Who is he?

"He was autodidact, a professional Chess player and a photographer before making his early pictures. He said that Chess taught him to control the initial emotion of intuition before making a decision and [to] think again. This is pure intellectualism that is evident in his movies."

Make your guess as a comment; I'll post the answer soon.

Update (3/30/05): You guys are too good! You can find the answer here.