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With Sidste omgang (1993) (Last Round), his graduation short from The National Film School of Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg got an early taste of critical success. He received the Jury's and Producers' Awards at the International Student Film Fest in Munich and won the 1st Prize at the Tel Aviv Film Fest. Popular success followed with his breakthrough short fiction film, Drengen der gik baglæns (1995), about a boy, who - after the death of his brother - discovers he can turn back time by walking backwards. This poetic short film was followed the reckless and fast-paced thriller, The Biggest Heroes (1996).
Vinterberg is one of the founding "brothers" of dogme95, a set of rules dedicated to reintroducing the element of risk in filmmaking. The Celebration (1998) was not only his first Dogme95 project it was also his first international success. With this movie he "penetrated a layer of evil and abomination [he'd] never been to before" (according to an interview by Bo Green Jensen for Weekend Avisen). The story revolves around Family patriarch Helge Klingenfeldt Hansen, celebrating his 60th birthday. In a speech the eldest son addresses his father, supposedly to honor him, only to reveal the father's darkest secret. Among other international prizes, Vinterberg received the Prix du Jury of the Cannes International Film Festival.
His feature, It's All About Love (2003), is a departure from the dogme95 project. It is the story of John (Joaquin Phoenix) and Elena (Claire Danes), whose marriage has fallen apart. Their troubled relationship is reflected in their surroundings as Vinterberg attempts to create a parallel between the chaos of the world and the chaos inside the characters.
Back in his homeland, Thomas Vinterberg nevertheless sticks to the English language. His Dear Wendy (2005), written by Lars von Trier, is a fierce attack against America's obsession with weapons. In 2007, Vinterberg returns to Danish with When a Man Comes Home (2007) whose subject (a singer comes home to the town he left behind) is appropriate to the circumstances. Vinterberg strikes hard with his next two works, Submarino (2010), the gloomy story of two brothers who try to cope with their depressing everyday lives and The Hunt (2012), the shocking tale of a man who falls prey to a madding crowd. It was no surprise to anyone that his next project was a new adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel with Far from the Madding Crowd (2015).- Producer
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Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).- Writer
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Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen broke into show business at 15 years when he started writing jokes for a local paper, receiving $200 a week. He later moved on to write jokes for talk shows but felt that his jokes were being wasted. His agents, Charles Joffe and Jack Rollins, convinced him to start doing stand-up and telling his own jokes. Reluctantly he agreed and, although he initially performed with such fear of the audience that he would cover his ears when they applauded his jokes, he eventually became very successful at stand-up. After performing on stage for a few years, he was approached to write a script for Warren Beatty to star in: What's New Pussycat (1965) and would also have a moderate role as a character in the film. During production, Woody gave himself more and better lines and left Beatty with less compelling dialogue. Beatty inevitably quit the project and was replaced by Peter Sellers, who demanded all the best lines and more screen-time.
It was from this experience that Woody realized that he could not work on a film without complete control over its production. Woody's theoretical directorial debut was in What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966); a Japanese spy flick that he dubbed over with his own comedic dialogue about spies searching for the secret recipe for egg salad. His real directorial debut came the next year in the mockumentary Take the Money and Run (1969). He has written, directed and, more often than not, starred in about a film a year ever since, while simultaneously writing more than a dozen plays and several books of comedy.
