My Favourite Directors

1. Andrei Tarkovsky

Writer | Offret

The most famous Soviet film-maker since Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky (the son of noted poet Arseniy Tarkovsky) studied music and Arabic in Moscow before enrolling in the Soviet film school VGIK. He shot to international attention with his first feature, Ivan's Childhood (1962), which won the...

Solyaris (1972) Offret (1986) The mirror (1975) Nostalgia 1983) Stalker (1979) Andrei Rublyov (1966)

The early years of Ivan (1962)

2. Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writer | Trois couleurs: Bleu

Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (...

The double life of Veronique (1991) Three colours: Blue (1993) Three colours White (1994) Three colours Red (1994) A short film about killing (Decalogue) (1988) A short film about love (Decalogue) (1988)

Camera Buff / Amator (1979) Ομιλούσες κεφαλές (1980) No end (1985) Blind chance (1987)

3. 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...

Blood of a Poet Orphee La belle et la bete

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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Cocteau

4. Luis Buñuel

Writer | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the ...

Un chien andalou Belle de Jour Viridiana The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie Los Olvidados La voie lactée Το Σκοτεινό Αντικείμενο του Πόθου The extereminating angel Tristana

Nazarin

5. 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 ...

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) High Heels (1991) Live Flesh (1997) All About My Mother (1999) Talk to Her (2002) Julieta (2016) Volver (2006) Broken Embraces (2009) The Skin I Live In (2011)

Parallel Mothers (2021) Pain and Glory (2019) Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) Matador (1986) Law of Desire (1987) Bad Education (2004)

6. 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 ...

2046 (2004) Chungking Express (1994) Eros (2004) In the mood for love(2000) Fallen Angels (1995) Happy Together (1997) My blueberry nights (2007) As tears go by (1988) Days of being wild (1990)

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7. Ingmar Bergman

Writer | Smultronstället

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (...

7th Seal Wild Strawberries Persona Η πηγή των παρθένων

Winter Light

8. Béla Tarr

Producer | Werckmeister harmóniák

Béla Tarr was born on July 21, 1955 in Pécs, Hungary. He is a producer and director, known for Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), The Turin Horse (2011) and Satantango (1994). He is married to Ágnes Hranitzky.

A torinói ló (2011) Werckmeister harmóniák (2000)

Το κολαστήριο

9. Lina Wertmüller

Writer | Pasqualino Settebellezze

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

Film d'amore e d'anarchia (1973) Η κυρία και ο ναύτης (1974)

Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975) Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore (1972)

10. Oliver Stone

Director | JFK

Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.

William Oliver Stone was ...

JFK Platoon

Savages (2012) Snowden (2016) Natural Born Killers (1994) Talk Radio (1988) Salvador (1986) .

11. Kim Ki-duk

Writer | Bin-jip

He studied fine arts in Paris in 1990-1992. In 1993 he won the award for Best Screenplay from the Educational Institute of Screenwriting with "A Painter and A Criminal Condemned to Death". After two more screenplay awards, he made his directorial debut with Crocodile (1996) ("Crocodile"). Then he ...

Samaria (2004) Pieta (2012) 3-IRON (2004) Moebiuseu (2013) Άνοιξη, καλοκαίρι, φθινόπωρο, χειμώνας... και άνοιξη (2003) Time (2006) Το νησί (2000) Address Unknown (2001)

The bow (2005) Soom (2007)

12. Bong Joon Ho

Writer | Snowpiercer

Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the ...

Parasite (2019) Snowpiercer (2013) Memories of a murder (2003) Okja (2017)

Mother The Host

13. Agnieszka Holland

Director | Pokot

Having graduated from FAMU in Prague film (1971), Agnieszka Holland returned to Poland and began her film career working with Krzysztof Zanussi as assistant director, and Andrzej Wajda as her mentor. Her first feature film was PROVINCIAL ACTORS (1978), one of the flagship pictures of the "cinema of...

Spoor / Pokot (2017)

The secret garden (1993) Europa Europa (1990) In Darkness (2011)

14. Stanley Kubrick

Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...

A clockwork orange (1971) The shining (1980) 2001: A space odyssey (1968) Eyes wide shut (1999) Full Metal Jacket (1987) Barry Lyndon (1975)

Lolita (1962) Spartacus (1960)

15. 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.

