Carl Theodor Dreyer

Dreyer directed approximately 14 feature films over a career spanning from 1919 to 1964. His perfectionism and demanding production methods meant he worked extremely slowly, with gaps of a decade or more between some films.

The 1928 silent film is renowned for its relentless extreme close-ups of actress Renée Falconetti's face, which Dreyer used to convey the spiritual anguish of Joan's trial. He built the elaborate sets with walls that could be moved so the camera could shoot from any angle, but the final film is overwhelmingly composed of stark facial close-ups with minimal makeup.

The original Danish cut was believed lost for decades after being cut and re-edited by censors and distributors. A nearly complete print was discovered in 1981 in a closet at a mental institution in Dikemark, Norway, near Oslo, and this version became the basis for a major restoration.

Dreyer's last completed film was "Gertrud" (1964), a quiet, formally austere drama about an aging woman who leaves her lovers in search of an ideal love. It was made when Dreyer was 75 and was poorly received at the time, though it has since been reassessed as a masterpiece by many critics.