The greatest films to come out of Japan
Known previously for directing 'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World' (2012), and writing the screenplay for 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist' (2008), Scafaria reached new heights with 2019's 'Hustlers,' shot in just 29 days and delivering an impressively looped narrative.
Her name was known after 'Girlhood' (2014), regarded as one of the best coming-of-age movies of the decade, but the Palme d'Or nominated 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' (2019) has set Sciamma apart from the crowd.
Matsoukas first made a name for herself as a music video director for artists like Beyoncé, then moved on to TV with shows like 'Insecure' and 'Master of None.' But her feature film debut, the Daniel Kaluuya-starring drama 'Queen & Slim' (2019), marks her as a definite director to watch.
She first appeared in front of the camera, but with the 2017 Oscar-nominated 'Lady Bird' and 2019's snubbed 'Little Women,' Gerwig has shown much greater talent behind the scenes.
The Sundance Film Festival was buzzing with Wang's breakout feature directorial debut 'The Farewell' (2019), where she was awarded best director. Awkwafina's starring role earned a historic Golden Globe as well.
The French film director's first feature film 'Beau Travail' has been lauded as one of the greatest films of the 1990s, and she later followed it up with the ferocious 2009 drama 'White Material.' Most recently there was 'High Life' (2018), starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche.
She first came onto the directing scene with 'Eve's Bayou' (1997), but her highest-grossing film has been 2019's 'Harriet,' following abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
The multi-talented director has been widely celebrated for her work on 'Late Night' (2019), starring Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson. Her upcoming 2020 film 'Covers' is set to star Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Zoë Chao.
From 'The Diary of a Teenage Girl' (2015) and 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' (2018) to 2019's 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,' Heller's storytelling is incredibly poignant.
'Booksmart' (2019) has been lauded for its fresh, modern, and terribly hilarious take on the coming-of-age high school comedy. As Wilde's directorial debut, there is surely more to come.
First known for her documentary 'Bombay Beach,' the director was later entrusted with Shia LaBeouf's unsettlingly honest autobiographical film 'Honey Boy' (2019), which won Best First Feature at the Hollywood Critics Awards.
The director of 'Bend it Like Beckham' (2002) is also the directorial mind behind 'Blinded By the Light' (2019), which tells the coming-of-age story of a British-Pakistani Muslim teen whose life is changed after discovering the sounds of Springsteen.
Culton made history in 2006 when she became the first female director of a studio CGI animated feature with 'Open Season.' In 2019, she was the writer-director of 'Abominable.'
DuVernay's 'Selma' (2014) was lauded as one of the best films tackling the dynamics of progress, and she followed it up with the powerful documentary '13th' (2016). In 2018, she helmed 'A Wrinkle in Time,' but it's her stunning work on the miniseries 'When They See Us' (2019) that is incontestably brilliant.
'We Need to Talk About Kevin' (2011) remains a stunningly unsettled narrative, but Ramsay's finer work is in the Joaquin Phoenix-led 2017 film 'You Were Never Really Here,' for which she received several significant nominations, including the Palme d'Or.
Granik is perhaps best known for 2004's 'Down to the Bone,' but she's also beloved for 2010's 'Winter's Bone,' which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance. She also picked up some significant nods and awards with 'Leave No Trace' (2018), which boasts a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Buzz started spreading after 'Pariah' (2011), but Rees really hit her stride with 'Mudbound' (2017), which was the first Netflix film to break through with an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.
'The Rider' (2017) became an inspiration for many other directors, and endless reviews applaud Zhao's docu-fiction technique wherein you forget you're watching a film. Look out for her direction on the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 'The Eternals' (2020), with a cast including Kit Harington, Richard Madden, and Angelina Jolie.
Bianco's 'Share' started as a short, which earned first prize at Cannes' Cinéfondation competition in 2015, then was expanded to a feature-length film in 2019. She presents a jarring perspective on sexual assault in the 21st century.
'The Mustang' (2019) is a story about a violent convict participating in a rehabilitation therapy program centered around training wild mustangs. It earned the writer-director awards for Best First Feature and Breakthrough Director.
As her first feature-length film, Lessovitz's drama 'Port Authority' (2019) was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and went to Cannes in the Un Certain Regard sidebar.
'Clemency' (2019) is Chukwu's second feature film (having debuted with 'Alaskaland' in 2012), and earned the writer-director breakout acclaim at Sundance—plus the festival's prestigious US Grand Jury Prize.
