Their gritty neorealist films explore individuals struggling for survival and dignity in harsh socioeconomic conditions, often focusing on isolation within urban poverty.
Werner Herzog GermanyHis documentaries and narrative films obsessively examine human resilience against nature and extreme isolation, from Aguirre to Grizzly Man.
Chloé Zhao China/USAHer films intimately capture solitary individuals adapting to economic hardship and geographic isolation, most powerfully in Nomadland.