Best Directors Working Today (Africa and Middle East List)

Picked from directors who are Africa, Middle Eastern or film in these countries a lot. In the languages of the country that they're filming in (which means English, French and Portuguese counts). Or African and Middle Eastern languages. To qualify I'm making it that the director has to release an excellent film (in my opinion) during the 21st century and I need to be able to find at least 3 excellent reference films. Same criteria as the previous list.

I'm counting Israel as part of Europe, so there won't be any Israeli directors on this list. My geography is sketchy so I'm using the basis of where the national team plays their football (Israel plays in UEFA). I know the Middle East counts as AFC for football, but the list looks better like this.

16.Idrissa Ouedraogo-Burkina Faso

Directing Timespan : 1981- present

Reference Films: Yaaba (1989), Tilai(1990), Anger of the Gods (2003)

15.Mai Masri-Palestine

Directing Timespan : 1987- present

Reference Films: Beirut Diaries: Truth,Lies and Videos (2006); Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001); Children of Shatila (1998)

14.Elia Suleiman -Palestine

Directing Timespan : 1991- present

Reference Films: Chronicle of a Disappearance(1996); Divine Intervention (20020; The time That Remains (2009);

13.Abbas Fahdel - Iraq

Directing Timespan : 2001- present

Reference Films: Back to Babylon (2002); We Iraqis (2004); Dawn of the World (2008)

12.Mahamat Saleh Haroun-Chad

Directing Timespan : 1995- present

Reference Films: Abouna (2002); Daratt (2006); A Screaming Man (2010)

11.Haile Gerima-Ethopia

Directing Timespan : 1972- present

Reference Films: Teza (2009); Sankofa (1993);Adwa (1999)

10.Mohamed Khan-Egypt

Directing Timespan : 1963- present

Reference Films: Fi shaket Masr El Gedeeda (2007); Ayyam El Saddat (2001); Zawgat Ragol Mohim (1987);

9. Abderrahmane Sissako-Mali/ Mauritiana

Directing Timespan : 1989- present

Reference Films: La Vie sur Terre (1999); Heremakono (2002); Bamako (2006)

8. Mahamat Saleh Haroun-Chad

Directing Timespan : 1995- present

Reference Films: Abouna (2002); Daratt (2006); A Screaming Man (2010)

7. Dani Kouyate-Burkina Faaso

Directing Timespan : 1989- present

Reference Films: Sia, le reve du python (2001), Ouaga-saga (2004); Joseph ke-Zerbo (2005)

6. Asghar Farhadi -Iran

Directing Timespan : 2003- Present

Reference Films: Dancing in the Dust (2003), Fireworks Wednesday (2006), A Separation (2011)

5. Mohsen Makhmalbaf -Iran

Directing Timespan : 1981- present

Reference Films: The Cyclist (1987); Salaam Cinema (1994); A Moment of Innocence (1996); Kandahar (2001);

4. Hany Abu-Assad -Palestine

Directing Timespan : 1991- present

Reference Films: Rana's Wedding (2002); Ford Transit (2003); Paradise Now (2005)

3.Samira Makhmalbaf -Iran

Directing Timespan : 1998- present

Reference Films: The Apple (1998); ; Blackboards (2000);At Five in The Afternoon (2003)

2.Jafar Panahi -Iran

Directing Timespan : 1988- present

Reference Films: The White Balloon (1995); The Circle (2000); Crimson Gold (2003); Offside (2006)

1. Abbas Kiarostami -Iran

Directing Timespan : 1962- present

Reference Films: Where is the Friend's Home (1987); The Wind Will Carry Us (1997); 10 on Ten (2004); Certified Copy (2010)

Oscar Predictions-Film Awards (i)

Best Director Most likely winner : Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. Leaving out Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow and Quentin Tarantino pretty much made this Spielberg's to lose. And doesn't reflect too well on the Academy either. Backup Pick : David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook. The production company of Weinstein have been campaigning hard for this and it's a good film with the acting performances set up well. The thing about best director is it's the easiest award to give to someone the academy likes because it's ambiguous and the academy doesn't really love Russell. Most deserving : Michel Haneke for Amour. Haneke has the most carefully crafted film here. All in all it is definitely his film in every scene. His presence is all around the film and it is an excellent film. If they give it for the greatest impact a director has on the film, this is it. Best Adapted Screenplay Most li...

(Short) Analysis of the (length of stay for) teams at World Cup 2014 - Groups A and B

I like World Cup, quite a lot, and think it's the best of all the tournaments that exist in football and very possibly in all of sport (at least for any tournament focused on one sport since the Olympics is amazing because of the variety). So I'll be trying to figure out how likely each team is to get out of the group stages and how far they'll probably go if they do. All the odds are from www.bet365.com which is the site I use most for trend spotting in sport (it's like my sport-Bloomberg). Group A Brazil- Automatically qualified as hosts and at 1/20 to qualify have the second best odds of any team to make it out of the group phase behind Argentina (who have probably the softest group). It's with good reason Brazil have such low odds and they're considered favourites. Winning or even coming second in Group A doesn't mean an easy run as it probably would result in a round of sixteen clash against either defending champions Spain or the ...

Best Films of the Decade - 2010s - Third Part

11. Get Out (2017)- Directed and written by Jordan Peele. Horror seems to be an excellent medium to describe racism and it's somewhat amazing how obvious it seems in hindsight. One of the best debuts of a director in recent times, with a script that amps up the tension marvelously and serves up a twist in the tale that was impossible to see coming. Normally horror movies are seen as niche, but this film was popular with the wide audience and also at the award ceremonies further proving everyone was able to be captured by the film's quality. There has been talk of the film fitting into horror-comedy, probably due to Peele's comedy background, but while it is never laughably funny but does serve as a clever satire on the state of racial affairs. 12. The Death of Stalin (2017) - Directed by Armando Iannuci. Written by Armando Iannuci, David Schneider and Ian Martin. Few topics are as ripe for satire as the workings of communist governments (provi...

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