Favourite directors of the 21st century

by bigloada | created - 04 Dec 2013 | updated - 14 Sep 2021 | Public

The people doing the consistently best work in film these days.

1. 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 ...

Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher, The Time Of The Wolf, Caché, Funny Games, The White Ribbon, Amour, Happy End

2. Paul Thomas Anderson

Director | Punch-Drunk Love

Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...

Punch Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread

3. 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 ...

Dancer In The Dark, Dogville, The Five Obstructions, Manderlay, The Boss Of It All, Antichrist, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac, The House That Jack Built

4. Jonathan Glazer

Director | Under the Skin

Jonathan first found fame for his revolutionary work on Radiohead's 'Street Spirit' and Jamiroquai's multi-MTV award winning 'Virtual Insanity' video.

In 1999 he directed the ground-breaking Guinness 'Surfer', which picked up 2 D&AD Black Pencils and the top spot at most of the other awards ...

Sexy Beast, Birth, Under The Skin

5. 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 ...

Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire

6. 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,...

My Best Friend, Kinetta, Dogtooth, ALPS, The Lobster, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, The Favourite

7. Roy Andersson

Director | En kärlekshistoria

Roy Arne Lennart Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for his distinctive style of absurdist humor and melancholic depictions of human life. His personal style is characterized by long takes, and stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and grotesque. Over his career Andersson earned ...

Songs From The Second Floor, You The Living, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, About Endlessness

8. 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, ...

The Squid & The Whale, Margot At The Wedding, Greenberg, Frances Ha, While We're Young, Mistress America, The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected), Marriage Story

9. 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 ...

Old Joy, Wendy And Lucy, Meek's Cutoff, Night Moves, Certain Women, First Cow

10. 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 ...

Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven, Full Frontal, Solaris, Ocean's Twelve, Bubble, The Good German, Ocean's Thirteen, Che, The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant, And Everything Is Going Fine, Contagion, Haywire, Magic Mike, Side Effects, Behind The Candelabra, Logan Lucky, Unsane, High Flying Bird, The Laundromat, Let Them All Talk, No Sudden Move

11. Benny Safdie

Actor | Good Time

Born and raised in New York City: in both Queens & Manhattan. He attended the school of Communication at Boston University. He often collaborates with his brother Josh Safdie. He is a director, writer, editor and actor known for Daddy Longlegs(2009),Heaven Knows What(2014), Good Time (2017), Uncut ...

Daddy Longlegs, Heaven Knows What, Good Time, Uncut Gems

12. 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 ...

Irreversible, Enter The Void, Love, Climax

13. Robert Eggers

Director | The Lighthouse

Robert Houston Eggers is an American filmmaker and production designer. He is best known for writing and directing the historical horror films The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), as well as directing and co-writing the historical fiction epic film The Northman (2022). His films are noted ...

The Witch, The Lighthouse

14. 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 ...

O Brother Where Art Thou, The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, No Country For Old Men, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar!, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

15. 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 ...

Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful, Birdman, The Revenant

16. 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 Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle Of Dogs, The French Dispatch

17. 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 ...

Gangs Of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, Hugo, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman

18. Lynne Ramsay

Director | You Were Never Really Here

Lynne Ramsay was born on December 5, 1969 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK. She is a director and writer, known for You Were Never Really Here (2017), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and Ratcatcher (1999). She was previously married to Rory Stewart Kinnear.

Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need To Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here

19. Harmony Korine

Director | Gummo

Harmony Korine was born in 1973 in Bolinas, California. His family moved to the east coast of the United States when he was five, and he spent his early years in Nashville, Tennessee, and New York. At the age of nineteen, he wrote the critically acclaimed screenplay Kids (1995) for director Larry ...

Mister Lonely, Trash Humpers, Spring Breakers, The Beach Bum

20. Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Director | Memoria

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970, Bangkok) grew up in Khon Kaen, a city in the north east of Thailand. He has a degree in Architecture from Khon Kaen University and a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been making films and videos since the ...

