25 Rising Female Filmmakers to Know in 2019

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With major film festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, and Cannes committing to larger displays of representation, the opportunities for upcoming female directors to make a name for themselves on the circuit continues to grow in 2019. Per tradition, IndieWire has rounded up some of the most high profile new female directors cinephiles need to know about in 2019. These new directorial voices should make indie cinema an exciting place over the next several years.
Lulu Wang

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Lulu Wang was the talk of the Sundance Film Festival this year with her breakout feature directorial debut “The Farewell.” The movie was named the best film of the festival in IndieWire’s Sundance critics poll, while Wang was awarded best director. A24 is releasing the family comedy-drama in theaters July 12.
Pippa Bianco

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Writer-director Pippa Bianco won the Cinéfondation prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for her short film “Share,” which she then adapted into a feature film of the same name. The drama debuted at Sundance earlier this year, where Bianco won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The feature-length “Share” will next bring Bianco back to Cannes. The movie made the 2019 festival’s official lineup and will show in the Special Screenings sidebar.
Chinonye Chukwu

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“Clemency” is Chinonye Chukwu’s second feature film (she debuted with “Alaskaland” in 2012) and earned the writer-director breakout acclaim at Sundance, plus the festival’s prestigious U.S. Grand Jury Prize. Neon picked up rights to “Clemency” at Sundance and is preparing an Oscar campaign around the film and Alfre Woodard’s lead performance. “Clemency” opens in select theaters December 27.
Mati Diop

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Mati Diop is making history at the Cannes Film Festival this year as the first black woman director to ever compete for the Palme d’Or. Diop is the niece of Senegalese cinema pioneer Djibril Diop Mambéty and first got her start as an actress, starring in films such as “Simon Killer” and “35 Shots of Rum.”
Andrea Berloff

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Andrea Berloff has made a name for herself in Hollywood as a screenwriter on such projects as Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” and F. Gary Gray’s “Straight Outta Compton,” and now she’s in the director’s chair for the first time with “The Kitchen.” The crime drama stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss (not a bad trio for your first directorial effort) and has the backing of Warner Bros., which is releasing the movie August 9.
Emma Tammi

Image Credit: IFC Films

Emma Tammi emerged as one of the most exciting new voices in horror at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival with the world premiere of “The Wind” (pictured), which earned a theatrical release April 5 from IFC Midnight. Prior to her feature debut, Tammi served as a film producer on projects such as “Fair Chase” and “Bloodline.”
Olivia Wilde

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Olivia Wilde is well known for her work as an actress, but at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival she emerged as a fully formed filmmaker thanks to the world premiere of “Booksmart.” Wilde’s directorial flourishes enliven a traditional coming-of-age high school comedy (just watch as she executes a fight between best friends in a single take) and make her directing career one to watch. Annapurna is releasing “Booksmart” in theaters May 24.
Josephine Mackerras

Image Credit: SXSW

Josephine Mackerras won the 2019 SXSW Grand Jury Prize for her remarkable feature debut “Alice” (pictured), about a woman who leaves her drug-addicted husband behind and turns to high-end prostitution as a means of caring for herself and her young child. IndieWire named “Alice” a high point of this year’s SXSW film festival.
Hilary Brougher

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Hilary Brougher returned to the director’s chair this year for the first time since 2006’s “Stephanie Daley” with SXSW premiere “South Mountain,” a tender, intimate, and blatantly personal work that wears its lo-fi narrative with pride. IndieWire named “South Mountain” one of the best films of SXSW. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take another decade for Brougher’s profile to continue to rise.
Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe

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Upright Citizens Brigade alums Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe delivered one of the most unforgettable feature film debuts of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival with “Greener Grass,” a surreal suburban comedy about two soccer moms who begin competing against one another in their personal lives. IFC Midnight picked up North American rights to the movie, which should easily become one of the year’s cult classics.
Minhal Baig

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Yale graduate Minhal Baig was another one of this year’s high profile Sundance directors with the premiere of “Hala,” which got picked up by Apple as one of the company’s first film acquisitions. “Hala” stars “Blockers” favorite Geraldine Viswanathan in the coming-of-age story of a Muslim teenager. Baig wrote and directed the feature, hailed by IndieWire as a wonderfully sensitive debut about finding sexual agency.
Annie Silverstein

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Annie Silverstein won the Cinéfondation jury award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival for her short film “Skunk,” and now she’s returning to the Croisette this year with Un Certain Regard premiere “Bull” (pictured). With shades of “The Rider,” the movie follows the relationship between a troubled 14-year-old girl and an ex-bull rider past his prime.
Rachel Lears

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Rachel Lears is bound to have one of the year’s most buzzed about non-fiction features thanks to her political documentary “Knock Down the House,” which debuted at Sundance to strong reviews and hits Netflix and select theaters May 1. The doc follows four women who ran for Congress in the 2018 United States elections, including rising superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC’s huge profile has put Lears’ movie on the map in a way she could not have predicted, and now that it’s opening expect to hear more from the up-and-coming doc filmmaker.
Semi Chellas

