neorealist films, from Bicycle Thieves and Rome, Open City to Umberto D., La Strada and Hands Over the City.