My Favorite Directors (with Ratings)

1. Alfred Hitchcock

Director | Psycho

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...

Vertigo (1958) - 10 Psycho (1960) - 10 Rear Window (1954) - 10 Shadow Of a Doubt (1943) - 9.0 Rebecca (1940) - 9.0 Lifeboat (1944) - 9.0 Rope (1948) - 9.0 The Birds (1963) - 8.5 The Lady Vanishes (1938) - 8.5 Frenzy (1972) - 8.5 The Wrong Man (1956) - 8.5 Strangers On A Train (1951) - 8.0 Dial M For Murder (1954) - 8.0 Marnie (1964) - 8.0 North By Northwest (1959) - 8.0 Spellbound (1945) - 8.0 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - 8.0 The 39 Steps (1935) - 8.0 Foreign Correspondent (1940) - 8.0 Suspicion (1941) - 7.5 To Catch A Thief (1955) - 7.0 Notorious (1946) - 7.0 The Trouble With Harry (1955) - 4.5

S.N. = 55.9 (66.8)

2. 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 ...

La Dolce Vita (1960) - 10 Le notti di Cabiria (1957) - 10 8½ (1963) - 10 La strada (1954) - 9.5 E la nave va (1983) - 9.0 Amarcord (1973) - 9.0 Il bidone (1955) - 8.5 I vitelloni (1953) - 8.5 Roma (1972) - 8.0 Giulieta degli spiriti (1965) - 7.5 Satyricon (1969) - 6.5

S.N. = 52.5

3. Robert Altman

Director | Gosford Park

Robert Altman was born on February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there, he went to Rockhurst High School. It was then that he started...

Nashville (1975) - 9.5 The Player (1992) - 9.5 3 Women (1977) - 9.5 The Long Goodbye (1973) - 9.5 Short Cuts (1993) - 9.0 McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971) - 9.0 Gosford Park (2001) - 9.0 California Split (1974) - 8.5 A Prairie Home Companion (2006) - 8.5 MASH (1970) - 8.5 Brewster McCloud (1970) 8.0 Vincent & Theo (1990) - 8.0 Secret Honor (1984) - 7.5 The Company (2003) - 6.5

S.N. = 49 (51.5)

4. 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, ...

Le genou de Claire (1970) - 9.5 L'amour l'après-midi (1972) - 9.0 Conte d'été (1996) - 9.0 Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) - 9.0 Le rayon vert (1986) - 9.0 Pauline à la Plage (1983) - 9.0 Conte d'hiver (1992) - 9.0 Conte d'automne (1998) - 9.0 La collectionneuse (1967) - 8.5 La femme de l'aviateur (1981) - 8.5 L'ami de mon amie (1987) - 8.5 Conte de printemps (1990) - 8.0 Les nuits de la pleine lune (1984) - 7.5 Le beau mariage (1982) - 6.5 La Carrière de Suzanne (1963) - 6.5 La boulangère de Monceau (1963) [short]

S.N. = 46 (49.5)

5. Sidney Lumet

Director | 12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...

Network (1976) - 10 12 Angry Men (1957) - 10 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - 9.5 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) - 9.0 The Verdict (1982) - 9.0 The Pawnbroker (1964) - 8.5 Fail-Safe (1964) - 8.5 Serpico (1973) - 8.0 Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) - 8.0 Q & A (1990) - 7.5 Murder On The Orient Express (1974) - 7.0 Family Business (1989) - 6.0

S.N. = 43.5 (43.7)

6. 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 ...

Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) - 10 Saikaku ichidai onna (1952) - 9.5 Sanshô Dayû (1954) - 9.0 Naniwa erejî (1936) - 9.0 Chikamatsu Monogatari (1954) - 9.0 Akasen chitai (1956) - 9.0 Zangiku Monogatari (1939) - 8.5 Gion no shimai (1936) - 8.5 Yôkihi (1955) - 8.0 Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna (1946) - 8.0

S.N. = 43

7. 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 ...

Mullholand Dr. (2001) - 10 Elephant Man (1980) - 10 Eraserhead (1977) - 9.0 Lost Highway (1997) - 9.0 Twin Peaks (1990-1) [1:1; 1:3; 2:1; 2:2; 2:7; 2:22] - 9.0 Inland Empire (2006) - 8.5 Blue Velvet (1986) - 8.5 The Straight Story (1999) - 8.0 Wild At Heart (1990) - 7.5 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) - 6.5 Dune (1984) - 5.5

S.N. = 40.5

8. 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 ...

Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960) - 10 Il gattopardo (1963) - 10 le notti bianche (1957) - 9.0 Morte a venezia (1971) - 9.0 Ossessione (1943) - 8.5 Senso (1954) - 8.5 Bellissima (1952) - 8.5 L'innocente (1976) - 8.5 La caduta degli dei (1969) - 8.0 Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa... (1965) - 7.5

S.N. = 39.5

9. 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 ...

Viridiana (1961) - 9.0 Belle de Jour (1967) - 9.0 Le fantôme de la liberté (1974) - 9.0 Tristana (1970) - 9.0 Los Olvidados (1950) - 9.0 Ensayo de un crimen (1955) - 9.0 Cet obscur objet du désir (1977) - 8.5 Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972) - 8.5 Simón del desierto (1965) - 8.5 El ángel exterminador (1962) - 8.0 Le journal d'une femme de chambre (1964) - 8.0 L'age D'or (1930) - 8.0 Nazarin (1959) - 8.0 La voie lactée (1969) - 7.5 La ilusión viaja en tranvía (1954) - 7.5 Un chien andalou (1929) [short]

S.N. = 38 (41)

10. 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 (...

