In 1964, Sontag wrote, in her journals, "This is the first generation of directors who are aware of film history; cinema now entering era of self-consciousness" — but didn't concern herself with the content of that consciousness.
A member of the first generation of directors to graduate from the reopened Beijing Film Academy following the Cultural Revolution, he is the most internationally successful director to emerge from mainland China, and along with Ang Lee, from Taiwan, among the most important Chinese-language directors working today.
So emerging filmmakers could not rely on the old production system, which in the 80's gave rise, however inadvertently, to the so-called Fifth Generation of directors, including Zhang Yimou ("Raise the Red Lantern") and Chen Kaige ("Farewell, My Concubine").
Despite its modest size, the theatre in Notting Hill has a well-deserved reputation as a springboard for theatrical talent; with Thea Sharrock and Erica Whyman among their predecessors, Cracknell and Abrahami form its third generation of female directors.
"They represent the first generation of Londoners speaking to us," said Sophie Jackson, the director of the Museum of London Archaeology unit which excavated the site.
"This is just the first generation of filmmakers embracing computers and software," says Ian Calderon Ian Calderon, director of digital initiatives at the Sundance Institute.
"The first generation of e-commerce was about taking care of your chores — that's Amazon," said Jeremy Liew, managing director at Lightspeed Venture Partners, an investor in ShoeDazzle.
"This is the first generation of high school students where a majority of their parents have smoked marijuana," said Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which has been pushing for passage of the initiative.
"The first generation of tech companies — Microsoft, Apple and IBM — were some of the earliest adopters of LGBT benefits," HRC Workplace Project deputy director Deena Fidas told Politico.
"The baby boomer generation is the first generation of Americans that will probably do worse than their parents in keeping their standard of living in retirement," said Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School.
