EUROPEAN DIRECTORS

101. 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 ...

SPAIN

102. Luis García Berlanga

Writer | El verdugo

Berlanga commenced his studies in Valencia in1928, although in 1929 his family sent him and his brother Fernando (due to a lung disease) to the Beau-soleil hospital school in Switzerland. In 1930, he returned to the San José School in Valencia where he stayed until 1931, the year in which the ...

103. Edgar Neville

Writer | El último caballo

Edgar Neville was born on December 28, 1899 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for El último caballo (1950), La vida en un hilo (1945) and The Crime of Bordadores Street (1946). He was married to Ángeles Rubio Argüelles y Alessandri. He died on April 23, 1967 in Madrid, ...

104. Fernando Trueba

Writer | Belle Epoque

Trueba studied Imagen at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Información, was cinema critic for the newspaper 'El País' and for 'La Guía del Ocio' and also founded the journal "Casablanca". At the movies his first success was Opera Prima (1980) following the style of the "comedia madrileña". He had ...

105. 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 ...

106. 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 ...

107. David Trueba

Director | La buena vida

David Trueba was born on September 10, 1969 in Madrid, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for The Good Life (1996), Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (2013) and Soldiers of Salamina (2003).

108. Víctor Erice

Director | Cerrar los ojos

Víctor Erice was born on June 30, 1940 in Karrantza, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Close Your Eyes (2023), El Sur (1983) and The Spirit of the Beehive (1973).

109. Juan Antonio Bardem

Writer | Calle Mayor

Juan Antonio Bardem was born on June 2, 1922 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Main Street (1956), Los inocentes (1963) and Vengeance (1958). He was married to María Aguado Barbado. He died on October 30, 2002 in Madrid, Spain.

110. Carlos Saura

Writer | Carmen

Spanish director, writer, producer (2 films) and actor (2 films). His interest in cinema started when he was very young. His mother, who was a pianist, instilled in him the liking for music, and his brother, Antonio, who was a painter, the passion for art. When he was an teenager he started to ...

111. Álex de la Iglesia

Director | El bar

Álex de la Iglesia is one of the most popular and respected European filmmakers of his generation. Considered a genre of his own, based on his skill and originality in a range of cinematographic art styles, he has currently finished shooting the second season of "30 Coins", the successful HBO Max ...

112. Eloy de la Iglesia

Writer | Los novios búlgaros

Spanish movies director. He studied cinema in Paris at the IDHEC. He began working in cinema in 1966, though he became famous in the years of the spanish transition to the democracy with provoking films. Drugs, delinquence, terrorism and generational problems are the common subjects in his films.

113. Mario Camus

Director | Young Sánchez

Camus started studying Law, but soon left his studies to enter the IIEC (now EOC) in 1956, where he got a director's diploma in 1963 with the training film El borracho (1962) and, finally, ended up as a professor. He worked with Carlos Saura in several screenplays during the early 60s (The ...

114. Basilio Martín Patino

Writer | Nueve cartas a Berta

Martín Patino studied philosophy and arts but also attended the School of Cinema. He debuted at the movies with "Nueve cartas a Berta" (1967), one of the most important films of the New Spanish Cinema (nuevo cine español). The film "Canciones para después de una Guerra" (1971) which reconstructs ...

115. Iván Zulueta

Director | Arrebato

Iván Zulueta was born on September 29, 1943 in Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Arrebato (1979), Un, dos, tres... al escondite inglés (1970) and A MAL GAM A (1976). He died on December 30, 2009 in Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa,...

116. Juanma Bajo Ulloa

Director | Airbag

Juanma Bajo Ulloa was born in Vitoria, a small town in northern Spain where he has set most of his movies.

From his childhood he has been in contact with the audiovisual business. His family owns a popular magazine in Vitoria specialized in photography.

At 14 he started making short movies in super-8...

117. José Luis Guerín

Director | Tren de sombras

José Luis Guerín was born in 1960 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Tren de sombras (1997), The Academy of Muses (2015) and En construcción (2001).

