Film directors

1. 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 ...

1. A Clockwork Orange, 1971 2. Barry Lyndon, 1975 3. Dr. Strangelove, 1964 4. The Shining, 1980 5. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 6. Full Metal Jacket, 1987 7. Eyes Wide Shut, 1999 8. Paths Of Glory, 1957 9. The Killing, 1956 10. Lolita, 1962 11. Spartacus, 1960 12. Fear & Desire, 1953 13. Killer's Kiss, 1955

Rewatch: Full Metal Jacket, 2001: A Space Odyssey

2. 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 (...

1. Fanny & Alexander, 1982 2. The Seventh Seal, 1957 3. Winter Light, 1963 4. Persona, 1966 5. Wild Strawberries, 1957 6. Cries & Whispers, 1972 7. Scenes From A Marriage, 1973 8. Smiles Of A Summer Night, 1955 9. The Virgin Spring, 1960 10. Summer With Monika, 1952 11. Shame, 1968 12. The Silence, 1963 13. Hour Of The Wolf, 1968 14. Autumn Sonata, 1978 15. Summer Interlude, 1951 16. The Magician, 1958 17. Through A Glass Darkly, 1961 18. Sawdust & Tinsel, 1953 19. The Passion Of Anna, 1969 20. Sarabande, 2003 21. The Rite, 1968 22. From The Life Of The Marionettes, 1980 23. Brink Of Life, 1958

Rewatch: Fanny & Alexander, Winter Light, Persona, Cries & Whispers, The Virgin Spring

Watch: Face To Face, Dreams, The Devil's Eye, Crisis, The Touch

3. 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 ...

1. 8 1/2, 1963 2. La Dolce Vita, 1960 3. La Strada, 1954 4. Amarcord, 1973 5. Nights Of Cabiria, 1957 6. Roma, 1972 7. Casanova, 1976 8. I Vitelloni, 1953 9. Juliet Of The Spirits, 1964 10. The White Sheik, 1952 11. Orchestra Rehearsal, 1978 12. Ginger & Fred, 1986 13. Fellini - Satyricon, 1969 14. Boccaccio '70, 1962

Rewatch: La Strada, Nights Of Cabiria, Juliet Of The Spirits Watch: City Of Women, Il Bidone, And The Ship Sails On, Intervista

4. 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...

1. Solkyaris, 1972 2. Andrei Rublev, 1966 3. Stalker, 1979 4. The Sacrifice, 1986 5. The Mirror, 1975 6. Ivan's Childhood, 1962 7. Nostalghia, 1980

5. 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...

1. Seven Samurai, 1954 2. Ikiru, 1952 3. Rashomon, 1950 4. Red Beard, 1965 5. Dreams, 1990 6. Ran, 1985 7. High & Low, 1963 8. Kagemusha, 1980 9. Yojimbo, 1963 10. The Quiet Duel, 1949 11. Throne Of Blood, 1957 12. Sanjuro, 1962 13. Dersu Uzala, 1975 14. The Hidden Fortress, 1958 15. Scandal, 1950 16. Rhapsody In August, 1992 17. The Bad Sleep Well, 1960 18. No Regrets For Our Youth, 1947 19. They Who Thread On The Tiger's Trail, 1945 20. Sanshiro Sugata: Part I, 1943 21. Sanshiro Sugata: Part II, 1945 22. The Most Beautiful, 1944

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 ...

1. Sansho The Bailiff, 1954 2. The Life Of Oharu, 1952 3. Ugetsu, 1953 4. The Crucified Lovers, 1954 5. The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum, 1939 6. A Geisha, 1953 7. Sisters Of The Gion, 1936 8. The 47 Ronin, 1941 9. Osaka Elegy, 1936 10. Flame Of My Love, 1949

7. 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 ...

1. Tokyo Story, 1953 2. An Autumn Afternoon, 1962 3. Late Spring, 1949 4. Late Autumn, 1960 5. Early Summer, 1951 6. Equinox Flower, 1958 7. Floating Weeds, 1959 8. There Was A Father, 1942 9. Record Of A Tenement Gentleman, 1947 10. Don't Tell Your Wife About It, 1937 11. An Inn In Tokyo, 1935 12. Good Morning, 1958 13. A Hen In The Wind, 1948 14. The Story Of Floating Weeds, 1934 15. Fighting Friends, 1929

8. 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...

1. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, 1973 2. Land Of Silence And Darkness, 1971 3. Lessons Of Darkness, 1992 4. The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, 1974 5. Little Dieter Needs To Fly, 1997 6. Fitzcarraldo, 1982 7. La Soufriere, 1977 8. Nosferatu, 1979 9. Into The Abyss, 2011 10. Even Dwarfs Started Small, 1970 11. Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, 2010 12. Happy People: A Year In The Taiga, 2009 13. The White Diamond, 2004 15. Encounters At The End Of The World, 2007 16. Woyczeck, 1978 17. Grizzly Man, 2005 18. Heart Of Glass, 1976 19. Gasherbrum, 1985 20. Rescue Dawn, 2005 21. Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, 2009 22. My Best Fiend, 1999 23. Into The Inferno, 2016 24. Lo & Behold, 2016 25. Fata Morgana, 1971 26. Cobra Verde, 1987

9. 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...