Le bonheur (1965) Vagabond (1985)

Les plages d'Agnès (2008) Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000) Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) Sans toit ni loi (1985)

16. Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writer | Le salaire de la peur

Beginning his film career as a screenwriter, Henri-Georges Clouzot switched over to directing and in 1943 had the distinction of having his film The Raven (1943) banned by both the German forces occupying France and the Free French forces fighting them, but for different reasons. He shot to ...

Les Diaboliques Το μεροκάματο του τρόμου (1953)

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17. Andrew Niccol

Writer | GATTACA

New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol began his career in London, successfully directing TV commercials before moving to Los Angeles in order to make films "longer than 60 seconds." He interested high-powered producer Scott Rudin in his The Truman Show (1998) script, but Rudin was not...

Gattaca (1997) The Truman Show (1998) - Writer: A. Niccol - Director: Peter Weir In Time (2011)

Lord of War (2005) with nicolas cage

18. Jean-Luc Godard

Director | Bande à part

Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930, the second of four children in a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family. His father was a doctor who owned a private clinic, and his mother came from a preeminent family of Swiss bankers. During World War II Godard became a naturalized citizen of ...

Alphaville Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962) Pierrot le fou (1965) Masculin Feminin Le mepris (1963)

Με κομμένη την ανάσα (1960) 2 ή 3 πράγματα που ξέρω γι’ αυτήν (1967)

19. 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.

Paterson (2016) Broken Flowers(2005) Down by Law(1986) Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) Night on Earth Mystery train (1989) Only lovers left alive(2013)

Dead Man(1995) Stranger that paradise (1984) Premanent Vacation (1980)

20. Wim Wenders

Director | Der Himmel über Berlin

Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated German filmmaker who was born Ernst Wilhelm Wenders on August 14, 1945 in Düsseldorf, which then was located in the British Occupation Zone of what became the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, known colloquially as West Germany until ...

Υπέροχες Μέρες (2023) Der Himmel über Berlin Paris, Texas Der amerikanischer Freund Alice in den Stadten State of Play (2009)

documentaries: Buena Vista Social Club (1999) Pina (2011) The Salt of the Earth (2014)

21. Alejandro Jodorowsky

Writer | El Topo

Alejandro Jodorowsky was born in Tocopilla, Chile on February 17, 1929. In 1939 he moved to Santiago where he attended university, was a circus clown and a puppeteer. In 1953 he went to Paris and studied mime with Marcel Marceau. He worked with Maurice Chevalier there and made a short film, La ...

Poesia Sin Fin (2016) Santa Sangre (1989) La montaña sagrada (1973) El Topo (1970) Dance of Reality

Jodorowski's Dune

22. Michael Powell

Director | Peeping Tom

The son of Thomas William Powell and Mabel (nee Corbett). Michael Powell was always a self-confessed movie addict. He was brought up partly in Canterbury ("The Garden of England") and partly in the south of France (where his parents ran a hotel). Educated at Kings School, Canterbury and Dulwich ...

The Red Shoes (1948) Black Narcissus (1947)

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23. Fritz Lang

Actor | Le mépris

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

While the City Sleeps (1956) M (Ο δράκος του Ντίσελντορφ) (1931) Μητρόπολις (1927)

The Big Heat (1953) Hangmen Also Die! (1943) για τον Bertolt Brecht Woman in the Moon ή Frau im Mond (1929) (sci-fi)

24. Akira Kurosawa

Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin

After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...

Yume (1990) Ran (1985) Ikiru (1952)

Yojimbo (1961) Οι επτά σαμουράι (1954) Η γκέισα και ο σαμουράι (1950) Akahige (1965)

25. Terrence Malick

Writer | Days of Heaven

Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. His family subsequently lived in Oklahoma and he went to school in Austin, Texas. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1965.

A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, he attended Magdalen ...

The thin red line (1998) The tree of life (2011)

A hidden life (2019) Weightless (2016) Βαλές κούπα (2015) with Natalie Portman Badlands (1973)

26. Paolo Sorrentino

Writer | È stata la mano di Dio

Director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino was born in Naples in 1970, and and became an orphan when he lost both of his parents at the age of 16. At the age of 25, after studying for a few years at the Faculty of Economics and Business in University of Naples Federico II, he decided to work in the...

