by Bruce Hodsdon
(Intro para)
Absences are at least partially explained by the suspension of the selection of directors by the editors from 1984-93 leaving a 50 director gap. Stephen Spielberg was selected as producer/director and Alan Pakula as director in 1984 in a revamping of the format that was not continued. Each selection is supported by a short critical biography of about 1500-2000 words, generally by a commissioned author, and a filmography.
At the time IFG commenced publication the association of auteur-director and national labels was the main way non-Hollywood films were identified critically and for promotion as art films. By the eighties this form of identification had become more complex, as Stephen Crofts discusses and the world production survey implicitly illustrates, although the initial association remains a main marker for distribution and exhibition purposes.
N.b. No directors of the year were selected for ten years, 1984-93
The Anglosphere
Australia (5)
- 1980: Peter Weir
- 1994: Bruce Beresford
- 1995: Jane Campion
- 1996: Gillian Armstrong
- 2010: John Hillcoat
Canada
- 2006: David Cronenberg
GB (20)
- 1967: Joseph Losey
- 1970: Lindsay Anderson
- 1973: John Schlesinger
- 1974: John Boorman, James Ivory
- 1975: Richard Lester
- 1981: Nicolas Roeg, Peter Yates
- 1982: Karel Reisz
- 1995: Ken Loach
- 1998: Kenneth Branagh, Peter Greenaway
- 1999: Michael Winterbottom
- 2000: Danny Boyle
- 2001: Neil Jordan
- 2002: Stephen Frears
- 2004: Christopher Nolan
- 2005: Mike Leigh
- 2008: Paul Greengrass
- 2012: Terence Davies
USA (40)
- 1964: Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock
- 1965: Stanley Kubrick
- 1966: Richard Brooks
- 1967: John Frankenheimer
- 1968: Sidney Lumet
- 1969: Arthur Penn
- 1971: Elia Kazan
- 1974: John Huston
- 1975: Robert Altman
- 1976: John Cassavetes, Francis Coppola
- 1977: Woody Allen, George Cukor
- 1978: Vincente Minnelli, Michael Ritchie
- 1979: Martin Scorsese
- 1980: Hal Ashby
- 1983: Bob Rafelson
- 1994: Abel Ferrara
- 1995: Clint Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino
- 1996: Oliver Stone
- 1997: Michael Mann, Wayne Wang
- 1998: Joel & Ethan Cohen, Ang Lee
- 1999: Gus van Sant
- 2000: Spike Lee, David Mamet
- 2001: Steven Soderbergh
- 2002: Curtis Hanson, Ridley Scott
- 2003: Paul T Anderson
- 2005: Alexander Payne
- 2009: John Sayles
- 2010: Kathryn Bigelow
- 2011: Darren Aronovsky
- 2012: Terrence Malick
W. Europe
France (22)
- 1964: François Truffaut
- 1965: Louis Malle
- 1965: Jacques Demy
- 1967: Georges Franju
- 1969: Jacques Tati
- 1970: Claude Chabrol
- 1971: Jean-Pierre Melville
- 1972: Eric Rohmer
- 1973: Robert Bresson, Alain Resnais
- 1974: Jean-Luc Godard
- 1977: Claude Sautet
- 1980: Bertrand Tavernier
- 1982: Maurice Pialat
- 1994: Bertrand Blier
- 1998: Luc Besson
- 1999: Patrice Leconte
- 2003: Jacques Audiard, Gasper Noé
- 2006: Patrice Chéreau
- 2009: Agnès Varda
- 2010: Claire Denis
Italy (12)
- 1964: Luchino Visconti
- 1965: Frederico Fellini
- 1966: Francesco Rosi
- 1968: Michelangelo Antonioni
