Greatest Directors--X-Y-Z
This is a ranked list of directors whose last name begins with a "X," "Y," or "Z."
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- Producer
- Writer
- Director
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect vehicles (Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Back to the Future (1985)). His later films have become more serious, with the hugely successful Tom Hanks vehicle Forrest Gump (1994) and the Jodie Foster film Contact (1997), both critically acclaimed movies. Again, these films incorporate stunning effects. Robert has proved he can work a serious story around great effects.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Yimou Zhang was born on 14 November 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to Hua Xiao and Hua Xie.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Jerry Zucker was born on 11 March 1950 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Airplane! (1980), Ghost (1990) and Top Secret! (1984). He has been married to Janet Zucker since May 1987. They have two children.and Jim Abrahams and David Zucker- Writer
- Director
- Additional Crew
The director and screenwriter Sadao Yamanaka (1909-1938) is a key figure in the development of early Japanese cinema. Although he made 27 films over a six-year period, only three of them survived in nearly complete form: Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935), Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937), and Priest of Darkness (1936). These films represent the diversity of genres and elegant visual style Yamanaka chose. Moreover, he contributed to the establishment of the jidaigeki genre, or historical drama. After being drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army, Yamanaka tragically died of dysentery on the front in Manchuria aged 28.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Initially grew up wanting to be a violinist, but while at the University of Vienna decided to study law. While doing so, he became increasingly interested in American film and decided that was what he wanted to do. He became involved in European filmaking for a short time before going to America to study film.- Director
- Stunts
- Actor
Woo-Ping Yuen was born on 1 January 1945 in Guangzhou, China. He is a director and actor, known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Fearless (2006) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Zwick moves deftly between the roles of writer, director and producer. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the 1989 critically acclaimed Civil War drama, Glory. He received his second Golden Globe nomination as a director for Legends of the Fall. Zwick received an Academy Award as one of the producers of Shakespeare in Love, as well as a second nomination for Traffic. He wrote, directed and produced the feature film The Last Samurai. Zwick continues to work with his partner, Marshall Herskovitz, at their company Bedford Falls where they created Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Once and Again and Blood Diamond.- Director
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Born in Shanghai and Cambridge-educated, Terence Young began in the industry as a scriptwriter. In the 1940s he worked on a variety of subjects, including the hugely popular wartime romance Suicide Squadron (1941), set to Richard Addinsell's rousing "Warsaw Concerto". His original story was devised while listening to a concert in an army training camp. As it turned out, Young was soon after involved in the war himself, as a member of the Guards.
By the end of the decade Young had graduated to directing. He made his debut with the psychological melodrama Corridor of Mirrors (1948), starring Eric Portman as a reclusive art collector obsessed with reincarnation and murder. During the following decade Young helmed a number of international co-productions, which featured imported stars from Hollywood (Alan Ladd in Paratrooper (1953); Olivia de Havilland in That Lady (1955); Victor Mature in Safari (1956), Zarak (1956) and Tank Force (1958)). These films were made by Warwick, an independent production company created jointly by Irwin Allen and future James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, and released through Columbia. Production values were often quite high, though scripts were of variable quality. "Safari", for instance, looked great, shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope on location in Africa, which partly compensated for the trite storyline.
Having acquired the rights to all available James Bond novels from Ian Fleming, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli secured the necessary funding ($1,250,000) from United Artists and hired Young to direct the initial Bond entry, Dr. No (1962). That film's success got him re-hired to direct two subsequent Bond films, From Russia with Love (1963) (Young's own personal favorite) and Thunderball (1965). Young had acquired a solid reputation as a master of action subjects, and all three films move at a cracking pace. Exotic locales provide the background for a seamless mix of technical wizardry, sex, violence and tongue-in-cheek (sometimes campy) dialogue. Unfortunately, these films also marked the high point of Young's career, though he did direct another eerily effective psychological thriller, Wait Until Dark (1967), much in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock.