118. Ricardo Franco

Director | La buena estrella

Ricardo Franco was born on May 24, 1949 in Madrid, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Lucky Star (1997), Berlín Blues (1988) and Lágrimas negras (1998). He died on May 20, 1998 in Madrid, Spain.

119. Bigas Luna

Writer | Jamón Jamón

Bigas Luna was born on March 19, 1946 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Jamón, Jamón (1992), Caniche (1979) and Anguish (1987). He was married to Celia Orós. He died on April 6, 2013 in La Riera de Gaià, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.

120. Jaime Chávarri

Director | A un Dios desconocido

Director and screenwriter Jaime Chávarri, who modestly defines himself as a "passionate craftsman", was a professional lawyer who enjoyed experimenting with his Super 8 camera. Then one day he realized he had to follow a new professional path, and entered the Escuela Oficial de Cine in Madrid. His ...

121. Manuel Gómez Pereira

Director | Entre las piernas

Manuel Gómez Pereira was born on December 8, 1958 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Between Your Legs (1999), All Men Are the Same (1994) and El amor perjudica seriamente la salud (1996).

122. Emilio Martínez Lázaro

Director | Ocho apellidos vascos

Emilio Martínez Lázaro was born in 1945 in Madrid, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Spanish Affair (2014), The Other Side of the Bed (2002) and Lulú de noche (1986). He was previously married to Sol Alameda.

123. Fernando Colomo

Writer | Isla Bonita

Fernando Colomo was born on February 2, 1946 in Madrid, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Isla Bonita (2015), Tigres de papel (1977) and Alegre ma non troppo (1994).

124. J.A. Bayona

Director | La sociedad de la nieve

Juan Antonio García Bayona is a Spanish film director. He directed the 2007 horror film The Orphanage, the 2012 drama film The Impossible, and the 2016 fantasy drama film A Monster Calls. Bayona's latest film is the 2018 science fiction adventure film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the fifth ...

125. Pablo Berger

Writer | Blancanieves

Pablo Berger was born in 1963 in Bilbao, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Snow White (2012), Robot Dreams (2023) and Torremolinos 73 (2003). He is married to Yuko Harami. They have one child.

126. Miguel Picazo

Director | La tía Tula

Miguel Picazo was born on March 27, 1927 in Cazorla, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain. He was a director and actor, known for Aunt Tula (1964), Oscuros sueños de agosto (1968) and Beyond the Walls (1985). He died on April 23, 2016 in Guarromán, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain.

127. Fernando Fernán Gómez

Actor | El abuelo

Spanish actor and director of cinema and theater. Son of the actress Carola Fernán Gómez. When he was three years old he comes back to Spain from Argentina. He has written comedies, novels and poem books. He plays a wide repertoire of roles from comedy to drama.

128. Jesús Franco

Writer | Der Teufel kam aus Akasava

He was only six years old when he started composing music under the protection of his brother Enrique. After the Spanish Civil War he was able to continue his studies at the Real Conservatorio de Madrid, where he finished piano and harmony. Being a Bachelor of Law and an easy-read novel writer (...

129. Francesc Betriu

Writer | Corazón solitario

Francesc Betriu was born on January 18, 1940 in Organyà, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Corazón solitario (1973), Sinatra (1988) and Bolero de amor (1970). He died on October 7, 2020 in Spain.

130. Angelino Fons

Director | Fortunata y Jacinta

Angelino Fons was born on March 6, 1936 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Fortunata y Jacinta (1970), The Search (1966) and Peppermint Frappé (1967). He was married to Coral Pellicer. He died on June 7, 2011 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

131. Antonio Drove

Writer | ¿Qué se puede hacer con una chica?

Antonio Drove was born on November 1, 1942 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for ¿Qué se puede hacer con una chica? (1970), Tocata y fuga de Lolita (1974) and La verdad sobre el caso Savolta (1980). He died on September 24, 2005 in Paris, France.

132. Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón

Writer | Demonios en el jardín

Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón was born on January 2, 1942 in Torrelavega, Cantabria, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Demonios en el jardín (1982), Maravillas (1981) and Habla, mudita (1973).