1. Berlin Alexanderplatz, 1980 2. Ali: Fear Eats The Soul, 1974 3. World On A Wire, 1973 4. The Merchant Of Four Seasons, 1972 5. The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, 1972 6. The Marriage Of Maria Braun, 1979 7. Veronika Voss, 1982 8. Fox & His Friends, 1975 9. Lola, 1981 10. Despair, 1978 11. Lili Marleen, 1981 12. Querelle, 1982 13. Beware Of A Holy Whore, 1971 14. Germany In Autumn, 1978 15. Fontane Effi Briest, 1974

10. 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 ...

1. Psycho, 1960 2. Vertigo, 1958 3. Rope, 1948 4. Rear Window, 1954 5. Strangers On A Train, 1951 6. Lifeboat, 1944 7. Notorious, 1946 8. North By Northwest, 1959 9. The Lodger, 1927 10. Dial M For Murder, 1954 11. The 39 Steps, 1935 12. The Lady Vanishes, 1938 13. Shadow Of A Doubt, 1943 14. Saboteur, 1942 15. Rebecca, 1940 16. The Wrong Man, 1956 17. The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1934 18. Foreign Correspondent, 1940 19. Secret Agent, 1936 20. Sabotage, 1936 21. I Confess, 1953 22. Suspicion, 1941 23. Spellbound, 1945 24. The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956 25. The Birds, 1963 26. Jamaica Inn, 1939 27. Frenzy, 1972 28. To Catch A Thief, 1955 29. Young & Innocent, 1937 30. Blackmail, 1929 31. The Manxman, 1928 32. The Farmer's Wife, 1925 33. The Trouble With Harry, 1955

11. 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 ...

1. Le Samouraï, 1967 2. The Red Circle, 1972 3. Army Of Shadows, 1969 4. Second Breath, 1965 5. Le Doulos, 1962 6. Bob Le Flambeur, 1956 7. Leon Morin: Priest, 1960 8. Les Enfants Terribles, 1950 9. Un Flic, 1973 10. La Silence De La Mer, 1949

12. 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 ...

1. Diary Of A Country Priest, 1951 2. Au Hasard Balthazar, 1966 3. A Man Escaped, 1956 4. Mouchette, 1967 5. Pickpocket, 1958 6. The Devil, Probably, 1977 7. L'Argent, 1983 8. Four Nights Of A Dreamer, 1971 9. Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, 1962 10. Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne, 1945 11. Angels Of Sin, 1943

13. 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 ...

1. The White Ribbon, 2009 2. Amour, 2012 3. Funny Games, 1997 4. Cache, 2005 5. Benny's Video, 1992 6. The Piano Teacher, 2001 7. 71 Fragments Of A Chronology Of Chance, 1994 8. The Seventh Continent, 1989 9. Funny Games US, 2007 10. Happy End, 2017 11. Code Unknown, 2000

14. 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 ...

1. The Apartment, 1960 2. Sunset Boulevard, 1950 3. Double Idemnity, 1944 4. Some Like It Hot, 1959 5. Ace In The Hole, 1951 6. The Lost Weekend, 1945 7. A Foreign Affair, 1948 8. Witness For The Prosecution, 1957 9. Five Graves To Cairo, 1943 10. The Seven Year Itch, 1955 11. Stalag 17, 1953 12. The Major And The Minor, 1942

15. 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 ...

1. The Big Lebowski, 1998 2. Fargo, 1996 3. No Country For Old Men, 2007 4. Miller's Crossing, 1990 5. Barton Fink, 1991 6. Burn After Reading, 2008 7. A Serious Man, 2009" 8. O Brother, Where Art Thou?, 2000 9. Blood Simple, 1984 10. The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001 11. The Hudsucker Proxy, 1994 12. Inside Llewyn Davis, 2013 13. Hail, Caesar!, 2016 14. True Grit, 2010 15. Intolerable Cruelty, 2003 16. Raising Arizona, 1987 17. The Ladykillers, 2004 18. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs, 2018

16. 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 ...

1. The Great Dictator, 1940 2. Modern Times, 1936 3. The Gold Rush, 1925 4. The Kid, 1921 5. City Lights, 1931 6. The Circus, 1928 7. Limelight, 1953 8. Monsieur Verdoux, 1946 9. A Woman of Paris, 1923 10. A King in New York, 1957 11. A Countess from Hong Kong, 1967

*All Short Films*

17. 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 ...

1. Taxi Driver, 1976 2. Goodfellas, 1990 3. The King Of Comedy, 1982 4. The Departed, 2006 5. Raging Bull, 1980 6. Shutter Island, 2010 7. Mean Streets, 1973 8. After Hours, 1985 9. The Wolf Of Wall Street, 2013 10. Hugo, 2011 11. The Aviator, 2004 12. Gangs Of New York, 2002 13. Casino, 1995 14. The Age Of Innocence, 1993 15. Silence, 2016 16. Cape Fear, 1991 17. Who's That Knocking At My Door?, 1967 18. The Big Shave, 1968

18. 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 ...

1. Twelve Angry Men, 1957 2. Dog Day Afternoon, 1975 3. Network, 1976 4. Serpico, 1972 5. The Verdict, 1982 6. Murder On The Orient Express, 1974 7. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, 2007

19. 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, ...

1. Stagecoach, 1939 2. The Grapes Of Wrath, 1940 3. The Searchers, 1956 4. How Green Was My Valley, 1942 5. My Darling Clementine, 1946 6. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962 7. Young Mr. Lincoln, 1938 8. The Prisoner Of Shark Island, 1936 9. The Quiet Man, 1952 10. Rio Grande, 1950 11. Fort Apache, 1948 12. Wagon Master, 1950 13. Three Godfathers, 1948 14. The Sun Shines Bright, 1953 15. The Informer, 1935 16. The Iron Horse, 1924 17. Mister Roberts, 1955 18. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, 1949 19. Judge Priest, 1934 20. The Lost Patrol, 1934

20. 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 ...

1. Mulholland Dr., 2001 2. Lost Highway, 1997 3. Blue Velvet, 1986 4. The Straight Story, 1999 5. Eraserhead, 1977 6. Inland Empire, 2006 7. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, 1992 8. The Elephant Man, 1980 9. Dune, 1984 10. Wild At Heart, 1990

21. 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 ...

1. The Exterminating Angel, 1962 2. Un Chien Andalou, 1929 3. Le Discret Charme de la Bourgeoisie, 1972 4. Los Olvidados, 1950 5. Nazarín, 1959 6. Le Fantome de la Liberté, 1974 7. That Obscure Object Of Desire, 1977 8. Diary Of A Chambermaid, 1964 9. Belle de Jour, 1968 10. The Young One, 1960 11. Simon el Desierto, 1965 12. L'Age d'Or, 1930 13. Viridiana, 1961 14. Las Hurdes, 1933

22. 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 ...

1. Breathless, 1960 2. A Band Apart, 1964 3. Alphaville, 1965 4. Week End, 1967 5. Vivre Sa Vie, 1962 6. Le Mépris, 1963 7. Pierrot Le Fou, 1965 8. Masculin Feminin, 1966 9. A Married Woman, 1964 10. A Woman Is A Woman, 1961 11. Notre Musique, 2004 12. First Name Carmen, 1983 13. Goodbye To Language, 2014 14. The Story Of Water, 1961 15. Every Man For Himself, 1980

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 ...

1. Annie Hall, 1977 2. Manhattan, 1979 3. Midnight In Paris, 2011 4. Manhattan Murder Mystery, 1993 5. Hannah & Her Sisters, 1986 6. Husbands & Wives, 1992 7. Zelig, 1983 8. Broadway Danny Rose, 1984 9. Crimes & Misdemeanors, 1988 10. Sleeper, 1973 11. Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2008 12. Stardust Memories, 1980 13. Love & Death, 1975 14. Radio Days, 1987 15. Bullets Over Broadway, 1995 16. Blue Jasmine, 2013 17. A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy, 1982 18. The Purple Rose Of Cairo, 1985 19. Cafe Society, 2016 20. Wonder Wheel, 2017 21. Sweet & Lowdown, 1999 22. Take The Money & Run, 1969 23. Whatever Works, 2009 24. Magic In The Moonlight, 2014 25. Irrational Man, 2015 26. To Rome With Love, 2012

24. 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 ...

1. Les Quatre Cents Coups, 1959 2. Jules et Jim, 1962 3. Tirez sur le Pianiste, 1960 4. Fahrenheit 451, 1966 5. La Nuit Americaine, 1973 6. Baisers Volés, 1968 7. Antoine et Colette, 1962 8. Domicile Conjugal, 1970 9. L'Amour en Fuite, 1979 10. The Last Metro, 1980 11. Une Histoire d'Eau, 1961 12. L'Histoire de Adele H., 1975 13. Les Mistons, 1957

25. Howard Hawks

Director | Red River

What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...

1. The Big Sleep, 1946 2. His Girl Friday, 1940 3. Scarface, 1932 4. Rio Bravo, 1958 5. Red River, 1948 6. Bringing Up Baby, 1938 7. Only Angels Have Wings, 1939 8. I Was A Male War Bride, 1949 9. Twentieth Century, 1934 10. Sergeant York, 1941 11. To Have & Have Not, 1944 12. Monkey Bussiness, 1952 13. El Dorado, 1966 14. Ball Of Fire, 1941 15. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953 16. The Big Sky, 1952

26. 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...

1. There Will Be Blood, 2007 2. Boogie Nights, 1997 3. Phantom Thread, 2017 4. The Master, 2012 5. Hard Eight, 1996 6. Punch-Drunk Love, 2002 7. Magnolia, 1999 8. Inherent Vice, 2014

27. 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 ...