Among a brace of forgettable European co-productions, only two other films stand out: the bawdy, highly entertaining all-star period comedy The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) and an intriguing expose of the inner workings--and dark beginnings--of the Cosa Nostra (based on an actual informant's testimony), entitled The Valachi Papers (1972). After that, Young's output became more patchy and his later career suffered as a result of two disastrous projects: first, the Korean War epic Inchon (1981), with Laurence Olivier badly miscast as Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The enterprise was reputedly financed by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's organization--aka the "Moonies"--to the tune of $40 million. Film critic Vincent Canby in the New York Times (September 17, 1982) referred to the picture as "hysterical" and "foolish", "the most expensive B-movie ever made". The second flop, a financially troubled production, was the predictably plotted spy thriller The Jigsaw Man (1983). Completed in 1982, the film was held back and not released until two years later. Young directed just one more film after that and left the industry in 1988. However, according to his daughter, he was working on a documentary in Cannes at the time of his death in September 1994. Though he went on record in 1966, asserting that he had grown rather tired of the Bond franchise, it is, nonetheless, that for which we will ultimately remember him.- Additional Crew
- Production Designer
- Director
Franco Zeffirelli is an Italian director and producer of operas, films and television. He was also a senator from 1994 until 2001 for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party. Some of his operatic designs and productions have become worldwide classics.
He was known for several of the movies he directed, especially the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet (1968), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. His 1967 version of The Taming of The Shrew (1967) with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remains the best-known film adaptation of that play as well. His mini-series Jesus of Nazareth (1977) won both national and international acclaim.
In 1999, Zeffirelli received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In November 2004, he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the United Kingdom. He was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome.- Music Artist
- Writer
- Actor
Robert Bartleh Cummings, more famously known as Rob Zombie, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on January 12, 1965. He is the oldest son of Louise and Robert Cummings, and has a younger brother, Michael David (aka Spider One; b. 1968), who is the lead singer of Powerman 5000. Growing up, Zombie loved horror movies, which have greatly influenced his music and filmmaking career; in 1983, he graduated from Haverhill High School. After graduating, he moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design, also briefly working as a production assistant on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986).
Zombie and his then-girlfriend, Sean Yseult, co-founded the band White Zombie, named after the Bela Lugosi classic horror film of the same name (White Zombie (1932)). The band released their debut studio album, 'Soul-Crusher', in 1987; their second, 'Make Them Die Slowly', followed in 1989, but generated little buzz.
Following the release of their fourth extended play, however, White Zombie caught the attention of Geffen Records, who in 1992 went on to release their third studio album, 'La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One'. This album sold over two million copies in the U.S., becoming the band's breakout hit. White Zombie's fourth and final album, 'Astro-Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head', was released in 1995 to critical and commercial success, ultimately becoming their most successful album. The band released a remix album in 1996 and disbanded the same year, officially breaking up in 1998.
Rob Zombie began working on a debut album in 1997; 'Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International' came out in 1998, selling over three million copies. Zombie formed his own record label, Zombie-A-Go-Go Records, in 1998.
Zombie composed the original score for the video game Twisted Metal III (1998) and designed a haunted attraction for Universal Studios in 1999. In 2000, he began working on his directional debut, House of 1000 Corpses (2003). Inspired mainly by classics such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), the film was delayed until 2003 due to distributional issues. Though criticized for its explicit depictions of violence and gore, it went on to gross over $16 million and has garnered a cult following.
Zombie's second studio album, 'The Sinister Urge', was released in 2001 and sold over a million copies. In 2002, he married his longtime girlfriend Sheri Moon Zombie, who has appeared in all of his movies to date and often accompanies him on tour to choreograph dance routines and create costumes. Zombie released a sequel to 'House of 1000 Corpses' in 2005, entitled The Devil's Rejects (2005). Although it received much more positive reviews than its predecessor, it was still criticized for its violent content. He released his third studio album, 'Educated Horses', the following year.
In 2007, Zombie decided to focus on his work as a filmmaker for a while; the same year, he would release his most polarizing movie to date: Halloween (2007), a remake of the 1978 classic of the same name (Halloween (1978)). It received a mixed reception, but was a box office hit, and still currently resides as the top Labor Day weekend grosser. Zombie directed a fictitious trailer entitled 'Werewolf Women of the SS' (inspired by the exploitation flick Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975)) for Grindhouse (2007). In 2009, Zombie directed Halloween II (2009), which was critically panned, and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009), which was based upon one of his comic book series.
Also in 2009, Zombie began working on a new album; 'Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool' came out the following year. In 2011, he directed a horror-themed commercial for Woolite, and began work on a new film, The Lords of Salem (2012). Unlike Zombie's previous efforts, 'The Lords of Salem' focused more on building suspense and a nightmarish, surreal atmosphere and less on brutal violence and excessive profanity. It ultimately received mixed reviews; just after its release, Zombie came out with his fifth studio album, 'Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor', his lowest-selling to date.
Zombie lent his voice to the superhero movie Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). He also began work on 31 (2016), which tells the story of five carnival workers who are trapped and forced to fight for survival against a gang of murderous clowns. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in January, and will be released in September. In April, Zombie's sixth studio album, 'The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser', was released. Additionally, he has signed on to direct a film on the life of zany comic Groucho Marx, though a release date is uncertain.
Zombie is most recognized for his heavy metal style of music, influenced by his love of classic horror, and his exploitation/splatter-type movies. Overall, he has sold an estimated fifteen million albums worldwide, and his films have grossed over $150 million in total.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Zwigoff held several jobs before making his breakthrough feature: the documentary Crumb (1994) in 1994. His previous jobs included musician, shipping clerk, printer and welfare office worker. In fact, Zwigoff traces his film career back to discovering a rare blues recording by an unknown Chicago blues musician he discovered in 1978. The experience of the two years spent researching this artist, a highly eccentric Howard Armstrong, became Zwigoff's first film project, a documentary titled "Louie Bluie" (1985) which premiered at Telluride and Sundance before its theatrical run. Zwigoff's next project became the toast of the festival circuit in 1994. A documentary on the underground comic artist Robert Crumb, "Crumb" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance as well as citations from the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics and the Directors Guild of America. It also became the third-highest grossing documentary of all time and was on over 150 Ten Best lists by year's end. However, along with another 1994 documentary hopeful, "Hoop Dreams" (1994), its failure to win even a nomination in the 1994 Academy Awards' Best Documentary Feature category caused an uproar that resulted in a demand to change the way the Academy voters choose the documentary feature nominees. "Crumb" chronicled Zwigoff's acquaintance of nearly two decades of Robert Crumb's life, career, the underground comic scene as well as Crumb's dysfunctional family. Even though it caused a momentary rift between the documentarian and the comic book artist, it has been reported that they have reconciled and are currently collaborating on a screenplay called "The New Girlfriend."
Even with the enormous success of "Crumb," Zwigoff refused to sell out to Hollywood. His aversion to corporate commercialism is a well-known trademark. He turned down many more commercial projects while he struggled for five years to make a feature film out of Daniel Clowes' underground comic strip "Ghost World." Released in 2001, "Ghost World" (2001) became a summer art house hit and captured Golden Globe nominations for Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch, who played the teenage protagonist Enid. "Ghost World" also brought acclaim for Zwigoff and his co-screenwriter Daniel Clowes, a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in the 2002 Academy Awards. "Ghost World" wound up on over 150 Ten Best lists for 2001.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
David Yates was born on 8 October 1963 in St. Helens, Merseyside, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) and The Legend of Tarzan (2016).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Mai Zetterling was born in Sweden in 1925, and lived briefly in Australia while still a child. She's known as a director and actor and trained on the Stockholm repertory stage, she began appearing in war-era films starting in her teens. Following her debut in Lasse Maja (1941), she made quite an impact in the terminally dark Ingmar Bergman-written film Torment (1944) [known as Torment in the US and Frenzy in the UK], who went on to direct her in his Music in Darkness (1948) [Music in Darkness].
The international attention she received from her Bergman association led her to England where she debuted in the title role of Frieda (1947), a war drama co-starring David Farrar, Glynis Johns and Flora Robson. Developing modest sex symbol success, she went on to co-star opposite a number of handsome leading men throughout the post-war years in primarily dramatic works, including Dennis Price in The Bad Lord Byron (1949), Dirk Bogarde in Blackmailed (1951), Herbert Lom in The Ringer (1952), Richard Widmark in A Prize of Gold (1955), Tyrone Power in Seven Days from Now (1957) (which was a variation on Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944)), John Gregson in Faces in the Dark (1960), William Sylvester in The Devil Inside (1961), and Stanley Baker in The Man Who Finally Died (1963). Along the way she proved just as adaptable and sexy in smart comedy when she came between husband and wife Peter Sellers and Virginia Maskell in Only Two Can Play (1962).