133. Fernando León de Aranoa

Writer | A Perfect Day

Fernando León de Aranoa was born on May 26, 1968 in Madrid, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for A Perfect Day (2015), The Good Boss (2021) and Mondays in the Sun (2002).

134. Montxo Armendáriz

Director | Silencio roto

Montxo Armendáriz was born on January 27, 1949 in Olleta, Navarra, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Broken Silence (2001), Secrets of the Heart (1997) and Stories from the Kronen (1995).

135. Daniel Calparsoro

Director | A ciegas

Daniel Calparsoro was born in 1968 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Blinded (1997), Salto al vacío (1995) and The Warning (2018). He has been married to Patricia Vico since December 27, 2005. They have one child. He was previously married to ...

136. Isabel Coixet

Director | My Life Without Me

Isabel Coixet was born on April 9, 1960 in Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for My Life Without Me (2003), The Secret Life of Words (2005) and The Bookshop (2017).

137. Manuel Mur Oti

Writer | Orgullo

Manuel Mur Oti was born on October 25, 1908 in Vigo, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Orgullo (1955), Un hombre va por el camino (1949) and El batallón de las sombras (1957). He died on August 5, 2003 in Madrid, Spain.

138. José Luis Sáenz de Heredia

Writer | Faustina

José Luis Sáenz de Heredia was born on April 10, 1911 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Faustina (1957), Don Juan (1950) and Historias de la radio (1955). He was married to María Ascensión Casado Iturbide. He died on November 4, 1992 in Madrid, Spain.

139. Rafael Gil

Director | Teatro Apolo

Rafael Gil was born on May 22, 1913 in Madrid, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Teatro Apolo (1950), La calle sin sol (1948) and I Was a Parish Priest (1953). He died on July 10, 1986 in Madrid, Spain.

140. José Luis Garci

Director | Canción de cuna

Born on January 20th of 1944 in Madrid, Spain, José Luis Garci is without a doubt one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film in Spain and perhaps the best known writer in the country. He has left a distinguished talent in his successful movies throughout the years: La ...

141. José Luis García Sánchez

Writer | Belle Epoque

José Luis García Sánchez was born on September 22, 1941 in Salamanca, Salamanca, Castilla y León, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Belle Epoque (1992), Tramway to Malvarrosa (1996) and La corte de Faraón (1985).

142. José Luis Cuerda

Director | Los girasoles ciegos

José Luis Cuerda was born on February 18, 1947 in Albacete, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Los girasoles ciegos (2008), Butterfly (1999) and The Others (2001). He died on February 4, 2020 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

143. Florián Rey

Writer | La aldea maldita

Spanish director Florian Rey began his career in the film industry in the 1920s as an actor, but he soon switched careers and directed his first film in 1924. His 1927 film La hermana San Sulpicio (1927) starred Spanish actress Imperio Argentina, whom he later married. His best-known film is La ...

144. Francisco Regueiro

Writer | Padre nuestro

Francisco Regueiro was born in 1934 in Valladolid, Castilla y León, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Padre nuestro (1985), Madregilda (1993) and El buen amor (1963).

145. Gonzalo Suárez

Writer | Remando al viento

Gonzalo Suárez was born on July 30, 1934 in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Rowing with the Wind (1988), El extraño caso del doctor Fausto (1969) and El detective y la muerte (1994).

146. Vicente Aranda

Director | Amantes

Vicente Aranda was born on November 9, 1926 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Lovers: A True Story (1991), El Lute: Run for Your Life (1987) and The Maidens' Conspiracy (2006). He was married to Teresa Font. He died on May 26, 2015 in Madrid, Spain.

147. Julio Medem

Director | Lucía y el sexo

Julio Medem was born in San Sebastian in northern Spain. As a teenager Medem made short movies with a super-8 camera owned by his father. Some of those films are "El ciego" (1976), "El jueves pasado" (1977) and "Fideos" (1979.) Wanting to know more about the darkest corners of the human mind, Medem...

148. Jaime de Armiñán

Writer | Mi querida señorita

Jaime de Armiñán was born on March 9, 1927 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for My Dearest Senorita (1972), The Nest (1980) and El amor del capitán Brando (1974). He was married to Elena Santonja. He died on April 9, 2024 in Madrid, Spain.

