Each year, IndieWire curates a list of the top female filmmakers to watch over the next 12 months, and the women ushering in the next generation of cinema makes for a truly exciting 2023.
This International Women’s Day, IndieWire invites audiences to celebrate the rising directors, especially coming off of a history-making 2023 Sundance where first-time filmmaker A.V. Rockwell was awarded the top prize for “A Thousand and One.” Rockwell is the third Black woman to win the Grand Jury Prize for the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the festival, following Nikyatu Jusu’s 2022 win for surreal thriller “Nanny.”
“I think of Black women filmmakers and there are still not many doing it at the highest level,” Rockwell told IndieWire’s Eric Kohn of breaking barriers, “but I think that going from making one or two if they’re lucky theatrical movies to now being able to consistently make movies into our seventies or eighties, that’s what success will really look like to me. If I choose to make films until I can’t wake up anymore, I have that ability, because the industry creates space for our voices in that way.”
Mary Nighy and Zelda Williams, the daughters of famous actors Bill Nighy and Robin Williams, plus Alice Englert, the daughter of Oscar winner Jane Campion, are making their own first-time features, as well as actresses Lily Rabe, Molly Gordon, Laura Chinn, and Brittany Snow turning to directing.
In the TV space, Nzingha Stewart helms Amazon series “Daisy Jones and the Six” coming off of acclaimed Netflix shows “Maid” and “Inventing Anna,” while “Succession” and “Jessica Jones” director S.J. Clarkson makes her foray into features with “Spider-Man” franchise installment “Madame Web.”
Keep scrolling to see all the female filmmakers to follow this year, in partnership with Adobe.
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Filmmakers are listed in alphabetical order.
Actress-writer-producer Laura Chinn (“Florida Girls,” “The Mick”) will make her directorial debut with “Suncoast” from a script she wrote. The film is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about a young woman dealing with her brother’s serious illness. Nico Parker, Woody Harrelson, and Laura Linney star.
After 20 years in television, with titles ranging from “Ugly Betty” to “Succession,” S.J. Clarkson officially makes her feature directorial debut with upcoming “Spider-Man” prequel “Madame Web.” Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Adam Scott, and Emma Roberts star in the Sony Pictures film with rumors that the film will be part of the growing Marvel multiverse. Clarkson recently directed six episodes of “Anatomy of a Scandal” and previously helmed Marvel’s Netflix series “Jessica Jones.”
After directing episodes of “Billions,” “Ballers,” and “Suits,” Chloe Domont put the hyperactive world of investment banking on display in Sundance darling “Fair Play.” The film, also written by Dumont and starring Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich, landed a whopping $20 million distribution deal from Netflix after debuting at 2023 Sundance.
“Honestly, just talking to women coming up to me saying, ‘I’ve never felt this seen before.’ To me, that’s why I make movies,'” Domont told IndieWire’s Eric Kohn.
“Given the audience reactions to this movie and how people audibly respond to this film, it’s looking like everyone wants to have a theatrical run, so we’re working on that element,” Domont said. “It really depends on the film and the kinds of reactions the audience have coming out the film that determines that.”
IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio praised the film for going “off like a bomb laced with the explosive and dually depraved chemistry of the two leads.” Comparing the drama to if Adrian Lyne directed “Industry,” Lattanzio wrote that audiences will be “more than happy to merrily go to hell” with the twisted seduction of the film’s leading characters.
Actress Molly Gordon, known for her roles in “Booksmart,” “Ramy,” and recently, “You People,” makes her directorial debut with “Theater Camp.” Gordon also wrote, produced, and stars in the film that premiered at 2023 Sundance. “Theater Camp” follows an eccentric staff of a rundown theater camp in upstate New York to keep the organization running. Gordon co-wrote and co-directed with Nick Lieberman. The ensemble cast is comprised of Ben Platt, Jimmy Tatro, Ayo Edebiri, Amy Sedaris, Nathan Lee Graham, and co-writer Noah Galvin.
“We dedicated the movie to all of our drama teachers, even though we’re making fun of them,” Gordon told IndieWire. “Because when they’re telling you to do crazy things, it is this first moment of feeling seen. I was never that good in school, and when I was in my acting classes, anything was possible and there was no wrong answer. That first moment where you can really own your intelligence, even if they’re asking you to crawl as a lion or whatever.”
Raven Jackson wrote and directed sprawling drama “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” which debuted at this year’s Sundance. Billed as a decades-spanning exploration of a woman’s life in Mississippi and an ode to the generations of people, places, and ineffable moments that shape us, the film marked Jackson’s feature debut.