While best known for his romantic comedies Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979), Woody has made many transitions in his films throughout the years, transitioning from his "early, funny ones" of Bananas (1971), Love and Death (1975) and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972); to his more storied and romantic comedies of Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); to the Bergmanesque films of Stardust Memories (1980) and Interiors (1978); and then on to the more recent, but varied works of Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Husbands and Wives (1992), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Celebrity (1998) and Deconstructing Harry (1997); and finally to his films of the last decade, which vary from the light comedy of Scoop (2006), to the self-destructive darkness of Match Point (2005) and, most recently, to the cinematically beautiful tale of Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Although his stories and style have changed over the years, he is regarded as one of the best filmmakers of our time because of his views on art and his mastery of filmmaking.- Producer
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Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the direction of Mike D and Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch before the sad demise of Grand Royal Records. Jonze was also responsible for directing the famous Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994) short film as well as numerous other music videos for various artists.- Producer
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Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour period, Linklater's work explored what he dubbed "the youth rebellion continuum," focusing in fine detail on generational rites and mores with rare compassion and understanding while definitively capturing the 20-something culture of his era through a series of nuanced, illuminating ensemble pieces which introduced any number of talented young actors into the Hollywood firmament. Born in Houston, Texas, Linklater suspended his educational career at Sam Houston State University in 1982, to work on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He subsequently relocated to the state's capital of Austin, where he founded a film society and began work on his debut film, 1987's It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988). Three years later he released the sprawling Slacker (1990), an insightful, virtually plotless look at 1990s youth culture that became a favorite on the festival circuit prior to earning vast acclaim at Sundance in 1991. Upon its commercial release, the movie, made for less than $23,000, became the subject of considerable mainstream media attention, with the term "slacker" becoming a much-overused catch-all tag employed to affix a name and identity to America's disaffected youth culture.- Writer
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Abdellatif Kechiche was born on 7 December 1960 in Tunis, Tunisia. He is a writer and director, known for Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013), Games of Love and Chance (2003) and The Secret of the Grain (2007).- Director
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Miguel Gomes was born in 1972 in Lisbon, Portugal. He is a director and writer, known for Our Beloved Month of August (2008), Arabian Nights: Volume 2 - The Desolate One (2015) and Arabian Nights: Volume 3 - The Enchanted One (2015).- Writer
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Writer, director, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1970 to Anders Refn, a film director, and editor, and Vibeke Winding (née Tuxen), a cinematographer. At the age of 8, NWR moved to New York with his parents, where he would stay for the rest of his youth. The grandeur and grit of 1980s Manhattan left a deep impression on the young NWR, who then only spoke Danish. Calling the city home ever since, he would devote his career to exploring the filmic legacy of this iconic cityscape, developing a distinctive, neo-noir cinematic style.
In 1987, NWR returned to Copenhagen to complete his high school education, but upon graduation, he swiftly returned to New York, where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. NWR's college years were cut short when NWR threw a desk at a classroom wall and was expelled from the Academy. Instead, he applied to the directing program at the distinguished Danish Film School and was immediately accepted. However, this education was also to be short-lived, as NWR dropped out a month before the start of the semester.
During these educational bouts, NWR experimented passionately with the short film format, writing, directing, and starring in his own productions. In 1993, an obscure Danish cable TV channel offered to air his short film Pusher, which led to the offer of a lifetime. NWR was given 3.2 million kroner (roughly USD 306,000) to transform the short into a feature. At 24 years old, NWR used the funding to write and direct the feature film Pusher (1996), a brutal portrayal of the criminal underworld of Copenhagen. Notorious, violent, and uncompromising in its social themes, Pusher won NWR instant national and international critical acclaim and remains a cult title amongst film aficionados. The success of his debut opened doors and spurred him to push the boundaries of filmmaking further, resulting in the similarly gritty Bleeder (1999), which portrayed a network of Copenhagen's working-class denizens living and working at the edge of the law. Highly stylized and focused on introverted emotional reactions to epic situations, this film was a turning point for shaping NWR's future career. Bleeder was selected for the 1999 Venice International Film Festival and won the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize in Sarajevo.
NWR's third feature, the much-anticipated Fear X (2003), was his first foray into English-language movies. Starring the award-winning actor John Turturro, Fear X premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was highly divisive to critics, and its release was a massive financial disaster that left NWR broke and in debt. In dire desperation and needing to pay off his debt, NWR returned to Denmark to revisit his first feature film, the successful Pusher. NWR was reluctant to return to his past success but decided he could make commercially viable and artistically pleasing films in the Pusher franchise. Over the short course of two years, NWR managed to write, direct, and produce the two sequels, Pusher II (2004) and Pusher III (2005). The films' box office performance validated the success of the internationally renowned Pusher trilogy. In 2005, the Toronto Film Festival held a Pusher retrospective showing all three features, cementing its worldwide phenomenon. Around this time, while still looking for financial stability following his Fear X experience, NWR took a quick gig directing an episode of the iconic UK television mystery series Agatha Christie's Marple (2004).