149. Enrique Urbizu

Director | La caja 507

Enrique Urbizu was born in 1962 in Bilbao, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for La caja 507 (2002), No Rest for the Wicked (2011) and La vida mancha (2003).

150. José María Forqué

Director | Amanecer en Puerta Oscura

José María Forqué was born on March 8, 1923 in Zaragoza, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Amanecer en Puerta Oscura (1957), 091 Policía al habla (1960) and De espaldas a la puerta (1959). He was married to Carmen Vázquez Vigo. He died on March 17, 1995 in Madrid, Spain.

151. José Antonio Nieves Conde

Director | Todos somos necesarios

José Antonio Nieves Conde was born on December 22, 1915 in Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Todos somos necesarios (1956), Surcos (1951) and El diablo también llora (1963). He was married to María Luisa Mascuñán. He died on September 14, 2006 in Madrid...

152. Icíar Bollaín

Director | Te doy mis ojos

Born in Madrid, Iciar Bollain has worked as an actress in films such El Sur (1983), directed by Víctor Erice; Sublet (1991) directed by Chus Gutiérrez, Malaventura (1988) directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón; El Mejor de los Tiempos (1990) and Un Paraguas para Tres (1992) directed by Felipe Vega, ...

153. José Luis Borau

Writer | Leo

Born in Zaragoza (Spain). 1949. He began to study law in Zaragoza. 1952. He began to publish articles about cinema in the newspaper "El Heraldo de Aragon". April 1954-January 1956. Critic of cinema in the same newspaper. 1957. Enters the spanish Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias ...

154. Ignacio F. Iquino

Writer | Fuego en la sangre

Ignacio F. Iquino was born on October 25, 1910 in Valls, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Fuego en la sangre (1953), El obstáculo (1945) and Noche sin cielo (1947). He was married to Juliana San José de la Fuente. He died on April 29, 1994 in Barcelona, ...

155. Jaime Camino

Writer | Las largas vacaciones del 36

Jaime Camino was born on June 11, 1936 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Las largas vacaciones del 36 (1976), Los niños de Rusia (2001) and The Old Memory (1978). He died on December 4, 2015 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

156. Agustín Díaz Yanes

Writer | Alatriste

Born in Madrid, Spain, in 1950, his childhood was marked by the republicanism of his family opposed to dictator Francisco Franco, winner of the Spanish civil war. He spent his childhood in schools run by republican teachers where he received a liberal education. In the seventies he got a degree in ...

157. Pilar Miró

Director | El perro del hortelano

Born to a military family. Attends law studies before starting a newspaper career. In 1960 starts on TV. Joins the Socialist Party in 1976 and conducts the electoral campaign in 1982 and in the same year she is designated General Director of Cinema. Resigning in 1985, the next year she joins the ...

158. Imanol Uribe

Director | Días contados

Imanol Uribe was born on February 28, 1950 in San Salvador, El Salvador. He is a director and writer, known for Numbered Days (1994), Miel de naranjas (2012) and Bwana (1996).

159. Gerardo Vera

Director | Segunda piel

Gerardo Vera was born on March 10, 1947 in Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid, Spain. He was a production designer and costume designer, known for Second Skin (1999), Una mujer bajo la lluvia (1992) and La Celestina (1996). He died on September 20, 2020 in Spain.

160. Mateo Gil

Writer | Agora

Mateo Gil was born on September 23, 1972 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Agora (2009), Open Your Eyes (1997) and The Sea Inside (2004).

161. Daniel Monzón

Writer | Celda 211

Daniel Monzón was born in 1968 in Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Cell 211 (2009), El corazón del guerrero (1999) and El nino (2014).

162. Jorge Grau

Writer | Noche de verano

Jorge Grau was born on October 27, 1930 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Noche de verano (1963), El espontáneo (1964) and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974). He died on December 26, 2018 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

163. Manuel Summers

Writer | Del rosa al amarillo

Manuel Summers was born on March 26, 1935 in Seville, Seville, Andalucía, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Del rosa al amarillo (1963), Juguetes rotos (1966) and La niña de luto (1964). He was married to Consuelo Rodriguez Marquez. He died on June 12, 1993 in Seville, Seville, ...