Οι συνέπειες του έρωτα (2004)

The hand of God (2021) Youth (2015) La grande bellezza (2013)

27. Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Producer | Deux jours, une nuit

After studying drama in the arts institute, Jean Pierre Dardenne and his brother Luc made some videos about the rough life in blue-collar small towns in the Wallonie. After their meeting with filmmaker Armad Gatti and cinematographer Ned Burgess, they decided to enter in the movie business.

In 1978 ...

and Luc Dardenne

Le silence de Lorna (2008) La promese Deux jours, une nuit (2014) ( Marion Cotillard )

Rosetta (1999) L'enfant (2005) Le gamin au vélo (2011)

28. Federico Fellini

Writer | Le notti di Cabiria

The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the ...

City of women (1980) 8½ (1963) La Dolce Vita (1960) La Notte (1961) -Screenwriter Ennio Flaiano Πουλημένη από τη μητέρα της (1954) Le notti di Cabiria (1957) Amarcord (1973) Ginger e Fred (1986) E la nave va (1983) -Written by Tonino Querra, the screenwriter and good friend of Tarkovsky.

29. 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 ...

Melancholia (2011) Nymphomaniac I, II Antichrist (2009) Dogville (2003) Breaking the Waves (1996)

Europa (1991) Dancer in the Dark (2000)

30. Joachim Trier

Director | Thelma

Joachim Trier is a Norwegian writer and director. He is known for Reprise (2006), Oslo, August 31st (2011), Louder Than Bombs (2015) and Thelma (2017).

Trier also directed three short films, Pietà (2000), Still (2001) and Procter (2002).

His father, Jacob Trier, was the sound technician of The ...

Thelma (2017) The worst person in the world (2021)

Oslo, 31. august (2011) Reprise (2006) Louder than bombs (2015)

31. Eskil Vogt

Writer | Verdens verste menneske

Eskil Vogt was born on October 31, 1974 in Oslo, Norway. He is a writer and director, known for The Worst Person in the World (2021), The Innocents (2021) and Thelma (2017).

Thelma (2017) - writer (Vogt as writer & Joachim Trier as director) The Innocents (2021) - director (nominated for uncertain award at Cannes '21) Blind (2014) - director

Louder Than Bombs writer (Vogt as writer & Joachim Trier as director)

32. 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 ...

Greta Gerwig (born August 4, 1983) wrote and directed Lady Bird (2017), a film that garnered strong reviews and Oscar nominations for the first-time solo writer and director. She followed with another widely praised effort for her adaptation of Little Women (2019). Gerwig initially became known for acting in independent films before landing parts in more mainstream fare. She co-wrote and starred in the well-received Frances Ha (2013) and Mistress America (2015), and is romantically partnered with director Noah Baumbach.

Barbie (2023) Little Women (2019) Lady Bird (2017)

33. Jaco Van Dormael

Director | Le tout nouveau testament

Jaco Van Dormael was born on February 9, 1957 in Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium. He is a director and writer, known for The Brand New Testament (2015), Mr. Nobody (2009) and Toto the Hero (1991).

The brand new Testament (2015) Nobody (2009)

The eighth day (1996) Toto the hero (1991)

34. Icíar Bollaín

Director | Te doy mis ojos

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

Even the Rain (2010) The olive tree (2016)

35. Robert Bresson

Writer | Au hasard Balthazar

Robert Bresson trained as a painter before moving into films as a screenwriter, making a short film (atypically a comedy), Public Affairs (1934) in 1934. After spending more than a year as a German POW during World War II, he made his debut with Angels of Sin (1943) in 1943. His next film, The ...

L'argent (1983) Pickpocket (1959)

Mouchette (1967) A Man Escaped (1956) Au hasard Balthazar (1966) Le Journal d’un curé de campagne (1951)

36. 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.

Ah-ga-ssi (2016) TRILOGY: 1.Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) 2.Oldboy (2003) 3.Lady Vengeance (2005)

Δίψα 2009

37. Alain Resnais

Director | Hiroshima mon amour

Alain Resnais was born on June 3, 1922 in Vannes, Morbihan, France. He was a director and editor, known for Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Same Old Song (1997) and My American Uncle (1980). He was married to Sabine Azéma and Florence Malraux. He died on March 1, 2014 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, ...

Hiroshima mon amour (1959)

L'année dernière à Marienbad (1961) Nuit et brouillard (1955)

38. 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...

