Notable Gay Directors

1. Xavier Dolan

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).

2. Julián Hernández

Writer | Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamás acabarás de ser amor

Julián Hernández was born on January 9, 1973 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a writer and director, known for A Thousand Clouds of Peace (2003), Long Sleepless Nights (2000) and Dos entre muchos (2022).

3. Scud

Writer | An fei ta ming

Danny Cheng Wan-Cheung, known by the stage name Scud Cheng, is a Hong Kong director. He was born in Guangzhou and moved to Hong Kong with his family at the age of 13 and spent his youth in part-time study. After getting a degree in computers from the Open University of Hong Kong and working in the ...

4. George Cukor

Director | My Fair Lady

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

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

5. Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writer | Il Decameron

Pier Paolo Pasolini achieved fame and notoriety long before he entered the film industry. A published poet at 19, he had already written numerous novels and essays before his first screenplay in 1954. His first film Accattone (1961) was based on his own novel and its violent depiction of the life ...

6. 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...

7. 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 ...

8. 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, ...

9. Casper Andreas

Actor | Hawaii Five-0

Casper is an accomplished actor, writer, film director and producer.

In 2020, he was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the Sprit Awards for producing "Wild Nights with Emily", Madeleine Olnek's comedic biopic about Emily Dickinson starring Molly Shannon. Also in 2020, Casper premiered his ...

10. Gregg Araki

Writer | Mysterious Skin

Gregg Araki was born on December 17, 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Mysterious Skin (2004), White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) and Kaboom (2010).

11. Rikki Beadle Blair

Director | Kickoff

Rikki Beadle Blair was born on July 25, 1961 in Camberwell, London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Kickoff (2011), Bashment (2011) and Stonewall (1995).

12. Marco Berger

Director | Ausente

Marco Berger was born on December 8, 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a director and writer, known for Absent (2011), The Blonde One (2019) and Taekwondo (2016).

13. James Whale

Director | Bride of Frankenstein

James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his four classic horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He also directed films in other genres, including what is ...

14. 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 ...

15. Lino Brocka

Director | Gumapang ka sa lusak

Lino Brocka was born on April 7, 1939 in Pilar, Sorsogon, Luzon, Philippines. He was a director and writer, known for Dirty Affair (1990), Bayan Ko (1984) and Dipped in Gold (1970). He died on May 22, 1991 in Quezon City, Philippines.

16. Q. Allan Brocka

Writer | Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World

Q. Allan Brocka's work as a director and screenwriter spans a range of genres in television, animation, live action, documentary, commercial, and feature film. He is best known as the creator, director and showrunner of Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, a prime time animated ...

17. Bruce La Bruce

Director | Gerontophilia

Bruce La Bruce was born on January 3, 1964 in Southampton, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and writer, known for Gerontophilia (2013).

18. Derek Jarman

Director | Caravaggio

After school, Jarman studied history and art history at King's College. In 1963 he began studying art in Pop Art London. In the general mood of optimism from the mid-1960s onward, he began to openly confront his homosexuality. Jarman took over the set design for Ken Russell on the films "The Devils...

19. Everett Lewis

Director | The Natural History of Parking Lots

Everett Lewis is known for The Natural History of Parking Lots (1990), Somefarwhere (2011) and Territory (2016).

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 ...

21. Quentin Lee

Producer | Last Summer of Nathan Lee

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Quentin Lee first moved to Montreal, Canada, for high school and then went to UC Berkeley for his B.A. in English, Yale University for his M.A. in English and the UCLA School of Theater, Film & TV for his M.F.A. in Film Directing in the 90s. A double immigrant and an ...

22. Bavo Defurne

Director | Noordzee, Texas

Writer-Director Bavo Defurne is best known for _Souvenir_ starring Academy Award Nominee Isabelle Huppert . Defurne encourages his cast and crew to transform the story material into a visually beautiful and expressive tale. Unspoken desire, the human body and nature play a prominent role in his ...

23. Simon Chung

Director | Innocent

Simon Chung is known for Innocent (2005), End of Love (2008) and I Miss You When I See You (2018).

24. Olivier Ducastel

Director | Drôle de Félix

Olivier Ducastel was born on February 23, 1962 in Lyon, Rhône, France. He is a director and writer, known for The Adventures of Felix (2000), Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016) and Côte d'Azur (2005).

25. Jacques Martineau

Director | Drôle de Félix

Jacques Martineau was born on July 8, 1963 in Montpellier, Hérault, France. He is a director and writer, known for The Adventures of Felix (2000), Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016) and Côte d'Azur (2005).

