Documentarists-TOP 100

1. Michael Moore

Michael Francis Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on April 23, 1954, and was raised in its Davison suburb. He is the son of Helen Veronica (Wall), a secretary, and Francis Richard Moore, who worked on an auto assembly line. He has Irish, as well as English and Scottish, ancestry.

Moore studied ...

2. Robert J. Flaherty

Director | Louisiana Story

Robert J. Flaherty was born on February 16, 1884 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Louisiana Story (1948), Man of Aran (1934) and Elephant Boy (1937). He was married to Frances H. Flaherty. He died on July 23, 1951 in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA.

3. Leni Riefenstahl

Producer | Das blaue Licht - Eine Berglegende aus den Dolomiten

Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With...

4. Albert Lamorisse

Director | Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage

A former photographer, he turned to directing short subjects in the late 40s, soon acquiring an international reputation for the poetic quality of his short and medium-length films involving the fantasy world of children. Both his White Mane (1953) and The Red Balloon (1956) received a grand prize ...

5. Adam Curtis

Director | The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear

Adam Curtis was born on May 26, 1955 in Dartford, Kent, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Power of Nightmares (2004), Pandora's Box (1992) and HyperNormalisation (2016).

6. Ken Burns

Producer | The Central Park Five

Celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, ...

7. Joris Ivens

Director | La Seine a rencontré Paris

Joris Ivens was born on November 18, 1898 in Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands. He was a director and writer, known for La Seine a rencontré Paris (1957), The Mistral (1966) and A Tale of the Wind (1988). He was married to Marceline Loridan Ivens, Helen van Dongen and Germaine Krull. He died...

8. Marcel Ophüls

Director | Hôtel Terminus

Marcel Ophuls (actually Marcel Oppenheimer) is the son of the famous German film maker Max Ophüls. He spent his formative years in Hollywood, briefly served with a U.S. Army theatrical unit in Japan in 1946 and then attended the University of California, Berkely. In 1950, already a naturalized ...

9. Chris Marker

Writer | Twelve Monkeys

Chris Marker was born on July 29, 1921 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a writer and director, known for 12 Monkeys (1995), Sans Soleil (1983) and Third Side of the Coin (1960). He died on July 29, 2012 in Paris, France.

10. Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Director | Human

Yann Arthus-Bertrand was born on March 13, 1946 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for Human (2015), Woman (2019) and Legacy, notre héritage (2021).

11. Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Producer | Le monde du silence

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910, in Saint-André-de-Cubzac (Gironde) in France. He entered the naval academy in 1930, was graduated and became a gunnery officer. Then, while he was training to be a pilot, a serious car accident ended his aviation career. In order to rehabilitate his ...

12. Louis Lumière

Producer | La Mi-Carême, Char et batailles de confettis

Louis Lumière was a French engineer and industrialist who played a key role in the development of photography and cinema. His parents were Antoine Lumière, a photographer and painter, and Jeanne Joséphine Costille Lumière, who were married in 1861 and moved to Besançon, setting up a small ...

13. Alfred Machin

Director | Les héritiers de l'oncle James

Alfred Machin started his film work as camera man for Pathe at the beginning of 20 Century. During 1907 and 1909 he was in Africa, shooting documentary shorts. In 1910 he worked at the Pathe studio in Nizza, in 1911 he was one of the founding directors of the Pathe-filiale in Amsterdam, in 1913 he ...

14. Guy Debord

Writer | In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

Guy Debord was born on December 28, 1931 in Paris, France. He was a writer and director, known for In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (1978), Howlings in Favour of De Sade (1952) and Fuerza nueva: Canción para los obreros de Seat (2019). He was married to Alice Becker-Ho and Michele ...

15. John Grierson

Director | Drifters

John Grierson was born on April 26, 1898 in Kilmadock, Stirlingshire, Scotland, UK. He was a producer and writer, known for Drifters (1929), Child's Play (1954) and Brandy for the Parson (1952). He was married to Margaret Grierson. He died on February 19, 1972 in Bath, Somerset, England, UK.

16. Alberto Cavalcanti

Director | O Canto do Mar

Born in Brazil in 1897, Alberto Cavalcanti began his film career in France in 1920, working as writer, art director and director. He directed the avant-garde documentary Nothing But Time (1926) ("Nothing but Time"), a portrait of the lives of Parisian workers in a single day. He moved to England in...

