Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education.
Over his twenty-plus year tenure in Hollywood, Spike Lee has produced a number of controversial films that unapologetically confront sensitive social issues, particularly those of race relations and discrimination.
A look at the wide-ranging work of the Golden Age genius who made The Ten Commandments and other blockbusters-and helped found the American film industry.
Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (19081991) was one of the most prominent directors of the twentieth century, responsible for the classics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965).
Initially regarded as a cult figure with a strong following amongst sci-fi and horror film fans, Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg emerged as a major and commercially viable film director with mainstream hits such as A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007).
From his cult classic television series Twin Peaks to his most recent film Inland Empire (2006), David Lynch is best known for his unorthodox narrative style.
Over his twenty-plus year tenure in Hollywood, Spike Lee has produced a number of controversial films that unapologetically confront sensitive social issues, particularly those of race relations and discrimination.
Widely regarded as a turning point in American independent cinema, Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (1989) launched the career of its twenty-six-year-old director, whose debut film was nominated for an Academy Award and went on to win the Cannes Film Festival's top award, the Palme d'Or.
Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education.
The shower scene in Psycho; Cary Grant running for his life through a cornfield; innocent birds lined up on a fence waiting, watching these seminal cinematic moments are as real to moviegoers as their own lives.
The films of Quentin Tarantino are ripe for philosophical speculation, raising compelling questions about justice and ethics, violence and aggression, the nature of causality, and the flow of time.
Since the early 1980s, Jim Jarmusch has produced a handful of idiosyncratic films that have established him as one of the most imaginatively allusive directors in the history of American cinema.
After an unparalleled string of artistic and commercial triumphs in the 1950s and 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock hit a career lull with the disappointing Torn Curtain and the disastrous Topaz.
Cinema has been long associated with France, dating back to 1895, when Louis and Auguste Lumi_re screened their works, the first public viewing of films anywhere.
From his cult classic television series Twin Peaks to his most recent film Inland Empire (2006), David Lynch is best known for his unorthodox narrative style.
Whether addressing HIV/AIDS, the policing of bathroom sex, censorship, or anti-globalization movements, John Greyson has imbued his work with cutting humour, eroticism, and postmodern aesthetics.
Robert Flaherty's groundbreaking Nanook of the North (1922) - the chronicle of one year in the life of an Inuit hunter and his family in the Hudson Bay region - was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history.
Covering all aspects of his film experience B from his childhood encounter with an exploding nickelodeon show, to his apprenticeship as a lab technician in Hollywood's Jessie Lasky Studios, to director of photography for Paramount Pictures - Life through a Lens details how "e;Bordie"e; thrived on the evolving technical demands of an art form in constant flux.
Through close readings of Jutra's major films, Jim Leach analyses their distinctive cinematic qualities and discusses the responses they have received from reviewers and critics.
Ingmar Bergman has long been revered as a master craftsman of the cinema, a film poet who has created works that are intensely revealing of himself while resonating mysteriously and powerfully with his audience.
In 1999, Elia Kazan (1909-2003) received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement; it was a controversial award, for in 1952 he had given testimony to the HUAC Committee, for which he was ostracized by many.
Joel and Ethan Coen make up one of the most original and unconventional movie-making partnerships to come out of America at the end of the 20th century.
Some Like it Hot is one of the most famous films of all time and is also the most profitable comedy in the history of film, not to mention one of the most beloved.
