Film director



A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film.

The film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions and stay within the boundaries of the film's budget. There are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors. Other film directors have attended a film school. Directors use different approaches. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue, while others control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films.

Responsibility
Film directors create an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of film production, as well as directing the shooting timetable and meeting deadlines. This entails organizing the film crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of group leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful, fast-paced environment of a film set. Moreover, it is necessary to have an artistic eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus, excellent communication skills are a must.

Since the film director depends on the successful cooperation of many different creative individuals with possibly strongly contradicting artistic ideals and visions, he or she also needs to possess conflict resolution skills in order to mediate whenever necessary. Thus the director ensures that all individuals involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as "a multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with egos and weather thrown in for good measure". It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when and how they will work again. Omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating. Theoretically the sole superior of a director is the studio that is financing the film, however a poor working relationship between a film director and an actor could possibly result in the director being replaced if the actor is a major film star. Even so, it is arguable that the director spends more time on a project than anyone else, considering that the director is one of the few positions that requires intimate involvement during every stage of film production. Thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that "20-hour days are not unusual".

Under European Union law, the film director is considered the "author" or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a film director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through studio interference and the collective process.

Career pathways
Some film directors started as screenwriters, film editors or actors. Several American cinematographers have become directors, including Barry Sonnenfeld, originally the Coen brothers' DP; Jan de Bont, cinematographer on films as Die Hard and Basic Instinct, directed Speed and Twister. Recently Wally Pfister, cinematographer on Christopher Nolan's three Batman films made his directorial debut with Transcendence. Other film directors have attended a film school to "get formal training and education in their craft". Film students generally study the basic skills used in making a film. This includes, for example, preparation, shot lists and storyboards, blocking, protocols of dealing with professional actors, and reading scripts. Some film schools are equipped with sound stages and post-production facilities. Besides basic technical and logistical skills, students also receive education on the nature of professional relationships that occur during film production. A full degree course can be designed for up to five years of studying. Future directors usually complete short films during their enrollment. The National Film School of Denmark has the student's final projects presented on national TV. Some film schools retain the rights for their students' works. Many directors successfully prepared for making feature films by working in television. The German Film and Television Academy Berlin consequently cooperates with the Berlin/Brandenburg TV station RBB (Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting) and ARTE.

A handful of top directors made from $13 million to $257 million in 2011, such as James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. In May 2011, the average United States film director made $122,220.

Characteristics
Different directors can vary immensely amongst themselves, under various characteristics. Several examples are:


