Realisateur

1. David Lynch

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 ...

2. Ridley Scott

Producer | The Martian

Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...

3. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

4. Neil Jordan

Writer | The Crying Game

Neil Jordan was born on February 25, 1950 in Sligo, Ireland. He is a writer and producer, known for The Crying Game (1992), Greta (2018) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). He has been married to Brenda Rawn since June 30, 2004. They have two children. He was previously married to Vivienne Shields.

5. David Oelhoffen

Writer | Loin des hommes

The French film director and screenwriter David Oelhoffen was born in 1968. His debut feature 'In Your Wake' premiered in the International Critics' Week of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. His next film was 'Far from Men' (2014), which is based on the short story 'The Guest' ('L'hôte') by french ...

6. 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...

7. Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Actress | Solo: A Star Wars Story

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge is an English actress, producer, and writer. She created, wrote, and starred in the Channel 4 sitcom Crashing (2016) and the BBC comedy-drama series Fleabag (2016-2019). She was also the show-runner and executive producer for the first series of the BBC America thriller ...

8. 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 ...

9. Joe Carnahan

Writer | Smokin' Aces

Joe Carnahan is an American film director and screenwriter. He was born in Michigan in 1969, and was raised in California. He attended Fairfield High School in Fairfield, California. He graduated in 1987, at the age of 18. He first attended the San Francisco State University, and later transferred ...

10. Adam McKay

Producer | The Other Guys

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through ...

11. Shane Meadows

Director | This Is England

Shane Meadows was born on December 26, 1972 in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for This Is England (2006), Dead Man's Shoes (2004) and TwentyFourSeven (1997).

12. Leszek Dawid

Director | Bar na Victorii

Leszek Dawid was born on March 6, 1971 in Kluczbork, Opolskie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for Bar na Victorii (2004), Broad Peak (2022) and My Name Is Ki (2011). He is married to Anna Kazejak.

13. Bartosz Konopka

Director | Lek wysokosci

One of the most awarded young Polish filmmakers. Graduated Film Science in Jagiellonian University Cracow, Krzysztof Kieslowski Film Department in Katowice University and Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing. He makes both documentaries and features. Received over 30 awards for his films ...

14. Baltasar Kormákur

Producer | Mýrin

Baltasar Kormákur is an actor, producer and director whose work spans theater, movies and television. Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, he graduated as an actor from Iceland's National Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. He was immediately signed on by the National Theatre of Iceland, where he worked as one of...

15. James Woods

Actor | Vampires

James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the son of Martha A. (Smith) and Gail Peyton Woods, a U.S. Army intelligence officer who died during Woods' childhood. James is of Irish, English, and German descent. He grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, with his mother and stepfather ...

16. 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 ...

17. 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 ...

18. Vincent Garenq

Director | Présumé coupable

Vincent Garenq is known for Guilty (2011), The Clearstream Affair (2014) and Kalinka (2016).

19. Terry Gilliam

Writer | Brazil

Terry Gilliam was born near Medicine Lake, Minnesota. When he was 12 his family moved to Los Angeles where he became a fan of MAD magazine. In his early twenties he was often stopped by the police who suspected him of being a drug addict and Gilliam had to explain that he worked in advertising. In ...

20. 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...

21. 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 ...

22. Laetitia Masson

Director | En avoir (ou pas)

Laetitia Masson was born on August 18, 1966 in Epinal, Vosges, France. She is a director and writer, known for To Have (or Not) (1995), Pourquoi (pas) le Brésil (2004) and For Sale (1998).

23. 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...

24. Robert Enrico

Director | Le vieux fusil

Robert Enrico studied in Toulon and then in Paris where he graduated from Lycée Voltaire. He later enrolled in the famous film school IDHEC where he specialized in editing and directing. Until 1956 he was an active member of the Sorbonne's medieval group "Les Théophiliens". From 1956 to 1959 he did...

25. 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.

26. Agnès Godard

Cinematographer | Beau travail

Agnès Godard was born on May 29, 1951 in Dun-sur-Auron, Cher, France. She is a cinematographer and production manager, known for Beau Travail (1999), Home (2008) and Wings of Desire (1987).

27. Henri Alekan

Cinematographer | Der Himmel über Berlin

Henri Alekan was born on February 10, 1909 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Wings of Desire (1987), Roman Holiday (1953) and Beauty and the Beast (1946). He was married to Nadia Starcevic. He died on June 15, 2001 in Auxerre, Yonne, France.

28. 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).

29. 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...

30. Stephan Streker

Director | Noces

Stephan Streker was born in Brussels, and first became a journalist with the aim of meeting the people he admired most in the world - filmmakers. In this capacity, he published lengthy interviews for the Belgian press. He also worked as a film critic for both radio and print media and as a ...

31. 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), ...

32. Jean-Paul Janssen

Director | La vie au bout des doigts

Jean-Paul Janssen in Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre (Eure-et-Loir) and died February 21, 1986 in Paris, was a French director, documentary filmmaker and image reporter. He is known for the climbing films he has made, including Opéra Vertical and La Vie au Bout des Doigts. Jean-Paul had a twin brother, also a ...

33. Michel Auder

Director | The Feature

Michel Auder was born in 1945 in Soissons, Aisne, France. He is a director and cinematographer, known for The Feature (2008), Krylon (1968) and Lune X (1968).