164. Joaquín Oristrell

Writer | Inconscientes

Joaquín Oristrell was born in 1958 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Inconscientes (2004), HIT (2020) and Los abajo firmantes (2003). He is married to Carmen Balagué. They have two children.

165. Álvaro del Amo

Writer | El ciclo Dreyer

Álvaro del Amo is known for El ciclo Dreyer (2006), Lovers: A True Story (1991) and Una preciosa puesta de sol (2003).

166. Antonio Eceiza

Writer | Ke arteko egunak

Antonio Eceiza was born on September 14, 1935 in Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Ke arteko egunak (1989), Último encuentro (1967) and A través de San Sebastián (1960). He died on November 15, 2011 in San Sebastián, ...

167. Azucena Rodríguez

Director | Entre rojas

Azucena Rodríguez was born in 1955 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for Entre rojas (1995), Atlas of Human Geography (2007) and Cuéntame cómo pasó (2001).

168. Pablo Llorca

Director | El mundo que fue y el que es

Pablo Llorca was born in 1963 in Spain. He is a director and writer, known for El mundo que fue y el que es (2011), La espalda de Dios (2001) and La cicatriz (2005).

169. Jaime Rosales

Director | La soledad

Jaime Rosales is not the run-of-the-mill kind of filmmaker. Always trying to find new ways of expressing his art and his technique, he may disconcert those who, having seen one of his films, think he can be classified in one category or another. Unfortunately for them, but luckily for those who are...

170. Santiago Aguilar

Writer | Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad

Santiago Aguilar is known for Justino (1994), Matías, juez de línea (1996) and Atilano, presidente (1998).

171. Luis Guridi

Director | Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad

Luis Guridi is known for Justino (1994), La isla de los nominados (2010) and Matías, juez de línea (1996).

172. Ventura Pons

Director | Anita no perd el tren

Ventura Pons was born on July 25, 1945 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a director and producer, known for Anita no perd el tren (2001), To Die (or Not) (2000) and What's It All About (1995). He died on January 8, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.

173. Gerardo Herrero

Producer | El secreto de sus ojos

Gerardo Herrero was born on January 28, 1953 in Madrid, Spain. He is a producer and director, known for The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), Under Therapy (2023) and Comanche Territory (1997).

174. Santiago Segura

Actor | Torrente: El brazo tonto de la ley

Born in Madrid, Santiago Segura started his career by making his first short movie at the age of fourteen. After studying Arts in Madrid, he finally decided to become a filmmaker. His first short film Relatos de la medianoche (1989) was made with a budget of only 7.000 pts. (about 60 dollars).

After...

175. Luis Alcoriza

Writer | Presagio

Luis Alcoriza was born on September 5, 1918 in Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Presagio (1974), Mecánica nacional (1971) and Tlayucan (1962). He was married to Janet Alcoriza. He died on December 3, 1992 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.

176. F.W. Murnau

Director | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

F.W. Murnau was a German film director. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max Reinhardt. During World War I he served as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the German air ...

GERMANY

177. Fritz Lang

Actor | Le mépris

Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...

178. Erich von Stroheim

Actor | Sunset Blvd.

Erich von Stroheim was born Erich Oswald Stroheim in 1885, in Vienna, Austria, to Johanna (Bondy), from Prague, and Benno Stroheim, a hatter from Gleiwitz, Germany (now Gliwice, Poland). His family was Jewish.

After spending some time working in his father's hat factory, he emigrated to America ...

179. Josef von Sternberg

Director | The Devil Is a Woman

Josef von Sternberg split his childhood between Vienna and New York City. His father, a former soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, could not support his family in either city; Sternberg remembered him only as "an enormously strong man who often used his strength on me." Forced by poverty to drop ...

180. Volker Schlöndorff

Director | Die Blechtrommel

Has studied economy and political sciences as well as at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographique (IDHEC) in Paris, France. Worked as an assistant director with Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Resnais. Founded his own production company Bioskop Film together with Reinhard Hauff ...

181. Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writer | Faustrecht der Freiheit

Above all, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a rebel whose life and art was marked by gross contradiction. Openly homosexual, he married twice; one of his wives acted in his films and the other served as his editor. Accused variously by detractors of being anticommunist, male chauvinist, antiSemitic and...

182. 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...

183. 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 ...

184. Michael Haneke

Writer | Caché

A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world ...

185. Alexander Kluge

Director | Abschied von gestern - (Anita G.)

Writer. Director. Producer. Studied law and graduated. Was one of the founders of the Oberhausener Manifest in 1962. Since 1962 Headmaster of the 'Institut fuer Filmgestaltung' at the 'Hochschule fuer Gestaltung' in Ulm, Germany. Since 1988 produces broadcastings dealing with cultural aspects in ...

186. Robert Wiene

Director | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

Robert Wiene was born on April 24, 1873 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany [now Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was a writer and director, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Das wandernde Licht (1916) and The Knight of the Rose (1925). He died on July 17, 1938 in Paris, France.

187. Ernst Lubitsch

Director | To Be or Not to Be

From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...

188. Paul Leni

Director | The Man Who Laughs

Paul Leni was born on July 8, 1885 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was an art director and director, known for The Man Who Laughs (1928), Das Rätsel von Bangalor (1918) and The Last Warning (1928). He died on September 2, 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

189. Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Director | Komödianten

Georg Wilhelm Pabst is considered by many to be the greatest director of German cinema, in his era. He was especially appreciated by actors and actresses for the humane way in which he treated them. This was in contrast to some of his contemporaries, such as Arnold Fanck, who have been ...

190. 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 ...

191. Douglas Sirk

Director | Schlußakkord

Film director Douglas Sirk, whose reputation blossomed in the generation after his 1959 retirement from Hollywood filmmaking, was born Hans Detlef Sierck on April 26, 1897, in Hamburg, Germany, to a journalist. Both of his parents were Danish, and the future director would make movies in German, ...

192. Lotte Reiniger

Director | Silhouetten

Lotte Reiniger was born on June 2, 1899 in Berlin, Germany. She was a director and writer, known for Silhouetten (1936), Der Graf von Carabas (1935) and Lotte Reiniger - The Fairy Tale Films (1961). She was married to Carl Koch. She died on June 19, 1981 in Dettenhausen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

193. Lina Wertmüller

Writer | Pasqualino Settebellezze

During the 1970s, Lina Wertmüller emblazoned her name into the pantheon of Italian cinema with a series of intensely polemical, deeply controversial and wonderfully entertaining films. Among the most politically outspoken and iconoclastic members of the second generation of postwar directors - the ...

194. 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...

195. Max Ophüls

Director | La ronde

Director Max Ophüls was born Max Oppenheimer in Saarbrücken, Germany. He began his career as a stage actor and director in the golden twenties. He worked in cities such as Stuttgart, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Vienna, Frankfurt, Breslau and Berlin. In 1929 his son Marcel Ophüls was born in Frankfurt, ...

196. Otto Preminger

Actor | Stalag 17

Otto Ludwig Preminger was born in Wiznitz, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary. His father was a prosecutor, and Otto originally intended to follow his father into a law career; however, he fell in love with the theater in his 20's and became one of the most imaginative stage producers and directors. He was ...

197. Fred Zinnemann

Director | A Man for All Seasons

Initially grew up wanting to be a violinist, but while at the University of Vienna decided to study law. While doing so, he became increasingly interested in American film and decided that was what he wanted to do. He became involved in European filmaking for a short time before going to America to...

198. 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 ...

199. Jean-Marie Straub

Director | Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach

Jean-Marie Straub was born on January 8, 1933 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France. He was a director and editor, known for The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968), Sicily! (1999) and Class Relations (1984). He was married to Danièle Huillet. He died on November 20, 2022 in Rolle, Switzerland.

200. Wolfgang Petersen

Director | Das Boot

A controversial film maker, Wolfgang Petersen has at once been lauded for his professionalism and attention to detail and decried for turning out a string of standard commercial Hollywood blockbusters. The son of a naval officer, Petersen held a lifelong fascination with the sea and naval subjects....