Fraux

1. Jennifer Kent

Jennifer Kent was born on March 5, 1969 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is an actress and director, known for The Nightingale (2018), The Babadook (2014) and Monster (2005).

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 ...

3. Angelina Jolie

Actress | Maleficent

Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become ...

4. Debra Granik

Director | Leave No Trace

Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American New York City-based independent film and documentary film director and screenwriter. She is most known for 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and ...

5. Jane Campion

Writer | Bright Star

Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early...

6. Julie Taymor

Director | Frida

Julie Taymor is an Academy Award-nominated director, known for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007).

She was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Her father, Melvin Lester Taymor, was a gynecologist. Her mother, Elizabeth Bernstein, was a ...

7. Sarah Gavron

Director | Suffragette

Girl (little or teenage), woman, family, couple, friendship, emigration, class struggle, serious society subjects are terms that can be associated with the name of Sarah Gavron, one of the (too) few women directors in Great Britain.Via three major films "Brick Lane" (about the uprooting, ...

8. Kathryn Bigelow

Director | The Hurt Locker

A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be ...

9. Claudia Pinto

Director | La distancia más larga

Claudia Pinto is known for The Longest Distance (2013), The Consequences (2021) and Mentre siguis tu (2023).

10. Nadine Labaki

Actress | Et maintenant on va où?

Nadine Labaki was born on February 18, 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon. She is an actress and director, known for Where Do We Go Now? (2011), Capernaum (2018) and Caramel (2007). She has been married to Khaled Mouzanar since October 2007.

11. 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 ...

12. Patty Jenkins

Director | Wonder Woman

Patty Jenkins is a writer/director best known for directing Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros./DC Comics blockbuster of 2017, and her debut feature Monster. Patty also works in television where she is best known for the pilot and finale episode of AMC's hit show The Killing.

Patty began her career as a ...

13. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Director | Mustang

In 2011 Ergüven was invited to attend the Cannes Film Festivals Atelier to help develop her project, The Kings. While there she met fellow director Alice Winocour who was there to develop her first feature film Augustine. After Ergüven was unable to find financing for her film Winocour suggested ...

14. Ava DuVernay

Writer | Queen Sugar

A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which ...

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Maren Ade

Producer | Toni Erdmann

Maren Ade was born in Karlsruhe on 12 December 1976 to a couple of teachers.She studied cinema at Munich's Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film. As of 2001 she co-founded, together with Janine Jackowski, a fellow graduate from HFF, the "Komplizen" film company. It is through Komplizen that Maren would...

18. Liza Johnson

Director | The Last of Us

Liza Johnson is known for The Last of Us (2023), Return (2011) and In the Air (2009).

19. Laura Bispuri

Director | Figlia mia

Laura Bispuri is a director and writer, known for _Sworn Virgin (2015)_ and _Daughter of Mine (2018)_ both presented in Competition at the Berlinale, in 2015 and 2018. She was awarded with the David di Donatello in 2010 for Best Short Film for _Passing Time (2010)_ and with Nastro d'Argento in 2011...

20. Robin Swicord

Writer | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Robin Swicord was born in 1952 in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. She is a writer and director, known for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Little Women (1994). She has been married to Nicholas Kazan since 1984. They have two children.

21. Marjane Satrapi

Director | Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi was born on November 22, 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She is a director and actress, known for Persepolis (2007), The Voices (2014) and Chicken with Plums (2011). She is married to Mattias Ripa. She was previously married to Reza.

22. 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...

23. 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 ...

24. Miranda July

Writer | Me and You and Everyone We Know

Filmmaker Magazine rated her #1 in their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2004!

She is a performance artist and published short story writer. Since becoming a filmmaker, her debut feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) has won several film awards.

Daughter of Lindy Hough and Richard ...

25. Jocelyn Moorhouse

Director | The Dressmaker

Jocelyn Moorhouse was born on September 4, 1960 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for The Dressmaker (2015), Proof (1991) and Muriel's Wedding (1994). She is married to P.J. Hogan.

26. Anne Fontaine

Writer | Les innocentes

Anne Fontaine was born on July 15, 1959 in Luxembourg. She is an actress and writer, known for The Innocents (2016), Coco Before Chanel (2009) and Reinventing Marvin (2017). She is married to Philippe Carcassonne. They have one child.

27. Leena Yadav

Director | Parched

Born to an Indian Army General in Madhya Pradesh, she graduated with Economics honours from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi. She did Mass Communications from Sophia College, Mumbai. She is married to Aseem Bajaj, an Indian Cinematographer well known for his poetic imagery on films like ...

