I find that Spanish filmakers tend to have passionate, colorful characters . Great films by contemporary filmmakers, Amores Perros (dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu), All About My Mother (Almadovar) and  Our Lady of the Assasins (Barbet Schroeder), are three off the top of my head.
Luis Bunuel's films are true works of art and I have seen every one I could get my hands on. Favorites are: Nazarin,
Los Olvidados and Viridiana.