90 Best Directors and Why
by christian94 | created - 11 Jul 2011 | updated - 4 months ago | PublicTop 90 of All Time !!
Includes (at the end)
Top 7 animation directors (3 also do fine fiction) see 74-80
Top 6 documentary directors (4 also do fine fiction) see 81-86
Top 1 short film director (1 also does fine fiction) see 87
Runner Ups
Kar-Wai Wong (Poetic flare and visuals; see: 2046)
The Wachowskis (Surreal, smart and fun; see: The Matrix)
Hsiao-Hsien Hou (Storytelling cinematography; see: Good Men, Good Women)
Edward Yang (Innocence and light beauty; see: Yi Yi: A One and a Two...)
Satyajit Ray (Tension and morals; see: The Chess Players, The Music Room)
Wash Westmoreland & Richard Glatzer RIP 2015 (Vivacity of life; see Still Alice)
1. Denis Villeneuve
Director | Dune
Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), ...
WHY: Tension and truth
Must See:
Prisoners
Polytechnique
Blade Runner 2049
Sicario
Incendies
Arrival
Enemy
Dune (Part One)
Dune (Part Two)
2. Asghar Farhadi
Writer | Forooshande
Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of...
WHY: Interpersonal conflicts
Must See:
A Separation
A Hero
The Past
The Salesman
Everybody Knows
Fireworks Wednesday
About Elly
Beautiful Boy
3. Masaki Kobayashi
Director | Seppuku
Masaki Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916 in Hokkaido, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Harakiri (1962), Samurai Rebellion (1967) and The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961). He died on October 4, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan.
WHY: The Human Condition
R.I.P. 1996
Must See
The Human Condition Part I
The Human Condition Part 2
The Human Condition Part 3
Harakiri
Karami-ai
Kabe atsuki heya
Kaseki
Anata kaimasu
Samurai Rebellion
4. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director | Biutiful
Alejandro González Iñárritu (ih-nyar-ee-too), born August 15th, 1963, is a Mexican film director.
González Iñárritu is the first Mexican director to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and by the Directors Guild of America for Best Director. He is also the first Mexican-born ...
Visceral vision
Must See:
21 grams
Babel
Biutiful
Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Amores perros
The Revenant
5. Sam Mendes
Producer | 1917
Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...
Tone, pacing and dramatic buildup. I also saw his 1999 Broadway play "The Blue Room", starring Nicole Kidman.
Must See:
American Beauty
Revolutionary Road
Road to Perdition
Away We Go
1917
6. Morten Tyldum
Director | The Imitation Game
Morten Tyldum was born on May 19, 1967 in Bergen, Norway. He is a director and producer, known for The Imitation Game (2014), Headhunters (2011) and Passengers (2016).
Narrative arc
Must see:
The Imitation Game
Headhunters
Buddy
Passengers
7. Quentin Tarantino
Writer | Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of...
Action and humour.
Must See:
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Django Unchained
Death Proof
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Inglourious Basterds
Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
8. Robert Zemeckis
Writer | Back to the Future
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...
Suspension of belief.
Must See:
Contact
Castaway
Forest Gump
Flight
Walk
Allied
Back to the Future
9. Sion Sono
Director | Ai no mukidashi
Shion Sono is a Japanese director, writer and poet. Born in Aichi Perfecture in 1961 he started his career working as a poet before taking his first steps in film directing. As a student he shot a series of short films in Super 8 and managed to make his first feature films in the late 80s and early...
Daringness and depth
Must See:
Cold Fish
Noriko's Dinner Table
Strange Circus
Hazard
Guilty of Romance
Tag
Antiporno
10. 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 ...
Action and emotion.
Must See:
Terminator 2
Titanic
Avatar
Avatar 2
11. Richard Linklater
Director | Waking Life
Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...
Dreaming and living
Must See:
Waking Life
Boyhood
Before Sunrise
Before Sunset
Before Midnight
Bernie
School of Rock
Everybody Wants Some!!
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
12. Woody Allen
Writer | Annie Hall
Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen ...
Humanness and quirkiness.
Must See:
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Match Point
Manhattan
Annie Hall
Hannah and her Sisters
Crimes and Misdemeanors
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Blue Jasmine
13. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
Vision and precision.
R.I.P 1999
Must See:
2001, A Space Odyssey
Eyes Wide Shut
Clockwork Orange
The Shining
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
14. Jacques Rivette
Director | La Belle Noiseuse
Although François Truffaut has written that the New Wave began "thanks to Rivette," the films of this masterful French director are not well known. Rivette, like his "Cahiers du Cinéma" colleagues Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer, did graduate to filmmaking but, like Rohmer...