With such critical acclaim from the newly released Pusher II and Pusher III, NWR's reputation as a writer, director, and producer was solidly reaffirmed in the film industry. NWR and his wife, Liv Corfixen, were the subjects of an acclaimed documentary, Gambler (2006), which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2005. In addition, NWR received two lifetime-achievement awards: one from the Taipei International Film Festival in 2006 and the second from the Valencia International Film Festival in 2007. Gambler won the Emerging Master Award from the Philadelphia International Film Festival 2005.
Longtime UK based distributor and friend of NWR, Rupert Preston, urged him to accept an offer to write and direct Bronson (2008), an ultra-violent and stylistically surreal film following the real-life landmarks and self-entrapment of Charles Bronson, Britain's most notorious criminal. Even before the film was released, Bronson made waves inside and outside the film industry. The 2009 Sundance Film Festival selected the film for its World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and Bronson soon became the talk of the festival. With such a prestigious premiere, Bronson was chosen for other major international film festivals and reaped substantial box-office results. But even with such a buzz surrounding the film, no one could predict how the British press would bite at Bronson's bit. The content was close to the knuckle, the subject matter controversial, but NWR's take on this was even more inspired, leading him to be labeled by the British media as the next great auteur of European cinema. The film won Best Film at the 2009 Sydney Film Festival. Tom Hardy also won a Best Actor award at the 2009 British Independent Film Awards for his portrayal of Charles Bronson.
Following the highly successful Bronson, NWR embarked on another English-language, and his first digitally shot, feature film, Valhalla Rising (2009), inspired by a story his mother would read to him at the age of five, about a father and son who embark on a trip to the moon. He creatively embraced not recalling the ending of this story, solidifying his longtime fascination with the unknown. The film, starring frequent collaborator Mads Mikkelsen, premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival and led the world media to coin his distinctive filmic style as "Refn-esque."
In 2011, NWR directed the American neo-noir crime drama Drive (2011), starring rising Hollywood star Ryan Gosling. It premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation, with NWR winning the award for Best Director. The film was praised for its direction, cinematography, actors' performances, visuals, action sequences, and musical score. However, some critics were appalled by its graphic violence, finding it potentially detrimental to the film's box office success. Nonetheless, the film was still a commercial success, grossing $81 million against a production budget of $15 million. Several critics listed Drive as one of the best films of 2011, including the National Board of Review. Its honors include a nomination for Best Sound Editing at the 84th Academy Awards. Shortly after the massive success of Drive, Nicolas signed a two-picture deal, which led to the feature films Only God Forgives (2013) and The Neon Demon (2016).
The incredibly anticipated follow-up to Drive, Only God Forgives (2013), was a crime thriller set in Bangkok starring Ryan Gosling (now a top name in Hollywood) and cinematic veteran Kristin Scott Thomas, premiering in competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It was shot on location in Thailand and was dedicated to Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, a longtime friend of Nicolas. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film won the Grand Prize at the Sydney Film Festival. Nicolas's experience making the Only God Forgives was documented by his wife, Liv Corfixen, in the film My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn (2014). Corfixen's documentary, in turn, premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX, and at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, CA, to positive reviews.
In November of 2014, NWR, alongside co-producers Gaumont Film Company and Wild Bunch, announced that his next film would be titled The Neon Demon (2016). The Neon Demon would be filmed in Los Angeles, CA, in early 2015. The film featured a cast of some of Hollywood's greatest names, including Elle Fanning, Karl Glusman, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, Abbey Lee, Jena Malone, and Bella Heathcote. On April 14, 2016, it was announced that the film would compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, marking it as the third consecutive film directed by NWR that had competed for the Palme d'Or. After The Neon Demon, Nicolas decided to take a turn and explored the path of the long-form narrative streaming series, starting with Too Old to Die Young (2019) and ending with Copenhagen Cowboy (2022).