 * Those who outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue. Notable examples include Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Guest, Spike Lee, Wim Wenders, Mike Leigh, Barry Levinson, Jean-Luc Godard, Miklós Jancsó, Gus Van Sant, Judd Apatow, Terrence Malick, Harmony Korine, Jay and Mark Duplass, and occasionally Robert Altman, Joe Swanberg, Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini.
 * Those who control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Notable examples include David Lean, Akira Kurosawa, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Victor Fleming, Erich von Stroheim, Frank Darabont, Sam Mendes, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jonathan Demme, John Frankenheimer, James Cameron, George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lumet, Andrew Bujalski, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Bay and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
 * Those who write their own screenplays. Notable examples include Claire Denis, Chantal Akerman, Jane Campion, Virginie Despentes, Marleen Gorris, Liliana Cavani, Woody Allen, Werner Herzog, Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Cassavetes, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, George Lucas, J. F. Lawton, David Cronenberg, Charlie Chaplin, Billy Wilder, Ed Wood, David Lynch, the Coen brothers, Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Pedro Almodóvar, John Hughes, Nick Park, Edward Burns, Kevin Smith, Todd Field, Cameron Crowe, Terrence Malick, Oren Peli, Eli Roth, Harmony Korine, Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Daryush Shokof, Oliver Stone, John Singleton, Spike Lee, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, M. Night Shyamalan, Paul Haggis, Billy Bob Thornton, James Wong, Tyler Perry, Robert Rodriguez, Christopher Nolan, George A. Romero, Sergio Leone, Satyajit Ray, Joss Whedon and David O. Russell. Steven Spielberg and Sidney J. Furie have written screenplays for a small number of their films.
 * Those who collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Notable examples include Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga, Elia Kazan and Tennessee Williams, Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown/Tony Grisoni, Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson/Noah Baumbach, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi/Paul Schrader/Jay Cocks, Yasujirō Ozu and Kôgo Noda, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière/Luis Alcoriza, Krzysztof Kieślowski/Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Rajkumar Hirani/Abhijat Joshi/Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Frank Capra/Robert Riskin, Michelangelo Antonioni/Tonino Guerra, Billy Wilder/I.A.L. Diamond, Sergio Leone and Sergio Donati, Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins, and Christopher Nolan/Jonathan Nolan/David S. Goyer.
 * Those who edit their own films. Notable examples include Akira Kurosawa, Alfonso Cuarón, David Fincher, Mike Cahill, Jean-Marc Vallée, Steven Soderbergh, David Lean, Don Coscarelli, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Rodriguez, Rajkumar Hirani, James Cameron, Ed Wood, Gaspar Noe, Takeshi Kitano, John Woo, Andy Warhol, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kenneth Anger, Gregg Araki, Gus Van Sant, Xavier Dolan, Ben Wheatley, Kelly Reichardt, Leni Riefenstahl, Kevin Smith, Rodrigo Cortes, Joe Swanberg, Steve James, Jafar Panahi, Ti West, Joel and Ethan Coen and many indie, Internet and arthouse filmmakers.
 * Those who shoot their own films. Notable examples include Nicolas Roeg, Mike Cahill, Peter Hyams, Steven Soderbergh, Joe Swanberg, Tony Kaye, Gaspar Noe, Gregg Araki, Robert Rodriguez, Don Coscarelli, Josef von Sternberg, Shinya Tsukamoto and Kenneth Anger.
 * Those who appear in their films. Notable examples include Stan Lee, Agnes Varda, Clint Eastwood, Orson Welles, Mel Gibson, Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson, John Waters, John Carpenter, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Anger, Michael Landon, Woody Allen, Jon Favreau, Quentin Tarantino, Magnús Scheving, Eli Roth, Michael Bay, Mel Brooks, Ben Stiller, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Charlie Chaplin, Terry Jones, Edward Burns, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sam Raimi, Roman Polanski, Erich von Stroheim, Billy Bob Thornton, Sylvester Stallone, M. Night Shyamalan, Harold Ramis, Robert De Niro, John Woo, Kevin Smith, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Takeshi Kitano, Kenneth Branagh and Ed Wood. Alfred Hitchcock, Abel Ferrara, Shawn Levy, Edgar Wright and Spike Jonze made cameo appearances in their films.
 * Those who compose the music score for their films. Notable examples include Charlie Chaplin, Clint Eastwood, David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Carpenter, Mike Figgis, Hal Hartley, Alejandro Amenábar, Satyajit Ray, Robert Rodriguez and Tom Tykwer.
 * Another way to categorize directors is by their membership in a "school" of filmmaking, such as the French New Wave, the British New Wave or the New Hollywood school of filmmakers.

Professional organizations
In the United States, directors usually belong to the Directors Guild of America. The Canadian equivalent is the Directors Guild of Canada. In the UK, directors usually belong to Directors UK or the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

In Europe, FERA, the Federation of European Film Directors, represents 37 national directors' guilds in 30 countries.

Notable individuals
For each director, one notable film that they directed is given as an example of their work. The chosen film may be their film which won the highest awards or it may be one of their best-known movies.


 * Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry – 1997)
 * Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Swayamvaram – 1972)
 * Adam McKay (The Big Short – 2015)
 * Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction – 1987)
 * Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7 – 1962)
 * Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai – 1954)
 * Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad – 1961)
 * Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men – 1976)
 * Alan Parker (Midnight Express – 1978)
 * Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – 2014)
 * Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo – 1970)
 * Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark – 2002)
 * Alexander Payne (Sideways – 2004)
 * Alex Proyas (Dark City – 1998)
 * Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity – 2013)
 * Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho – 1960)
 * Alice Guy-Blaché (La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy) – 1896)
 * Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging – 1992)
 * Ana Kokkinos (Head On – 1998)
 * Andre De Toth (House of Wax – 1953)
 * Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank – 2009)
 * Andrei Tarkovsky (Solaris – 1972)
 * Andrew Davis (The Fugitive – 1993)
 * Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – 2007)
 * Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain – 2005)
 * Angelina Maccarone (Fremde Haut – 2015)
 * Anthony Mann (Man of the West – 1958)
 * Anthony Minghella (The English Patient – 1996)
 * Antoine Fuqua (Training Day – 2001)
 * Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde – 1967)
 * Asghar Farhadi (A Separation – 2011)
 * Ashutosh Gowariker (Lagaan – 2001)
 * Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter – 1997)
 * Barbara Hammer (Nitrate Kisses – 1992)
 * Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA – 1976)
 * Barbra Streisand (Yentl – 1983)
 * Barry Levinson (Rain Man – 1988)
 * Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge! – 2001)
 * Béla Tarr (Sátántangó – 1994)
 * Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor – 1987)
 * Billy Wilder (The Apartment – 1960)
 * Bimal Roy (Do Bigha Zamin – 1953)
 * Bob Fosse (Cabaret – 1972)
 * Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces – 1970)
 * Brad Bird (Ratatouille – 2007)
 * Brett Ratner (Red Dragon – 2002)
 * Brian De Palma (Scarface – 1983)
 * Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects – 1995)
 * Budd Boetticher (Seven Men from Now – 1956)
 * Burt Kennedy (The Rounders – 1965)
 * Busby Berkeley (Take Me Out to the Ball Game – 1949)
 * Buster Keaton (Sherlock, Jr. – 1928)
 * Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire – 1996)
 * Carl Theodor Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc – 1928)
 * Catherine Breillat (Romance (1999 film) – 1999)
 * Catherine Corsini (Summertime – 2015)
 * Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments – 1956)
 * Celine Sciamma (Tomboy (2011 film) – 2011)
 * Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles – 1975)
 * Charles Laughton (The Night of the Hunter – 1955)
 * Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times – 1936)
 * Cheryl Dunye (Watermelon woman – 1996)
 * Chris Columbus (Home Alone – 1990)
 * Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight – 2008)
 * Chuck Jones (What's Opera, Doc? – 1957)
 * Claire Denis (Chocolat – 1988)
 * Claude Chabrol (Madame Bovary – 1991)
 * Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven – 1992)
 * Coen brothers (Fargo – 1996)
 * Coline Serreau (Three Men and a Cradle – 1985)
 * Cornel Wilde (Beach Red – 1967)
 * D. W. Griffith (The Birth of a Nation – 1915)
 * Dadasaheb Phalke (Gangavataran – 1937)
 * Damien Chazelle (La La Land – 2016)
 * Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire – 2008)
 * Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Kid with a Bike – 2011)
 * Dario Argento (Suspiria – 1977)
 * Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan – 2010)
 * Daryush Shokof (Seven Servants – 1996)
 * David Cronenberg (The Fly – 1986)
 * David Fincher (Gone Girl – 2014)
 * David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia – 1962)
 * David Lynch (Mulholland Dr. – 2001)
 * David O. Russell (American Hustle – 2013)
 * David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – 2007)
 * Deborah Kampmeier (Hounddog – 2003)
 * Deepa Mehta (Water – 2005)
 * Delbert Mann (Marty – 1955)
 * Delmer Daves (The Hanging Tree – 1959)
 * Denis Villeneuve (Sicario – 2015)
 * Don Bluth (The Land Before Time – 1988)
 * Don Siegel (Dirty Harry – 1971)
 * Dorothy Arzner (The Wild Party – 1929)
 * Duncan Jones (''Moon – 2009)
 * Ed Wood (Plan 9 from Outer Space – 1959)
 * Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead – 2004)
 * Edward Yang (Yi Yi – 2000)
 * Eli Roth (Hostel – 2005)
 * Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire – 1951)
 * Emir Kusturica (Underground – 1995)
 * Éric Rohmer (Pauline at the Beach – 1983)
