(Joshua Rothman’s and Erin Overbey’s article appeared in The New Yorker, 10/20.)

In his 1994 New Yorker profile of Federico Fellini, Clive James wrote that one of the Italian director’s gifts as a filmmaker was his ability to see what was universal in his own life and to expertly convey that onscreen. While the directors featured in this week’s archive collection come from varied backgrounds, many of them share Fellini’s skill at translating personal narrative into a broader vision. In previous months, we’ve offered selections of classic New Yorker stories on chefs, artists, actresses, and scientists. For this collection, we’ve pulled together six pieces about directors and the craft of filmmaking, from Jean-Luc Godard’s early embrace of pop culture in “Breathless” to Mira Nair’s flair for documenting the complexities of cultural identity in “Salaam Bombay!”

http://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/filmmakers-archive?int-cid=mod-latest