Complicated Relationships.
R.I.P. 2016
Must See:
Va savoir (2001)
La belle noiseuse (1991)
Paris nous appartient (1961)
Le coup du Berger (1956) - SHORT
Ne touchez pas la hache (2007) - aka The Duchess of Langeais
15. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Director | Tokyo Sonata
Kiyoshi Kurosawa was born on July 19, 1955 in Kobe, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Tokyo Sonata (2008), Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997).
Suspense and slowness.
Must See:
Cure
Seance
Tokyo Sonata
Bright Future
Pulse
Penance
16. Andrey Zvyagintsev
Director | Nelyubov
Director and screenwriter Andrey Zvyagintsev is the winner of the Venice Film Festival (2003) and the Cannes Film Festival (2011, 2014, 2017). Two-time the Academy Awards and the BAFTA Awards nominee. Winner or the Golden Globe Awards (2015) for his film "Leviathan". In 2018, his latest work "...
Humour, humanity, culture and darkness
Must see:
Elena
Leviathan
Loveless
The Return
The Banishment
17. Lars von Trier
Writer | Dancer in the Dark
Probably the most ambitious and visually distinctive filmmaker to emerge from Denmark since Carl Theodor Dreyer over 60 years earlier, Lars von Trier studied film at the Danish Film School and attracted international attention with his very first feature, The Element of Crime (1984). A highly ...
Breaking boundaries and reinventing cinema.
Must See:
The Idiots (1998)
Dogville (2003)
Melancholia (2011)
Nymphomaniac Vol I & II (2013)
18. 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 ...
Dialogue and directness.
R.I.P. 1995
Must See
My Dinner with Andre
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Le feu follet
Le souffle au coeur
19. Lee Chang-dong
Writer | Beoning
Lee Chang-Dong was born in 1954 in Daegu, which some consider the most right-wing city in South Korea. Lee is a former high-school teacher and an acclaimed novelist. He turned to cinema when he was over 40 years old. His debut film "Green Fish" (1997) brought immediate success and critical acclaim....
Sensibility and life affirmation
Must See:
Burning
Poetry
Peppermint Candy
Secret Sunshine
20. Park Chan-wook
Director | Oldeuboi
Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.
Darkness and light.
Must See:
Oldboy
Joint Security Area
The Handmaiden
Stoker
Lady Vengeance
21. David Fincher
Director | Se7en
David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials...
Heightened experience
Must See:
Se7en
Fight Club
The Game
The Social Network
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Gone Girl
22. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Director | Doraibu mai kâ
Ryusuke Hamaguchi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Hamaguchi, a graduate of Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Arts, attracted attention in his country with the movie Passion (2008), which he shot for his graduation.
Hamaguchi first gained international recognition with the film ...
Multi-level conversations
Must See:
Drive my Car (2021)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
Happy Hour (2015)
Asako I & II (2018)
23. Gaspar Noé
Director | Enter the Void
Gaspar Noé is an Argentinian filmmaker and screenwriter who lives in France. He is the son of Luis Felipe Noé, an Argentinian artist. He directed I Stand Alone, Irréversible, Enter the Void, Love, Climax, Carne, Lux Æterna, Sodomites and Vortex. His films are known for having a sensory overload ...
Normalcy, humanity and its failings
Must see:
Seul au monde
Enter the Void
Irreversible
Climax
Love
24. Kim Ki-duk
Writer | Bin-jip
He studied fine arts in Paris in 1990-1992. In 1993 he won the award for Best Screenplay from the Educational Institute of Screenwriting with "A Painter and A Criminal Condemned to Death". After two more screenplay awards, he made his directorial debut with Crocodile (1996) ("Crocodile"). Then he ...
Unspoken long strong scenes
Must See:
Moebius
The Isle
Samaritain Girl
Pieta
25. Martin Scorsese
Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...
Suspense, psychology and drama.
Must See:
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Aviator
Raging Bull
26. Jean-Marc Vallée
Director | C.R.A.Z.Y.
Jean-Marc Vallée was a Canadian filmmaker, editor and screenwriter from Montreal. He directed Black List, C.R.A.Z.Y., The Young Victoria, Wild, Dallas Buyers Club, Los Locos, Loser Love and Café de Flore. He also created the HBO shows Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects. He was married to Chantal ...
