Julia Loktev

Age: 44

Hometown: Saint Petersburg, Russia 

Filmography: Day Night Day Night (2006) and The Loneliest Planet (2011) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

If less is more, then Julia Loktev is the most. After making her debut with a personal documentary in 1998, she re-emerged in 2006 with the stunning terrorist drama, Day Night Day Night. That film, about an unnamed young woman planning, attempting, and failing(?) a suicide bomb mission in Times Square, established her as a vital voice in the burgeoning international minimalist movement. Shot cheaply and covertly, the film assigns no motivations to its protagonist, forcing neither sympathy nor condemnation, only the natural empathy of the camera. It was her 2011 follow-up, however, that cemented her importance. The Loneliest Planet has only one major plot point that, once it passes, is never referred to again, yet informs every interaction that proceeds it, considering gender roles and the unknowability of one’s romantic partner without forcefully commenting on either, or anything else that transpires. We can only watch these people, hikers in the gorgeous Georgian mountains, as they are forced to face the stuff they’re really made of, away from the things of man. – Scott Nye

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Shane Carruth

Age: 42

Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 

Filmography: Primer (2004) and Upstream Color (2013) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

Even today, Primer, Shane Carruth’s 2004 debut feature, is a breath of fresh air. Shot on film for a $10,000 budget, a minimal-realist aesthetic was as much a necessity as an aesthetic choice, but for a film that does not care to hold the viewer’s hand, it was the perfect one. But while Primer became a bit more concerned with playing mind games than making meaning, last year’s belated follow-up, Upstream Color, had no such restrictions. Upstream Color is a symphony, concerned with linking music and sound with editing—the very stuff that makes up the cinema—in an abstract form that rewards both your head and your heart. The radical shift between the two projects and their uncompromising visions mark Carruth as one of the most ambitious young filmmakers today, one who is not afraid to labor intensively—indeed, Upstream Color was not released until Primer was nine years old—to create exactly the film he wants. Fortunately for us, those films are unique and infinitely re-watchable, with the barest stylistic and formal components providing further clues with which to solve the mystery each time. Let’s just hope that his third film comes out sometime this decade. – Forrest Cardamenis

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J.C. Chandor

Age: 40

Hometown: Morristown, New Jersey

Filmography: Margin Call (2011) and All is Lost (2013) 

Upcoming Project: A Most Violent Year (2014)

J.C. Chandor made his name with Margin Call, a 2011 ensemble piece about the impending financial collapse. Many break-out filmmakers would have taken that momentum and cash it in on a gig directing a massive franchise. To his credit, Chandor took a road less traveled. For his second time out on a feature-length production, Chandor decided to forego a large cast of A-list actors, use barely any dialogue, and place the entire film on a boat on the Indian Ocean. Watching Margin Call and All Is Lost there would appear to be no similarities between the two films, though on close inspection the authoritative style cannot be ignored. A gifted writer with a knack for compelling stories and an eye for striking imagery, his next project, A Most Violent Year starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, is already being labeled a can’t-miss film. Chandor made his name later on in life (he made Margin Call at 36), but he will be a name to watch for a long time. – Colin Biggs

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Miranda July

Age: 40

Hometown: Barre, Vermont

Filmography: Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) and The Future (2011) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

Human connection may stem from a sense of compassion, but it can also be awkward, confusing and even shocking at times, despite the fact that it’s all worth it in the end. This is a theme that’s heavily explored within the films of Miranda July, one of the most idiosyncratic voices working within contemporary American film, whose work conveys as much emotional poignancy as it does unconventional surrealism within her characters’ portrayals of longing for acceptance. Her first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, depicts an ensemble of lost, lonely souls yearning to belong within a world they feel completely alienated within, and succeeds as both a quirky indie comedy as well as a social commentary on how far we as human beings are willing to go in order to find some form of acceptance with one another. Balancing pathos with an eccentric, offbeat sense of humor, July’s debut became an underground hit, winning the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and receiving universal acclaim from both critics and audiences (Roger Ebert even named it the fifth best film of the decade). In 2011, July released her second film, The Future, which tells the story of Sophie (July) and her boyfriend Jason (Hamish Linklater) living their lives to the fullest for thirty days until they adopt a sick cat named Paw-Paw (voiced by July) who will need their utmost care and attention. While July’s sophomore effort was less successful critically and financially, it still paints a unique, sympathetic portrait of two individuals desperately trying to find their place in society, as well as find out what to do with the love that they’ve both become overwhelmed with in the process. Miranda July may be highly diverse when it comes to her audiences, but that’s what makes her so admirable; she’s a fearless, highly driven artist who’s not afraid to be herself and convey her most heartfelt emotions onto the screen, defining her as one of the most ambitiously sincere filmmakers of her generation. – Charles Nash

