My Favourite Directors (2022 Version)

1. Jacques Rivette

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...

2. 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.

3. 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....

4. Krzysztof Zanussi

Director | Struktura krysztalu

Born in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland. Documentary and feature film director. Studied physics at Warsaw University and philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Graduated from Lodz Film Academy in 1966. Amateur film maker. His school diploma film 'Death of a Provincial' (Smierc prowincjala (1968)) ...

5. 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...

6. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Producer | Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da

Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul on January 26th, 1959. In 1976, he began studying chemical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, in a context of strong student unrest, boycotts and political polarization. In 1978, he switched courses to Electrical Engineering at Bogazici University. ...

7. 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 ...

8. 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 ...

9. Gianni Amelio

Director | Il ladro di bambini

After school, Amelio studied philosophy. He graduated with a doctorate. Amelio developed a keen interest in film at a young age. In 1970 he began working as a cameraman for the Italian state television RAI. A little later, Amelio worked as an assistant director for RAI. In 1970 he directed his ...

10. Oskar Fischinger

Cinematographer | Frau im Mond

Oskar Fischinger was born on June 22, 1900 in Gelnhausen, Hesse, Germany. He was a director, known for Woman in the Moon (1929), Orgelstäbe (1927) and A Quarter Hour of City Statistics (1933). He was married to Elfriede Fischinger. He died on January 31, 1967 in Hollywood, California, USA.

11. Mohammad Rasoulof

Director | Dast-neveshtehaa nemisoosand

Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1972. He is an independent director, writer and producer. He studied sociology. Rasoulof started his filmmaking with documentaries and short films. For his first film 'Gagooman'(The Twilight, 2002) Rasoulof won the prize for the best film at the Fajr ...

12. 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...

13. 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 (...

14. 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...

15. 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 ...

16. Ousmane Sembene

Writer | Moolaadé

The first film director from an African country to achieve international recognition, Ousmane Sembene remains the major figure in the rise of an independent post-colonial African cinema. Sembene's roots were not, as might be expected, in the educated élite. After working as a mechanic and ...

17. Satyajit Ray

Writer | Pather Panchali

Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta on May 2, 1921. His father, Late Sukumar Ray was an eminent poet and writer in the history of Bengali literature. In 1940, after receiving his degree in science and economics from Calcutta University, he attended Tagore's Viswa-Bharati University. His first movie ...

18. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

19. Mike Leigh

Director | Secrets & Lies

Mike Leigh is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre ...

20. Len Lye

Director | Crusade in Europe

Len Lye was born on July 5, 1901 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was a director and writer, known for Crusade in Europe (1949), N or NW (1938) and He Loved an Actress (1938). He was married to Annette Zeiss and Jane Florence Winifred Thompson. He died on May 15, 1980 in Warwick, Rhode Island, USA.

21. Lynne Ramsay

Director | You Were Never Really Here

Lynne Ramsay was born on December 5, 1969 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK. She is a director and writer, known for You Were Never Really Here (2017), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and Ratcatcher (1999). She was previously married to Rory Stewart Kinnear.

22. 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...

23. Johan van der Keuken

Director | Face Value

Johan van der Keuken was born on April 4, 1938 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He was a director and editor, known for Face Value (1991), Amsterdam Global Village (1996) and The Eye Above the Well (1988). He was married to Noshka Van der Lely. He died on January 7, 2001 in Amsterdam, ...

24. Emin Alper

Director | Tepenin Ardi

Emin Alper (born in Karaman, Turkey) is a Turkish filmmaker and historian. His directorial debut, Beyond the Hill won the Caligari Film Prize in the 62nd Berlinale and Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. His second feature Frenzy won the Special Jury Prize after premiering in competition ...

25. 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 ...

26. Jordan Belson

Visual_effects | The Right Stuff

Jordan Belson was born on June 6, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Jordan was a director and producer, known for The Right Stuff (1983), LSD (1962) and Séance (1959). Jordan died on September 6, 2011 in San Francisco, California, USA.

27. Patrick Bokanowski

Director | Au bord du lac

Patrick Bokanowski was born on June 23, 1943 in Algiers, France. He is a director and writer, known for Au bord du lac (1994), La plage (1992) and L'ange (1982).

28. 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 ...

29. Leos Carax

Director | Holy Motors

Leos Carax made several short films and also wrote film criticism, then at the age of 24 years made a very strong first feature Boy Meets Girl (1984). The film played at the 1984 Cannes film festival and was a critical triumph. It paved the way for Carax's second feature Bad Blood (1986) (Bad Blood...

30. Alain Cavalier

Director | Thérèse

Alain Cavalier was born on September 14, 1931 in Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher, France. He is a director and writer, known for Thérèse (1986), Un étrange voyage (1981) and Libera me (1993).

