By Dec. 8, the pool was down to eight contenders: six men and two women, all top-rank directors.
These are excellent films by first-rank directors, but what made them so soul-satisfying was a quality of intimacy, palpable and immediate.
All night, I'd been wondering why the Met brought a first-rank cast and a first-rank director together with a second-rank conductor, Sebastian Weigle.
It should have propelled its writer and director, Tom Schiller, into the front rank of directors, or at least announced him as one of the most original younger filmmakers working at the time.
"Amores Perros" won more than two dozen awards worldwide, propelling Mr. González Iñárritu, 40, into the front rank of directors who matter.
Jeremy Herrin puts himself in the front rank of directors with a production that suggests a long reach without overcrowding or bustle.
He won an official contest with the very first short story he wrote and switched to the cultural bureaucracy, where he rose to the rank of director of the Caribbean Studies Centre of Casa de las Américas.
Costing $125 a year, IMDbPro provides fuller contact details for talent, as well as their upcoming projects; and, crucially, it boasts the Starmeter, which ranks actors, directors, writers and producers in order of desirability.
Villeneuve, whose latest film Arrival is in cinemas now and who is also onboard for the Blade Runner sequel, Blade Runner 2049, will try to avoid joining the ranks of directors who have tried and failed to follow up David Lynch's original.
But, while the central role has lured performers of the highest rank, no director of equal stature has tackled so redoubtable a theme, and the strange fact remains that the most distinguished film, by far, with which Churchill was involved was one that he despised.
Any idea on expanding the ranks of directors and utilizing all the talent pool that is floating?
