About this series

Film studies have become the dominant educational tool for understanding and exploring the greater human condition. In this series, Hollywood's Greatest Directors, some of the world's best professors of film study bring to light the riveting story of how Hollywood and American directors have been the dominant force in creating the world's newest art form, cinema. Hollywood's Greatest Directors presents a chronological series of snapshots that highlights not only the achievements of the greatest directors but the story of the genius of the American system that turned filmmaking into a worldwide industry. At the same time, American directors, always on the cutting edge of social change, have brought new values and perspectives to the nation, telling us who we are as Americans and as people.

Hosted by Hollywood veteran Erick Avari, this five part series showcases how this fledgling art form, starting at the beginning of the 20th Century in Hollywood, has come to dominate a global industry while at the same time allowing extraordinary talent to rise to the top.

On camera experts/Professors of Film: Professor Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz, PhD,Professor and Chair of Film Studies, Univ. 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 Univ.; Professor Annette Insdorf, PhD, Professor in the Graduate Film Program of Columbia University's School of the Arts & 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 & Cultural Studies in Oregon State University's School of Writing, Literature and Film; Professor Howie Movshovitz, Teacher of Film Studies, Univ. of Colorado, Denver; Professor Richard Peña, Professor of Film Studies, Columbia Univ.; Professor Jennifer Lynn Peterson, PhD, Professor of Film Studies, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder; Professor Dana Polan, PhD, Professor of Cinema Studies, NY University