Robert Jonathan Demme was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the psychological horror The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed Melvin and Howard (1980), Swing Shift (1984), Something Wild (1986), Married to the Mob (1988), the concert film Stop Making Sense (1984), Philadelphia (1993) and Rachel Getting Married (2008).
Christopher Edward Nolan, is a British-American filmmaker, who is known for making personal, distinctive films within the Hollywood mainstream. His ten films have grossed over US$4.7 billion worldwide and garnered a total of 34 Oscar nominations and ten wins.
Abbas Kiarostami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active film-maker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy (1987–1994), Close-Up (1990), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), and Taste of Cherry (1997), which was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. In later works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively. His films Where Is the Friend’s Home?, Close-Up, and The Wind Will Carry Us were ranked among the 100 best foreign films in a 2018 critics' poll by BBC Culture. Close-Up was also ranked one of the 50 greatest movies of all time in the famous decennial Sight & Sound poll conducted in 2012.
Paul Thomas Anderson is an American filmmaker. Born in Los Angeles, Anderson developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. An alumnus of the Sundance Institute, Anderson made his feature film debut with Hard Eight in 1996. He found critical and commercial success with Boogie Nights (1997), set during the Golden Age of Porn, and received further accolades with Magnolia (1999), an ensemble piece set in the San Fernando Valley, and Punch-Drunk Love (2002), a romantic comedy-drama film.
Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer, widely known for his disaster films. His films, most of which are English-language Hollywood productions, have made more than $3 billion worldwide, including just over $1 billion in the United States, making him the country's 11th-highest-grossing director of all time. He began his work in the film industry by directing the film The Noah's Ark Principle (1984) as part of his university thesis and also co-founded Centropolis Entertainment in 1985 with his sister. He is a collector of art and an active campaigner for the LGBT community, and is openly gay.
Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation and is a Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".
Jonathan Rhys Meyers is an Irish actor. He is known for his roles in the films Velvet Goldmine (1998), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Match Point (2005), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and his television roles as Elvis Presley in the biographical miniseries Elvis (2005), which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, and as King Henry VIII in the historical drama The Tudors (2007–10). He has been the face model for several Hugo Boss fragrances advertising campaigns.
Noah Baumbach is an American filmmaker. He has written and directed the films The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Marriage Story (2019), for both of which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has also written and directed the films Margot at the Wedding (2007), Frances Ha (2012), While We're Young (2014), Mistress America (2015), and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017).
Jafar Panâhi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi achieved international recognition with his feature film debut, The White Balloon (1995). The film won the Caméra d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the first major award an Iranian film won at Cannes.
Jonathan Caouette is an American film director, writer, editor and actor.
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is an American actor, filmmaker, singer, and entrepreneur. As a child, Gordon-Levitt appeared in the films A River Runs Through It, Angels in the Outfield, Holy Matrimony and 10 Things I Hate About You, and as Tommy Solomon in the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun. He took a break from acting to study at Columbia University, but dropped out in 2004 to pursue acting again. He has since starred in (500) Days of Summer, Inception, Hesher, 50/50, Premium Rush, Miracle at St. Anna, The Brothers Bloom,The Dark Knight Rises, Brick, Looper, The Lookout, Manic, Lincoln, Mysterious Skin, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. He portrayed Philippe Petit in the Robert Zemeckis-directed film The Walk (2015), and whistleblower Edward Snowden in the Oliver Stone film Snowden (2016). For his leading performances in (500) Days of Summer and 50/50, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Guillermo del Toro Gómez is a Mexican filmmaker, author, actor, and former special effects makeup artist. He is best known for the Academy Award-winning fantasy films Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017), winning the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for the latter.
San Francisco International Film Festival is among the longest-running film festivals in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries annually. The Festival highlights current trends in international film and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution. Since its inception, the International has grown to serve over 70,000 patrons, with screenings held in San Francisco and Berkeley.
Jonathan Liebesman is a South African film director and writer.
Taika David Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2004 short film Two Cars, One Night. He is married to Chelsea Winstanley, who produced several of his films.
Anurag Kashyap is an Indian film director, writer, editor, producer and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France awarded him the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2013.
Cristian Mungiu is a Romanian filmmaker. He won the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for his film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which he wrote and directed. He has also won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director, at the 2012 and 2016 Cannes Film Festivals, for his films Beyond the Hills and Graduation.
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry is a 2008 Christian film, released to theaters on September 18, 2009. It was directed by Rich Christiano, and the majority of the film was filmed in Holley, New York, beginning August 18, 2007. Its world premier was at the Merrimack Valley Christian Film Festival. Gavin MacLeod, who also starred in The Love Boat and The Mary Tyler Moore Show plays the lead role in the film.
David Michôd is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is best known for directing the critically acclaimed crime drama Animal Kingdom (2010) and dystopian drama The Rover (2014). He also co-wrote Hesher (2010).
Kim Tae-yong is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. After his feature directorial debut Memento Mori (1999), he helmed the critically acclaimed Family Ties (2006), and the English-language remake Late Autumn (2010).
