James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, and composer. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing such films as "Stranger Than Paradise" (1984), "Down by Law" (1986), "Mystery Train" (1989), "Dead Man" (1995), "" (1999), "Coffee and Cigarettes" (2003), "Broken Flowers" (2005), "Only Lovers Left Alive" (2013), and "Paterson" (2016)