In 2019, Nicolas created his first television series, Too Old to Die Young (2019), which premiered on Amazon Prime 2019. The thirteen-and-a-half-hour, ten-episode streaming neo-noir series was written by NWR and legendary comic book author Ed Brubaker, with NWR directing all ten episodes. The series starred Miles Teller alongside William Baldwin, Jena Malone, John Hawkes, Cristina Rodlo, Augusto Aguilera, Nell Tiger Free, Babs Olusanmokun, and Callie Hernandez, as well as Hart Bochner. The series features NWR's fourth collaboration with composer Cliff Martinez, whose original score for Drive had become an instant classic. Episodes four and five of the series premiered out of competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on May 18. The full series was released on Amazon Prime Video on June 14 of the same year.
NWR followed up Too Old to Die Young with yet another limited streaming series, Copenhagen Cowboy (2022), produced by Netflix. The series follows enigmatic young heroine, Miu (Angela Bundalovic), who after a lifetime of servitude and on the verge of a new beginning, traverses the ominous landscape of Copenhagen's criminal netherworld. Searching for justice and enacting vengeance, she encounters her nemesis, Rakel, (Lola Corfixen) as they embark on an odyssey where the two young women discover they are not alone, they are many. It was shot in NWR's native Copenhagen, where he hadn't filmed since completing his Pusher trilogy. NWR created and directed all six episodes. The six-episode supernatural noir-thriller first premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. The series was released on the Netflix platform on January 5, 2023. A documentary entitled Copenhagen Cowboy: Nightcall with Nicolas Winding Refn (2023) and directed by Nicklas Kold Nagel, was released on Netflix detailing the limited series production.
After Copenhagen Cowboy, NWR was contacted by Prada to create an installation as a backdrop for their SS23 women's collection fashion show in addition to directing a 30-minute short film, Touch of Crude (2022). The short film follows three different women, played by NWR's wife, Liv Corfixen, and daughters, Lola Corfixen and Lizzielou Corfixen, who discover a mysterious entity and unearth its enigmatic secret. The film marked the first collaboration with Prada, which simultaneously premiered at the León Film Festival in 2023.- Director
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Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), and Incendies (2010). He is married to Tanya Lapointe.- Actor
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Carlos Reygadas was born on 10 October 1971 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a producer and director, known for Silent Light (2007), Japan (2002) and Post Tenebras Lux (2012). He is married to Natalia López.- Director
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Andrzej Jakimowski was born on 17 August 1963 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for Imagine (2012), Zmruz oczy (2002) and Sztuczki (2007).- Director
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Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making 8 mm films, Anderson cut his teeth shooting films on video and editing them from V.C.R. to V.C.R.
Part of Anderson's artistic D.N.A. comes from his father, who hosted a late night horror show in Cleveland. His father knew a number of oddball celebrities such as Robert Ridgely, an actor who often appeared in Mel Brooks' films and would later play "The Colonel" in Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). Anderson was also very much shaped by growing up in "The Valley", specifically the suburban San Fernando Valley of greater Los Angeles. The Valley may have been immortalized in the 1980s for its mall-hopping "Valley Girls", but for Anderson it was a slightly seedy part of suburban America. You were close to Hollywood, yet you weren't there. Would-bes and burn-outs populated the area. Anderson's experiences growing up in "The Valley" have no doubt shaped his artistic self, especially since three of his four theatrical features are set in the Valley.
