Favorite Directors (ICM Poll)

1. Joel Coen

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 ...

Fargo (1996) - 10/10 Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) - 10/10 Burn After Reading (2008) - 10/10 Blood Simple (1984) - 10/10 Barton Fink (1991) - 10/10 Miller's Crossing (1990) - 9/10 O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - 8/10 A Serious Man (2009) - 8/10 Raising Arizona (1987) - 8/10 True Grit (2010) - 7/10 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) - 7/10 The Big Lebowski (1998) - 7/10 The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) - 7/10 No Country for Old Men (2007) - 7/10

2. Hayao Miyazaki

Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.

Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...

Tonari no Totoro (1988) - 10/10 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) - 10/10 Mononoke-hime (1997) - 10/10 Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984) - 9/10 Kurenai no buta (1992) - 9/10 Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008) - 9/10 Majo no takkyûbin (1989) - 8/10 Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka (2023) - 8/10 Kaze tachinu (2013) - 8/10 Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986) - 8/10 Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979) - 7/10 Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004) - 7/10

3. Alfred Hitchcock

Director | Psycho

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...

Vertigo (1958) - 10/10 Rear Window (1954) - 10/10 Psycho (1960) - 9/10 Strangers on a Train (1951) - 9/10 Frenzy (1972) - 8/10 Rebecca (1940) - 8/10 Rope (1948) - 8/10 North by Northwest (1959) - 8/10 The Lady Vanishes (1938) - 8/10 To Catch a Thief (1955) - 7/10 Dial M for Murder (1954) - 7/10 Spellbound (1945) - 7/10 Jamaica Inn (1939) - 7/10 Notorious (1946) - 7/10

4. 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...

Pulp Fiction (1994) - 10/10 Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 10/10 Inglourious Basterds (2009) - 9/10 The Hateful Eight (2015) - 9/10 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) - 9/10 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) - 8/10 Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) - 8/10 Death Proof (2007) - 8/10 Jackie Brown (1997) - 7/10 Django Unchained (2012) - 7/10

+ Sin City (2008) - 8/10

5. 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...

Tengoku to jigoku (1963) - 10/10 Shichinin no samurai (1954) - 10/10 Ran (1985) - 9/10 Rashômon (1950) - 9/10 Kumonosu-jô (1957) - 8/10 Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958) - 8/10 Ikiru (1952) - 8/10 Tsubaki Sânjurô (1962) - 7/10 Dersu Uzala (1975) - 7/10 Sugata Sanshirô (1943) - 7/10

6. Isao Takahata

Director | Hotaru no haka

Isao Takahata was born on October 29, 1935 in Ise, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Pom Poko (1994) and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013). He died on April 5, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.

Kaguyahime no monogatari (2013) - 10/10 Hotaru no haka (1988) - 10/10 Omohide poro poro (1991) - 10/10 Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun (1999) - 8/10 Heisei tanuki gassen ponpoko (1994) - 8/10

7. 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 ...

Memento (2000) - 10/10 Interstellar (2014) - 9/10 Dunkirk (2017) - 8/10 Inception (2010) - 8/10 Insomnia (2002) - 8/10 The Dark Knight (2006) - 7/10 Oppenheimer (2023) - 7/10 Tenet (2020) - 7/10 The Prestige (2006) - 7/10

8. Andrei Tarkovsky

Writer | Offret

The most famous Soviet film-maker since Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky (the son of noted poet Arseniy Tarkovsky) studied music and Arabic in Moscow before enrolling in the Soviet film school VGIK. He shot to international attention with his first feature, Ivan's Childhood (1962), which won the...

Andrey Rublev (1966) - 10/10 Stalker (1979) - 9/10 Solyaris (1972) - 9/10 Zerkalo (1975) - 8/10 Nostalghia (1983) - 8/10 Katok i skripka (1961) - 7/10 Offret (1986) - 7/10 Ivanovo detstvo (1962) - 7/10

9. 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 (...

Persona (1966) - 9/10 Fanny och Alexander (1982) - 9/10 Sommarnattens leende (1955) - 8/10 Smultronstället (1957) - 8/10 Jungfrukällan (1960) - 8/10 Viskningar och rop (1972) - 8/10 Det sjunde inseglet (1957) - 7/10 Nattvardsgästerna (1963) - 7/10 Sasom i en spegel (1961) - 7/10

10. 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 ...