1. Citizen Kane, 1941 2. Touch Of Evil, 1958 3. Macbeth, 1948 4. Le Proces, 1962 5. F For Fake, 1973 6. The Lady From Shanghai, 1947 7. The Tragedy Of Othello, 1952 8. Mr. Arkadin, 1955 9. The Stranger, 1946 10. The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942

28. 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 ...

1. Dogville, 2003 2. Dancer In The Dark, 2000 3. Antichrist, 2009 4. Breaking The Waves, 1996 5. The Idiots, 1998 6. Manderlay, 2005 7. Europa, 1991 8. Melancholia, 2011 9. Nymphomaniac: Volume I, 2013 10. The Boss Of It All, 2006 11. The Element Of Crime, 1984 12. The Five Obstructions, 2003 13. Nymphomaniac: Volume II, 2014

29. Hayao Miyazaki

Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

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

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

1. Spirited Away, 2001 2. My Neighbour Totoro, 1988 3. Princess Mononoke, 1997 4. Castle In The Sky, 1986 5. Ponyo, 2008 6. Kiki's Delivery Service, 1989 7. Howl's Moving Castle, 2004 8. The Castle Of Castriogloro, 1979 9. Porco Rosso, 1992 10. The Wind Rises, 2013

30. William Wyler

Director | The Best Years of Our Lives

William Wyler was an American filmmaker who, at the time of his death in 1981, was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema. The winner of three Best Director Academy Awards, second again only to Ford's four, Wyler's reputation has unfairly suffered as the...

1. The Heiress, 1949 2. The Best Years Of Our Lives, 1946 3. Ben-Hur, 1959 4. The Desperate Hours, 1955 5. Jezebel, 1938 6. The Collector, 1965 7. Dead End, 1937 8. Roman Holiday, 1953 9. Dodsworth, 1936 10. Wuthering Heights, 1939 11. The Westerner, 1940

31. 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.

1. Dead Man, 1995 2. Down By Law, 1988 3. Night On Earth, 1991 4. Coffee & Cigarettes, 2003 5. Mystery Train, 1989 6. Only Lovers Left Alive, 2013 7. Stranger Than Paradise, 1984 8. Broken Flowers, 2005 9. The Limits Of Control, 2009 10. Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, 1999 11. Paterson, 2016 12. Gimme Danger, 2016 13. Permanent Vacation, 1980

32. Ernst Lubitsch

Director | To Be or Not to Be

From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...

1. Ninotchka, 1939 2. Trouble in Paradise, 1932 3. To Be or Not To Be, 1943 4. The Shop Around The Corner, 1940 5. Heaven Can Wait, 1943 6. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, 1938 7. Romeo und Julia im Schnee, 1920 8. Design For Living, 1933 9. The Smiling Lieutenant, 1931 10. Madame DuBarry, 1919 11. Die Puppe, 1919

33. 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 ...

1. The Leopard, 1963 2. Death In Venice, 1972 3. Senso, 1954 4. Rocco And His Brothers, 1960 5. Bellissima, 1952 6. Ludwig, 1972 7. L'Innocente, 1976 8. La Terra Trema, 1948 9. La Notti Bianche, 1957 10. Ossessione, 1943 11. The Damned, 1969 12. Boccaccio '70, 1962 13. Le Streghe, 1967

34. Frank Capra

Director | It's a Wonderful Life

One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...

1. It's A Wonderful Life, 1946 2. It Happened One Night, 1934 3. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, 1936 4. Arsenic And Old Lace, 1944 5. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, 1939 6. The Bitter Tea Of General Yen, 1932 7. Meet John Doe, 1941 8. Lost Horizon, 1937

35. 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 ...

1. Salo: The 120 Days Of Sodom, 1975 2. Mamma Roma, 1962 3. Theorema, 1968 4. Accatone, 1961 5. The Gospel According To Mattheus, 1964 6. 1001 Arabian Nights, 1974 7. The Canterbury Tales, 1972 8. Medea, 1969 9. Comizi d'Amore, 1964 10. The Decamaron, 1971 11. The Witches, 1967

36. 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 ...

1. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962 2. Doctor Zhivago, 1965 3. Brief Encounter, 1945 4. Great Expectations, 1946 5. Oliver Twist, 1948 6. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957 7. Summertime, 1955

37. 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 ...

1. All About My Mother, 1999 2. Hable Con Ella, 2002 3. Bad Education, 2004 4. The Skin I Live In, 2011 5. Pain & Glory, 2019 6. Atamé!, 1989 7 Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, 1988 8. Pepi, Luci & Bom, 1980 9. Julieta, 2016 10. Broken Embraces, 2008 11. Dark Habits, 1982 12. Volver, 2006 13. What Have I Done To Deserve This, 1984

38. Fritz Lang

Actor | Le mépris

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

1. Metropolis, 1927 2. M - Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder, 1931 3. Dr. Mabuse: Der Spieler, 1922 4. Der Müde Tod, 1921 5. The Big Heat, 1953 6. Ministry of Fear, 1944 7. Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Rache, 1924 8. Die Nibelungen: Siegfried, 1924 9. The Woman in the Window, 1944 10. Die Spinnen - 1. Teil, 1919 11. Die Spinnen - 2. Teil, 1919 12. Secret Beyond The Door, 1948 13. Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, 1956 14. Moonfleet, 1955

39. 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 ...

