Kategoria BISAC: Performing Arts >> Film - Direction & Production

British filmmaker Michael Powell (1905-1990) began his career assisting director Rex Ingram in the waning years of silent film. Given a boost by Alfred Hitchcock, Powell spent much of the 1930s directing what were known as -quota quickies, - low-budget B movies.

Later he created some of the most daring, interesting, and literate films ever made, including The Edge of the World (1937), Peeping Tom (1960), and his work with Hungarian-born filmmaker Emeric Pressburger, with whom producer/director Alexander Korda paired him.

Powell's conversations...

With six entries at the Cannes Film Festival thus far, Lars von Trier has been a Cannes award winner four times. Without question, he is the most intriguing film director to emerge in Denmark since the days of his great mentor in spirit Carl Theodor Dreyer. A relentless visionary, von Trier (b. 1956) has succeeded not only in realizing his projects but also in managing to gather substantial audiences to his films. Breaking the Waves (1996) made him a well-known figure to American audiences, as did Dancer in the Dark (2000), winner of the Palme d'Or at...

Even twenty years after his death and nearly fifty or more years after his creative peak, Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) is still arguably the most instantly recognizable film director in name, appearance, vision, and voice. Long ago, through a combination of timing, talent, genius, energy, and publicity, he made the key transition from proper noun to adjective that confirms celebrity and true stature. It is a rare film watcher indeed who cannot define -Hitchcockian.-

As the director of such films as Psycho, North by Northwest, Spellbound, Vertigo, Rear...

Few Hollywood directors had a higher profile in the 1930s than Frank Capra (18971991). He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and of the Screen Directors Guild. He won three Academy Awards as best director and was widely acclaimed as the man most responsible for making Columbia Pictures a success.

This popularity was established and sustained by films that spoke to and for the times--It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. These replicated the nation's...

Few Hollywood directors had a higher profile in the 1930s than Frank Capra (18971991). He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and of the Screen Directors Guild. He won three Academy Awards as best director and was widely acclaimed as the man most responsible for making Columbia Pictures a success.

This popularity was established and sustained by films that spoke to and for the times--It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. These replicated the nation's...

This collection of interviews with the renowned filmmaker, animator, artist, and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe covers the phases of his career from his early work as a cartoonist and animator through his most recent and most difficult projects.

Among many subjects, Gilliam discusses his formative years as an artist and humor-magazine cartoonist, his move from the United States to England, his entry into British television, and his success as resident animator for the Monty Python's Flying Circus television show.

As co-director of Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

At first glance, George Stevens (19041975) appears to be the quintessential Hollywood director. A closer look at his achievements shows him to be more than just the creator of some of the smartest melodramas and comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, including Annie Oakley, Swing Time, and Gunga Din. Several of his films--Giant, The Diary of Anne Frank, Shane, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and A Place in the Sun--are regarded as some of the most important and enduring dramas of postwar American cinema. As a leading producer...

At first glance, George Stevens (19041975) appears to be the quintessential Hollywood director. A closer look at his achievements shows him to be more than just the creator of some of the smartest melodramas and comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, including Annie Oakley, Swing Time, and Gunga Din. Several of his films--Giant, The Diary of Anne Frank, Shane, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and A Place in the Sun--are regarded as some of the most important and enduring dramas of postwar American cinema. As a leading producer...

Fred Zinnemann (1907-1997) was one of Hollywood's most honored directors. In a career that spanned fifty years, he won four Academy Awards and directed such classic movies as From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons, The Day of the Jackal, and High Noon.

Covering thirty-three years of conversations (1964-1997), Fred Zinnemann: Interviews provides a revealing glimpse into the director's vision as he discusses in his cultivated, elegant voice his varied experiences as a filmmaker. He defends himself against charges that his films are too objective...

Sidney Lumet (b. 1924) is considered one of the most gifted and socially conscious American filmmakers of his generation. His best-known movies--including Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, 12 Angry Men, and Network--have garnered him an Honorary Academy Award in 2005, multiple Oscar nominations for Best Director, the D. W. Griffith Award for Lifetime Achievement, and numerous other tributes.

This book features over twenty interviews with the director, including an interview conducted by the editor for this volume. One of the few mainstream...

Sidney Lumet (b. 1924) is considered one of the most gifted and socially conscious American filmmakers of his generation. His best-known movies--including Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, 12 Angry Men, and Network--have garnered him an Honorary Academy Award in 2005, multiple Oscar nominations for Best Director, the D. W. Griffith Award for Lifetime Achievement, and numerous other tributes.

This book features over twenty interviews with the director, including an interview conducted by the editor for this volume. One of the few mainstream...

Artisan, entrepreneur, and impresario, British filmmaker Ridley Scott accepts the profit motive as the only way to thrive in an industry where there is little patience for artistic flourishes or overblown expenses. Yet, while he may pay lip service to the free enterprise system, he is an unapologetic auteur, committed to using every element of film-from evocative lighting to digital composition-to overwhelm our senses and redefine how we perceive the future (Alien, Blade Runner), the past (1492: The Conquest of Paradise, Gladiator), and the present (Thelma &...

Director John Woo (b. 1946) reinvented the modern action movie and helped open the door for Asian filmmakers to the Western world. His hyper-violent, highly choreographed style made him a box office powerhouse, a respected auteur, and a revered figure among fellow directors.

First discovered by Western audiences through his Hong Kong films The Killer and Hard Boiled, Woo introduced the world to a new brand of psychologically frenzied action film. After coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Woo produced a trilogy of hard-charging action films--Broken...

Roman Polanski (b. 1933) arrived on the international scene in 1962 with his first feature film, Knife in the Water, and his face would be on the cover of Time magazine by the end of that year. His vibrant, disturbing, and often violent films--including the psychological thriller Rosemary's Baby, the film noir classic Chinatown, and the somber Holocaust drama The Pianist--have entertained and sometimes infuriated audiences. Stylistically unsettling and thematically varied, Polanski's films have established him as one of the most talented and controversial...

Joel and Ethan Coen (b. 1954, 1957) started their careers in obscurity on a shoestring budget cajoled from family and friends in Minneapolis. Working entirely outside the studio system, the Coen brothers scored an unlikely first success in 1984 with their postmodern noir film Blood Simple. Two decades and nearly a dozen movies later, the Coens are now among the best-known writer/directors in Hollywood, turning out major studio releases featuring such stars as George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Tom Hanks.

The Coens' films all share a distinctive, quirky ambience that...

Joel and Ethan Coen (b. 1954, 1957) started their careers in obscurity on a shoestring budget cajoled from family and friends in Minneapolis. Working entirely outside the studio system, the Coen brothers scored an unlikely first success in 1984 with their postmodern noir film Blood Simple. Two decades and nearly a dozen movies later, the Coens are now among the best-known writer/directors in Hollywood, turning out major studio releases featuring such stars as George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Tom Hanks.

The Coens' films all share a distinctive, quirky ambience that...

Looking for a career in the film business? Look no further.

Making it in Hollywood is possible. But only if you have a workable strategy. When author Frederick Levy launched his own fledgling career, he didnt' know a soul in the business. But that didn't stop him and it doesn't have to stop you. Hollywood 101 is a complete game plan for getting your foot in the door of the film industry. With fascinating inside stories and advice from key players, it takes you step-by-step up the ladder of success. Whether you aspire to be a producer, director, writer, talent agent, and any...