Filmmaking is primarily a director's medium.

And Guardian Unlimited's panel of judges recognise that. Peter Bradshaw, Xan Brooks, Molly Haskell, Derek Malcolm, Andrew Pulver, B Ruby Rich and Steve Rose recently drew a list of top 40 filmmakers in the world.

Topping the list was David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive) who was dubbed 'the most important film-maker of the current era' by the panel.

At second place, Martin Scorsese was described as: 'His red-blooded canon has spawned a generation of copycats while his muscular style has become a template.' He is the director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Age of Innocence.

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Known for their peculiar brand of imaginative expression in films like Raising Arizona, Fargo and The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers -- Joel and Ethan -- are at third place, followed by Steven Soderbergh of Erin Brokovich and Traffic.

Spanish genius Pedro Almodovar (All About My Mother, Talk to Her), Taiwan-born Ang Lee and Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano grace the list at no 15, 27 and 30 respectively. Spirited Away's Hayao Miyazaki and In The Mood For Love's Wong Kar-Wai figure on the list as well.

The men responsible for redefining Hollywood -- Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs), Larry and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy), David Fincher (Seven, The Fight Club) are part of the super 40 too.

Here are a few that missed the list: Steven Spielberg (ET, Schindler's List), Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, Chocolat), Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), Baz Luhrmann (Romeo And Juliet, Moulin Rouge), Stephen Daldry (The Hours), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), Majid Majidi (The Children of Paradise, Baran) or Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down).

Here's a complete list of the top 40 filmmakers in the world according to Guardian Unlimited:
1 David Lynch
2 Martin Scorsese
3 Joel and Ethan Coen
4 Steven Soderbergh
5 Terrence Malick
6 Abbas Kiarostami
7 Errol Morris
8 Hayao Miyazaki
9 David Cronenberg
10 Terence Davies
11 Lukas Moodysson
12 Lynne Ramsay
13 Bela Tarr
14 Wong Kar-wai
15 Pedro Almodovar
16 Todd Haynes
17 Quentin Tarantino
18 Tsai Ming-Liang
19 Aki Kaurismaki
20 Michael Winterbottom
21 Paul Thomas Anderson
22 Michael Haneke
23 Walter Salles
24 Alexander Payne
25 Spike Jonze
26 Aleksandr Sokurov
27 Ang Lee
28 Michael Moore
29 Wes Anderson
30 Takeshi Kitano
31Richard Linklater
32 Gaspar Noé
33 Pavel Pawlikowski
34 David O Russell
35 Larry and Andy Wachowski
36 Samira Makhmalbaf
37 Lars von Trier
38 Takashi Miike
39 David Fincher
40 Gus Van Sant

Photo: Getty Images