This new book catalogues some 215 prominent film directors from both countries, giving accurate bio-filmographies and providing an in-depth reference source. Full attention is given to the propaganda cinema under dictators Franco and Salazar, to film-makers who left to work abroad--especially in Latin America--and to those filming in the regional languages (mainly Basque and Catalan). There is coverage not only of internationally well-known figures Almodovar, Bunuel, Oliveira, and Saura, but also across the complete range of feature, documentary, and animation film-making: early pioneers Segundo de Chomon, Catalans Jose Maria Codina, Fructuoso Gelabert, and Magi Muria, and Portuguese Aurelio da Paz dos Reis; experimentalists and avant-garde figures such as Lorenzo Llobet-Gracia, Jose Val del Omar, and Nemesio Sobrevila and documentarist Antonio Campos; animators Cruz Delgado, Francisco Macian, and Arturo Moreno (who worked on the first full-length animated film in Europe, Garbancito de la Mancha, in 1945).

Each entry gives information on the film-maker's career (date and place of birth, educational qualifications, work experience, positions held), together with a list of films made, with dates of production. There are three indexes: Country Index, Film Title Index, and General Index. The index of film titles lists over 3,000 entries, including the original languages and their English language and aka equivalents.