I asked members of EFS, some of its friends, associates, critics, programmers, and filmmakers to send in lists of their twelve favourite filmmakers for publication on the EFS website. The criteria were simple: to list the filmmakers who had the most impact on your life and art.
Contributors all found the task hard, even almost impossible, but in the end they all submitted a list of more or less twelve names. I personally am a huge fan of such lists and make them all the time. They are fun, revealing and, I believe, something we're all curious about. Obviously, they are subject to change as we grow and develop, and the love/hate relationship we inevitably have with them (so much has to be left out!) is amusing and challenging. I was very surprised with the results and hope you enjoy reading them.
Rouzbeh Rashidi - December 2013
Lists by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Adrian Martin, Nicole Brenez, Fergus Daly, Brad Stevens, Monte Hellman, Guy Maddin, Peter Tscherkassky, Eve Heller, Claudio Caldini, Bill Mousoulis, Claudia Siefen, Brecht Andersch, Maximilian Le Cain, Girish Shambu, Joe McElhaney, John MacKay, Michael Koresky, Parviz Jahed, Saul Levine, Phil Solomon, Sara Freeman, Lionel Soukaz, David Del Valle, Tim Lucas, Toshi Fujiwara, Pip Chodorov, Steve Elworth, Michael Guillen, Cristina Álvarez López, Stoffel Debuysere, Patrick Friel, David Hudson, Richard Porton, Zach Campbell, David Sterritt, Raymond Bellour, Bruno Bozzetto, Stéphane du Mesnildot and Kōji Yamamura among others:
"The List Is Assembled In the Order of Incoming"
Experimental Film Society Members
The only possible way to approach making a list of a dozen favourite directors, with so many dozens equally deserving to be on the same list, is to narrow it down to the ones that inspire me most at this point in my life, the live sources of energy. A sort of self-portrait through cinema. Didn’t quite make it to 12, but 13 isn’t too bad considering.
In alphabetical order:
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Carmelo Bene
- Marguerite Duras
- Philippe Garrel (specifically, the ‘70s and ‘80s films)
- Jeff Keen
- Jean Rollin
- Werner Schroeter
- Paul Sharits
- Josef von Sternberg
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Luchino Visconti
- Frans Zwartjes
- Andrzej Zulawski
Three brief notes:
Silent cinema is here also, always important to me and increasingly so, breathing through the work of at least half of these filmmakers, those who carry its trace forward.
I have made the decision not to include films by such collaborators and comrades as Esperanza Collado, Rouzbeh Rashidi, Dean Kavanagh and Michael Higgins. The feverish immediacy of the inspiration I get from seeing their splendid works appear is of a different order to that which the more distant figures on the list provide. However, I will mention that Rouzbeh’sHSP: There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind is a cinematic talisman for me, a film that expresses a vision of cinema than I share in a way that is far more powerful and eloquent than anything I have ever been able to achieve.
And, although it is a work of commingled authorship, mention must also be made of the cut-up film Ghosts at Number 9, which is a crucial point of reference for me these days.
..........
- Michael Snow
- Iván Zulueta
- Lettrisme
- Paul Sharits
- Jean-Luc Godard
- A. Robbe-Grillet
- David Lynch
- W. S. Burroughs / Anthony Balch
- R. W. Fassbinder
- Stan Brakhage
- Hollis Frampton
- Maximilian Le Cain
..........
- Sergio Leone
- Frans Zwartjes
- Joseph Cornell
- Charles Dekeukeleire
- Stephen Dwoskin
- Standish Lawder
- Rouzbeh Rashidi
..........
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Stan Brakhage
- Ingmar Bergman
- Aleksandr Sokurov
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Akira Kurosawa
- Robert Bresson
- Tsai Ming-Liang
- Rouzbeh Rashidi + Maximilian Le Cain + Michael Higgins
..........
- Jean-Luc Godard
- George A. Romero
- Brian De Palma
- Dario Argento
- Stanley Kubrick
- Luis Buñuel
- Dariush Mehrjui + Masoud Kimiai
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- David Lynch
- Stan Brakhage
- Takeshi Kitano
..........
- Stan Brakhage
- Robert Bresson
- David Cronenberg
- Alejendro Jodorowsky
- Dean Kavanagh
- Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Harmony Korine
- Maximilian Le Cain
- David Lynch
- Sergei Parajanov
- Rouzbeh Rashidi
- Andrei Tarkovsky
..........
- Francois Truffaut
- Stan Brakhage
- Robert Bresson
- Ingmar Bergman
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Brian De Palma
- Dario Argento
- Kaneto Shindo
- Kinji Fukasaku
- Hiroshi Teshigahara
- Takashi Miike
- Tatsumi Kumashiro
..........
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Robert Bresson
- David Lynch
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Bela Tarr
- Aki Kaurismaki
- Philippe Garrell
- Ken Loach
- Hal Hartley
- Christopher Honore
- Atom Egoyan
- Yorgos Lanthimos
..........
