Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
Encyclopedia
The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Director is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards
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Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
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1980s
- 1985: Joel Coen – Blood SimpleBlood SimpleBlood Simple is a 1984 neo-noir crime film. It was the directorial debut of Joel Coen and the first major film of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a noted director...
- Martin ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
– After HoursAfter Hours (film)After Hours is a 1985 American black comedy film, written by Joseph Minion and directed by Martin Scorsese. Paul Hackett , a New Yorker, experiences a series of adventures and perils in trying to make his way home from SoHo.-Plot:... - Joyce ChopraJoyce ChopraJoyce Chopra , is an American director and writer of feature films and television.- Partial director filmography :*A Happy Mother's Day co-directed with Richard Leacock*Joyce at 34...
– Smooth TalkSmooth TalkSmooth Talk is a 1985 drama film, loosely based on Joyce Carol Oates' 1966 short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, which was in turn inspired by the Tucson murders committed by Charles Schmid. The protagonist and main character, Connie Wyatt, is played by Laura Dern... - Peter MastersonPeter MastersonPeter Masterson is an American actor, director, producer and writer.Masterson often worked with his cousin, writer Horton Foote. Acting from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s,including 1975's The Stepford Wives as Walter Eberhart, since then he has concentrated mostly on directing and producing...
– The Trip to BountifulThe Trip to BountifulThe Trip to Bountiful is a 1985 film starring Geraldine Page, John Heard, Carlin Glynn, Richard Bradford and Rebecca De Mornay. Geraldine Page won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Carrie Watts. The movie was adapted by Horton Foote from his television play. The Trip to...
- Martin Scorsese
- 1986: Oliver StoneOliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
– PlatoonPlatoon (film)Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989's Born on the Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven & Earth....
- Jim JarmuschJim JarmuschJames R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
– Down by LawDown by Law (film)Down by Law is a 1986 black-and-white independent film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni.... - David LynchDavid LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
– Blue Velvet - Rob ReinerRob ReinerRobert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
– Stand by MeStand by Me (film)Stand by Me is a 1986 American drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on the novella The Body by Stephen King, the film takes its title from the Ben E. King song of the same name, which plays over the end credits.-Plot:... - Oliver StoneOliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
– SalvadorSalvador (film)Salvador is a 1986 war drama film which tells the story of an American journalist in El Salvador covering the Salvadoran civil war. While trying to get footage, he becomes entangled with both leftist guerrillas and the right wing military...
- Jim Jarmusch
- 1987: John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
– The Dead- Jonathan DemmeJonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
– Swimming to CambodiaSwimming to CambodiaSpalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,... - Tim HunterTim Hunter (director)Tim Hunter is an American television and film director. Since the late 1980s he has mostly worked on television, directing episodes for dozens of televisions series includingBreaking Bad,Carnivàle,...
– River's EdgeRiver's EdgeRiver's Edge is a 1986 American drama film written by Neal Jimenez and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, and Dennis Hopper.It was awarded Best Picture from the Independent Spirit Awards in 1986.- Plot :... - Jim McBrideJim McBrideJim McBride is an American television and film director, film producer and screenwriter.-Filmography:* David Holzman's Diary * My Girlfriend's Wedding...
– The Big Easy - John SaylesJohn SaylesJohn Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
– MatewanMatewanMatewan is an American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, illustrating the events of a coal mine-workers' strike and attempt to unionize in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia....
- Jonathan Demme
- 1988: Ramon Menendez – Stand and DeliverStand and DeliverStand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama film, based on the true story of high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.-Plot:...
- David Burton Morris – Patti Rocks
- Errol MorrisErrol MorrisErrol Mark Morris is an American director. In 2003, The Guardian put him seventh in its list of the world's 40 best directors. Also in 2003, his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Early life and...
– The Thin Blue LineThe Thin Blue Line (documentary)The Thin Blue Line is a 1988 documentary film by Errol Morris, depicting the story of Randall Dale Adams, a man convicted and sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit. Adams' case was reviewed and he was released from prison approximately a year after the film's release.-Synopsis:The film... - Oliver StoneOliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
– Talk RadioTalk Radio (film)Talk Radio is a 1988 American drama film, starring Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene and Leslie Hope. Directed by Oliver Stone, the film was based on the play by Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar. Portions of the film and play were based on the assassination of radio host Alan Berg in 1984... - John WatersJohn Waters (filmmaker)John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
– Hairspray
- 1989: Steven SoderberghSteven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
– sex, lies, and videotapeSex, lies, and videotapeSex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple....
