I am a college prof. I teach European history and cinema, with a strong focus on Eastern Europe, Poland and Japan. I am one of these lucky film buffs who are able to use their passion for cinema in work.
The list of favorite films is too long. Same with directors, but I’ll try (and forgive me spelling errors, I don’t have time for this):
Juan Antonio Bardem, Victor Erice, Saura
Renoir, Melville, Chabrol, Tati (oh yes!), Pialat, Rohmer, Carne, H-G Clouzot
Otar Iosseliani, Polanski, Bunuel, Bergmann, Kaurismaki, Oliveira, Costa-Gavras
Antonioni, Bellocchio, de Sica, Fellini, Garrone, Germi, Olmi, Rossellini, Pontecorvo
Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, V. Shukshin, G. Chukhrai, Balabanov, Shepitko, Klimov, Vyrypayev
Munk, Wajda, Skolimowski, Konwicki, Stanislaw Rozewicz, Wojtek Smarzowski, Has, Kutz, Lech Majewski
Jan Kadar, Forman, Jan Nemec, Herz, Jasny, Passer, Hitilova, Menzl, Zelenka, Hrebejk, Svankmajer
Jancso, Szabo, Fabri, Tarr, Huszarik
Aleksander Petrovic, Goran Paskaljevic, Emir Kusturica, Slobodan Sijan
Fassbinder, Herzog, Wicki, Murnau, Lang, Seidl
Hiroshi Teshigahara, Akira Kurosawa, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Kon Ichikawa, Yasujiro Ozu
Kubrick, Jarmush, Cassavetes, Chaplin, Keaton, Wilder, Wyler, Losey, Peckinpah, Hitchcock, Mike Leigh, Lindsay Anderson, Welles
Uff, enough for now.