Edgy emancipation
R.I.P. 2021
Must See:
Demolition
Wild
C.R.A.Z.Y.
Big Little Lies
27. Damien Chazelle
Writer | La La Land
Damien Sayre Chazelle is an American director and screenwriter. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Celia Sayre (Martin) Chazelle, is an American-Canadian writer and professor of history at The College of New Jersey. His father, Bernard Chazelle, is a French-American Eugene Higgins...
Music and Imagination
Must See:
Whiplash
La La Land
First Man
Babylon
The Eddy [TV]
28. Kenneth Lonergan
Writer | Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan is a playwright, screenwriter and director. His film, You Can Count on Me (2000), which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film ...
Storytelling and characters
Must See:
Manchester by Sea
You Can Count on Me
Margaret
29. Steven Spielberg
Producer | Schindler's List
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...
Storytelling
Must See:
Saving Private Ryan
Jurassic Park
Lincoln
Munich
Bridge of Spies
Catch Me if You Can
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
The Adventures of Tintin
Ready Player One
Schindler's List
West Side Story
30. Cédric Klapisch
Director | L'auberge espagnole
Cédric Klapisch was born on September 4, 1961 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is a director and actor, known for The Spanish Apartment (2002), Rise (2022) and Family Resemblances (1996). He has been married to Lola Doillon since 2002. They have one child.
Humour and hubristic self-mockery
Must See:
Paris
Pot-Luck
Chinese Puzzle
Russian Dolls
31. Claude Chabrol
Director | Le beau Serge
Claude Chabrol was born on June 24, 1930 in Paris, France. He was a director and writer, known for Le Beau Serge (1958), La Cérémonie (1995) and Story of Women (1988). He was married to Aurore Chabrol, Stéphane Audran and Agnès Goute. He died on September 12, 2010 in Paris, France.
Consistency, character, suspense and sensibility,
as well as complex drama and crime.
R.I.P. 2010
Must See:
Juste avant la nuit (1971)
Madame Bovary (1991)
La Ceremonie (1995)
Les bonnes femmes (1960)
Le Beau Serge (1958)
Les Biches (1968)
Les noces rouges (1973)
Que la bête meure (1969)
Une affaire de femmes (1988)
32. Tom McCarthy
Writer | The Station Agent
Tom McCarthy is an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for direct and write The Station Agent (2003), The Visitor (2007), Win Win (2011), and Spotlight (2015), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Director.
McCarthy...
Realism
Must See:
Station Agent
The Visitor
Spotlight
33. Yimou Zhang
Director | Ying xiong
Yimou Zhang was born on November 14, 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to ...
Frailty and visual flair
Must See:
The Flowers of War
The House of Flying Daggers
Raise the Red Lantern
Not One Less
To Live
Coming Home
The Road Home
34. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...
Slow burn.
Must See:
Gran Torino
Mystic River
The Mule
Sully
Richard Jewell
35. Christopher Nolan
Writer | Tenet
Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...
Thinking movies.
Must See:
Memento
Inception
Interstellar
Oppenheimer
36. Denys Arcand
Writer | Les invasions barbares
One of Québec's most politically aware filmmakers, Denys Arcand studied history at Université de Montréal, where he co-directed Seul ou avec d'autres (1962) with Denis Héroux and co-written with Stéphane Venne. He joined the National Film Board (NFB) in 1963, where his feature-length documentary on...
Existentialist humour
Must see:
Le declin de l'empire americain
Les invasions barbares
La chute de l'empire americain
Testament
37. Steven Soderbergh
Director | Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Steven Andrew Soderbergh was born on January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the second of six children of Mary Ann (Bernard) and Peter Soderbergh. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Italian ancestry. While he was still at a very young age, his family moved to ...
Dedication to content.
Must See:
Traffic
Sex, Lies and Videotape
The Laundromat
The Informant!
Full Frontal
Solaris
No Sudden Move
Side Effects
Not Seen Yet:
Unsane
High Flying Bird
Let Them All Talk
38. Todd Field
Director | Tár
William Todd Field was born in Pomona, California, and began acting after graduating from high school in Portland, Oregon, where he was raised. A budding jazz musician as well, he skipped college in favor of a move east to New York to study acting. Once there, he began performing with the Ark ...
Enganged, enhanced acting.
Must See:
In the Bedroom
Little Children
39. Alejandro Amenábar
Writer | The Others
Is the son of a Spanish mother and a Chilean father. His family moved back to Spain when he was 1 year old, and he grew up and studied in Madrid. He wrote, produced and directed his first short film La cabeza at the age of 19, and he was 23 when he directed his feature debut Thesis (1996). His film ...
Uncertainty and understanding.
Must See:
Open your Eyes
The Sea Inside
40. Yorgos Lanthimos
Director | The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied directing for Film and Television at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theater plays. Kinetta,...
Think and see different
Must See:
Poor Things (2023)
The Favourite (2018)
The Kiling of A Sacred Deer (2017)
The Lobster (2015)
41. 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 ...
Relatable insanity
Must See:
Her
Adaptation
Being John Malkovich
42. Darren Aronofsky
Writer | Pi
Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...
Reality and perceived reality.
Must See:
The Wrestler
Black Swan
43. Jean-Luc Godard
Director | Bande à part
Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930, the second of four children in a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family. His father was a doctor who owned a private clinic, and his mother came from a preeminent family of Swiss bankers. During World War II Godard became a naturalized citizen of ...
1960s
Must See:
Contempt (1963)
Vivre Sa Vie (1962)
Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Breathless (1960)
44. Denzel Washington
Actor | Fences
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...
Drama and acting
Must See:
Fences
The Great Debaters
Antwone Fisher
45. Antoine Fuqua
Producer | The Magnificent Seven
Antoine Fuqua is an American film director, known for his work in the film Training Day as well as The Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer.
He has directed music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, ...
Gritty street life
Must See:
Brooklyn's Finest
Southpaw
Training Day
46. Bong Joon Ho
Writer | Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the ...
New Wave
Must See:
Parasite (2019)
Snowpiercer (2013)
Memories of Murder (2003)
47. Paul Haggis
Writer | Crash
Paul Haggis established himself over twenty years with an extensive career in television, before his big break into features arrived when he became the first screenwriter to garner two Best Film Academy Awards back-to-back for his scripts: "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) directed by Clint Eastwood, ...
Conflict and circumstances
Must See:
Crash
The Next Three Days
48. Tobias Lindholm
Writer | Druk
Tobias Lindholm was born on July 5, 1977 in Næstved, Denmark. He is a writer and director, known for Another Round (2020), The Hunt (2012) and A Hijacking (2012).
Subtlety and sincerity
Must See:
A Hijacking
A War
49. Doug Liman
Producer | Edge of Tomorrow
Douglas Eric Liman is a Jewish-American filmmaker and producer who directed Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Chaos Walking, Jumper, Go, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fair Game, Locked Down, Edge of Tomorrow, The Wall and American Made. He executive produced the Bourne sequels except The Bourne Legacy, The ...
Chemistry and wit
Must See:
Locked Down (2021)
Fair Game (2010)
Go (1999)
Swingers (1996)
50. Thomas Vinterberg
Director | Jagten
With Sidste omgang (1993) (Last Round), his graduation short from The National Film School of Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg got an early taste of critical success. He received the Jury's and Producers' Awards at the International Student Film Fest in Munich and won the 1st Prize at the Tel Aviv Film ...
Dramatic tension and humanity
Must See:
The Hunt
Submarino
51. Marco Tullio Giordana
Director | Romanzo di una strage
Marco Tullio Giordana was born on October 1, 1950 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012), One Hundred Steps (2000) and The Best of Youth (2003).
Beauty and buidlup
Must See:
The Best of Youth
Wild Blood
52. Xavier Dolan
Actor | J'ai tué ma mère
Xavier Dolan was born on March 20, 1989 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for I Killed My Mother (2009), Tom at the Farm (2013) and Heartbeats (2010).
Difference is good
Must See:
Mommy
Laurence Anways
Les amours imaginaires
53. Noah Baumbach
Writer | The Squid and the Whale
Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, ...
Quirknines of Life
Must See:
White Noise (2022)
Marriage Story (2019)
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)
While We Were Young (2014)
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
54. Jim Jarmusch
Director | Paterson
Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.
Quirkiness and simplicity
Must See:
Broken Flowers
Paterson
Stranger Than Paradise
55. Elia Kazan
Director | On the Waterfront
Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...
Bringing brilliant scripts to life
R.I.P. 2003
Must See:
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Baby Doll (1956)
Wild River (1960)
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
America America (1963)
56. Francis Ford Coppola
Producer | Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...
Dialogue and mood.
Must See:
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part 2
57. Zaza Urushadze
Director | Mandariinid
Zaza Urushadze was born on October 30, 1965 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He was a director and writer, known for Tangerines (2013), Ak tendeba (1998) and The Confession (2017). He died on December 7, 2019 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Down-to-earthness.
Must See:
Tangerines
Three Houses
58. Ingmar Bergman
Writer | Smultronstället
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (...
Family.
R.I.P. 2007
Must See:
The Seventh Seal
Fanny and Alexander
Scenes from a Marriage
59. Pedro Almodóvar
Writer | Hable con ella
The most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel was born in a small town (Calzada de Calatrava) in the impoverished Spanish region of La Mancha. He arrived in Madrid in 1968, and survived by selling used items in the flea-market called El Rastro. Almodóvar couldn't study ...
Complicated relationships
Must See:
Julieta
Volver
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Broken Embraces
60. David Lynch
Writer | Twin Peaks
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...
Mystery and depth.
Must See:
Mulholand Dr.
Lost Highway
61. George Clooney
Actor | The Ides of March
George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Nina Bruce (née Warren), a former beauty pageant queen, and Nick Clooney, a former anchorman and television host (who was also the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney). He has Irish, English, and German ancestry. Clooney ...
Intrigue and intense smart narrative
Must See:
The Ides of March (2011)
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
62. J.J. Abrams
Producer | Lost
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990)....
Science-Fiction
Must See:
Super 8
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
63. Paolo Sorrentino
Writer | È stata la mano di Dio
Director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino was born in Naples in 1970, and and became an orphan when he lost both of his parents at the age of 16. At the age of 25, after studying for a few years at the Faculty of Economics and Business in University of Naples Federico II, he decided to work in the...
City, comedy and depth
Must See:
The Hand of Good (2021)
The Great Beauty (2013)
Youth (2015)
64. Radu Mihaileanu
Writer | Train de vie
Radu Mihaileanu was born on April 23, 1958 in Bucharest, Romania. He is a writer and director, known for Train of Life (1998), The Concert (2009) and Live and Become (2005).
Feel good movies with heart.
Must See:
Live and Become
The Concert
65. Ridley Scott
Producer | The Martian
Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...
Sci-fi, horror and action
Must See:
The Martian
Black Hawk Down
Body of Lies
Hannibal
66. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
Story
R.I.P. 2002
Must See:
The Apartment
The Lost Weekend
Double Indemnity
Sunset Boulevard
Stalag 17
Sabrina
Witness for the Prosecution
Ace in the Hole
67. Tom Tykwer
Writer | Lola rennt
Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working...
Unreal but riveting
Must See:
Heaven
Perfume
Cloud Atlas
68. Bernardo Bertolucci
Writer | Il conformista
Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (...
Dream big, act small
R.I.P. 2018
Must See:
The Last Emperor
The Conformist
The Dreamers
Last Tango in Paris
1900
69. Roman Polanski
Director | Chinatown
Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.
His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...
Beauty in human tragedy
Must See:
The Pianist
The Ghost Writer
The Tenant
Tess
Repulsion
Rosemary's Baby
70. Adam McKay
Producer | Don't Look Up
Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through ...
Satire
Must See:
Don't Look Up (2021)
Vice (2018)
The Big Short (2015)
71. Danis Tanovic
Director | No Man's Land
Danis Tanovic was born on February 20, 1969 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. He is a director and writer, known for No Man's Land (2001), An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013) and Cirkus Columbia (2010).
Boundaries and languages
Must See:
Tigers (2014)
Hell (2005)
No Man's Land (2001)
72. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
Strife
R.I.P. 1998
Must See:
Ran
Druken Angel
73. Sidney Lumet
Director | 12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...
Buildup
R.I.P. 2011
Must See:
Network
12 Angry Men
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
74. Satoshi Kon
Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...
ANIMATION MASTERS SECTION
Wisdom and whirlwind.
R.I.P. 2010
Must See:
Perfect Blue
Millenium Actress
Tokyo Godfathers
75. Mamoru Hosoda
Director | Samâ uôzu
Mamoru Hosoda is a Japanese film director and animator. Formerly employed at Toei Animation, he went to work at Madhouse from 2005 to 2011. Hosoda left Madhouse in 2011 to establish his own animation studio, Studio Chizu. He first came to public attention in the early 2000s with the first two films...
