filmmaker

American  

[film-mey-ker] / ˈfɪlmˌmeɪ kər /

noun

1. Also called moviemaker.  a producer or director of motion pictures, especially one working in all phases of production.

   the leading young filmmakers of France.

2. a person who makes film, especially for use in photography.

---

Other Word Forms

• filmmaking noun

Etymology

Origin of filmmaker

First recorded in 1905–10; film + maker

Example Sentences

With his latest production, which hits US theaters Friday, the filmmaker has set himself a different goal.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

“I’m a queer, undocumented Mexican immigrant. I am what inspires me to create stories,” said Armando Ibáñez, the 42-year-old, Los Angeles-based filmmaker known for his YouTube series “Undocumented Tales.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2026

When his son Bowser Jr., voiced by filmmaker and actor Benny Safdie, stages a breakout, it sparks an intergalactic chase.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

Years later, as a documentary filmmaker, Sadia traveled to India and Pakistan, pursuing the surviving remnants—crumbling synagogues, documents, old pieces of furniture—that could give context to her grandmother’s tales.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

There is an American filmmaker named Orson Welles who said, “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri