Create an objective list of the ten most influential figures in the history of the cinema

An objective list is nearly impossible. If this were "I Love Music" or "I Love Books", it would probably be laughed down immediately. Film is still seen as a rather narrow & young medium, with its underground/experimental/transgressive/indie/etc. offshoots nearly unnoticed.

Ok, so that's my little film rant :) Now here's my list (NOT RANKED IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDER)--

1) D.W. Griffith/Sergei Eisenstein (tie)

They pretty much originated the feature film as we know it today, in each of its two major forms: Griffith taking the "classical cutting" approach (a more literary way of narrative storytelling) and Eisenstein popularizing the "montage" theory of action editing through point/counterpoint. I'm tempted to throw Dziga Vertov in the mix as the originator of experimental narrative & agitprop.

2) Frederick Wiseman

Wiseman proved early the power of cinema-verite style documentary, showing that a doc can be edifying, political & entertaining at the same time. His influence on the genre is immeasurable.

3) Jean-Luc Godard

Love him or hate him, Godard has left his mark. He made intellect in the cinema hip, and made poetics and politics in narrative film acceptible. Although it's far down on my list of Godard favorites, the influence of "Breathless" on countless film students (not to mention hundreds of indie directors like Jarmusch & early Tarrantino) is undeniable.

4) Stan Brakhage

Arguably the father of the avant-garde (with Maya Deren his predecessor as its mother), Brakhage was certainly the filmmaker who brought it into the mainstream. His influence was probably the most evident in the 1960's, as his "Dog Star Man" became the influence for every psychedelic scene in American Cinema ("Easy Rider", "Midnight Cowboy", "Performance", "Chappaqua", etc.) but his influence is still seen today on MTV ("Nine Inch Nails" videos come to mind), in the opening credits to "Se7en" and countless other sequences in films and advertisements. And this is only in the mainstream--his influence in the avant-garde is still so strong as to almost be a roadblock (Brakhage pretty much did it all--check out the Criterion Collection "By Brakhage" set for just a small taste of his amazing range over a 400+ film career).

5) Orson Welles

"Citizen Kane" was huge--the non-linear storylines, the "pseudo-documentary" style, the deep-focus cinematography and mise-en-scene, the "one-man epic"....Welles pretty much redefined modern narrative cinema with one film.

6) Douglas Sirk

Father of the melodrama. We wouldn't have half of Fassbinder's output if it wasn't for Sirk.

7) Buster Keaton/Jerry Lewis/Woody Allen (tie)

The originator of slapstick. The perfector of slapstick & the inventor of self-reflexive comedy. The father of neurotic urban comedy and relationship humor. Every comedic film every made has elements of one of these three filmmakers.

8) Michael Moore

This is sure to be a controversial choice. I'm not selecting Moore for his content, but for his filmmaking techniques. His style of self-absorbed, humorous agit-prop mixed with investigative journalism has already proved to be incredibly powerful & is sure to be imitated for years to come. Moore does owe a great deal to filmmakers like Ross McElwee and Peter Davis though.

9) Alfred Hitchcock

The king of suspense. His influence is undeniable and evident in nearly every horror film and psychological thriller ever made (not to mention paving the way for the career of that hack M. Night Shyma-la-ma-ding-dong)

10) Ingmar Bergman

He made existential angst and bad symbolism popular, and is directly responsible for tens of thousands of crappy student films. However, the emotions he drew from his actors through long shots and improv were a huge influence on the American independent film movement, and his influence (along with Tarkovsky) accounts for the countless stark imagery/somber-toned European films.

Unfortunately I had to leave Kubrick, Scorcese, Spielberg, Lucas, Bunuel, Fellini, Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, etc. off of the list.

I would go chronologically... and using influence as the main criterion, not aesthetic greatness:

Edison
Griffith
Chaplin (the first global star)
Eisenstein
Ford
The Mogul (if I had to pick one, Thalberg or Selznick)
Corman
Godard
Spielberg
Lucas

The Moore forecast is interesting... and I don't believe it for a second.

Chaplin CAN'T be left off (and artistically, I prefer Keaton, but he wasn't nearly as influential).

Hitchcock has to be high on the list. Don't forget how he pretty much invented the slasher genre with "Psycho". And his trippier efforts like "The Birds" and "Vertigo" influenced independent cinema.

i think hithcock is more important, at least in terms of historical importance, as one of the pioneers of a kind subjective cinema designed to place the audience in a first-person perspective rather than a recreation of an objective theater-like experience.