Heya mate!
I do agree in some cases the director is overshadowed, especially if they are not that obsessively dominant over their work. Hence I refrained myself from using the term director altogether and used filmmaker instead. Of course, the terms are used interchangeably but I wanted to mean the ones who write, direct, edit and even sometimes man the camera themselves/ or at least closely follow and collaborate with the designated person.
In my opinion, a cinematographer or director of photography comes close to a filmmaker and the second most important role in a film.
I think of screenplay as more of a literary work rather than filmmaking.
RE: How to find great cinema