Wild Strawberries (1957) - 10 Viskningar och rop (1972) - 9.5 Vargtimmen (1968) - 9.0 Såsom i en spegel (1961) - 9.0 Fanny och Alexander (1982) - 9.0 The Seventh Seal (1957) - 8.5 Persona (1966) - 8.5 Höstsonaten (1978) - 8.0 Jungfrukällan (1960) - 7.0 En passion (1969) - 6.5

S.N. = 37.2

11. Michelangelo Antonioni

Writer | Blow-Up

Together with Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni is credited with defining the modern art film. And yet Antonioni's cinema is also recognized today for defying any easy categorization, with his films ultimately seeming to belong to their own distinctive genre. Indeed, the ...

L'eclisse (1962) - 10 Blowup (1966) - 9.5 la notte (1961) - 9.0 The passenger (1975) - 9.0 L'avventura (1960) - 9.0 Il deserto rosso (1964) - 8.5 Zabriskie Point (1970) - 8.0 Identificazione di una donna (1982) - 8.0

S.N. = 36

12. 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 ...

Ta'm e guilass (1997) - 9.5 Nema-ye Nazdik (1990) - 9.5 Khane-ye doust kodjast? (1987) - 9.5 Copie conforme (2010) - 9.5 Dah (2002) - 9.0 Bad ma ra khahad bord (1999) - 8.5 Zire darakhatan zeyton (1994) - 8.0

S.N. = 36

13. 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...

Rashomon (1950) - 10 Seven Samurai (1954) - 10 Ran (1985) - 9.5 Ikiru (1951) - 9.0 Hidden Fortress (1958) - 8.0 Sanjuro (1962) - 8.0 Yojimbo (1961) - 8.0

S.N. = 35

14. Roman Polanski

Director | Chinatown

Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.

His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...

Chinatown (1974) - 9.5 Rosemary's Baby (1968) - 9.0 Repulsion (1965) - 9.0 The Pianist (2002) - 9.0 The Tenant (1976) - 9.0 Cul-de-sac (1966) - 8.5 Venus In Furs (2015) - 8.5 Macbeth (1971) - 8.0 Dance Of The Vampires (1967) - 8.0 Carnage (2011) - 7.5 The Ghost Writer (2010) - 7.5 The Ninth Gate (1999) - 4.5 D'après une histoire vraie (2017) - 4.0

S.N. = 33.1 (33.6)

15. John Cassavetes

Actor | Rosemary's Baby

John Cassavetes was a Greek-American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He is considered a pioneer of American independent film, as he often financed his own films.

Cassavetes was born in New York City in 1929 to Nicholas John Cassavetes (1893-1979) and his wife, Katherine Demetre (1906-1983). ...

Love Streams (1984) - 10 Faces (1968) - 10 A Woman Under The influence (1974) - 9.0 Shadows (1959) - 9.0 Opening Night (1977) - 8.5 The Killing Of a Chinese Bookie (1976) - 8.0 Gloria (1980) - 5.0

S.N. = 32.9

16. 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...

Magnolia (1999) - 10 There Will Be Blood (2007) - 9.5 The Master (2012) - 9.0 Boogie Nights (1997) - 9.0 Inherent Vice (2014) - 8.5 Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - 8.5 Phantom Thread (2017) - 8.0 Sydney/Hard Eight (1996) - 7.5

S.N. = 32.5

17. 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...

Nostalghia (1983) - 10 Stalker (1979) - 9.5 Ivanovo detstvo (1962) - 9.0 Solyaris (1972) - 9.0 Zerkalo (1975) - 8.5

S.N. = 29

18. 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) - 10 L'anée dernière à Marienbad (1961) - 10 Je t'aime, Je t'aime (1968) - 9.0 Mon oncle d' Amérique (1980) - 8.5 Muriel (1963) - 8.0 L'amour à mort (1984) - 8.0

S.N. = 29

19. 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 ...

& Ethan Coen

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) - 9.0 Barton Fink (1991) - 9.0 No Country For Old Men (2007) - 9.0 Fargo (1996) - 9.0 The Big Lebowski (1998) - 8.5 Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) - 8.5 Blood Simple (1984) - 8.5 A Serious Man (2009) - 8.0 Burn After Reading (2008) - 8.0 Raising Arizona (1987) - 8.0 Miller's Crossing (1990) - 8.0 O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - 7.5 Hail, Caesar! (2016) - 7.0 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) - 7.0 True Grit (2010) - 7.0 The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) - 6.5 The Ladykillers (2004) - 6.0 Intolerable Cruelty (2003) - 4.5 Tuileries (2006) [short]

S.N. = 29 (30.9)

20. David Lean

Director | Lawrence of Arabia

An important British filmmaker, David Lean was born in Croydon on March 25, 1908 and brought up in a strict Quaker family (ironically, as a child he wasn't allowed to go to the movies). During the 1920s, he briefly considered the possibility of becoming an accountant like his father before finding ...

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) - 10 Doctor Zhivago (1965) - 10 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - 9.0 Brief Encounter (1945) - 8.5 A Passage To India (1984) - 8.0

S.N. = 28

21. 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 (...

Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994) - 9.5 Trois couleurs: Blanc (1994) - 9.5 Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993) - 9.0 La double vie de Véronique (1991) - 9.0 Krótki film o milosci (1988) - 8.5 Amator (1979) - 8.5

S.N. = 28

22. 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.

Broken Flowers (2005) - 9.0 Paterson (2016) - 9.0 Mystery Train (1989) - 9.0 Down By Law (1986) - 9.0 Night On Earth (1991) - 8.5 Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999) - 8.5 Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) - 8.5 The Limits Of Control (2009) - 8.0 Stranger Than Paradise (1984) - 8.0 Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) - 7.0 Dead Man (1995) - 6.0 The Dead Don't Die (2019) - 6.0 Permanent Vacation (1980) - 4.0

S.N. = 28.2

23. Woody Allen

Writer | Annie Hall

Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.

Allen ...

Stardust Memories (1980) - 9.0 Zelig (1983) - 9.0 Manhattan (1979) - 9.0 The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1985) - 8.5 Hannah And Her Sisters (1986) - 8.5 Love & Death (1975) - 8.5 Deconstructing Harry (1997) - 8.5 Annie Hall (1977) - 8.5 Bullets Over Broadway (1994) - 8.5 Blue Jasmine (2013) - 8.5 Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - 8.5 Interiors (1978) - 8.5 Shadows And Fog (1991) - 8.5 Sweet & Lowdown (1999) - 8.0 Matchpoint (2005) - 8.0 Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - 8.0 Midnight In Paris (2011) - 8.0 Radio Days (1987) - 8.0 Mighty Aphrodite (1995) - 7.5 Cassandra's Dream (2007) - 7.5 Alice (1990) - 7.5 Manhattan Murder Mistery (1993) - 7.5 A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) - 7.5 Broadway Danny Rose (1984) - 7.5 Another Woman (1988) - 7.5 Sleeper (1973) - 7.0 Wonder Wheel (2017) - 7.0 The Irrational Man (2015) - 7.0 Café Society (2016) - 6.5 The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion (2001) - 6.5 Hollywood Ending (2002) - 6.5 Small Time Crooks (2000) - 6.5 Magic In The Moonlight (2014) - 6.5 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex... (1972) - 6.5 Take the Money and Run (1969) - 6.0 Bananas (1971) - 5.5 A Rainy Day In New York (2019) - 5.5 Scoop (2006) - 5.5 To Rome With Love (2012) - 5.0 You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) - 4.0

S.N. = 28 (43.8)

24. Ettore Scola

Writer | Una giornata particolare

Ettore Scola was born on May 10, 1931 in Trevico, Campania, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for A Special Day (1977), The Family (1987) and Passion of Love (1981). He was married to Gigliola. He died on January 19, 2016 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

C'eravamo tanto amati (1974) - 9.5 Brutti, sporchi e cattivi (1976) - 9.0 La terrazza (1980) - 9.0 La cena (1998) - 9.0 Una giornata particolare (1977) - 8.5 La nuit de Varennes (1982) - 8.5 Passione d'amore (1981) - 8.0 Le bal (1983) - 7.5 Concorrenza sleale (2001) - 7.0 Permette? Rocco Papaleo (1971) - 5.0

S.N. = 27.6

25. 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 ...

Au hasard Balthazar (1966) - 9.5 Mouchette - (1967) - 9.5 Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (1956) - 9.0 Lancelot du lac (1974) - 9.0 Procès de Jeanne d'Arc (1962) - 8.5 Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951) - 8.0 L'argent (1983) - 7.0 Pickpocket (1959) - 7.0 Quatre nuits d'un rêveur (1971) 4.0

S.N. = 27.2

26. 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 ...

Der Himmel über Berlin (1987) - 9.5 Paris, Texas (1984) - 9.5 Alice in den Städten (1974) - 9.0 In weiter Ferne, so nah! (1993) - 8.5 The Salt of the Earth [doc] (2014) - 8.5 Der amerikanische Freund (1977) - 8.5 Lisbon Story (1994) - 8.0 Hammett (1982) - 7.0

S.N. = 26.2

27. 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 ...

Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975) - 10 Brazil (1985) - 9.0 The Fisher King (1991) - 8.5 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) - 8.5 Twelve Monkeys (1995) - 8.5 Tideland (2005) - 8.5 Time Bandits (1981) - 8.0 The Zero Theorem (2013) - 8.0 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) - 7.0 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - 6.5

S.N. = 25.2

28. Yasujirô Ozu

Writer | Tôkyô monogatari

Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...

Tôkyô monogatari (1953) - 9.5 Ohayô (1959) - 9.0 Tôkyô boshoku (1957) - 9.0 Hitori musuko (1936) - 9.0 Chichi ariki (1942) - 8.0 Bakushû (1951) - 8.0

S.N. = 24

29. 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 ...

Pather Panchali (1955) - 9.5 Charulata (1964) - 9.0 Ghare-baire (1984) - 9.0 Apur Sansar (1959) - 8.5 Jalsaghar (1958) - 8.5 Aparajito (1957) - 8.5 Agantuk (1991) - 8.0

S.N. = 24

30. John Huston

Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English,...

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - 9.5 The Man Who Would Be King (1975) - 9.0 The Night of the Iguana (1964) - 9.0 Wise Blood (1979) - 8.5 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) - 8.5 Under the Volcano (1984) - 8.0 Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) - 8.0 Fat City (1972) - 7.5 The African Queen (1951) - 7.0

S.N. = 23.7

31. Billy Wilder

Writer | The Apartment

Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...