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - 9/10 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - 9/10 Full Metal Jacket (1987) - 9/10 The Shining (1980) - 8/10 A Clockwork Orange (1971) - 8/10 The Killing (1956) - 7/10 Barry Lyndon (1975) - 7/10 Killer's Kiss (1955) - 7/10 Spartacus (1960) - 7/10

11. 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, ...

Jaws (1975) - 9/10 West Side Story (2021) - 9/10 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - 8/10 A.I. - Artificial Intelligence (2001) - 8/10 The Fabelmans (2022) - 7/10 Catch Me If You Can (2002) - 7/10 Bridge of Spies (2015) - 7/10 Jurassic Park (1993) - 7/10 Saving Private Ryan (1998) - 7/10 The Post (2017) - 7/10

12. Wes Anderson

Director | Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an ...

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 10/10 The French Dispatch (2021) - 9/10 Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - 8/10 Rushmore (1998) - 8/10 Isle of Dogs (2018) - 7/10 Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - 7/10

13. 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...

Zodiac (2007) - 9/10 Se7en (1995) - 9/10 Gone Girl (2014) - 8/10 Mank (2020) - 8/10 Fight Club (1999) - 7/10 The Social Network (2010) - 7/10 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - 7/10 The Killer (2023) - 7/10

14. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) - 10/10 C'era una volta il West (1968) - 9/10 Per un pugno di dollari (1964) - 8/10 Per qualche dollaro in piu (1965) - 8/10 Giù la testa (1971) - 7/10

15. 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 ...

Taxi Driver (1976) - 9/10 Mean Streets (1973) - 8/10 The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - 8/10 The King of Comedy (1982) - 7/10 The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - 7/10 Silence (2016) - 7/10 The Irishman (2019) - 7/10 Goodfellas (1990) - 7/10 The Departed (2006) - 7/10

16. 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. ...

Before Sunset (2004) - 9/10 Boyhood (2014) - 9/10 Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) - 8/10 Before Midnight (2013) - 8/10 Before Sunrise (1995) - 8/10

17. George Miller

Producer | Mad Max: Fury Road

George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being hailed as amongst the greatest action films of all time. Aside from the Mad Max ...

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - 8/10 Lorenzo's Oil (1992) - 8/10 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - 8/10 Mad Max 2 (1981) - 7/10 The Witches of Eastwick (1987) - 7/10 Happy Feet Two (2011) - 7/10 Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) - 7/10 Babe: Pig in the City (1998) - 7/10 Mad Max (1979) - 7/10

18. 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 ...

No Sudden Move (2021) - 8/10 Ocean's Twelve (2004) - 8/10 Ocean's Eleven (2001) - 8/10 Contagion (2011) - 8/10 Kimi (2021) - 7/10 Unsane (2018) - 7/10 Logan Lucky (2017) - 7/10 High Flying Bird (2019) - 7/10

19. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - 9/10 The Thing (1982) - 8/10 Christine (1983) - 8/10 In the Mouth of Madness (1994) - 7/10 Starman (1984) - 7/10 Dark Star (1974) - 7/10 They Live (1988) - 7/10 The Fog (1980) - 7/10

20. 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 ...

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - 8/10 Rachel Getting Married (2008) - 8/10 Beloved (1998) - 8/10 The Manchurian Candidate (2004) - 8/10 Stop Making Sense (1984) - 7/10 Philadelphia (1993) - 7/10 Melvin and Howard (1980) - 7/10 Crazy Mama (1975) - 7/10

21. 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.

Oldeuboi (2003) - 10/10 Ah-ga-ssi (2016) - 8/10 Heojil kyolshim (2022) - 7/10 Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005) - 7/10 Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA (2000) - 7/10 Boksuneun naui geot (2002) - 7/10

22. Ang Lee

Director | Wo hu cang long

Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ...

Wo hu cang long (2000) - 10/10 Life of Pi (2012) - 8/10 Hulk (2003) - 8/10 Yin shi nan nu (1994) - 7/10 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) - 7/10

23. Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director | Un long dimanche de fiançailles

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a self-taught director who was very quickly interested by cinema, with a predilection for a fantastic cinema where form is as important as the subject. Thus he started directing TV commercials and video clips (such as Julien Clerc in 1984). At the same time he met designer/...