17. Albert Maysles

Cinematographer | Grey Gardens

Albert Maysles was born on November 26, 1926 in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Grey Gardens (1975), Salesman (1969) and Gimme Shelter (1970). He was married to Gillian Walker. He died on March 5, 2015 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, ...

18. David Maysles

Director | Grey Gardens

David Maysles was born on January 10, 1931 in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Grey Gardens (1975), Gimme Shelter (1970) and Salesman (1969). He died on January 3, 1987 in New York City, New York, USA.

19. Robert Kirk

Director | Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness

Robert Kirk is known for Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness (2000), Destroyer (1988) and Apollo: Missions to the Moon (2019).

Sink the Bismarck The Berlin Airlift Sugihara Thomas Sowell : Common Sense

20. Mikhail Kalatozov

Director | Letyat zhuravli

Mikhail Kalatozov was born on December 28, 1903 in Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and cinematographer, known for The Cranes Are Flying (1957), True Friends (1954) and Zagovor obrechyonnykh (1950). He died on March 27, 1973 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now ...

21. Matthew Heineman

Director | A Private War

Matthew Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated, nine-time Emmy Award-winning, and two-time DGA Award-winning filmmaker. The Sundance Film Festival called Heineman "one of the most talented and exciting documentary filmmakers working today," while Anne Thompson of IndieWire wrote that Heineman is a ...

22. Davis Guggenheim

Producer | Training Day

Davis Guggenheim was born on November 3, 1963 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Training Day (2001), Waiting for Superman (2010) and An Inconvenient Truth (2006). He has been married to Elisabeth Shue since August 1994. They have three children.

23. Errol Morris

Director | The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

His documentaries helped spur a rebirth of non-fiction film in the 80s & garnered wide critical success. But until 2003's "The Fog of War," Morris was shunned by the Academy Awards.

Morris' first two films won much acclaim (Gates of Heaven (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981)). In the second movie, ...

Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

24. Peter Watkins

Director | The War Game

Peter Watkins began his career in advertising as an assistant producer and turned to amateur filmmaking in the late 1950s. In the mid-'60s he was commissioned by BBC-TV to make two feature-length docudramas incorporating a quasi-newsreel style and nonprofessional actors. The second of these, The ...

25. Steve James

Director | Hoop Dreams

Steve James was born in Hampton, Virginia, USA. He has been based in Chicago, Illinois, USA for his entire career. He is known for the documentary films Hoop Dreams (1994), Stevie (2002), The Interrupters (2011), Life Itself (2014) and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016). His documentary series ...

26. Ross McElwee

Director | Sherman's March

Ross McElwee was born on July 21, 1947 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Sherman's March (1985), Bright Leaves (2003) and Photographic Memory (2011). He is married to Hyun Kyung Kim. He was previously married to Marilyn Levine.

27. Joe Berlinger

Producer | Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

Academy Award, eight-time Emmy nominated, and Peabody, DGA, and Sundance winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger has been a pioneering force in nonfiction filmmaking for over three decades. In a recent Bloomberg profile, Berlinger was described as a "true crime hit factory" for Netflix, whose work has "...

28. Charles Ferguson

Producer | Inside Job

Charles Ferguson was born on March 24, 1955 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Inside Job (2010), No End in Sight (2007) and Watergate (2018).

29. Orlando von Einsiedel

Director | Virunga

Orlando von Einsiedel is the Oscar-winning director of short documentary, The White Helmets. His first feature documentary, the Bafta and Academy-Award nominated documentary, Virunga won over 50 international film awards including an Emmy, a Peabody, a Grierson and a duPont-Columbia Award for ...

30. Bert Haanstra

Director | Zoo

Bert Haanstra was born on May 31, 1916 in Holten, Overijssel, Netherlands. He was a director and writer, known for Zoo (1961), Glass (1958) and Spiegel van Holland (1950). He was married to Angenieta Barendiena Wijtmans. He died on October 23, 1997 in Hilversum, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

31. D.A. Pennebaker

Director | Dont Look Back

D.A. Pennebaker was born on July 15, 1925 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Don't Look Back (1967), The War Room (1993) and Unlocking the Cage (2016). He was married to Chris Hegedus, Kate Taylor and Sylvia Bell. He died on August 1, 2019 in Sag Harbor, ...

32. Peter Davis

Producer | Hearts and Minds

Peter Davis was born on January 2, 1937 in Los Angeles, California. His parents were the screenwriters Frank Davis and Tess Slesinger (who was also a short story writer and novelist). Davis is a producer and director, known for Hearts and Minds (1974), The Selling of the Pentagon (1971) and "JACK" ...

