Stream classic movies for free all weekend on Criterion Channel

Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha in All We Imagine as Light (Image credit: Cannes Film Festival)

Usually for someone’s birthday you have to get them something, but The Criterion Channel is celebrating its sixth birthday by giving movie fans one heck of a present — the ability to stream a number of classic movies on The Criterion Channel at no cost and with no subscription necessary.

The Criterion Channel is the streaming service associated with the popular DVD provider Criterion Collection, which focuses on “important classic and contemporary films.” On April 8, 2019, The Criterion Channel subscription platform was launched, providing a streaming home for many classic movies, some from Hollywood studios, some great indies and others from around the world.

Since a few days ago on April 8, The Criterion Channel has been allowing anyone in the US and Canada (sorry for those outside North America) to enjoy a nightly series of free live streams of movies currently in The Criterion Channel library, absolutely free. The free nightly streams continue into tonight, Friday, April 11, and throughout the weekend, including for most of the afternoons on Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13 (the final day to stream movies for free on The Criterion Channel is Monday, April 14).

There are a lot of great movies that are going to be streaming for free as part of this deal from some of the greatest filmmakers of all time. There’s even a highly acclaimed movie from 2024 that is new to The Criterion Channel’s collection. I’ve laid out the full schedule for this weekend’s offerings at the bottom of this post, but first I want to highlight some of the best offerings (in my opinion).

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Let’s start off with the newest movie to The Criterion Channel, All We Imagine as Light, streaming live on Friday. From Payal Kapadia, the movie focuses on two female roommates in Mumbai, one older and one younger, as they deal with complications of their relationships. That’s a broad view, as I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s been long on my must-see list because of the praise it received last year — a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 2024 Cannes Grand Prize winner (not the Palme d’Or, to be clear) and numerous critics mentions for best non-English movie of the year and for Kapadia’s direction.

Then, on Saturday, you have some early work from some of the most respected filmmakers of the last 40-plus years and a screen legend martial artist. Those are the Coen Brothers’ first movie Blood Simple, which stars Frances McDormand and features a plot of a dive bar owner attempting to have his cheating wife and her lover murdered. Immediately following that is Beau Travail, an acclaimed war drama from French auteur Claire Denis. Then Saturday night wraps up with Jackie Chan’s Police Story, one of his breakout movies made in Hong Kong.

Sunday’s highlights include Paris, Texas, the Wim Wenders classic about a drifter that returns to his family and must reconnect after four years away; this one is a personal favorite of mine. Then there’s a free stream of the late David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Twin Peaks is widely considered Lynch’s master work, and while it’s TV series are how it is best known, this prequel to the stories is a key part and must-see for any fans of the show.

The Criterion Channel may have saved the best for last, as its Monday lineup are all must-see. But if you can’t devote an entire night to The Criterion Channel, I highly recommend Agnes Verdes French New Wave classic Cleo from 5 to 7, about a woman who wonders the city as she worryingly awaits to hear about test results from her doctor, and Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, which tells the tale of a horrible crime from three different perspectives.

Those are my suggestions to watch on The Criterion Channel’s free live streams, but here is the schedule for Friday, April 11, through Monday, April 14:

Friday, April 11