30. Kenneth Brannagh (1960 - )
Wouldn't be Shakespeare Day if there was no mention of Belfast native Kenneth Brannagh. The actor-turned-director was very much influenced by another Brit who is yet to come on this list, and has brought justice to the art of Shakespeare for the screen in a couple of unforgettable movies starting with his very first, Henry V. Dare we say, he's probably got the best on-screen version of Hamlet? Yes, we dare. Nobody's perfect and Brannagh is no exception, his biggest flop being Frankenstein which is a cartoony adaptation of the creepy story but this list wouldn't be complete without him as he's now becoming more and more of a household name after directing Marvel's Thor and doing a bangup job with it. He's keeping action-oriented and coming out with Jack Ryan later in the year, where he will also portray the villain. Nifty.
Must See: Hamlet (1996)
29. Sally Potter (1949 - )
The second lady to grace the list, Sally Potter hails from London and is here primarily because of her first feature, the adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando starring Tilda Swinton and Billy Zane. Taking a staggering seven years to complete, many deemed the novel unadaptable because it spans 400 years and the character changes gender, but Sally Potter started the trend of proving critics wrong when they talk about unfilmmable books (long before Peter Jackson and Ang Lee came along with their little movies) and released the film successfully. Orlando made
TIME OUT's 100 Greatest British films and Potter became one of the Britain's foremost female directors with it. Later successes were never matched but she always strives towards an experimental way of filmmaking, fusing her passion of dance and music in 1997's The Tango Lesson and flair for mainstream melodrama with The Man Who Cried. Building a rep for both her experimental and her feature work, Potter was honored last year with the
OBE.
Must See: Orlando (1992)
28. Alan Parker (1944 - )
London-born Parker made his name in the West, across the ocean and in the distant lands of Hollywood, but that doesn't make him any less British even if he was never one to shy away from criticizing the British film industry. After paying homage to American gangsters by directing an all-child cast in Bugsy Malone, he moved to the US and made a name for himself with mainstream films that dealt with the harsh realities of political and bureaucratic nightmares. Midnight Express is a harrowing portrayal of life in a Turkish prison and Mississippi Burning with Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe is one of the best films about the Civil Rights movement in the States. Though he's the one responsible for Fame, Parker's contribution should not go unnoticed.
Must See: Midnight Express (1978)