Influential Directors

Martin Scorsese
Born: 17th November 1942 (age 65), in the United States of America
Martin is one of the world’s most influential directors. He is also known for being a producer, writer, actor, and even film historian.
He attended New York University's film school where he began to make short films such as ‘What's a Nice Girl like You Doing in a Place like This?’ (1963).
In 1967, Scorsese made his first feature-length film with a fellow student called ‘Who's That Knocking at My Door’. Even in these incredibly early stages of his career the "Scorsese style" was already apparent; this was a strong feel for street life as a New York Italian American, very quick, rapid editing, a troubled male protagonist and an eclectic rock soundtrack.
He is a close friend of other famous, significant directors such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. In the 1970’s he was introduced to Robert De Niro to whom he quickly also became a close friend of, working with him for 8 films such as;
‘Taxi Driver’, ‘New York New York’ and ‘Goodfellas’. Their partnership created for both of them some of their biggest successes. More recently Scorsese has found a muse in actor Leonardo DiCaprio working with him on 3 films such as the Oscar winning ‘Aviator’.
Scorsese’s style has developed and his films have many trademarks such as starting his films with clips from the beginning or middle eg; ‘Casino’ (1995), frequent use of slow motion eg; ‘Raging Bull’ (1980) and frequent use of long tracking shots.
Achievements; Scorsese received AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, as well as winning awards from Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America.
Associations; Scorsese is president of the Film Foundation, (a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation). He is also the founder of the World Cinema Foundation.