1. Zack Snyder (1966)

American Filmmaker

Director of such blockbuster films as 300, Watchmen, and Man of Steel. He first became known for his work on the 2004 remake of the popular horror film Dawn of...

2. Nunnally Johnson (1897)

American Filmmaker

Screenwriter and filmmaker best known for his Oscar-winning screenplay, The Grapes of Wrath.

3. Rory Kennedy (1968)

American Filmmaker

Documentary filmmaker who was the youngest child of U.S. Senator Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy and Ethel Skakel.

4. Haskell Wexler (1922)

American Filmmaker

Director and cinematographer who worked on the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson.

5. Sy Kravitz (1924)

American Filmmaker

Film and NBC news producer. He fathered international musician Lenny Kravitz.

6. George Lucas (1944)

American Filmmaker

Director and producer who is best known for creating the groundbreaking science fiction franchise Star Wars. He first received acclaim for his 1973 coming of age film American Graffiti and he also...

7. Stuart Gordon (1947)

American Filmmaker

Screenwriter and director, who is best known for films like Dagon, Re-Animator, and From Beyond. 

8. Stan Brakhage (1933)

American Filmmaker

American filmmaker who is widely considered one of the most influential creators of experimental films. Some of his most famous include 23rd Psalm Branch and the five-part Dog Star Man...

9. Eleanor Coppola (1936)

American Filmmaker

Francis Ford Coppola's wife who made several documentaries about her family.

10. Bruce Brown (1937)

American Filmmaker

Pioneer of the surf film genre who was known for movies such as Surf Crazy and The Endless Summer.

11. Zach King (1990)

American Filmmaker

Internet star known as FinalCutKing who has amassed over 13 million subscribers on YouTube. He was extremely popular on Vine and in 2014, he won a Streamy Award for Best...

12. Mike Kuchar (1942)

American Filmmaker

Underground film director of campy low-budget films such as Sins of the Fleshapoids.

13. Lance Bangs (1972)

American Filmmaker

Music video director known for his many videos with artists like R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. He is also an award-winning commercial director for brands like Volvo.

14. Randall Wallace (1949)

American Filmmaker

Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Braveheart and director of prestigious films such as Secretariat and We Were Soldiers.

15. Pete Chatmon (1977)

American Filmmaker

American Director who has directed episodes from a long list of popular television shows, some of which include HBO's Silicon Valley and Insecure, Netflix's You and Atypical, and ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Black-ish. He also wrote, directed, and produced...

16. Henry Selick (1952)

American Filmmaker

Director of stop motion films like James and the Giant Peach and Coraline.

17. Andrew Solt (1947)

American Filmmaker

Producer, director, and screenwriter whose most recognized for owning the rights to The Ed Sullivan Show.

18. Todd Solondz (1959)

American Filmmaker

Screenwriter and director whose 1995 film Welcome to the Dollhouse won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

19. Emily Hagins (1992)

American Filmmaker

Directed the 2006 indie film Pathogen when she was only 12 years old.

20. David Ayer (1968)

American Filmmaker

Famous screenwriter and producer whose credits include Suicide Squad, SWAT and Training Day.

21. Freddie Wong (1985)

American Filmmaker

Gained internet fame on YouTube channels Rocket Jump, BrandonJLa, and Node. He also achieved celebrity fame as a successful competitive video-gamer and was named the 2014 Webby Film and Video...

22. Ariel Schulman (1981)

American Filmmaker

Director, producer, and star of the 2010 documentary film Catfish. His other directing credits include the third and fourth installments of Paranormal Activity.

23. Rob Minkoff (1962)

American Filmmaker

Director and animator best known as the co-director of the Disney classic "The Lion King". He has also directed live-action films like 2003's "The Haunted Mansion".

24. Morgan Pehme (1978)

American Filmmaker

Screenwriter and CEO of Merlion Entertainment. In 2005, he was the recipient of the Best Screenplay jury prize at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

25. Bobby Ciraldo (1974)

American Filmmaker

Bobby Ciraldo is a filmmaker and web-based artist whose works include Hamlet A. D. D. William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet the production of Frankie Latina's Modus Operandi and a music video...

26. Harris Smith (filmmaker) (1977)

American Filmmaker

Harris Smith is a filmmaker media critic and essayist from New York City. He is one of the founding members of the Remodernist film movement and was a participating member...

27. Zachary Oberzan (1974)

American Filmmaker

Zachary Oberzan is a filmmaker theater director actor and singer/songwriter known for his experimental work involving video. An original member of the New York City-based theater collective Nature Theater of...