34. Bruno Merle

Writer | Felicità

Bruno Merle is known for Felicità (2020), Héros (2007) and Drone Games (2023).

35. Olivier Abbou

Writer | Drone Games

Olivier Abbou was born on March 21, 1973 in Colmar, Haut-Rhin, France. He is a writer and director, known for Drone Games (2023), Get In (2019) and Les papillons noirs (2022).

36. Thomas M. Wright

Director | The Stranger

Thomas M. Wright was born on June 22, 1983 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is an actor and director, known for The Stranger (2022), Acute Misfortune (2018) and Everest (2015).

37. M. Night Shyamalan

Producer | Lady in the Water

Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.

He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil ...

38. Fabrice du Welz

Director | Alléluia

Fabrice du Welz was born on October 21, 1972 in Belgium. He is a director and writer, known for Alleluia (2014), Adoration (2019) and Calvaire (2004).

39. Dominik Moll

Writer | Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien

Dominik Moll was born on May 7, 1962 in Bühl, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He is a writer and director, known for With a Friend Like Harry... (2000), Only the Animals (2019) and The Night of the 12th (2022).

40. Bruno Dumont

Writer | P'tit Quinquin

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

41. 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 ...

42. 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, ...

43. Valérie Donzelli

Actress | La guerre est déclarée

A tall, slim brunette with deep red puckered lips, Valérie Donzelli plays wonderfully clumsy, gawky, goofy girls, failed seductresses and successful charm freaks. She is also a noted film director, whose works explore very different registers, which she does not hesitate to mix whether comic, ...

44. Ari Aster

Director | Hereditary

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

45. Gavin Hood

Director | Official Secrets

Gavin Hood was born on May 12, 1963 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an actor and director, known for Official Secrets (2019), Tsotsi (2005) and Eye in the Sky (2015). He was previously married to Janine Eser.

46. Jérôme Salle

Producer | L'odyssée

Jérôme Salle was born in 1971 in Paris. He is a producer and writer, known for The Odyssey (2016), Zulu (2013) and Anthony Zimmer (2005).

47. Just Philippot

Director | Acide

Just Philippot is known for Acid (2018), Acid (2023) and The Swarm (2020).

48. 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...

49. 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 ...

50. 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 ...

51. Mike Flanagan

Writer | The Fall of the House of Usher

Mike Flanagan is a prolific writer, director, and editor. He entered into an exclusive overall deal with Amazon Studios in 2023 for television projects (after a similar exclusive deal with Netflix from 2018-2022), and has made feature films for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Netflix and more. ...

52. Hiam Abbass

Actress | Blade Runner 2049

Hiam Abbass also Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director. Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. She was raised in the village of Deir Hanna. Since the late 1980s, she has lived in Paris and holds French citizenship. During the filming of the Steven Spielberg ...

53. Robert Connolly

Director | Balibo

Robert is one of Australia's most acclaimed and best-known filmmakers with an international career spanning 30 years. His films include the box office hit Paper Planes with Sam Worthington, Balibo starring Oscar Isaac and Anthony Lapaglia and the compendium feature film The Turning with Cate ...

54. 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...

55. Mathieu Gérault

Writer | Sentinelle sud

Mathieu Gérault is known for Sentinelle sud (2021), Hautes herbes (2001) and Journal IV (2005).

56. Sam Peckinpah

Writer | The Wild Bunch

"If they move", commands stern-eyed William Holden, "kill 'em". So begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam Peckinpah's bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old West. "Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah explodes the bottle", observed critic Pauline Kael. That ...

57. Fabien Onteniente

Director | (G)rève party

Fabien Onteniente was born on April 27, 1958 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for (G)rève party (1998), Camping (2006) and Disco (2008). He has been married to Nathalie Dupuis since August 4, 2018. He was previously married to Souad Amidou and Elsa Wolinski.

58. Maciej Pieprzyca

Director | Jestem morderca

Maciej Pieprzyca was born on May 5, 1964 in Katowice, Slaskie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for I'm a Killer (2016), Life Feels Good (2013) and Icarus. The Legend of Mietek Kosz (2019).

59. Thierry de Peretti

Director | Une vie violente

Thierry de Peretti was born on November 19, 1970 in Ajaccio, Corse-du-Sud, France. He is an actor and director, known for A Violent Life (2017), Undercover (2021) and Apaches (2013).

60. Quentin Dupieux

Writer | Rubber

Quentin Dupieux was born on April 14, 1974 in Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is a writer and director, known for Rubber (2010), Le daim (2019) and Reality (2014).

61. Fernando León de Aranoa

Writer | A Perfect Day

Fernando León de Aranoa was born on May 26, 1968 in Madrid, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for A Perfect Day (2015), The Good Boss (2021) and Mondays in the Sun (2002).

62. Ryan Andrew Hooper

Director | Hidden Animals

Ryan is a BBC Broadcast and BAFTA (Wales) nominated filmmaker. After completing his MA at the Int. Film School, Wales, Ryan was selected for the prestigious Skillset "New Entrants" scheme, which saw him work on numerous TV and film productions.

His first short, "Hidden Animals" was broadcast on SKY ...