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Federico Fellini
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Charles Chaplin
- François Truffaut
- Fritz Lang
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Orson Welles
- Jacques Tati
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Dziga Vertov
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Bruce Conner
- Joseph Cornell
- Adrian Brunel
- Ken Jacobs
- Peter Gidal
- Martin Arnold
- Maurice Lemaitre
- Jonathan Mcintosh
- Béla Tarr
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Federico Fellini
- Miguel Gomes
..........
Rouzbeh Rashidi
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Yasujirō Ozu
- Robert Bresson
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Luchino Visconti
- Aleksandr Sokurov
- Stan Brakhage
- Ingmar Bergman
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Maximilian Le Cain
- Maya Deren + Sergio Leone
- (Hammer Film Productions + Universal Horror)
Friends, Associates, Critics, Programmers, and Filmmakers
- Aki Kaurismaki
- Jim Jarmusch
- Hal Hartley
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Jean Renoir
- Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Mike Leigh
- Marcel Carne
- David Mamet
- Albert Serra
- Hong Sang Soo
..........
- Todd Browning
- Claire Denis
- Jean Epstein
- Jean Eustache
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Buster Keaton
- Sergio Leone
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Robert Rossen
- Martin Scorsese
- Miike Takashi
- Jacques Tourneur
..........
- Robert Bresson
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Sergio Leone
- Yasujirō Ozu
- Theo Angelopoulos
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Stanley Kubrick
- Akira Kurosawa
- Luis Bunuel
- Andrzej Wajda
- Sohrab Shahid Saless
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
..........
- Carmelo Bene
- Chris Marker
- Dziga Vertov
- Frederick Wiseman
- João César Monteiro
- Kurosawa Akira
- Mizoguchi Kenji
- Orson Welles
- Peter Tscherkassky
- Peter Watkins
- Robert Bresson
- Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi
..........
- Chantal Akerman
- James Benning
- Robert Bresson
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Claude Chabrol
- Philippe Grandrieux
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Béla Tarr
- Agnès Varda
..........
- Frans Zwartjes
- Harry Smith
- Jess Franco
- Jean Rollin
- Jeff Keen
- Kenneth Anger
- Mauricio Kagel
- Yevgeny Yufit
- John Waters
- Danny Plotnick
- John Ford
- Kurt Kren
- Martha Colburn
..........
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Robert Bresson
- Ingmar Bergman
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Bela Tarr
- Yasujiro Ozu
- RW Fassbinder
- Aki Kaurismaki
- Luis Bunuel
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- John Casavettes
- Abbas Kiarostami
..........
- Kaneto Shindô
- Claire Denis
- Brakhage + Mekas
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Ingmar Bergman
- Aleksandr Sokurov
- Jan Švankmajer
- Sohrab Shahid Saless + Abbas Kiarostami
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Philippe Garrel
- Yasujirō Ozu
..........
- Kōji Wakamatsu
- Hisayasu Satō
- Seijun Suzuki
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Peter Greenaway
- Shūji Terayama
- Yoshishige Yoshida
- Dario Argento
- Takashi Miike
- Josef von Sternberg
- Andrzej Żuławski
..........
- Akira Kurosawa
- Stanley Kubrick
- Coen brothers
- Michael Haneke
- Quentin Tarantino
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Sergio Leone
- Mike Leigh
- David Fincher
- Asghar Farhadi
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Jacques Audiard
..........
- Ben Rivers
- Jim Jarmusch
- Sam Peckinpah
- Wayne Wang
- John Waters
- Harmony Korine
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Aki Kaurismäki
- John waters
- Pat Collins
- John Cassavetes
- Michelangelo Antonioni
..........
- Tossapol Boonsinsukh
- Robert Bresson
- Lav Diaz
- Marguerite Duras
- Derek Jarman
- Fred Kelemen
- Jun Ichikawa
- Jacques Rivette
- Eric Rohmer
- Werner Schroeter
- Teeranit Siangsanoh
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
..........
- Robert Bresson
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Yasujirô Ozu
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Jean-Luc Godard (late stuff especially)
- Stan Brakhage
- Chantal Akerman
- Jean Marie Straub & Daniele Huillet
- Isidore Isou & Guy Debord
- Johan van der Keuken
- James Benning
- Philippe Garrel
- Jonas Mekas
..........
- Akira Kurosawa
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Hal Hartley
- Federico Fellini
- Mike Leigh
- Woody Allen
- Seijun Suzuki
- Dario Argento
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Wim Wenders
- Kevin Smith
- Sam Fuller
..........
I'll limit myself to directors who haven't been cited yet:
(A Bakers Dozen +1)
- Hal Ashby
- Leos Carax
- Zeki Demirkubuz
- Elia Kazan
- Henry King
- Albert Lewin
- Sidney Lumet
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Vincente Minnelli
- Manoel de Oliveira
- Maurice Pialat
- Jean-Daniel Pollet
- Richard Quine
- Raúl Ruiz
Without my self-imposed limit, I would have had to include Godard, Beckett, Hitchcock, Malick, Hong Sang-Soo, Bresson, Akerman, Bene, Bergman, Cassavetes, Epstein, Kiarostami, Straub/Huillet, Rivette, Karel Reisz, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Tarr, Sokurov, Ford, Welles, Tony Richardson, Paradjanov, Wilder, Donen, Tarkovsky, Doillon, Huston, Erin Dignam, Abraham Polonsky, Powell & Pressburger, Werner Schroeter, Robert Mulligan, Pelechian, Brakhage, Woody Allen.
