Barack Obama picks his favorite movies of 2023, which includes The Holdovers

Last Updated on January 12, 2024

When in office, Barack Obama would release his picks for his bracket for NCAA’s March Madness during the college basketball season, as well as cap off the year with a list of his favorite films of the year. Last year’s list consisted of Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King, Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, John Patton Ford’s Emily the Criminal, Celine Sciamma’s Petite Maman, Margaret Brown’s Descendant, Audrey Diwane’s Happening, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once, Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road, Todd Field’s Tar and Kogonada’s After Yang.

This year, Obama posted his list on social media with the caption, “Earlier this year, writers and actors went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and protections. It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better. Here are some films that reflect their hard work over the last year — including some like Rustin, American Symphony, and Leave the World Behind that we were proud to release through @HGMedia. What films did I miss?”

Barack and his wife, Michelle, have spent their time post-presidency as producers with Higher Ground Productions. The studio has produced such features as Michael Keaton’s Worth and Kevin Hart’s Fatherhood. In the post, Obama admits he is biased about his production company’s films, but showcased how proud he is for the movies they’ve put out, saying, “I’m biased since these movies were produced by Higher Ground, but these are in fact three of the best films I saw this year.” He then lists Rustin, Leave the World Behind and American Symphony.

The rest of his list includes, The Holdovers, Blackberry, Oppenheimer, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Monster, Past Lives, Air, Polite Society and A Thousand and One.