Favorite Directors
Every element of a film is brought together by the director. The seventh art is an amalgam of various art forms, it's the literature of the script, cinematography, set and costume design, musical score, editing, acting, and more, which all come together under the baton of the director to make the resulting art piece. It is the director’s vision and passion that we see on the
screen. The following is a sampling of some of my favorite directors and the feature length films that have made them the great cinema artists they are (my favorites in bold).
Ava DuVernay
August
24, 1972
Long
Beach, California
Educated
at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a double major in
English and African-American studies.
“If your dream is only about you, it’s
too small.”
“Women
have been trained in our culture and society to ask for what we want instead of
taking what we want. We've been really indoctrinated with this culture of
permission. I think it's true for women, and I think it's true for people of
color. It's historic, and it's unfortunate and has somehow become part of our
DNA. But that time has passed.”
|
Year |
Film |
|
2022 |
One
Perfect Shot – TV |
|
2022 |
DMZ
– TV |
|
2021 |
Colin
in Black and White - TV |
|
2019 |
When
they See Us - TV |
|
2017 |
A
Wrinkle in Time |
|
2016 |
13th |
|
2015 |
For
Justice - TV |
|
2014 |
Selma |
|
2012 |
Middle
of Nowhere |
|
2010 |
Faith
in 2010 - TV |
|
2010 |
I
Will Follow |
Guillermo del Toro
October 9, 1964
Guadalajara, Mexico
Educated at the Centro de
Investigación y Estudios Cinematográficos in Guadalajara.
“You only find yourself when you
disobey. Disobedience is the beginning of responsibility, I think.”
“I believe in man. I believe in mankind,
as the worst and the best that has happened to this world.”
|
Year |
Film |
|
2022 |
Guillermo
del Toro’s Pinocchio |
|
2021 |
Nightmare
Ally |
|
2017 |
The Shape of Water |
|
2015 |
Crimson
Peak |
|
2013 |
Pacific
rim |
|
2008 |
Hellboy
II: The Golden Army |
|
2006 |
Pan’s Labyrinth |
|
2004 |
Hellboy |
|
2002 |
Blade
II |
|
2001 |
The
Devil’s Backbone |
|
1997 |
Mimic |
|
1993 |
Cronos |
October 1969
Born in
London, England
Educated in
Goldsmith University of London
“My
influences come from real life. I’m not interested in cinema for cinema’s sake.
I’m interested in life – what one does and how one interacts.”
“Film is
important. It can be more than reportage or a novel. It creates images people
have never seen before, never imagined they’d see, maybe because they needed
someone else to imagine them.”
|
Year |
Film |
|
2023 |
Occupied
City |
|
2021 |
Uprising
- TV |
|
2020 |
Small
Axe - TV |
|
2018 |
Widows |
|
2013 |
12
Years a Salve |
|
2011 |
Shame |
Jordan
Peele
February
21, 1979
Born
in New York City, USA
Educated
Sarah Lawrence College
“We go to
the theater to be entertained, but if what is left after you watch the movie is
a sort of eye-opening perspective on some social issues, then it can be a
really powerful piece of art.”
|
Year |
Film |
|
2022 |
Nope |
|
2019 |
Us |
|
2017 |
Get
Out |
Ridley Scott
November
30, 1937
Born
in South Shields, England
Educated
at West Hartlepool College of Art – diploma in design; Royal College of Art
“When the first "Alien" movie and "Blade Runner" were made. I thought that in the near future the world would be owned by large companies. That's why we have the Tyrell Corporation in "Blade Runner" and Weyland-Yutani in "Alien". They sent the Nostromo spaceship. The Prometheus is owned by an entrepreneur called Peter Weyland, who is played by Guy Pearce. That's the connection between the two films, and nothing more.
“Balian [Orlando Bloom's character in "Kingdom of Heaven"] is an agnostic, just like me. I am not fighting another holy war here, I am trying to get across the fact that not everyone in the West is a good guy, and not all Muslims are bad. The tragedy is that we still have a lack of understanding between us, and it is 900 years since the Crusades. We have never truly resolved our differences.”
|
Year |
Film |
|
2021 |
House of Gucci |
|
2021 |
The Last Duel |
|
2017 |
All the Money in the
World |
|
2017 |
Alien: Covenant |
|
2016 |
The Martian |
|
2014 |
Exodus: Gods and Kings |
|
2013 |
|
|
2012 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2001 |
|
|
2001 |
|
|
2001 |
|
|
1997 |
|
|
1996 |
|
|
1992 |
|
|
1991 |
|
|
1989 |
|
|
1987 |
|
|
1985 |
|
|
1982 |
|
|
1979 |
|
|
1977 |
\
Kathryn Bigelow
November
27, 1951
San
Carlos, California
Educated
at San Francisco Art Institute (BFA); Whitney Museum of American Art's
Independent Study Program in New York City; Columbia University, graduate film
program Master’s degree.