..........
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Jean Vigo
- Jean Cocteau
- Jonas Mekas
- Bela Tarr
- Chris Marker
- Man Ray
- Sergio Leone
- Robert Bresson
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
..........
- Chantal Akerman
- Boris Barnet
- Carmelo Bene
- John Cassavetes
- Brian De Palma
- Stephen Dwoskin
- Philippe Garrel
- Fritz Lang
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Peter Tscherkassky
..........
- Raoul Walsh
- Henry King
- John Ford
- Henry Hathaway
- Howard Hawks
- Leo McCarey
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Vincente Minnelli
- Blake Edwards
- Henry Jaglom
- Klaus Lemke
- Martin Scorsese
..........
(in rough order of impact)
- Roberto Rossellini
- Robert Bresson
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Frank Borzage
- Chantal Akerman
- Jean Renoir
- John Cassavetes
- Philippe Garrel
- Luis Bunuel
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Yasujiro Ozu
..........
- Josef von Sternberg
- R.W. Fassbinder
- David Lean
- Stephen and Timothy Quay
- Marguerite Duras
- Agnès Varda
- Federico Fellini
- Chantal Akerman
- Woody Allen
- Werner Herzog
As we are all imited to make it 10 here are a few close to my brains, heart and stomach: John Waters, Kitano Takeshi, Orson Welles, Pedro Almodóvar, Kira Muratova. - For me they all have in common that they are able to create a special "look", a certain "baroque" feeling in pictures, emotions and not necessarily when it comes to story-telling.
..........
Hesam Amiri
- Miklós Jancsó
- Werner Schroeter
- Chris Marker
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Shunji Iwai
- Marco Ferreri
- Micheal Snow
- Alexander Sokurov
- Robert Bresson
- Kon Ichikawa
..........
- Jean Renoir
- Max Ophuls
- Ozu Yasujiro
- Mizoguchi Kenji
- Naruse Mikio
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Abel Ferrara
- Monte Hellman
- Vincente Minnelli
- Michael Cimino
- Elaine May
- Jacques Rivette
..........
Jonathan Rosenbaum
In alphabetical order:
- Bresson
- Chaplin
- Dreyer
- Godard
- Hawks
- Hitchcock
- Kiarostami
- Lang
- Ozu
- Stroheim
- Tati
- Welles
..........
In no particular order:
- Luis Bunuel
- Nicholas Ray
- Hou Hsiao-Hsien
- M.A. (initials alone should suffice here)
- Abel Ferrera
- Chris Marker
- R.W. Fassbinder
- Claire Denis
- Yoshishige Yoshida
- Stanley Kubrick
- David Cronenberg (in particular, '79-'88)
- Nicholas Roeg
..........
Favorite Twelve Filmmakers:
I put my very best friends out of the list, but that’s unfair : Philippe Grandrieux, FJ Ossang, Lionel Soukaz.
- Masao Adachi
- Stan Brakhage & Jonas Mekas
- Ken Brown et Pierre Clémenti
- Jean Epstein
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Ange Leccia
- Ulrike Meinhof & Holger Meins
- Jocelyne Saab
- Rui Simoes
- Anthony Stern & Peter Whitehead
- José Val del Omar
- René Vautier
..........
- Elia Kazan
- Alfred Hitchcock
- François Truffaut
- Anatole Litvak
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Roman Polanski
- Sidney Lumet
- Stanley Kubrick
- Roberto Rossellini
- Paweł Pawlikowski
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Josef von Sternberg
- Claude Chabrol
..........
- José Val del Omar
- Claudio Caldini
- Nathaniel Dorsky
- Michael Snow
- Anthony McCall
- Iván Zulueta
- Gregory Markopoulos
- Stan Brakhage
- Guy Sherwin
- Takashi Ito
- Takahiko Iimura
- Peter Kubelka
..........
This list alphabetically sorted:
- Walerian Borowczyk
- Sergei Eisenstein
- Peter Greenaway
- King Hu
- Guy Maddin (and Quentin Tarantino, a difficult draw)
- Yasuzo Masumura
- Sarkis Parajanian (aka. Sergei Parajanov)
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Josef Von Sternberg
- Erich Von Stroheim
- Seijun Suzuki
- Jan Svankmajer (and John Cocteau, another difficult draw)
..........
- Dimitri Kirsanoff
- Peter Kubelka
- Hans Richter
- Carolee Schneemann
- Marie Menken
- Andy Warhol
- George Kuchar
- Jean Cocteau
- Jonas Mekas
- Kenneth Anger
- Maya Deren
- Bruce Conner
- Bruce Baillie
..........
Brecht Andersch
- Christopher Maclaine
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Orson Welles
- Robert Bresson
- Jean-Luc Godard (esp. Breathless thru Week-end)
- Nicolas Roeg (esp, Performance thru Eureka)
- John Cassavetes
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Bruce Conner
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Josef von Sternberg
This is today’s list. Filmmakers that rotate in and out given my particular mood or circumstances include (in no particular order): Kubrick, Bertolucci (esp. Before the Revolution thru Luna), Anger, Baillie, Brakhage, Ford, Nicholas Ray, Minnelli, Losey, Fuller, Leone, Lang, Cimino (esp. thru Year of the Dragon), Resnais, Dreyer, Sirk, Hawks, Preminger, Visconti, Scorsese (esp. Mean Streets thru The King of Comedy), Ozu, Lubitsch, Altman, Demy, Bunuel, Peckinpah, Rossellini, Pasolini, Melville, Warhol, Coppola (esp. You’re A Big Boy Now thru One from The Heart), Akerman, Blake Edwards, Hawks, Walsh, Tarkovsky, Ophuls, Powell, Boorman (esp. Point Blank thru Excalibur) and so many, many more…
..........
- Luis Buñuel
- Věra Chytilová
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Alejandro Jodorowsky
- Stanley Kubrick
- David Lynch
- Nagisa Ōshima
- Sergei Paradschanow
- Harry Smith
- Agnès Varda
- Varda Lars von Trier
- Andrzej Żuławski
..........
- Paul Sharits
- Eric Von Stroheim
- Herschell Gordon Lewis
- Jacques Tourneur
- Joseph H. Lewis
- Jack Arnold
- Buster Keaton
- Ernie Gehr
- Andy Warhol
- Dimitri Kirsanoff
- Kurt Kren
- Tex Avery
..........
- Chaplin
- Ford
- Lang
- Mizoguchi
- Hitchcock
- Buñuel
- Cornell
- Minnelli
- Resnais
- Pasolini
- Warhol
- Fassbinder
Self-imposed restrictions: No one after Fassbinder. No one still alive, unless they are over ninety.
.........
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Charles Burnett
- Chantal Akerman
- Dziga Vertov
- Sergei Paradzhanov
- Aleksej German
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Chris Marker
- Djibril Diop Mambety
- Ken Jacobs
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Forough Farrokhzad
.........
"I want to name only women"
- Maya Deren
- Danièle Huillet
- Claire Denis
- Chantal Akerman
- Marguerite Duras
- Agnès Varda
- Elaine May
- Catherine Breillat
- Kira Muratova
- Dorothy Arzner
- Věra Chytilová
- Kelly Reichardt
.........
Albert Alcoz
- Dziga Vertov
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Stan Brakhage
- Michael Snow
- Andy Warhol
- Jonas Mekas
- Bruce Conner
- Iván Zulueta
- Craig Baldwin
- Ross McElwee
- Gary Hill
- Leighton Pierce
.........
- Chantal Akerman
- Ingmar Bergman
- Robert Bresson
- Claire Denis
- Terence Davies
- Brian De Palma
- Victor Erice
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Vincente Minnelli
- Satyajit Ray
- Steven Spielberg
- Tsai Ming-liang
.........
Parviz Jahed
- John Ford
- Masaki Kobayashi
- Ingmar Bergman
- Michael Angelo Antonioni
- John Cassavetes
- Jean Luc Godard
- Bela Taar
- Luchino Visconti
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Sohrab Shahid-Saless
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Luis Buñuel
I also can’t ignore great directors such as: Akira Kurosawa Miklós Jancsó, Orson Wells, Franchesco Rosie, Federico Fellini, Coen’s Brothers, Arthur Penn, Fred Zinnemann, Dariush Mehrjui, Abbas Kiarostami, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Bahram Bayzaie Alfred Hitchcock, Terrence Malick, Robert Bresson, Bernardo Bertoluchi, Elia Kazan, Howard Hawks, Sidney Lumet, Stankey Kubrick, Kenji Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosava, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sam Fuller, Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Lav Diaz, Jacques Rivette and many others.
.........
- Sergei Eisenstein
- Georges Méliès
- David Lynch
- Sohrab Shahid-Saless
- Federico Fellini
- Jonas Mekas
- Marcel Ophüls
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Michael Haneke
.........
Saul Levine
- Maya Deren
- Marie Menken
- Viking Eggeling
- Stan Brakhage
- Buster Keaton
- Charles Chaplin
- Carolee Schneemann
- Len Lye
- Jack Smith
- Gregory Markopoulos
- Andy Warhol
- Ulrike Ottinger
- Chick Strand
- Gunvor Nelson
.........
Some cited for influence, some cited for the pure pleasure of their work, some cited for their overall importance to the art of cinema, some for all the above.
Alphabetical Order:
- Stan Brakhage
- Robert Breer
- Robert Bresson
- Frank Capra
- John Cassavetes
- Jack Chambers
- Charles Chaplin
- Bruce Conner
- Ken Jacobs
- Buster Keaton
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Michael Snow
.........
When I make these types of lists, I enjoy looking at this ridiculously hard task from two perspectives – 1) If aliens invaded earth and wanted to see the best possible examples of cinema, what filmmakers should they watch? And 2) What filmmakers have had the biggest impact on my life? This list is a combination of those perspectives.
In no particular order:
- Howard Hawks
- D.W. Griffith
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Vincente Minnelli
- John McTiernan
- Dorothy Arzner
- Stan Brakhage
- Roberto Rossellini
- Douglas Sirk
- John Ford
- Johnnie To
- George Cukor
I hope the aliens look at these guys and gals, too: Fritz Lang, Michael Snow, John Carpenter, Ida Lupino, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Martin Fric, Edgar G. Ulmer, Samuel Fuller, John M. Stahl, Michael Mann, Frank Borzage, Frank Tashlin, Jerry Lewis, Raoul Walsh, Nicholas Ray, Larry Cohen, Georges Melies, Jane Campion, Allan Dwan, Josef Von Sternberg, Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Robert Mulligan, Max Ophuls, and Buster Keaton.
.........
As others have noted, an impossible task. In no particular order:
- Vsevolod Pudovkin
- Buster Keaton
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Preston Sturges
- John Ford
- Fritz Lang
- Carol Reed
- John Huston
- Ingmar Bergman
- Alain Resnais
- Ming-liang Tsai
- Victor Erice
- Federico Fellini
- Marcel Carné
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Jean Renoir
- Ermanno Olmi
I could add, but could not subtract.
.........
- David Wark Griffith
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Stan Brakhage
- José Val del Omar
- David Lynch
- Robert Bresson
- Jean Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet
- Maurice Lemaître
- Alberto Grifi & Gianfranco Baruchello
- Jean Svankmajer
- Alexander Kluge
- Dario Argento
- Paolo Gioli
- Roberto Rossellini
- Federico Fellini
- Jonas Mekas
- Kenneth Anger
- Yasujirō Ozu
- Yves-Marie Mahé
- Othello Vilgard
- Franssou Prenant
- Jacques Kébadian
- Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
- COLLECTIF 360 ° ET PLUS
- David Matarasso
- Orson Welles
- Jean Vigo
- Orson Welles
- Lars von Trier
- Terrence Malick
- King Vidor
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Howard Hawks
- Isidore Isou & Guy Debord
- Morgan Fisher
- Stanley Kubrick
- Kenneth Anger
- Werner Herzog
- Ida Lupino
.........
- Emile de Antonio
- James Benning
- Luis Buñuel
- Morgan Fisher
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Maurice Lemaitre
- Arthur Lipsett
- Rose Lowder
- Michael Snow
- Jean-Marie Straub
- Dziga Vertov
- Andy Warho
.........
- Roman Polanski
- Josph Von Sternberg
- Stanley Kubrick
- Jean Cocteau
- Kenneth Anger
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Orson Welles
- Nicolas Roeg
- David Lynch
- Brain De Palma
- Curtis Harrington
- Jacques Tourneur
.........
Silvia Szymanski
- Jack Deveau
- Wakefield Poole
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Armando Bo
- Helmut Käutner
- Raffaele Andreassi (Flashback)
- John Hayes (Baby Vickie)
- Isabelle Stever (Gisela)
- Alex de Renzy (Pretty Peaches)
- Hans Billian (Josefine Mutzenbacher)
- Jürgen Enz (Herbstromanze)
- Rudolf Schündler (Der treue Husar)
- Mario Bava
- Luís Buñuel
- Roger Corman
- Jesús Franco
- Georges Franju
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Stanley Kubrick
- Joseph Losey
- Alain Robbe-Grillet
- Eric Rohmer
- Ken Russell
Note: The list is in alphabetical order and compiled on the basis of "directors whose work I always feel ready to watch." I also felt it necessary to consider totality of achievement; however, in doing so, I was compelled to omit from a list limited to twelve the directors responsible for many of my most beloved individual films: Fellini's TOBY DAMMIT, Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Antonioni's L'ECLISSE, Godard's CONTEMPT, Zulawski's THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO LOVE, Powell & Pressburger's I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!, Sturges' UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, Marker's LA JETÉE, etc. - TL
.........
Toshi Fujiwara
Naturally, this sort of list can never be definite, changes all the times according to what you are doing/experiencing in your life--and in my case, according to the movies i am making.
And in fact, one often notices afterwards the influences and inspirations he/she was bearing unconsciously, quite often during the editing; watching the materials and suddenly you realize some moments or some concepts reflects a film that one saw 20 years ago, often never quite understood, but somehow marked in the brain.
The titles indicate the films that i have to be particularly conscience of the influences right now. not necessary the films i like to watch now, but those that are stuck in my mind, either consciously or unconsciously.
- Andrei Tarkovsky (The Sacrifice)
- Alexei German (My Friend Ivan Lapshin)
- Nagisa Oshima (Night and Fog in Japan)
- Edward Yang (A Brighter Summer Day)
- John Ford (Cheyenne Autumn)
- Carl Th. Dreyer (Vampyr)
- Makoto Sato (Self and Others)
- Amos Gitai (Lullaby to My Father)
- Aleksandr Sokurov (Elegy of a Voyage)
- Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story)
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder (The Marriage of Maria Braun)
- Frederick Wiseman (Belfast, Maine)
(and I failed to put Robert Altman (probably Quintet), Robert Kramer (Le Maneau), and Maurice Pialat (Van Gogh)
.........
