Directors
Browse over 360 director profiles. Each profile includes quotes from a variety of reference materials, selected filmographies (encompassing rankings from the Greatest Films and 21st Century projects), and more.
Latest Additions - Emir Kusturica / Robert Hamer / Basil Dearden / Lindsay Anderson / King Hu / See All.

New Beyond the Sight & Sound Canon
A supplement to the 2022 Sight & Sound poll
August 10, 2023
Once a decade Sight & Sound asks critics and directors to select the Greatest Films of All Time. This poll has come to be regarded as the most trusted guide there is to the Canon of Cinema Greats. The 2022 poll reached a wider and more diverse group than ever before, and incorporated the top 10 lists of over 2,100 participants from all corners of the globe - who, overall, voted for nearly 4,400 different films.
But there are more, many more, great films. Beyond the Sight & Sound Canon is essentially a greatest films' poll, only without those 4,366 films that received at least one mention.
Here is the list of those 4,366 ineligible titles (courtesy of Brett).
We would like to invite you to highlight the films that were sadly overlooked by Sight & Sound’s voters. A list of up to 100 titles (feature-length, of any origin and nature) that you could least imagine having to live without.
The voting procedure:
1. You will be requested to identify yourself in order to vote.
2. You can only vote once.
3. You can vote for up to 100 films by clicking the SurveyPlanet link below. There is no need to rank the films. IMDb links would be appreciated, but not required.
4. For any enquiries please contact us at beyondtheSScanon@gmail.com.
1. You will be requested to identify yourself in order to vote.
2. You can only vote once.
3. You can vote for up to 100 films by clicking the SurveyPlanet link below. There is no need to rank the films. IMDb links would be appreciated, but not required.
4. For any enquiries please contact us at beyondtheSScanon@gmail.com.
Ballots must be received by no later than Sunday, December 31, 2023, to qualify.
Thanks in advance for taking part in our project. We look forward to your response.
2023 edition's highest entrant: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
The 1,000 Greatest Films
2023 Edition April 5, 2023
This is the first complete 1,000 Greatest Films online edition since 2021. Does Kane still reign supreme, as it has done for every previous edition, or does Sight & Sound's newly crowned number one, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, also get the job done here? Compiled from 15,294 film lists (including all of the 2022 Sight & Sound ballots), this is quite possibly the most definitive collection of the 1,000 most critically acclaimed films you will find. Also featured, amongst other knick-knacks, is a list of the 250 most acclaimed film directors and, for those that hate consensus and/or just prefer bigger lists, a 'starting list' of 22,903 films.
“If a story doesn't give you a hard-on in the first couple of scenes, throw it in the goddamned garbage.” ― Samuel Fuller
Out of the Past (1947)
They Shot Dark Pictures, Didn't They?
A (finally completed!) listing of 1,000 Noir Films. This is not a ‘best of’ or ‘greatest’ compilation of noirs. This is strictly a listing of, according to TSPDT's research, the most oft-cited noir films. Though most of the films that comprise the 1,000 are more than worthwhile (many, of course, are brilliant), there is no hiding from the fact that not all of the 1,000 films are of the highest quality. They are here because they are noir (or at least noir-tinged), not because they are necessarily classic films. You'll also find a subsidiary listing of a further 842 noir(-ish) films and a listing of 50 Key Noir Directors.
2023 edition's highest entrant: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
2023 Edition April 17, 2023
Based on end-of-year lists (from 2000 onwards), as well as the same resources used for the 1,000 Greatest Films, this is a collection of the 21st Century's most acclaimed cinema. The main list comprises the top 1,000 films, with a more-detailed presentation of the top 250. Also featured is a listing of the 100 most acclaimed film directors of this century, plus the full 'starting list' of 10,637 films.
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