Sunset Blvd. (1950) - 9.5 The Apartment (1960) - 9.0 Double Indemnity (1944) - 9.0 Lost Weekend (1945) - 9.0 Ace In The Hole (1951) - 8.0 Some Like It Hot (1959) - 7.0 Witness For Prosecution (1957) - 7.0 One, Two, Three (1961) - 7.0

S.N. = 23.6

32. Chantal Akerman

Director | Les rendez-vous d'Anna

Chantal Akerman was born on June 6, 1950 in Brussels, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for The Meetings of Anna (1978), I, You, He, She (1974) and A Couch in New York (1996). She was married to Sonia Wieder-Atherton. She died on October 5, 2015 in Paris, France.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles(1975)- 9.5 Les rendez-vous d'Anna (1978) - 9.0 Je, tu, il, elle (1974) - 9.0 News from Home (1976) - 9.0 Toute une nuit (1982) - 8.0 Un divan à New York (1996) - 6.0 La chambre (1972) [short] Saute ma ville (1968) [short]

S.N. = 23

33. Nagisa Ôshima

Director | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Nagisa Oshima's career extends from the initiation of the "Nuberu bagu" (New Wave) movement in Japanese cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the contemporary use of cinema and television to express paradoxes in modern society. After an early involvement with the student protest movement in ...

Kôshikei (1968) - 9.5 Ai no korîda (1976) - 9.0 Ai no borei (1978) - 9.0 Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) - 8.5 Seishun zankoku monogatari (1960) - 8.0 Kaette kita yopparai (1968) - 8.0

S.N. = 23

34. 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 ...

Lacombe, Lucien (1974) - 9.5 Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958) - 9.0 Le feu follet (1963) - 9.0 Le souffle au coeur (1971) - 8.5 Zazie dans le métro (1960) - 8.5 Au revoir les enfants (1987) - 8.5 Viva Maria! (1965) - 4.0

S.N. = 22.8

35. Peter Greenaway

Director | The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Peter Greenaway trained as a painter and began working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information in 1965. Shortly afterwards he started to make his own films. He has produced a wealth of short and feature-length films, but also paintings, novels and other books. He has held several ...

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) - 10 A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) - 9.5 Drowning By Numbers (1988) - 8.5 The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) - 8.5 The Belly Of An Architect (1987) - 8.0

S.N. = 22

36. 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 ...

Pierrot le fou (1965) - 9.0 Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962) - 9.0 À bout de souffle (1960) - 9.0 Le mépris (1963) - 8.5 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967) - 8.5 La chinoise (1967) - 8.0 Bande à part (1964) - 8.0 Alphaville (1965) - 7.5 Masculin Féminin (1966) - 7.0

S.N. = 21.7

37. 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.

Missing (1982) - 9.5 Z (1969) - 9.5 État de Siége (1972) - 9.0 L'aveau (1970) - 8.5 Section Spéciale (1975) - 7.0

S.N. = 21.2

38. Werner Herzog

Director | Fitzcarraldo

Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has...

Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972) - 10 Fitzcarraldo (1982) - 9.0 Stroszek (1977) - 8.5 Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser) (1974) - 8.5 Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) - 8.0 Woyzeck (1979) - 7.0

S.N. = 20.2

39. 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 ...

Mies vailla menneisyyttä (2002) - 9.0 I Hired a Contract Killer (1990) - 9.0 Kauas pilvet karkaavat (1996) - 8.5 Toivon tuolla puolen (2017) - 8.5 Laitakaupungin valot (2006) - 8.5 Varjoja paratiisissa (1986) - 8.5 Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (1990) - 8.0 Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) - 8.0

S.N. = 20

40. Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer | Le samouraï

The name "Melville" is not immediately associated with film. It conjures up images of white whales and crackbrained captains, of naysaying notaries and soup-spilling sailors. It is the countersign to a realm of men and their deeds, both heroic and villainous. It is the American novel, with its ...

Le samourai (1967) - 9.5 le cercle rouge (1970) - 9.0 L'armée des ombres (1969) - 9.0 Léon Morin, prêtre (1961) - 8.5 La silence de la mer (1949) - 7.5 un flic (1972) - 7.0

S.N. = 19.9

41. Paolo Taviani

Director | La notte di San Lorenzo

Paolo Taviani studied liberal arts at the University of Pisa, becoming interested in the cinema after seeing Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). After writing and directing short films and plays with his brother Vittorio, he made his first feature in 1962. The brothers have continued to work ...

& Vittorio Taviani

Padre padrone (1977) - 9.0 Kaos (1984) - 9.0 Good morning Babilonia (1987) - 9.0 La notte di San Lorenzo (1982) - 8.5 Fiorile (1993) - 8.5 Cesare deve morire (2012) - 8.0 Allonsanfàn (1974) - 5.0

S.N. = 19.9

42. Douglas Sirk

Director | Schlußakkord

Film director Douglas Sirk, whose reputation blossomed in the generation after his 1959 retirement from Hollywood filmmaking, was born Hans Detlef Sierck on April 26, 1897, in Hamburg, Germany, to a journalist. Both of his parents were Danish, and the future director would make movies in German, ...

All That Heaven Allows (1955) - 9.0 Written On The Wind (1956) - 9.0 The Tarnished Angels (1957)- 9.0 Imitation Of Life (1959)- 8.5 Interlude (1957) - 8.5 Magnificent Obsession (1954) - 7.0

S.N. = 19.2

43. 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 ...

