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The NDTV Lumiere Experience Cannes Film Festival which concluded today showcased films which got rave reviews around the world including at the prestigious Cannes film festival. Here’s a dekko at the directors which made their way to the festival and to the Experience Cannes Film Festival.

Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis)

Besides being a director, she dons many hats like graphic novelist, illustrator, and children’s book author. Growing up in Tehran which revolved around the communist and socialist movements in Iran, prior to the Iranian Revolution, it left a lasting impression on her mind.

Based on the autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis was mired into controversy as well as huge acclaim from critics worldwide. It was nominated for Oscars in the best animated feature category.

Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light)

Discovering the hidden filmmaker in himself after watching Andrei Tarkovsky’s films, he made his debut with Japón in 2002. His filmography has become noticeable for his raw depiction of sex and the use of old and ugly characters. All his three films have competed at the Cannes film festival. For Silent Light, Martin Scorsese hailed it as ‘A surprising picture, and a very moving one as well’.

Faith Akin (The Edge of Heaven)

A filmmaker of Greman-Turkish origin, he made his debut with Short Sharp Shock which fetched several awards at film festivals. He found his major success with a merciless love story Head-On which went on to win the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. The Edge Of Heaven won the award for best screenplay at the Cannes in 2007. The clash of cultures, specially the lives and struggles of Turks who lives in Germany is the recurring theme in most of his movies.

Laurent Cantet (The Class)

French by origin, he made three films Vers le sud, L’Emploi du temps and Ressources humaines, before hitting it big with The Class which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes lasy year. This is the first French film in 21 years to do so. The film was nominated for Academy Awards this year too, but lost to Departures (Japan).

Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory)

Starting his career with television and then short films, his golden moment came with Dust of Life which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995. Days of Glory was nominated for Oscars too, but lost to the modern masterpiece The Lives of Others from Germany.

Sergey Dvortsevoy (Tulpan)

He started as an aviation engineer before studying film in Moscow in the early 1990s. His filmmaking style is based on observation and subjects such as the transition of people’s live in and around Russia; especially his documentaries which won many international awards.
Tulpan is his first fiction film which was Kazakhstan’s 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Three Monkeys)

His passion was photography initially which developed into filmmaking. His third feature Uzak and later Three Monkeys won awards at many festivals including Cannes. This year he is in the juror for the International Competition at Cannes which speaks volumes about his talent. His films depict the impression of his interest in photography and he uses static shoots and long takes as well as overwhelming silence. His casts generally consist of amateur actors, most of which are his family members, including his mother and father which ends up being low-budget films. Described as high art by many critics, his characters live estranged lives with very basic details.