26. William E. Jones

Director | Finished

William E. Jones is known for Finished (1997), Tearoom (2008) and Massillon (1991).

27. Jenni Olson

Producer | The Royal Road

Jenni Olson's 16mm essay films have earned awards and acclaim for their uniquely contemplative storytelling style. Jenni's debut feature, The Joy of Life had its world premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and went on to play a pivotal role in renewing debate about the need for a suicide ...

28. Ira Sachs

Director | Keep the Lights On

Ira Sachs was born on November 21, 1965 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Keep the Lights On (2012), Passages (2023) and Little Men (2016).

29. Cheryl Dunye

Director | The Watermelon Woman

Cheryl Dunye was born on May 13, 1966 in Liberia. She is a director and producer, known for The Watermelon Woman (1996), The Owls (2010) and Mommy Is Coming (2012).

30. PJ Raval

Director | Call Her Ganda

PJ Raval is a queer first generation Filipinx American filmmaker who examines social justice issues through the voices of queer and marginalized subjects. Named one of Out Magazine's "Out 100," Raval's feature credits include TRINIDAD (Showtime) and BEFORE YOU KNOW IT (PBS), a film about three gay ...

31. Arthur Dong

Producer | Hollywood Chinese

Arthur Dong is an Oscar®-nominated and triple Sundance award-winning filmmaker, author and curator whose work centers on Asian American and LGBTQ stories. A common theme that underscores his films is personal stories of survival and resistance set against backdrops of social and cultural ...

32. Anthony Asquith

Director | The Browning Version

British film director Anthony Asquith was born on November 9, 1902, to H.H. Asquith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his second wife. A former home secretary and the future leader of the Liberal Party, H.H. Asquith served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1908-1916 and was ...

33. Arthur J. Bressan Jr.

Director | Forbidden Letters

One of the pioneers of independent gay cinema in the 1970s and '80s, Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. is best known for his 1985 drama, Buddies (the first feature film about AIDS). Working across multiple genres including documentary, narrative, adult and short form filmmaking, Bressan's boldness and ...

34. John G. Young

Director | Parallel Sons

The Village Voice called Young's first feature, Parallel Sons "...one of the best independent films of the decade." After its premiere in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance, it won Best Feature awards at the Florida Film Festival, OutFest and Frameline. It screened at over 40 national and ...

35. Yen Tan

Director | 1985

Yen Tan was born in 1975 in Malaysia. He is a director and writer, known for 1985 (2018), Pit Stop (2013) and Happy Birthday (2002).

36. Richard Glatzer

Writer | Still Alice

Richard Glatzer was born on January 28, 1952 in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Still Alice (2014), Quinceañera (2006) and Colette (2018). He was married to Wash Westmoreland. He died on March 10, 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

37. Wash Westmoreland

Director | Still Alice

Hailing from Leeds, England, Westmoreland earned his college degree in Politics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and soon after moved to America to pursue filmmaking. His 2014 film, "Still Alice," starring Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin and Kate Bosworth, saw Moore win ...

38. John Greyson

Director | Lilies - Les feluettes

John Greyson was born in 1960 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and writer, known for Lilies (1996), Zero Patience (1993) and Fig Trees (2009).

39. Rob Williams

Producer | Shared Rooms

Rob Williams is known for Shared Rooms (2016), Make the Yuletide Gay (2009) and Out to Kill (2014).

40. Andrew Ahn

Director | Spa Night

Andrew Ahn was born on March 10, 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Spa Night (2016), Andy (2010) and Dol (2011).

41. Tom Gustafson

Producer | Were the World Mine

Tom Gustafson is a director/producer whose work has won more than 60 awards & played over 250 international film festivals. The NY Times chose his first feature, Were The World Mine, as "Critics' Pick" calling it "Movie Musical Magic." About his second feature, the NY Times proclaimed, "¡Hurra! ...

42. Ray Yeung

Director | Suk suk

Ray Yeung is known for Twilight's Kiss (2019), Front Cover (2015) and All Shall Be Well (2024).

43. Thom Fitzgerald

Director | Cloudburst

Thom Fitzgerald: Since his 1997 feature debut, Thom has won over two dozen international awards including the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award (Genie), The FIPRESCI European International Critics' Prize, The Emerging Master Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, and the ...