Peeping Tom (1960) 9.0 Black Narcissus (1947) - 9.0 * The Red Shoes (1948) - 9.0 * A Matter Of Life And Death (1946) - 8.5 * The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) - 8.5 *

* co-directed by Emeric Pressburger

S.N. = 19

44. John Ford

Director | The Quiet Man

John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...

The Searchers (1956) - 10 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962) - 9.0 The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) - 8.5 How Green Was My Valley (1941) - 8.0 Stagecoach (1939) - 7.5

S.N. = 18.5

45. Larisa Shepitko

Director | Voskhozhdenie

Larisa Shepitko was born on January 6, 1938 in Bakhmut, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. She was a director and writer, known for The Ascent (1977), Heat (1963) and You and Me (1971). She was married to Elem Klimov. She died on July 2, 1979 in near Redkino, Kalinin Oblast...

Krylya (1966) - 10 Voskhozhdenie (1977) - 9.5 Ty i ya (1971) - 8.0

S.N. = 18

46. Vittorio De Sica

Director | Ladri di biciclette

Vittorio De Sica grew up in Naples, and started out as an office clerk in order to raise money to support his poor family. He was increasingly drawn towards acting, and made his screen debut while still in his teens, joining a stage company in 1923. By the late 1920s he was a successful matinee ...

Ladri di biciclette (1948) - 9.5 Miracolo a Milano (1951) - 9.0 Umberto D. (1952) - 8.5 Sciuscià (Ragazzi) (1946) - 8.5 Il giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970) - 8.0 Matrimonio all'italiana (1964) - 8.0

S.N. = 18

47. Dusan Makavejev

Director | W.R. - Misterije organizma

Dusan Makavejev is the premier figure in Yugoslavian film history; his films are deeply rooted in his nation's painful postwar experiences and draw on important Yugoslavian cinematic and cultural models. Makavejev's work has violated many political and sexual taboos and invited censorship in dozens...

Sweet Movie (1974) - 9.0 W.R. - Misterije organizma (1971) - 9.0 Ljubavni slucaj ili tragedija sluzbenice P.T.T. (1967) - 9.0 Montenegro (1981) - 8.5 Covek nije tica (1965) - 8.0

S.N. = 18

48. Roberto Rossellini

Writer | Roma città aperta

The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American ...

Viaggio In Italia (1954) - 9.5 Europa '51 (1952) - 9.0 Paisà (1946) - 8.5 Germania anno zero (1948) - 8.5 Roma, città aperta (1945) - 8.5

S.N. = 18

49. 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 "...

Leviafan (2014) - 9.5 Vozvrashchenie (2003) - 9.0 Nelyubov (2017) - 8.5 Elena (2011) - 8.5 Izgnanie (2007) - 8.5 Apocrypha (2009) [short] Tayna (2011) [short]

S.N.: 18

50. Quentin Tarantino

Writer | Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.

In January of...

Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 9.5 Pulp Fiction (1994) - 9.0 Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019) - 8.5 Inglorious Basterds (2009) - 8.5 The Hateful Eight (2015) - 8.0 Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003) - 7.5 Django Unchained (2012) - 7.5 Kill Vill Vol 2 (2004) - 6.5 Death Proof (2007) - 6.0

S.N. = 18

51. Francis Ford Coppola

Producer | Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...

The Godfather: Part II (1974) - 9.5 The Conversation (1974) - 9.0 The Godfather (1972) - 9.0 Rumble Fish (1983) - 8.0 The Godfather: Part III (1990) - 5.0

S.N. = 17.9

52. 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 ...

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - 9.5 Rushmore (1998) - 9.0 The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 8.5 Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - 8.0 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) - 8.0 Bottle Rocket (1996) - 8.0 The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 8.0 The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - 3.0

S.N.: 17.8

53. Martin Scorsese

Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...

Taxi Driver (1976) - 9.0 Raging Bull (1980) - 9.0 The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013) - 8.5 King Of Comedy (1982) - 8.0 The Irishman (2019) - 8.0 Mean Streets (1973) - 8.0 Hugo (2011) - 8.0 The Departed (2006) - 8.0 Shutter Island (2010) - 7.5 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) - 6.5 The Age of Innocence (1993) 5.5

S.N. = 17.5

54. 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 ...

Caché (2005) - 9.0 Amour (2012) - 9.0 Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009) - 8.5 Benny's Video (1992) - 8.5 Funny Games (1997) - 8.5 Der siebente Kontinent (1989) - 8.0

S.N. = 17

55. 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...

La grande bellezza (2013) - 9.5 This Must Be the Place (2011) - 8.5 Youth (2015) - 8.5 Le conseguenze dell'amore (2004) - 8.5 Il divo: La spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008) - 8.5 L'amico di famiglia (2006) - 8.5

S.N.: 17

56. Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writer | All About Eve

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount ...

All About Eve (1950) - 9.0 Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) - 9.0 Sleuth (1972) - 8.5 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - 8.5 5 Fingers (1952) - 8.0 A Letter to Three Wives (1949) - 8.0 Guys And Dolls (1955) - 8.0

S.N. = 17

57. 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 ...

Deux jours, une nuit (2014) - 9.0 La promesse (1996) - 9.0 Rosetta (1999) - 8.5 L'enfant (2005) - 8.5 Le silence du Lorna (2008) - 8.0 Le fils (2002) - 8.0 Le gamin au vélo (2011) - 8.0 La fille inconnue (2016) - 6.0

S.N. = 17

*also his brother Luc Dardenne

58. Elia Kazan

Director | On the Waterfront

Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 9.0 A Face In The Crowd (1957) - 9.0 Viva Zapata! (1952) - 8.5 East Of Eden (1955) - 8.5 Splendor In The Grass (1961) - 8.5 On The Waterfront (1954) - 8.0

S.N. = 17

59. 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 ...