- Jim JarmuschJim JarmuschJames R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
– Mystery TrainMystery Train (film)Mystery Train is a 1989 independent anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. The film comprises a triptych of stories involving foreign protagonists unfolding over the course of the same night... - Charles Lane – Sidewalk Stories
- Nancy SavocaNancy SavocaNancy Savoca is an American film screenwriter, director, and producer. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, she is the daughter of Sicilian and Argentine immigrants Calogero Savoca and Maria Elvira Savoca...
– True LoveTrue Love (1989 film)True Love is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Nancy Savoca. An unflinching look at the realities of love and marriage which offers no "happily ever after" ending, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1989 Sundance Film Festival.-Cast:... - Gus Van SantGus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
– Drugstore CowboyDrugstore CowboyDrugstore Cowboy is a 1989 crime drama directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Van Sant and Daniel Yost, based on a novel by James Fogle. Matt Dillon stars in the title role, and Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, and William S. Burroughs are also featured. Drugstore Cowboy was filmed mainly around...
- Jim Jarmusch
1990s
- 1990: Charles BurnettCharles Burnett (director)Charles Burnett is an African-American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer...
– To Sleep with AngerTo Sleep With AngerTo Sleep with Anger is a 1990 drama film directed and written by Charles Burnett.-Plot:Harry Mention , an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon , who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles...
- Reginald HudlinReginald HudlinReginald Alan Hudlin is an American writer and film director.-Biography:Hudlin is the son of Helen , a teacher, and Warrington W. Hudlin, Sr., an insurance executive and teacher...
– House PartyHouse Party (film)House Party is a 1990 American comedy film released by New Line Cinema. It stars Kid and Play of the popular hip hop duo Kid 'n Play, and also stars Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou, and B-Fine from Full Force, and Robin Harris . The film also starred Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, A.J... - John McNaughtonJohn McNaughtonJohn McNaughton is an American film and television director, originally from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography:His first feature film, made in 1986, was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a film McNaughton directed, co-wrote, and co-produced. Numerous complications plagued the controversial film,...
– Henry: Portrait of a Serial KillerHenry: Portrait Of A Serial KillerHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a 1986 crime horror film directed and co-written by John McNaughton about the random crime spree of a serial killer who seemingly operates with impunity. It stars Michael Rooker as the nomadic killer Henry, Tom Towles as Otis, a prison buddy with whom Henry is... - Allan MoyleAllan MoyleAllan Moyle is a Canadian film director. He is best known for directing the films Pump Up the Volume and New Waterford Girl .-Biography:His first major film was Times Square...
– Pump Up the VolumePump Up the Volume (film)Pump Up the Volume is a 1990 comedy-drama film written and directed by Allan Moyle and starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.- Plot summary :... - Michael RoemerMichael RoemerMichael Roemer is a film director, producer and writer. He has won several awards for his films. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A professor at Yale University, he is the author of Telling Stories.- Early years :...
– The Plot Against HarryThe Plot Against HarryThe Plot Against Harry is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Michael Roemer and filmed in 1969. It was screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Martin Priest as Harry Plotnick* Ben Lang as Leo* Maxine Woods as Kay...
- Reginald Hudlin
- 1991: Martha CoolidgeMartha CoolidgeMartha Coolidge is an American film director and former President of the Directors Guild of America. -Career:Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Ms. Coolidge first made her reputation by directing many award winning documentaries in New York before moving out to Hollywood in 1976. She spent several...
– Rambling RoseRambling Rose (film)Rambling Rose is a 1991 American film set in Georgia during the Great Depression starring Laura Dern, Diane Ladd and Robert Duvall, directed by Martha Coolidge....
- Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
– PoisonPoison (film)Poison is a 1991 independent film written and directed by Todd Haynes. It is composed of three intercut stories that are partially inspired by the novels of Jean Genet... - Richard LinklaterRichard Linklater-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
– SlackerSlacker (film)Slacker is an American independent film written and directed by Richard Linklater, who also appears in the film. Slacker was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991.-Plot summary:... - Gus Van SantGus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
– My Own Private IdahoMy Own Private IdahoMy Own Private Idaho is a 1991 independent drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V, and starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves... - Joseph VásquezJoseph VasquezJoseph B. "Joe" Vasquez was an American independent filmmaker.Vasquez was born in the South Bronx, the son of two heroin addicts...
– Hangin' with the HomeboysHangin' with the HomeboysHangin' with the Homeboys is a 1991 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Joseph Vasquez. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. It was released by New Line Cinema.-Synopsis:...
- Todd Haynes
- 1992: Carl FranklinCarl FranklinCarl Franklin is an American actor, screenwriter and film and television director. Franklin is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley and continued his education at the AFI Conservatory, where he graduated with an M.F.A. degree in directing in 1986...
