THE IRA OF IRAS — A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
For the 50th anniversary in 2025, we will vote on the IRA of IRAs — the best film among the 52 Best Picture winners during the first half century of the IRA Awards.
Only films named Best Picture are eligible.
Members will rank all 52 films from their top pick (receiving 52 points) down to their bottom pick (receiving 1 point). Ballots are due one week before the 50th IRA Awards in early 2025.
The results will be tabulated. Any ties will be broken blindly in advance — movies that are tied will be listed alphabetically and voters asked to choose between them without knowledge of whether the tie they are breaking is at #1 or #17 or #48. [For example, “Please choose between American Graffiti and Monty Python And The Holy Grail.”)
The firm of Robinson, Robinson, Marcks & Giltz will be sworn to secrecy and the final list will be revealed on the big night, ensuring the evening lasts longer than ever. We could do it after the negative awards if so desired.
On the off chance that 2024 produces a film so undeniably brilliant that everyone stands in awe, there will be a vote among the members present asking if they want to crown that year’s winner of Best Picture the IRA of IRAs instead. If this occurs, the result will be unofficial until the entire group has an opportunity to weigh in.
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Lipstick and The Marquise Of O (tie) (1976)
Annie Hall (1977)
Days Of Heaven (1978)
Fedora (1979)
The Big Red One (1980)
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Victor/Victoria (1982)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1983)
L’Argent and Once Upon A Time In America (tie) (1984)
Prizzi’s Honor (1985)
Eyes On The Prize (1986)
Housekeeping (1987)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Story Of Women (1989)
GoodFellas (1990)
The Man In The Moon (1991)
Raise The Red Lantern (1992)
Six Degrees Of Separation (1993)
Red (1994)
Exotica (1995)
La Ceremonie (1996)
Crash (the David Cronenberg film) and Grosse Pointe Blank (tie) (1997)
Gods And Monsters (1998)
Fight Club (1999)
L’ Humanite (2000)
The Werckmeister Harmonies (2001)
Far From Heaven and The Son’s Room (tie) (2002)
Decasia (2003)
Kinsey (2004)
Mysterious Skin (2005)
L’Enfant (2006)
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The Edge Of Heaven (2008)
Hunger (2009)
A Prophet/Un Prophete (2010)
The Tree Of Life (2011)
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (2012)
Laurence Anyways (2013)
Nightcrawler (2014)
Tangerine (2015)
Moonlight (2016)
BPM (2017)
Capernaum (2018)
End Of The Century (2019)
