Directors who deserve more recognition. Support them.

1. David M. Rosenthal

David M. Rosenthal was born on March 23, 1969 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for A Single Shot (2013), How It Ends (2018) and No Limit (2022).

2. Andrew Douglas

Director | Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus

British director Andrew Douglas began his career in Antony Armstrong-Jones Snowdon's photographic studio. He was a magazine photographer for Esquire and The Face and then a director of music videos and commercials. His 2003 documentary, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, won a Royal Television ...

3. 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...

4. Clio Barnard

Director | The Selfish Giant

Clio Barnard was born in Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK. She is known for The Selfish Giant (2013), Ali & Ava (2021) and The Arbor (2010).

5. Lucky McKee

Director | May

Born and raised in the small riverbank town of Jenny Lind in Calaveras County, California, Edward Lucky McKee grew up mostly in poverty with little access to modern forms of entertainment. When McKee was age ten, he used an old video camera to videotape his sister's birthday party which put him on ...

6. Joshua Oppenheimer

Director | The Act of Killing

Joshua Oppenheimer was born on September 23, 1974 in Texas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Act of Killing (2012), The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1998) and The Look of Silence (2014).

7. 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 ...

8. J.C. Chandor

Producer | A Most Violent Year

J.C. Chandor is known for A Most Violent Year (2014), Margin Call (2011) and All Is Lost (2013). He has been married to Mary Cameron Goodyear since 2004. They have two children.

9. Destin Daniel Cretton

Director | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Destin Daniel Cretton is an American filmmaker, writer and producer from Haiku, Hawaii. He is known for directing The Glass Castle, I Am Not a Hipster, Short Term 12, Just Mercy and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He is the second Asian-American filmmaker to direct a Marvel film ...

10. Kirk Wong

Director | The Big Hit

Kirk Wong was born in 1949 in Hong Kong. He is an actor and director, known for The Big Hit (1998), Health Warning (1983) and Gunmen (1988).

11. 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.

12. Zhangke Jia

Producer | Jiang hu er nü

Zhangke Jia was born on May 24, 1970 in Fenyang, Shanxi, China. He is a producer and director, known for Jiang hu er nü (2018), A Touch of Sin (2013) and Mountains May Depart (2015). He has been married to Tao Zhao since January 7, 2012.

13. Mark Palansky

Pearl Harbor

Mark Palansky is known for Pearl Harbor (2001), Armageddon (1998) and The Island (2005).

14. Jem Cohen

Director | Museum Hours

Jem Cohen was born in 1962 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Museum Hours (2012), Chain (2004) and Benjamin Smoke (2000).

15. Morgan Neville

Producer | Best of Enemies

Morgan Neville was born on October 10, 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Best of Enemies (2015), Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) and The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (2015).

16. Peter Landesman

Writer | Concussion

Peter Landesman began his filmmaking and TV career after starting as an award-winning painter and novelist, and investigative journalist and war correspondent for the New York Time Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker and others. As a journalist, Landesman covered the conflicts in Rwanda, Kosovo ...

17. 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...

18. Leslye Headland

Producer | Bachelorette

Leslye Headland was born on November 26, 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Bachelorette (2012), Sleeping with Other People (2015) and Russian Doll (2019). She has been married to Rebecca Henderson since September 18, 2016. They have one child.

19. Martha Shane

Producer | After Tiller

Martha Shane is known for After Tiller (2013), Narrowsburg (2019) and P.O.V. (1988).

20. Lana Wilson

Director | Miss Americana

Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning and two-time Spirit Award-nominated writer and director. Transformative quests for meaning and humanity connect her diverse body of work across documentaries, short films, and episodic. Her most recent film, the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana (2020), was the ...

21. 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 ...

22. Amy Seimetz

Actress | Upstream Color

Amy Seimetz first came to prominence producing and directing shorts and independent films. Most notably associate producing Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy which was nominated for Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards, after playing at South By Southwest and the Toronto International Film ...

23. Johnnie To

Director | Hak se wooi

With over thirty directing and producing credits to his name, Johnnie To enjoyed international breakthroughs with Election (2005), Election 2 (2006) (aka "Triad Election") and Exiled (2006); those films enjoyed multiple international film festival appearances and were separately sold to more than ...

24. Dave Meyers

Director | The Hitcher

Dave Meyers is known for The Hitcher (2007), Foolish (1999) and Volatile Love (2015).

25. Mark Kendall

Producer | La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus

Mark Kendall was born in 1982 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He is a producer and director, known for La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus (2012), The Time Machine (2010) and The Jezebel Spirit (2009).

26. Chad Hartigan

Director | Little Fish

Chad Hartigan was born on August 31, 1982 in Nicosia, Cyprus. He is a director and writer, known for Little Fish (2020), Morris from America (2016) and This Is Martin Bonner (2013).

27. 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).

28. 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), ...

29. 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 ...

30. Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Director | The Kings of Summer

Jordan Vogt-Roberts was born on September 22, 1984 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Kings of Summer (2013), Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Successful Alcoholics (2010).

31. Scott McGehee

Director | The Deep End

Scott McGehee is known for The Deep End (2001), Suture (1993) and What Maisie Knew (2012).

32. David Siegel

Producer | The Deep End

David Siegel is known for The Deep End (2001), Suture (1993) and What Maisie Knew (2012).

33. Joe Swanberg

Actor | You're Next

Joe Swanberg was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1981. He moved around quite a bit growing up, even spending two years on an island in the Pacific Ocean named Kwajalein. He studied film production at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he developed an interest in emerging video technology ...

34. Penny Lane

Director | Nuts!

Penny Lane is known for Nuts! (2016), Our Nixon (2013) and Hail Satan? (2019).

35. Rupert Wainwright

Director | Stigmata

Rupert Wainwright is an award-winning director who brings a unique visual style and driving sense of storytelling to the worlds of features, tv and commercials.

His feature "Stigmata" (MGM) starring Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne and Jonathan Pryce, is an original vision of a classical horror film...

36. Jim Fall

Director | Trick

Jim Fall has had a diversified directing career spanning theater, TV, and motion pictures. Jim's feature film career started with the acclaimed independent feature "Trick" which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival in Dramatic Competition. It was quickly acquired by Fine...

37. Mark Waters

Producer | (500) Days of Summer

Mark Waters grew up in South Bend, Indiana, USA. His first film, The House of Yes, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. He is a director and producer, known for Mean Girls (2004), 500 Days of Summer (2009) and He's All That (2021). He has been married to Dina Spybey-Waters since November ...

38. Marius Kurkinsky

Actor | Dnevnikat na edin lud

Marius Kurkinsky (birth name - Ivaylo Vasilev Stoyanov ) is a Bulgarian actor and director. He was born on October 15, 1969 in Novi Pazar, Bulgaria. At age 12 he entered the children's theater studio at the Drama Theatre - Varna, and then - in the Theater "Cricket", leaded by brothers Raykovi. He ...

39. Joseph Kahn

Director | Bodied

Joseph Kahn was born on October 12, 1972. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Bodied (2017), Detention (2011) and Torque (2004).

40. Hannah Fidell

Writer | A Teacher

Hannah Fidell was born on October 7, 1985 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for A Teacher (2013), A Teacher (2020) and 6 Years (2015). She has been married to Jake Longstreth since September 23, 2017.

41. 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 ...

42. James Ponsoldt

Director | The Spectacular Now

James Ponsoldt was born on September 5, 1978 in Athens, Georgia, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Spectacular Now (2013), The Circle (2017) and The End of the Tour (2015). He has been married to Megan Holloway since September 25, 2010.

43. Ti West

Director | Pearl

Ti West is most notable for directing horror films, as well as being an actor, writer, producer, and editor. Ti broke out, after directing various projects, in 2009, when he directed two feature films - 2009's The House Of The Devil and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Ti later directed, with his ...

44. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Director | Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Alfonso was born and raised in Laredo, Texas on the US/Mexico border. He received his BFA from NYU and his MFA from AFI. He began his career as personal assistant to Martin Scorsese, Nora Ephron, Robert De Niro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. He has gone on to direct second unit for Ms. Ephron, ...