Top international directors – past and present

Woody Allen

(USA, 1935 - )

Films include – Bananas (1971), Play It Again Sam (1972), Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979), Hannah and Her Sister (1985), Another Woman (1989), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1990), Alice (1991), Sweet & Lowdown (1999), Small Time Crooks (2000), Anything Else (2003).

Ingmar Bergman

(Sweden, 1918 - )

Films include – Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1956), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Luis Bunuel

(Spain, 1900 – 1983)

Films include – Un Chien Andalou (1928), L’Age d’Or (1930), Belle De Jour (1966), The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoisie (1972), The Phantom of Liberty (1974), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

Sergei Eisenstein

(USSR, 1898 – 1948)

Films include – Batlleship Potemkin (1925), October (1927), The General Line (1928), Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ivan the Terrible (1943-6)

Federico Fellini

(Italy, 1920 – 1993)

Films include – La Strada (1954), La Dolce Vita (1959), 8 ½ (1963), Juliet Of The Spirits (1965), Satyricon (1969 ), Fellini Roma (1972), Amarcord (1974), Fred And Ginger (1988)

Luchino Visconti

(Italy, 1906 – 1976)

Films include – Ossessione (1942), Senso (1953), Boccaccio ’70 (1962), The Leopard (1963), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1970).

Francois Truffaut

(France, 1932 – 1987)

Films include – Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959), Jules et Jim (1961), L’Enfant Sauvage (1969), La Nuit Americaine (1973), Le Dernier Metro (1980), Vivement Dimanche (1983)

Satyajit Ray

(India, 1921 – 1992)

Films include – Pather Panchali (1954), The Unvanquished (1956), The World of Apu (1959), Distant Thunder (1974), The Chess Players (1977), An Enemy of the People (1989)

Steven Spielberg

(USA, 1946 - )

Films include – Duel (1971), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders Of the Lost Ark (1981), ET (1982), The Color Purple (1987), Empire Of The Sun (1988), Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989), Always (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler’s List (1994), The Lost World — Jurassic Park (1997), Saving’ Private Ryan (1998), Minority Report (2003), The Terminal (2004)

Akira Kurosawa

(Japan, 1910 - )

Films include – Rashomon (1950), The Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1956), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Dersu Uzala (1975), The Shadow Warrior (1981), Ran (1985), Madadayo (1998), Dreams (1990).

Alfred Hitchcock

(UK, 1899 – 1980)

Films include – The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca (1940), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), Strangers On A Train (1951), Dial M For Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1950), North By Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963)

Jean – Luc Godard

(France, 1930 - )

Films include – A Bout De Souffle (1960), Bande a Part (1964), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot Le Fou (1966), Sauve Qui Peut (1980), King Lear (1980)

John Ford

(USA, 1895 – 1973)

Films include – The Iron Horse (1924), Stagecoach (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Man who Shot Liberty Vallance (1962)

E. In small groups brainstorm questions you are curious to ask a famous international director and write an interview sample.

	The idea This usually comes from either the director or the writer.	The script A film script is developed in three stages. First, there’s a short outline of the story – then a longer, more detailed ‘treatment’, and finally a complete ‘shooting script’.
8. Release Finally, the film is giving the certificate (U, PG, 15 or 18) and released. After that, everything depends on the audience. Not just the cinema audience, though. These days video rentals, are important too. They can often decide weather a film is a financial success or not. And if it is a success? Well – it is easier for everyone involved to develop another idea.	Movies are being made all over the world all the time. But how does it happen? How, step-by-step, does a script get to the screen? The Cinema dossiers reports.		3. Finance Finding money to finance a project is often the hardest part. It can come from (a) a major studio (b) a large business organization or group of companies (c) private investors.
Marketing Preparing the audience or ‘market’ for the film comes next. There are several ways to do this. They include (a) poster campaigns (b) radio, TV and magazine advertising (c) cinema ‘trailers’ (d) interviews by the film’s stars.			4. Pre-production OK – now there’s a script and enough money to make the film. But there’s still a lot of preparations to do before the director shouts ‘Action!’. This is called ‘pre-production’ and it includes: (a) casting (b) finding locations (c) building sets (d) making costumes.
	Post-production Once shooting is finished, post-production begins. This is when the film is (a) edited (b) has the sound track added to it (c) is dubbed or subtitled for foreign audiences.	Production The actual shooting of film is called ‘production’. Depending on the project it can last anything from three months to over a year.

F. Read the article about how the film is made. Use the information, and your knowledge, to give your own explanation of the following phrases:

afilm script____________________________________________________________________

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b financing a film______________________________________________________________

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c preparing for production________________________________________________________

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d post-production ______________________________________________________________

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e marketing ___________________________________________________________________

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Part IV. Legends of World Cinematography

The most enduring of all Hollywood mystiques is that of the star. “God makes the stars,” as studio head Samuel Goldwyn once put it, “and the public recognizes His handiwork.” There are thousands of film actors and actresses – hundreds of good ones – dozens of stars. But only a handful in each generation become “legends”.