The films Spike Lee thinks every aspiring director should see is a good list to work through

Why not work your way through these gems?

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If you weren't already aware, director Spike Lee is a professor at New York University.

Rather than providing his students with a list of endless reading material for the sake of providing them with a list of endless reading material, Lee instead opts to do something only a film director would do.

The director of such films as 25th Hour and Inside Man provides his students with a list that compiles the essential films he believes they should watch if they want to embark on a career in film directing - a list he then posts on his blog.

The list may raise a few eyebrows (no 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Graduate or Goodfellas) but ultimately, it's all Lee's opinion and the list contains more than enough gems that you should seek out if you're yet to see them (A Face in the Crowd, The Last Detail and Touch of Evil to name but a few).

While his initial list of 87 posted, many pointed out there was a glaring omission in the form of female directors - something the Do the Right Thing director speedily rectified by posting an updated list which brought the total to 95.

These films included Jane Campion's The Piano (1993) and Lina Wertmuller films The Seduction of Mimi (1972) and Swept Away (1974).

Tied as the directors with the most appearances are Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, John Huston and Stanley Kubrick.

Lee also made the impossible choice of choosing just one film from the Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona) and Woody Allen (Zelig).

The most recent films on the list include Neil Blomkamp's District 9 (2009), Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winner The Hurt Locker (2008) and, controversially, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (2006).