1. Journey To Italy, 1954 2. Rome, Open City, 1945 3. Germany Year Zero, 1948 4. Europe '51, 1952 5. Stromboli, 1950 6. Paisà, 1946 7. The Flowers Of St. Francis, 1950 8. L'Amore, 1948

40. 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 ...

1. Le Havre, 2011 2. Ariel, 1988 3. Drifting Clouds, 1996 4. Take Care Of Your Scarf, Tatiana, 1994 5. I Hired a Contract Killer, 1990 6. La Vie De Boheme, 1992 7. Crime & Punishment, 1983 8. The Other Side Of Hope, 2017 9. Calamari Union, 1985 10. Hamlet Goes Business, 1987 11. The Man Without A Past, 2002 12. The Match Factory Girl, 1990 13. Lights in the Dusk, 2006 14. Rocky VI, 1986

41. 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.

1. Damnation, 1988 2. Satantango, 1994 3. Werckmeister Harmonies, 2000 4. Autumn Almanac, 1984 5. The Turin Horse, 2011

42. Alejandro Jodorowsky

Writer | El Topo

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

1. The Dance Of Reality, 2013 2. The Holy Mountain, 1973 3. Santa Sangre, 1989 4. Endless Poetry, 2016 5. El Topo, 1970 6. La Cravate, 1957

43. 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...

1. Pulp Fiction, 1994 2. Reservoir Dogs, 1992 3. Django Unchained, 2012 4. The Hateful Eight, 2015 5. Inglorious Basterds, 2009 6. Death Proof, 2007 6. Jackie Brown, 1997 7. Kill Bill: Vol I, 2002 8. Kill Bill: Vol II, 2004 9. Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood, 2019

44. 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 ...

1. Au Revoir Les Enfants, 1987 2. Murmur Of The Heart, 1971 3. My Dinner With André, 1981 4. Elevator To The Gallows, 1958 5. Lacombe Lucien, 1974 6. Atlantic City, 1980 7. The Fire Within, 1963

45. Buster Keaton

Actor | The General

Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...

46. 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 ...

1. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, 1966 2. Once Upon A Time in The West, 1968 3. For A Few Dollars More, 1965 4. Once Upon A Time In America, 1983 5. For a Fistfull of Dollars, 1964

47. 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 ...

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014 2. The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001 3. Moonrise Kingdom, 2012 4. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, 2004 5. Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2009 6. Rushmore, 1998 7. Isle Of Dogs, 2018 8. The Darjeeling Limited, 2007 9. Bottle Rocket, 1996

48. 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, ...

1. Claire's Knee, 1970 2. My Night At Maud's, 1969 3. Chloé In The Afternoon, 1972 4. La Collectionneuse, 1967 5. Four Adventures Of Reinette & Mirabelle, 1987 6. Le Signe Du Lion, 1962 7. Suzanne's Career, 1963

49. 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,...

1. The Maltese Falcon, 1941 2. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948 3. The Dead, 1987 4. Key Largo, 1948 5. Beat The Devil, 1953 6. Fat City, 1972 7. Moby Dick, 1956 8. The African Queen, 1950

50. 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.

1. The Handmaiden, 2016 2. Oldboy, 2003 3. Lady Vengeance, 2005 4. I Am A Cyborg, But That's OK, 2006 5. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area, 2000

51. Jean Renoir

Writer | La règle du jeu

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

1. The Rules Of The Game, 1939 2. Boudu Saved From Drowning, 1932 3. La Grande Illusion, 1937 4. La Bete Humaine, 1938 5. The Golden Coach, 1952 6. La Chienne, 1931 7. The Lower Depths, 1936 8. A Day In The Country, 1936 9. Toni, 1935 10. The Southerner, 1945

52. 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 ...

1. Black Cat, White Cat, 1998 2. Underground, 1995 3. Promise Me This, 2007 4. Arizona Dream, 1993

53. 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. ...

1. Winter Sleep, 2014 2. The Wild Pear Tree, 2019 3. Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, 2011 4. Distant, 2002 5. Climates, 2007 6. Three Monkeys, 2008

54. Max Ophüls

Director | La ronde

Director Max Ophüls was born Max Oppenheimer in Saarbrücken, Germany. He began his career as a stage actor and director in the golden twenties. He worked in cities such as Stuttgart, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Vienna, Frankfurt, Breslau and Berlin. In 1929 his son Marcel Ophüls was born in Frankfurt, ...

1. The Earrings Of Madame De, 1953 2. Lola Montés, 1955 3. Letter From An Unknown Woman, 1948 4. The Reckless Moment, 1949 5. Caught, 1949

55. F.W. Murnau

Director | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

F.W. Murnau was a German film director. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max Reinhardt. During World War I he served as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the German air ...

1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927 2. Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens, 1922 3. City Girl, 1930 4. Der Letzte Mann, 1924 5. Tabu, 1931 6. Tartuffe, 1925

56. 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...