44. Patrik-Ian Polk

Writer | Punks

Patrik-Ian Polk (Director, Writer, Producer), attended Brandeis University in Massachusetts and received his undergraduate degree in film and theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He then attended graduate film school at the prestigious ...

45. 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 ...

46. Mauritz Stiller

Director | Erotikon

Moshe "Mauritz" Stiller, born July 17, 1883, in Helsinki, Finland, was a director, writer and actor. He began his artistic activity in the theatre, as an actor at 16. Mauritz Stiller portrayed 87 roles from 1899-1916 and directed 16 productions 1911-28. Together with Viktor Sjöström ( director, ...

47. Todd Haynes

Director | Far from Heaven

Todd Haynes was always interested in art, and made amateur movies and painted while he was still a child. He attended Brown university and majored in art and semiotics. After he graduated he moved to New York City and made the controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987). ...

48. 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).

49. Auraeus Solito

Director | Pisay

Auraeus Solito was born in 1969 in Manila, Philippines. He is a director and writer, known for Pisay (2007), Palawan Fate (2011) and Ang pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2005).

50. Stewart Wade

Director | Tru Loved

Stewart Wade is known for Tru Loved (2008), Coffee Date (2006) and Such Good People (2014).

51. Sébastien Lifshitz

Director | Wild Side

Sébastien Lifshitz was born on January 21, 1968 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for Wild Side (2004), Little Girl (2020) and Casa Susanna (2022).

52. Marcel Carné

Director | Le quai des brumes

Marcel Carné, the son of a cabinet maker, entered the movies as the assistant of Jacques Feyder. At the age of 25 he directed his first movie Jenny (1936). Colaborating with the writer Jacques Prévert, the decorator Alexandre Trauner, the musician and composer Maurice Jaubert and the actor Jean ...

53. James Ivory

Writer | Call Me by Your Name

The main part of his few movies were filmed in the quarter of a century in which he worked closely together with the Indian producer Ismail Merchant and the German writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. His first films are all set in India and are very much influenced by the style of Satyajit Ray and Jean ...

54. John Schlesinger

Director | Midnight Cowboy

Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger, who was born in London, on February 16, 1926, was the eldest child in a solidly middle-class Jewish family. Berbard Schlesinger, his father, was a pediatrician, and his mother, Winifred, was a musician. He served in the Army in the Far East during World War ...

55. Isabel Sandoval

Director | Lingua Franca

Isabel Sandoval is known for Lingua Franca (2019), Apparition (2012) and Señorita (2011).

56. Rob Epstein

Producer | The Celluloid Closet

Rob Epstein was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA as Robert P. Epstein. He is a producer and director, known for The Celluloid Closet (1995), Paragraph 175 (2000) and The Times of Harvey Milk (1984).

Rob has produced films that have screened worldwide, in cinemas, on television, home video and ...

57. Jeffrey Friedman

Director | Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

Jeffrey Friedman is a producer, director, and editor, known for Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (2019), The Celluloid Closet (1995) and Howl (2010).

Jeffrey began his film career in New York City working with some of the most respected filmmakers in the industry. He apprenticed with the ...

58. John Cameron Mitchell

Actor | Hedwig and the Angry Inch

John Cameron Mitchell was born on April 21, 1963 in El Paso, Texas, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Shortbus (2006) and How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017).

59. Bill Condon

Director | Dreamgirls

Bill Condon was born on October 22, 1955 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Dreamgirls (2006), Gods and Monsters (1998) and Kinsey (2004).

60. Randal Kleiser

Director | Grease

Randal Kleiser has been an internationally known film director since the release of his first feature, Grease (1978). Other features include The Blue Lagoon (1980) with Brooke Shields, Summer Lovers (1982) starring Peter Gallagher and Daryl Hannah, Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) with Jamie Lee Curtis, ...

61. Keisuke Kinoshita

Writer | Nijûshi no hitomi

Keisuke Kinoshita was born on December 5, 1912 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for Twenty-Four Eyes (1954), The Ballad of Narayama (1958) and The Garden of Women (1954). He died on December 30, 1998 in Tokyo, Japan.

62. Terence Davies

Writer | Distant Voices, Still Lives

Terence Davies was born on November 10, 1945 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), The House of Mirth (2000) and Benediction (2021). He died on October 7, 2023 in Mistley, Essex, England, UK.

63. Jean Cocteau

Writer | La Belle et la Bête

Jean Cocteau was one of the most multi-talented artists of the 20th century. In addition to being a director, he was a poet, novelist, painter, playwright, set designer, and actor. He began writing at 10 and was a published poet by age 16. He collaborated with the "Russian Ballet" company of Sergei...

64. Nicholas Hytner

Director | The Madness of King George

Nicholas Hytner was born on May 7, 1956 in Manchester, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Madness of King George (1994), The Crucible (1996) and The History Boys (2006).

65. Rob Marshall

Director | Mary Poppins Returns

Rob Marshall was born on October 17, 1960 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Chicago (2002) and Into the Woods (2014).

66. Luchino Visconti

Writer | Il gattopardo

Born in his ancestral palazzo, situated in the same Milanese square as both the opera house La Scala and the Milan Cathedral, Luchino Visconti (1906 - 1976) was raised under the auspices of aristocratic privilege, theater and Catholicism. This triangulation of monuments would create an equally ...

67. 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).

68. 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 ...

69. Arthur Lubin

Director | Phantom of the Opera

A graduate of Carnegie Tech, Arthur Lubin entered films as an actor in the 1920s, and after appearing in many films turned to directing in 1934, mainly for Universal. His forte was light comedy, but he helmed many different types of pictures for the studio. Lubin was the director Universal ...

70. 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.

71. Peter Glenville

Director | Term of Trial

A talented actor and distinguished stage director, Peter Glenville was the son of Shaun Glenville, the British music hall artist and noted pantomime dame. Born in London Glenville was educated at the Jesuit's Stonyhurst College where he appeared in a production of Hamlet in the 1930s and was ...

72. Stanley Kwan

Director | Lan Yu

Stanley Kwan was born on October 9, 1957 in Hong Kong. He is a director and producer, known for Lan Yu (2001), Hold You Tight (1998) and Rouge (1987).

73. Stephen Daldry

Director | The Reader

In 1989, Stephen Daldry worked as a freelance reader of unsolicited manuscripts for Literary Manager Nicholas Wright in the Scripts Department at the Royal National Theatre. In July of that year, he directed a Dadaist/expressionist production of "Judgement Day," a play by Odon von Horvath, at the ...

74. Stephan Elliott

Director | The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Stephan Elliott was born on August 27, 1964 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), Easy Virtue (2008) and Eye of the Beholder (1999).

75. Roland Emmerich

Writer | Independence Day

Roland Emmerich is a German film director and producer of blockbuster films like The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Godzilla (1998), Independence Day (1996) and The Patriot (2000). Before fame, he originally wanted to be a production designer, but decided to be a director, after watching the original ...

76. Robin Campillo

Writer | Eastern Boys

Robin Campillo was born on August 16, 1962 in Mohammédia, Morocco. He is a writer and editor, known for Eastern Boys (2013), 120 BPM (2017) and The Class (2008).

77. Jodie Foster

Actress | The Silence of the Lambs

Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received ...

78. H.P. Mendoza

Writer | Bitter Melon

H.P. Mendoza was born in San Francisco, California, USA. H.P. is a director and writer, known for Bitter Melon (2018), I Am a Ghost (2012) and Colma: The Musical (2006).

79. Dee Rees

Director | Mudbound

Writer/Director Dee Rees is an alumna of New York University's graduate film program and a Sundance Screenwriting & Directing Lab Fellow.

In 2018, Dee became the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her highly-acclaimed film Mudbound (2017). The film, ...

80. Ryosuke Hashiguchi

Writer | Gururi no koto

Hashiguchi Ryosuke directed 8mm-films while still at secondary school. In 1989 his short film "A Secret Evening" won the grand prix at the Pia Film Festival. In 1992 he made his first feature "The Slight Fever of a 20-year old", which was screened in Berlin and broke box-office records at one of ...

81. Lindsay Anderson

Director | If....

Lindsay was born in Bangalore, India but educated in England at Cheltenham College and Wadham College, Oxford where he was a classical scholar. He then spent 3 years war time service in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. His career in the theatre started at the Royal Court in the late 1950's where he was...

82. James Bridges

Writer | The China Syndrome

James Bridges was born on February 3, 1936 in Paris, Arkansas, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The China Syndrome (1979), Perfect (1985) and The Paper Chase (1973). He died on June 6, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

83. Patrice Chéreau

Director | Intimacy

Patrice Chéreau was born on November 2, 1944 in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, France. He was a director and actor, known for Intimacy (2001), The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Queen Margot (1994). He died on October 7, 2013 in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

84. Lisa Cholodenko

Director | The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko earned an MFA at Columbia University Film School where she made an award-winning short film Dinner Party (1997) Her feature High Art (1998) won the National Society of Film Critics award for Ally Sheedy's performance and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at Sundance. Both "High Art...

85. Jeffrey Schwarz

Producer | Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

Jeffrey Schwarz is an Emmy Award-winning producer, director and editor based in Los Angeles. His latest feature documentary is "Commitment to Life," which chronicles the city of Los Angeles' response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and is ...

86. Curtis Harrington

Director | Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet

Curtis Harrington was an excellent and shamefully underrated writer and director who specialized in marvelously offbeat and atmospheric low-budget independent horror pictures. Harrington was born on September 17, 1926, in Los Angeles and grew up in Beaumont, California. A hardcore film buff from a ...

87. Robert Hamer

Director | Kind Hearts and Coronets

Robert James Hamer was born in 1911 along with his twin sister Barbara, the son of Owen Dyke Hamer, a bank clerk, and his wife, Annie Grace Brickell. He was educated at Cambridge University where he wrote some poetry and was published in a collection 'Contemporaries and Their Maker', along with the...

88. Yonfan

Director | Jìyuántái qihào

Yonfan wrote, directed and produced all 14 of his motion pictures.

He was born in Wuhan, China and brought up in Taiwan now lives in Hong Kong. Throughout his career, he gave Maggie Cheung her first on-screen romantic role and made Chow Yun-fat a box-office star, Story of Rose (1985), discovered ...

89. Waris Hussein

Director | Edward & Mrs. Simpson

Born in Lucknow, India, Waris Hussein moved to England at age nine with his parents. He later attended Cambridge and at 21 started as a trainee director with BBC, where his mother, the late Attia Hussein, worked. In addition to reading news in Hindi, she was also the station's dramatic star--...

90. Malcolm Ingram

Director | Small Town Gay Bar

Malcolm Ingram (Director / Producer) While on assignment for Film Threat magazine, Ingram met filmmaker Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Dogma, Clerks), who soon became his mentor. Smith financed Ingram's first feature film, "Drawing Flies," starring rising talent Jason Lee. Shot in the summer of 1995, ...

91. Marlon Riggs

Director | Tongues Untied

Marlon Riggs was born on February 3, 1957 in Texas, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Tongues Untied (1989), Color Adjustment (1992) and Black Is... Black Ain't (1994). He died on April 5, 1994 in Oakland, California, USA.

92. Antonio Hens

Director | En malas compañías

Antonio Hens was born in 1969 in Córdoba, Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain. He is a director and producer, known for Doors Cut Down (2000), Clandestinos (2007) and Oh! Mammy Blue (2018).

93. Lucky Kuswandi

Writer | Selamat Pagi, Malam

Lucky Kuswandi is one of Indonesia's most exciting young directors. His films have been screened in International festivals worldwide, receiving accolades, awards and distribution. The Wall Street Journal praises his work as "original and uncharted."

His career started in 2006, when he was invited ...

94. Eytan Fox

Writer | Ha-Buah

Eytan Fox is one of Israel's leading directors. His films-among them Yossi & Jagger, Walk on Water, The Bubble, Yossi and Cupcakes-have been released theatrically in over 30 countries and have won 28 international awards, including from the Berlin Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival and the ...

95. Fenton Bailey

Producer | Party Monster

Fenton Bailey is known for Party Monster (2003), RuPaul's Drag Race (2009) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

96. Randy Barbato

Producer | Party Monster

Randy Barbato is known for Party Monster (2003), RuPaul's Drag Race (2009) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

97. Tsai Ming-liang

Director | Qingshaonian Nuozha

Born in Kuching, Malaysia, he graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan and worked as a theatrical producer and TV director. His second feature film, Vive L'Amour (1994), won the Golden Lion (best picture) at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. His ...

98. Sebastián Silva

Writer | Tyrel

Sebastián Silva was born on April 9, 1979 in Santiago, Metropolitan Region, Chile. He is a writer and director, known for Tyrel (2018), The Maid (2009) and Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2013).

99. François Ozon

Director | Dans la maison

François Ozon was born on November 15, 1967 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for In the House (2012), 8 Women (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003).

100. Todd Verow

Director | Little Shots of Happiness

Todd Verow was born on November 11, 1966 in Bangor, Maine, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Little Shots of Happiness (1997), Once and Future Queen (2000) and The Trouble with Perpetual Deja-Vu (1999).