– One False MoveOne False MoveOne False Move is a 1992 thriller film co-written by Billy Bob Thornton. The film, also starring Thornton, Bill Paxton and Cynda Williams was directed by Carl Franklin. The low-budget B-movie was to be released straight to home video when it was finished. The film became popular through word of...
- Allison AndersAllison AndersAllison Anders is an American film and television director. Anders has directed many independent films, on which she frequently collaborates with fellow UCLA film school graduate Kurt Voss.-Biography:...
– Gas Food LodgingGas Food LodgingGas Food Lodging is a 1992 movie directed by Allison Anders about a waitress trying to find romance while raising two daughters in a trailer-park. It stars Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, and Fairuza Balk. The film was adapted from the novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck... - Abel FerraraAbel FerraraAbel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
– Bad LieutenantBad LieutenantBad Lieutenant is a 1992 crime-drama film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Harvey Keitel as the eponymous "bad lieutenant". The screenplay was written by actress-model Zoë Lund. She also played a small role in the film. Lund had been discovered by Ferrara and had starred in his earlier film, Ms... - Tom KalinTom KalinTom Kalin is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.His debut feature, Swoon, is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema...
– SwoonSwoon (film)Swoon is an independent film written and directed by Tom Kalin, released in 1992. It is an account of the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case, focusing more on the homosexuality of the killers than other movies based on the case... - Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
– Reservoir DogsReservoir DogsReservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
- Allison Anders
- 1993: Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
– Short CutsShort CutsShort Cuts is a 1993 American drama film directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver...
- Ang LeeAng LeeAng Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
– The Wedding BanquetThe Wedding BanquetThe Wedding Banquet is a 1993 film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet.... - Victor NuñezVictor NuñezVictor Nuñez is a film director, professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, and a founding member of the Independent Feature Project. He is best known for directing Ulee's Gold, a critically acclaimed movie starring Jessica Biel and Peter...
– Ruby in ParadiseRuby in ParadiseRuby in Paradise is a 1993 film written, directed, and edited by Victor Nuñez, and starring Ashley Judd, Todd Field, Bentley Mitchum, Allison Dean, and Dorothy Lyman. It is an homage to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.-Synopsis:... - Robert RodriguezRobert RodriguezRobert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
– El MariachiEl MariachiEl Mariachi is a 1992 Mexican-American action film that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez. The Spanish language film was shot in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña with a mainly amateur cast... - John TurturroJohn TurturroJohn Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
– MacMac (film)Mac is a 1992 movie co-written and directed by John Turturro. The film marks his directorial debut. The film won the Caméra d'Or award at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.-Plot:...
- Ang Lee
- 1994: Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
– Pulp FictionPulp Fiction (film)Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
- John DahlJohn DahlJohn Dahl is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the neo-noir genre.-Life and career:John Dahl was born in Billings, Montana, the second of four children . Dahl spent his young life in and around Montana all the way up through his college years...
– Red Rock WestRed Rock WestRed Rock West is a neo-noir film directed by John Dahl. The film, written by Dahl and his brother Rick, was shot in Montana and Willcox, Arizona. The film was well received at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, but deemed a cable and direct-to-video product by Columbia Tri-Star, which owned... - Ang LeeAng LeeAng Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
– Eat Drink Man WomanEat Drink Man WomanEat Drink Man Woman is a Taiwanese film directed by Ang Lee and starring Sihung Lung, Yu-wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu, Kuei-mei Yang. Many of the cast had starred in Ang Lee's previous film, The Wedding Banquet with Sihung Lung and Ah Lei Gua once more playing central elderly figures, and Winston Chao... - Roman PolanskiRoman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
– Death and the MaidenDeath and the Maiden (film)Death and the Maiden is a 1994 drama film directed by Roman Polanski, based on the play by Ariel Dorfman. It starred Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley and Stuart Wilson.-Plot summary:... - Alan Rudolph – Mrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a 1994 film scripted by writer/director Alan Rudolph and former Washington Star reporter Randy Sue Coburn...
- John Dahl
- 1995: Mike FiggisMike FiggisMichael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
– Leaving Las VegasLeaving Las VegasLeaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film directed and written by Mike Figgis, based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas...
- Michael AlmereydaMichael AlmereydaMichael Almereyda is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His most well known work is Hamlet , starring Ethan Hawke.-Early life:...
– NadjaNadja (film)Nadja is a 1994 film by Michael Almereyda starring Elina Löwensohn as the creature Nadja and Peter Fonda as Van Helsing. As the character's names suggest, Nadja is a vampire film, but treating elements of the genre in an understated arthouse style.... - Ulu GrosbardUlu GrosbardUlu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
– GeorgiaGeorgia (1995 film)Georgia is a 1995 American independent film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham. In the film, Leigh played Sadie Flood, a punky barroom singer who has a complicated, jealous but loving relationship with her older sister, Georgia, played by Winningham. Georgia is a successful, talented... - Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
– Safe - John SaylesJohn SaylesJohn Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
– The Secret of Roan InishThe Secret of Roan InishThe Secret of Roan Inish is an American independent film written and directed by John Sayles, and released in 1994. It's based on the novel The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry, by Rosalie K. Fry....
- Michael Almereyda
- 1996: Joel Coen – FargoFargo (film)Fargo is a 1996 American dark comedy-crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides, William H...
- Abel FerraraAbel FerraraAbel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
– The FuneralThe Funeral (1996 film)The Funeral is a 1996 American crime-drama film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra, Isabella Rossellini, Vincent Gallo, Benicio del Toro and Gretchen Mol.... - David O. RussellDavid O. RussellDavid Owen Russell is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been praised for the loose, comic energy that characterizes his work, and is notorious for his explosive confrontations with cast members.-Early life:...
– Flirting with Disaster - Todd SolondzTodd SolondzTodd Solondz is an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background...
– Welcome to the DollhouseWelcome to the DollhouseWelcome to the Dollhouse is a 1995 American independent coming of age dark comedy. An independent film, it launched the careers of Todd Solondz and Heather Matarazzo.-Plot:... - Robert M. Young – CaughtCaught (1996 film)Caught is a 1996 erotic thriller film about a drifter who disrupts the simple life of a fish market owner and his wife. The film was directed by Robert M. Young, and stars Edward James Olmos, Arie Verveen, María Conchita Alonso, and Bitty Schram....
- Abel Ferrara
- 1997: Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
– The ApostleThe ApostleThe Apostle is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by Robert Duvall, who stars in the title role. John Beasley, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Bob Thornton, June Carter Cash, Miranda Richardson and Billy Joe Shaver also appear...
- Larry FessendenLarry Fessenden-Life and career:He is president of Glass Eye Pix, an independent film production company based in New York City. Fessenden produced the Dark Sky film The Inkeepers which is directed by Ti West and the thriller Hypothermia, besides his work as producer he stars in the psychological thriller I Can...
– HabitHabit (film)Habit is a 1997 vampire horror film written, directed, and starring Larry Fessenden. It received rave reviews at the Chicago and Los Angeles International Film Festivals. It is a remake of the 1985 film of the same name.-Plot:... - Victor NuñezVictor NuñezVictor Nuñez is a film director, professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, and a founding member of the Independent Feature Project. He is best known for directing Ulee's Gold, a critically acclaimed movie starring Jessica Biel and Peter...
– Ulee's GoldUlee's GoldUlee's Gold is a 1997 film written and directed by Victor Nuñez, and starring Peter Fonda in the title role. Co-stars include Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, J. Kenneth Campbell, Steven Flynn, Dewey Weber, and Vanessa Zima... - Paul SchraderPaul SchraderPaul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
– TouchTouch (film)Touch is a 1997 film written and directed by Paul Schrader, based on a novel by Elmore Leonard.The film, which has elements of drama and black comedy, stars Christopher Walken, Richard Schiff, Bridget Fonda, Skeet Ulrich, Tom Arnold, Gina Gershon, Lolita Davidovich, Janeane Garofalo and Paul Mazursky... - Wim WendersWim WendersErnst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
– The End of ViolenceThe End of ViolenceThe End of Violence is a 1997 film by the German director Wim Wenders. The film's cast includes Bill Pullman, Gabriel Byrne, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, Andie MacDowell, and Loren Dean, among others. It also features a soundtrack marked with the signature sounds of Wenders regulars Jon Hassell, Ry...
- Larry Fessenden
- 1998: Wes AndersonWes AndersonWesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....
– RushmoreRushmore (film)Rushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer , his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume , and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross . The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson...
- Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
– Velvet GoldmineVelvet GoldmineVelvet Goldmine is a 1998 British/American drama film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The film tells the story of a pop star based mainly on David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' character and is set in Britain during the days of glam rock in the early 1970s.Sandy Powell received another Academy... - Lodge KerriganLodge KerriganLodge Kerrigan is an American motion picture screenwriter and director. His 2010 film Rebecca H. entered into the Un Certain Regard section of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:* Clean, Shaven...