28. Kimberly Peirce

Director | Boys Don't Cry

Kimberly Peirce was born on September 8, 1967 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Boys Don't Cry (1999), Stop-Loss (2008) and Carrie (2013).

29. Nicolette Krebitz

Actress | Jeans

Nicolette Krebitz was born and brought up in West Berlin. She studied classical dance at Berlin's Ballett Centrum and obtained her acting diploma at the Fritz Kirchhoff Drama School in 1992. She has appeared in front of the camera in cinema and TV productions since 1982. In 1999, she realised her ...

30. Mia Hansen-Løve

Director | L'avenir

Cinema came into Mia Hansen-Løve's life when she was seventeen, as Olivier Assayas made her start as an actress in Late August, Early September (1998). Two years later, he gave her the part of "Aline" in his Les Destinées (2000). Their artistic collaboration was coupled by a union in real ...

31. 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 ...

32. 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).

33. Natalie Portman

Actress | Black Swan

Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).

Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an ...

34. 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).

35. Karen Moncrieff

Director | The Dead Girl

After receiving a B.S. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, Moncrieff moved to California to pursue a career as an actress. She appeared in numerous TV shows and B-movies and was a series regular on Santa Barbara (as Cassandra Lockridge) and Days of Our Lives (as Gabrielle Pascal.)

...

36. Haifaa Al-Mansour

Director | Wadjda

Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and is regarded as one of the most significant cinematic figures in the Kingdom. She finished her bachelor's degree in Literature at the American University in Cairo and completed a Master's degree in Directing and Film Studies from ...

37. Karyn Kusama

Director | The Invitation

Karyn Kusama was born on March 21, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is a director and producer, known for The Invitation (2015), Destroyer (2018) and Girlfight (2000). She has been married to Phil Hay since October 2006. They have one child.

38. Julia Ducournau

Director | Titane

Julia Ducournau is a French film director and screenwriter. She attended film school at La Fémis in Paris, where she studied screenwriting. In 2011, her short film JUNIOR won the Petit Rail d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature, the horror movie Raw (2016), won the coveted ...

39. Mira Nair

Director | Salaam Bombay!

Accomplished Film Director/Writer/Producer Mira Nair was born in India and educated at Delhi University and at Harvard. She began her film career as an actor and then turned to directing award-winning documentaries, including So Far From India and India Cabaret. Her debut feature film, Salaam ...

40. Liv Ullmann

Actress | Viskningar och rop

Liv Ullmann's father was a Norwegian engineer who used to work abroad, so as a child she lived in Tokyo, Canada, New York and Oslo. In the mid-1950s she made her stage debut and in 1957 made her film debut. She really became successful, however, when she began to work for Swedish director Ingmar ...

41. Lone Scherfig

Director | An Education

Writer/director Lone Scherfig graduated from The National Film School of Denmark in 1984. Her first feature film, THE BIRTHDAY TRIP (1990), was selected for Panorama in Berlin, the New Directors section at MOMA in New York and won the Grand Jury Prix in Rouen. Her next film, ON OUR OWN (1998), ...

42. Nanouk Leopold

Director | Boven is het stil

Nanouk Leopold (Rotterdam, 1968) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam in 1992 and from the Dutch Film and Television Academy in 1998. Her graduation film 'Weekend' won the Tuschinski Award for best student film. Her first feature 'Îles Flottantes' was selected for the IFFR Tiger ...

43. Larysa Kondracki

Director | The Whistleblower

Larysa Kondracki was born in Toronto and studied English and theater at McGill University. She received an M.F.A. in film direction from Columbia University and directed the short film VIKO (2008) which played mainly at film festivals to widespread acclaim. The WHISTLEBLOWER is her first feature ...

44. Niki Caro

Director | Whale Rider

Niki Caro is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter, born in 1967. Caro was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She was educated first at the Kadimah College in Auckland, and then the Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. The School is a private girls' school, and ranks ...

45. Catherine Breillat

Writer | À ma soeur!

Catherine Breillat is a Paris based filmmaker and writer who became famous for her distinctively personal films on sexuality, gender trouble and sibling rivalry. Accused of being a "porno auteuriste", Breillat allowed for an unbiased view of sexuality and extended the language of mainstream movies....

