The following

outline Outline or outlining may refer to: * Outline (list), a document summary, in hierarchical list format * Code folding, a method of hiding or collapsing code or text to see content in outline form * Outline drawing, a sketch depicting the outer edge ...

is provided as an overview of and topical guide to film: ''

Film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

'' refers to motion pictures as individual projects and to the field in general. The name came from the fact that

photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of th ...

(also called

filmstock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent p ...

) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures.

What ''type'' of thing is film?

Film can be described as all of the following: * Art – aesthetic expression for presentation or performance, and the work produced from this activity. ** One of the arts – as an art form, film is an outlet of human expression, that is usually influenced by culture and which in turn helps to change culture. Film is a physical manifestation of the internal human creative impulse. *** One of the visual arts – visual arts is a class of art forms, including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and others, that focus on the creation of works which are primarily visual in nature. *** One of the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

– art forms in which artists use their body, voice, or objects to convey artistic expression. Performing arts include a variety of disciplines but all take the form of a

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

in front of an audience. *** Fine art – in Western European academic traditions, fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics, distinguishing it from applied art that also has to serve some practical function. The word "fine" here does not so much denote the quality of the artwork in question, but the purity of the discipline according to traditional Western European canons. * Show business – a means of providing employment for actors,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

s, artisans and technicians, regardless of whether the finished film was produced as a for-profit enterprise or as a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

public service.

Other names for film

* Movies * Motion pictures * Talking pictures * Pictures * Celluloid * Flicks (or flickers) * Photoplays * Picture shows * The cinema * The silver screen (talkie era); the silver sheet (silent era) * Videos

Essence of film

* Filmmaking – process of making a film. Filmmaking involves a number of discrete stages including an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a film release and exhibition. Filmmaking is both an art and an industry. That is why they call it "show business". It's a show and a business. Films were originally recorded onto nitrate film stock which was highly flammable. After the late 1950s, plastic film was used which was shown through a movie projector onto a large screen (in other words, an analog recording process). The adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the entire process of production, distribution, and exhibition from start to finish.

Cinematic genres

Film genre

By setting

* Biography - portrays a real-life character in his or her real-life story * Crime - places its character within realm of criminal activity * Fantasy - films set in imaginary worlds, often with a

swords and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tale ...

theme *

Film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

- portrays its principal characters in a

nihilistic Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning of life, meaning. The term was pop ...

and existentialist realm or manner *

Historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

- taking place in the past * Science fiction - placement of characters in an alternative reality, typically in the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

or in outer space * Sports - sporting events and locations pertaining to a given sport * War - battlefields and locations pertaining to a time of war * Westerns - colonial period to modern era of the western United States

By mood

* Action - generally involves a moral interplay between "good" and "bad" played out through violence or physical force * Adventure - involving danger, risk, and/or chance, often with a high degree of fantasy * Comedy - intended to provoke laughter * Drama - mainly focuses on character development *

Erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

- sexuality or eroticism and sex acts, including love scenes *

Horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

- intended to provoke fear in audience * Mystery - the progression from the unknown to the known by discovering and solving a series of clues * Romance - dwelling on the elements of romantic love *

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

s - intended to provoke excitement and/or nervous tension into audience

By format

* Biographical - a ''biopic'' is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person, with varying degrees of basis in fact * Documentary - a factual following of an event or person to gain an understanding of a particular point or issue * Experimental ('' avant-garde'') - created to test audience reaction or to expand the boundaries of film production/story exposition then generally at play *

Musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

- a film interspersed with singing by all or some of the characters * Silent - a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue

By production type

* Live action - film using actors *

Animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

- illusion of motion by consecutive display of static images which have been created by hand or on a computer * Television - a film that is produced for and originally distributed by a television network

By length

Short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

- may strive to contain many of the elements of a "full-length" feature, in a shorter time-frame * Serial - similar to shorts, but forms a constant story arc * Feature film - film that is "full-length"

By age

* Children's film - films for young children; as opposed to a family film, no special effort is made to make the film attractive for other audiences * Family - intended to be attractive for people of all ages and suitable for viewing by a young audience; examples of these are Disney films * Teen film - intended for and aimed towards teens although some teen films, such as the '' High School Musical'' series; may also be a family film; not all of these films are suitable for all teens, as some are rated R *

Adult film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

- intended to be viewed only by an adult audience, content may include violence, disturbing themes, obscene language, or explicit sexual behaviour. This includes various forms of exploitation films. ''Adult film'' may also be used as a synonym for

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

Cinema by region

History of film

History of film * Block booking * Camera obscura * Thomas Edison * Intertitle – prior to the days of sound film, intertitles (cards with text inserted into the scene) represented dialogue or descriptive/narrative material *

Magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a sin ...