- 1970: Pier Paolo Pasolini
- 1972: Bernado Bertolucci
- 1975: Marco Ferreri
- 1977: Lina Wertmuller
- 1981: Ermanno Olmi
- 1983: Dino Risi
- 1997: Nanni Moretti
- 2009: Paolo Sorrentino
Germany (4)
- 1976: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- 1979: Werner Herzog
- 1980: Wim Wenders
- 1982: Volker Schlondorff
Spain (4)
- 1965: Luis Buñuel
- 1978: Carlos Saura
- 1981: Luis Garcia Berlanga
- 1999: Pedro Almódovar
Scandinavia (16)
- 1968: Bo Widerberg (Swe)
- 1972: Jan Troell (S), Jörn Donner (S)
- 1973: Ingmar Bergman (S)
- 1980: Henning Carlsen (Den)
- 1975: Vilgot Sjoman (S)
- 1994: Bille August (D)
- 1995: Lars von Trier (D), Aki & Mika Kaurismaki (Fin)
- 2000: Søren Kragh-Jacobsen (D)
- 2001: Lasse Hallström (S)
- 2002: Liv Ullman (S)
- 2004: Lukas Moodysson (S)
- 2008: Susanne Bier (D)
- 2012: Nicolas Winding Refn (D), Tomas Alfredson (S)
Other W. Europe (7)
- 1976: Michael Cacoyannis (Gr)
- 1978: Claude Goretta (Swi)
- 1979: Fons Rademakers (Neth)
- 1997: Theo Angelopoulos (Gr), Paul Verhoeven (Neth)
- 2006: Michael Haneke (Aus)
- 2012: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne (Bel)
E.Europe & Russia
Poland (6)
- 1964: Andrej Wajda
- 1967: Roman Polanski
- 1970: Jerzy Skolimowski
- 1975: Wojiech Has
- 1976: Krzysztof Zanussi
- 1981: Krzysztof Kieslowśki
Czechoslovakia (5)
- 1968: Jan Nëmec
- 1969: Milos Forman
- 1971: Evald Schorm
- 2004: Jan Hrebejk
- 2005: Petr Zelenka
Hungary (4)
- 1969: Miklos Jancsó
- 1974: Istvan Gaál
- 1979: Marta Mészáros
- 1982: Istvan Szabo
Other E. Europe (2)
- 1973: Dusân Makavejev (Yugo)
- 2001: Goran Paskaljević (Serb)
Soviet Union (4)
- 1969: Sergei Bondarchuk
- 1971: Mark Donskoi
- 1972: Grigori Kozintsev
- 1983: Andrei Tarkovsky
Asia & Mid East
Japan (6)
- 1966: Akira Kurosawa
- 1970: Kon Ichikawa
- 1971: Nagisa Oshima
- 1977: Masaki Kobayashi
- 2000: Takeshi Kitano
- 2009: Hayao Miyazaki
India (5)
- 1965: Satyajit Ray
- 1978: Shyam Benegal
- 1982: Mrinal Sen
- 2003: Mira Nair
- 2006: Deepa Mehta
Sri Lanka
- 1983: Lester Peries
China (2)
- 1994: Zhang Yimou
- 2008: Jia Zhangke
Hong Kong (3)
- 1978: King Hu
- 1999: John Woo
- 2002: Wong Kar-wai
Taiwan (2)
- 1996: Hou Hsai-Hsien
- 2001: Edward Yang
South Korea (3)
- 2004: Kim Je-woon
- 2005: Kim Ki-duk
- 2010: Park Chan-wook
Thailand
- 2011: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Turkey (3)
- 1983: Yilmaz Güney
- 2008: Fatih Akin
- 2009: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Iran
- 1996: Abbas Kiarostami
Central & South America
Argentina (2)
- 1967: Leopoldo Torre-Nilsson (Arg)
- 2006: Carlos Sorin (Arg)
Brazil (1)
- 2003: Walter Salles (Bra)
Mexico (2)
- 2008: Guillermo del Toro (Mex)
- 2011: Alejandro Gonzalez Inárritu (Mex)
Summary
- Total: 185 Directors
- The Anglosphere: 66 36% 3
- W. Europe: 65 35% 5
- E.Europe & Russia: 21 11% 1
- Asia & Mid East: 27 15% 2
- Central & S America: 6 3% –
- Women directors: 11 (6%)
Documentarists (4)
- 1966: Bert Haanstra (Neth)
- 1968: Joris Ivens (Neth)
- 2005: Errol Morris (USA)
- 2011: Kim Longinotto (GB)