– Claire DolanClaire DolanClaire Dolan is a 1998 American-French drama film directed by Lodge Kerrigan. It was entered into the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:Claire Dolan is an Irish immigrant working as a high-priced call girl in New York City; she doesn't enjoy the profession at all, but owes her pimp, Roland, a great... - Paul SchraderPaul SchraderPaul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
– AfflictionAffliction (film)Affliction is an US-American drama film produced in 1997, written and directed by Paul Schrader from the novel by Russell Banks. It stars Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn and Willem Dafoe.... - Todd SolondzTodd SolondzTodd Solondz is an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background...
– Happiness
- Todd Haynes
- 1999: Alexander PayneAlexander PayneAlexander Payne, born Alexander Constantine Papadopoulos is an American film director and screenwriter. His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society.- Early life :...
– ElectionElection (1999 film)Election is a 1999 American comedy film adapted from a 1998 novel of the same title by Tom Perrotta. The plot revolves around a three-way election race in high school, and satirizes both suburban high school life and politics...
- Harmony KorineHarmony KorineThe story is told from the perspective of a young man suffering from untreated schizophrenia, played by Ewen Bremner, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog...
– Julien Donkey-BoyJulien Donkey-BoyJulien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The screenplay concentrates on the schizophrenic Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloe Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as... - Doug LimanDoug LimanDouglas Eric "Doug" Liman is an American film director and producer best known for Swingers , The Bourne Identity , Mr. & Mrs. Smith , Jumper , and Fair Game .-Early life:...
– GoGo (1999 film)Go is a 1999 comedy thriller film written by John August and directed by Doug Liman, with three intertwining plots that happen to involve one drug deal. The film stars William Fichtner, Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Sarah Polley and Scott Wolf and features Taye Diggs, Breckin Meyer, Timothy Olyphant,... - David LynchDavid LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
– The Straight StoryThe Straight StoryThe Straight Story is a 1999 film directed by David Lynch. The film was edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime partner and co-worker. She co-wrote the script with John E. Roach.... - Steven SoderberghSteven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
– The LimeyThe LimeyThe Limey is a 1999 American crime film, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs. The film features Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Peter Fonda and Barry Newman.Filming locations included Big Sur and L.A.-Plot:...
- Harmony Korine
2000s
- 2000: Ang LeeAng LeeAng Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
– Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
- Darren AronofskyDarren AronofskyDarren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
– Requiem for a Dream - Miguel ArtetaMiguel ArtetaMiguel Arteta is a Puerto Rican director of film and television, known for his independent film Chuck & Buck , for which he received the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award.-Early life:...
– Chuck & BuckChuck & BuckChuck & Buck is a 2000 comedy-drama film written by and starring Mike White, and directed by Miguel Arteta. The title is a reference to the nickname that poet Charles Bukowski was known as in literary circles—Chuck Buk.-Plot:... - Christopher GuestChristopher GuestChristopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
– Best in ShowBest in Show (film)Best in Show is a 2000 independent film that follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show. The film focuses on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers as they travel to the show and compete. Much of the dialogue was improvised.Christopher Guest directed; he also... - Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
– Before Night FallsBefore Night Falls (film)Before Night Falls is a 2000 film directed by Julian Schnabel. The screenplay is based on the autobiography of the same name of Reinaldo Arenas, which was published in English in 1993. The screenplay was written by Schnabel, Cunningham O'Keefe, and Lázaro Gómez Carriles...
- Darren Aronofsky
- 2001: Christopher NolanChristopher NolanChristopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
– Memento- Michael CuestaMichael CuestaMichael Cuesta is an American film and television director. Cuesta co-wrote and directed the 2001 independent film, L.I.E.. He has directed and produced television series including Six Feet Under, Dexter and Blue Bloods.-Biography:He received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in...
– L.I.E.L.I.E.L.I.E. is a 2001 American independent film about a relationship between Howie, a 15-year-old boy, and a pedophile known as 'Big John'. The title is an acronym for the Long Island Expressway. The film was directed by Michael Cuesta, who has said that the film is about exploring sexuality... - Cheryl DunyeCheryl DunyeCheryl Dunye is a film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye is a lesbian and her work often concerns themes of race, sexuality and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians.Dunye was born in Liberia...
– Stranger InsideStranger InsideStranger Inside is a television drama film directed by Cheryl Dunye that premiered on cable television in 2001. The story primarily concerns African-American lesbians in prison. Michael Stipe, the lead singer of R.E.M., helped to produce it... - Richard LinklaterRichard Linklater-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
– Waking LifeWaking LifeWaking Life is an American animated film , directed by Richard Linklater and released in 2001. The entire film was shot using digital video and then a team of artists using computers drew stylized lines and colors over each frame.The film focuses on the nature of dreams, consciousness, and... - John Cameron MitchellJohn Cameron MitchellJohn Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
– Hedwig and the Angry InchHedwig and the Angry Inch (film)Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film based on the stage musical of the same title about a fictional rock band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The film was adapted and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also portrayed the title role...
