No films are successful without the vision of a director. 2007 has really seen British directors lead the assault on the big screen as well as the birth of Geek Clique.But when the Oscars came around this year lets face it we were all hoping that one man in particular would walk away with a well deserved prize.

Martin Scorsese
The legendary director has had a great year after finally getting his hands on the greatest prize in the movie industry - the Oscar.Despite releasing his first picture in 1963, and making some of the most iconic movies of all time the Best Director Oscar has, until this year, eluded him.The Departed was released in 2006 but was still riding high on the wave of success in the early months of 2007

Set in Boston notorious Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) has a mole Colin Sullivan (Damon) in the Massachusetts State Police.

At the same time the police have an under cover cop Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) in Costello's crew.

With a stellar cast of DiCaprio. Nicholson, Damon, Wahlberg, Sheen and Baldwin The Departed was met with critical and commercial acclaim, being likened to some of Scorsese's previous success like Raging Bull and Goodfellas.

The film went on to become the most commercially successful of all of Scorsese's features.

The film won four Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Director.

It was Scorsese's sixth Best Director nomination following: Raging Bull in 1986, The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, Goodfellas in 1990, Gangs of New York in 2002 and The aviator in 2004.

Scorsese's future projects include Shutter Island, which re-unites him with actor Leonard DiCaprio, schedule, which is scheduled for a 2009 release and Shine a Light which is a documentary on The Rolling Stones.

Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass is leading the pack of British directors who are currently dominating the box office and enjoying plenty of success.

Greengrass has perhaps had more success than most still riding high from his Best Director Oscar nomination in 2006 for his film United 93, which was based on the September 11th hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93.

This summer saw him re-unite with Matt Damon for The Bourne Ultimatum, the third in the surprisingly successful Bourne franchise.

The film picked up where Supremacy, also directed by Greengrass, left off. Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) is dead and Pam Landy (Joan Allen) has the taped confession.

On the surface the Treadstone project appears to be dead bit in the form of Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), who will stop at nothing to kill Bourne, it lives on.

Competing in a fiercely tough summer market which include Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Spiderman 3 and Shrek the Third. Ultimatum was considered to be the best of the summer sequels.

Ultimatum went on to gross $439.4 million at the global box office.

For now Greengrass is leaving behind the big money making blockbusters to adapt They Marched Into the Sunlight by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Maraniss.

The story centres around the Battle of Ong Thah and a protest at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is expected to be released in 2008.

The Brit will also write and direct the Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. The novel was penned by Rajiv Chandraeskaran and is a critical look at the civilian relationship of the American reconstruction project in Iraq.

Joe Wright

Joe Wright burst on to he scene in 2005 with his big screen adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which led to leading lady Keira Knightley bagging an Oscar nod for Best Actress.

Wright has only had one release this year but it came in the form of the critically acclaimed Atonement.

Re-uniting him with Knightley Atonement is an adaptation of Ian McEwan's much loved novel and was met with critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic.

The film follows Cecilia and Robbie (McAvoy) lovers who are torn apart when Robbie is wrongfully accused of rape.

It's difficult to believe that this is only Wright's second feature length film as his choice of shot, use of costume, attention to the period, and the performance he commands from his cast suggests that he is a veteran movie-maker.

Wright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton have stuck closely to Ian McEwan's much loved novel producing a very literary and faithful account of the story.

It is part love story, part war epic as Wright has produced a complex and devastating story which combines the literary qualities of the novel with the highly polished acting and production values.

It has gone on to lead the nomination for the 2008 Golden Globes with a Best Actor and Actress nod for Keira Knightley and James McAvoy as well as a Best Director for Wright and Best Motion Picture Drama.

Wright's next project is currently in pre production. Entitled The Soloist it tells of the true story of musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, who developed schizophrenia in his second year at Juilliard.

He ended up living on the streets where he performed the cello and violin. It will star Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.

2007 was also successful for Anton Corbijn who, with his debut feature film Control, won critical acclaim. The film depicted the early days of cult Manchester band Joy Division.

Judd Aptow followed up smash hit The 40 Year Old Virgin with the smash Knocked Up cementing himself as the King of Geek Clique he was also the producer of Superbad and the up and coming Drillbit Taylor.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw