Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky films people who consume themselves, and he puts the camera inside them. Requiem for a Dream renders addiction through fast cuts, extreme close-ups and split screen, and the rig that straps a camera to an actor's body had already been tried on his first feature, Pi. He and the cinematographer Matthew Libatique are both graduates of the American Film Institute, and from Pi onward they have made most of his films together. Pi took the directing award at Sundance in 1998, and The Wrestler won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2008. Black Swan watches a ballerina and The Whale a teacher who cannot leave his flat; both hold on to the same question, which is how much a body will take. Caught Stealing followed in 2025.