Favorite Films Directors

1. Asia Argento

Asia Argento was born in Rome, Italy, into a family of actors and filmmakers, both occupations which she has herself pursued. She made her debut when she was only nine years old in Sergio Citti's Sogni e bisogni (1985). In 1988 she had the leading role in Cristina Comencini's first film, Zoo (1988)...

2. Jared Hess

Director | Napoleon Dynamite

Jared Lawrence Hess and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess (née Demke; born May 12, 1980) are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009), all of which they co-wrote and which were directed by Jared (Nacho Libre was...

3. Tao Ruspoli

Director | Fix

Italian American documentary filmmaker, photographer and flamenco guitar player. Born in Thailand and raised in Rome and Los Angeles. Son of Dado Ruspoli and Debra Berger. B.A. in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. Founder of The Los Angeles Filmmakers' Cooperative (LAFCO). ...

4. Julia Ducournau

Director | Titane

Julia Ducournau is a French film director and screenwriter. She attended film school at La Fémis in Paris, where she studied screenwriting. In 2011, her short film JUNIOR won the Petit Rail d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature, the horror movie Raw (2016), won the coveted ...

5. 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 ...

6. Hannes Stöhr

Director | Berlin Is in Germany

Hannes Stöhr was born in 1970 in Hechingen-Sickingen, Swabia, West Germany [now Germany]. He is a director and writer, known for Berlin Is in Germany (2001), Berlin Calling (2008) and One Day in Europe (2005).

7. Anders Thomas Jensen

Writer | Retfærdighedens ryttere

Anders Thomas Jensen was born on 6th April 1972 in Frederiksværk on Sjælland in Denmark to Carl Benny Jensen and Kirsten Jensen (born Sørensen). He attended the high school in Frederiksværk from 1988 to 1991. In 1990 while still in high school, he wrote and directed 10 år på bagen - 3 år i skyggen ...

8. Tomas Alfredson

Director | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tomas Alfredson was born on April 1, 1965 in Lidingö, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is a director, known for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Let the Right One In (2008) and The Snowman (2017). He is married to Charlotte Alfredson. They have one child. He was previously married to Cissi Elwin.

9. Maren Ade

Producer | Toni Erdmann

Maren Ade was born in Karlsruhe on 12 December 1976 to a couple of teachers.She studied cinema at Munich's Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film. As of 2001 she co-founded, together with Janine Jackowski, a fellow graduate from HFF, the "Komplizen" film company. It is through Komplizen that Maren would...

10. Adèle Exarchopoulos

Actress | La vie d'Adèle

Known for her performance in La Vie d'Adèle (Blue Is The Warmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche, that landed her both the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and the César for Most Promising Actress that same year, Adèle Exarchopoulos has been on the French and International big screen ...

11. Jan Kounen

Director | Blueberry

Jan Kounen was born on May 2, 1964 in Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands. He is a director and writer, known for Renegade (2004), Vibroboy (1994) and 8 (2008).

12. Michel Gondry

Director | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band ...

13. Quentin Dupieux

Writer | Rubber

Quentin Dupieux was born on April 14, 1974 in Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is a writer and director, known for Rubber (2010), Le daim (2019) and Reality (2014).

14. Claire Denis

Director | High Life

The films of Claire Denis frequently explore the fragile connections between people and the ways in which the most seemingly inconsequential relationship can have life-changing effects. At the heart of Denis' cinema is a fascination with the delights and difficulties of belonging and otherness, the...

15. Sion Sono

Director | Ai no mukidashi

Shion Sono is a Japanese director, writer and poet. Born in Aichi Perfecture in 1961 he started his career working as a poet before taking his first steps in film directing. As a student he shot a series of short films in Super 8 and managed to make his first feature films in the late 80s and early...

16. Takashi Miike

Director | Jûsan-nin no shikaku

Takashi Miike was born in the small town of Yao on the outskirts of Osaka, Japan. His main interest growing up was motorbikes, and for a while he harbored ambitions to race professionally. At the age of 18 he went to study at the film school in Yokohama founded by renowned director Shôhei Imamura, ...

17. Gakuryû Ishii

Director | Yume no ginga

Gakuryû Ishii was born on January 15, 1957 in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Labyrinth of Dreams (1997), Enjeru dasuto (1994) and Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001).

18. Kankurô Kudô

Writer | Go

Kankurô Kudô was born on July 19, 1970 in Miyagi, Japan. He is a writer and actor, known for Go (2001), Too Young to Die! Wakakushite shinu (2016) and Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san (2005).

19. Katsuhito Ishii

Director | Cha no aji

Katsuhito Ishii was born on December 31, 1966 in Niigata, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for The Taste of Tea (2004), Naisu no mori: The First Contact (2005) and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).

20. Hajime Ishimine

Director | Naisu no mori: The First Contact

Hajime Ishimine was born on November 24, 1967 in Osaka, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Naisu no mori: The First Contact (2005), Kasutamu-meido 10.30 (2005) and The Evil Within 2 (2017).