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) - 10/10 Delicatessen (1991) - 9/10 La cité des enfants perdus (1995) - 8/10 Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004) - 7/10

24. Andrew Stanton

Writer | WALL·E

Andrew Stanton has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company's elite group of computer animation pioneers. As Vice President, Creative he currently oversees all shorts and feature projects at the ...

WALL-E (2008) - 10/10 Finding Nemo (2003) - 9/10 Finding Dory (2016) - 8/10

25. Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writer | Trois couleurs: Bleu

Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (...

Krotki film o milosci (1988) - 8/10 Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993) - 8/10 Trois couleurs: Blanc (1994) - 8/10 Przypadek (1987) - 7/10 La double vie de Véronique (1991) - 7/10 Krotki film o zabijaniu (1988) - 7/10 Amator (1976) - 7/10

26. 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 ...

Cast Away (2000) - 8/10 Forrest Gump (1994) - 8/10 Back to the Future Part III (1990) - 8/10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - 7/10 Beowulf (2007) - 7/10 The Walk (2015) - 7/10 Welcome to Marwen (2018) - 7/10

27. George Cukor

Director | My Fair Lady

George Cukor was an American film director of Hungarian-Jewish descent, better known for directing comedies and literary adaptations. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award.

In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of...

A Star Is Born (1954) - 9/10 The Philadelphia Story (1940) - 8/10 Adam's Rib (1949) - 8/10 Gaslight (1944) - 7/10 My Fair Lady (1964) - 7/10

28. Robert Bresson

Writer | Au hasard Balthazar

Robert Bresson trained as a painter before moving into films as a screenwriter, making a short film (atypically a comedy), Public Affairs (1934) in 1934. After spending more than a year as a German POW during World War II, he made his debut with Angels of Sin (1943) in 1943. His next film, The ...

Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (1956) - 9/10 Au hasard Balthazar (1966) - 9/10 L'argent (1983) - 8/10 Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951) - 7/10

29. 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 ...

The Apartment (1960) - 8/10 Sunset Blvd. (1950) - 8/10 Stalag 17 (1953) - 7/10 The Lost Weekend (1945) - 7/10 Ace in the Hole (1951) - 7/10 Witness for the Prosecution (1957) - 7/10 Double Indemnity (1944) - 7/10

30. Buster Keaton

Actor | The General

Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...

The Cameraman (1928) - 8/10 The General (1926) - 8/10 Sherlock Jr. (1924) - 7/10

Shorts: One Week (1920) - 8/10 The "High Sign" (1921) - 8/10 Hard Luck (1921) - 8/10 Cops (1922) - 7/10 The Play House (1921) - 7/10

31. 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...

Jodaeiye Nader az Smin (2011) - 8/10 Forushande (2016) - 8/10 Darbareye Elly (2009) - 8/10 Ghahreman (2021) - 8/10 Chaharshanbe-soori (2006) - 7/10

32. 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 ...

Numéro deux (1975) - 8/10 Le mépris (1963) - 8/10 Une femme est une femme (1961) - 7/10 Tout va bien (1972) - 7/10 À bout de souffle (1960) - 7/10 Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965) - 7/10 Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980) - 7/10

33. Tim Burton

Producer | Edward Scissorhands

Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was ...

Big Fish (2003) - 8/10 Sleepy Hollow (1999) - 8/10 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - 8/10 Edward Scissorhands (1990) - 8/10 Batman Returns (1992) - 7/10

34. Alfonso Cuarón

Producer | Gravity

Alfonso Cuarón Orozco was born on November 28th 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico. From an early age, he yearned to be either a film director or an astronaut. However, he did not want to enter the army, so he settled for directing. He didn't receive his first camera until his twelfth birthday, and then ...

Children of Men (2005) - 9/10 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - 8/10 Gravity (2013) - 8/10 Roma (2018) - 7/10

35. 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 ...

Black Swan (2010) - 9/10 Mother! (2017) - 8/10 Requiem for a Dream (2000) - 8/10 The Wrestler (2008) - 7/10

36. 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 ...

