The first in a series of year-long events reflecting on cinema from 2000 - 09. Each month we select a film from each year which stands out as in some way redefining and shaping the second century of cinema. Presented with Film Department at Bristol University and Sight & Sound.

We are delighted to welcome Nick James, Editor of esteemed film magazine Sight and Sound to the launch event for Decalogue, our reflection on the first decade of the second century of cinema. Sight and Sound regularly ask national and international film critics to identify emerging cinematic trends from around the world - the February edition was a comprehensive look at 2000-09. Nick will be discussing these findings and reveal what can be concluded about the past, present and future of cinema. He will also be choosing a film from 2000 which he feels exemplifies all that is innovative, radical and visionary about the new decade.

We are pleased to announce that this film will be Dancer in the Dark. In Lars von Trier's 2000 Palme d'Or winner Icelandic pop star Bjork shines as Selma, a Czech immigrant living in 1960's America with her 12 year old son. She keeps her rapidly deteriorating eyesight a secret so she can work day and night at her dull factory job to pay for an operation that will cure her son of the same disease. Selma fantasises her life is a musical, and the song and dance numbers in which she escapes are joyful, courageous songs that transform everyday noises (a factory machine, a run-off record) into catchy tunes. When her neighbour discovers her hidden savings, however, Selma is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice for her son. Passionate, provocative, and predictably audacious, this is a heartbreaking musical tragedy of a mother's extraordinary love.

Join the debate: you can message Watershed's Head of Programme Mark Cosgrove directly using Twitter @msc45 or @wshed, using #decalogue.

More from Mark Cosgrove, Watershed's Head of Programme:

The first decade of the first century of cinema (1900-09) was a heady time of experimentation and innovation for the new medium of film. A Trip to The Moon (1902), The True Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) and The Great Train Robbery (1903) are just some of the films that helped shaped the future language of cinema.

As we finish the first decade of the second century of cinema (2000-09) can we identify those films which map out future directions of the seventh art? And what do they tell us about its past and present health?

Over the coming year we will be reflecting on and debating films from the first decade of the second century of cinema. For example, in 2009 you would have to include Avatar 3D for the way in which it develops the technology of viewing and experiencing cinema, but does it say anything new?

Alternatively from 2009 the low budget UK film Helen, made as part of a community project, was hailed as a brave new wave in British filmmaking. Should Helen be seen as more culturally significant than Avatar? We aim to present these and many other cultural debates as we work our way through the decade.

We start the season off with Sight and Sound Editor Nick James reflecting on the decade in general whilst specifically focusing on the year 2000. In that year we might decide that the narrative trickery of Memento and Magnolia speaks volumes about what American cinema has been interested in during this period; but maybe Bruno Dumont's L'Humanitie from France set just as strong a template.

It was also in 2000 when the international poster boy of 90s art cinema - Wong Kar Wai - delivered the sumptuous In The Mood For Love. It's a much-admired film, but did it really take us anywhere new and exciting? Which film will Nick choose and what will his argument be? All will be revealed on Sun 28 Feb.