25 Best Film Directors of the 21st Century (So Far)
Which directors have received the best reviews from professional critics since 2000? Find out below, where we rank this century's top filmmakers by their average Metascores.
To be included, a director must have four or more eligible films. Such films have seven or more reviews from professional critics and were first released (in any country) on or after January 1, 2000, and must have been released (including as a straight-to-Netflix streaming release) at some point in the USA. Multi-director anthology films are excluded, as are theatrical re-releases of older films. Averages were calculated using Metascores from July 12, 2017, and include films released through July 7, 2017.
#5
Jafar Panahi
One of the few filmmakers on this list who has gone to jail because of his work, Panahi is, along with the previously mentioned Asghar Farhadi (and, up until his death last year, Panahi's own mentor Abbas Kiarostami), possibly the top filmmaker working in Iran today. Then again, we probably shouldn't accuse him of working in Iran today. The Iranian government has banned him from making films, but that has hardly stopped Panahi, who shot his last three films covertly (including Taxi, the only one of those three actually filmed in public spaces).
| Films directed, 2000-2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| ▣ | Jafar Panahi's Taxi | 2015 |
| ▣ | This Is Not a Film * | 2010 |
| ▣ | The Circle | 2000 |
| ▣ | Offside | 2006 |
| ▣ | Crimson Gold | 2003 |
| ▣ | Closed Curtain ** | 2013 |
* with Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
** with Kambuzia Partovi