My Best Asian Directors
by Ekaterine-Kandelaki | created - 06 Jul 2012 | updated - 17 Sep 2013 | PublicI've watched at least 2 movies made by them and can say: they're really great filmmakers :)
1. Yasujirô Ozu
Writer | Tôkyô monogatari
Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...
(1903–1963) Late Spring (1949) Early Summer (1951) Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) Tokyo Story (1953) Late Autumn (1960) An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
2. Sadao Yamanaka
Writer | Kuchibue o fuku bushi
The director and screenwriter Sadao Yamanaka (1909-1938) is a key figure in the development of early Japanese cinema. Although he made 27 films over a six-year period, only three of them survived in nearly complete form: Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935), Humanity and Paper Balloons...
(1909–1938) Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935) Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
3. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
(1910–1998) The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) One Wonderful Sunday (1947) Drunken Angel (1948) Rashomon (1950) The Idiot (1951) Ikiru (1952) Seven Samurai (1954) High and Low (1963) Red Beard (1965) Dodes'ka-den (1970) Ran (1985)
4. Kaneto Shindô
Writer | Ichimai no hagaki
Kaneto Shindô was born on April 22, 1912 in Hiroshima, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for Postcard (2010), The Naked Island (1960) and A Last Note (1995). He was married to Nobuko Otowa and Miyo Shindo. He died on May 29, 2012 in Hiroshima, Japan.
(1912-2012) The Naked Island (1960) Onibaba (1964) Kuroneko (1968) Irezumi (1966) (writer) Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) (writer)
5. Shôhei Imamura
Director | Kuroi ame
Shohei Imamura's films dig beneath the surface of Japanese society to reveal a wellspring of sensual, often irrational, energy that lies beneath. Along with his colleagues Nagisa Ôshima and Masahiro Shinoda, Imamura began his serious directorial career as a member of the New Wave movement in Japan....
(1926–2006) The Pornographers (1966) The Ballad of Narayama (1983) Black Rain (1989)
6. Hiroshi Teshigahara
Director | Suna no onna
Hiroshi Teshigahara was born the son of Sofu Teshigahara who was the founder of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana (flower arrangement). In 1950, he graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in oil painting. In 1958, he became the director of Sogetsu Art Centre and took a ...
(1927–2001) Pitfall (1962) Woman in the Dunes (1964) The Face of Another (1966)
7. Osamu Tezuka
Writer | Tenrankai no e
Tezuka Osamu was born on November 3, 1928 in Toyonaka, Japan as the first child of Fumiko & Yutaka Tezuka. At 5, he & his family moved to the village of Kohama in Hyogo prefecture (present day city of Takarazuka). When he was 7, he entered Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka. Due to his diminutive ...
(1928–1989) Ningyo (1964) Jumping (1984) Legend of the Forest (1987)
8. Nagisa Ôshima
Director | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Nagisa Oshima's career extends from the initiation of the "Nuberu bagu" (New Wave) movement in Japanese cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the contemporary use of cinema and television to express paradoxes in modern society. After an early involvement with the student protest movement in ...
(1932-2013) Pleasures of the Flesh (1965) He Died After the War (1970) In the Realm of the Senses (1976) Empire of Passion (1978) Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) Taboo (1999)
9. Hayao Miyazaki
Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...
(1941) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) Castle in the Sky (1986) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) Porco Rosso (1992) Princess Mononoke (1997) Spirited Away (2001) Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Ponyo (2008)
10. John Woo
Director | Ying hung boon sik
Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow ...
(1946) Hard Boiled (1992) Hard Target (1993) Broken Arrow (1996) Face/Off (1997) Red Cliff (2008) Red Cliff II (2009)
11. Takeshi Kitano
Actor | Zatôichi
Takeshi Kitano originally studied to become an engineer, but was thrown out of school for rebellious behavior. He learned comedy, singing and dancing from famed comedian Senzaburô Fukami. Working as a lift boy on a nightclub with such features as comic sketches and striptease dancing, Kitano saw ...
(1947) Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) (actor) Fireworks (1997) Kikujiro (1999) Taboo (1999) (actor) Battle Royale (2000) (actor) Dolls (2002) The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003)
12. Yimou Zhang
Director | Ying xiong
Yimou Zhang was born on November 14, 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to ...