The Killer (2023) I care a lot (2020) Gone Girl(2014) The Game (1997) Fightclub(1999) Seven(1995) Benjamin Button (2008) The Social Network (2010)

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39. 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 mama tambien (2001) Children of Men (2006) Roma (2018) Gravity (2013)

Roma (2018)

40. Louis Malle

Director | Au revoir les enfants

Louis Malle, the descendant of a French nobleman who made a fortune in beet sugar during the Napoleonic Wars, created films that explored life and its meaning. Malle's family discouraged his early interest in film but, in 1950, allowed him to enter the Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies ...

Au revoir les enfants (1987) Atlantic City (1980)

The black moon (1975) Le feu follet (1963) Le souffle au coeur (1971)

41. 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 ...

Das weiße Band-Eine deutsche kindergeschichte La pianiste (2001) Funny Games (1997) / (2007) Hidden (Cache) (2005)

Amour(2012)

42. 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 ...

The Prestige (2006) Memento (2000) Inception (2010) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Tenet (2020)

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43. Hayao Miyazaki

Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.

Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...

(all animated movies)

Spirited Away (2001) Το κινούμενο κάστρο (2004) Πριγκίπισσα Μονονόκε (1997) Οι περιπέτειες του Τοτόρο (2088) Κίκι: Η Μικρή Μαγισσούλα (1989 Η Ναυσικά της κοιλάδας των ανέμων (1984) Το κάστρο στον ουρανό (1986)

Πόνιo (2008)

44. Satoshi Kon

Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu

Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...

Papurika (2006) Perfect Blue (1997)

Millenium actress (2001) Tokyo Godfather (2003)

45. Aki Kaurismäki

Producer | Le Havre

Aki Kaurismäki did a wide variety of jobs including postman, dish-washer and film critic, before forming a production and distribution company, Villealfa (in homage to Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965)) with his older brother Mika Kaurismäki, also a film-maker. Both Aki and Mika are prolific ...

La Havre (2011) The Other Side of Hope (2017)

Fallen Leaves (2023)

46. Makoto Shinkai

Writer | Suzume no Tojimari

Makoto Shinkai is a Japanese director, writer, producer, animator, editor, cinematographer, voice actor, manga artist and former graphic designer. Shinkai studied Japanese literature at Chuo University where he was a member of juvenile literature club where he drew picture books. In 1999, Shinkai ...

Your Name (2016)

47. 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 ...

Being John Malkovich (1999) Her (2013)

Three Kings (1999) Adaptation. (2002) Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

48. Mamoru Hosoda

Director | Samâ uôzu

Mamoru Hosoda is a Japanese film director and animator. Formerly employed at Toei Animation, he went to work at Madhouse from 2005 to 2011. Hosoda left Madhouse in 2011 to establish his own animation studio, Studio Chizu. He first came to public attention in the early 2000s with the first two films...

The girl who leaped through time (2006)

Wolf children (2012) Mirai (2018)

49. 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 ...

Asteroid City (2023) The French Dispatch (2021 - cannes 'golden camera') Rushmore (1998) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Υδάτινες ιστορίες (2004) Bottle Rocket

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Ταξίδι στο Darjeeling (2007) Οικογένεια Τενενμπαουμ (2001)

50. 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 ...

Η Ομορφιά της Ύπαρξης (2019)

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) Songs From the Second Floor (2000) You, the Living / Du Levante (2007)

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51. 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 ...

The Revenant (2015) Birdman (2014) Babel (2006) Amores Peros (2000) Biutiful (2010) 21 Grams (2003)

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52. 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...

Inherent vice (2014) Μανόλια (1999)

The Master (2012)

53. 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).

Les Amours Imaginaires Mommy J'ai tue ma Mere

Heartbeats (2010) Tom at the Farm (2013)

54. 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 ...

Happiness (1998)

55. 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 ...

Enter the Void Irreversible (2002) Climax (2018) cannes Love

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56. Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director | Un long dimanche de fiançailles

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a self-taught director who was very quickly interested by cinema, with a predilection for a fantastic cinema where form is as important as the subject. Thus he started directing TV commercials and video clips (such as Julien Clerc in 1984). At the same time he met designer/...

Delicatessen (1991) Amelie (2001)

La cité des enfants perdus (1995)

57. Jean Renoir

Writer | La règle du jeu

Son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste, he had a happy childhood. Pierre Renoir was his brother, and Claude Renoir was his nephew. After the end of World War I, where he won the Croix de Guerre, he moved from scriptwriting to filmmaking. He married Catherine Hessling, for whom he ...