Anderson got into film-making at a young age. His most significant amateur film was The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), a sort of mock-documentary a la This Is Spinal Tap (1984), about a once-great pornography star named Dirk Diggler. After enrolling in N.Y.U.'s film program for two days, Anderson got his tuition back and made his own short film, Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). He also worked as a production assistant on numerous commercials and music videos before he got the chance to make his first feature, something he liked to call Sydney, but would later become known to the public as Hard Eight (1996). The film was developed and financed through The Sundance Lab, not unlike Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). Anderson cast three actors whom he would continue working with in the future: Altman veteran Philip Baker Hall, the husky and lovable John C. Reilly and, in a small part, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who so far has been featured in all four of Anderson's films. The film deals with a guardian angel type (played by Hall) who takes down-on-his-luck Reilly under his wing. The deliberately paced film featured a number of Anderson trademarks: wonderful use of source light, long takes and top-notch acting. Yet the film was reedited (and retitled) by Rysher Entertainment against Anderson's wishes. It was admired by critics, but didn't catch on at the box office. Still, it was enough for Anderson to eventually get his next movie financed. "Boogie Nights" was, in a sense, a remake of "The Dirk Diggler Story", but Anderson threw away the satirical approach and instead painted a broad canvas about a makeshift family of pornographers. The film was often joyous in its look at the 1970s and the days when pornography was still shot on film, still shown in theatres, and its actors could at least delude themselves into believing that they were movie stars. Yet "Boogie Nights" did not flinch at the dark side, showing a murder and suicide, literally in one (almost) uninterrupted shot, and also showing the lives of these people deteriorate, while also showing how their lives recovered.
Anderson not only worked with Hall, Reilly and Hoffman again, he also worked with Julianne Moore, Melora Walters, William H. Macy and Luis Guzmán. Collectively, Anderson had something that was rare in U.S. cinema: a stock company of top-notch actors. Aside from the above mentioned, Anderson also drew terrific performances from Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, two actors whose careers were not exactly going full-blast at the time of "Boogie Nights", but who found themselves to be that much more employable afterwards.
The success of "Boogie Nights" gave Anderson the chance to really go for broke in Magnolia (1999), a massive mosaic that could dwarf Altman's Nashville (1975) in its number of characters.
Anderson was awarded a "Best Director" award at Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002).- Writer
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A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world cinema, Haneke wrote and directed films in several languages: French, German and English, working with a great variety of actors, such as Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Toby Jones, Ülrich Muhe, Arno Frisch and the list goes on.
This grand figure from Austrian cinema was born in Germany on 23 March 1942, from a German father and an Austrian mother, with both parents being from the artistic world working as actors, a career that Michael also tried but without much success. At the University of Vienna he studied drama, philosophy and psychology, and after graduation he went on to become a film critic and TV editor. His career behind camera started with After Liverpool (1974), which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct five more TV films and two episodes from the miniseries "Lemminge" (1979)_.
The years spent on television works prompted him to finally direct his first cinema feature, during his early 40's, which is somewhat unusual for film directors. But it was worth waiting. In The Seventh Continent (1989), Haneke establishes the foundation of what his future cinema would be about: a cinema that doesn't provides answers but one that dares to throw more and more questions, a cinema that reflects and analyses the human condition in its darkest and unexpected ways outside of any Hollywood formula. Films that exist to confront audiences and not comfort them. In it, Haneke deals with the duality of social values vs. internal values while exposing an apparent perfect family that runs into physical and material disintegration for reasons unknown. It was the first time a film of his was sent to the Cannes Film Festival (out of competition lineup) but he managed to cause some commotion in the audience with polemic scenes that were meant to extract all possible reactions from the crowd.
His next ventures at the decade's turn was in dealing with disturbed youth and the alienation they have in separating reality from fiction, trying to intersect both to drastic results. In Benny's Video (1992), it's the disturbing story of a teen boy who experiences killing for the first time capturing the murder on tape, impressed by the power of detachment that films and videos can cause to people; and later on the highly controversial Funny Games (1997), where two teens hold a family hostage to play sadistic games just for their own sick amusement. The film cemented Haneke's name as one of the greatest authors of his generation but sparkled a great debate with its themes of violence, sadism and the influence those things have in audiences. At the 1997's Cannes Film Festival, it was the film that had the most walk-out's by the audience. In between both films, he released 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) and Kafka's The Castle (1997), the latter being one of the rare times when Haneke developed an adapted work.