Motion Picture Patents Company The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC, also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908 and terminated seven years later in 1915 after conflicts within the industry, was a trust of all the major US film companies and local foreign-bran ...

* Phantasmagoria * Silent film * Zoetrope – one of several pre-film animation devices which produced the illusion of movement, most popular in the mid- to late 1800s

General film concepts

Film theory Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...

* Academy Awards – an American awards show hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences which recognizes excellence in cinematic achievement, as voted for by the Academy itself. The statuettes handed out to winners are nicknamed "Oscars". * Actor *

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

Film directing A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

Film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

* Movie projector * Cinematography * Set construction * Sound stage

Film formats

* List of film formats

Films

* List of films by title: #, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J-K, L, M, N-O, P, Q-R, S, T, U-V-W, & X-Y-Z *

List of years in film This page indexes the individual ''year in film'' pages. Each year is annotated with its significant events. __NOTOC__ * 19th century in film * 20th century in film: ** 1900s – 1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s � ...

Films by genre

* List of action films *

List of adventure films This is chronological list of adventure films split by decade. Often there may be considerable overlap particularly between adventure and other genres (including, action, drama, and fantasy films); the list documents films which are more closely r ...

* List of animated feature-length films *

List of biographical films This is a list of biographical films. Before 1950 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s , '' The Final Game'' , , Manuel Estiarte , , Álvaro Cervantes , - , , Pedro García Aguado , , Jaime Lorente , - , , ''Major'' ...

* List of cinematic genres * List of comedy films *

List of comedy-drama films This is an index of lists of comedy films split by decade, nationality and subject. By decade *List of comedy films before 1920 *List of comedy films of the 1920s *List of comedy films of the 1930s *List of comedy films of the 1940s *List of come ...

List of crime films This is chronological list of crime films split by decade. Often there may be considerable overlap particularly between Crime and other genres (including, action, thriller, and drama films); the list should attempt to document films which are m ...

List of drama films List of drama films is a chronological listing of films in the drama genre. *List of drama films of the 1900s *List of drama films of the 1910s *List of drama films of the 1920s *List of drama films of the 1930s *List of drama films of the 1940s ...

List of disaster films This list of disaster films represents over half a century of films within the genre. Disaster films are motion pictures which depict an impending or ongoing disaster as a central plot feature. The films typically feature large casts and multiple ...

List of fantasy films List of fantasy films is a chronological listing of films in the fantasy genre. Fantasy television programs, including made for TV movies and miniseries, should be listed at List of fantasy television programs. Fantasy films are films with fanta ...

* List of films featuring extraterrestrials *

List of films noir Film noir is not a clearly defined genre (see here for details on the characteristics). Therefore, the composition of this list may be controversial. To minimize dispute the films included here should preferably feature a footnote linking to a ...

List of gangster movies This is chronological list of crime films split by decade. Often there may be considerable overlap particularly between Crime and other genres (including, action, thriller, and drama films); the list should attempt to document films which are m ...

List of historical drama films This is an index of lists of historical films. By country of origin * List of Estonian war films * List of Polish war films * List of Romanian historical films * List of Russian historical films * List of Vietnamese historical films By era * ...

* List of horror films * List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films *

List of mystery films A mystery film is a genre of film revolving around the solution to a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of a protagonist to solve the mystery by means of clues, investigation, and deduction. This is a list of mystery films by decade. ...

List of punk movies This is a list of films about the punk subculture and/or the music genre. 0-9 *''24 Hour Party People'' (2002) A *Arada (2018) - Mu Tunc *'' Afro-punk'' (2005, documentary) *'' American Hardcore'' (2006, documentary) - Paul Rachman *'' Anoth ...

* List of racism-related movies *

Lists of science fiction films Science fiction films This is a list of science fiction films organized chronologically. These films have been released to a cinema audience by the commercial film industry and are widely distributed with reviews by reputable critics. (The exceptio ...

* List of sports films *

List of thriller films This is chronological list of thriller films split by decade. Often there may be considerable overlap particularly between thriller and other genres (including, action, crime, and horror films); the list should attempt to document films which are ...

* List of war films *

List of Western films This is a list of notable Western films and TV series, ordered by year and decade of release. For a long-running TV series, the year is its first in production. The movie industry began with the work of Louis Le Prince in 1888. Until 1903, fil ...

Films by origin

* List of films by region and country of origin

Films by setting location

* Lists of films based on location

Films by cost

* List of most expensive films *

List of most expensive non-English-language films This is a non-definitive list of most expensive non-English-language films, with budgets given in United States dollars. Only films with budgets exceeding US$30 million are listed here. Where the source gives the budget in the native currency, co ...

Films by success

List of films considered the best This is a list of films considered the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public. Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Voting systems differ, and some surveys suffer ...

List of highest-grossing films Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assess ...

* List of films considered the worst *

List of Academy Award-winning films This is a list of Academy Award–winning films. If a film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, its entry is listed in a shaded background with a boldface title. Competitive Oscars are separated from non-competitive Oscars (i.e. Honorary Award ...

* Lists of box office number-one films

Films by movement

* Absolute film (1920s) *

Budapest school The Budapest school, or documentarism, was a Hungarian film movement that flourished from roughly 1972 to 1984. The movement originated from Béla Balázs Studios, a small-budget filmmaking community that aimed to unite the young avant-garde an ...

(1972 - 1984) *

Cinéma du look Cinéma du look () was a French film movement of the 1980s and 1990s, analysed, for the first time, by French critic Raphaël Bassan in ''La Revue du Cinéma'' issue no. 449, May 1989, in which he classified Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix and L ...

(1980s) *

Cinema Novo Cinema Novo (), "New Cinema" in English, is a genre and movement of film noted for its emphasis on social equality and intellectualism that rose to prominence in Brazil during the 1960s and 1970s.Dixon & Foster, 293. Cinema Novo formed in respon ...

(1960 - early 1970s) * Czechoslovak New Wave (1960s) * Dogme 95 (1995 - 2005) * Free Cinema (1956 - 1959) *

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

(1958 - late 1960s) * German Expressionism (1913 -1920s) *

Grupo Cine Liberación The ''Grupo Cine Liberación'' ("The Liberation Film Group") was an Argentine film movement that took place during the end of the 1960s. It was founded by Fernando Solanas, Octavio Getino and Gerardo Vallejo (film-maker), Gerardo Vallejo. The idea ...

(1969 - 1971) * Hong Kong New Wave (1979 - early 1990s) * Italian neorealism (1944 - 1952) * Japanese New Wave (1956 - 1976) *

Kammerspielfilm ''Kammerspielfilm'' is a type of German film that offers an intimate, cinematic portrait of lower middle class life. History The name derives from a theater, the '' Kammerspiele'', opened in 1906 by a major stage director Max Reinhardt to stage i ...

(1920s) *

L.A. Rebellion The L.A. Rebellion film movement, sometimes referred to as the "Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers", or the UCLA Rebellion, refers to the new generation of young African and African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film School in ...

(1967 - 1989) * Mumblecore (2002 - ) *

New French Extremity New French Extremity (New French Extremism or, informally, New French Extreme) is a term coined by ''Artforum'' critic James Quandt for a collection of transgressive films by French directors at the turn of the 21st century. Also available othe ...

(1999 - 2003) * New Hollywood (Summer 1967 through Spring 1983) * New Nigerian Cinema (2006 - ) * New Queer Cinema (1990s) * No Wave (1976 - 1985) * Parallel Cinema (1952 - 1976) * Poetic Realism (1930s - 1940s) *

Polish Film School Polish Film School ( pl, Polska Szkoła Filmowa) refers to an informal group of Polish film directors and screenplay writers active between 1956 and approximately 1963. Among the most prominent representatives of the school are Andrzej Wajda, And ...

(1955 - 1963) *

Pure Film Movement The was a trend in film criticism and filmmaking in 1910s and early 1920s Japan that advocated what were considered more modern and cinematic modes of filmmaking. Critics in such magazines as '' Kinema Record'' and '' Kinema Junpo'' complained th ...

(1910s - 1920s) *

Remodernist film Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism. Key figures are Jesse Richards and Peter Rina ...

(2004 - ) *

Surrealist Cinema Surrealist cinema is a modernist approach to film theory, criticism, and production with origins in Paris in the 1920s. The movement used shocking, irrational, or absurd imagery and Freudian dream symbolism to challenge the traditional function of ...

(1920s) *

Third Cinema Third Cinema ( es, Tercer Cine) is a Latin American film movement that started in the 1960s–70s which decries neocolonialism, the capitalist system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money. The term was coined in th ...

(1969 - 1978) *

Yugoslav Black Wave Yugoslav Black Wave (also referred to as Black Wave; or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", Crni talas, Црни талас) is a blanket term for a Yugoslav film movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Notable directors include Dušan M ...

(1963 - 1972)

Film companies

* List of film production companies *

List of film production companies by country This is a list of film production and distribution companies. A production company may specialize in producing their in-house films or own subsidiary development companies. Major production companies often distribute films from independent product ...

* List of film distributors by country

Film studios

Major film studios

Majors (Big Five)

* Walt Disney Studios – American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company, founded in 1923 *

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainme ...

(a subsidiary of

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

) – American film studio owned by Sony, founded in 1924 *

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

(a subsidiary of Paramount Global) – American film studio owned by Paramount Global, founded in 1912 * Universal Studios (a subsidiary of NBCUniversal) – American film studio owned by

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

, founded in 1912 * Warner Bros. (a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery) – American film studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, founded in 1923

Others

* Lionsgate *

Lantern Entertainment Lantern Entertainment, LLC is an American independent film studio. It was formed by Lantern Capital Partners after it acquired the assets of The Weinstein Company on July 16, 2018, after the latter company's bankruptcy filing (which was a result ...

* MGM

Awards and festivals

* List of film awards *

List of film festivals This is a list of existing major film festivals, sorted by continent. The world's oldest film festival is the Mostra internazionale d'arte cinematografica (''Venice Film Festival''), while the most prestigious film festivals in the world, known ...

* List of Academy Awards ceremonies * AFI 100 Years... series *

List of Golden Globe Awards ceremonies The Golden Globe Award is an American accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual formal ceremony and dinner at which ...

Notable people from the film industry

Show business families Show or The Show may refer to: Competition, event, or artistic production * Agricultural show, associated with agriculture and animal husbandry * Animal show, a judged event in the hobby of animal fancy ** Cat show ** Dog show ** Horse show ** S ...

* Soundtrack composers

Film theorists

* Rudolf Arnheim * André Bazin * Sergei Eisenstein * Siegfried Kracauer * Lev Kuleshov * Vsevolod Pudovkin

Famous film producers

Notable film producers *

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. E ...

* Jerry Bruckheimer

Famous directors

Notable film and television directors * Woody Allen * Kathryn Bigelow *

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

* Yash Chopra * Joel and Ethan Coen *

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

* Michael Curtiz *

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. Fin ...

Victor Fleming Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best ...

* Werner Herzog *

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

* Alejandro Jodorowsky *

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

* Fritz Lang *

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

* Christopher Nolan * Martin Scorsese *

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

* Quentin Tarantino * Billy Wilder * Sam Wood * William Wyler *

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

Famous actors

Notable actors *

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

* Tom Cruise * Bette Davis * Leonardo DiCaprio *

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

* Tom Hanks *

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

* Anthony Hopkins *

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

* Daniel Day-Lewis *

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

Edward G. Robinson Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...

References

External links

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Allmovie
- information on films: actors, directors, biographies, reviews, cast and production credits, box office sales, and other movie data
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- reviews of classic films
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The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
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