Mónica Savirón
- Dziga Vertov
- Zdiga Revtov
- Gdiza Tevrov
- Dgiza Tetrov
- Idzga Ertvov
- Izdga Tervov
- Gidza Torvev
- Zidga Rotvev
- Digza Torvev
- Zgida Vretov
- Gizda Vervot
- Zigda Retvov
Also, 2. Forough Farrokhzad, 3. Víctor Erice, 4. Jonas Mekas, 5. Gunvor Nelson, 6. Aldo Tambellini, 7. Werner Schroeter, 8. Maya Deren, 9. Artavazd Peleshyan, 10. Oskar Fischinger, 11. Stan Brakhage, and 12. Vittorio de Sica.
.........
Marcos Ortega Miranda
- Carmelo Bene
- Ingmar Bergman
- Stan Brakhage
- Jack Chambers
- Federico Fellini
- Hollis Frampton
- Akira Kurosawa
- João César Monteiro
- Leighton Pierce
- Andrei Tarkovski
- Dziga Vertov
- Frans Zwartjes
.........
- Stanley Kubrick
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Robert Bresson
- Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
- Ingmar Bergman
- Jean Eustache
- Hal Ashby
- Gus Van Sant
- Todd Haynes
- Georges Franju
- James Benning
- Pere Portabella
.........
(The Illiac Passion. 1964–67. USA. Directed by Gregory Markopoulos. © the Temenos Archive)
Félix García de Villegas
- Bruce Baillie
- James Herbert
- Agnes Martin
- Stan Brakhage
- Andrew Noren
- Barbara Rubin
- Gregory Markopoulos
- Marjorie Keller
- JoAnn Elam
- José Val del Omar
- Rick Patton
- Robert Fulton
Mención especial para David Gatten.
.........
(Film strip of Motion Picture (La Sortie des Ouvriers de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon) 1984, Peter Tscherkassky)
Either it is a cheating “12” or a “12” with a big heart.
- Carl Theodor Dreyer & Artavazd Peleshyan
- Víctor Erice
- Iván Zulueta & Alfred Hitchcock
- Peter Tscherkassky
- Charles Chaplin & Buster Keaton
- Jonas Mekas
- Stan Brakhage & Maya Deren
- Chris Marker
- José Celestino Campusano & John Ford
- Isidore Isou
- Norman Mc Laren & Raoul Servais
- Georges Méliès
"Let's not forget who really makes the film"
•Kodak • Fuji • Agfa • Orwo • Foma • Ilford • Sviema • Adox • Ferrania • Efke • Gasparcolor•
.........
(The Ladies Man (1961) By Jerry Lewis)
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Jerry Lewis
- Abel Ferrara
- Robert Bresson
- Jean-Luc Godard (early films)
- Josef von Sternberg
- Samuel Fuller
- Jean Renoir
- Dušan Makavejev
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Billy Wilder
.........
(La guerre est finie (1966) By Alain Resnais)
- Jean Renoir
- John Ford
- Buster Keaton
- Max Ophüls
- Maya Deren
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Stan Brakhage
- Agnes Varda
- Alain Resnais
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Stanley Kubrick
Five living filmmakers under 65: Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-Wai, Lewis Klahr, Phil Solomon and Hong Sang-Soo.
.........
Indulging the distinction between "favorite" and "best"—which, for me, revolves around the subjective pleasures of cinephilia—I turn the spotlight of world cinema away from Europe onto Latin America.
- Lisandro Alonso
- Julio Bracho
- Emilio Fernández
- Roberto Gavaldón
- Patricio Guzmán
- Miguel Littin
- Claudia Llosa
- Carlos Reygadas
- Arturo Ripstein
- Raúl Ruiz
- Fernando Solanas
- Francisco Vargas
.........
(Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças (1970) By Glauber Rocha)
If I had to save only one movie in the world, it would be “Man with a movie camera” by Dziga Vertov. If I had to choose only one director, it would be Andrei Tarkovsky. I live and make cinema with these 12 directors mainly. After all we never are alone, when we make or live, cinema. Even so the list of those, that give me day be day a fresh breath is much bigger ...
So...
1. Andrei Tarkosky, because without faith in this world or another is impossible to live and create.
2. Dziga Vertov, because it is essential to enter the matter.
3. Stan Brakhage, because it is imperative reach the cosmos.
4. Werner Herzog, because it is necessary be passionate and obsessive to live and make cinema. Or as Herzog says: "Be bold, ignore the fear and be prepared for the unexpected."
5. Glauber Rocha, because our biggest creative power is our hunger and precariousness.
6. Artavazd Peleshyan, because learning to "think-cinema" is learning how to edit / to make "montage". And … Dreyer, Bresson, Ozu, Bela Tarr, Sokurov, Kiarostami …
- Chantal Akerman
- Ingmar Bergman
- Luis Buñuel
- Leos Carax
- Brian De Palma
- Philippe Garrel
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Fritz Lang
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Teresa Villaverde
.........
(Close-Up (1990) & Through the Olive Trees (1994) By Abbas Kiarostami)
Stoffel Debuysere
- Robert Bresson
- Charles Chaplin
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Jean Marie Straub & Daniele Huillet
- António Reis & Margarida Cordeiro
- Jean Renoir
- Roberto Rossellini
- Johan van der Keuken
- Dziga Vertov
- Jean Vigo
- Robert Bresson
- Andrzej Żuławski
- Stan Brakhage
- Jonas Mekas
- Jean-Luc Godard
- F.J. Ossang
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Mario Bava
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Marguerite Duras
- Yasujirō Ozu
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
.........
(Marlene Dietrich and Ernst Lubitsch)
Guy Maddin
- Jean Vigo
- Luis Buñuel
- Erich von Stroheim
- Josef von Sternberg
- Ernst Lubitsch
- CB deMille
- David Lynch
- Joseph Cornell
- Standish Lawder
- Max Ophuls
- Aleksandr Sokurov
- Matthias Müller
.........
(Paul Sharits at Greene Naftali)
- James & John Whitney
- Len Lye
- Jordan Belson
- Paul Sharits
- Heinz Emigholz
- Werner Nekes
- Gregory Markopoulos
- Lisl Ponger
- Bruce Mc Clure
- Jorge Honik
- Narcisa Hirsch
.........
Sonatine (1993) By Takeshi Kitano
- Shinya Tsukamoto
- Masao Adachi
- Andrej Żuławski
- Kōji Wakamatsu
- Chris Marker
- Nagisa Oshima
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Kōji Wakamatsu
- Shinji Aoyama
- Takeshi Kitano
- David Lynch
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Masaki Kobayashi
.........
Journey to Italy (1954) By Roberto Rossellini
Patrick Friel
This is a first-to-pop-into-my-head list, and should not be considered definitive. All are certainly favorites, though. At any given moment, there are perhaps another 50 or so filmmakers who could have been chosen. The only constant would likely be Ford.
Alphabetical:
- Frank Borzage
- Robert Breer
- Kyle Canterbury
- Joseph Cornell
- Andre de Toth
- John Ford
- Georges Méliès
- Oscar Micheaux
- Vincente Minnelli
- Roberto Rossellini
- Edgar G. Ulmer
- Jean Vigo
.........
Mauro Pereira
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Luis Buñuel
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Jean Vigo
- Robert Bresson
- Ingmar Bergman
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Carl Theodor Dreyer Friedrich
- Wilhelm Murnau
- Fritz Lang
- Alfred Hitchcock
- François Truffaut
... Sergei Parajanov, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Werner Herzog, David Lynch, Erich von Stroheim and Jacques Tati ...
.........
The Promised Land (1975) Andrzej Wajda
- Anger, Kenneth
- Antonioni, Michelangelo
- Egoyan, Atom
- Godard, Jean Luc
- Greenaway, Peter
- Kiarostami, Abbas
- Lean, David
- Marker, Chris
- Russell, Ken
- Tarkovsky, Andrei
- Truffaut, François
- Wajda, Andrzej
.........
Mon Oncle (1958) Jacques Tati
David Hudson
Too many shut-outs, but in alphabetical order:
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- David Cronenberg
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Todd Haynes
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Stanley Kubrick
- Fritz Lang
- Chris Marker
- F.W. Murnau
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Christian Petzold
- Jacques Tati
.........
Investigation of a citizen above suspicion (1970) By Elio Petri
Richard Porton
- Luis Bunuel
- Jean Vigo
- Dusan Makavejev
- Chris Marker
- Howard Hawks
- Elio Petri
- Francesco Rosi
- Ousmane Sembene
- Michael Powell
- Jacques Rivette
- Jean Eustache
- Max Ophüls
.........
Trouble Every Day (2001) By Claire Denis
Zach Campbell
(alphabetically)
- Charles Burnett
- Claire Denis
- John Ford
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Joris Ivens
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Christopher Maclaine
- Elaine May
- Leo McCarey
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Paul Sharits
- Jose Val del Omar
Sad omissions were of course as painful as they were inevitable. But this will suffice. It isn't so much my flimsy attempt at “best” or even “favorites” but a representation of a dozen who, I can attest, all have changed the way I experience the world and other cinema in lasting ways, different ways, and (I can hope) good ways. Its Americanist & Eurocentric slant, in particular, is entirely a function of my own implicit biases, personal viewing history, and knowledge base and shouldn't be passed over as neutral when we perform such conscious, canon-building exercises. But such is the good company it will keep – as list – that the function of discovering new territory remains intact for browsing cinephiles and other curious people.
.........
2046 (2004) Kar Wai Wong
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Martin Scorsese
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Sergio Leone
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Stanley Kubrick
- Wong Kar Wai
- Quentin Tarantino
- Jim Jarmusch
- David Lynch
- Koji Wakamatsu
But I'd have to think about Vigo, Vertov, Bresson, Tarr, Lang, Tarkovsky, Renoir, as well.