In the 2000's, he strongly continued in producing more outstanding works prone to debate and reflection in what would become his most prolific decade with the following films: Code Unknown (2000), The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Caché (2005), an American remake shot-by shot of Funny Games (2007) and The White Ribbon (2009). His study about romance versus masochism in The Piano Teacher (2001) was an intense work, with powerful performances by Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Magimel, that the Cannes jury in the year were so impressed that Haneke managed to actually reverse their award rules where it was decided that film entries at the festival couldn't win more than one main award (the two lead actors won awards and Haneke got the Grand Prize of the Jury, just lost the Palme d'Or). With The White Ribbon (2009), an enigmatic black-and-white masterpiece following the inception of Nazism in this pre WWI and WWII story focusing on repressed children living in this small village where strange events happen all the time and without any possible reasoning, Haneke conquered the world and audiences with an artistic and daring work that won his first Palme d'Or a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film and received an Oscar nomination for the same category plus the cinematography work of Christian Berger.
2012 was the year that marked his supremacy in the film world with the release of the bold and beautiful Amour (2012), a love story with powerful real drama and one where Haneke removed most of his usual dark characteristics to present more quiet and calm elements without losing input in creating controversy. The touching story of George and Anne provided one the greatest moments of that year and earned Haneke his second and consecutive Palme d'Or at Cannes and his first Oscar nominations for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay - and it was one of the several nominees for Best Picture Oscar, winning as Best Foreign Language Film.
After abandoning a flash-mob film project, he returned to the screen with Happy End (2017), a film dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and again he debuted his film at Cannes, receiving mildly positive reviews.
Besides his film work, Haneke also directs theatre productions, from drama to opera, from Così fan tutte to Don Giovanni.- Director
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Cláudio Assis was born on 19 December 1959 in Caruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil. He is a director and actor, known for Baixio das Bestas (2006), Amarelo Manga (2002) and Rat Fever (2011).- Writer
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Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, The Squid and the Whale (2005) was no less autobiographical but went back further in his personal history, back to the time when his parents separated. Recounting this past trauma and its aftermath earned Noah a selection at the Sundance Film Festival, three Golden Globe nominations and a best screenplay Oscar nomination. From then on his career was launched and his output became more regular with Margot at the Wedding (2007) starring Nicole Kidman and his wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greenberg (2010), filmed in Los Angeles, with Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig. Back in New york, where he lives, he was the director (and co-author with his main actress, Greta Gerwig) of the bittersweet art house success Frances Ha (2012). Besides directing films, he also co-writes some with Wes Anderson, a good friend of his, and is the author of humor columns in the New Yorker.- Writer
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Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30. Since then he has made many movies and has become one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian film. He is also a major figure in the arts world, and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry. He is an iconic figure for what he has done, and he has achieved it all by believing in the arts and the creativity of his mind.- Actor
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Xavier Dolan was born on 20 March 1989 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for I Killed My Mother (2009), Tom at the Farm (2013) and Heartbeats (2010).- Producer
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Nuri Bilge Ceylan is a Turkish filmmaker whose introspective and visually stunning films have garnered international acclaim. His career trajectory, marked by a shift from engineering to filmmaking, is a testament to his dedication to artistic expression and exploration of the human condition.
Ceylan's early interest in image and visual arts was nurtured during his studies at Bogaziçi University. His involvement in the photography club and exposure to cinema through film classes and screenings at the Film Society ignited his passion for filmmaking. After graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering and completing his military service, Ceylan chose to pursue his cinematic dreams, studying film at Mimar Sinan University while working as a professional photographer.