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Alex Ross Perry

Age: 29

Hometown: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 

Filmography: Impolex (2009), The Color Wheel (2011), Listen Up Philip (2014) 

Upcoming Project: “The Traditions” (TV Series)

Alex Ross Perry’s first two features remain, to date, unavailable on home video, and his third, this year’s Listen Up Philip still wants for a distributor. This is a fair bit of bad luck for a filmmaker who has nonetheless made such a fast impression on people that he will be making a series, The Traditions, for HBO. No other emerging American director is like him: who else would dare crib from Thomas Pynchon’s towering, modernist “Gravity’s Rainbow” for his debut, or now move on to mining Philip Roth? And then there’s The Color Wheel, a comedy that somehow marries the hectic, will-they-make-it-to-the-end-before-the-film-collapses mania of classic screwball with the warts-’n-all nature of contemporary American independent film. It is equally the child of Cassavetes and Bogdanovich, and the most adventurous, aesthetically inventive, deeply weird indie comedy since the latter’s They All Laughed. It’s anyone’s guess where he’ll go next; right now, to just have his existing movies available would be enough. – Jake Cole

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Jeremy Saulnier

Age: ?

Hometown: ?

Filmography: Murder Party (2007) and Blue Ruin (2014) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

In Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier’s second feature, a handful of sequences give off the intoxicating effect of watching a historic cinematic landmark, but in real time. Pretty impressive stuff for a film released in theatres and on VOD just last month. The relentlessly suspenseful and subversively witty vengeance opus follows Dwight (Macon Blair, Saulnier’s muse and best friend), a taciturn tramp, as he travels back to his childhood home where one brutal decision after another spins an ever-growing web of bloody consequences. The harmonious comparisons to Hitchcock and the Coen brothers are warranted, as Blue Ruin and Saulnier’s ingenious 2007 debut, the anarchic no-budget horror-comedy Murder Party, echo both institutions’ white-knuckle unpredictability and grim wit. But what they sell short is Saulnier, a prolific cinematographer, and his assured, fine-tuned visual style and penchant for verisimilitude. The sweaty backwoods world of Blue Ruin is palpably realistic, exploiting Saulnier’s characters’ unflinching fallibility and whose decisions are reflexive of an everyday cognizance. We cover our eyes because it could easily be us up there, but Saulnier’s slick skill makes it impossible to look away. – Jesse Knight

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Ava DuVernay

Age: 41

Hometown: Long Beach, California 

Filmography: I Will Follow (2010) and Middle of Nowhere (2012) 

Upcoming Project: Selma (TBA)

Embarrassingly, the overwhelming majority of Americans, even most of those who would call themselves “movie buffs” would likely struggle to name a single female African-American director. In a just world, Ava DuVernay would soon be a household name; she’s one of the most exceptional up-and-coming filmmakers working today, regardless of race or gender. Her first feature, I Will Follow, is strong work for a debut, and I gather most would be familiar with DuVernay through her compelling Venus Williams documentary, Venus Vs., which aired last year on ESPN. However, I fell in love with Ms. DuVernay’s work and put her at the top of my list of filmmakers to watch after 2012’s Middle of Nowhere, her breathtakingly beautiful portrait of a young black woman dealing with the daily struggles that come with having her husband incarcerated. It’s heartfelt and deeply sexy, with lush cinematography from Bradford Young, strong natural dialogue from her own script, and terrific performances across the board, especially from Emayatzy Corinealdi and Lorraine Toussaint– how those two actresses weren’t in the mix for every awards season acting trophy is beyond my comprehension (I’ve been keeping a spot open on my DVD shelf for two years now, and my fingers remain crossed that one day the film will get the DVD release it deserves). Hopefully, widespread accolades will be arriving shortly for DuVernay, as she is currently directing the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, Selma, which boasts a strong cast, more Bradford Young cinematography, and Oprah and Brad Pitt on board as producers, almost certainly guaranteeing Selma will be DuVernay’s most widely distributed and widely seen film to date. About damn time for her to get the recognition she deserves. DuVernay was the first African-American female winner of Best Director at Sundance in 2012; I can’t wait to see what other firsts she will claim as her career moves forward. – Russell Hainline

