10. Shane Meadows
One of the top British film directors working today, Meadows draws from his own life experiences growing up in England to make his films. His filmmaking style has been described as reminiscent of the Kitchen Sink realism, which was popular in British culture in the 1950s and 60s. Meadow's films showcase the dirty side of life in modern England, depicting lower-middle class people and the struggles they face. His two most well-known works are probably Dead Man's Shoes and This is England. Dead Man's Shoes follows the classic revenge narrative but tells it in a way that is much more gripping and visceral than the average film, and tells the story of man who returns from service in the military and wreaks havoc on a gang who drove his mentally impaired brother to commit suicide. This is England tell's the story of a young boy who falls in with a group of skinheads because they offer him a sense of family that he no longer has after his father is killed in the Falkland War. Meadows has been quiet lately, not making a narrative feature since 2008 - sadly not well known outside England.
Filmography:Small Time (1996), Twenty Four Seven (1997), A Room for Romeo Brass (1999), Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002), Dead Man's Shoes (2004) , This is England (2006), Somers Town (2008) , Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009)