- Michael Cuesta
- 2002: Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
– Far from HeavenFar from HeavenFar from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson....
- Joe CarnahanJoe CarnahanJoseph Aaron "Joe" Carnahan is an American independent film director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, Narc, Smokin' Aces and The A-Team...
– NarcNarc (film)Narc is a 2002 crime film about corrupt police involved in the illegal drug trade. It was released to critical acclaim and moderate commercial success. It was written and directed by Joe Carnahan. The plot revolves around the efforts of two police detectives as they search for the murderer of an... - Nicole HolofcenerNicole HolofcenerNicole Holofcener is an American film and television director. She has directed four feature films, most recently Please Give.-Career:...
– Lovely & AmazingLovely & AmazingLovely & Amazing is a 2001 American dramedy film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener.-Plot:The story focuses on Jane Marks, her adult daughters Michelle and Elizabeth, and her pre-teen adopted African American daughter Annie, each of whom allows her personal insecurities to affect her life... - Bernard RoseBernard Rose (director)Bernard Rose is an English actor and film director most famous for his direction of the 1992 urban horror film Candyman and the 1994 historical romance film Immortal Beloved....
– Ivans XtcIvans XTCIvansxtc is an independent film directed by Bernard Rose shot on digital camera about the last day in the life of LA agent Ivan Beckman, played by Danny Huston. It is based on Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The film also stars Peter Weller as Beckman's megastar client Don West... - Gus Van SantGus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
– Gerry
- Joe Carnahan
- 2003: Sofia CoppolaSofia CoppolaSofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
– Lost in TranslationLost in Translation (film)Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
- Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini – American SplendorAmerican Splendor (film)American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life...
- Jim SheridanJim SheridanJim Sheridan is an Irish film director. A six-time Academy Award nominee, Sheridan is perhaps best known for his films My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Get Rich or Die Tryin and In America.-Life and career:...
– In America - Peter SollettPeter SollettPeter Sollett is an American film director and screenwriter known for his feature films Raising Victor Vargas and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist .-Career:...
– Raising Victor VargasRaising Victor VargasRaising Victor Vargas is a 2002 film directed by Peter Sollett, written by Sollett and Eva Vives. The film follows Victor, a Lower East Side teenager, as he deals with his eccentric family, including his strict grandmother, his bratty sister, and a younger brother who completely idolizes him... - Gus Van SantGus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
– Elephant
- Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini – American Splendor
- 2004: Alexander PayneAlexander PayneAlexander Payne, born Alexander Constantine Papadopoulos is an American film director and screenwriter. His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society.- Early life :...
– SidewaysSidewaysSideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows two forty-something year old men, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to...
- Shane CarruthShane CarruthShane Carruth is an American film writer, director, editor, producer, actor and musician.- Life and career :Carruth was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He attended Stephen F...
– PrimerPrimer (film)Primer is a 2004 American science fiction drama film about the accidental discovery of a means of time travel. The film was written, directed, and produced by Shane Carruth and was completed on a budget of $7,000... - Joshua MarstonJoshua MarstonJoshua Jacob Marston is an American screenwriter and film director best known for the film Maria Full of Grace.Born in California, he graduated from Beverly Hills High School. Marston worked in Paris as an intern for Life, then for ABC News during the Gulf War...
– Maria Full of GraceMaria Full of GraceMaria Full of Grace is a 2004 joint Colombian-American film, written and directed by Joshua Marston, who won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Although the movie depicts rural life in Colombia, it was actually filmed in Ecuador... - Walter SallesWalter SallesWalter Moreira Salles, Jr. is a Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence.-Life and career:Salles was born in Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of Elizinha Goncalves and Walter Moreira Salles, a Brazilian banker and ambassador, and the brother of João Moreira Salles, also a...
– The Motorcycle DiariesThe Motorcycle Diaries (film)At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends both the arbitrary boundaries of... - Mario Van PeeblesMario Van PeeblesMario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...
– Baadasssss!BAADASSSSS!BAADASSSSS! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles , as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing...
- Shane Carruth
- 2005: Ang LeeAng LeeAng Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
– Brokeback MountainBrokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
- Gregg ArakiGregg ArakiGregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...
– Mysterious SkinMysterious SkinMysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim... - Noah BaumbachNoah BaumbachNoah Baumbach is an American writer, director and independent filmmaker.-Background and education:Baumbach was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of novelist/film critic Jonathan Baumbach and Village Voice critic Georgia Brown. He graduated from Brooklyn's Midwood High School in 1987 and ...
