FILM DIRECTORS from Chile

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Chilean Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Chilean Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Raúl Ruiz (1941 - 2011)

With an HPI of 58.12, Raúl Ruiz is the most famous Chilean Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.

Raúl Ernesto Ruiz Pino (French: Raoul Ruiz; 25 July 1941 – 19 August 2011) was an experimental Chilean filmmaker, writer and teacher whose work is best known in France. He directed more than 100 films.

2. Patricio Guzmán (b. 1941)

With an HPI of 54.95, Patricio Guzmán is the 2nd most famous Chilean Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Patricio Guzmán Lozanes (born August 11, 1941) is a Chilean documentary film director, screenwriter, director. He is most known for his film trilogy The Battle of Chile (1975–1979) and more recently for another trilogy; Nostalgia for the Light (2010), The Pearl Button (2015) and The Cordillera of Dreams (2019).

3. Alejandro Amenábar (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 51.85, Alejandro Amenábar is the 3rd most famous Chilean Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos (born 31 March 1972) is a Chilean-Spanish film director, screenwriter and composer. He has won nine Goya Awards—including Best Director for his 2001 film The Others—and two European Film Awards among other honors; he also accepted an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on behalf of Spain for The Sea Inside. He has written (or co-written) the screenplays to all seven of his films and composed almost all of their soundtracks.

4. Pablo Larraín (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 45.67, Pablo Larraín is the 4th most famous Chilean Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Pablo Larraín Matte (Spanish pronunciation: [laraˈin]; born 19 August 1976) is a Chilean filmmaker. He is known for directing films such as No (2012), Neruda (2016), Jackie (2016), Spencer (2021), El Conde (2023), and Maria (2024). Larraín and his brother Juan de Dios co-produced Sebastián Lelio's A Fantastic Woman (2017), which was the first Chilean film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2021, Larrain directed the Apple TV+ psychological romance horror miniseries Lisey's Story.

5. Claudio Miranda (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 37.30, Claudio Miranda is the 5th most famous Chilean Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Claudio Miranda, ASC (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈklawðjo miˈɾanda]) is a Chilean cinematographer. He is best known for his work on the Ang Lee-directed film Life of Pi (2012), for which Miranda won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and for the David Fincher-directed film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which was the first film shot entirely digitally to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the American Society of Cinematographers Award. He is also known for his collaborations with American director Joseph Kosinski. He is the second Chilean person to win an Academy Award.