46. Naomi Kawase

Director | An

Naomi Kawase was born on May 30, 1969 in Nara, Japan. She is a director and writer, known for Sweet Bean (2015), Still the Water (2014) and Suzaku (1997). She was previously married to Takenori Sentô.

47. Ronit Elkabetz

Actress | Gett

Born in Beershaba in 1964, Ronit was an awkward child who felt she was different from others, but when she became an actress (more or less by chance at the age of 26) with a star role in Daniel Wachsmann's 'Hameyu'ad' ['The Appointed (1990)'], this complex became an asset. This beautiful brunette ...

48. Marleen Gorris

Director | Antonia

Marleen Gorris was born on December 9, 1948 in Roermond, Limburg, Netherlands. She is a director and writer, known for Antonia's Line (1995), A Question of Silence (1982) and Broken Mirrors (1984).

49. 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.

50. Cate Shortland

Director | Lore

Catherine Shortland is an Australian filmmaker from Temora, New South Wales who is known for directing the Marvel film Black Widow. She also directed the feature length films Somersault, Lore and Berlin Syndrome. She directed the short films Pentuphouse, Flowergirl and Joy. She is married to Tony ...

51. Francesca Gregorini

Director | The Truth About Emanuel

Raised in Rome, Los Angeles and the English countryside, Francesca Gregorini brings a worldly, passionate and unique sensibility to her filmmaking. Her character-driven films are visceral and darkly humorous, stylistically bold, with undertones of the magical and surreal. A Brown University ...

52. 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).

53. Meera Menon

Director | Farah Goes Bang

Meera Menon is an Indian-American director, writer, and editor. Her feature directorial debut, Farah Goes Bang, screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and was awarded the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize by Tribeca and Vogue. She resides in Los Angeles.

Menon cited her father as her earliest ...

54. Helma Sanders-Brahms

Director | Deutschland bleiche Mutter

Helma Sanders-Brahms was born on November 20, 1940 in Emden, Province of Hanover, Prussia [now Lower Saxony], Germany. She was a director and writer, known for Germany Pale Mother (1980), No Mercy, No Future (1981) and Laputa (1986). She died on May 27, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.

55. Sally Potter

Director | The Tango Lesson

Sally Potter made her first 8mm film aged fourteen. She has since written and directed seven feature films, as well as many short films (including THRILLER and PLAY) and a television series, and has directed opera (Carmen for the ENO in 2007) and other live work. Her background is in choreography, ...

56. Gia Coppola

Director | Palo Alto

Gia Coppola was born on January 1, 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Palo Alto (2013), Mainstream (2020) and Somewhere (2010).

57. Mouly Surya

Director | Marlina si pembunuh dalam empat babak

Mouly Surya is known for Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017), What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love (2013) and Fiksi. (2008).

58. Marya Cohn

Director | The Girl in the Book

Marya Cohn is known for The Girl in the Book (2015), Developing (1994) and Vermont Is for Lovers (1992). She has been married to Tjebbo Penning since August 5, 2001. They have two children. She was previously married to Fraser Bresnahan.

59. Greta Gerwig

Writer | Barbie

Greta Gerwig is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and director. She has collaborated with Noah Baumbach on several films, including Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination, and Mistress America (2015). Gerwig made her solo directorial debut ...

60. Maggie Betts

Director | The Burial

Maggie Betts is an American screenwriter and film director. Born and raised in New York City, she attended Princeton University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. She is the daughter of Roland Betts (a real estate developer) and Lois Betts. In 2017, Maggie won the ...

61. Lisa Langseth

Writer | Till det som är vackert

Lisa Langseth is known for Pure (2010), Euphoria (2017) and Hotel (2013).

62. Josie Rourke

Director | Mary Queen of Scots

Josie is the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse. Her productions have transferred to Broadway, the West-End and won Olivier Awards. Her shows have been translated into live cinema broadcasts, including Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston, Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Janet McTeer and Dominic ...

63. Anahita Ghazvinizadeh

Writer | They

Anahita Ghazvinizadeh is a director, screenwriter, editor and educator. Her short film Needle won the Cinéfondation Premier Prix in Cannes Film Festival in 2013, and her feature directorial debut They was in the official selection of Cannes Film Festival in 2017. Anahita was named as one of the 25 ...

64. Chloé Zhao

Director | Nomadland

Chloé Zhao or Zhao Ting (born March 31, 1982) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, and producer. Her debut feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Her second feature film, The Rider (2017), was critically acclaimed and received several accolades ...

