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I have listed the ten films that immediately came to mind as having left a deep impact on my own growing up with films, knowing full well this leaves out enough to make me feel ungrateful. These films cover the landmarks of our travels in the continent of cinema in the Calcutta of the 1980s-90s. They range from the celebration of the everyday Indian reality in Ray and the encounter with history in Ghatak to the lasting spirit of Soviet montage, the discursive flight to poetry in the Nouvelle Vague, the explosive mix of disparate traditions in Japan, the commitment to the unconscious in Buñuel and the revival of faith in the cinema in Kiarostami. The list should be seen as signposts on an enchanted map rather than a balanced account of achievements in film.