12 Angry Men (1957) - 9/10 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - 8/10 Network (1976) - 8/10 Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - 7/10

37. Claude Sautet

Writer | Un coeur en hiver

Claude Sautet was born on February 23, 1924 in Montrouge, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. He was a writer and director, known for A Heart in Winter (1992), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995) and The Things of Life (1970). He was married to Graziella Sautet. He died on July 22, 2000 in Paris, ...

Un mauvais fils (1980) - 8/10 César et Rosalie (1972) - 8/10 Les choses de la vie (1970) - 7/10 Garçon! (1983) - 7/10 Un cœur en hiver (1992) - 7/10 Max et les ferrailleurs (1966) - 7/10

38. Edgar Wright

Director | Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg...

Shaun of the Dead (2004) - 9/10 The World's End (2013) - 9/10 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) - 8/10

39. 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.

Sans toit ni loi (1985) - 8/10 Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000) - 7/10 Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) - 7/10 Les plages d'Agnès (2008) - 7/10 L'une chante, l'autre pas (1977) - 7/10 Visages, villages (2017) - 7/10 Les créatures (1966) - 7/10

40. 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), ...

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - 9/10 Arrival (2016) - 8/10 Incendies (2010) - 7/10 Dune : Part Two (2024) - 7/10 Enemy (2013) - 7/10

41. Michael Mann

Producer | The Insider

As a director, screenwriter, and producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema. After writing and directing the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television movie The Jericho Mile (1979), Mann ...

Collateral (2004) - 8/10 Manhunter (1986) - 8/10 Thief (1981) - 7/10 Heat (1995) - 7/10 Public Enemies (2009) - 7/10 The Insider (1999) - 7/10

42. Lana Wachowski

Writer | The Matrix

Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight ...

The Matrix (1999) - 10/10 The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - 8/10

43. 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...

La La Land (2016) - 9/10 First Man (2018) - 8/10 Whiplash (2014) - 8/10

44. 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.

Seppuku (1962) - 8/10 Kaidan (1964) - 8/10 Ningen no jôken (III) (1961) - 8/10 Ningen no jôken (II) (1959) - 7/10

45. 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 ...

Doraibu mai kâ (2021) - 9/10 Gûzen to sôzô (2021) - 8/10 Happî awâ (2015) - 7/10 Netemo sametemo (2018) - 7/10

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 ...

Gwoemul (2006) - 8/10 Salinui chueok (2003) - 8/10 Gisaengchung (2019) - 8/10 Snowpiercer (2013) - 7/10

47. Paul Verhoeven

Director | RoboCop

Paul Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden, with a degree in math and physics. He entered the Royal Netherlands Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV. In 1969, he directed the popular Dutch TV series, Floris (1969), about a medieval ...

Elle (2016) - 8/10 Basic Instinct (1992) - 8/10 Total Recall (1990) - 8/10 Benedetta (2021) - 7/10

48. Lee Unkrich

Editor | Coco

Lee Unkrich is an Academy Award-winning director at Pixar Animation Studios. He most recently directed Disney.Pixar's critically-acclaimed "Coco", which received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Song.

As the director of Disney.Pixar's "Toy Story 3," Lee was also awarded an ...

Finding Nemo (2003) - 9/10 Toy Story 3 (2010) - 7/10 Coco (2017) - 7/10 Toy Story 2 (1999) - 7/10 Monsters, Inc. (2001) - 7/10

49. Jafar Panahi

Director | Taxi

Jafar Panahi (Born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi achieved ...

Taxi (2015) - 9/10 Se rokh (2018) - 8/10 Offside (2006) - 8/10

50. Jacques Audiard

Writer | De rouille et d'os

Born in Paris, France, in 1952. Jacques Audiard's family has always been involved in movie business. His father, Michel, was a popular screenwriter and director and his uncle a producer. But in his teens he refused that world and wanted to be a teacher. He studied literature and philosophy at the ...

Un prophète (2009) - 8/10 The Sisters Brothers (2018) - 8/10 Les Olympiades, Paris 13e (2021) - 8/10 De rouille et d'os (2012) - 7/10

51. Quentin Dupieux

Writer | Rubber

Quentin Dupieux was born on April 14, 1974 in Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is a writer and director, known for Rubber (2010), Le daim (2019) and Reality (2014).