Nelson Mandela: Prisoner to President The Seling of the Pentagon

33. Eugene Jarecki

Director | Why We Fight

Eugene Jarecki is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning director of dramatic and documentary subjects who has twice won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, first in 2005 for Why We Fight (2005) and again in 2012 for The House I Live In (2012)

A public intellectual on domestic and ...

34. David Sington

Producer | The Fear of 13

David Sington is known for The Fear of 13 (2015), In the Shadow of the Moon (2007) and Mercury 13 (2018).

35. Louie Psihoyos

Director | Racing Extinction

Louie Psihoyos was born on April 15, 1957 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Racing Extinction (2015), Mission: Joy - Finding Happiness in Troubled Times (2021) and The Cove (2009).

36. Dawn Gifford Engle

Writer | The Dalai Lama: Scientist

Dawn Gifford Engle is a filmmaker, an activist, and Co-Founder of The PeaceJam Foundation. She has been recognized for excellence in filmmaking, winning many awards including 12 Best Director awards. She wrote and directed the award-winning documentary films, Rigoberta Menchu: Daughter of the Maya,...

37. Emile de Antonio

Director | In the King of Prussia

The son of a wealthy physician, Emile de Antonio grew up in the tough coal-mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and it made a deep impression on him. His sympathies were always with working-class people (although he was a Harvard graduate, he was at times a dock worker, a peddler, the captain of ...

38. Les Blank

Cinematographer | Burden of Dreams

Born in 1935 in Tampa, Florida, Les Blank attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where he received a B.A. in English literature and an M.F.A. in theatre. In 1967, after two years in the Ph.D. film program at the University of Southern California, and five years of freelancing in Los Angeles, he...

39. Richard Leacock

Cinematographer | Omnibus

Richard Leacock was born on July 18, 1921 in London, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Omnibus (1952), Canary Island Bananas (1935) and 1 P.M. (1971). He was married to Eleanor Burke and Valérie Lalonde. He died on March 23, 2011 in Paris, France.

40. Dziga Vertov

Director | Chelovek s kino-apparatom

Dziga Vertov was born on January 2, 1896 in Bialystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire [now Podlaskie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Three Songs About Lenin (1934) and The Sixth Part of the World (1926). He was married to Elizaveta Svilova. He ...

41. Eduardo Coutinho

Director | Edifício Master

Eduardo Coutinho was born on May 11, 1933 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. He was a director and writer, known for Edifício Master (2002), Santo Forte (1999) and Babilônia 2000 (1999). He was married to Maria das Dores de Oliveira. He died on February 2, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Jogo de Cena Edifício Master Cabra Marcado Para Morrer

42. Frederick Wiseman

Director | National Gallery

Born in 1930, Wiseman is a Cambridge, Massachusetts resident and member of the Massachusetts Bar Association who turned to filmmaking in 1967, after years as an instructor and/or researcher at Boston University, Brandeis University, and Harvard. In 1970 he founded Zipporah Films, Inc., which ...

43. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg

Director | Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König

Hans-Jürgen Syberberg was born on December 8, 1935 in Nossendorf, Pomerania, Prussia [now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern], Germany. He is a director and producer, known for Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King (1972), Die Nacht (1985) and Scarabea - wieviel Erde braucht der Mensch? (1969).

semi-documental style

44. Roberto Rossellini

Writer | Roma città aperta

The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American ...

semi-documental style

45. Ken Russell

Director | The Devils

Ken Russell tried several professions before choosing to become a film director; he was a still photographer and a dancer and he even served in the Army, but film was his destiny. He began by making several short films which paved the way for his brilliant television films of the 1960s that are ...

46. Werner Herzog

Director | Fitzcarraldo

Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has...

47. Louis Malle

Director | Au revoir les enfants

Louis Malle, the descendant of a French nobleman who made a fortune in beet sugar during the Napoleonic Wars, created films that explored life and its meaning. Malle's family discouraged his early interest in film but, in 1950, allowed him to enter the Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies ...

Le monde du silence Place de la République Calcutta

48. Alain Resnais

Director | Hiroshima mon amour

Alain Resnais was born on June 3, 1922 in Vannes, Morbihan, France. He was a director and editor, known for Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Same Old Song (1997) and My American Uncle (1980). He was married to Sabine Azéma and Florence Malraux. He died on March 1, 2014 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, ...