Taxi (2015) - 9.5 Badkonake sefid (1995) - 9.0 Pardé (2013) - 8.5 Dayereh (2000) - 8.5 Se rokh (2018) - 7.5 In film nist (2011) - 7.0*

* co-directed by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb

S.N. = 16.7

60. Elio Petri

Writer | Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto

Elio Petri was born on January 29, 1929 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) and His Days Are Numbered (1962). He was married to Paola Pegoraro. He died on November 10, 1982 in Rome, Lazio,...

Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (1970) - 10 La classe operaia va in paradiso (1971) - 9.0 A ciascuno il suo (1967) - 8.0 La proprietà non è più un furto (1973) - 7.5 La decima vittima (1965) - 6.0

S.N. = 16.2

61. Bernardo Bertolucci

Writer | Il conformista

Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (...

Il conformista (1970) - 10 Ultimo tango a parigi (1972) - 8.5 The Last Emperor (1987) - 8.5 Prima della rivoluzione (1964) - 8.0 The Sheltering Sky (1990) - 7.5 Stealing Beauty (1996) - 7.0 La tragedia di un uomo ridiculo (1981) - 7.0

S.N. = 15.9

62. Pablo Larraín

Producer | No

Pablo Larraín was born in Santiago, Chile. He is a director, writer and producer, known for Spencer (2021), Jackie (2016), El Club (2015), NO (2012), among others. Together with his brother Juan de Dios Larraín, they founded Fabula in 2004, one of the most prolific production companies in Latin ...

Post Mortem (2010) - 9.0 Tony Manero (2008) - 9.0 El Club (2015) - 8.5 Neruda (2016) - 8.5 No (2012) - 8.0 Ema (2019) - 7.5

S.N. = 15.5

63. 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) - 9.5 Oldboy (2003) - 9.0 Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005) - 8.5 Joint Security Area (2000) - 8.0 Thirst (2009) - 7.0 Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002) - 7.0

S.N. = 15.4

64. Richard Linklater

Director | Waking Life

Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...

Boyhood (2014) - 9.5 Before Midnight (2013) - 8.5 Before Sunrise (1995) - 8.5 Before Sunset (2004) - 8.5 Slacker (1991) - 8.5 Bernie (2011) - 7.0 School of Rock (2003) - 7.0 Dazed and Confused (1993) - 6.5 Tape (2001) - 6.5 Fast Food Nation (2006) - 5.0

S.N. = 15.3

65. Masaki Kobayashi

Director | Seppuku

Masaki Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916 in Hokkaido, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Harakiri (1962), Samurai Rebellion (1967) and The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961). He died on October 4, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan.

Harakiri (1962) - 9.5 Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu (1967) - 9.0 Kwaidan (1964) - 8.5 Kabe atsuki heya (1956) - 8.0

S.N. = 15

66. Marco Bellocchio

Writer | Il traditore

Marco Bellocchio is one of the most consistent and most adventurous of today's Italian directors-an achievement all the more remarkable given that he made his feature debut almost fifty years ago. Over those years, he has amassed a body of films that encompasses a large number of original ...

L'ora di religione (2002) - 9.0 I pugni in tasca (1965) - 8.5 Vincere (2009) - 8.5 Il traditore (2019) - 8.0 Buongiorno, notte (2003) - 8.0 Gli occhi, la bocca (1982) - 8.0 La condanna (1991) - 7.5 Fai bei sogni (2016) - 7.5 Diavolo in corpo (1986) - 6.5 Sangue del mio sangue (2015) - 6.5 Bella addormentata (2012) - 6.0

S.N. = 15

67. 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 ...

Citizen Kane (1941) - 9.5 Le procès (1962) - 9.0 Touch of Evil (1958) - 8.5 Mr. Arkadin (1955) - 7.5 The Stranger (1946) - 7.0

S.N.: 14.7

68. Emir Kusturica

Director | Underground

A Serbian film director. Born in 1954 in Sarajevo. Graduated in film directing at the prestigious Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague in 1978. During his studies, he was awarded several times for his short movies including Guernica (1978), which took first prize at the Student's Film ...

Underground (1995) - 9.0 Crna macka, beli macor (1998) - 9.0 Sjecas li se, Dolly Bell (1981) - 8.5 Otac na sluzbenom putu (1985) - 8.5 Arizona Dream (1992) - 7.5

S.N. = 14.5

69. Nanni Moretti

Producer | La stanza del figlio

Nanni Moretti was born on the 19th of August, 1953. He lives in Rome, where since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In those years he was also very committed in ...

La stanza del figlio (2001) - 9.0 Mia madre (2015) - 9.0 Caro diario (1993) - 8.5 La messa è finita (1985) - 8.0 Aprile (1998) - 7.5 Bianca (1984) - 7.5 Palombella Rossa (1989) - 7.0 Habemus papam (2011) - 7.0 Il caimano (2006) - 6.5

S.N. = 14.4

70. 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...

Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (1982) - 9.5 Angst essen Seele auf (1974) - 9.0 Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979) - 8.5 Lola (1981) - 7.0 Die dritte Generation (1979) - 6.5

S.N. = 14.2

71. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) - 9.0 C'era una volta il West (1968) - 9.0 Per qualche dollaro in più (1965) - 8.5 Giù la testa (1971) - 8.5 Per un pugno di dollari (1964) - 6.5

S.N. = 14

72. Alexander Payne

Director | Nebraska

Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest...

Sideways (2004) - 9.0 Nebraska (2013) - 9.0 About Schmidt (2002) - 8.5 Election (1999) - 8.0 Citizen Ruth (1996) - 8.0 The Descendants (2011) - 7.0 Downsizing (2017) - 3.5

S.N. = 14

73. 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 ...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - 9.0 Lásky jedné plavovlásky (1965) - 9.0 Amadeus (1984) - 8.5 Man On the Moon (1999) - 8.0 Horí, má panenko (1967) - 8.0

S.N.= 14

74. 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.

Les plages d'Agnés (2008) [doc] - 9.0 Les creatures (1966) - 8.5 Cléo de cinq à sept (1962) - 8.5 Sans toit ni loi (1985) - 8.5 Le bonheur (1965) - 8.5 La pointe courte (1955) - 8.0 Réponse de femmes: Notre corps, notre sexe (1975) [short]

S.N. = 14

75. Noah Baumbach

Writer | The Squid and the Whale

Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, ...

Marriage Story (2019) - 9.0 Kicking and Screaming (1995) - 8.5 Frances Ha (2013) - 8.5 The Meyerowitz (2017) - 8.5 The Squid and the Whale (2005) - 8.0 Greenberg (2010) - 8.0 Mr. Jealousy (1997) - 7.0 Mistress America (2015) - 6.0 Margot at the Wedding (2007) - 5.5 While We're Young (2014) - 4.5

S.N. = 14

76. Mario Monicelli

Writer | I compagni

Mario Monicelli was born on May 16, 1915 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Organizer (1963), Speriamo che sia femmina (1986) and Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). He was married to Chiara Rapaccini and Antonella Salerni. He died on November 29, 2010 in Rome, Lazio,...

Un borghese piccolo piccolo (1977) - 9.0 La grande guerra (1959) - 9.0 I soliti ignoti (1958) - 8.5 Casanova '70 (1965) - 8.0 Il marchese del Grillo (1981) - 7.5 L'armata Brancaleone (1966) - 7.5

S.N: 14

77. 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 ...

Todo sobre mi madre (1999) - 8.5 Hable con ella (2002) - 8.5 Dolor y gloria (2019) - 8.5 Julieta (2016) - 8.5 La mala educación (2004) - 8.0 La piel que habito (2011) - 8.0 Átame! (1989) - 8.0 Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988) - 8.0 Volver (2006) - 8.0 La ley del deseo (1987) - 7.5 Los abrazos rotos (2009) - 7.5 Carne trémula (1997) - 7.0 Tacones lejanos (1991) - 6.0 Los amantes passajeros (2013) - 4.0

S.N. = 14

78. 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 ...

Memento (2000) - 10 Inception (2010) - 8.5 The Dark Knight (2008) - 8.0 Batman Begins (2005) - 7.0 The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - 6.0 The Prestige (2006) - 5.0 Dunkirk (2017) 4.0

S.N. = 13

79. 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) - 9.0 Salinui chueok (2003) - 9.0 Snowpiercer (2013) - 8.5 The Host (2006) - 8.0 Okja (2017) - 6.0

S.N. = 13

80. 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) - 9.0 Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975) - 9.0 Travolti da un insolito destino... (1974) - 8.5 Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore (1972) - 8.0 Io speriamo che me la cavo (1992) - 6.0

S.A. = 9 S.N. = 13

81. 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 (1986) - 9.0 Dead Ringers (1988) - 8.5 A History Of Violence (2005) - 8.5 Videodrome (1983) - 8.0 Eastern Promises (2007) - 8.0 Dead Zone (1983) - 7.5 Spider (2002) - 7.5 A Dangerous Method (2011) - 7.5 Scanners (1981) - 6.0

S.N. = 12.5

82. Sam Mendes

Producer | 1917

Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...

1917 (2019) - 9.0 American Beauty (1999) - 9.0 Skyfall (2012) - 8.5 Revolutionary Road (2008) - 7.0

S.N. = 12.2

83. 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...

Forushande (2016) - 9.0 Darbareye Elly (2009) - 9.0 Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (2011) - 8.5 Le passé (2013) - 7.0 Todos lo saben (2018) - 5.0

S.N. = 12.1

84. 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 ...

Badlands (1973) - 9.0 The Thin Red Line (1998) - 9.0 Days of Heaven (1978) - 8.5 The Tree of Life (2011) - 6.5

S.A. = 8 S.N. = 12

85. 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 ...

Jules et Jim (1962) 8.5 Farenheit 451 (1966) - 8.5 Les quatre cents coups (1959) - 8.5 Domicile conjugal (1970) - 8.0 Le dernier métro (1980) - 8.0 La nuit américaine (1973) - 8.0 L'enfant sauvage (1970) - 8.0 Baisers volés (1968) - 7.5 Tirez sur le pianiste (1960) - 7.5 La Femme d'à côté (1981) - 7.0 L'amour en fuite (1979) - 6.5 La chambre verte (1978) - 6.5 Vivement dimanche! (1983) - 6.5 Antoine et Colette (1962) [short]

S.N. = 11.2

86. 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 ...