La grande Illusion (1937)

La règle du jeu (1939) Les bas-fonds (1936) La bête humaine (1938)

58. 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 ...

Black Swan (2010) Pi (1998) Requiem for a Dream (2000) Mother (2017)

The Fountain (2006)

59. David Cronenberg

Actor | The Fly

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...

The Fly Videodrome Naked Lunch Existenz A dangerous Method Crash Dead Ringers (1998)

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60. Steven Spielberg

Producer | Schindler's List

One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...

Colour Purple (1985) Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) Jurassic Park Schindler's List (1993) Minority Report (2002)

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61. Costa-Gavras

Director | Z

Costa-Gavras was born on February 12, 1933 in Loutra-Iraias, Greece. He is a director and writer, known for Z (1969), Missing (1982) and Amen. (2002). He has been married to Michèle Ray-Gavras since 1968. They have two children.

Music Box (1989) Z (1969) Missing (1982)

Amen (2002)

62. 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 ...

Lost Highway (1997) Blue Velvet (1986) Mullholand drive (2001)

Twin Peaks Elephant Man (1980) Eraserhead (1977)

63. Éric Rohmer

Director | Ma nuit chez Maud

Admirers have always had difficulty explaining Éric Rohmer's "Je ne sais quoi." Part of the challenge stems from the fact that, despite his place in French Nouvelle Vague (i.e., New Wave), his work is unlike that of his colleagues. While this may be due to the auteur's unwillingness to conform, ...

A night at Maud's (1969)

64. François Truffaut

Writer | La nuit américaine

French director François Truffaut began to assiduously go to the movies at age seven. He was also a great reader but not a good pupil. He left school at 14 and started working. In 1947, aged 15, he founded a film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who became his protector. Bazin helped the ...

Τα 400 χτυπήματα(1959)

Le dernier métro(1980) Απολαύστε το Κορμί μου(1962) Tirez sur le pianiste(1960)

65. Sergei Eisenstein

Director | Ivan Groznyy

The son of an affluent architect, Eisenstein attended the Institute of Civil Engineering in Petrograd as a young man. With the fall of the tsar in 1917, he worked as an engineer for the Red Army. In the following years, Eisenstein joined up with the Moscow Proletkult Theater as a set designer and ...

Θορηκτό Ποτέμκιν

Strike Ivan Groznyy

66. 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...

Toni Erdmann (2016) - cannes '16

Alle Anderen (2009) Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen (2003

67. Jacques Rivette

Director | La Belle Noiseuse

Although François Truffaut has written that the New Wave began "thanks to Rivette," the films of this masterful French director are not well known. Rivette, like his "Cahiers du Cinéma" colleagues Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer, did graduate to filmmaking but, like Rohmer...

La belle noiseuse (1991) Ποιος να Ξέρει... (2001) Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies Over Paris (1974)

68. 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).

American Honey (2016) -cannes

Wuthering Heights (2011) No 73 (1982) Fish Tank (2009) Red Road (2006)

69. Nicholas Ray

Director | Rebel Without a Cause

Nicholas Ray was born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle in 1911, in small-town Galesville, Wisconsin, to Lena (Toppen) and Raymond Joseph Kienzle, a contractor and builder. He was of German and Norwegian descent. Ray's early experience with film came with some radio broadcasting in high school. He left the ...

Johnny Guitar Rebell without a cause

70. Milos Forman

Director | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in ...

Στη φωλιά του κούκου

Hair (1979) Amadeus (1984)

71. Sergei Parajanov

Director | Tini zabutykh predkiv

One of the 20th century's greatest masters of cinema Sergei Parajanov was born in Georgia to Armenian parents and it was always unlikely that his work would conform to the strict socialist realism that Soviet authorities preferred. After studying film and music, Parajanov became an assistant ...

Tini zabutykh predkiv(1965) Sayat Nova(1969) Parajanov: The Last Spring(1992) Ασίκ Κερίμπ, ο φτωχός ασίκης(1988)

72. Kenji Mizoguchi

Director | Ugetsu monogatari

Coming from a lower class family Mizoguchi entered the production company Nikkatsu as an actor specialized in female roles. Later he became an assistant director and made his first film in 1922. Although he filmed almost 90 movies in the silent era, only his last 12 productions are really known ...