Les statues meurent aussi Toute la mémoire du monde Nuit et brouillard

49. Agnès Varda

Director | Cléo de 5 à 7

Agnès Varda was born on May 30, 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and Faces Places (2017). She was married to Jacques Demy. She died on March 29, 2019 in Paris, France.

50. Claude Lelouch

Director | Un homme et une femme

He started off by making short films for television on which he was producer,screenwriter and cameraman. This was interrupted by military service in the army but only partly as he was put into the army film unit where he made over 100 films. Demobbed in 1960 he used family money for his first ...

51. Wim Wenders

Director | Der Himmel über Berlin

Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated German filmmaker who was born Ernst Wilhelm Wenders on August 14, 1945 in Düsseldorf, which then was located in the British Occupation Zone of what became the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, known colloquially as West Germany until ...

Buena vista Social Club U2: The Best of 1990-2000 The Soul of a Man Pina The Salt of the Earth

52. Abbas Kiarostami

Writer | Copie conforme

Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career ...

53. Spike Jonze

Producer | Her

Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the ...

54. James Cameron

Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...

55. Shôhei Imamura

Director | Kuroi ame

Shohei Imamura's films dig beneath the surface of Japanese society to reveal a wellspring of sensual, often irrational, energy that lies beneath. Along with his colleagues Nagisa Ôshima and Masahiro Shinoda, Imamura began his serious directorial career as a member of the New Wave movement in Japan....

56. Néstor Almendros

Cinematographer | Days of Heaven

One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers. He was born in Spain but moved to Cuba by age 18 to join his exiled anti-Franco father. In Havana, he founded a cineclub and wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale. He directed six shorts in Cuba ...

57. Michael Glawogger

Writer | Workingman's Death

Michael Glawogger was born on December 3, 1959 in Graz, Austria. He was a writer and director, known for Workingman's Death (2005), Untitled (2017) and Whores' Glory (2011). He died on April 23, 2014 in Liberia.

58. Ron Fricke

Cinematographer | Samsara

Ron Fricke is known for Samsara (2011), Baraka (1992) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).

59. Guy Davidi

Director | Five Broken Cameras

Academy Award Nominated and Emmy Award Winner Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi has been directing, shooting, and editing since the age of sixteen. His documentaries have been dealing with Human-Rights issues especially around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some of them have been touching very ...

see too Guy David

60. Ari Folman

Writer | The Congress

Ari Folman was born on December 17, 1962 in Haifa, Israel. He is a writer and director, known for The Congress (2013), Waltz with Bashir (2008) and Saint Clara (1996).

61. Rithy Panh

Director | L'image manquante

Rithy Panh was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on the 18th april 1964. He is today one of the most acclaimed documentary filmmakers and the most famous Cambodian filmmaker worldwide. After 1975 his family died through the genocidal Khmer Rouge government (1975-1979) while he could escape in 1979 to ...

62. Nicolás Echevarría

Director | Eco de la montaña

Nicolás Echevarría was born on August 18, 1947 in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Eco de la montaña (2014), Cabeza de Vaca (1991) and Teshuinada, semana santa Tarahumara (1979).

63. Patricio Guzmán

Director | Nostalgia de la luz

Patricio Guzmán was born on August 11, 1941 in Santiago, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for Nostalgia for the Light (2010), The Battle of Chile: Part I (1975) and The Southern Cross (1991).

64. Alex Gibney

Producer | Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Alex Gibney was born on October 23, 1953 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) and Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015). He has been married to Anne Gibney since ...

65. Joshua Oppenheimer

Director | The Act of Killing

Joshua Oppenheimer was born on September 23, 1974 in Texas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Act of Killing (2012), The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1998) and The Look of Silence (2014).

66. Michael Apted

Director | Amazing Grace

Michael Apted was born on February 10, 1941 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Amazing Grace (2006), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Rome (2005). He was married to Paige Simpson, Dana Stevens and Jo Apted. He died on January 7, 2021 in Los Angeles,...

67. Leon Gast

Director | When We Were Kings

Leon Gast was born on March 30, 1936 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was a director and producer, known for When We Were Kings (1996), Smash His Camera (2010) and The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013). He was married to Geri Spolan. He died on March 8, 2021 in Woodstock, New York, USA.

68. Mikhail Romm

Director | Russkiy vopros

Mikhail Romm was born in 1901, into a Russian-Jewish family, in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Russia. He served in the Red Army in 1918-21 as an Inspector of the Special Forces for Food Supplies. He was in charge of confiscations of bread and food from the wealthier farmers (kulaks) in Central ...