Yannick (2023) - 8/10 Au poste ! (2018) - 7/10 Daaaaaali ! (2023) - 7/10 Fumer fait tousser (2022) - 7/10 Incroyable mais vrai (2022) - 7/10 Le daim (2019) - 7/10

52. Kore-eda Hirokazu

Director | Manbiki kazoku

Born in Tokyo in 1962. Originally intended to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University in 1987 went on to become an assistant director at T.V. Man Union. Snuck off set to film Mou hitotsu no kyouiku - Ina shogakkou haru gumi no kiroku (1991). His first feature, Maborosi (1995), ...

Umimachi Diary (2015) - 9/10 Aruitemo aruitemo (2008) - 8/10 Manbiki kazoku (2018) - 8/10

53. Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer | Le samouraï

The name "Melville" is not immediately associated with film. It conjures up images of white whales and crackbrained captains, of naysaying notaries and soup-spilling sailors. It is the countersign to a realm of men and their deeds, both heroic and villainous. It is the American novel, with its ...

Le doulos (1963) - 9/10 L'armée des ombres (1969) - 8/10 Le cercle rouge (1970) - 7/10 Le samouraï (1967) - 7/10

54. Terrence Malick

Writer | Days of Heaven

Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. His family subsequently lived in Oklahoma and he went to school in Austin, Texas. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1965.

A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, he attended Magdalen ...

The New World (2005) - 8/10 Badlands (1973) - 8/10 Days of Heaven (1978) - 7/10 Knight of Cups (2015) - 7/10 A Hidden Life (2019) - 7/10

55. 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...

Fitzcarraldo (1982) - 9/10 Grizzly Man (2005) - 8/10 Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht (1979) - 7/10 Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972) - 7/10

56. 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 ...

Annie Hall (1977) - 8/10 Match Point (2005) - 8/10 Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - 7/10 Manhattan (1979) - 7/10 Café Society (2016) - 7/10

57. George A. Romero

Writer | Land of the Dead

George A. Romero never set out to become a Hollywood figure; by all indications, though, he was very successful. The director of the groundbreaking "Living Dead" films was born February 4, 1940 ,in New York City to Ann (Dvorsky) and Jorge Romero. His father was born in Spain and raised in Cuba, and...

Dawn of the Dead (1978) - 10/10 Night of the Living Dead (1968) - 7/10

58. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Producer | Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da

Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul on January 26th, 1959. In 1976, he began studying chemical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, in a context of strong student unrest, boycotts and political polarization. In 1978, he switched courses to Electrical Engineering at Bogazici University. ...

Bir zamanlar Anadolu'da (2011) - 9/10 Ahlat Agaci (2018) - 8/10 Kis Uykusu (2014) - 7/10

59. Federico Fellini

Writer | Le notti di Cabiria

The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the ...

8½ (1963) - 9/10 La dolce vita (1960) - 8/10 Amarcord (1973) - 7/10

60. Mikhaël Hers

Writer | Amanda

Mikhaël Hers was born on February 6, 1975 in Paris, France. He is a writer and director, known for Amanda (2018), The Passengers of the Night (2022) and Primrose Hill (2007).

Les passagers de la nuit (2022) - 8/10 Ce sentiment de l'été (2015) - 8/10 Amanda (2018) - 8/10

61. Kar-Wai Wong

Director | Yi dai zong shi

Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong ...

Chung Hing sam lam (1994) - 8/10 Ah fei zing zyun (1990) - 8/10 Yi dai zong shi (2013) - 7/10 Faa yeung nin wa (2000) - 7/10

62. Alex Garland

Writer | Ex Machina

Alex Garland is an English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. He is best known for the films Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018).

Garland's others works as a writer includes The Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go (2011) and Dredd (2012).

He is ...

Annihilation (2018) - 9/10 Ex Machina (2014) - 8/10 Men (2022) - 7/10

63. 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 ...

Roger & Me (1989) - 8/10 Where to Invade Next (2015) - 8/10 Bowling for Columbine (2002) - 8/10

64. 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 ...

