Three parts for each category, 5 Essential People, 5 Essential Classics, and 5 Lesser-Known Gems.

ACTION

• Howard Hawks
• Walter Hill
• Sam Peckinpah
• Raoul Walsh
• John Woo
• ✔ Children Of Men (2006)
• Die Hard (1988)
• Dr No (1962)
• Face/Off
• Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
• Hatari!
• House Of Flying Daggers (2004)
• The Right Stuff (1983)
• The Wages Of Fear (1953)
• The Warriors (1979)

AFRICA

• Nouri Bouzid
• Youssef Chahine
• Souleymane Cissé
• Ousmane Sembène
• Abderrahmane Sisako
• Cairo Station (1958)
• Moolaadé (2004)
• The Silences Of The Palace (1994)
• Xala (1974)
• Yeelen (1987)
• Abouna (2002)
• Man Of Ashes (1986)
• Tilaï (1990)
• Waiting For Happiness (2002)
• The Tacoubian Building (2006)

AMERICAN INDIE

• John Cassavetes
• Todd Haynes
• Jim Jarmusch
• Richard Linklater
• John Sayles
• Bad Lieutenant (1992)
• ✔ Before Sunset (2004)
• Dead Man (1995)
• ✔ Eraserhead (1977)
• A Woman Under The Influence (1974)
• George Washington (2000)
• Gummo (1997)
• Heavy (1995)
• Lone Star (1995)
• Schizopolis (1996)

AUSTRALASIA

• Gillian Armstrong
• Jane Campion
• Baz Luhrmann
• Phillip Noyce
• Peter Weir
• Mad Max (1979)
• The Piano (1995)
• ✔ Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)
• ✔ Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
• Strictly Ballroom (1992)
• The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994)
• Lantana (2001)
• The Last Days Of Chez Nous (1990)
• Newsfront (1978)

BIOPICS

• Richard Attenborough
• Milos Forman
• Alexander Korda
• Ken Russell
• Martin Scorsese
• Amadeus (1984)
• Gandhi (1982)
• Lust For Life (1956)
• Napoléon (1927)
• ✔ Walk The Line (2005)
• The Chronicle Of Anne Magdalena Bach (1968)
• Ed Wood (1994)
• Lenny (1974)
• The Private Life Of Henry VIII (1933)
• Young Mr Lincoln (1939)

BRITAIN

• Terence Davies
• David Lean
• Carol Reed
• Nicolas Roeg
• Fallen Idol (1948)
• The Iperess File (1965)
• Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)
• The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943)
• The Red Shoes (1948)
• Career Girls (1997)
• Deep End (1970)
• Face (1997)
• Made In Britain (1983)
• Ratcatcher (1999)

CANADA

• Denys Arcand
• David Cronenberg
• Atom Egoyan
• Guy Maddin
• Patricia Rozema
• Archangel (1990)
• I've Heard The Mermaids Singing (1987)
• Jesus Of Montreal (1989)
• The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
• Videodrome (1982)
• Atarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
• The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
• The Confessional (1995)
• Exotica (1994)
• Shivers (1975)

CHICK FLICKS

• Frank Borzage
• George Cukor
• Garry Marshall
• Susan Seidelman
• Douglas Sirk
• Brief Encounter (1954)
• ✔ Gone With The Wind (1939)
• Imitation Of Life (1959)
• Pretty Woman (1990)
• Thelma And Louise (1991)
• All That Heaven Allows (1955)
• In The Mood For Love (2000)
• Now, Voyager (1942)
• Seventh Heaven (1927)
• Stella Dallas (1937)

CHINA

• Chen Kaige
• Stanlet Kwan
• Wong Kar-Wai
• John Woo
• Zhang Yimov
• A Better Tomorrow (1986)
• A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
• Chungking Express (1994)
• Once Upon A Time In China (1983)
• Rouge (1987)
• The River (1997)
• Springtime In A Small Town (2002)
• Suzhou River (2000)
• A Touch Of Zen (1969)
• Unknown Pleasure (2002)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Nestor Almendros
• John Alton
• Chris Doyle
• Vittorio Storano
• Gregg Toland
• The Age Of Innocence (Michael Ballhaus, 1993)
• The Big Combo (John Alton, 1955)
• Citizen Kane (Gregg Toland, 1941)
• Days Of Heaven (Nestor Almendros, 1978)
• In The Mood For Love (Chris Doyle, 2000)
• Black Narcissus (Jack Cardiff, 1947)
• Hannah And Her Sisters (Carlo Di Palma, 1986)
• ✔ Ivan's Childhood (Vadim Iusov, 1962)
• Kiss Me Deadly (Ernest Laszlo, 1955)
• The Last Laugh (Karl Freund, 1924)