– The Squid and the WhaleThe Squid and the WhaleThe Squid and the Whale is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of two boys in Brooklyn dealing with their parents' divorce in the 1980s. The film is named after a giant squid and sperm whale diorama... - George ClooneyGeorge ClooneyGeorge Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
– Good Night, and Good Luck.Good Night, and Good Luck.Good Night, and Good Luck. is a 2005 American drama film directed by George Clooney. The film was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S... - Rodrigo García – Nine LivesNine Lives (2005 film)Nine Lives is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Rodrigo García. The screenplay, an example of hyperlink cinema, relates nine short, loosely intertwined tales with nine different women at their cores. Their themes include parent-child relationships, fractured love, adultery,...
- Gregg Araki
- 2006: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie FarisJonathan Dayton and Valerie FarisJonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are a team of American music video directors, also husband and wife, that received critical acclaim for their feature film directorial debut, Little Miss Sunshine....
– Little Miss SunshineLittle Miss SunshineLittle Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...
- Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
– A Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home Companion (film)A Prairie Home Companion is a 2006 ensemble comedy elegy directed by Robert Altman, and was his final film, released just five months before his death... - Ryan FleckRyan FleckRyan K. Fleck is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known for directing and writing the 2006 film Half Nelson and the 2008 film Sugar. He is known for his collaborations with fellow filmmaker Anna Boden.-Life and career:Fleck was born in Berkeley, California...
– Half NelsonHalf Nelson (film)Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Anna Boden and Fleck; it stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. The film was scored by Juno Award winning Canadian band - Broken Social Scene. Gosling received an Academy Award nomination for lead actor... - Karen MoncrieffKaren MoncrieffKaren Moncrieff , is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. Her directing credits are in both television and features and she acted in the soap operas Days of our Lives and Santa Barbara. In 1985, she was crowned Miss Illinois and competed in the Miss America pageant...
– The Dead GirlThe Dead GirlThe Dead Girl is a 2006 American film written and directed by Karen Moncrieff, starring Brittany Murphy, Toni Collette, Rose Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden. The film was nominated for several 2007 Independent Spirit Awards awards including Best Feature and Best Director. It is the story of a young... - Steven SoderberghSteven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
– BubbleBubble (film)Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects.In traditional terms, the movie has no script...
- Robert Altman
- 2007: Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
– The Diving Bell and the ButterflyThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film)The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a 2007 biographical drama film based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir of the same name. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The...
- Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
– I'm Not ThereI'm Not ThereI'm Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw... - Tamara JenkinsTamara JenkinsTamara Jenkins is an American screenwriter, actress and director. She is best known for her two feature films, Slums of Beverly Hills and The Savages .-Early life:...
– The SavagesThe Savages (film)The Savages is a 2007 American comedy-drama film, written and directed by Tamara Jenkins. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.-Plot:... - Jason ReitmanJason ReitmanJason Reitman is a Canadian/American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking , Juno , and Up in the Air . As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director...
– JunoJuno (film)Juno is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K.... - Gus Van SantGus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
– Paranoid ParkParanoid Park (film)Paranoid Park is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and takes place in Portland, Oregon. It stars Gabe Nevins as a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard.Van Sant wrote the draft...
- Todd Haynes
- 2008: Thomas McCarthyThomas McCarthy (actor)Thomas Joseph McCarthy is an American actor, writer, and film director who has appeared in several movies, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television shows such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe...
– The VisitorThe Visitor (2008 film)The Visitor is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy and produced by Michael London and Mary Jane Skalski. Executive producers were Jeff Skoll and Omar Amanat...
- Ramin BahraniRamin BahraniRamin Bahrani is an American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert listed Bahrani's film Chop Shop as the 6th best film of the decade and hailed Bahrani as "the director of the decade." Bahrani was the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, and was the subject of...
– Chop ShopChop ShopChop Shop a.k.a. Scott Konzelmann, is a noise musician who has released recordings on Pure, RRRecords, Banned Production, V2_Archief and Generator Sound Art.... - Jonathan DemmeJonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
– Rachel Getting MarriedRachel Getting MarriedRachel Getting Married is a 2008 drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin and Debra Winger. The film was released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3, 2008. The film opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival. The film also... - Lance HammerLance HammerLance Hammer is an award-winning American independent filmmaker. His first film, Ballast, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim....
– BallastBallast (film)Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography... - Courtney HuntCourtney HuntCourtney Hunt is an American screenwriter and film director. She has received much critical acclaim for her debut film, Frozen River, for which she has gained an Oscar nomination, two Independent Spirit nominations, and a Satellite Award nod for the film...