21. Mitsuru Meike

Director | Gushonure biyôshi: Sukebena kahanshin

Mitsuru Meike was born on May 11, 1969 in Kanagawa, Japan. He is an assistant director and director, known for Gushonure biyôshi: Sukebena kahanshin (1998), Hakui inran nikki: Nureta mama nido, sando (1997) and Harenchi family: Newaza de ippatsu (2002).

22. Sakichi Sato

Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Sakichi Sato was born on May 13, 1964 in Osaka, Japan. He is an actor and writer, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) and Gozu (2003).

23. Jonathan Dayton

Director | Little Miss Sunshine

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have built an impressive body of work by perpetually seeking innovative projects in a variety of mediums.

After introducing bands such as R.E.M. and Red Hot Chili Peppers on their ground-breaking MTV show The Cutting Edge (1992), Jonathan and Valerie continued to ...

24. Valerie Faris

Director | Little Miss Sunshine

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have built an impressive body of work by perpetually seeking innovative projects in a variety of mediums.

After introducing bands such as REM and The Red Hot Chili Peppers on their ground breaking MTV show The Cutting Edge, Jonathan and Valerie continued to work in ...

25. Wim Wenders

Director | Der Himmel über Berlin

Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated German filmmaker who was born Ernst Wilhelm Wenders on August 14, 1945 in Düsseldorf, which then was located in the British Occupation Zone of what became the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, known colloquially as West Germany until ...

26. Fenton Bailey

Producer | Party Monster

Fenton Bailey is known for Party Monster (2003), RuPaul's Drag Race (2009) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

27. Randy Barbato

Producer | Party Monster

Randy Barbato is known for Party Monster (2003), RuPaul's Drag Race (2009) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

28. Pawel Pawlikowski

Director | Zimna wojna

A literature and philosophy graduate, with extensive post-graduate work at Oxford on German literature, Polish-born Pawel Pawlikowski started as a documentary filmmaker in British television.

His second feature, Last Resort (2000), earned him international critical acclaim at numerous festivals, ...

29. James Merendino

Writer | SLC Punk!

James Merendino is an American movie director and scriptwriter. He was born in New Jersey, and moved with his family to Salt Lake City, Utah when he was six years old. After pursuing post-secondary education in Rome and Los Angeles, California, studying Western philosophy and theology, Merendino ...

30. Mike Mills

Director | Beginners

Mike Mills was born in 1966, Berkeley, California. He graduated from Cooper Union, 1989.

He works as a filmmaker, graphic designer and artist. As a filmmaker, Mike has completed a number of music videos, commercials, short films, documentaries, and the feature film Thumbsucker (2005). Architecture ...

31. Mary Harron

Director | American Psycho

Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and ...

32. Mike Judge

Writer | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America

Mike Judge is an American actor, animator, film director, screenwriter, and television producer.

In 1962, Judge was born in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador and the country's main port. His parents were expatriate Americans. His father was archaeologist William James Judge and his mother was ...

33. Tom Tykwer

Writer | Lola rennt

Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working...

34. Terry Gilliam

Writer | Brazil

Terry Gilliam was born near Medicine Lake, Minnesota. When he was 12 his family moved to Los Angeles where he became a fan of MAD magazine. In his early twenties he was often stopped by the police who suspected him of being a drug addict and Gilliam had to explain that he worked in advertising. In ...

35. 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...

36. Spike Jonze

Producer | Her

Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the ...

37. Larry Clark

Director | Bully

Was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (1943). Son of Frances Clark (baby photographer) and Lewis Clark. Graduated from Central High school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Attended Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Studied under Walter Sheffer and Gerard Bakker. Film debut was the movie Kids (1995). He was ...

38. Ken Loach

Director | I, Daniel Blake

Unlike virtually all his contemporaries, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it's virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating well to that context.

After studying law at St. Peter's College, Oxford, he branched out into ...

39. 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.

40. Harmony Korine

Director | Gummo

Harmony Korine was born in 1973 in Bolinas, California. His family moved to the east coast of the United States when he was five, and he spent his early years in Nashville, Tennessee, and New York. At the age of nineteen, he wrote the critically acclaimed screenplay Kids (1995) for director Larry ...

41. Gus Van Sant

Director | Elephant

Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American filmmaker, painter, screenwriter, photographer and musician from Louisville, Kentucky who is known for directing films such as Good Will Hunting, the 1998 remake of Psycho, Gerry, Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Milk, Last Days, Finding Forrester, ...

42. Gregg Araki

Writer | Mysterious Skin

Gregg Araki was born on December 17, 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Mysterious Skin (2004), White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) and Kaboom (2010).

43. 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 ...

44. Danny Boyle

Director | 127 Hours

Daniel Francis Boyle is a British filmmaker, producer and writer from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester. He is known for directing 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Trainspotting, T2 Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Millions, Shallow Grave, The Beach, Yesterday, and Steve Jobs. He won many awards for ...

45. 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...

46. Marten Persiel

Director | This Ain't California

Marten Persiel was born in 1974 in West Berlin, Berlin, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for This Ain't California (2012), Everything Will Change (2021) and Lena: Touch a New Day (2010).

47. 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 ...