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Benh Zeitlin

Age: 31

Hometown: New York City, New York

Filmography: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

Zeitlin’s debut was the mesmerizing and festival-storming Beasts of the Southern Wild, an imaginative, but modest indie that gained success like a rolling snowball and in the end snatched him four Oscar nods.Shot on location with Louisianians themselves, “Beasts” displayed the directors unique talent for organic and spirited filmmaking. His yet untitled second project remains a mystery for now, but the director confirmed it will also be set in Louisiana, featuring the same cast and crew members as his first directing effort. The trademark magical plot depicts “a hidden ecosystem where the aging process is out of whack and people can age quickly or very slowly” claims Zeitlin. Having won Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2012 and prestigious Camera d’Or (awarded to the best first-time filmmaker) in Cannes the same year, the wait for his second feature couldn’t be more exciting. – Anna Tatarska

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Joachim Trier

Age: 39

Hometown: Copenhagen, Denmark

Filmography: Reprise (2006) and Oslo, August 31st (2011) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

In 2006 Joachim Trier released Reprise, his debut film about two writer friends on the precipice of having the illustrious career they’ve always dreamed of. A thousand writers have written a thousand scripts of the exact same nature and fallen short in a thousand different ways. Yet Trier captures something so emotionally nauseating and deep-rooted that it coming from the voice of a novice is baffling. Reprise immediately pulsates like it’s being controlled by an erratic but all-knowing god who merely wants to test his characters strengths and ideals. This is the debut that wide-eyed dreamers only wish they could make. Five years later Trier would follow Reprise with the even stronger Oslo, August 31st, based loosely on the 1963 film and novel of the same name The Fire Within. The kicker here being that his contemporary re-imagining almost eclipses the lauded classic itself. Within only two films Trier has carved himself an imposing oeuvre that some directors work their entire career to achieve.  His films exhibit shades of what a truly fascinating filmmaker Trier is set to become given the right pushes, and it’s insanity to think that even after the success of his films he is struggling to get a third feature under way. He says that everything needs to be right. And in the end, it will be.– Matt Hughes

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Clio Barnard

Age: ?

Hometown: West Yorkshire, England

Filmography: The Arbor (2010) and The Selfish Giant (2013) 

Upcoming Project: TBA

It’s hard to decide which is more surprising about Clio Barnard: That she decided to follow The Arbor, a brilliant and acclaimed documentary, with a kitchen-sink drama of sorts in The Selfish Giant, or that she nearly equaled her nonfiction work in doing so. Either way, it proves that neither film could possibly be a fluke, as Barnard displays the same knack for storytelling in each and demonstrates a probing, exploratory interest in familial dynamics.The Selfish Giant warranted comparisons to Ken Loach for its socioeconomic concerns and lyrical-realist style, but The Arbor, which uses actors to lip-sync to interviews with playwright Andrea Dunbar and her family, demonstrates a level of experimentalism that Loach rarely strives for, and suggests concerns about facades and secrets that are uniquely her own, as well as a fascination with the increasingly-complicated border between fiction and nonfiction. Veritably, while The Arbor is a documentary, it is concerned with uncovering secrets; The Selfish Giant, on the other hand, examines the lives of a very real lower-class and explicates the tragedy within despite working with fictional characters. Remarkably, Barnard both finds and comments upon truth with both approaches. – Forest Cardamenis

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Krishna Bala Shenoi is an artist from Bangalore, India. You can see a lot of his work and find out more here.