“I don't want to be
made pacified or made comfortable. I like stuff that gets your adrenaline
going.”
“If there's specific resistance to women making
movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't
change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.”
|
Year |
Film |
Notes on the Film |
|
2017 |
Detroit |
A much needed film about our
history. |
|
2012 |
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Director |
|
|
2009 |
Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Picture |
|
|
2002 |
With K-19 and Point Break, Bigelow proves just how
effective a woman can be at making actions films. |
|
|
2000 |
Nominated – San Sebastian
International Film Festival |
|
|
1995 |
Saturn Award for Best Direction |
|
|
1991 |
Fantastic action film. |
|
|
1989 |
|
|
|
1987 |
Brussels International Festival of
Fantasy Film – Silver Raven Nominated – Saturn Award for Best
Direction |
|
|
1982 |
Michael Haneke
March
23, 1942
Munich,
Germany
Educated
at the University of Vienna – Philosophy, psychology and drama
"My films are
intended as polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and
its dis-empowerment of the spectator. They are an appeal for a cinema of
insistent questions instead of false (because too quick) answers, for
clarifying distance in place of violating closeness, for provocation and
dialogue instead of consumption and consensus."
"Film is 24 lies
per second at the service of truth, or at the service of the attempt to find
the truth."
|
Year |
Film |
Notes on the Film |
|
2017 |
Happy End |
|
|
2013 |
Cosi Fan
Tutte |
TV Movie |
|
2012 |
Cannes Film Festival—Palme d'Or |
|
|
2009 |
Cannes Film Festival—Palme d'Or |
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
2005 |
Cannes Film Festival—Prix de la mise en scène |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
|
2001 |
||
|
2000 |
|
|
|
1997 |
|
|
|
1994 |
|
|
|
1992 |
||
|
1989 |
|
Joel and Ethan Coen
Joel
Coen - November 29, 1954
St.
Louis Park, Minnesota
Educated
at Educated at Simon’s Rock of Bard College; Institute of Film and TV at New
York University
Ethan
Coen – September 21, 1957
St.
Louis Park, Minnesota
Educated
at Simon’s rock of Bard College; Princeton University – Philosophy
“Maybe there should be less of a mystique
around making movies. I just don`t think that there`s any real mystery there. “
(Joel Coen)
“Critics are usually
kinder to cheaper movies than to those they perceive to be big Hollywood
releases. They cut you a lot more slack if you spend less money, which makes no
sense.” (Ethan Coen)
|
Year |
Film |
Notes on the Film |
|
2016 |
Hail,
Ceasar! |
|
|
2013 |
|
|
|
2010 |
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including:
Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Actor, and Actress in
Supporting Role. |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
2007 |
Academy Award Winner for Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Adapted Screenplay and Actor in a Supporting Role |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
|
2003 |
|
|
|
2001 |
|
|
|
2000 |
|
|
|
1998 |
|
|
|
1996 |
Academy Award for Best Actress and Screenplay |
|
|
1994 |
|
|
|
1991 |
|
|
|
1990 |
|
|
|
1987 |
|
|
|
1984 |
|
Wes Anderson
May 1, 1969
Born in
Houston, Texas
Educated at the
University of Texas at Austin
“That's the kind of movie that I like to make, where there is an invented reality and the audience is going to go someplace where hopefully they've never been before. The details, that's what the world is made of.”
