Cuarón and Hitchcock and Scorsese, Oh My! The Greatest Directors Of All-Time

29. Kathryn Bigelow

Image Source: The Independent

The first and only woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow is best known for tense, gritty films such as Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Confounding stereotypes about feminine film-making, the director, producer and writer has built a career on the study of violence – from biker gangs in The Loveless, her first full-length feature, to her controversial dramatization of the United States’ hunt for Osama bin Laden. She tackles contemporary subjects head-on, drawing out cinematographic substance that is often troubling, without sacrificing entertainment value.