 * Ernst Lubitsch (Heaven Can Wait – 1943)
 * Ettore Scola (Le Bal – 1983)
 * F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton – 2015)
 * F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu – 1922)
 * Federico Fellini (8½ – 1963)
 * Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather – 1972)
 * François Truffaut (The 400 Blows – 1959)
 * Frank Borzage (A Farewell to Arms – 1932)
 * Frank Capra (It Happened One Night – 1934)
 * Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption – 1994)
 * Frank Oz (The Score – 2001)
 * Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton – 1970)
 * Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity – 1953)
 * Fritz Lang (Metropolis – 1927)
 * Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman – 1990)
 * George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead – 1968)
 * George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck – 2005)
 * George Lucas (Star Wars – 1977)
 * George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road – 2015)
 * George Roy Hill (Slaughterhouse-Five – 1972)
 * George Stevens (Giant – 1956)
 * Georges Méliès (A Trip to the Moon – 1902)
 * Germaine Dulac (La Coquille et le Clergyman – 1928)
 * Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso – 1988)
 * Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – 2003)
 * Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth – 2006)
 * Guru Dutt (Pyaasa – 1957)
 * Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting – 1997)
 * Guy Ritchie (Snatch – 2000)
 * Hal Ashby (Coming Home – 1978)
 * Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day – 1993)
 * Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away – 2001)
 * Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Wages of Fear – 1953)
 * Henry Hathaway (Lives of a Bengal Lancer – 1935)
 * Herbert Ross (The Turning Point – 1977)
 * Howard Hawks (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – 1953)
 * Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Anand – 1971)
 * Ida Lupino (Outrage – 1950)
 * Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries – 1957)
 * István Szabó (Mephisto – 1981)
 * Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters – 1984)
 * Mahendran (Mullum Malarum – 1978)
 * J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 2015)
 * Jacqueline Audry (Olivia – 1951)
 * Jacques Tourneur (Cat People – 1942)
 * James Cameron (Titanic – 1997)
 * James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy – 2014)
 * James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment – 1983)
 * James Ivory (Howards End – 1992)
 * James Wan (The Conjuring – 2013)
 * James Whale (Frankenstein – 1931)
 * Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader – 1999)
 * Jane Campion (The Piano – 1993)
 * Jason Reitman (Up in the Air – 2009)
 * Jean Renoir (Grand Illusion – 1937)
 * Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Name of the Rose – 1986)
 * Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless – 1960)
 * Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club – 2013)
 * Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie – 2001)
 * Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers – 2005)
 * Jiří Trnka (The Emperor's Nightingale – 1949)
 * Jodie Foster (Little Man Tate – 1991)
 * Joe Dante (Gremlins – 1984)
 * Joe Johnston (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids – 1989)
 * Joe Wright (Atonement – 2007)
 * Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys – 1987)
 * John Badham (Saturday Night Fever – 1977)
 * John Boorman (Deliverance – 1972)
 * John Carpenter (Halloween – 1978)
 * John Cassavetes (A Woman Under the Influence – 1974)
 * John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath – 1940)
 * John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate – 1962)
 * John G. Avildsen (Rocky – 1976)
 * John Hughes (Ferris Bueller's Day Off – 1986)
 * John Huston (The Maltese Falcon – 1941)
 * John Landis (The Blues Brothers – (1980)
 * John Lasseter (Toy Story – 1995)
 * John McTiernan (Die Hard – 1988)
 * John Sayles (The Secret of Roan Inish – 1994)
 * John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy – 1969)
 * John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood – 1991)
 * John Sturges (The Great Escape – 1963)
 * John Waters (Cry-Baby – 1990)
 * John Woo (Face/Off – 1997)
 * Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs – 1991)
 * Joseph H. Lewis (The Big Combo – 1955)
 * Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Guys and Dolls – 1955)
 * Joseph Losey (Monsieur Klein – 1976)
 * Joss Whedon (The Avengers – 2012)
 * Karan Johar (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – 1998)
 * Karel Zeman (The Fabulous Baron Munchausen – 1961)
 * Karthik Subbaraj (Jigarthanda – 2014)
 * Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker – 2008)
 * Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff – 2010)
 * Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley – 2006)
 * Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu – 1953)
 * Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves – 1990)
 * Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland – 2006)
 * Kevin Smith (Clerks – 1994)
 * Kim Longinotto (Sisters in Law – 2005)
 * King Vidor (The Champ – 1931)
 * Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale – 2000)
 * Kon Ichikawa (Fires on the Plain – 1959)
 * Krzysztof Kieślowski (The Three Colors trilogy – 1993–1994)
 * Lars von Trier (Melancholia – 2011)
 * Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog – 1985)
 * Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill – 1983)
 * Lea Pool (Emporte-moi – 1999)
 * Lee Daniels (Precious – 2009)
 * Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will – 1935)
 * Leontine Sagan (Madchen in Uniform – 1931)
 * Lesley Selander (Tall Man Riding – 1955)
 * Lewis Allen (The Uninvited – 1944)
 * Lewis Gilbert (Educating Rita – 1983)
 * Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front – 1930)
 * Liliana Cavani (The Night Porter – 1974)
 * Lindsay Anderson (if.... – 1968)
 * Lizzie Borden (Born in Flames – 1983)
 * Lotte Reiniger (The Adventures of Prince Achmed – 1926)
 * Louis Malle (Au revoir les enfants – 1987)
 * Luc Besson (Lucy – 2014)
 * Luchino Visconti (The Leopard – 1963)
 * Lucio Fulci (Zombi 2 – 1979)
 * Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou – 1929)
 * M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense – 1999)
 * Mai Zetterling (Loving Couples – 1964)
 * Mani Ratnam (Nayakan – 1987)
 * Marcel Carné (Children of Paradise – 1945)
 * Margarethe von Trotta (Rosa Luxemburg (film) – 1986)
 * Marguerite Duras (India Song – 1975)
 * María Luisa Bemberg (I, the Worst of All – 1990)
 * Mario Bava (Lisa and the Devil – 1972)
 * Mario Monicelli (Rossini! Rossini! – 1991)
 * Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond – 1981)
 * Marleen Gorris (Antonia's Line – 1995)
 * Márta Mészáros (Diary for My Children – 1984)
 * Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas – 1990)
 * Masaki Kobayashi (The Human Condition – 1959-1961)
 * Maya Deren (At Land – 1944)
 * Mehboob Khan (Mother India – 1957)
 * Mel Brooks (Spaceballs – 1987)
 * Mel Gibson (Braveheart – 1995)
 * Michael Anderson (The Dam Busters – 1955)
 * Michael Bay (Transformers – 2007)
 * Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter – 1978)
 * Michael Curtiz (Casablanca – 1942)
 * Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon – 2009)
 * Michael Mann (Heat – 1995)
 * Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11 – 2004)
 * Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – 2004)
 * Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist – 2011)
 * Michelangelo Antonioni (L'Avventura – 1960)
 * Mike Leigh (Naked – 1993)
 * Mike Nichols (The Graduate – 1967)
 * Miklós Jancsó (The Red and the White – 1967)
 * Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – 1975)
 * Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay! – 1988)
 * Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me – 2004)
 * Nancy Meyers (Something's Gotta Give – 2003)
 * Naomi Kawase (The Mourning Forest – 2007)
 * Neil Jordan (The Crying Game – 1992)
 * Neill Blomkamp (District 9 – 2009)
 * Nelly Kaplan (A Very Curious Girl – 1969)
 * Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause – 1955)
 * Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive – 2011)
 * Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale – 2005)
 * Noémie Lvovsky (Camille Rewinds – 2012)
 * Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night – 1967)
 * Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia – 2011)
 * Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall – 2004)
 * Oliver Stone (Platoon – 1986)
 * Orson Welles (Citizen Kane – 1941)
 * Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder – 1959)
 * Padmarajan (Aparan – 1988)
 * Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty – 2013)
 * Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy – 2003)
 * Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum – 2007)
 * Paul Haggis (Crash – 2004)
 * Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights – 1997)
 * Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop – 1987)
 * Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil – 2002)
 * Pedro Almodóvar (All About My Mother – 1999)
 * Penny Marshall (A League of Their Own – 1992)
 * Pete Docter (Inside Out – 2015)
 * Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show – 1971)
 * Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings – 2001–2003)
 * Peter Weir (The Truman Show – 1998)
 * Peter Yates (Bullitt – 1968)
 * Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff – 1983)
 * Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom – 1975)
 * Powell and Pressburger (The Red Shoes – 1948)
 * Pratibha Parmar (Nina's Heavenly Delights – 2006)
 * Preston Sturges (The Great McGinty – 1940)
 * Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction – 1994)
 * Rainer Werner Fassbinder (The Marriage of Maria Braun – 1979)
