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

    Image Credit: Shutterstock

    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

    Lulu Wang poses at the premiere of "The Farewell" during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah2018 Sundance Film Festival - "The Farewell" Premiere, Park City, USA - 25 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Writer/director Pippa Bianco2019 Sundance Film Festival - "Share" Portrait Session, Park City, USA - 27 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Chinonye Chukwu, writer/director of "Clemency," addresses the audience before the screening of her film at the LIbrary Center Theatre during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah2019 Sundance Film Festival - "Clemency" Premiere, Park City, USA - 27 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    “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

    Image Credit: IMdB

    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

    Andrea Berloff Warner Bros 'The Big Picture Show', CinemaCon, Las Vegas, USA - 02 Apr 2019
    Image Credit: Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Olivia WildeBig Screen Achievement Awards, Arrivals, CinemaCon, Las Vegas, USA - 04 Apr 2019
    Image Credit: Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Screenwriter Hilary Brougher Receives the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award For the Movie 'Stephanie Daley' During the 2006 Sundance Film Festival Awards Night in Park City Utah On Saturday 28 January 2006Usa Cinema - Jan 2006
    Image Credit: George Frey/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Dawn Luebbe, Jocelyn DeBoer. Writers/directors Dawn Luebbe, left, and Jocelyn DeBoer pose for a portrait to promote the film "Greener Grass" at the Salesforce Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah2019 Sundance Film Festival - "Greener Grass" Portrait Session, Park City, USA - 28 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Minhal Baig, director of "Hala," poses at the premiere of the film during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah2019 Sundance Film Festival - "Hala" Premiere, Park City, USA - 26 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Image Credit: Cannes

    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

    Rachel Lears poses at the premiere of "Knock Down The House", her documentary about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah2019 Sundance Film Festival - "Knock Down The House" Premiere, Park City, USA - 27 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Semi ChellasSublime Primetime 2015, Los Angeles, America - 17 Sep 2015
    Image Credit: David Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

    “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

    Image Credit: m2K Films

    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

    Dolly Wells'Good Posture' premiere, Tribeca Film Festival, New York, USA - 27 Apr 2019
    Image Credit: Erik Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Writer/director Hannah Pearl Utt poses for a portrait to promote the film "Before You Know It" at the Salesforce Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah2019 Sundance Film Festival - "Before You Know It" Portrait Session, Park City, USA - 27 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Image Credit: Berlinale

    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

    Tayarisha Poe
IndieWire Sundance Studio by Dropbox, Day 4, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, USA - 28 Jan 2019
    Image Credit: Anna Pocaro/IndieWire/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Director Roxann Dawson arrives at the LA Premiere of "Breakthrough" at the Regency Village Theatre, in Los Angeles
LA Premiere of "Breakthrough", Los Angeles, USA - 11 Apr 2019
    Image Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Melina Matsoukas
'Master of None' TV show FYC event, Arrivals, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Jun 2017
    Image Credit: Rob Latour/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Writer/Director,
Focus Features THE MUSTANG special screening, Hollywood, CA, USA - 12 March 2019
    Image Credit: Eric Charbonneau/REX/Shutterstock

    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

    Image Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

    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

    Sonejuhi Sinha
'Stray Dolls' screening, Tribeca Film Festival, New York, USA - 27 Apr 2019
    Image Credit: Vanessa Carvalho/REX/Shutterstock

    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.

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