World Directors in Dialogue: Conversations on Cinema

Focusing on practical matters related to filmmaking-acting, design, cinematography, directing, writing, and editing, World Directors in Dialogue: Conversations on Cinema collects probing interviews with 13 major international directors. Representing Italy, France, Belgium, England, Iran, China, India, and Japan, these artists answer questions about how they work, the meanings of their movies, and the relationship of their pictures to other directors' films as well as to other arts.

Some of the most acclaimed directors in the world are featured here, including Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Rashomon), Satyajit Ray (Aparajito, Pather Panchali), Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice, The Leopard), Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry, Under the Olive Trees), Ermanno Olmi (The Tree of Wooden Clogs, Il Posto), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (L'Enfant, La Promesse), Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, To Live), Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake), and Ken Loach (Kes, Raining Stones). This collection also includes the final interviews with Eric Rohmer (Claire's Knee, My Night at Maud's) and François Truffaut (The 400 Blows, Day for Night), as well as a rare interview with Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle, M. Hulot's Holiday).

With a complete filmography for each director, as well as detailed bibliographies and a comprehensive index, World Directors in Dialogue is a book to which one can return again and again for insights, anecdotes, and a vision of what it was to be an auteur in the 20th century and beyond.