Great Directors (2009)

Great Directors, directed by Angela Ismailos, features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, ... See full summary »

Director:

Angela Ismailos

Writer:

Angela Ismailos

Stars:

Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani

Cast

Credited cast:
Bernardo Bertolucci	...	Himself
Catherine Breillat	...	Herself
Liliana Cavani	...	Herself
Stephen Frears	...	Himself
Todd Haynes	...	Himself
Angela Ismailos	...	Herself
Richard Linklater	...	Himself
Ken Loach	...	Himself
David Lynch	...	Himself
John Sayles	...	Himself
Agnès Varda	...	Herself

Storyline

Great Directors, directed by Angela Ismailos, features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. The film documents Ismailos' voyage of discovering the creative personalities behind the camera. She explores the filmmakers' artistic evolution and personal identity, the role of politics and history on their work, and the agony and dilemmas in the creative process. It also examines the challenges of being an artist in an age of commercialism and globalization. The film traces the influence of cinematic movements and iconic directors on these directors' work-from the role of Neo-Realism in Bertolucci's evolution to the influence of Federico Fellini on David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman on Catherine Breillat and Rainer Werner Fassbinder on Todd Haynes.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 2010 (Greece)

Also Known As:

Megaloi skinothetes

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$2,418 (USA) (9 July 2010)

Gross:

$17,921 (USA) (30 July 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anisma Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Good Documentary

Great Directors (2009)

*** (out of 4)

Angela Ismailos' documentary has her traveling around the world interviewing ten different directors who all bring something different to filmmaking. Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, David Lynch, John Sayles and Agnes Varda are the ten directors interviewed for the film. Ismailos starts the film off with a brief description of what she was wanting to do and while I'm sure people could debate these ten directors being the greatest living it's really not a big deal because the documentary is really a lot of fun and I think film buffs should really enjoy the conversations. We deal with all sorts of subjects including how the directors fell in love with cinema, their influences, certain mistakes in their careers and their opinions on doing something personal compared to working with Hollywood. Some of the most interesting stories come from Lynch who is pretty open about things and tells some nice stories including how Mel Brooks had to see ERASERHEAD before allowing him to direct THE ELEPHANT MAN. Lynch also talks about his time on DUNE and his feelings on BLUE VELVET and LOST HIGHWAY. Frears is also an interesting subject as he talks about why he had success in America but decided to come back to Britain to make films. The controversial Breillat is another nice subject as she talks about the struggles of making the movies that she does as well as being a female doing it. Fans of these filmmakers will certainly enjoy listening to them go over their careers and there are certainly a lot of interesting ideas discussed.