28. Jason LaRay Keener (1985)

American Filmmaker

Jason LaRay Keener is an American filmmaker from Alabama. He is best known for his stream-of-conscious non-linear shorts. He is related to serial killer Nannie Doss. In 2006 he founded...

29. Christian Calson (1975)

American Filmmaker

Christian Calson is a Romanian-born American independent filmmaker best known for his use of anti-film and shock-cinema techniques.

30. Jake Rademacher (1975)

American Filmmaker

Jake Rademacher is the director/producer of Brothers at War the award winning documentary about an American military family and the Iraq war. The film features his two brothers Isaac and...

31. Ry Russo-Young (1981)

American Filmmaker

Ry Russo-Young is an American independent filmmaker. Her film You Wont Miss Me appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and won a Gotham Award for Best Film Not...

32. D. A. Pennebaker (1925)

American Filmmaker

Donn Alan D. A. Pennebaker is an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema. Performing arts and politics are his primary subjects. In 2012 the Academy...

33. Chris Columbus (filmmaker) (1958)

American Filmmaker

Chris Joseph Columbus is an American film director producer and screenwriter. Columbus is known for directing such movies as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber...

34. Barbara Hammer (1939)

American Filmmaker

Barbara Hammer is an American filmmaker in the genre of experimental films and a professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. Hammer is known for creating groundbreaking experimental films dealing...

35. Adrian Picardi (1987)

American Filmmaker

Adrian Picardi is a bi-racial Italian-Korean American filmmaker based in Los Angeles California. For all his works thus far he has been credited as director writer cinematographer and editor. He...

36. Tyler Gillett (1982)

American Filmmaker

Tyler Gillett is an American film director cinematographer writer and producer. A co-creator of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence Gillett co-directed the 2014 Twentieth Century Fox film Devil's Due.

37. Perri Pierre (1988)

American Filmmaker

Perri Pierre born on December 28 1988 in Brooklyn NY Perri Pierre is an award-winning filmmaker and actor.

38. Donari Braxton (1982)

American Filmmaker

Donari Braxton is an American filmmaker and writer. His independent narrative films are generally considered experimental though have been featured diversely both in film festivals and art film reviews internationally.

39. Arthur Dong (1953)

American Filmmaker

Arthur Dong is an American documentary filmmaker. His work combines the art of the visual medium with an investigation of social issues examining topics such as Asian American history...

40. Aviva Kempner (1946)

American Filmmaker

Aviva Kempner is an American filmmaker. Her documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history and focus on the untold stories of Jewish heroes. She is most well known for...

41. Mark Jones (filmmaker) (Unknow)

American Filmmaker

Mark Jones is an American screenwriter film director television director film producer and television producer. He is notable for his work on the Leprechaun horror franchise and numerous television series...

42. Jeff Scher (Unknow)

American Filmmaker

Jeff Scher is a New York-based filmmaker animator and painter. He was born Jeffery Noyes Scher on December 24 1954. Scher graduated from Bard College in 1976. He is married...

43. Andrew Swant (1976)

American Filmmaker

Andrew Swant is a writer and filmmaker whose works include Hamlet A. D. D. and William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet as well as the production of Frankie Latina's Modus Operandi. He...

44. Paul Winters (1954)

American Filmmaker

Paul Winters is an American filmmaker writer and actor. He played Colonel Ben Loftin in the film Nate and the Colonel. During the 1990s he co-produced Gahan Wilson's Diner for...

45. Phil Solomon (filmmaker) (1954)

American Filmmaker

Phil Solomon is an American experimental filmmaker noted for his work with both film and video. Recently Solomon has earned acclaim for a series of films that incorporate machinima made...

46. Su Friedrich (1954)

American Filmmaker

Su Friedrich is an American avant-garde filmmaker.

47. Fred Wilder (1962)

American Filmmaker

s an American film director screenwriter actor painter and musician. His early career was devoted to painting and creating electronic music including soundscape. His filmography as writer director includes the...

48. Nathaniel Kahn (1962)

American Filmmaker

Nathaniel Kahn is an American filmmaker. His documentaries My Architect — about his father the famous architect Louis Kahn — and Two Hands were nominated for Academy Awards. His mother...

49. Jenni Olson (1962)

American Filmmaker

Jenni Olson was born and raised in Falcon Heights Minnesota. Olson is a film exhibition curator director award winning documentary filmmaker and author. Olson co-founded and still writes for PlanetOut....

50. Steven Okazaki (1952)

American Filmmaker

Steven Okazaki is an American filmmaker. He is Sansei Japanese American and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has received a Peabody Award and been nominated for...