(1951) Red Sorghum (1987) Hero (2002) House of Flying Daggers (2004) Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
13. Ang Lee
Director | Xi yan
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ...
(1954) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Brokeback Mountain (2005) Lust, Caution (2007)
14. Lee Chang-dong
Writer | Beoning
Lee Chang-Dong was born in 1954 in Daegu, which some consider the most right-wing city in South Korea. Lee is a former high-school teacher and an acclaimed novelist. He turned to cinema when he was over 40 years old. His debut film "Green Fish" (1997) brought immediate success and critical acclaim....
(1954) Green Fish (1997) Peppermint Candy (1999) Oasis (2002) Secret Sunshine (2007) Poetry (2010)
15. Kar-Wai Wong
Director | Yi dai zong shi
Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong ...
(1956) As Tears Go By (1988) Days of Being Wild (1990) Chungking Express (1994) Ashes of Time (1994) Fallen Angels (1995) Happy Together (1997) In the Mood for Love (2000) 2046 (2004) Eros (2004) My Blueberry Nights (2007)
16. Takashi Miike
Director | Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Takashi Miike was born in the small town of Yao on the outskirts of Osaka, Japan. His main interest growing up was motorbikes, and for a while he harbored ambitions to race professionally. At the age of 18 he went to study at the film school in Yokohama founded by renowned director Shôhei Imamura, ...
(1960) Visitor Q (2001) Three... Extremes (2004) Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006) Crows Zero (2007) Crows Zero II (2009)
17. Kim Ki-duk
Writer | Bin-jip
He studied fine arts in Paris in 1990-1992. In 1993 he won the award for Best Screenplay from the Educational Institute of Screenwriting with "A Painter and A Criminal Condemned to Death". After two more screenplay awards, he made his directorial debut with Crocodile (1996) ("Crocodile"). Then he ...
(1960) Crocodile (1996) Wild Animals (1997) Birdcage Inn (1998) The Isle (2000) Real Fiction (2000) Address Unknown (2001) Bad Guy (2001) The Coast Guard (2002) Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) Samaritan Girl (2004) 3-Iron (2004) The Bow (2005) Time (2006) Breath (2007) Dream (2008) Amen (2011) Pieta (2012)
18. Hong Sang-soo
Director | Ji-geum-eun-mat-go-geu-ddae-neun-teul-li-da
Hong Sang-soo was born on October 25, 1960 in Seoul, Korea. He is a director and writer, known for Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), Night and Day (2008) and The Woman Who Ran (2020).
(1960) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) In Another Country (2012)
19. Stephen Chow
Actor | Kung fu
Stephen Chow was the only boy of his family, and has grown up as a Bruce Lee fan and a martial arts addict. His career started on TV, where he presented a children show ( "430 Space Shuttle" (1983)) and started becoming popular. He got some supporting roles, after that, and won the Taiwanese Golden...
(1962) Shaolin Soccer (2001) Kung Fu Hustle (2004) CJ7 (2008)
20. Satoshi Kon
Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...
(1963–2010) Perfect Blue (1997) Millennium Actress (2001) Paprika (2006)
21. Park Chan-wook
Director | Oldeuboi
Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.
(1963) J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000) Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) If You Were Me (2003) Oldboy (2003) Three... Extremes (2004) Lady Vengeance (2005) I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006) Thirst (2009) Night Fishing (2011)
22. Jee-woon Kim
Director | Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom
Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's ...
(1964) A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) A Bittersweet Life (2005) The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) I Saw the Devil (2010)
23. Ye Lou
Director | Fu cheng mi shi
Ye Lou was born (in 1965) and grew up in Shanghai, a city he would film beautifully in his Suzhou River (2000) (Suzhou River). After studying cinema at the Beijing Film Academy, the gifted young man debuted in the film career as an assistant director, a producer and a short subjects director. His ...
(1965) Summer Palace (2006) Spring Fever (2009)
24. Ryûhei Kitamura
Director | The Midnight Meat Train
Ryûhei Kitamura was born on May 30, 1969 in Osaka, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for The Midnight Meat Train (2008), Azumi (2003) and Versus (2000).
(1969) Versus (2000) Aragami (2003) Azumi (2003) Longinus (2004) The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
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