69. Jean Rouch

Director | Moi, un noir

Jean Rouch was born on May 31, 1917 in Paris, France. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Moi, un noir (1958), Madame L'Eau (1993) and Six in Paris (1965). He was married to Joselyne Lamothe. He died on February 18, 2004 in Birni N'Konni, Niger.

70. Amy Berg

Producer | Deliver Us from Evil

Amy Berg was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is known for Deliver Us from Evil (2006), West of Memphis (2012) and Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015).

71. Barbara Kopple

Producer | Harlan County U.S.A.

Barbara Kopple was born on July 30, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), American Dream (1990) and Shut Up & Sing (2006).

72. Jehane Noujaim

Producer | Control Room

Jehane Noujaim was born on May 17, 1974 in Cairo, Egypt. She is a producer and director, known for Control Room (2004), Startup.com (2001) and The Square (2013).

73. Pamela Yates

Director | Granito

Pamela Yates (Director) was born and raised in the Appalachian coal-mining region of Pennsylvania but left at a young age to live New York City. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, the Director of the Sundance Award winning "When the Mountains Tremble", the Producer of the Emmy Award winning "Loss of ...

74. Susan Morgan Cooper

Producer | I Can't Give You Anything But Love: The Jimmy McHugh Story

The award winning documentary film director and producer, Susan Morgan Cooper, grew up in a tiny village in Wales where her parents produced plays to raise money for charity. Shortly after arriving in America, she landed a small role in a Clint Eastwood film, but found film editing more fascinating...

75. Laura Poitras

Producer | Citizenfour

Laura Poitras was born on February 2, 1964 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Citizenfour (2014), The Oath (2010) and My Country, My Country (2006).

76. Susan Lacy

Producer | American Masters

Susan Lacy is known for American Masters (1985), Jane Fonda in Five Acts (2018) and The Janes (2022). She is married to Halsted Welles. She was previously married to Bill N. Lacy.

77. Jennifer Arnold

Director | Emily in Paris

Jennifer Arnold is an Emmy-nominated director who was raised a drama-geek / skateboard kid in Santa Barbara, California. Her summers were spent living off the grid, without electricity, in the Trinity Alps and Alaskan wilderness with her extended family. She became a world traveler at age sixteen; ...

78. Liz Garbus

Producer | What Happened, Miss Simone?

Liz Garbus was born on April 11, 1970 in the USA. She is a producer and director, known for What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015), The Farm: Angola, USA (1998) and Becoming Cousteau (2021). She is married to Dan Cogan. They have two children.

The best docs producer is a Woman?

79. Connie Field

Producer | Freedom on My Mind

Academy Award nominated and Emmy winning director Connie Field is a pioneering social documentary filmmaker. Before getting involved in film she worked as an organizer in many social and human rights organizations where she established her commitment to progressive social change which she has ...

80. Erwin Wagenhofer

Director | But Beautiful

Erwin Wagenhofer was born in 1961 in Amstetten, Lower Austria, Austria. He is a director and writer, known for But Beautiful (2019), We Feed the World (2005) and Let's Make Money (2008).

He stopped, suddenly

81. Hubert Sauper

Director | Darwin's Nightmare

He studied film directing in Vienna (Univ. of Performing Arts). In 1994 he emigrated to France and wrote a thesis about French movie director Ciryl Collard in Université Der Paris VIII and graduated B.A.(Mag. art). Actually Hubert teaches film classes in Europe and the United Stated while he ...

82. Ulrich Seidl

Producer | Rimini

Ulrich Seidl was born on November 24, 1952 in Vienna, Austria. He is a producer and director, known for Rimini (2022), Paradise: Love (2012) and Goodnight Mommy (2014). He is married to Veronika Franz. They have two children.

83. Andrei Zagdansky

Director | Michail and Daniel

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Andrei Zagdansky was born on March 9, 1956 in Kiev, Ukraine, back then a part of the Soviet Union. He received a MFA with distinction from Kiev State University of Theatrical Arts. His first feature documentary, the seminal Interpretation of Dreams (1990), ...

84. Godfrey Reggio

Director | Koyaanisqatsi

Godfrey Reggio is a pioneer of a film style that creates poetic images of extraordinary emotional impact for audiences worldwide. Reggio is prominent in the film world for his QATSI trilogy, essays of visual images and sound that chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the ...

