The 40 Best Film Directors to Follow on Instagram, From Martin Scorsese to Ana Lily Amirpour
David Ehrlich
Film is a visual medium, and so it makes perfect sense that filmmakers would thrive on Instagram. From legendary auteurs like Martin Scorsese to emerging indie directors like Anna Rose Holmer, many of the most exciting voices in contemporary cinema have found the social media platform to be a great outlet for their excess artistic energies, travel pictures, and puppy photos. Some of these accounts are intensely personal, while others are more geared towards self-promotion, but all of them are well worth following for how they channel their creators’ unique sensibilities and make it that much easier for fans to engage with their work.
Here are the 40 best film directors to follow on Instagram.
Ana Lily Amirpour
Why You Should Follow Her:
The writer-director of “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” and “The Bad Batch,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s Instagram is a frequently updated look into her wild life, from behind-the-scenes production photos of Jim Carrey as a post-apocalyptic hermit to Scottish vacations with Jason Momoa and a lot of killer fashion (especially now that she’s teamed up with the clothing line Kenzo). Amirpour also deserves special recognition for her important work in social media justice.
Darren Aronofsky
Why You Should Follow Him:
You might think that Darren Aronofsky is one of those brooding artist types, working in absolute secrecy away from the prying eyes of his public and emerging from a pile of scarves every few years to unveil his latest work. You would be mistaken. The dude is kind of a beast on social media. He doesn’t update his Instagram as often as his Twitter, but the stuff on the former is often more interesting, from his trips to Bhutan with Anthony Bourdain to all the “mother!” content you could ever possibly want.
Amma Asante
Why You Should Follow Her:
The filmmaker behind “Belle,” “A United Kingdom,” and the upcoming “The Billion Dollar Spy,” Amma Asante is worth following just to keep tabs on what she’s up to next. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she’s often hanging out with Idris Elba, posting killer selfies, and sharing all sorts of inspirational goodness.
Zal Batmanglij
Why You Should Follow Him:
“The OA” co-creator Zal Batmanglij is currently devoting all of his creative energies to the realm of television, but his work on “The Sound of My Voice” was enough to earn him a lifelong spot on lists like this one. Semantics aside, it’s always good to see what Batmanglij is up to, and that makes him a great follow — from oodles of behind-the-scenes shots from the new season of his show (Brit Marling is all over his page), to curious images that might double as clues, you can see his artistic sensibilities reflected in all of these grabs.
Margaret Brown
Why You Should Follow Her:
Director of essential docs like “The Great Invisible” and “Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt,” Margaret Brown is one of the most exciting filmmakers around — whatever she’s doing, it’s worth paying attention. From Austin to Mardi Gras to Alabama, her Instagram takes her all over the place (these documentary types often lead nomadic lives), and it’s great fun to follow along in order to see where she might end up next.
Justin Chon
Why You Should Follow Him:
Justin Chon is a ridiculously busy guy. Between writing and directing last year’s Sundance-winning “Gook,” acting on ABC’s “Deception,” and raising a brand new baby with his wife Sasha, Chon never has a shortage of fun new things to share with his fans. His Instagram account mixes up adorable videos of his kid, artfully framed candids of his personal life, and occasional blasts of self-promotion (appreciated by anyone trying to keep up with his work).
Alfonso Cuarón
Why You Should Follow Him:
Alfonso Cuarón doesn’t post all that often; he only created an Instagram account in October 2017, joining the service in order to help raise money for the Mexico Rises fund he created in the aftermath of the earthquakes that shook his home country. All the same, it looks as if he has no plans of shuttering his account. Continuing to raise awareness for his charity, the “Children of Men” director has also been sharing (a lot) of awards season group shots with amigos Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, in addition to funny animations by his 13-year-old son. Expect Cuarón’s activity to ramp up even further as he prepares to unveil his new film, “Roma.”
Josephine Decker
Why You Should Follow Her:
If you don’t already know about Josephine Decker, now is a very good time to get familiar. The IndieWire favorite behind Sundance sensation “Madeline’s Madeline” is one of the most exciting voices in American cinema today, and this is poised to be the biggest year of her career so far. While Instagram policy makes it impossible for Decker’s account to be as intimate and revealing as her recent movie “Flames,” she’s still a great follow, especially because it’s impossible to predict what she’ll get up to next.
Xavier Dolan
Why You Should Follow Him:
More active on Twitter than he is on Instagram (though you might expect it to be the other way around for such a visually expressive filmmaker), Xavier Dolan is still an essential follow, not least of all because he’s smack-dab in the center of the Venn Diagram between millennials and major auteurs. Between protest shots, glimpses (and news) from his new movie “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, and photos of young Leonardo DiCaprio (“mood”), the young director’s typically filtered-but-unfiltered account has also offered an emotional response to “Love, Simon” and a birthday shoutout to “Dunkirk” star Harry Styles.