31. Charles Chaplin

Writer | The Great Dictator

Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...

32. Jem Cohen

Director | Museum Hours

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

33. Denis Côté

Director | Curling

Denis Côté was born on November 16, 1973 in New Brunswick, Canada. He is a director and writer, known for Curling (2010), Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (2013) and Les états nordiques (2005).

34. 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.

35. Vittorio De Seta

Director | Banditi a Orgosolo

Vittorio De Seta was born on October 15, 1923 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Bandits of Orgosolo (1961), Un uomo a metà (1966) and Islands of Fire (1955). He died on November 28, 2011 in Sellia Marina, Calabria, Italy.

36. Guy Debord

Writer | In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

Guy Debord was born on December 28, 1931 in Paris, France. He was a writer and director, known for In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (1978), Howlings in Favour of De Sade (1952) and Fuerza nueva: Canción para los obreros de Seat (2019). He was married to Alice Becker-Ho and Michele ...

37. Raymond Depardon

Director | Afriques: Comment ça va avec la douleur?

Raymond Depardon is a photographer, a journalist and a filmmaker, but, above all, his eyes view humans with compassion. He respects others and is kind with the reality of their lives. He was born into a family of farmers in 1942 in Burgundy and went to Paris in 1958, wishing to be a photographer. ...

38. Lav Diaz

Writer | Ang babaeng humayo

Lav Diaz was born on December 30, 1958 in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines. He is a writer and director, known for The Woman Who Left (2016), Season of the Devil (2018) and From What Is Before (2014).

39. Eloy Enciso

Writer | Longa noite

Eloy Enciso is known for Endless Night (2019), Arraianos (2012) and Cambiando la rueda (2003).

40. Jean Epstein

Director | La chute de la maison Usher

Jean Epstein was born on March 25, 1897 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for The Fall of the House of Usher (1928), Mauprat (1926) and Le lion des Mogols (1924). He died on April 2, 1953 in Paris, France.

41. 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...

42. Tony Gatlif

Director | Vengo

Tony Gatlif was born on September 10, 1948 in Algiers, Alger, France [now Algeria]. He is a director and writer, known for Vengo (2000), Freedom (2009) and The Crazy Stranger (1997).

43. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Director | Daratt

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He is a director and writer, known for Dry Season (2006), A Screaming Man (2010) and Our Father (2002).

44. Marcell Jankovics

Writer | Küzdök

Marcell Jankovics was born on October 21, 1941 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a writer and director, known for Küzdök (1977), Toldi - Movie (2022) and Hungarian Folk Tales (1980). He was married to Éva Rubovszky. He died on May 29, 2021 in Budapest, Hungary.

45. Alain Jessua

Writer | La vie à l'envers

Alain Jessua was born on January 16, 1932 in Paris, France. He was a writer and assistant director, known for Life Upside Down (1964), Frankenstein 90 (1984) and En toute innocence (1988). He was married to Anna Gaylor. He died on November 30, 2017 in Évreux, Eure, France.

46. Piotr Kamler

Director | Chronopolis

Piotr Kamler was born on June 30, 1936 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for Chronopolis (1982), The Hole (1969) and The Step (1975).

47. Helmut Käutner

Director | Der Hauptmann von Köpenick

Helmut Käutner was born on March 25, 1908 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for The Captain from Köpenick (1956), The Last Bridge (1954) and The Rest Is Silence (1959). He was married to Erica Balqué. He died on April 20, 1980 in Castellina in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy.

48. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Director | Tokyo Sonata

Kiyoshi Kurosawa was born on July 19, 1955 in Kobe, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Tokyo Sonata (2008), Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997).

49. Jean-François Laguionie

Director | Louise en hiver

Jean-François Laguionie was born on October 4, 1939 in Besançon, Doubs, France. He is a director and writer, known for Louise by the Shore (2016), Gwen, the Book of Sand (1985) and Rowing Across the Atlantic (1978).

50. Yorgos Lanthimos

Director | The Lobster

Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied directing for Film and Television at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theater plays. Kinetta,...

51. Jodie Mack

Director | The Grand Bizarre

Jodie Mack is known for The Grand Bizarre (2018), Hoarders Without Borders (2018) and Dusty Stacks of Mom: The Poster Project (2013).

52. Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Writer | Gabbeh

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is known as one of the most influential filmmakers and founders of the new wave of Iranian cinema in the world today.

Many of his films like Salam Cinema, A Moment Of Innocence, Gabbeh, Kandahar and The President have been widely well received across the globe and have brought him ...