 * Raj Kapoor (Awaara – 1951)
 * Rajkumar Hirani (3 Idiots – 2009)
 * Ray Enright (Coroner Creek – 1948)
 * Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 – 1990)
 * Rian Johnson (Looper – 2012)
 * Richard Attenborough (Gandhi – 1982)
 * Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon – 1987)
 * Richard Franklin (Psycho II – 1983)
 * Richard Linklater (Boyhood – 2014)
 * Ridley Scott (Blade Runner – 1982)
 * Ritwik Ghatak (Jukti Takko Aar Gappo – 1974)
 * Rob Marshall (Chicago – 2002)
 * Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride – 1987)
 * Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects – 2005)
 * Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen – 1967)
 * Robert Altman (MASH – 1970)
 * Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer – 1979)
 * Robert Bresson (Au Hasard Balthazar – 1966)
 * Robert Redford (Quiz Show – 1994)
 * Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk till Dawn – 1996)
 * Robert Siodmak (The Killers – 1946)
 * Robert Wiene (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – 1920)
 * Robert Wise (West Side Story – 1961)
 * Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump – 1994)
 * Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City – 1945)
 * Roger Corman (The Little Shop of Horrors – 1960)
 * Roland Emmerich (Independence Day – 1996)
 * Roman Polanski (Chinatown – 1974)
 * Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind – 2001)
 * Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War – 2016)
 * Ryan Coogler (Creed – 2015)
 * S. S. Rajamouli (Baahubali: The Beginning – 2015)
 * Shankar (Enthiran – 2010)
 * Sally Potter (Orlando (film) – 1992)
 * Sam Mendes (American Beauty – 1999)
 * Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch – 1969)
 * Sam Raimi (Spider-Man – 2002)
 * Sam Wood (For Whom the Bell Tolls – 1943)
 * Samira Makhmalbaf (At Five in the Afternoon – 2003)
 * Samuel Fuller (The Naked Kiss – 1964)
 * Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Devdas – 2002)
 * Sathyan Anthikad (Rasathanthram – 2006)
 * Satyajit Ray (The Apu Trilogy – 1955-1959)
 * Sean Penn (Into the Wild – 2007)
 * Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin – 1925)
 * Sergei Parajanov (The Color of Pomegranates – 1969)
 * Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966)
 * Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon – 1975)
 * Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation – 2003)
 * Sooraj Barjatya (Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! – 1994)
 * Spike Jonze (Her – 2013)
 * Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing – 1989)
 * Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain – 1952)
 * Stanley Kramer (Judgment at Nuremberg – 1961)
 * Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey – 1968)
 * Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot – 2000)
 * Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave – 2013)
 * Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven – 2001)
 * Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List – 1993)
 * Straub-Huillet (Sicilia! – 1999)
 * Stuart Heisler (Along Came Jones – 1945)
 * Sydney Pollack (Tootsie – 1982)
 * Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa – 2006)
 * Takashi Miike (13 Assassins – 2010)
 * Tarsem Singh (The Fall – 2006)
 * Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life – 2011)
 * Terry Gilliam (Brazil – 1985)
 * The Wachowskis (The Matrix – 1999)
 * Theodoros Angelopoulos (Eternity and a Day – 1998)
 * Thiagarajan Kumararaja (Aaranya Kaandam – 2011)
 * Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt – 2012)
 * Tim Burton (Big Fish – 2003)
 * Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – 1974)
 * Tod Browning (Dracula – 1931)
 * Todd Field (Little Children – 2006)
 * Tom Holland (Fright Night – 1985)
 * Tom Hooper (The King's Speech – 2010)
 * Tom McCarthy (Spotlight – 2015)
 * Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run – 1998)
 * Tony Richardson (Tom Jones – 1963)
 * Tony Scott (Top Gun – 1986)
 * Tracey Moffatt (Bedevil – 1993)
 * Ulrike Ottinger (Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia – 1989)
 * V. Shantaram (Do Aankhen Barah Haath – 1958)
 * Víctor Erice (Dream of Light – 1992)
 * Victor Fleming (Gone With the Wind – 1939)
 * Vijay Anand   (Guide – 1965 )
 * Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves – 1948)
 * Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum – 1979)
 * Walter Hill (48 Hrs. – 1982)
 * Warren Beatty (Reds – 1981)
 * Werner Herzog (Rescue Dawn – 2006)
 * Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums – 2001)
 * Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street – 1984)
 * William Friedkin (The Exorcist – 1973)
 * William Wyler (Ben-Hur – 1959)
 * Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas – 1984)
 * Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot – 1981)
 * Woody Allen (Annie Hall – 1977)
 * Yasujirō Ozu (Tokyo Story – 1953)
 * Zack Snyder (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – 2016)