#6 - ALFONSO CUARÓN

In the last three years, Alfonso Cuarón has left an indelible mark upon the film world. Among the most successful and talked-about Mexican filmmakers of his generation, Cuarón has shown a remarkable versatility, able to embrace the Hollywood blockbuster as well as rough-edged and darker-themed contemporary stories set to please independent film buffs.

In 1995, Cuarón released his first feature film produced in the United States, A Little Princess, a graceful and elegant adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel. Cuarón's next feature was also a literary adaptation, a modernized version of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Robert De Niro. But Cuarón's next project found him making a sharp left turn; shot in Mexico with a Spanish-speaking cast, Y Tu Mamá También was a funny, provocative, and controversial tragicomedy about two sexually obsessed teenagers who take an extended road trip with an attractive woman in her thirties. The film's open portrayal of sexuality and frequent rude humor, as well as the politically and socially relevant asides, made the film an international hit and a major success with critics. The film quickly propelled Cuarón into the elite list of contemporary directors who are at once unconventional, uncompromising, and wholly unpredictable.

This past summer, Cuarón released the darker, more emotional, and most mature third film in the successful Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Easily the best of the series, Cuarón's film perfectly captured Harry's pivotal transformation from child magician to young-adult sorcerer.

Cuarón's next film, tenatively titled Mexico '68, is based on Mexico's violent student revolt of 1968. The film is scheduled to be released in 2006.

#7 - PETER JACKSON

After directing The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), Peter Jackson has easily cemented his reputation as the most ambitious director alive today. The three sprawling films about a hobbit and his ring have done for the new millennium what the Star Wars trilogy did for the 70's and 80's. Jackson managed to create an entirely different world on film--a whole other mythology that differs from our own in magical, whimsical ways, the power of which is difficult to dismiss as mere childish fantasy. While we cannot credit Jackson for defining humanity--for that transcendent feat goes to Shakespeare--we can certainly give him credit for reminding us what it means to be human in a world ruled by scientific materialism, utterly devoid of inspiration.

#8 - TODD SOLONDZ

After such heart-wrenching pictures of suburban hell and general human dysfunction as 1995's Welcome to the Dollhouse and 1998's Happiness, Todd Solondz has firmly established himself as the miscreant's director. Dollhouse tells the bleak, perverse tale of outcast teenager Dawn "Wienerdog" Wiener (played expertly by Heather Matarazzo). When Dawn asks a fellow student at her junior high why he hates her so much, he unhesitatingly replies, "Because you're ugly." We come to learn that Dawn isn't so much the stereotypical loser who's naturally uncomfortable in her own skin, as she is the stereotypical loser who's made to feel uncomfortable in her own skin by the fact that other people project their own insecurities onto her.

However, Welcome to the Dollhouse was a mere prelude to Solondz's more mature--and certainly more uncomfortable--black comedy, Happiness. In the words of producer Christine Vachon, Happiness is a "nonjudgmental film about a pedophile." One of its central plotlines--about a father who has an unnatural attraction to his young son's friends--caused sizable unhappiness among various critics and cultural watchdogs. However, the film also won considerable acclaim, premiering at the 1998 Cannes Festival to a positive reception and going on to establish Solondz further as one of the most original and provocative directors of his era.

Solondz's eagerly anticipated next film, Palindromes, is scheduled for release later this year.