53. Bill Morrison

Director | Dawson City: Frozen Time

Bill Morrison was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and editor, known for Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), The Great Flood (2013), The Miners' Hymns (2011), Spark of Being (2010), Light Is Calling (2004) and Decasia (2002). Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) won a Critics' Choice Award ...

54. Kornél Mundruczó

Director | Jupiter holdja

Kornél Mundruczó was born on April 3, 1975 in Gödöllõ, Hungary. He is an actor and director, known for Jupiter's Moon (2017), White God (2014) and Pieces of a Woman (2020). He is married to Kata Wéber.

55. Mikio Naruse

Director | Ukigumo

Considered a major figure of Japan's 'golden age of cinema', Mikio Naruse was a filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed 89 films in the period 1930 to 1967. Although Naruse's work is lesser known in the twenty-first century than those of his contemporaries Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi...

56. Werner Nekes

Director | Hynningen

Werner Nekes was born on April 29, 1944 in Erfurt, Germany. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Hynningen (1984), Beuys (1981) and Jüm-Jüm (1967). He was married to Dore O.. He died on January 22, 2017 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany.

57. Jeffrey Noyes Scher

Director | Prisoners of Inertia

Jeffrey Noyes Scher was born on December 24, 1954. He is a director, known for Prisoners of Inertia (1989), Nerve Tonic (1995) and Post-Cards from Warren (1998).

58. Idrissa Ouedraogo

Director | Yaaba

Idrissa Ouedraogo was born on January 21, 1954 in Banfora, Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]. He was a director and writer, known for Yaaba (1989), The Law (1990) and Samba Traoré (1992). He died on February 18, 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

59. Artavazd Peleshian

Director | La nature

Creator of the "distance montage," Artavazd Peleshian, one of the key Soviet documentary makers, removed the boundaries of feature and documentary films, editing both sequences as a real poetical unity. His "distance montage" was a new step in the development of film editing.

Even his student works ...

60. Christian Petzold

Director | Barbara

Christian Petzold was born in Hilden in 1960. After studying German and Drama at the Freie Universität Berlin, he enrolled in Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television (DFFB). There he studied film direction while at same time working as an assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut ...

61. Franco Piavoli

Director | Al primo soffio di vento

Franco Piavoli was born on June 21, 1933 in Pozzolengo, Lombardy, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Al primo soffio di vento (2002), The Blue Planet (1982) and Voices Through Time (1996). He is married to Neria Poli. They have one child.

62. Kelly Reichardt

Director | Wendy and Lucy

Kelly Reichardt was born and raised in Miami-Dade Country, Florida, to a family of police officers. She had an interest in photography from a very young age. She started by using her father's camera, which he used for photographing crime scenes. She went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in ...

63. Armando Robles Godoy

Director | La muralla verde

Armando Robles Godoy was born on February 7, 1923 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for The Green Wall (1969), Mirage (1972) and No Stars in the Jungle (1967). He died on August 10, 2010 in Lima, Peru.

64. 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, ...

65. Alice Rohrwacher

Director | Lazzaro felice

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

66. Raúl Ruiz

Director | La Telenovela Errante

Chilean director Raúl, or Raoul, Ruiz (1941-2011) was one of the most exciting and innovative filmmakers to emerge from 1960s World Cinema, providing more intellectual fun and artistic experimentation, shot for shot, than any filmmaker since Jean-Luc Godard. A guerrilla who uncompromisingly ...

67. Jorge Sanjinés

Director | Yawar Mallku

Sanjines made his first feature film, Ukamau (1966), under the auspices of the Bolivian Film Institute, of which he was named director in 1965. A landmark in the history of Bolivian cinema, Ukamau is a sympathetic depiction of the social problems of the Andean peasantry shot exclusively in Aymara, ...

68. Georges Schwizgebel

Director | L'homme sans ombre

Georges Schwizgebel was born on September 28, 1944 in Reconvilier, Bern, Switzerland. He is a director and writer, known for L'homme sans ombre (2004), Fugue (1999) and Darwin's Notebook (2020).

69. 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 ...

70. Theodore Ushev

Director | Phi 1.618

Theodore Ushev was born in Bulgaria and earned a master's degree in graphic and poster design at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia in 1995. He taught there for several years before moving to Canada in 1999. He works in multimedia, illustration, animation and has exhibited his posters in ...

71. 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.

72. 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), ...

73. Bo Widerberg

Director | Ådalen 31

Bo Widerberg was born on June 8, 1930 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for Adalen 31 (1969), All Things Fair (1995) and Joe Hill (1971). He was married to Vanja Nettelbladt and Ann-Mari Björklund. He died on May 1, 1997 in Ängelholm, Skåne län, Sweden.

74. 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 "...