The Life of Oharu (1952)

Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)

73. Hiroshi Teshigahara

Director | Suna no onna

Hiroshi Teshigahara was born the son of Sofu Teshigahara who was the founder of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana (flower arrangement). In 1950, he graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in oil painting. In 1958, he became the director of Sogetsu Art Centre and took a ...

Woman in the Dunes / Suna no onna (1964) Hour of the Wolf (1968)

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74. 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, ...

Good will hunting (1997)

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

75. 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 ...

and Ethan Coen

Fargo (1996)

...

76. Asghar Farhadi

Writer | Forooshande

Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of...

The salesman (2016) La Separation

About Elly (2009) A Hero (2021) Everybody knows (2018) Forushande (2016) - cannes Darbareye Elly (2009) Το Παρελθόν (2013) Pyrotehnimata tin Tetarti (2006)

77. Abbas Kiarostami

Writer | Copie conforme

Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career ...

Γνήσιο Αντίγραφο (2010) Ta'm e guilass (1997) Nema-ye Nazdik (1990) Bad ma ra khahad bord (1999)

78. Sharunas Bartas

Director | Frost

Sharunas Bartas was born on August 16, 1964 in Siauliai, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. He is a director and actor, known for Frost (2017), The Corridor (1995) and Three Days (1991).

Koridorius (1995) Few of us (1996)

79. 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 ...

Gummo (1997) Mister Lonely (2007)

80. Jean Vigo

Writer | Zéro de conduite : Jeunes diables au collège

Jean Vigo had bad health since he was a child. Son of anarchist militant Miguel Almareyda, he also never really recovered from his father's mysterious death in jail when he was 12. Abandoned by his mother, he passed from boarding school to boarding school. Aged 23, through meetings with people ...

L’atalante

81. Harun Farocki

Director | Memories

The German film director, screenwriter and media artist Harun Farocki was born on the 9th January 1944 in Nový Jicín [Neutitschein], at that time a part of Czechoslovakia annexed by the Third Reich. He was the son of an immigrated Indian doctor and a German woman. Farocki first studied Theatre, ...

Foenix (2014) - with Christian Petzold barbara (2012) Zum Vergleich (2009) Khaneh siah ast (1963)

82. Nikos Papatakis

Writer | I fotografia

Nikos Papatakis was born on July 5, 1918 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was a writer and director, known for The Photograph (1986), The Depths (1963) and Oi voskoi (1967). He was married to Olga Karlatos and Anouk Aimée. He died on December 17, 2010 in Paris, France.

Φιλμογραφία

Ως σκηνοθέτης

Οι Αβυσσοι (1963) Οι Βοσκοί (1968) Gloria Mundi (1975) Η Φωτογραφία (1986) Οι Ισορροπιστές (1991) Ως σεναριογράφος

Οι Βοσκοί (1968) Gloria Mundi (1975) Une page d'amour, του Ελί Σουρακί (1980) Court circuits, του Πατρίκ Γκρανπερέ (1981) Η Φωτογραφία (1986) Οι Ισορροπιστές (1991) Ως παραγωγός

Un chant d’ amour, του Ζαν Ζενέ (1950) Σκιές (1961) Οι Άβυσσοι (1963) Gloria Mundi (1975)

Ως Ηθοποιός

Nico Icon (1995)

83. Giorgos Panousopoulos

Director | Taxidi tou melitos

Giorgos Panousopoulos is known for Taxidi tou melitos (1979), Love Me Not? (1989) and Testosteroni (2004). He is married to Betty Livanou.

1988 Μ’ αγαπάς; 1986 ΜΑΝΙΑ

2004 Τεστοστερόνη 2001 Μια μέρα τη νύχτα 1995 Ελεύθερη κατάδυση 1981 Οι απέναντι 1978 Το ταξίδι του μέλιτος

84. Fotos Lambrinos

Writer | Doxobus

Fotos Lambrinos is known for Doxobus (1987), Kapetan Kemal, o syntrofos (2009) and Glenti genethlion i Mia vouvi valkaniki istoria (1995).

85. Jafar Panahi

Director | Taxi

Jafar Panahi (Born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi achieved ...

Offside (2006)

Taxi Tehran (2015) The Circle (2000) The Mirror (1997)

86. Tom Tykwer

Writer | Lola rennt

Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working...

