Who directed the 1927 silent film 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'?

The 1927 silent film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans was directed by F. W. Murnau. It was the German director's first American film and was produced by William Fox for Fox Film Corporation.

The story follows an unnamed farmer who is tempted by a woman from the city to murder his wife. After abandoning the plan, the couple travel into the city and gradually reconcile. Murnau tells the story with sparse intertitles, expressive camera movement, elaborate sets, and striking visual symbolism. Cinematographers Charles Rosher and Karl Struss helped create the film's dreamlike look.

Although Sunrise is usually called a silent film, its original release included a synchronized musical score and sound effects through Fox Movietone; it contained no audible dialogue. That makes it an important transitional film rather than a conventional talkie. It won the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Picture at the first Academy Awards in 1929, and it remains widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the silent era.