“I don't think any of us are normal people.”
|
Year |
Film |
Notes on the Film |
|
2021 |
The French Dispatch |
Palm D’Or,
Critics Choice for Comedy |
|
2018 |
Isle of Dogs |
Academy Award
for Best Animated Feature Film Golden
Globes, Critics Choice BAFF |
|
2014 |
Academy
Awards: Production Design, Costume, Make Up and Hairstyling, Music. Golden
Globes: Best Picture (Comedy or Musical). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2012 |
Palme D’Or Cannes Film Festival, Academy Award Best Screen Play, Golden
Globe Best Picture |
|
|
2009 |
Academy Award – Best Animated Feature |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
2005 |
Golden Globe – Best Picture |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
|
2001 |
|
|
|
1998 |
|
|
|
1996 |
|
Luchino Visconti
November
2, 1906 – March 17, 1976 (aged 69)
Milan,
Italy
Educated
at private schools in Milan and Como
“I don't want to be
made pacified or made comfortable. I like stuff that gets your adrenaline
going. “
|
Year |
Film |
Notes
on the Film |
|
1976 |
|
|
|
1974 |
|
|
|
1972 |
|
|
|
1971 |
Won - 25th Anniversary Prize (Cannes Film Festival) |
|
|
1969 |
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original
Screenplay |
|
|
1967 |
Nominated - Golden Lion |
|
|
1965 |
Won - Golden Lion |
|
|
1963 |
Won - Golden Palm |
|
|
1960 |
Won - Special Prize (Venice Film
Festival) |
|
|
1957 |
Won - Silver Lion |
|
|
1954 |
Nominated - Golden Lion |
|
|
1951 |
|
|
|
1948 |
Nominated - Golden Lion |
|
|
1943 |
Martin Scorsese
November
17, 1942
Born
in Flushing, New York
Educated
at New York University – Master of Fine Arts (Film).
“Film in the 20th century, it's the American
art form, like jazz.”
“And as I've gotten
older, I've had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness,
tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things.”
|
Notes on the Film |
||
|
2019 |
The
Irishman |
|
|
2019 |
Rolling
Thunder Review |
Documentary |
|
2016 |
Silence |
Nominated |
|
2015 |
The Audition (short) |
|
|
2014 |
The
Fifty Year Argument (Documentary) |
|
|
2013 |
The Wolf of
Wall Street |
Nominated |
|
2011 |
|
|
|
2011 |
Nominated* |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
2006 |
Won* |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
|
2004 |
|
|
|
2003 |
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
|
2002 |
Nominated* |
|
|
2002 |
|
|
|
1999 |
|
|
|
1997 |
|
|
|
1995 |
|
|
|
1993 |
Nominated |
|
|
1991 |
|
|
|
1990 |
Nominated |
|
|
1989 |
|
|
|
1988 |
Nominated |
|
|
1986 |
|
|
|
1983 |
|
|
|
1980 |
Nominated |
|
|
1977 |
|
|
|
1976 |
|
|
|
1974 |
|
|
|
1973 |
|
|
|
* Won Golden Globe Awards |
||
Norman Jewison
July
21, 1926
Born
in Toronto, Ontario
Educated
at Victoria College – Bachelor of Arts
“It's an entire industry focusing on
young male viewers that want action and violence. They sell us something that
isn't valid. They're selling films like a product.”
“And I think all Nazis didn't see themselves as bad people. I've never met a racist yet who thought he was a racist. Or an anti-Semite who thought they were anti-Semitic.”
|
Year |
Film |
Some
Notes on the Film |
|
2003 |
The Statement |
|
|
2001 |
Walter and
Henry |
|
|
1999 |
The Hurricane |
|
|
1996 |
Bogus |
|
|
1994 |
Only You |
|
|
1991 |
Other
People's Money |
|
|
1989 |
In Country |
|
|
1987 |
Moonstruck |
Nominated
Best Director; won Best Screenplay, Actress and Supporting Actress |
|
1985 |
Agnes of God |
Nominated
Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress |
|
1984 |
A Soldier's
Story |
Nominated
Best Picture |
|
1982 |
Best Friends |
|
|
1979 |
...And
Justice for All |
Nominated
Best Actor, Best Screenplay |
|
1978 |
F.I.S.T. |
|
|
1975 |
Rollerball |
|
|
1973 |
Jesus Christ
Superstar |
|
|
1971 |
Fiddler on
the Roof |
Nominated
Best Director; won Best Picture Golden Globes |
|
1969 |
Gaily, Gaily
– also known as Chicago, Chicago |
|
|
1968 |
The Thomas
Crown Affair |
|
|
1967 |
In the Heat
of the Night |
Won Best
Picture and 4 other Oscars; Nominated Best Director |
|
1966 |
The Russians
Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming |
|
|
1965 |
The
Cincinnati Kid |
|
|
1965 |
The Art of
Love |
|
|
1964 |
Send Me No
Flowers |
|
|
1963 |
The Thrill of
It All |
|
|
1963 |
40 Pounds of
Trouble |
|
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