1. La Grande Belezza, 2013 2. The Consequences Of Love, 2004 3. Loro, 2018 4. Youth, 2015 5. Il Divo, 2008 6. The Family Friend, 2006 7. One Man Up, 2001 8. This Must Be The Place, 2011

57. 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 ...

1. Taxi Teheran, 2015 2. The White Balloon, 1995 3. This Is Not A Film, 2011 4. Offside, 2006 5. Three Faces, 2018 6. The Circle, 2000 7. Crimson Gold, 2003 8. The Accordion, 2010

58. 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 ...

1. The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp, 1943 2. The Red Shoes, 1948 3. Peeping Tom, 1960 4. A Matter Of Life And Death, 1946 5. I Know Where I'm Going, 1945 6. Black Narcissus, 1947 7. A Canterbury Tale, 1944

59. 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 ...

1. Blowup, 1966 2. La Notte, 1962 3. L'Eclisse, 1962 4. L'Avventura, 1960 5. Il Deserto Rosso, 1964 6. The Passenger, 1975 7. Il Grido, 1958 8. Zabriskie Point, 1970

60. 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 ...

1. On The Waterfront, 1954 2. Viva Zapata!, 1952 3. East Of Eden, 1955 4. Panic In The Streets, 1950 5. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951 6. Gentleman's Agreement, 1947 7. America America, 1963 8. Boomerang!, 1947 9. Baby Doll, 1956

61. 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 ...

1. Close-up, 1991 2. Taste of Cherry, 1997 3. Through The Olive Trees, 1994 4. Copie Conforme, 2010 5. The Bread And Alley, 1970

62. 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 ...

1. Repulsion, 1965 2. Chinatown, 1974 3. Cul-de-Sac, 1966 4. The Pianist, 2002 5. Knife In The Water, 1962 6. Carnage, 2011 7. Venus In Furs, 2013 8. Rosemary's Baby, 1968 9. The Fearless Vampire Killers, 1967

63. Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writer | Gertrud

The illegitimate son of a Danish farmer and his Swedish housekeeper, Carl Theodor Dreyer was born in Copenhagen on the 3th of February, 1889. He spent his early years in various foster homes before being adopted by the Dreyers at the age of two. Contrary to popular belief (perhaps nourished by the ...

1. The Passion Of Joan Of Arc, 1928 2. Ordet, 1955 3. Day Of Wrath, 1943 4. Gertrud, 1964 5. Vampyr, 1932

64. 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 (...

1. Trois Coleurs: Bleu, 1993 2. La Double Vie de Veronique, 1991 3. Trois Coleurs: Rouge, 1994 4. Dekalog, 1989 5. A Short Film About Killing, 2011 5. Trois Coleurs: Blanc, 1994

65. 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...

1. La Belle Noiseuse, 1991 2. La Religieuse, 1966 3. Celine & Julie Go Boating, 1974 4. Le Coup du Berger, 1956

66. Kar-Wai Wong

Director | Yi dai zong shi

Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong ...

1. In The Mood for Love, 2000 2. Chungking Express, 1994 3. Happy Together, 1997 4. 2046. 2004 5. Chacun son Cinema, 2007

67. Anthony Mann

Director | El Cid

Anthony Mann was born on June 30, 1906 in San Diego, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for El Cid (1961), Men in War (1957) and The Glenn Miller Story (1954). He was married to Anna, Sara Montiel and Mildred Mann. He died on April 29, 1967 in London, England.

1. The Man From Laramie, 1955 2. Winchester '73, 1950 3. Man Of The West, 1958 4. Bend Of The River, 1952 5. The Glenn Miller Story, 1954 6. The Naked Spur, 1953 7. The Far Country, 1954 8. Raw Deal, 1948

68. 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 ...

1. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and her Lover, 1989 2. The Draughtman's Contract, 1982 3. Drowning by Numbers, 1988 4. Eisenstein In Guanajito, 2015 5. Nightwatching, 2004 6. Rembrandt's J'Accuse, 2008

69. Jacques Tati

Writer | Playtime

The comic genius Jacques Tati was born Taticheff, descended from a noble Russian family. His grandfather, Count Dimitri, had been a general in the Imperial Army and had served as military attaché to the Russian Embassy in Paris. His father, Emmanuel Taticheff, was a well-to-do picture framer who ...

1. Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, 1953 2. Playtime, 1968 3. Mon Oncle, 1958 4. Jour de Fete, 1949 5. Cours de Soir, 1967 6. Trafic, 1971 7. Gai Dimanche, 1935 8. Un Demande un Brute, 1934 9. Soigne ton Gauche, 1936 10. Forza Bastia, 1977 11. Degustation Maison, 1978 12. Ecole des Facteurs, 1947 13. Parade, 1974

70. 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.

1. Harakiri, 1962 2. Kwaidan, 1964 3. The Human Condition: No Greater Love, 1959

71. Sergei Eisenstein

Director | Ivan Groznyy

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

1. Battleship Potemkin, 1925 2. Aleksandr Njefski, 1938 3. October, 1927 4. Ivan The Terrible: Part I, 1944 5. Que Viva Mexico!, 1932 6. Ivan The Terrible: Part II, 1958 7. Strike, 1925

72. Josef von Sternberg

Director | The Devil Is a Woman

Josef von Sternberg split his childhood between Vienna and New York City. His father, a former soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, could not support his family in either city; Sternberg remembered him only as "an enormously strong man who often used his strength on me." Forced by poverty to drop ...