Her (2013) - 9.5 Adaptation. (2002) - 8.5 Being John Malkovich (1999) - 8.5 Where Wild Things Are (2009) - 6.5

S.N. = 11

87. Francesco Rosi

Writer | Cadaveri eccellenti

His father was a shipowner. After school, Rosi initially began studying law, which he soon dropped out to work as a broadcast journalist and book illustrator in Naples. From 1944 to 1945 he worked for "Radio Napoli". In the immediate post-war years, Rosi moved to Rome, where he came into contact ...

Uomini contro (1970) - 9.0 Salvatore Giuliano (1962) 8.5 Il caso Mattei (1972) - 8.5 Le mani sulla città (1963) - 8.5

S.N = 11

88. Lucrecia Martel

Director | La mujer sin cabeza

Born in 1966 in Salta in the North of Argentina,Lucrecia Martel settled down in Buenos Aires where she attended the ENERC (National Film School). She started by directing a few shorts among which Historias Breves I: Rey muerto (1995), which garnered several awards in the international film festival...

Zama (2017) - 9.0 La Ciénaga (2001) - 9.0 La niña santa (2008) - 8.0 Muta (2011) [short] Rey muerto (1995) [short]

S.N. = 11

89. 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).

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) - 9.0 Tomboy (2011) - 9.0 Bande de filles (2014) - 7.5 Naissance des pieuvres (2007) - 7.0 Pauline (2010) [short]

S.N. = 10.7

90. Olivier Assayas

Writer | Personal Shopper

Olivier Assayas is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is best know for his films Demonlover (2002), Something in the Air (2012), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and Personal Shopper (2016).

Assayas is the son of French director/screenwriter Raymond Assayas, alias Jacques Rémy.

His ...

Carlos (2010) - 9.0 Irma Vep (1996) - 8.5 Après mai (2012) - 8.0 L'heure d'été (2008) - 8.0 Clean (2004) - 8.0 Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) - 7.5 Personal Shopper (2016) - 7.0 Doubles vies (2018) - 7.0 Boarding Gate (2007) - 4.0

S.N. = 10.7

91. 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).

Dans la maison (2012) - 9.0 Swimming Pool (2003) - 8.5 Une nouvelle amie (2014) - 8.0 Sous le sable (2000) - 8.0 Jeune & jolie (2013) - 8.0 5x2 (2004) - 7.5 Potiche (2010) - 6.5 L amant double (2017) - 5.5

S.N. = 10.5

92. Juan Antonio Bardem

Writer | Calle Mayor

Juan Antonio Bardem was born on June 2, 1922 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Main Street (1956), Los inocentes (1963) and Vengeance (1958). He was married to María Aguado Barbado. He died on October 30, 2002 in Madrid, Spain.

Muerte de un ciclista (1955) - 9.0 Calle Mayor (1956) - 9.0 Nunca pasa nada (1963) - 7.5

S.N. = 10.5

93. Zhangke Jia

Producer | Jiang hu er nü

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

Jiang hu er nü (2018) - 9.0 Tian zhu ding (2013) - 9.0 Shijie (2004) - 7.5 Lai Fang (2020) [short]

S.N. = 10.5

94. 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 ...

Paths Of Glory (1957) - 9.0 The Killing (1956) - 8.5 A Clockwork Orange (1971) - 8.0 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - 8.0 Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - 8.0 The Shining (1980) - 7.0

S.N. = 10.2

95. 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,...

The Favourite (2018) - 9.0 The Lobster (2015) - 8.5 Kynodontas (2009) - 8.5 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) - 8.0

S.N.. = 10

96. 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.

Yaaba (1989) - 9.0 Samba Traoré (1992) - 8.5 Tilaï (1990) - 8.5 Kini & Adams (1997) - 7.5 Le cri du couer (1994) - 5.0

S.N. = 9.4

97. Marco Ferreri

Writer | Storie di ordinaria follia

Marco Ferreri was born on May 11, 1928 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981), L'udienza (1972) and El cochecito (1960). He was married to Jacqueline Ferreri. He died on May 9, 1997 in Paris, France.

Ciao maschio (1978) - 9.0 Dillinger è morto (1969) - 8.5 El cochecito (1960) - 8.0 La cagna (1972) - 8.0 L'udienza (1972) - 7.0 Il futuro è donna (1984) - 6.5

S.N. = 9.2

98. Walter Salles

Director | Central do Brasil

Walter Salles was born on April 12, 1956 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a director and producer, known for Central Station (1998), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and Terra Estrangeira (1995). He is married to Maria Klabin. They have one child.

Central do Brasil (1998) - 9.0 Abril Despedaçado (2001) - 8.5 Terra Estrangeira (1995) - 8.5 * O Primeiro Dia (1998) - 7.0 * Dark Water (2005) - 3.0

*co-directed by Daniela Thomas

S.N. = 9

99. 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 ...

Wild Bunch (1969) - 9.0 Straw Dogs (1971) - 8.5 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974) - 8.5 Junnior Bonner (1972) - 6.5 Cross Of Iron (1977) - 6.5

S.N. = 9

100. Valerio Zurlini

Writer | Cronaca familiare

Valerio Zurlini was born on March 19, 1926. During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. Zurlini became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period and in 1954 directed his ...

La prima notte di quiete (1971) - 8.5 Cronaca familiare (1962) - 8.5 Il deserto dei tartari (1976) - 8.5 La ragazza con la valigia (1961) - 8.5 Estate violenta (1959) - 8.0

S.N. = 9