Subtlety and splendor
Must See:
Wolf Children
Summer Wars
76. Makoto Shinkai
Writer | Suzume no Tojimari
Makoto Shinkai is a Japanese director, writer, producer, animator, editor, cinematographer, voice actor, manga artist and former graphic designer. Shinkai studied Japanese literature at Chuo University where he was a member of juvenile literature club where he drew picture books. In 1999, Shinkai ...
Beauty of life.
Must See:
Your Name
The Place Promised in our Early Days
Voices of a Distant Star
5cm per Second
77. Giuseppe Tornatore
Director | La migliore offerta
Giuseppe Tornatore was born on May 27, 1956 in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Best Offer (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998). He is married to Roberta Pacetti.
Beauty in the small things
Must See:
Cinema Paradiso
Malena
78. Shunji Iwai
Writer | Love Letter
Having received his education at Yokohama National University, Shunji Iwai started out in the entertainment industry by directing music videos and television dramas, including the likes of Maria, Lunatic Love and Fireworks, for which he received the award for Best Newcomer from the Japanese ...
Sensibilite and love
Must See:
The Murder Case of Hana & Alice
Hana and Alice
Love Letter
79. Rob Minkoff
Director | The Lion King
Rob Minkoff was born on August 11, 1962 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Lion King (1994), Stuart Little 2 (2002) and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). He has been married to Crystal Kung Minkoff since September 29, 2007. They have two children.
Grounded and Funny Fantasy
Must See:
The Lion King
The Forbidden Kingdom
80. Brad Bird
Writer | The Incredibles
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in...
Passion and pace
Must See:
Ratatouille
The Incredibles
The Incredibles 2
Mission: Impossible 4 - Ghost Protocol
81. Sarah Polley
Actress | My Life Without Me
Sarah Polley is an actress and director renowned in her native Canada for her political activism. Blessed with an extremely expressive face that enables directors to minimize dialog due to her uncanny ability to suggest a character's thoughts, Polley has become a favorite of critics for her ...
DOCUMENTARY DEITIES SECTION
Documentary and drama
Must See:
Stories We Tell
Away from Her
Take This Waltz
82. José Padilha
Producer | Tropa de Elite
He is best known for directing the Brazilian critical and financial successes Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and the 2014 remake of RoboCop. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Elite Squad in 2008. He is also the producer and director of the ...
Vulnerability.
Must See:
Elite Squad
Elite Squad 2
Bus 174
83. 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 ...
Essence and eternity
Must see:
The Salt of the Earth (2014)
Pina (2011)
Paris, Texas (1984)
Wrong Move (1975)
84. Jonathan Demme
Director | The Silence of the Lambs
Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on April 26, 2017 in ...
Charisma and charm
R.I.P. 2017
Must See:
Rachel Getting Married
Silence of the Lambs
The Agronomist
A Master Builder
85. Michael Moore
Director | Bowling for Columbine
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 ...
Social commentary and story
Must see:
Sicko
Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 11/9
Where to Invade Next
Bowling for Columbine
Capitalism: A Love Story
86. 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 ...
Difficult documentaries
Must See:
Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015)
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013)
Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
87. Jee-woon Kim
Director | Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom
Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's ...
BEST SHORT DIRECTOR
Must See:
Coming Out
Doomsday Book
Three
A Tale of Two Sisters
I Saw the Devil
The Good the Bad the Weird
88. Ethan Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...
Sarcasm and self-search
Must See:
The Man Who Wasn't There
A Serious Man
Burn After Reading
Fargo
Miller's Crossing
Inside Llewyn Davis
89. Joel Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...
Simplicity.
Must See:
The Tragedy of Macbeth
The Man Who Wasn't There
A Serious Man
Burn After Reading
Fargo
Miller's Crossing
Inside Llewyn Davis
90. Lav Diaz
Writer | Ang babaeng humayo
Lav Diaz was born on December 30, 1958 in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines. He is a writer and director, known for The Woman Who Left (2016), Season of the Devil (2018) and From What Is Before (2014).
Contemplation and irreversible action
Must See:
Norte, the End of History (2013)
91. Barry Jenkins
Producer | If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins was born on November 19, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a producer and director, known for If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Moonlight (2016) and Aftersun (2022).
92. Reinaldo Marcus Green
Director | King Richard
Reinaldo Marcus Green was born on December 16, 1981 in Bronx, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for King Richard (2021), We Own This City (2022) and Monsters and Men (2018).
93. Bernardo Bertolucci
Writer | Il conformista
Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (...
The Last Emperor (1987) The Conformist (1970) Novecento aka 1900 (1976)
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