1. The Docks of New York, 1928 2. Der Blaue Engel, 1930 3. Underworld, 1927 4. The Devil Is A Woman, 1935 5. The Last Command, 1928 6. Shanghai Express, 1932 7. The Scarlett Empress, 1934

73. Jacques Becker

Writer | Le trou

His interest in films was stimulated by a meeting with King Vidor, who offered him employment in the US as actor and assistant director. However, he remained in France and became assistant to Jean Renoir, a friend of the family, during that director's peak period (1932-39). In 1934 he ventured ...

1. Le Trou, 1960 2. Lovers Of Montparnasse, 1958 3. Touchez Pas Au Grisbi, 1954

74. Luc Dardenne

Producer | Deux jours, une nuit

Luc Dardenne was born on March 10, 1954 in Awirs, Wallonia, Belgium. He is a producer and director, known for Two Days, One Night (2014), The Kid with a Bike (2011) and The Child (2005).

1. Deux Jours. Une Nuit, 2014 2. L'Enfant, 2005 3. Le Gamin au Vélo, 2011 4. Le Silence de Lorna, 2008 5. Chacun son Cinema, 2007

75. 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 ...

1. The Bicycle Thieves, 1948 2. Umberto D, 1952 3. Shoeshine, 1946 4. The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis, 1971 5. The Witches, 1967 6. Boccaccio '70, 1962

76. Dziga Vertov

Director | Chelovek s kino-apparatom

Dziga Vertov was born on January 2, 1896 in Bialystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire [now Podlaskie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Three Songs About Lenin (1934) and The Sixth Part of the World (1926). He was married to Elizaveta Svilova. He ...

1. Man with a Movie Camera, 1929 2. Enthuziazm, 1931 3. Sovietski Igrushki, 1924 4. Kino-Pravda 1, 1922 5. Kino Pravda 21, 1918

77. Jean Vigo

Writer | Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège

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

1. L'Atalante, 1934 2. A Propos de Nice, 1930 3. Zero de Conduite1933 4. Taris, Rio de L'Eau, 1931

78. Aleksey German

Writer | Khrustalyov, mashinu!

Aleksey German was born on July 20, 1938 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. He was an actor and writer, known for Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998), Hard to Be a God (2013) and Moy drug Ivan Lapshin (1985). He was married to Svetlana Karmalita. He died on February 21, 2013 in ...

1. Hard To Be A God, 2013 2. Trial On The Road, 1971 3. My Friend Ivan Lapshin, 1985

79. 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...

1. Shivers, 1975 2. Eastern Promises, 2007 3. Videodrome, 1983 4. The Fy, 1986 5. Naked Lunch, 1991 6. A History Of Violence, 2005 7. Rabid, 1977

80. Raoul Walsh

Editor | The Birth of a Nation

Raoul Walsh's 52-year directorial career made him a Hollywood legend. Walsh was also an actor: He appeared in the first version of W. Somerset Maugham's "Rain" renamed Sadie Thompson (1928) opposite Gloria Swanson in the title role. He would have played the Cisco Kid in his own film In Old Arizona ...

1. White Heat, 1949 2. The Thief of Baghdad, 1924 3. High Sierra, 1941 4. The Roaring Twenties, 1939 5. The Big Trail, 1930 6. Me And My Gal, 1932 7. Regeneration, 1915 8. Sadie Thompson, 1928

81. Mervyn LeRoy

Producer | The Wizard of Oz

The great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 was a tragedy for Mervyn LeRoy. While he and his father managed to survive, they lost everything they had. To make money, LeRoy sold newspapers and entered talent contests as a singer. When he entered vaudeville, his act was "LeRoy and Cooper--Two...

1. I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang, 1932 2. Three On A Match, 1932 3. Little Caesar, 1931 4. Gold Diggers Of 1933, 1933 5. Mister Roberts, 1955 6. Waterloo Bridge, 1940

82. Darren Aronofsky

Writer | Pi

Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...

1. Requiem for a Dream, 2000 2. Pi, 1998 3. Black Swan, 2010 4. mother!, 2017 5. The Wrestler, 2009 6. The Fountain, 2007

83. 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 (...

1. Last Tango in Paris, 1972 2. Il Conformista, 1970 3. The Last Emperor, 1987 4. Strategio del Ragno, 1970 5. La Commare Secca, 1962

84. 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...

1. The Salesman, 2016 2. A Separation, 2011 3. Todos Lo Saben, 2018 4. About Elly, 2009

85. 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 "...

