15 More Directors I have little/no experience with (15-11)

A few months ago, I released a list focused upon the forty directors I needed to experience more of. As time has gone on I have discovered even more directors I need to see more work of. So here is a list of the fifteen directors not included on that original list, who probably should have been.

15. Abel Gance

Recently I have been watching The Story of Film: An Odyssey by Mark Cousins. I will probably cover this wonderful documentary series at point during this month, however one of the interesting filmmakers I discovered during the first few episodes was Abel Gance. Considered the grandfather of French impressionism and the inspiration for many filmmakers in the decades to follow, perhaps most significantly Jean Cocteau. La Roue appears to be one of the most daring films of the early 1920's, and his four-hour epic Napoleon seems to be a sublime masterwork from only the ffew frames I have seen.

14. Michelangelo Antonioni

Considered a master of Italian neo-realism. I am fervently fascinated by his film Blow-up and it's highly influential standing amongst filmmakers across the world. Not too much more to say about this filmmaker, other than I should have included him along the other legendary Italian filmmakers on my first list.

13. Xavier Dolan

This Canadian filmmaker is perhaps the most significant homosexual director working today. His highly acclaimed body of work despite his youth shows exceptional raw talent despite inexperience. Now all I need to do is see some of his films so I can praise him even more. Would be higher on this list if not for his fairly small filmography as of the time of writing this list.

12. Kim Ki-duk

Unlike many on this list, I did consider this filmmaker for the original list. I eventually cut him as I felt there wasn't enough to truly intrigue me. Recently however Taste of Cinema posted an interesting retrospective on this director's career. From this I have gotten a better idea of exactly how influential this director is to contemporary Asian cinema, and I am now curious to say the least.

11. Spike Lee

I will admit something here. This filmmaker was not on the previous list based on entirely petty reasons. Spike Lee directed the Oldboy remake, a concept which angers me so much that I have effectively avoided the director ever since. I now realise how petty it is to to dislike an artist based on a single recent work and I now look forward to seeing his films for what they are. Namely the premier works in African-American cinema, from one of the most assertive directors working today.

By Jack D. Phillips

A Zoom Film List

Part 1 of 3