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“Ophelia” screenwriter Semi Chellas makes her feature directorial debut with Tribeca world premiere “American Woman.” Chellas tackles the story of kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, offering up an “atmospheric drama” inspired by Hearst’s 1974 kidnapping. Sarah Gadon stars as the film’s Patty substitute (she goes by “Pauline”), while “Downsizing” standout Hong Chau is cast as Jenny Shimada, standing in for real-life activist Wendy Yoshimura, who was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army that kidnapped Hearst.
Danielle Lessovitz

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After directing several short films over the last decade, San Francisco-based filmmaker Danielle Lessovitz graduates to feature filmmaking with the drama “Port Authority” (pictured), executive produced by Martin Scorsese. The debut is one of the titles heading to Cannes this year in the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Set in New York City, “Port Authority” is a romance between a midwestern transplant and a 22-year-old trans woman with ties to the city’s ballroom scene.
Dolly Wells

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After earning rave reviews for her supporting turn in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” last year, actress Dolly Wells is now at the center of Tribeca buzz with feature directorial debut “Good Posture.” Wells proves she’s as humane behind the camera as she tends to be in front of it, directing rising star Grace Van Patten in this shaggy and charming story of a young Brooklyn woman learning about the power of self-worth.
Hannah Pearl Utt

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Hannah Pearl Utt and collaborator Jen Tullock have been honing their shared voice for years now, first with Joey Ally’s amusing short “Partners” and then with their charming web series “Disengaged.” The two raise the stakes in Utt’s feature directorial debut, “Before You Know It,” a quirky female comedy that was one of the bright spots at Sundance earlier this year. The way Utt manages to cut through quirk with real emotion, stellar acting, and a kicky sense of pace makes her one to watch.
Alice Furtado

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Following the short films “Duel Before Nightfall” (2011) and “When It Lifts Its Little Eyes Up” (2014), Brazilian filmmaker Alice Furtado makes her feature debut with “Sick, Sick, Sick” (pictured). The movie centers around an intense love affair between a young girl and a new classmate suffering from hemophilia. Furtado’s debut is hitting Directors Fortnight at Cannes, a place that has launched the likes of Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, and more. With the film’s genre roots and a bonkers plot, expect Furtado to make an impact.
Tayarisha Poe

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Philadelphia-based writer-director Tayarisha Poe had one of the most assured debuts at Sundance this year with “Selah and the Spades.” The film is set at an elite Pennsylvania boarding school where the student body is run by five factions. Poe takes a cliched high school set up and gets to its truthful core, proving she has much to say about the current teenage generation and inventive ways to say it.
Roxann Dawson

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After an extensive career directing for television (high profile credits include “This Is Us,” “The Deuce,” “The Americans,” “House of Cards,” “The Chi,” and more), Roxann Dawson, who also acted as one of the lead characters on “Star Trek: Voyager,” made her feature directorial debut with the religious drama “Breakthrough.” Released by Fox, the movie opened April 17 and has grossed over $27 million in under a month.
Melina Matsoukas

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Melina Matsoukas made a name for herself as a music video director for such powerhouses as Beyonce (her “Formation” video is a landmark), Rihanna, Alicia Keys, No Doubt, and Christina Aguilera, among others. The director has already made the leap to television (“Insecure,” “Master of None”) and next up is her feature film debut, the Daniel Kaluuya-starring drama “Queen & Slim.” Universal is releasing the drama November 27 and stirred up impressive buzz at CinemaCon with strong first footage.
Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

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Actress-turned-director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre made her feature directorial debut this year with “The Mustang,” produced by none other than Robert Redford. The prison rehabilitation drama, starring Matthias Schoenaerts, earned strong reviews out of Sundance and had the backing of Focus Features. The drama opened March 15.
Jill Culton

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Jill Culton made history in 2006 when she became the first woman director of a studio CGI animated feature with “Open Season,” which Culton co-directed with Roger Allers. The release followed the years Culton spent working as a writer and animator on such films as “Monsters, Inc.” and “Toy Story.” Despite breaking a glass ceiling, Culton would not direct again for over a decade. Universal is releasing Culton’s second feature, “Abominable,” on September 27. Here’s hoping Culton continues to rise in the next decade.
Sonejuhi Sinha

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Sonejuhi Sinha sticks a knife into the hard underbelly of the American Dream and draws fresh blood from familiar territory in her stylish feature debut “Stray Dolls.” The immigrant thriller, co-starring Cynthia Nixon, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to positive buzz and announces Sinha as a new director with a topical and urgent political voice.

Screen-Shot-2019-05-01-at-9.36.03-AM

Lulu Wang

Pippa Bianco

Chinonye Chukwu

Mati Diop

Andrea Berloff

Emma Tammi

Olivia Wilde

Josephine Mackerras

Hilary Brougher

Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe

Minhal Baig

Annie Silverstein

Rachel Lears

Semi Chellas

Danielle Lessovitz

Dolly Wells

Hannah Pearl Utt

Alice Furtado

Tayarisha Poe

Roxann Dawson

Melina Matsoukas

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Jill Culton

Sonejuhi Sinha