1. Leviathan, 2014 2. Loveless, 2017 3. The Return, 2003 4. Elena, 2011 5. The Banishment, 2007 6. Apocrypha, 2009 7. Tayna, 2011

86. Nicholas Ray

Director | Rebel Without a Cause

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

1. Rebel Without A Cause, 1955 2. In A Lonely Place, 1950 3. Johnny Guitar, 1954 4. They Live By Night, 1948 5. Bigger Than Life, 1956

87. William A. Wellman

Director | A Star Is Born

William Wellman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director of the original A Star Is Born (1937), was called "Wild Bill" during his World War I service as an aviator, a nickname that persisted in Hollywood due to his larger-than-life personality and lifestyle.

A leap-year baby born in 1896 on the 29th...

1. The Public Enemy, 1931 2. Wild Boys Of The Road, 1933 3. The Ox-Bow Incident, 1943 4. Call Of The Wild, 1935 5. Night Nurse, 1931

88. Vsevolod Pudovkin

Director | Admiral Nakhimov

Vsevolod Pudovkin was born on February 28, 1893 in Penza, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a director and actor, known for Admiral Nakhimov (1947), Zhukovsky (1950) and Minin i Pozharskiy (1939). He was married to Anna Zemtsova. He died on June 30, 1953 in Jurmala, Latvian SSR, USSR [now Latvia].

1. The End Of St. Petersburg, 1927 2. Mother, 1926 3. Storm Over Asia, 1928 4. Shakkmatnaya Goryachka, 1925

89. Kaneto Shindô

Writer | Ichimai no hagaki

Kaneto Shindô was born on April 22, 1912 in Hiroshima, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for Postcard (2010), The Naked Island (1960) and A Last Note (1995). He was married to Nobuko Otowa and Miyo Shindo. He died on May 29, 2012 in Hiroshima, Japan.

1. The Naked Island, 1960 2. Kuroneko, 1968 3. Onibaba, 1964

90. Michael Curtiz

Director | Casablanca

Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...

1. Casablanca, 1942 2. Mildred Pierce, 1945 3. Angels With Dirty Faces, 1937 4. Captain Blood, 1935 5. The Adventures Of Robin Hood, 1938 6. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942 7. 20,000 Years In Sing Sing, 1932

91. 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...

1. Orpheus, 1950 2. Blood Of A Poet, 1932 3. Beauty And The Beast, 1946 4. Testament Of Orpheus, 1960

92. Preston Sturges

Writer | Sullivan's Travels

Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S....

1. Sullivan's Travels, 1940 2. The Lady Eve, 1941 3. The Palm Beach Story, 1942

93. Otto Preminger

Actor | Stalag 17

Otto Ludwig Preminger was born in Wiznitz, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary. His father was a prosecutor, and Otto originally intended to follow his father into a law career; however, he fell in love with the theater in his 20's and became one of the most imaginative stage producers and directors. He was ...

1. Anatomy Of A Murder, 1959 2. Bunny Lake Is Missing, 1964 3. Where The Sidewalk Ends, 1950 4. Laura, 1944 5. Angel Face, 1954 6. Fallen Angel, 1945

94. 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 ...

1. The Godfather, 1972 2. Apocalypse Now, 1979 3. The Godfather: Part II, 1974 4. The Conversation, 1975

95. Samuel Fuller

Writer | Shock Corridor

At age 17, Samuel Fuller was the youngest reporter ever to be in charge of the events section of the New York Journal. After having participated in the European battle theater in World War II, he directed some minor action productions for which he mostly wrote the scripts himself and which he also ...

1. The Big Red One, 1980 2. Shock Corridor, 1964 3. Forty Guns, 1957 4. Pickup On South Street, 1953 5. The Steel Helmet, 1951 6. Hell And High Water, 1954 7. House Of Bamboo, 1955 8. China Gate, 1957

96. Kon Ichikawa

Director | Inugami-ke no ichizoku

Kon Ichikawa has been influenced by artists as diverse as Walt Disney and Jean Renoir, and his films cover a wide spectrum of moods, from the comic to the overwhelmingly ironic and even the perverse. Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and this influence is apparent in his skillful use of ...

1. The Burmese Harp, 1956 2. An Actor's Revenge, 1963 3. Tokyo Olympiad, 1965

97. King Vidor

Director | War and Peace

King Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter of Hungarian descent. He was born in Galveston, Texas to lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor and his wife Kate Wallis. King's paternal grandfather Károly (Charles) Vidor had fled Hungary as a refugee following the failed ...

1. Stella Dallas, 1937 2. The Crowd, 1928 3. The Big Parade, 1925 4. Our Daily Bread, 1934 5. Duel In The Sun, 1946

98. 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). ...

1. A Woman Under The Influence, 1974 2. The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, 1976 3. Shadows, 1959

99. Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writer | Le salaire de la peur

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

1. Les Diaboliques, 1955 2. Le Corbeau, 1943 3. The Wages Of Fear, 1953

100. Carol Reed

Director | The Third Man

Carol Reed was the second son of stage actor, dramatics teacher and impresario founder of the Royal School of Dramatic Art Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Reed was one of Tree's six illegitimate children with Beatrice Mae Pinney, who Tree established in a second household apart from his married life. ...

1. The Third Man, 1949 2. The Fallen Idol, 1948 3. Nigh Train To Munich, 1940