- Andrei Tarkovski
- Robert Bresson
- John Cassavettes
- David Lynch
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Artavazd Peleshyan
- Kaneto Shindo
- Yasujirō Ozu
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Maurice Pialat
- Jacques Tati
.........
Behind This Soft Eclipse (2004) Eve Heller
Peter Tscherkassky
- Woody Allen
- Robert Altman
- James Benning
- Joel & Ethan Coen
- Maya Deren
- Howard Hawks
- Eve Heller
- Peter Kubelka
- Sergio Leone
- Georges Méliès
- Pat O'Neill
- Jacques Tati
- Billy Wilder
.........
American Falls (2000 –2012 ) By Phil Solomon
My hat's first off to Jean Vigo for cinematically seducing me into making films, soon followed by an ever expanding host of other inspirational sources, including:
- Peggy Ahwesh
- Santiago Alvarez
- Sadie Benning
- Bruce Conner
- Jack Chambers
- Forough Farrokhzad
- Robert Frank
- Ken Jacobs
- Peter Kubelka
- Michael Snow
- Phil Solomon
- Aldo Tambellini
- Peter Tscherkassky
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Jean-Luc Godard
- John Cassavetes
- Stan Brakhage
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Michael Snow
- Carl Th. Dreyer
- Agnes Varda
- Douglas Sirk
- Frederick Wiseman
- F.W. Murnau
- Glauber Rocha
.........
Chris O'Neill
I have found this list difficult to compile because I can often acknowledge key films, rather than necessarily a whole body of work, as making an impact on me as a film maker, enthusiast and programmer. Therefore, there are filmmakers omitted from this list because I was trying to think concisely about bodies of work that initially and continue to influence me. Here, in no particular order, is my list:
- Brian De Palma
- Nicolas Roeg
- RW Fassbinder
- William Friedkin
- Tony Scott
- Paul Morrissey
- Paul Verhoeven
- Larry Cohen
- Anthony Balch and William Burroughs
- David Cronenberg
- Lynne Ramsey
- Martin Scorsese
.........
Raymond Bellour
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Fritz Lang
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Chris Marker
- Alain Resnais
- Michael Snow
- Ingmar Bergman
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Ritwik Ghatak
- Jean Renoir
- Roberto Rossellini
- Leighton Pierce
.........
La belle noiseuse (1991) By Jacques Rivette
Donal Foreman
The greatest omissions here are the authors of Notes on the Cinematographer, Sculpting in Time, and That bowling alley on the tiber. But their influence on me is so fundamental that they are probably hidden between the lines of this selection anyway...
- John Cassavetes
- Claire Denis
- Philippe Garrel
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Robert Kramer
- Terrence Malick
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Jacques Rivette
- Raul Ruiz
- Shūji Terayama
- Wong Kar-wai
.........
Three Times (2005) By Hsiao-hsien Hou
Vahid Mortazavi
Note: From multiple possible choices, I made some restrictions to myself: the first four are great filmmakers of Freedom, the second four are great filmmakers of Precision, and the last four, great filmmakers of Poetry.
- Jean Vigo
- Jean Renoir
- John Cassavetes
- Maurice Pialat
- Fritz Lang
- Robert Bresson
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Jaques Tati
- John Ford
- Hou Hsiao-Hsien
- Mikio Naruse
- Jean luc Godard
.........
Salem Kapsaski
- John Waters
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Carmelo Bene
- John Cassavetes
- George Kuchar
- Jesus Franco
- Jack Smith
- Andrzej Żuławski
- Pier Paolo Passolini
- Alejandro Jodorowsky
- Jean Cocteau
- Nikos Nikolaidis
.........
- Robert Bresson
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Ingmar Bergman
- Andreï Tarkovski
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Roberto Rossellini
- Satyajit Ray
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Howard Hawks
.........
- CHARLIE CHAPLIN
- FEDERICO FELLINI
- STANLEY KUBRICK
- JACQUES TATI
- WOODY ALLEN
- BILLY WILDER
- JOHN LASSETER
- WALT DISNEY
- JOEL & ETHAN COEN
- ALFRED HITCHCOCK
.........
Stéphane du Mesnildot
- Sono Sion
- Andrezj Zulawski
- Shuji Terayama
- Koji Wakamatsu
- Mario Bava
- Abel Ferrara
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Claude Chabrol
- Jess Franco
- Brian De Palma
- Dario Argento
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
.........
- Federico Fellini
- Hou Hsiao Hsien
- Jacques Tati
- Karel Zeman
- Luis Buñuel
- Priit Pärn
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Robert Bresson
- Seijun Suzuki
- Yasujirō Ozu
- Yuri B. Norstein
- Vitali Kanevsky
.........
Peter Rist
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Claire Denis
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Jafar Panahi
- Johnnie To
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Terence Malick
- Lucrecia Martel
- Alexander Sokurov
- Jia Zhangke
- Abderrahmane Sissako
- Michael Snow
Hitchcock, Tarkovsky, Rhitwik Gatak, King Hu, Eisenstein, Renoir, Shimizu Hiroshi, Keaton, Murnau, Lubitsch, Antonioni, Brakhage, Mizoguchi, Ozu.
.........
