Nikki Bedi has been reporting on community cinema for The Film Programme

1. Best Film of 20th Century

Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali. In Pather Panchali, the first film in The Apu Trilogy, Satyajit Ray created the most indelible black and white images I've ever absorbed from a screen. He tells the story of an impoverished family in rural and pastoral Bengal but gives their lives a kind of poetic realism. This simple circle of life chapter was shot on a shoestring budget using 16mm film, non-professional actors and almost guerilla-like filmmaking techniques. It reflects India's people as philosophical and optimistic. The result is lyrical, moving, universal and, utterly unforgettable.

2. Best Film of 21st Century so far...

Christopher Nolan'sMemento. Memento is a puzzle, a philosophical tragedy and of course, used a brilliant, innovative structure to tell the stories and reveal the film's themes. Not only did Nolan devise a film that challenged us as an audience, he used his cleverness to explore how we experience reality. What seems like a murder mystery ends up being something altogether deeper. He proved you can be clever and thought provoking, imaginative and challenging, and still put bums on seats. He's just done it again with Inception.

3. Earliest Film Memory

Being taken into The Old Cinema in Basingstoke as a child to see Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It was supposed to be a treat to make me feel 'special' as my mother had just died. I'd never been to the cinema and am not sure I understood what exactly it was. I'd also never experienced such a big dark place with so many strangers and felt very small and afraid. When the curtains opened though, and the screen came alive, so did I. Suddenly it didn't matter who was sitting next to me, or what had happened in my real life, I was being transported to another realm. I still feel that magic and anticipation every time a film starts.

4. Scene that changed your life

The stolen beads accusation scene in Pather Panchali. I was 6 years old and watching it with my grandmother in Bombay. I didn't understand the language, couldn't read the subtitles easily, but I still understood exactly what was happening. I realized then that film is a language itself.

5. Best going to the flicks experience

I love a luxury independent cinema experience. The Electric Cinema in Birmingham is a particular favourite. Superb programming, leather seats, no popcorn, a full bar and… cake.

6. Best director working today

Pedro Almodovar. No one portrays women quite like him. His actors are always three-dimensional and his visuals are always arresting, vivacious and memorable. He's clever, funny, observant and always exciting. An Almodovar film is an event.

7. Best actor working today

Philip Seymour Hoffman.

8. Best actress working today

Tilda Swinton.

9. Most exciting new film prospect

Michael Apted's 56 Up. Every seven years we anticipate the next film in this extraordinary documentary series that charts our history and society. Rarely have I seen such poignancy captured and not manufactured.

10. Most interesting new development in cinema

I'm not particularly wowed by technological advances and new techniques in film- making if the story doesn't work in the first place, and if I don't care about a character, which is so often the case with big movies showing off their big ideas….they forget the basic rules of storytelling. Talking animals don't impress me, hairy toed middle-earthers don't move me and I'd rather praise a stunt man than a cleverly generated image.

11. Will watching movies on mobile phones take off?

Yes of course but it won't ever replace a cinema going experience. People will always want that big enveloping sense of cinema and the shared aspect of a theatre atmosphere.

12. Are Hollywood's days numbered?

In an old working studio model sense perhaps, but it can easily move and morph and adapt to grow in a new world of film delivery and uptake. Fortunately, we still seem to need the fantasy that Hollywood is the centre of the world's film industry. That surely buys it a few more days ...