Syndromes And A Century, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Mekong Hotel, Cemetery Of Splendor, Memoria

21. Claire Denis

Director | High Life

The films of Claire Denis frequently explore the fragile connections between people and the ways in which the most seemingly inconsequential relationship can have life-changing effects. At the heart of Denis' cinema is a fascination with the delights and difficulties of belonging and otherness, the...

Trouble Every Day, Friday Night, The Intruder, 35 Shots Of Rum, White Material, Bastards, Let The Sunshine In, High Life

22. Ruben Östlund

Director | Triangle of Sadness

Ruben Östlund was born on April 13, 1974 in Styrsö, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. He is a director and editor, known for Triangle of Sadness (2022), Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017). He was previously married to Andrea Östlund.

The Guitar Mongoloid, Involuntary, Play, Force Majeure, The Square

23. 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 ...

Requiem For A Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Black Swan, Noah, mother!

24. Luca Guadagnino

Director | Call Me by Your Name

Luca Guadagnino was born on August 10, 1971 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and producer, known for Call Me by Your Name (2017), Suspiria (2018) and Bones and All (2022).

Melissa P, I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria

25. Steve McQueen

Director | 12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen was born on October 9, 1969 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Shame (2011) and Hunger (2008). He is married to Bianca Stigter. They have two children.

Hunger, Shame, 12 Years A Slave, Widows

26. Christian Petzold

Director | Barbara

Christian Petzold was born in Hilden in 1960. After studying German and Drama at the Freie Universität Berlin, he enrolled in Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television (DFFB). There he studied film direction while at same time working as an assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut ...

The State I Am In, Wolfsburg, Gespenster, Yella, Jerichow, Barbara, Pheonix, Transit, Undine

27. Olivier Assayas

Writer | Personal Shopper

Olivier Assayas is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is best know for his films Demonlover (2002), Something in the Air (2012), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and Personal Shopper (2016).

Assayas is the son of French director/screenwriter Raymond Assayas, alias Jacques Rémy.

His ...

Demonlover, Clean, Boarding Gate, Summer Hours, Carlos, Something In The Air, Clouds Of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper, Non-Fiction, Wasp Network

28. Peter Strickland

Director | Katalin Varga

Peter Strickland was born in 1973 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Katalin Varga (2009), In Fabric (2018) and Berberian Sound Studio (2012).

Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke Of Burgundy, In Fabric

29. Carlos Reygadas

Producer | Stellet Licht

Carlos Reygadas was born on October 10, 1971 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a producer and director, known for Silent Light (2007), Japan (2002) and Post Tenebras Lux (2012). He is married to Natalia López.

Japon, Battle In Heaven, Silent Light, Serenghetti, Post Tenebras Lux, Our Time

30. 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).

Medicine For Melancholy, Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk

31. Frederick Wiseman

Director | National Gallery

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

Domestic Violence, The Last Letter, Domestic Violence 2, The Garden, State Legislature, La Danse, Boxing Gym, Crazy Horse, At Berkeley, National Gallery, In Jackson Heights, Ex Libris, Monrovia Indiana, City Hall

32. Rick Alverson

Director | The Mountain

Rick Alverson (born June 25, 1971, Spokane, Washington) is an American filmmaker and musician living in Richmond, Virginia. His feature films include The Mountain (2018), Entertainment (2015) and The Comedy (2012). His work has screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film ...

The Builder, New Jerusalem, The Comedy, Entertainment, The Mountain

33. 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 ...

Talk To Her, Bad Education, Volver, Broken Embraces, The Skin I Live In, I'm So Excited, Julieta, Pain & Glory

34. Bruno Dumont

Writer | P'tit Quinquin

Bruno Dumont was born on March 14, 1958 in Bailleul, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. He is a writer and director, known for Li'l Quinquin (2014), The Life of Jesus (1997) and Camille Claudel 1915 (2013).

Twentynine Palms, Flanders, Hadewijch, Outside Satan, Camille Claudel 1915, Li'l Quinquin, Slack Bay, Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan Of Arc, Joan Of Arc, France

35. 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...

Kill Bill, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood

36. Céline Sciamma

Writer | Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

Céline Sciamma was born on November 12, 1978 in Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, France. She is a writer and director, known for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Petite Maman (2021) and Tomboy (2011).

Water Lilies, Tomboy, Girlhood, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Petite Maman

37. 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...

Invincible, Wheel Of Time, The White Diamond, Grizzly Man, The Wild Blue Yonder, Rescue Dawn, Encounters At The End Of The World, Bad Lieutenant, My Son My Son What Have Ye Done, Happy People, Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, Into The Abyss, Queen Of The Desert, Salt And Fire, Into The Inferno, Meeting Gorbachev, Nomad, Family Romance LLC

38. 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.

Coffee And Cigarettes, Broken Flowers, The Limits Of Control, Only Lovers Left Alive, Paterson, The Dead Don't Die

39. Sofia Coppola

Actress | The Godfather Part III

Sofia Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA as Sofia Carmina Coppola. She is a director, known for Somewhere (2010), Lost in Translation (2003), and Marie Antoinette (2006). She has been married to Thomas Mars since August 27, 2011. They have two daughters, Romy and ...

Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette, Somewhere, The Bling Ring, The Beguiled, On The Rocks

40. 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. ...

Waking Life, Tape, School Of Rock, Before Sunset, Bad News Bears, Fast Food Nation, A Scanner Darkly, Me And Orson Welles, Bernie, Before Midnight, Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some!!, Last Flag Flying, Where'd You Go Bernadette

41. Alex Ross Perry

Director | Golden Exits

Alex Ross Perry is known for Golden Exits (2017), Her Smell (2018) and Impolex (2009).

Impolex, The Color Wheel, Listen Up Philip, Queen Of Earth, Golden Exits, Her Smell

42. Ari Aster

Director | Hereditary

Ari Aster is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for writing and directing the A24 horror films Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019). Aster was born into a Jewish family in New York City on July 15, 1986, the son of a poet mother and musician father. He has a ...

Hereditary, Midsommar

43. Pablo Larraín

Producer | No

Pablo Larraín was born in Santiago, Chile. He is a director, writer and producer, known for Spencer (2021), Jackie (2016), El Club (2015), NO (2012), among others. Together with his brother Juan de Dios Larraín, they founded Fabula in 2004, one of the most prolific production companies in Latin ...

Fuga, Tony Manero, Post Mortem, No, The Club, Neruda, Jackie, Ema, Spencer

44. Ben Wheatley

Director | Free Fire

Ben Wheatley was born in May 1972 in Billericay, Essex, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Free Fire (2016), Kill List (2011) and Sightseers (2012).

Down Terrace, Kill List, Sightseers, A Field In England, High-Rise, Free Fire, Happy New Year Colin Burstead, Rebecca, In The Earth

45. Eliza Hittman

Director | Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Eliza Hittman was born on January 1, 1979 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), Beach Rats (2017) and It Felt Like Love (2013).

It Felt Like Love, Beach Rats, Never Rarely Sometimes Always

46. Kazik Radwanski

Director | Anne at 13,000 Feet.

Kazik Radwanski is known for Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), Princess Margaret Blvd. (2008) and Out in That Deep Blue Sea (2009).

Tower, How Heavy This Hammer, Anne At 13,000 Feet

47. 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, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet

48. Nicolas Winding Refn

Writer | The Neon Demon

Writer, director, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1970, to Anders Refn, a film director and editor, and Vibeke Winding (née Tuxen), a cinematographer. Just before he turned 11, in 1981, he moved to New York with his parents, where he lived out his teen years. ...

Fear X, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive, Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon

49. 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 ...

The Third Lie, It's All About Love, Dear Wendy, When A Man Comes Home, Submarino, The Hunt, Far From The Madding Crowd, The Commune, The Command, Another Round

50. Jordan Peele

Writer | Nope

Jordan Peele is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning director, writer, actor, producer, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions. Peele's first feature film, "Get Out," was a critically acclaimed blockbuster, recognized with four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The film would earn Peele the ...

Get Out, Us

51. 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 ...

In The Mood For Love, 2046, My Blueberry Nights, The Grandmaster

52. David Gordon Green

Producer | Halloween Kills

David Gordon Green was born on April 9, 1975 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Halloween Kills (2021), Halloween (2018) and Prince Avalanche (2013).

George Washington, All The Real Girls, Undertow, Snow Angels, Pineapple Express, Your Highness, The Sitter, Prince Avalanche, Joe, Manglehorn, Our Brand Is Crisis, Stronger, Halloween, Halloween Kills

53. Shane Carruth

Composer | Upstream Color

Writer-director Shane Carruth, a former software engineer, burst onto the independent movie scene with his extremely low-budget science-fiction film Primer (2004) in 2004. Carruth also played one of the two leads in the film and composed its music. "Primer" won the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P...

Primer, Upstream Color

54. Gus Van Sant

Director | Elephant

Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American filmmaker, painter, screenwriter, photographer and musician from Louisville, Kentucky who is known for directing films such as Good Will Hunting, the 1998 remake of Psycho, Gerry, Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Milk, Last Days, Finding Forrester, ...

Gerry, Elephant, Last Days, Paranoid Park, Milk, Restless, Promised Land, The Sea Of Trees, Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot

55. Adam McKay

Producer | The Other Guys

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 ...

Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Anchorman 2, The Big Short, Vice

56. 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 ...

Y Tu Mamá También, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children Of Men, Gravity, Roma

57. Pawel Pawlikowski

Director | Zimna wojna

A literature and philosophy graduate, with extensive post-graduate work at Oxford on German literature, Polish-born Pawel Pawlikowski started as a documentary filmmaker in British television.

His second feature, Last Resort (2000), earned him international critical acclaim at numerous festivals, ...

My Summer Of Love, The Woman In The Fifth, Ida, Cold War

58. 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 ...

Ex Machina, Annihilation

59. Andrew Haigh

Director | All of Us Strangers

Andrew Haigh is a writer and director. His film work includes Weekend, which premiered at SXSW and won the audience award. 45 Years, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, won 2 Silver Bears, and received an Academy Award nomination for lead actress Charlotte Rampling. Lean on Pete premiered in ...

Greek Pete, Weekend, 45 Years, Lean On Pete

60. Andrea Arnold

Director | American Honey

Andrea Arnold was born on April 5, 1961 in Dartford, Kent, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for American Honey (2016), Fish Tank (2009) and Red Road (2006).

Red Road, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights, American Honey, Cow

61. Charlie Kaufman

Writer | I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Avid reader Charlie Kaufman wrote plays and made short films as a young student. He moved from Massapequa, New York to West Hartford, Connecticut in 1972 where he attended high school. As a comedic actor, he performed in school plays and, after graduation, he enrolled at Boston University but soon ...

Synecdoche New York, Anomalisa, I'm Thinking Of Ending Things

62. Nicole Holofcener

Director | Enough Said

Nicole Holofcener was born on March 22, 1960 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Enough Said (2013), Friends with Money (2006) and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). She was previously married to Benjamin Allanoff.

Lovely & Amazing, Friends With Money, Please Give, Enough Said, The Land Of Steady Habits

63. 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 ...

Ali, Collateral, Miami Vice, Public Enemies, Blackhat

64. Athina Rachel Tsangari

Producer | Attenberg

Athina Rachel Tsangari was born on April 2, 1966 in Aspra Spitia, Greece. She is a producer and director, known for Attenberg (2010), Chevalier (2015) and The Slow Business of Going (2000).

The Slow Business Of Going, Attenberg, Chevalier

65. 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.

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, I'm A Cyborg But That's OK, Thirst, 60 Seconds Of Solitude In Year Zero, Stoker, The Handmaiden

66. 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), ...

Polytechnique, Incendies, Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune

67. 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. ...

Distant, Climates, Three Monkeys, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Winter Sleep, The Wild Pear Tree

68. Guillermo del Toro

Writer | El laberinto del fauno

Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his ...

The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, The Shape Of Water

69. Derek Cianfrance

Writer | Blue Valentine

Derek Cianfrance began making movies at age 13. He later attended The University of Colorado where he studied under avant-garde film legends Stan Brakhage and Phil Solomon. His first three films, 'Five O'clock Shadow', 'Raw Footage', and Brother Tied (1998), won consecutive Goldfarb Awards for best...

Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond The Pines, The Light Between Oceans

70. 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).

J'ai tué ma mère, Heartbeats, Laurence Anyways, Tom At The Farm, Mommy, It's Only The End Of The World, The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan, Matthias Et Maxime

71. 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 ...

Adaptation, Where The Wild Things Are, Her, Beastie Boys Story

72. Andrew Bujalski

Director | Computer Chess

Andrew Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of an artist-turned-businesswoman, Sheila Dubman, and a businessman, Edmund Bujalski. Andrew studied film at Harvard's Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, where the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman was his thesis advisor.

He shot his ...

Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, Beeswax, Computer Chess, Results, Support The Girls

73. Mike Leigh

Director | Secrets & Lies

Mike Leigh is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre ...

All Or Nothing, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year, Mr. Turner, Peterloo

74. Mike Mills

Director | Beginners

Mike Mills was born in 1966, Berkeley, California. He graduated from Cooper Union, 1989.

He works as a filmmaker, graphic designer and artist. As a filmmaker, Mike has completed a number of music videos, commercials, short films, documentaries, and the feature film Thumbsucker (2005). Architecture ...

Thumbsucker, Beginners, 20th Century Women, C'mon C'mon

75. Susanne Bier

Director | Hævnen

Though Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning writer and director Susanne Bier's work often plays out against a wide-reaching global backdrop, its focus is intimate, carefully exploring the explosive emotions and complexities of familial bonds. This unique combination is part of ...

Once In A Lifetime, Open Hearts, Brothers, After The Wedding, Things We Lost In The Fire, In A Better World, Love Is All You Need, A Second Chance, Serena, Bird Box

76. Taika Waititi

Producer | What We Do in the Shadows

Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish...

Eagle Vs. Shark, Boy, What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit

77. 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...

Panic Room, Zodiac, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Mank

78. Rian Johnson

Producer | Knives Out

Rian Johnson was born in Maryland and at a young age his family moved to San Clemente, California, where he was raised. After graduating from high school, he went on to attend the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. His first feature film, Brick (2005), was released in 2005 ...

Brick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Knives Out

79. Todd Solondz

Director | Welcome to the Dollhouse

Todd Solondz was born in Newark, New Jersey. One of his earliest jobs in the film industry was when, as a young man, he worked as a messenger for the Writers' Guild of America. During this time, he wrote several screenplays.

Solondz's first color film with sync sound was the short "Schatt's Last ...

Storytelling, Palindromes, Life During Wartime, Dark Horse, Wiener-Dog

80. Sebastián Lelio

Director | Una mujer fantástica

Born in 1974, Sebastián Lelio is one of the leading figures (along with Pablo Larraín, Andrés Wood and a few others) of the post-dictatorship Chilean cinema. After graduating from the "Escuela de Cine de Chile" in Santiago, Lelio started by making shorts (he made five from 1995 to 2003, as well as ...

La Sagrada Familia, Christmas, The Year Of The Tiger, Gloria, A Fantastic Woman, Disobedience, Gloria Bell

81. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Director | Das Leben der Anderen

As the son of a Lufthansa manager, Henckel von Donnersmarck spent his childhood and school years in New York, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Brussels, where he passed his international high school diploma in 1991. He then spent two years studying in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) with the following ...

The Lives Of Others, The Tourist, Never Look Away

82. Jeff Nichols

Writer | Take Shelter

Jeff Nichols was born on December 7, 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012) and Midnight Special (2016).

Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special, Loving

83. Judd Apatow

Producer | Girls

Judd Apatow is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He directed The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, Funny People, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island. He also developed the television shows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Girls, Love and Crashing. He is ...

The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, This Is 40, Trainwreck, The King Of Staten Island

84. Ryan Coogler

Director | Black Panther

Ryan Kyle Coogler is an African-American filmmaker and producer who is from Oakland, California. He is known for directing the Black Panther film series, Creed, a Rocky spin-off and Fruitvale Station. He frequently casts Michael B. Jordan in his works. He produced the Creed sequels, Judas and the ...

Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther

85. 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 ...

Away From Her, Take This Waltz, Stories We Tell

86. 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 ...

The Pianist, Oliver Twist, The Ghost Writer, Carnage, Venus In Fur, An Officer And A Spy

87. David Wain

Writer | Wet Hot American Summer

David Wain was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

He met the other members of the comedy troupe The State while a film student at NYU, where he graduated from in 1991.

As part of The State, he co-created and co-starred on their self-titled MTV sketch comedy show in the mid 90's. He then ...

Wet Hot American Summer, The Ten, Role Models, Wanderlust, They Came Together, A Futile And Stupid Gesture

88. Alex Lehmann

Director | Paddleton

Alex Lehmann is known for Paddleton (2019), Meet Cute (2022) and Blue Jay (2016). He has been married to Sierra Fisk since September 1, 2012.

Blue Jay, Paddleton

89. Desiree Akhavan

Director | Appropriate Behavior

Desiree Akhavan was born on December 27, 1984 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Appropriate Behavior (2014), The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) and The Bisexual (2018).

Appropriate Behavior, The Miseducation Of Cameron Post

90. 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, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim, The World's End, Baby Driver, Last Night In Soho

91. László Nemes

Director | Saul fia

László Nemes was born on 18th Feb. 1977 in Budapest, Hungary. He moved to France at 12 with his mother. He grew up in Paris, where he studied History, International Relations and Political Science at the Institut d'Études Politiques, because he couldn't go to film school. After that he started ...

Son Of Saul, Sunset

92. Michel Gondry

Director | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band ...

Human Nature, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, The Science Of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind, The Green Hornet, Mood Indigo, The We And The I, Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy, Microbe & Gasoline

93. Zal Batmanglij

Writer | The East

Zal Batmanglij was born on April 28, 1981. He is a writer and producer, known for The East (2013), Sound of My Voice (2011) and The OA (2016).

Sound Of My Voice, The East

94. 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 ...

Small Time Crooks, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, Hollywood Ending, Anything Else, Melinda & Melinda, Match Point, Scoop, Cassandra's Dream, Vicki Cristina Barcelona, Whatever Works, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, Midnight In Paris, To Rome With Love, Blue Jasmine, Magic In The Moonlight, Irrational Man, Cafe Society, Wonder Wheel, A Rainy Day In New York, Rifkin's Festival

95. Martin McDonagh

Writer | In Bruges

Martin McDonagh was born on March 26, 1970 in Camberwell, London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for In Bruges (2008), Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

96. Alexander Payne

Director | Nebraska

Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest...

About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska, Downsizing

97. Joe Wright

Director | Pride & Prejudice

Joe Wright is an English film director. He is best known for Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Anna Karenina (2012), and Darkest Hour (2017).

Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. He would also make films on his Super 8 camera as well as spend time in the evenings...

Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, The Soloist, Hanna, Anna Karenina, Pan, Darkest Hour, The Woman In The Window, Cyrano

98. Stephen Frears

Director | Dangerous Liaisons

Stephen started off in a career in the legal profession before switching to work as an assistant stage manager at London's Royal Court which led to work as an assistant director on films by Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson He directed his first short in 1967 and his feature debut, Gumshoe, in 1971....

High Fidelity, Liam, Dirty Pretty Things, Mrs. Henderson Presents, The Queen, Cheri, Tamara Drewe, Lay The Favorite, Mohammed Ali's Greatest Fight, Philomena, The Program, Florence Foster Jenkins, Victoria & Abdul

99. Jeremy Saulnier

Cinematographer | Blue Ruin

Jeremy Saulnier has slyly defined a unique cinematic aesthetic that complements his idiosyncratic narrative premises. His sophomore feature, Blue Ruin (2013) a quirky, crime drama set in a pretty, but grimier part of suburban America was a festival darling and supplanted his name within the ...

Murder Party, Blue Ruin, Green Room, Hold The Dark

100. Jason Reitman

Producer | Up in the Air

Jason Reitman is a Canadian filmmaker and producer who notably directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Young Adult and Tully. He produced Chloe and Jennifer's Body, two films that advanced Amanda Seyfried's career for adult oriented roles. He is the son of Ivan...

Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up In The Air, Young Adult, Labor Day, Men Women & Children, Tully, The Front Runner, Ghostbusters: Afterlife



Recently Viewed