COMEDY

• Buster Keaton
• Ernst Lubitsch
• Harold Ramis
• Preston Sturges
• Billy Wilder
• Annie Hall (1977)
• Being John Malkovich (1999)
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)
• Sherlock Jr (1924)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (1927)
• Le dîner de cons (1998)
• It's A Gift (1934)
• The Palm Beach Story (1934)
• Son Of Paleface (1942)

DOCUMENTARY

• Robert Flaherty
• Chris Marker
• Errol Morris
• D.A. Pennebaker
• Peter Watkins
• Bowling For Columbine (2002)
• Don't Look Back (1967)
• Fires Were Started (1943)
• Nanook Of The North (1922)
• The Sorrow And The Pity (1969)
• Edvard Munch (1999)
• One Day In September (1999)
• San soleil (1983)
• The Thin Blue Line (1988)
• Titicut Follies (1967)

EASTERN EUROPE & THE BALKANS

• Milos Forman
• Miklós Jancsó
• Krzysztof Kieślowski
• Jiří Menzel
• Andrzej Wajda
• Ashes And Diamonds (1958)
• Closely Observed Trains (1966)
• Mephisto (1981)
• A Short Film About Love (1988)
• Time Of The Gypsies (1988)
• At Full Gallop (1996)
• A Blonde In Love (1965)
• The Round-Up (1965)
• The Switchboard Operator (1967)
• Werchmeister Harmonies (2000)

EPICS

• Cecil B. DeMille
• D.W. Griffith
• Peter Jackson
• Akira Kurosawa
• David Lean
• Laurence Of Arabia (1962)
• ✔ The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (2000-03)
• Seven Samurai
• Spartacus (1960)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• Farewell My Concubine (1993)
• Heaven's Gate (1980)
• The Hidden Fortress (1958)
• War And Peace (1967)
• The Wind And The Lion (1975)

FANTASY

• Tim Burton
• Jean Cocteau
• Guillermo del Toro
• Terry Gilliam
• Hayao Miyazako
• Brazil (1985)
• ✔ Edward Scissorhands (1990)
• ✔ Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
• ✔ Spirited Away (2001)
• ✔ The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
• Alice (1988)
• La belle et la bête (1946)
• ✔ Donnie Darko (2001)
• Harvey (1950)
• The Thief Of Baghdad (1924)

FILM NOIR

• Fritz Lang
• Joseph H. Lewis
• Anthony Mann
• Nicholas Ray
• Robert Siodmak
• Double Identity (1944)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• Out Of The Past (1947)
• Pickup On South Street (1953)
• Touch Of Evil (1958)
• Criss Cross (1949)
• Force Of Evil (1948)
• In A Lonely Place (1950)
• Raw Deal (1948)

FILM SCORES

• Bernhard Herrmann
• Eric Wolfgang Korngold
• Ennio Morricone
• Nino Rota
• Toru Takemitsu
• ✔ The Godfather (Nino Roto, 1972)
• ✔ Gone With The Wind (Max Steiner, 1939)
• Jaws (John Williams, 1975)
• Once Upon A Time In The West (Ennio Morricone, 1968)
• Vertigo (Bernhard Herrmann, 1958)
• Birth (Alexandre Desplat, 2004)
• Magnolia (Jon Brion, 1999)
• Ran (Toru Takemitsu, 1985)
• Wonderland (Michael Nyman, 1999)

FRANCE

• Marcel Carné
• Claude Chabrol
• Claire Denis
• Jean-Luc Godard
• Jean Renoir
• ✔ A bout de souffle (1959)
• Beau travail (1999)
• Le boucher (1969)
• Les enfants du paradis (1945)
• La règle du jeu (1939)
• Le corbeau (1943)
• The Crime Of Monsieur Lange (1936)
• Monsieur Hire (1989)
• Mouchette (1966)
• To Our Loves (1983)

GANGSTER

• Jean-Luc Godard
• Jean-Pierre Melville
• Arthur Penn
• Martin Scorsese
• Raoul Walsh
• Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
• ✔ The Godfather (1972)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Scarface (1983)
• White Heat (1949)
• Bob le flambeur (1956)
• Sexy Beast (2000)
• Sonatine (1993)
• Tokyo Drifter (1966)
• Underworld (1927)

GERMANY

• Rainer Werner Fassbinder
• Werner Herzog
• Fritz Lang
• F.W. Murnau
• Wim Wenders
• Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (1972)
• M (1931)
• The Marriage Of Maria Braun (1978)
• Metropolis (1927)
• Wings Of Desire (1987)
• Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
• Kuhle Wampe (1932)
• The Lost Honour Of Katharina Blum (1975)
• Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979)
• The Second Heimat (1992)