Mai abandoned acting in the mid-1960s and courted some controversy when she successfully began sitting in the director's chair. Divorced from Norwegian actor Tutte Lemkow in the early 1950s, she later wed writer David Hughes in 1958, who collaborated with her on a number of her directing ventures, which seemed ahead of their time. Obviously influenced by Bergman, the dark, sexy drama Loving Couples (1964) [Loving Couples] dealt with homosexual themes and featured nudity; Night Games (1966) [Night Games] revolved around sexual decadency and repression; and The Girls (1968) [The Girls], which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, expounded on women's liberation. She divorced her second husband in 1979. She had two children, Louis and Etienne, from her first marriage.
Toward the end of her life, Mai made a return to film acting and is best remembered at this late stage for her nurturing and resilient grandmother in the film The Witches (1990) wherein she is forced to tangle with a particularly virulent ringleader Anjelica Huston to save her grandson from her coven of hags. Mai died of cancer in 1994.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Thierry Zéno was born on 22 April 1950 in Namur, Belgium. He was a director and producer, known for Wedding Trough (1974), Eugène Ionesco, voix et silences (1987) and Des morts (1979). He died on 7 June 2017 in Belgium.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Born in New York City. Made many award-winning documentaries including The Eskimo: Fight for Life (1970) and a documentary about the civil war in Angola. In 1978 he won the Camera d'Or at Cannes and Best Feature at San Sebastian for Alambrista! (1977).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Brian Yuzna was born on 30 August 1949 in Manila, Philippines. He is a writer and producer, known for The Dentist (1996), Beyond Re-Animator (2003) and Faust (2000). He is married to Cathy Yuzna. They have four children.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Director and screenwriter Andrey Zvyagintsev is the winner of the Venice Film Festival (2003) and the Cannes Film Festival (2011, 2014, 2017). Two-time the Academy Awards and the BAFTA Awards nominee. Winner or the Golden Globe Awards (2015) for his film "Leviathan". In 2018, his latest work "Loveless" was awarded Best Foreign Film by the César Academy, France.
Born on the 6th of February in 1964 in Novosibirsk, Andrey Zvyagintsev attended the Novosibirsk Theatrical School, class of Lev Belov, before pursuing his studies in Moscow. In 1990, he graduated from the acting faculty of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS), class of Evgeny Lazarev. In the following years Andrey gave several theatre, film and TV appearances as an actor.
In 2000, he debuted as a director. He made three short films for REN TV Channel's "The Black Room" series - "Bushido", "Obscure", "The Choice" - that was followed by his first full-length feature.
In 2003, "The Return", a debut not only for the director but also for the majority of the crew, played the main competition at the 60th Venice Film Festival and won its highest prize, the Golden Lion. Besides, Zvyagintsev was awarded the Lion of the Future for best debut, "a very delicate film about love, loss and growing". It captured the attention all over the world becoming one of the cinema sensations of the year.
His second film, "The Banishment", competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and won Best Actor (Konstantin Lavronenko) - the first-ever for a Russian artist.
In 2011, Zvyagintsev's third film, "Elena", premiered at the 64th Cannes Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.
His fourth film, "Leviathan", screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014 and won Best Screenplay (Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin). In 2015, the film won the Golden Globe becoming the first Russian feature to win this award since 1969. The film got an Oscar nomination in the same category at the 87th Academy Awards.
Zvyagintsev's next film, "Loveless", won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 2018. "Loveless" was released in all major territories earning nominations for all acclaimed cinema awards worldwide including The Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA. It was awarded Best Foreign Film at France's César Awards, for the first time in history of both Soviet and Russian cinema.
In 2018, Andrey Zvyagintsev served on the Cannes Film Festival jury.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Having seen Robbery (1967) and Bullitt (1968), it comes as no surprise that Peter Yates started out as a professional racing car driver and team manager - albeit briefly - before turning his attention to film. The son of a military man, he was educated at Charterhouse School and trained at RADA, gaining his first experience as an actor with local repertory companies. In the early 1950's, he worked as a dubbing assistant, cutter, stage manager and theatre director (Royal Court), eventually graduating to assistant director on The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). He cut his teeth, directing many episodes of The Saint (1962) and Secret Agent (1964) for television, before helming his first feature film, the musical Summer Holiday (1963).