“The people in Jackson’s film are likewise inextricable from their environment, a relationship personified by how the women carry on a West African tradition which centers on eating clay dirt right out of the earth,” IndieWire critic David Ehrlich wrote. “There are a number of pragmatic reasons why some Southern Black communities still continue to practice geophagia, but Jackson naturally opts for a more poetic explanation…When Jackson gets the balance right, those moments don’t just feel as if they could last forever, they feel as if they already do.”
Returning to the screen after helming 2016 feature “In the Radiant City,” Rachel Lambert directed 2023 Sundance film “Sometimes I Think About Dying” starring Daisy Ridley as a socially awkward corporate employee. She rethinks her outlook on life after connecting with a new coworker. Dave Merheje, Parvesh Cheena, and Megan Stalter also star.
“Ridley and Lambert do winning work,” IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote in the review.
Director Lambert told IndieWire that the script “really struck a chord,” especially when she read it in November 2020. “Sometimes I Think About Dying” is really about “the struggle to get through a day, at times,” Lambert said, adding that it was important to not be “trying to diagnose or find a reason” for Fran’s unhappiness.
Up next, Lambert also is set to direct and star in “I Can Feel You Walking.”
“Crazy Rich Asians” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” screenwriter Adele Lim steps behind the camera with comedy “Joy Ride,” set to make its world premiere at this year’s SXSW. “Joy Ride” follows four Asian-American friends as they travel to explore their heritages.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, “Emily in Paris” breakout Ashley Park, Sabrina Wu, and Sherry Cola lead the film, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Writer-director Nida Manzoor is behind Sundance hit “Polite Society,” which IndieWire’s Kate Erbland compared to “Sixteen Candles” meets “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Manzoor previously helmed episodes of “Doctor Who” before writing and directing breakout series “We Are Lady Parts” which premiered in 2021.
Screenwriter Kelly Marcel has penned both “Venom” films starring Tom Hardy but will now direct the third franchise installment, which she also wrote. “Venom 3” marks Marcel’s first directorial effort, coupled with the adaptation of existential novel “The Ferryman” about a sole train crash fatality believing she survived. Marcel’s previous scripts also include Disney’s “Cruella,” “Saving Mr. Banks,” and “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
Leah McKendrick has a slew of high concept projects in the works for 2023, yet it’s “Scrambled” that is poised to have the biggest splash at this year’s SXSW. Written and directed by McKendrick, the coming-of-age film centers on a broke, single millennial who has an existential crisis when she freezes her eggs.
McKendrick is also writing the script for the upcoming “I Know What You Did Last Summer” film directed by “Do Revenge” breakout Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, plus penning “Grease” prequel “Summer Lovin.'”
Director Raine Allen-Miller helms rom-com “Rye Lane” about two young adults who bond over bad breakups over the course of one day in South London. The film premiered at 2023 Sundance, drawing comparisons to “Before Sunrise” and “Love, Actually.”
Actress Veronica Ngo (“Da 5 Bloods,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) helms upcoming revenge thriller “Furies,” which she also stars in. “Furies” follows a trio of vigilantes who are trained to revenge on a criminal gang that abuses women. Song Luan, Thanh Nhien Phan, and Toc Tien star.
Noora Niasari wrote and directed “Shayda” about an Iranian mother (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi) and her daughter who find refuge in an Australian women’s shelter. The drama debuted at Sundance 2023, with the IndieWire review citing Niasari’s personal connection to the subject matter “which is modeled after Niasari’s own upbringing and her mother’s attempt to escape her own abusive husband, along with the strict moral codes of Iranian culture.”
After getting her start as an actress in films like “Marie Antoinette” and “Tormented,” Mary Nighy began directing series such as HBO hit “Industry” and “Traces.” Nighy made her feature debut with “Alice, Darling” about surviving emotional abuse in a romantic relationship. Lead star Anna Kendrick told IndieWire that Nighy led a set that was full of support.
“I felt really OK because I felt so safe and so surrounded by people who had a really intimate understanding of this type of relationship, and the experience of going through it,” Kendrick said. “And I think that being believed and feeling seen and being cared for is all we can really ask for when we are in a bad space, and I had that in spades when we were on set.”
With experience directing “Shrill,” “The Great,” “Feel Good,” and writing on “Schitt’s Creek,” Ally Pankiw steps into her own with debut feature “I Used to Be Funny.” Pankiw wrote and directed the film about Sam (Rachel Sennott), a stand-up comedian struggling with PTSD who weighs whether or not to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. The film will premiere at SXSW.
Pankiw is additionally confirmed to be helming TV series “Standing By” about a group of guardian angels who look after dysfunctional humans. David Tennant, Glenn Close, Dan Levy, and Samira Wiley star.
Laurel Parmet spent years researching fundamentalist Christian religious communities for “The Starling Girl,” which debuted at this year’s Sundance. Eliza Scanlen stars as teenager Jem Starling who begins a romantic relationship with a new pastor (Lewis Pullman).