Lola rennt Perfume

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87. Lee Chang-dong

Writer | Beoning

Lee Chang-Dong was born in 1954 in Daegu, which some consider the most right-wing city in South Korea. Lee is a former high-school teacher and an acclaimed novelist. He turned to cinema when he was over 40 years old. His debut film "Green Fish" (1997) brought immediate success and critical acclaim....

Burning (2018)

Shi / Poetry (2006)

88. Ken Loach

Director | I, Daniel Blake

Unlike virtually all his contemporaries, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it's virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating well to that context.

After studying law at St. Peter's College, Oxford, he branched out into ...

The old Oak (2023) I Daniel Blake (2016) The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) Land and freedom(1995) It's a free world (2007) The angel's share (2012)

Looking for Eric (2009)

89. 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, ...

Ida Cold war

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90. Andrey Zvyagintsev

Director | Nelyubov

Director and screenwriter Andrey Zvyagintsev is the winner of the Venice Film Festival (2003) and the Cannes Film Festival (2011, 2014, 2017). Two-time the Academy Awards and the BAFTA Awards nominee. Winner or the Golden Globe Awards (2015) for his film "Leviathan". In 2018, his latest work "...

Leviathan The return

Elena Loveless

91. Dario Argento

Writer | Profondo rosso

Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...

Μαύρα γυαλιά (2022) Suspiria (1977)

Βαθύ Κόκκινο (1975) Η όπερα του τρόμου (1987) Το Πουλί με τα Κρυσταλλένια Φτερά (1970)

92. Edward Yang

Writer | Yi yi

Born on November 6, 1947 in Shanghai, China, Edward Yang has become one of the most talented international filmmakers of his generation. Along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-Liang, Yang ranks among the leading artists of the Taiwanese New Wave, and one of the world's most brilliant auteurs. ...

Yi Yi (2000)

A brighter summer day (1991)

93. 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...

Hanna (2011) Atonement (2007)

Pride and Prejudice (2005) Anna Karenina (2012) Darkest Hour (2017) The Woman in the Window (2020)

94. 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 ...

Jagten / The Hunt (2012)

Festen / The Celebration (1998) Submarino (2010) Druk (2020)

95. 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), ...

Rendezvous with Rama (upcoming) Dune Part II (2023) Dune (2021) * Arrival (2016) Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Sicario (2015)

Enemy (2013) Incendies (2010)

96. 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 ...

Ζώνη ενδιαφέροντος (2023) Κάτω από το δέρμα (2013) Γέννηση (2004) Ερωτικό κτήνος (2000)

97. 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 (2010) - with Ryan Gosling The Place Beyond the Pines / Στο τέλος του δρόμου (2012) - with Ryan Gosling

The Light Between Oceans (2016) Sound of metal (2019)

98. Nicolas Roeg

Director | Don't Look Now

When he made his directorial debut in 1970, Nicolas Roeg was already a 23-year veteran of the British film industry, starting out in 1947 as an editing apprentice and working his way up to cinematographer twelve years later. He first came to attention as part of the second unit on David Lean's ...

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

The Witches (1990) Walkabout (1971) Don't Look Now (1973)

99. Nikos Nikolaidis

Writer | Proini peripolos

Nikos Nikolaidis was born on October 25, 1939 in Athens, Greece. He was a writer and director, known for Morning Patrol (1987), Ta kourelia tragoudane akoma... (1979) and O hamenos ta pairnei ola (2002). He died on September 5, 2007 in Athens, Greece.

Τα κουρέλια τραγουδάνε ακόμα (1979) Η γλυκιά συμμορία (1983) Ο χαμένος τα παίρνει όλα (2002)

100. Theodoros Angelopoulos

Director | Mia aioniotita kai mia mera

Theo Angelopoulos began to study law in Athens but broke up his studies to go to the Sorbonne in Paris in order to study literature. When he had finished his studies, he wanted to attend the School of Cinema at Paris but decided instead to go back to Greece. There he worked as a journalist and ...

Anaparastasi (1970) O melissokomos (1986) Μερες του '36 (1972) Οι Κυνηγοί (1977) Ο Θίασος (1975) Μεγαλέξανδρος (1980) Ταξίδι στα Κύθηρα (1984) Μετέωρο βήμα του πελαργού (1991)