Robert Bresson: the minimalist filmmaker who despised the art of acting

Jacques Tati: the graceful comedian who bridged silent-era mime with new wave

Rainer Werner Fassbinder: the illustrious filmmaker who worked himself to death

François Truffaut: the uncompromising critic of French cinema and founder of the auteur theory

Claude Chabrol: the new wave filmmaker who exposed the French bourgeoisie

Abbas Kiarostami: the art of visualising life’s most complicated questions

Derek Jarman: the enfant terrible whose brilliance unnerved the establishment

Richard Linklater: the self-taught coming-of-age master

Jean-Paul Melville: an underworld populated by icy criminals in stylish surroundings

Věra Chytilová: the Czech New Wave director banned by her government

Dario Argento: the god of Giallo – nightmare tales in neon hues

Adam Curtis: unpicking the fabric of modernity

Guillermo Del Toro: humanising monsters as a mirror to society

Terry Gilliam: a universe of surreal, dystopian worlds laced with tabs of LSD

David Fincher: suspense, obsession and complex maniacs

David Lynch: Severed ears, altered states, and damn fine coffee

Charlie Kaufman: exploring existential concepts through mindfuck surrealism

Lynne Ramsay: channeling violence and suffering through the eyes of a child

Paweł Pawlikowski: rendering personal histories in exquisite form

Nicolas Roeg: twisting the psyche and turning rockstars into actors