"Summer Holiday" did nothing for his career. However, the exhilarating car chase through the streets of London - staged for his next film, "Robbery" - so impressed Steve McQueen that he requested Yates to direct him in "Bullitt". The rest is history: for many years, THAT car chase became the yard stick by which all others were measured. The success of this venture prompted Yates to remain in America, adapting himself to a variety of other genres, though continuing to be preoccupied with action subjects. His best films include the stylish and ingenious caper comedy The Hot Rock (1972); the underwater adventure The Deep (1977), based on the novel and screenplay by Peter Benchley; and the quirky coming-of-age comedy Breaking Away (1979). For the latter, Yates received simultaneous Oscar nominations as Best Director and Best Producer.
He was nominated again for a more cerebral 'actor's piece', The Dresser (1983), starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay , based on a play about an ageing stage actor and his long-standing assistant. Never a prolific director, Yates subsequently made only a few more films. Most memorable, perhaps, were the courtroom thriller Suspect (1987), the political drama The House on Carroll Street (1988) and the enjoyably old-fashioned comedy It All Came True (1998), starring Michael Caine and Maggie Smith as a couple of theatrical ghosts.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Bud Yorkin was born on 22 February 1926 in Washington, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Sanford and Son (1972) and Blade Runner (1982). He was married to Cynthia Sikes and Peg Yorkin. He died on 18 August 2015 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Born in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland. Documentary and feature film director. Studied physics at Warsaw University and philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Graduated from Lodz Film Academy in 1966. Amateur film maker. His school diploma film 'Death of a Provincial' (Smierc prowincjala (1968)) won an awards in Venice, Mannheim, Valladolid and Moscow in 1967. Other early films made for TV include: 'Next Door' (_Za sciana (1971)_), Grand Prix in San Remo; 'Hypothesis' (Hipoteza (1973)).
Scriptwriter or co-writer of all of his TV and cinema films. Other early feature films: 'Structure of a Crystal' (The Structure of Crystal (1969)), which won in Mar del Plata 1970; 'Family Life' (Zycie rodzinne (1971)), which won in Chicago 1971, Valladolid 1972 and Colombo 1973; 'Illumination' (The Illumination (1973)), Grand Prix in Locarno 1973, award in Gdansk 1974; 'Quarterly Balance' (A Woman's Decision (1975)); 'Camouflage' (Camouflage (1977)), Spiral (The Spiral (1978)).- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yamada Yoji graduated Tokyo University in 1954, the year he joined Shochiku as an assistant director. In 1969, he launched the popular "Tora-san" series, the world's longest theatrical film series. "The Twilight Samurai" (The Twilight Samurai (2002)) marks his 77th film as well as his 41th year as a director since his first film in 1961: Nikai no Tanin (Stranger Upstairs).- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Erick Zonca was born on 10 September 1956 in Orléans, Loiret, France. He is a writer and director, known for The Dreamlife of Angels (1998), Julia (2008) and Black Tide (2018).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Born in Hong Kong, Ronny Yan-Tai Yu dreamed of making films since he was a child. At only 9 months of age, Yu contracted polio, resulting in a long recovery that prevented him from developing an active childhood and had to spend much time in isolation. To cope with the loneliness, Yu created fantasy worlds of his own, with furniture as props. As he grew older, his world of escape became the cinema, where he could immerse in grander, more exciting adventures. It was then that his passion to become a director began to grow.
However, as the only son of a traditional Chinese family, film making was cast aside by the time he started college. Under pressure to take up the family business, Yu studied business instead and earned an MBA from Ohio University.
Soon after graduation, a pivotal turning point occurred for Yu. His friend Philip Chan, a police lieutenant with acting ambitions, persuaded Yu to direct The Servant, a screenplay that he wrote based on his experiences in the police force. Yu took up the opportunity and learned the craft as the filming proceeded. The film became the No.1 box office hit for the summer, and Yu's future seemed destined to be in film after all.
Throughout the 1980s Yu directed and produced many other box office successes in Hong Kong. In 1993, the romantic swordplay epic The Bride with White Hair (1993) (The Bride with White Hair) established his signature style of kinetically-paced story-telling through sumptuous imagery. Bride was a huge summer hit in Hong Kong, and also became an art house theater favorite in the U.S. and Europe, leading to international critical acclaim. It also won the Grand Prize at the Fantastica film festival in Belgium.
In 1995 came the equally ravishing The Phantom Lover (1995) (The Phantom Lover), a love story inspired by the original novel of The Phantom of the Opera, and the Chinese movie Songs of Midnight from the 1920s.
Following these two stunning films, Yu launched his Hollywood career. His flair for visually rich narration appealed immediately to broader Western audiences and has been associated mostly with the horror film genre, as he has revived three franchises - with Bride of Chucky (1998); then Freddy vs. Jason (2003), of the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises, respectively, where its box office total is more than the two franchises'combined earnings.
Never one who confines himself to a genre, Yu went on to direct Fearless (2006) (Fearless), a film starring Jet Li, based on the true story of the martial arts master Huo Yuanjia.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Born on November 6, 1947 in Shanghai, China, Edward Yang has become one of the most talented international filmmakers of his generation. Along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-Liang, Yang ranks among the leading artists of the Taiwanese New Wave, and one of the world's most brilliant auteurs. Growing up in Taipei, Taiwan, he was very interested in Japanese Manga/Comic Books, which led to the writing of his own screenplays. After studying engineering in Taiwan, he enrolled in the Electrical Engineering program at The University of Florida, receiving his Masters degree in 1974 while doing work with The Center for Informatics Research. Yang did not pursue a PhD and instead attended USC Film School briefly, but dropped out after feeling disenchanted by the program's commerce-and-business focus and his own misgivings of pursuing a Film Career. Upon working in Seattle with microcomputers and Defense software, an encounter with a piece by Werner Herzog (Aguirre, Wrath of God) gave him inspiration to observe classics in world cinema and reignited his interest in Film. He eventually wrote the script and served as a production aide on the Hong Kong TV movie, The Winter of 1905 (1981). Although he returned to Taiwan to direct a number of television shows, his break came in 1982 with the direction and writing of the film short, Desires (1982), in the seminal Taiwanese New Wave collaboration In Our Time(1982). While Hou Hsiao-Hsien's movies dealt primarily with history or Taiwan's countryside, Yang created films analyzing and revealing the many themes of city and urban life. His first major piece was That Day On The Beach (1983), a modernist narrative reflecting on couples and family. He followed with the urban films Taipei Story (1984), a reflection on urban-Taiwan through a couple - where he cast fellow auteur Hou Hsiao Hsien as the lead - and The Terrorizer (1986), a complex multi-narrative tale. In Yang's brilliant A Brighter Summer Day (1991), a sprawling examination of teen gangs, societal clashes, the influence of American pop-culture and youth, his first authentic masterpiece was crafted. He has followed with the satires A Confucian Confusion (1995), and Mahjong (1996), films that looked at the struggle between the modern and the traditional, the relationship between business and art, and how capitalistic greed may corrupt, influence, or effect art. It is, however, his most recent film, Yi Yi (2000), that is considered his magnum opus, an epic story about the Jian family seen through their different perspectives. The three-hour masterwork begins with a wedding, ends with a funeral, and examines all areas of human life in a variety of interesting, artistic ways. He has also collaborated with fellow auteur, novelist, and screenwriter Nien-Jen Wu on the piece, casting him as one of the leads, NJ. Yang's filmmaking style looks at the uncertain future of modernizing Taiwan in an enlightening manner, and his vision is one of the most original operating in world cinema today.- Writer
- Director
- Animation Department
Karel Zeman was a Czech film director, screenwriter, and animator. He is primarily remembered for creating fantasy and science fiction films which combined live-action and animation.
In 1910, Zeman was born in the village of Ostromer in Austria-Hungary. The village is located near the town of Nova Paka, whose main tourist attraction is an abandoned monastery of Minims.
Zeman originally pursued a business education in the town of Kolin. In the 1920s, he studied advertising in France. He remained in France until 1936, working at an advertising studio in Marseilles. His first experience with animation was creating an animated advertisement for soap.