– Frozen RiverFrozen RiverFrozen River is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Courtney Hunt. The screenplay focuses on two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada to the United States in order to make ends meet...
- Ramin Bahrani
- 2009: Lee DanielsLee DanielsLee Louis Daniels is an American actor, film producer, and director. He produced Monster's Ball and directed the film Precious, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director; the film won two of the awards.-Early years:Daniels was born on Christmas Eve, 1959, in...
– PreciousPrecious (film)Precious , is a 2009 American drama film directed by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, and Paula Patton...
- Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious ManA Serious ManA Serious Man is a 2009 dark comedy written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a Minnesota Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and personally, leading to questions about his faith...
- Cary Fukunaga – Sin NombreSin Nombre (2009 film)Sin Nombre is an American and Mexican film written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.Filmed in Spanish, the film's name means "Nameless"...
- James GrayJames Gray (film director)James Gray is an American film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Gray was born in New York City of Russian Jewish descent. His father was once an electronics contractor...
– Two LoversTwo Lovers (film)Two Lovers is a 2008 American romantic drama film, taking its inspiration from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story "White Nights". which was already turned into a film by Luchino Visconti: Le Notti Bianche. The movie is directed by James Gray and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Vinessa... - Michael Hoffman – The Last StationThe Last StationThe Last Station is a 2009 biographical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It is an adaptation of the 1990 biographical novel of the same name by Jay Parini about the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia Tolstaya...
- Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
2010s
- 2010: Darren AronofskyDarren AronofskyDarren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
- Black SwanBlack Swan (film)Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to...
- Danny BoyleDanny BoyleDaniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
- 127 Hours127 Hours127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah in April 2003.... - Lisa CholodenkoLisa CholodenkoLisa Cholodenko is an American film and television writer/director. She is best known for her highly acclaimed 2010 comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right which was nominated for a number of awards including four Academy Awards, Best Picture among them.- Career :Having grown up in a Jewish family ,...
- The Kids Are All RightThe Kids Are All Right (film)The Kids Are All Right is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Lisa Cholodenko and written by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg.One of Sundance 2010's breakout hits, it opened in limited release on July 9, 2010, expanding to more theaters on July 30, 2010. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray... - Debra GranikDebra GranikDebra Granik is an American independent film director. She has won a series of awards at the Sundance Film Festival, including Best Short in 1998 for Snake Feed , the Dramatic Directing Award in 2004 for her first feature-length film, Down to the Bone Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an...
- Winter's BoneWinter's BoneWinter's Bone is a 2010 American independent drama film, an adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Debra Granik and stars Jennifer Lawrence... - John Cameron MitchellJohn Cameron MitchellJohn Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
- Rabbit HoleRabbit Hole (film)Rabbit Hole is a 2010 drama film starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell; the screenplay is an adaptation by David Lindsay-Abaire of his 2005 play of the same name. Kidman produced the project via her company, Blossom Films. The film premiered...
- Danny Boyle
- 2011
- Michel Hazanavicius - The ArtistThe Artist (film)The Artist is a 2011 French romance film directed by Michel Hazanavicius, starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining male film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema grows out of fashion and is replaced by the...
- Mike MillsMike Mills (director)Michael C. "Mike" Mills is an American film and music video director and graphic designer. He is perhaps best known for his independent films Thumbsucker and Beginners.-Early life:...
- BeginnersBeginnersBeginners is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Mills. It tells the story of Oliver , a man reflecting on the life and death of his father while trying to forge a new romantic relationship with a woman dealing with father issues of her own.Beginners premiered at the 2010... - Jeff NicholsJeff NicholsJeff Nichols is a comedian and writer based in NYC. Nichols was born in Manhattan on the upper-east-side in 1969. Growing up, Nichols struggled with learning disabilities, a speech impediment, dyslexia, ADD, and a mild case of Tourette Syndrome...
- Take ShelterTake ShelterTake Shelter is a 2011 American drama film starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. The film is written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from... - Alexander PayneAlexander PayneAlexander Payne, born Alexander Constantine Papadopoulos is an American film director and screenwriter. His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society.- Early life :...
- The DescendantsThe Descendants (film)The Descendants is a 2011 comedy-drama film based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. The film stars George Clooney, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard and Shailene Woodley and it was released in the United States on November 18, 2011. It is directed by Alexander Payne, with a screenplay by Payne, Nat... - Nicolas Winding Refn - DriveDrive (2011 film)Drive is a 2011 American crime neo-noir drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling as the principal character, with Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks...
- Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist