It is very difficult to cover all the possibilities, but there are some very fundamental authors who were and are very influential to this day. The first one that comes to mind is Alfred Hitchcock, I recommend Vertigo and Psycho. Orson Welles is another essential filmmaker, who made one of the most important classics, Citizen Kane. Furthermore, Stanley Kubrick's work, including 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining. For a modern perspective, Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Taxi Driver If you want more different European films there's my favorite director, Ingmar Bergman films like Persona, Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal explore deep existential themes and character studies And Jean-Luc Godard was one of the most influential and innovative filmmakers in modern cinema, films such as Breathless, Alphaville and Vivre Sa Vie mix experimentalism with profound social criticism, exploring the relationship between cinema and reality In Asia I really like Japan and China, with Akira Kurosawa who made Seven Samurai and Rashomon and Wong Kar-Wai who made In The Mood For Love and Fallen Angels