In the late 1930s, Zeman returned to Czechoslovakia, where he continued working in advertising. He created advertisements for companies such as Bata and Tatra. In 1939, Zeman attempted to migrate to Casablanca to avoid the poor living conditions in the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He was soon barred from migrating.
During World War II, Zeman became the advertising head of advertisement at Dum Sluzeb in the city of Brno. He participated in a window-dressing competition there, which his won. Film director Elmar Klos (1910-1993) filmed a newsreel about the competition and became acquainted with Zeman. Klos offered Zeman work at an animation studio located in Zlin. Zeman accepted the business proposal in 1943.
Zeman started working as an assistant animator under veteran animator Hermina Tyrlova (1900-1993), who would eventually be nicknamed "the mother of Czech animation". In 1945, Zeman became the head of the animation's studio, stop-motion animation production group. He started work on his first short film "A Christmas Dream", which combined live-action with puppet animation. The plot involved a dream about toys coming to life.
In 1946, Zeman introduced a series of short films featuring a puppet called Mr. Prokouk. The series gained a fan following. In 1948, Zeman completed the short film "Inspiration", as an experiment in using glass in animation productions. In 1950, Zeman completed a half-hour film called "Kral Lavra" (King Lavra), an adaptation of a satirical poem by Karel Havlicek Borovsky (1821-1856), The film depicted the legend of Labraid Loingsech, High King of Ireland and was met with critical success. Zeman won a National Award with this film.
In 1952, Zeman created his first feature film "The Treasure of Bird Island", adapting a Persian fairy tale. He used several experimental techniques in animation. His next film was "Journey to the Beginning of Time" (1955), in which he animated many prehistoric animals. It was his first film to have an international release. Zeman worked on 8 other feature films between 1958 and 1980, as well as a large number of short films. He was one of Czechoslovakia's most famed animators.
Zeman retired in 1980, at the age of 70. He had been working as a director for 34 years at that point. He died of natural causes in April 1989, about 7 months before the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia. He was 78-years-old.
Zeman has been called as one of the 20th century's most innovative and influential animators. He has been cited as an influence by (among others) Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, and Jan Svankmajer.- Director
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Takahisa Zeze was born on 24 May 1960 in Matama, Ôita, Japan [now Bungotakada, Ôita, Japan]. He is a director and writer, known for Akai jôji (1996), Kindan no sono: Za seifuku rezu (1992) and Owaranai sekkusu (1995).- Writer
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Born in Lvov, Ukraine; then he moved with his father Miroslaw Zulawski to Czechoslovakia and later to Poland. In the late 1950s, he studied cinema in France. In the 1960s, he was an assistant of the famous Polish film director Andrzej Wajda. His feature debut The Third Part of the Night (1971) was an adaptation of his father's novel. His second feature The Devil (1972) was prohibited in Poland, and Zulawski went to France. After the success of his French debut That Most Important Thing: Love (1975) in 1975, he returned to Poland where he spent two years in making On the Silver Globe (1988). The work on this film was brutally interrupted by the authorities. After that, Zulawski moved to France where became known for his highly artistic, controversial, and very violent films. Zulawski is well known for his ability to discover and "rediscover" actresses. Romy Schneider, Isabelle Adjani and Sophie Marceau played their best parts in his films.- Director
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Yuan Zhang was born in October 1963 in Nanjing, China. He is a director and producer, known for Kan shang qu hen mei (2006), Seventeen Years (1999) and East Palace, West Palace (1996).- Director
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Yang Zhang was born in 1967 in Beijing, China. He is a director and writer, known for Getting Home (2007), Shower (1999) and Aiqing mala tang (1997).- Director
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Born in 1964 in Famagusta, North Cyprus, Dervish Zaim graduated from Warwick University. He took a course in independent film production, organized in London by the Hollywood Film Institute. In 1995 his first novel won the prestigious "Yunus Nadi" literary prize in Turkey. Tabutta Rövasata (Somersault in a Coffin) is his debut as director and screenwriter.- Director
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He has made been famous in the young soviet cinema by his films about Lenin (Lenin in Poland (1966) and others). He had a great international acclaim by his version of Othello (1956) and engaged to the Soviet cinema two French stars: Marina Vlady for Lika in Syuzhet dlya nebolshogo rasskaza (1969) and Claude Jade for Inessa in _Lenin v Parizhe (1980)_.- Director
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Yonfan wrote, directed and produced all 14 of his motion pictures.
He was born in Wuhan, China and brought up in Taiwan now lives in Hong Kong. Throughout his career, he gave Maggie Cheung her first on-screen romantic role and made Chow Yun-fat a box-office star, Story of Rose (1985), discovered Daniel Wu, Bishonen (1998) and revived the career of the legendary Rie Miyazawa, Peony Pavilion (2002). He has pioneered LGBT theme in the Hong Kong mainstream cinema. He has worked with practically every Chinese screen siren of his era. He also restored his complete film library and is now restoring his photographic work including images of China and Tibet in the late 70's and 80's. In 1997, French President Jacques Chirac presented the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur to Yonfan to honor his contribution to film art.
As a connoisseur of Chinese paintings, Yonfan has made donations to Musée Guimet Paris and the Arthur M Sackler Gallery. He is also a renowned writer in Chinese and has had books of his essays and short stories, memoirs of world cinema, his photography and his art collections published in Chinese, English and Japanese.
No.7 Cherry Lane is Yonfan's debut animation and his first new film in a decade (Prince of Tears in 66th Venice Competition, 2009) and awarded "Best Screenplay" in 76th Venice Competition, 2019.- Director
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Yu Hyun-mok was born on 2 July 1925 in Sariwon, Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Yu was a director and editor, known for Eommawa byeolgwa malmijal (1995), Salamui adeul (1980) and Ilheobeolin cheongchun (1957). Yu died on 28 June 2009 in Ilsan, South Korea.- Director
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Nuanxing Zhang was born in 1941 in China. Nuanxing was a director and writer, known for Sha Ou (1981), Sacrificed Youth (1986) and Nan zhong guo 1994 (1994). Nuanxing died on 28 May 1995 in China.- Director
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Kôzaburô Yoshimura was born on 9 September 1911 in Hiroshima, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Anjô-ke no butôkai (1947), A Night to Remember (1962) and Clothes of Deception (1951). He died on 7 November 2000 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.- Director
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Jin Xie was born on 21 November 1923 in Zhejiang, China. He was a director and writer, known for Hibiscus Town (1987), Legend of Tianyun Mountain (1980) and Two Stage Sisters (1964). He died on 18 October 2008 in Shangyu, Zhejiang Province, China.- Director
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Mitsuo Yanagimachi was born on 2 November 1945 in Ibaraki, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Ai ni tsuite, Tokyo (1992), Jukyusai no chizu (1979) and Farewell to the Land (1982).- Director
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Brazilian-born Tizuka Yamasaki, a granddaughter of Japanese immigrants, has lived one of Brazil's most complicated identity crossroads. As a result, Yamasaki's films frequently deal with intersection of gender, race, nationality and ethnicity in Brazilian culture, pushing the question of what it means to be Brazilian.
Born in Porto Alegre, Yamasaki grew up in São Paulo. She was drawn to filmmaking in the early seventies in Brazil, despite the social and financial risks of the career path. She was trained in the politically oriented style of Cinema Novo by Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Glauber Rocha.
Yamasaki's first feature film, Gaijin - Brazilian Odyssey is the story of a Japanese family's emigration to Brazil at the turn of the century. It won her awards at the Cannes International Film Festival, the Georges Sadoul Award, the International Festival of New Latin American Movies, the Women's International Film Festival, and the International Film Festival of New Delhi.
Her next feature, Parahyba, A Macho Woman, narrates the story of Anayde Beiriz, a Brazilian woman who defies society's patriarchal rules amidst the political divide between conservatives and liberals in the Northeast State of Paraiba during the 1930s. It won awards at the XVI Brasilia Film Festival, Biarritz Latin American Film Festival, and the Huelva Latin American Film Festival
In Beloved Motherland, Yamasaki chronicles Brazil's return to democracy following 20 years of military dictatorship. The film uses a fictional family composed of a filmmaker documenting the impressive Candelária demonstration in favor of popular presidential elections, and a reporter he has asked to interview celebrities in the crowd. The unscripted movie involved collaboration between the actors and directors to improvise scenes in response to daily political events.
Yamasaki has also directed soap operas and a stage production of the opera Madame Butterfly in Belo Horizonte.