Following the successful formula of previous Phaidon "10x10" titles, this new book in the series will present 100 of the world's most exceptional emerging film directors, selected by internationally prominent festival directors including Frederic Maire/Locarno, Piers Handling & Cameron Bailey/Toronto, Sergio Wolf/Buenos Aires, Wieland Speck/Berlin, Kim Dong-Ho/Pusan, Korea, Marco Muller/Venice, Michel Ouedraogo/Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Li Cheuk-to/Hong Kong.

Arranged alphabetically by film director, the book explores the work of each director through the close analysis of one key film per director featured on 2 spreads, providing the reader with detailed information about each film and its author both in words and pictures, including film stills, on-set photographs, posters, and more. In addition, each festival director-curator will present one seminal film, which has influenced his understanding of contemporary cinema. Each curator will write an essay about the film director and the selected film. For each film, the reader will learn about the plot, the cast, the full credits, the film location, the budget, the release date, the nominations and awards, as well the genesis, the production and post-production elements. Each film will be illustrated by sequences of films stills as well as sketches, location scouting shots and storyboards. Finally, at the end of the book, each curator will select one cultural reference from varying genres and media to illustrate the context in which film directors operate today. The book will include a short biography for each film director and each curator. The result is unique source book, a fresh and up-to-the-minute collection of the best global and regional cinematographic creations in all fictional genre - drama, crime, horror, fantasy, science-fiction - around the world.

Criteria for selection: each curator (nominators) will select ten film directors and one long feature film which the director made, produced and distributed in the last five years. Each selected film must be a long feature film and should be his or her first, second or third film.