About this series

21st Century Hollywood is still the Mecca for filmmaking. The studios are still here. The glitz and the glamour are still here. But it is the genius of the American cinema, which has evolved with the times, that has made Hollywood great today. This five part series The Great Directors: The Making of 21st Century Hollywood features the directors that are making the mega-franchise blockbusters bankrolling the whole system; the directors of the small indie films winning Oscars; the directors behind the second Golden age of animation; the directors who have brought feature-length documentaries to the big screen; and the plethora of foreign directors that Hollywood has welcomed with open arms from all over the world. Host and veteran actor Erick Avari showcases the great directors that have led the way to the supercharged Hollywood of the 21st Century. On camera experts/Professors of Film: Professor Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz, PhD,Professor and Chair of Film Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder; Saul Austerlitz, Film Critic; Professor Maria Elena de las Carreras, PhD; Professor of Cinema, California State University, Northridge; Professor Dawn Fratini, Film Historian; Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, College of Film and Media Arts, Chapman University; Professor Annette Insdorf, PhD, Professor in the Graduate Film Program of Columbia University's School of the Arts and Director of Undergraduate Film Studies; Professor Jonathan Kuntz, PhD, Professor of American Film History, Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Professor Jon Lewis, PhD, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies in Oregon State University's School of Writing, Literature and Film; Professor Howie Movshovitz, Teacher of Film Studies, University of Colorado, Denver; Professor Richard Peña, Professor of Film Studies, Columbia University; Professor Jennifer Lynn Peterson, PhD, Professor of Film Studies, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder; Professor Dana Polan, PhD, Professor of Cinema Studies, NY University.