HORROR

• Dario Argento
• Mario Bava
• John Carpenter
• George A. Romero
• Robert Wise
• ✔ The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• Halloween (1978)
• The Haunting (1963)
• Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
• The Wicker Man (1973)
• Blood And Black Lace (1964)
• The Innocents (1961)
• Ring (1998)
• ✔ Rosemary's Baby (1968)
• ✔ Suspiria (1977)

INDIA

• Ritwik Ghatak
• Raj Kapoor
• Mira Nair
• Satyajit Ray
• Bimal Roy
• Charulata (1969)
• The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)
• Mother India (1957)
• Mughal-E-Azam (1960)
• Pather panchali (1955)
• Akaler sandhane (1980)
• Bombay (1995)
• Junoon (1978)
• Satya (1998)
• Subarnarekhu (1965)

ITALY

• Michelangelo Antonioni
• Bernardo Bertolucci
• Federico Fellini
• Pier Paolo Pasolini
• Roberto Rossellini
• L'avventura (1960)
• ✔ Bicycle Thieves (1948)
• Cinema Paradiso (1998)
• The Conformist (1970)
• La dolce vita (1960)
• Bellissima (1951)
• The Decameron (1971)
• A Fistful Of Dynamite (1971)
• The Son's Room (2001)
• The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (1978)

JAPAN

• Takeshi Kitano
• Akira Kurosawa
• Kenhi Mizoguchi
• Mikio Naruse
• Yasujiro Ozu
• Audition (1999)
• Ballad of Narayama (1983)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Tokyo Story (1953)
• Ugetsu (1953)
• Onibaba (1964)
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
• Sound Of The Mountain (1954)
• Sword Of Doom (1966)
• Woman Of The Dunes (1964)

LATIN & CENTRAL AMERICA

• Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Fernando Mierelles
• Glauber Rocha
• Raúl Ruiz
• Walter Salles
• Amores perros (2000)
• Central Station (1998)
• ✔ City Of God (2002)
• El Topo (1970)
• Y tu mamá también (2001)
• At Mignight I'll Take Your Soul (1963)
• Deep Crimson (1996)
• Pixote (1981)
• Sur (1988)
• Vidas secas (1963)

LITERARY

• John Husten
• James Ivory
• Luchino Visconti
• Orson Welles
• William Wyler
• The Age Of Innocence (1993)
• Barry Lyndon (1975)
• Great Expectations (1946)
• The Magnificent Ambersons 91942)
• A Room With A View (1985)
• El crimen del padre Amaro (2002)
• The Leopard (1963)
• Orlando (1992)
• Time Regained (1999)
• The Wings Of The Dove (1997)

MIDDLE EAST & TURKEY

• Amas Gitai
• Yilmaz Güney
• Abbas Kiarostami
• Muhsen Makhmalbaf
• Jafar Panahi
• Close-Up (1989)
• Gabbeh (1996)
• Offside (2006)
• The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
• Yol (1982)
• Blackboards (2000)
• Rana's Wedding (2002)
• Uzak (2002)
• Wedding In Galilee (1987)
• West Beirut (1998)

MUSICALS

• Busby Berkeley
• Jacques Demy
• Stanley Donan
• Bob Fosse
• Vincente Minnelli
• Cabaret (1972)
• Meet Me In St Louis (1944)
• Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
• ✔ Singin' In The Rain (1952)
• Top Hat (1935)
• Expresso Bongo (1959)
• Gold Diggers Of 1935 (1935)
• Love Me Tonight (1932)
• Nashville (1975)
• Zouzou (1934)

PERIOD DRAMA

• Nicholas Hytner
• Anthony Minghella
• Jean-Pierre Rappeneau
• Tony Richardson
• István Szabó
• ✔ Elizabeth (1998)
• Gangs Of New York (2002)
• The Go-Between (1970)
• The Horsemen On The Roof (1995)
• The Scarlet Empress (1934)
• Blanche (1971)
• The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1968)
• The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
• La nuit de Vorennes (1982)
• ✔ La reine Margot (1994)

RUSSIA & THE SOVIET UNION

• Alexander Dovzhenko
• Sergei Eisenstein
• Elem Klimov
• Alexander Sokurov
• Andrei Tarkovsky
• Battleship Potemkin (1925)
• Come And See (1985)
• The Man With A Movie Camera (1929)
• Russian Ark (2002)
• Solaris (1972)
• Brother (1997)
• Burnt By The Sun (1994)
• The Colour Of Pomegranates (1969)
• Outskirts (1933)