85. Brett Morgen

Producer | Jane

Brett Morgen was born on October 11, 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Jane (2017), Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) and The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002). He has been married to Debra Eisenstadt since 2001.

86. Thierry Michel

Director | Mobutu, roi du Zaïre

Thierry Michel, the indefatigable globe trotter. Always anxious to find out about the wide world, the Belgian director has already explored, through documentary or fiction, Morocco and its people (Issue de secours 1987)), Brazilian favelas (Gosses de Rio (1990), the culture of Zaire (Grand format: ...

Children of Chance

87. Richard Ladkani

Cinematographer | The Devil's Miner

As director and cinematographer, Richard Ladkani has gained international recognition for numerous award-winning films.

"Sea of Shadows", a National Geographic documentary, executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2019, as well as numerous awards ...

88. John Pilger

Writer | The War You Don't See

John Pilger was born on October 9, 1939 in Bondi, New South Wales, Australia. He was a writer and director, known for The War You Don't See (2010), The World About Us (1967) and Heroes: A John Pilger Report (1981). He was married to Scarth Flett. He died on December 30, 2023 in London, England, UK.

see too Palestine Is Still the Issue (2003) The War on Democracy (2007)

89. Mat Hames

Director | When I Rise

Mat Hames is a director, writer and producer, known for his two Independent Lens documentaries What Was Ours (2017) and When I Rise (2010) and for documentary series Power Trip: the Story of Energy (2020-2024). His films have screened at SXSW, HotDocs, IDFA, AFI, the Santa Barbara Film Festival, LA...

90. Stanley Nelson

Producer | American Experience

Stanley Nelson is among the premier documentary filmmakers working today. His feature-length films combine compelling narratives with rich and deeply researched historical detail, shining new light on both familiar and under-explored aspects of the American past.

In addition to honors for his ...

91. Steven Okazaki

Director | White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Steven Okazaki was born in 1952 in Venice, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007), Days of Waiting (1991) and Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015).

92. Kon Ichikawa

Director | Inugami-ke no ichizoku

Kon Ichikawa has been influenced by artists as diverse as Walt Disney and Jean Renoir, and his films cover a wide spectrum of moods, from the comic to the overwhelmingly ironic and even the perverse. Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and this influence is apparent in his skillful use of ...

93. Claude Lanzmann

Director | Shoah

Claude Lanzmann was born on November 27, 1925 in Bois-Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a director and writer, known for Shoah (1985), The Four Sisters (2018) and Israel, Why (1973). He was married to Dominique Lanzmann-Petithory, Angelika Schrobsdorff and Judith Magre. He died on July 5, ...

94. Rob Stewart

Director | Sharkwater

Rob Stewart is an award-winning biologist, photographer, conservationist and filmmaker. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Stewart began photographing underwater when he was 13. By the age of 18 he became a scuba instructor and then moved on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, ...

Sorrowful, premature death

95. Steven Cantor

Director | Dancer

Steven Cantor is best known as the director of such hit documentaries as Dancer (2017) Chasing Tyson (2015), loudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies (2011) and What Remains (2007). He is also the producer of such films as STEP (2017), Devil's Playground (2002), Reporter (2011) and Unraveled (2012). He ...

96. Daniel Junge

Producer | Being Evel

Daniel Junge is known for Being Evel (2015), Saving Face (2012) and A Lego Brickumentary (2014).

97. Morgan Neville

Producer | Best of Enemies

Morgan Neville was born on October 10, 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Best of Enemies (2015), Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) and The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (2015).

98. Steen Johannessen

Editor | Last Men in Aleppo

Steen Johannessen A Danish editor and co-director of Last Men in Aleppo. Steen has edited numerous Danish and international award-winning documentaries. The latest being IDFA award winner Who We Were, DOC NYC grand jury award winner Motley's Law by Nicole Horayni, Chinese DOC NYC special mention ...

Editor of the best Scandinavian docs.

99. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Producer | The Rescue

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi was born on December 30, 1978 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for The Rescue (2021), Free Solo (2018) and Meru (2015). She has been married to Jimmy Chin since May 26, 2013. They have two children.

100. David Attenborough

Self | Blue Planet II

Born 8 May 1926, the younger brother of actor Lord Richard Attenborough. He never expressed a wish to act and, instead, studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, graduating in 1947, the year he began his two years National Service in the Royal Navy. In 1952, he joined BBC Television at ...

Absolutely Iconic writer and producer