The Australian filmmaker became best known for the Nazi drama 'Lore' (2012), which touched Scarlett Johansson so deeply that she reportedly advocated for Shortland to become the director of the upcoming 'Black Widow' solo film for Marvel Studios.
With her 2019 film 'Atlantics,' Diop became the first black female director to be in contention for the Cannes Film Festival's highest prize, the Palme d'Or—and she took home the Grand Prix!
With TV direction credits including 'This Is Us,' 'The Deuce,' 'House of Cards,' 'The Chi,' and more, Dawson made her feature directorial debut with the religious drama 'Breakthrough' (2019). With a budget of US$14 million, it grossed $50.4 million.
'The Souvenir' (2019) is the British director's fourth feature film, and her most widely acclaimed yet, showing immense mastery of her craft. She is currently working on a sequel.
DeBoer and Luebbe wrote, directed, and starred in 'Greener Grass' (2019), which presented a psychotic suburban world of absurd politeness, and announced this pair as hilariously twisted voices in Hollywood.
Sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski made their directing debut in 1996 with 'Bound,' and found fame with their second film 'The Matrix' (1999), as well as its sequels. They also wrote the screenplay for 'V for Vendetta' (2005) and co-directed 'Cloud Atlas' (2012). Lana is currently working on the fourth Matrix film, planned for 2021.
Her stylish debut feature 'Stray Dolls' (2019), co-starring Cynthia Nixon, is an immigrant thriller that marked Sinha as a director of the moment with a prominent political voice.
See also: 30 of the best films directed by women.
As the repeated absence of female directors at award shows makes so painfully clear, gender equality remains a prominent issue in Hollywood. According to an annual study from the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, women made up just 10.6% of directors for 2019's biggest movies, which is sadly a huge improvement from the 4.5% who directed 2018's top 100 films.
The lack of support for female directors is constantly reinforced by the lack of recognition. The report also assessed the gender of director nominations across 13 years and the four main award shows (Golden Globes, Directors Guild of America, Oscars, and Critics’ Choice), and found that of a total of 273 directing nominations, 94.9% went to men, and just 5.1% went to women.
Even the successful new horror flick 'Candyman' has been lauded as Jordan Peele's latest hit, but little do most people know it was directed by a woman, Nia DaCosta. The film opened at #1 to US$22.3 million, beating its projected US$15 million opening-weekend expectations by nearly 50%, IndieWire reports. Even more notably, it's the first film directed by a Black woman to reach #1 at the box office.
DaCosta is certainly one to watch, as she's currently in pre-production on 'The Marvels,' the first sequel to 'Captain Marvel,' which earned her some more firsts: as a Black woman hired as a Marvel Studios director, and also as the highest-budgeted film directed by a Black woman.
While the few well-known female directors like Sofia Coppola can generate a lot of buzz, there are so many other deserving women making topical and important films that are artistically challenging, wonderfully unnerving, and aesthetically engaging. Click through to see some of the best female directors to watch.
Underrated female directors you should definitely watch
Nia DaCosta, director of #1 film 'Candyman,' makes box-office history
MOVIES Hollywood
As the repeated absence of female directors at award shows makes so painfully clear, gender equality remains a prominent issue in Hollywood. According to an annual study from the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, women made up just 10.6% of directors for 2019's biggest movies, which is sadly a huge improvement from the 4.5% who directed 2018's top 100 films.
The lack of support for female directors is constantly reinforced by the lack of recognition. The report also assessed the gender of director nominations across 13 years and the four main award shows (Golden Globes, Directors Guild of America, Oscars, and Critics’ Choice), and found that of a total of 273 directing nominations, 94.9% went to men, and just 5.1% went to women.
Even the successful new horror flick 'Candyman' has been lauded as Jordan Peele's latest hit, but little do most people know it was directed by a woman, Nia DaCosta. The film opened at #1 to US$22.3 million, beating its projected US$15 million opening-weekend expectations by nearly 50%, IndieWire reports. Even more notably, it's the first film directed by a Black woman to reach #1 at the box office.
DaCosta is certainly one to watch, as she's currently in pre-production on 'The Marvels,' the first sequel to 'Captain Marvel,' which earned her some more firsts: as a Black woman hired as a Marvel Studios director, and also as the highest-budgeted film directed by a Black woman.
While the few well-known female directors like Sofia Coppola can generate a lot of buzz, there are so many other deserving women making topical and important films that are artistically challenging, wonderfully unnerving, and aesthetically engaging. Click through to see some of the best female directors to watch.