I am going to say the Makhmalbaf family (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Marzieh Meshkini and the daughter Samira Makhmalbaf).
And of course, Tsai Ming-Liang <3, even for his work The Hole alone.
Martin Scorsese, and all of those directors.
Yes, Scorsese though he is not nearly as relevant a filmmaker today. In terms of modern filmmakers whose work is still exciting, I vote for David Fincher.
Barbra Streisand is pretty good.
Why is this taking so long? Can’t you just pick one?
JLG JLG JLG!
Fredo or Drew.
It’s a tie between Michael Bay and McG
Everyone I can think of has pretty much been mentioned. Souleymane Cisse and Lee Chang-dong should probably be thrown into the mix. And Nusrat Bilge Ceylan on better days.
Lee in particular has directed 4 films and written 2, and I’d say that at least 3 of those 6 (I’ve seen 5) are masterpieces.
Sokurov, Denis, Kiarostami, Kar-wai and Hsiao-hsien are my picks.
Anyone know where I can find Lisandro Alonso’s films that aren’t named Los Muertos?
Can’t decide between Scorsese or Tarantino. If Godard was actually making great films today, I would say Jean-Luc Godard.
Werner Herzog
Jean-Luc Godard
Lynne Ramsay
Faith Akin
Todd Haynes
David Lynch
Hayao Miyazaki
Terry Gilliam
I would go with Martin Scorsese. Not only is he a great director, but he has campaigned for the preservation of old films such as silent films, has an encyclopedic knowledge of movies and I think he has a sort of philosophy to how he approaches filmmaking. I like David Fincher a lot too, but I wasn’t satisfied with Benjamin Button, because it wasn’t like his previous films that had a dark point of view which I think is one of his strengths.
This is totally subjective, even if people argue that there are “objective” standards of talent. For me, I’d have to say Charlie Kaufman, Clint Eastwood or even Ang Lee. Scorsese is totally overrated.
Terrence Malick, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Aparna Sen, Hayao Miyazaki, Yoji Yamada, Rudolf Thome and Dang Nhat Minh
Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Alain Resnais, and Andrzej Wajda deserve some love too amongst the older set.
Damn, why do I keep thinking that Rohmer and Rivette and Wajda are dead?
maybe because their cinema is.
Guy Maddin, Todd Solondz, Agnes Varda, Lars Von trier.
Godard is still making great films, ok? Both of the features he’s released this decade have been two of his most complex and gorgeous films.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Aki Kaurismaki
I second Scorsese
Carroll Ballard b.1937
Chris Menges b.1940
Paul Greengrass b.1955
Alfonso Cuaron b.1961
without any order :-
Roman Polanski
Francis Ford Coppola
Jean Luc Godard
Francois Trauffut
Werner Herzog
Wim Wenders
Pedero Almadovar
Wong kar wai
Micheal Hanecke
Martin Scorsese
@Ahmad: Francois Trauffut
I hear he’s banging Dita Parlo now.
Hong Sang-soo!
david lynch
I’m going to go with either Jarmusch or Herzog. I say both because they’ve still managed to create a certain mystique about their work to this day. Both in my opinion have never really faltered and remain eclectic and are even getting a little more experimental as they grow as filmmakers
I would also say Lynch. I can’t believe I excluded the easiest choice :D
Alex Krupl
Fredo wins. next thread