65. Jessica Sharzer

Producer | Speak

Jessica Sharzer is writer, producer, and director best known for her work on Speak (2004), Nerve (2016), American Horror Story (2011-2015), and the new mystery thriller A Simple Favor (2018). Sharzer has been nominated for 3 Primetime Emmy's for her work on American Horror Story. Sharzer is working...

66. Carla Simón

Director | Alcarràs

Carla Simón was born on December 22, 1986 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for Alcarràs (2022), Summer 1993 (2017) and Letter to My Mother for My Son (2022).

67. Anna Boden

Producer | Half Nelson

Anna Boden is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known as the co-writer of the 2006 film Half Nelson. She is known for her collaborations with fellow filmmaker Ryan Fleck. While studying film at NYU, Boden met Ryan Fleck on the set of a student film. Soon they...

68. Atsuko Hirayanagi

Producer | Ô Rûshî!

Born and raised in Japan, Atsuko Hirayanagi is an award winning screenwriter and director based in San Francisco. Her debut feature Oh Lucy! was an extrapolation of her student short of the same name. The short won the Wasserman Award / first prize for a graduate film and also won more than 35 ...

69. Carol Morley

Director | The Falling

Carol Morley was born in Manchester, England. She attended Central St Martins College of Art, where she graduated with a first class degree in fine art film and video. Her films include The Alcohol Years, a BAFTA nominated film about her scurrilous teenage past, Dreams of a Life, which went behind ...

70. Pella Kagerman

Director | Aniara

Pella Kagerman is known for Aniara (2018), The Swedish Supporter (2011) and Reckless (2021).

71. Pernille Fischer Christensen

Director | En familie

Pernille Fischer Christensen was born on December 24, 1969 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a director and writer, known for A Family (2010), A Soap (2006) and Someone You Love (2014).

72. Wanuri Kahiu

Director | Rafiki

Wanuri's first feature film From A Whisper, based on the real events surrounding the 1998 twin bombings of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania won Best Narrative Feature in 2010 at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as five awards at the African Movie Academy Award, including Best...

73. Anna Biller

Director | Viva

Anna Biller is a writer and director who creates unique, female-focused, highly visual films. She has a BA from UCLA in art and an MFA from CalArts in art and film. Her first feature Viva played in film festivals all over the world and gained minor cult status, and her second feature The Love Witch...

74. Sara Colangelo

Director | The Kindergarten Teacher

Sara Colangelo is an award-winning writer and director. Her first film, the short documentary Halal Vivero, was a National Finalist at the 2006 Student Academy Awards, and her narrative short, Un Attimo di Respiro, screened at over fifteen national and international film festivals including Tribeca...

75. Michal Bat-Adam

Writer | Ahava Mimabat Sheni

Michal Bat-Adam was born on March 2, 1945 in Afula, Israel. She is an actress and writer, known for Love at Second Sight (1999), A Thin Line (1980) and Rita Shem Zemani (2007). She was previously married to Moshé Mizrahi.

76. Keren Yedaya

Director | Or

Keren Yedaya was born on November 23, 1972 in the USA. She is a director and writer, known for Or (My Treasure) (2004), Jaffa (2009) and Red Fields (2019).

77. Valeska Grisebach

Director | Western

Valeska Grisebach was born on January 4, 1968 in Bremen, West Germany [now Germany]. She is a director and writer, known for Western (2017), Sehnsucht (2006) and Be My Star (2001).

78. Alice Rohrwacher

Director | La chimera

Alice Rohrwacher was born on December 29, 1981 in Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for La Chimera (2023), Happy as Lazzaro (2018) and The Wonders (2014).

79. Emily Atef

Director | Plus que jamais

Emily Atef was born on May 6, 1973 in Berlin, Germany. She is a director and writer, known for More Than Ever (2022), 3 Days in Quiberon (2018) and Das Fremde in mir (2008).

80. Larisa Shepitko

Director | Voskhozhdenie

Larisa Shepitko was born on January 6, 1938 in Bakhmut, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. She was a director and writer, known for The Ascent (1977), Heat (1963) and You and Me (1971). She was married to Elem Klimov. She died on July 2, 1979 in near Redkino, Kalinin Oblast...

81. Jennifer Fox

Producer | The Tale

Jennifer Fox is known for The Tale (2018), My Reincarnation (2011) and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman (2006).