Ceylan's first foray into filmmaking was as an actor in a short film directed by his friend Mehmet Eryilmaz. He soon transitioned behind the camera, directing his debut short film, "Koza" (1995), which made history as the first Turkish short film selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. This early success set the stage for his "provincial trilogy": "Kasaba" (1997), "Mayis Sikintisi" (1999), and "Uzak" (2002). In these films, Ceylan took on multiple roles, showcasing his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to craft deeply personal and evocative stories. "Uzak" (2002) won the Grand Prix and Best Actor awards at Cannes, catapulting Ceylan to international recognition.
Ceylan's subsequent films continued to explore the complexities of human relationships and the nuances of emotional landscapes. "Iklimler" (2006) won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes, while "Uç Maymun" (2008) earned him the Best Director award. His masterpiece "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" (2011) won the Grand Prix at Cannes, solidifying his reputation as a filmmaker of exceptional talent. "Kis Uykusu" (2014), his seventh feature film, garnered the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes, further cementing his position as a leading figure in world cinema.
In recent years, Ceylan has continued to challenge himself with ambitious projects. His 2023 film "Kuru Otlar Ustüne" ("About Dry Grasses") is a visually stunning and emotionally charged drama that explores themes of isolation, disillusionment, and the search for meaning in life. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Actress award for Merve Dizdar.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films are characterized by their slow pace, meticulous attention to detail, and exploration of complex emotional states. His visual style, often inspired by his background in photography, creates a sense of atmosphere and mood that draws viewers into the world of his characters. Ceylan's unflinching portrayal of human relationships, combined with his poetic visual language, have earned him a dedicated following and a place among the most respected filmmakers of our time.- Director
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Gaspar Noé is an Argentinian filmmaker and screenwriter who lives in France. He is the son of Luis Felipe Noé, an Argentinian artist. He directed I Stand Alone, Irréversible, Enter the Void, Love, Climax, Carne, Lux Æterna, Sodomites and Vortex. His films are known for having a sensory overload style, most notably in Enter the Void. He is married to Lucile Hadzihalilovic.- Director
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Joachim Trier is a Norwegian writer and director. He is known for Reprise (2006), Oslo, August 31st (2011), Louder Than Bombs (2015) and Thelma (2017).
Trier also directed three short films, Pietà (2000), Still (2001) and Procter (2002).
His father, Jacob Trier, was the sound technician of The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, a notable film produced in Norway in 1975.
Louder Than Bombs was his first English-language film.
Thelma was selected as the Norwegian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.- Director
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Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied directing for Film and Television at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theater plays. Kinetta, his first feature film, played at Toronto and Berlin film festivals to critical acclaim. His second feature Dogtooth, won the "Un Certain Regard prize" at the 2009 Cannes film festival, followed by numerous awards at festivals worldwide. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 2011. Alps won the "Osella for best screenplay" at the 2011 Venice film festival and Best Film at the Sydney film festival in 2012. His first English language film The Lobster was presented in Competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Moreover, "The Lobster" was nominated for the (Oscar about the) Best Original Screenplay by the Academy and won Best Screenplay and Best Costume Design at the European Film Awards of 2015. His fifth project "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" was also presented in Competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for the best Screenplay. Lanthimos's last film "The Favorite" is a historical Drama about the British Queen Anne.- Actor
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Alex Holdridge is a writer/director/actor known for the Independent Spirit Award winning In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007). His film, Meet Me in Montenegro (2014), he co-directed and co-wrote with Linnea Saasen. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released by The Orchard in the United States while playing festivals in Europe from Edinburgh to Munich.
He is also known for the South by South West Film Festival Jury and Audience Award Winner, Sexless (2003) as well as the Austin Film Fest Audience Winner, Wrong Numbers (2001).
He cast Scoot McNairy in his first role and made three films with him including the Spirit-Award winning, In Search of a Midnight Kiss.
He is preparing a new project to be filmed in early 2020.- Producer
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Barry Jenkins was born on 19 November 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a producer and director, known for If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Moonlight (2016) and Aftersun (2022).