Steven Spielberg's sci-fi classic should not be missed on the big screen, especially “to hear the first five notes the earthlings use to try and communicate with the aliens,” say Nan Shepherd, Hot Docs Cinema Front of House

Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who, along with several other stunned bystanders, experiences a close encounter of the first kind: witnessing UFOs soaring through the sky. After this life-changing event, Roy is haunted by the inexplicable vision of a strange, mountain-like formation. He becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences happen around the world. Government agents have close encounters of the second kind: they discover physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost World War II fighter plane and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to reappear in unusual places. Roy continues chasing his vision to a remote area, where he and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to the location where they have a close encounter of the third kind: contact with extraterrestrial life.

This is Nan's Staff Pick: Nan is an almost-retired stage manager and dedicated guerrilla gardener here in Toronto, her hometown.