82. Eva Husson

Director | Bang Gang (une histoire d'amour moderne)

Eva Husson was born in 1977 in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France. She is a director and writer, known for Bang Gang: A Modern Love Story (2015), Those for Whom It's Always Complicated (2013) and Girls of the Sun (2018).

83. Marielle Heller

Director | The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Marielle Heller is a writer, director and actor. She was selected as a 2012 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and 2012 Sundance Directing Fellow, and was honored with the Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship, and The Maryland Film Festival Fellowship. Her writing credits include pilots for ABC and ...

84. Bryce Dallas Howard

Actress | Jurassic World Dominion

Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. She was conceived in Dallas, Texas (the reason for her middle name). Her father, Ron Howard, is a former actor turned Oscar-winning director. Her mother is actress and writer Cheryl Howard (née Alley). Her famous relatives ...

85. Ildikó Enyedi

Director | Teströl és lélekröl

Ildikó Enyedi was born on November 15, 1955 in Budapest, Hungary. She is a director and writer, known for On Body and Soul (2017), Simon, the Magician (1999) and My Twentieth Century (1989).

86. Ula Stöckl

Director | Geschichten vom Kübelkind

Ula Stöckl was born on February 5, 1938 in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is a director and writer, known for Geschichten vom Kübelkind (1971), Der Schlaf der Vernunft (1984) and Erikas Leidenschaften (1976).

87. Naoko Ogigami

Writer | Karera ga honki de amu toki wa,

After graduation from Chiba University's Image Science program, Naoko Ogigami went to the United States in 1994 to study film at the University of Southern California. During this period, she worked as an assistant for TV commercials, promotional videos, and films, and also created short films of ...

88. Mika Ninagawa

Director | XxxHolic

Mika Ninagawa was born on October 18, 1972 in Chofu, Japan. She is a director and writer, known for XxxHolic (2022), Followers (2020) and No Longer Human (2019).

89. Jessica Hausner

Director | Little Joe

Jessica Hausner was born on October 6, 1972 in Vienna, Austria. She is a director and writer, known for Little Joe (2019), Lourdes (2009) and Amour Fou (2014).

90. Olivia Wilde

Actress | Tron: Legacy

Actress and activist Olivia Wilde is a modern day renaissance woman, starring in many acclaimed film productions, while simultaneously giving back to the community.

She was born on March 10, 1984 in New York City. Her parents are Leslie Cockburn (née Leslie Corkill Redlich) and Andrew Cockburn. Her ...

91. Lulu Wang

Director | The Farewell

Lulu Wang was born on February 25, 1983 in Beijing, China. She is a director and writer, known for The Farewell (2019), Touch (2015) and Family Meal.

92. Kitty Green

Director | The Assistant

Kitty Green was born on August 8, 1984 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for The Assistant (2019), Casting JonBenet (2017) and The Royal Hotel (2023).

93. Waad Al-Kateab

Director | For Sama

Waad Al-Kateab was born on January 24, 1991 in Syria. She is a director and producer, known for For Sama (2019), We Dare to Dream (2023) and The White Helmets.

94. Melina Matsoukas

Director | Queen & Slim

Melina Matsoukas was born on January 14, 1981. She is a director and producer, known for Queen & Slim (2019), Insecure (2016) and Beyoncé: Formation (2016).

95. Kasi Lemmons

Actress | The Silence of the Lambs

Kasi Lemmons was born on February 24, 1961 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She is an actress and director, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Harriet (2019) and Candyman (1992). She has been married to Vondie Curtis-Hall since August 19, 1995. They have two children.

96. Natalie Erika James

Director | Relic

Natalie Erika James is known for Relic (2020), Creswick (2017) and Drum Wave (2018).

97. Zaida Bergroth

Director | Tove

Zaida Bergroth was born in 1977. She is a director and writer, known for Tove (2020), Detektiven från Beledweyne (2023) and Maria's Paradise (2019).

98. Channing Godfrey Peoples

Director | Miss Juneteenth

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Channing Godfrey Peoples studied theater at Baylor University and then enrolled in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.In the process of developing her first feature length film, she was a screenwriting fellow in Austin, ...

99. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Director | The Mustang

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre was born on July 26, 1983 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for The Mustang (2019), Rabbit (2014) and Atlantic Avenue (2013).

100. Zabou Breitman

Actress | Se souvenir des belles choses

Zabou Breitman was born on October 30, 1959 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Se souvenir des belles choses (2001), The Swallows of Kabul (2019) and The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak (1984). She was previously married to Fabien Chalon.