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Directors We Love

When we really love a director, we keep tabs on their films, interview them, and often write multiple essays about their work.

Index by Job Title
Index by Last Name

Our Expertise

We are an expert source on these directors.

Debra Granik

Debra Granik’s films — Down to the Bone, Stray Dog, Winter’s Bone,and Leave No Trace — interrogate conventional images of American white poverty with unparalleled empathy.

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An image of filmmaker Debra Granik against a yellow background next to text that bears her name.

Luca Guadagnino

Guadagnino’s films tend to explore bodies and how people relate to each other’s bodies — through dance, romance, and desire — offering a totally sensory experience. We’ve gone deep on his three most recent films: Suspiria, Call Me by Your Name, A Bigger Splash.

Read the in-depth introduction
An image of filmmaker Luca Guadagnino against a purple background next to text that bears his name.

Andrew Haigh

Few directors have mastered the art of mise en scène and blocking like Andrew Haigh, who also regularly gets career best performances out of his actors. His work includes: Lean on Pete, 45 Years, Weekend, and Looking

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An image of filmmaker Andrew Haigh against a blue background next to text that bears his name.

Joanna Hogg

Hogg specialises in scathing and unsettling depictions of the British upper middle class. Her work includes: Unrelated, Archipelago, Exhibition, and The Souvenir.

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An image of filmmaker Joanna Hogg against a red background next to text that bears her name.

Mike Leigh

From Vera Drake to Happy-Go-Lucky, Naked to Mr. Turner, nobody creates a truly lived-in cinematic world like Mike Leigh. Discover Leigh’s unique process through interviews with the man himself and his key collaborators on Peterloo.

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An image of filmmaker Mike Leigh against a green background next to text that bears his name.

Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay’s features — Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and You Were Never Really Here — centre on characters dealing with trauma by losing themselves in sensations, not language. We went deep on YWNRH.

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An image of filmmaker Lynne Ramsay against a red background next to text that bears her name.

Kelly Reichardt

From unconventional crime dramas (River of Grass and Night Moves), to odd couple buddy movies (Old Joy and First Cow), Reichardt’s modern westerns are melancholy odes to lonely American lives. Our next ebook will be dedicated to her films.

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An image of filmmaker Kelly Reichardt against a yellow background next to text that bears her name.

Céline Sciamma

Seventh Row recently named Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire as one of the top 10 films of the 2010s; her earlier film, Tomboy, also appeared on our list of the 50 best films of the decade. The two leads of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant, also made our list of the 50 best performances of the decade.

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An image of filmmaker Céline Sciamma against a blue background next to text that bears her name.

Joachim Trier

Since 2015, Seventh Row has been committed to becoming the best source for criticism on and information about the films of Joachim Trier, director of Thelma, Louder Than Bombs, Oslo August 31st, and Reprise.

Read the in-depth introduction
An image of filmmaker Joachim Trier against a green background next to text that bears his name.

Alice Winocour

With just three features under her belt (Augustine, Disorder, Proxima) writer-director Alice Winocour is already one of the most exciting new talents with great sensitivity to actors and sound design.

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An image of filmmaker Alice Winocour against a purple background next to text that bears her name.

A Closer Look

Directors we’ve been keeping tabs; we’ve covered at least two of their films.

Anne Émond

The Québécois writer-director of Nelly and Our Loved Ones has distinguished herself as one of Canada’s most exciting new voices.

Read articles
Nelly, Anne Émond, Nelly Arcand

Mina Shum

The Vancouver filmmaker of Meditation Park and Ninth Floor is committed to chronicling the Canadian immigration experience and generating empathy for oft-overlooked characters.

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Mina Shum, Meditation Park, Pei-Pei Cheng

Selma Vilhunen

The Finnish filmmaker behind Stupid Young Heart and Little Wing has quickly distinguished herself for her stories about adolescents, identity, and mental health.

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Frederick Wiseman

One of the great documentary filmmakers ever, Wiseman’s observational films are intellectual delights and fascinating character studies. Recent films include: Monrovia Indiana, Ex Libris, In Jackson Heights, and National Gallery.

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Frederick Wiseman, Monrovia Indiana

Chloé Zhao

With just two features under her belt — The Rider and Songs My Brothers Taught Me — Zhao is one of the great American filmmakers dedicated to telling stories about masculinity and family, using non-actors.

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Chloé Zhao, The Rider
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Our Ebooks

  • In their own words: Fiction directors – an ebook on filmmaking
  • Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt’s broken American dreams – an ebook to prepare you for First Cow
  • Portraits of Resistance: The Cinema of Céline Sciamma
  • Beyond Empowertainment: Feminist Horror and The Struggle for Female Agency
  • The 2019 Canadian Cinema Yearbook
  • Tour of Memories: on Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir
  • Peterloo in Process: A Mike Leigh collaboration
  • Leave No Trace
  • Lean on Pete
  • You Were Never Really Here
  • Call Me by Your Name

Browse

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  • Directors We Love
  • Films We Love
  • Guide to Canadian film
  • World Cinema for Young Adults
  • Family Viewing Guide
  • Interview Index by Job Title
  • Interview Index by Last Name

Discover Great Films: Take a Challenge

  • Kelly Reichardt Challenge
  • Céline Sciamma challenge
  • Joanna Hogg Challenge
  • Canadian Cinema Challenge





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