SCANDINAVIA

• Ingmar Bergman
• Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Aki Kaurismäki
• Victor Sjöström
• Lars von Trier
• Breaking The Waves (1996)
• Fanny And Alexander (1982)
• Festen (1998)
• Persona (1966)
• Ordet (1955)
• Day Of Wrath (1943)
• Insomnia (1997)
• A Man Without A Past (2002)
• My Life As A Dog (1985)
• Together (2000)

SCI-FI

• James Cameron
• Ridley Scott
• Steven Spielberg
• Andrei Tarkovsky
• Paul Verhoeven
• ✔ Blade Runner (1982)
• Metropolis (1927)
• Planet Of The Apes (1968)
• Solaris (2003)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Alphaville (1965)
• Barbarella (1968)
• The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961)
• Stalker (1979)
• ✔ Starship Troopers (1997)

SCREENPLAYS

• Charlie Kaufman
• Ben Hecht
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Robert Towne
• Billy Wilder
• All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
• The Apartment (I.A.L. Diamond & Billy Wilder, 1960)
• Chinatown (Robert Towne, 1974)
• ✔ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Charlie Kaufman, 2004)
• Manhattan (Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman, 1979)
• The Great McGinty (Preston Sturges, 1940)
• ✔ Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
• Midnight (Charles Braskett & Billy Wilder, 1939)
• Night Moves (Alan Sharp, 1975)
• Notorious (Ben Hecht, 1946)

SILENT

• Charlie Chaplin
• Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Abel Gance
• Fritz Lang
• F.W. Murnau
• The Crowd (1928)
• The General (1926)
• The Gold Rush (1925)
• Greed (1924)
• Sunrise (1927)
• Broken Blossoms (1919)
• Dr Mabuse, der Spieler (1922)
• Earth (1930)
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927)
• The Wind (1928)

SPAIN

• Pedro Almodóvar
• Luis Buñuel
• Victor Erice
• Julio Médem
• Carlos Saura
• All About My Mother (1999)
• Cria cuervos (1976)
• Los olvidados (1950)
• The Spirit of The Beehive (1973)
• Viridiana (1961)
• Belle epoque (1992)
• Carmen (1983)
• Jamón, jamón (1992)
• Law of Desire (1987)
• Lovers Of The Arctic Circle (1999)

THRILLERS

• Claude Chabrol
• Henri-Georges Clouzot
• John Frankenheimer
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Michael Mann
• Les diaboliques (1954)
• Heat (1995)
• Psycho (1960)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Touch Of Evil (1958)
• Big Easy (1987)
• Cutter's Way (1981)
• La femme infidèle (1968)
• Seven Days In May (1964)
• Three Days Of The Condor (1975)

WAR

• Samuel Fuller
• Stanley Kubrick
• David Lean
• Jean Renoir
• Oliver Stone
• All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
• ✔ Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Le grand illusion (1937)
• The Thin Red Line (1964)
• Three Kings (1999)
• The Battle Of Algiers (1965)
• The Big Parade (1925)
• The Big Red One (1980)
• Das Boot (1981)
• The Cruel Sea (1953)

WESTERN

• John Ford
• Howard Hawks
• Sergio Leone
• Anthony Mann
• Sam Peckinpah
• Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
• Rio Bravo (1959)
• The Searchers (1956)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• The Wild Bunch (1969
• McCabe And Mrs. Miller (1971)
• The Naked Spur (1953)
• The Tall T (1957)
• 3:10 To Yuma (1957)
• Wagon Master (1950)

AUTHORS' PICKS (of the non-aforementioned)

• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
• Man Of The West (1958)
• Portie de campagne (1936)
• Sullivan's Travels (1941)
• Sunset Blvd (1950)
• In A Lonely Place (1950)
• Chinatown (1974)
• Magnolia (1999)
• The Passenger (1978)

DIRECTORS TO WATCH

• Andrea Arnold
  • Red Road (2006)
• Judd Apatow
  • Knocked Up (2006)
• Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  • ✔ Das Leben der Anderen (2006)
• Oliver Hirschbiegel
  • ✔ Der Untergang (2004)
• Marwan Hamed
  • The Yacoubian Buidling (Omaret Yakobean, 2006)
• Gavin Hood
  • Tsotsi (2005)
• Andrew Jarecki
  • Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
• Kimberly Peirce
  • Boys Don't Cry (1999)
• Paul Andrew Williams
  • London To Brighton (2006)
• Andrei Zvyagintsev
  • Vozvrashcheniye (2003)