Repulsion (1965) - 8/10 Rosemary's Baby (1968) - 8/10 The Pianist (2002) - 7/10 Chinatown (1974) - 7/10

65. Kelly Reichardt

Director | Wendy and Lucy

Kelly Reichardt was born and raised in Miami-Dade Country, Florida, to a family of police officers. She had an interest in photography from a very young age. She started by using her father's camera, which he used for photographing crime scenes. She went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in ...

First Cow (2019) - 8/10 Meek's Cutoff (2010) - 8/10 Certain Women (2016) - 7/10 Wendy and Lucy (2008) - 7/10

66. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

Touch of Evil (1958) - 8/10 Citizen Kane (1941) - 7/10 The Lady from Shanghai (1947) - 7/10 The Other Side of the Wind (2018) - 7/10 F for Fake (1973) - 7/10

67. Alain Chabat

Actor | La science des rêves

Born in Oran, French Algeria in 1958, Alain Chabat moved with his family to Massy, a suburb of Paris, as the Algeria War came to an end in 1963. In 1987, he started a comedy sketch group for television called Les Nuls which developed a cult following. His acting career led to four Césars awards for...

Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002) - 10/10 RRRrrrr!!! (2004) - 7/10

68. Michel Hazanavicius

Writer | The Artist

Michel Hazanavicius was born and raised in Paris, France. His grandparents were originally from Lithuania, but relocated to France in the 1920s. Hazanavicius attended art school, and moved on to work as a director for commercials and television projects. In 1999, he wrote and directed his first ...

OSS 117 : Le Caire, nid d'espions (2006) - 8/10 Le Redoutable (2017) - 7/10 Coupez ! (2022) - 7/10 The Artist (2011) - 7/10 OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus (2009) - 7/10

69. 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.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) - 8/10 Paterson (2016) - 8/10 Stranger Than Paradise (1984) - 7/10 Broken Flowers (2005) - 7/10

70. Rob Reiner

Actor | All in the Family

Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.

As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a ...

Stand by Me (1986) - 8/10 When Hary Met Sally... (1989) - 8/10 The Princess Bride (1987) - 7/10 This Is Spinal Tap (1984) - 7/10

71. Charles Chaplin

Writer | The Great Dictator

Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...

Modern Times (1936) - 8/10 City Lights (1931) - 8/10 The Circus (1928) - 7/10 The Gold Rush (1925) - 7/10

72. Michael Powell

Director | Peeping Tom

The son of Thomas William Powell and Mabel (nee Corbett). Michael Powell was always a self-confessed movie addict. He was brought up partly in Canterbury ("The Garden of England") and partly in the south of France (where his parents ran a hotel). Educated at Kings School, Canterbury and Dulwich ...

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) - 9/10 "I Know Where I'm Going!" (1945) - 7/10 The Red Shoes (1948) - 7/10 The Thief of Bagdad (1940) - 7/10

73. 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,...

The Favourite (2018) - 8/10 Poor Things (2023) - 8/10 The Lobster (2015) - 7/10 Kynodontas (2009) - 7/10

74. Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writer | Le salaire de la peur

Beginning his film career as a screenwriter, Henri-Georges Clouzot switched over to directing and in 1943 had the distinction of having his film The Raven (1943) banned by both the German forces occupying France and the Free French forces fighting them, but for different reasons. He shot to ...

Le salaire de la peur (1953) - 8/10 La vérité (1960) - 8/10 L'assassin habite... au 21 (1942) - 7/10 Les diaboliques (1955) - 7/10

75. 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).

Cure (1997) - 8/10 Supai no tsuma (2020) - 8/10 Kishibe no tabi (2016) - 8/10

76. 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 ...

Todo sobre mi madre (1999) - 8/10 Julieta (2016) - 7/10 Dolor y gloria (2019) - 7/10 Madres paralelas (2021) - 7/10 La flor de mi secreto (1995) - 7/10

77. Howard Hawks

Director | Red River

What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...

Rio Bravo (1959) - 8/10 His Girl Friday (1940) - 8/10 The Big Sleep (1946) - 8/10

78. Luis Buñuel

Writer | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the ...

El angel exterminador (1962) - 8/10 Cet obscur objet du désir (1977) - 7/10 Viridiana (1961) - 7/10 Belle de jour (1967) - 7/10 L'âge d'or (1930) - 7/10