metadirector

Metadirector is a term used in film studies and media theory to describe a director whose work foregrounds the act of directing itself, the construction of narrative, or the production conditions of the film. The prefix meta- signals self-reference or commentary about the process rather than the content alone. The concept is primarily theoretical rather than a formal professional designation.

In scholarly discourse, metadirectors are associated with reflexive cinema and metafiction, where the film acknowledges its own artifices, staging, or storytelling devices. Works described as metadirective often employ self-referential narration, explicit references to filmmaking methods, fourth-wall breaks, or layering of narratives that call attention to fictionality. These devices can invite viewers to question authorial authority, genre conventions, and the relationship between screen and reality.

Relation to other terms: The term is not uniformly defined; it overlaps with reflexive cinema, metafilm, or auteur theory but is distinguished by emphasizing the director's role as a narrative or conceptual device.

Examples are primarily found in academic discussion of experimental and avant-garde cinema; the label is not universally applied and may be used selectively to describe works that foreground directing as a concept.

See also: reflexivity, metafilm, metafiction, self-reflexive cinema.