1957 was the earliest one that comes to mind, I can think of 5 timeless classics that came that year. Kubrick's "Paths of Glory", Bergman's "Seventh Seal", "Pyaasa" by Guru Dutt, Sidney Lumet's "12 Angry Men" and Akira Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" added so much rich content to the then existing standards of Cinema.
Another Year that almost beats 1957 is 1994; films like "Pulp Fiction", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Forrest Gump", "Leon: the professional" and "The Lion King" came together, along with Burton's "Ed Wood" and Robert Redford's "Quiz Show".
I have already talked about 2007 many a times for that year gave us Classics like "American Gangster", "No Country For Old Men", "There Will Be Blood" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford" with other great films like Sean Penn's "Into the Wild", Ben Affleck's directorial debut "Gone Baby Gone" and Fincher's "Zodiac".
But one year that has actually given Cinema a lot more than others is 1999, for it was the year we have received great films from every genre breaking some preconceived notions about certain genres.
Like college romances became interesting after "10 things I hate about you" Sex Comedies became a major genre after "American Pie" [though it couldn't really flourish, but still I never knew whats a MILF before that :P] "The Matrix" is another milestone in the Sci-Fi Genre, we had an important Anti hero in Tyler Durden with "Fight Club" Among other significant films that came in 1999 were PT Anderson's "Magnolia", Oscar Winner "American Beauty" Frank Darabont's "Green Mile" M Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller/horror "The Sixth Sense", Coming of Age film "October Sky" and one of my favorites Spike Jonze "Being John Malkovich". 1999 was also the year when Brad Bird made his first film and Kubrick made his last; the films I am talking about were "The Iron Giant" and "Eyes Wide Shut", both a classic piece of work.
1999 was indeed one of the most significant years in Cinema.
Do let me know if I missed any other significant year or forgot to mention some great film. Share your thoughts.
-Amritt Rukhaiyaar
[image source: https://tvlists.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/1999.jpg]