“We live in a very patriarchal culture. Like it or not, our country is very much affected by conservative Christian thought,” Parmet said during the 2023 IndieWire Sundance Studio. “I think sexual shame is a universal experience for women.”
Parmet continued, “I had a similar relationship in this film when I was a teenager with an older man, and I had a lot of guilt about it afterward. I had a lot of agency in the relationship; I really pursued him and didn’t think about it for a really long time. I decided that I wanted to look back at my relationship and set it in this world that has a lot in common with our world and as a reflection of what we experience.”
“Dave” and “Twilight Zone” helmer Tayarisha Poe writes and directs “The Young Wife” about a woman grappling with the meaning of commitment on her wedding day. Sheryl Lee Ralph, Judith Light, Lukita Maxwell, Kiersey Clemons, Aya Cash, Kelly Marie Tran, Michaela Watkins, and Brandon Micheal Hall star.
Actress Lily Rabe appears in series “The First Lady,” “American Horror Story,” and “Shrinking” but is set to make her directorial debut with feature film “Downtown Owl.” Rabe also produces the adaptation of Chuck Klosterman’s novel, set in the Reagan era. Fellow actor and her long-time partner Hamish Linklater (“Gaslit,” “Midnight Mass”) also makes his directorial debut co-helming the film with Rabe from a script he wrote.
Rabe stars in the film along with Vanessa Hudgens, Ed Harris, Henry Golding, and Rabe’s frequent “American Horror Story” collaborator Finn Wittrock.
Charlotte Regan wrote and directed Sundance debut “Scrapper” about a 12-year-old girl (Lola Campbell) who lives alone in London until her father returns and forces her to confront reality.
“‘Scrapper’ is a smart, sensitive debut and a promising arrival for its talented director,” the IndieWire review reads.
First-time feature filmmaker A.V. Rockwell won the top prize at this year’s Sundance for gritty drama “A Thousand and One” starring Teyana Taylor as a mother who kidnaps her son from a foster home to raise him. Rockwell wrote and executive produced the film which wowed at the festival.
“I really wanted to tell a story that honored the women that I saw as my heroes growing up, just the Black mothers who hold down their families and communities as matriarchs. I feel like inner city women, in particular, are really misunderstood and made to feel invisible, not only in society but within our own community,” writer-director Rockwell told IndieWire. “I really wanted people to see that Black women are heroes but not superheroes. In the same way we can fight for our men and our boys, please see our humanity and fight for us as well.”
Brittany Snow has found her perfect pitch with feature directorial debut “Parachute.” After starring in the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, “X,” and recent TV series “Not Dead Yet,” Snow co-wrote “Parachute” with Becca Gleason (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”) about a woman (“Yellowjackets” breakout Courtney Eaton) who has recently been released from rehab after struggling with an eating disorder. Her budding romance with Ethan (Thomas Mann) poses a new addiction, however.
Snow’s “X” co-star Kid Cudi also stars alongside “Not Dead Yet” actress Gina Rodriguez, Francesca Reale, Kathryn Gallagher, Chrissie Fit, Jennifer Westfeldt, and “You” Season 4 and “Euphoria” star Lukas Gage.
Writer-director Celine Song is the mastermined behind “Past Lives,” the A24 film that shattered 2023 Sundance. Greta Lee and Teo Yoo play childhood best friends who reunite for a week 20 years later and grapple with their feelings towards one another.
In the review of “Past Lives,” IndieWire critic David Ehrlich promised the film was “destined” to be one of the best of 2023, writing: “Here is a romance that unfolds with the mournful resignation of the Leonard Cohen song that inspires Nora’s English-language name; it’s a movie less interested in tempting its heroine with ‘the one who got away’ than it is in allowing her to reconcile with the version of herself he kept as a souvenir when she left.”
Set to debut at SXSW 2023, Lisa Steen’s “Late Bloomers” centers on a 28-year-old Brooklynite (Karen Gillan) who drunkenly breaks her hip and becomes a caretaker for an elderly Polish woman who does not speak English. Kevin Nealon, Talia Balsam, and Jermaine Fowler star in Steen’s first feature.
Nzingha Stewart helms four episodes of Prime Video’s “Daisy Jones and the Six” novel adaptation starring Riley Keough and Sam Claflin. Stewart additionally co-executive produces, just as she did with 2022 Netflix film “From Scratch.”
With past shows including “Inventing Anna,” “Maid,” and “Little Fires Everywhere,” which is also produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine which adapted “Daisy Jones & the Six,” Stewart has tightened her grip on the pulse of viral TV series. Up next, she is set to direct “Cross” based on James Patterson’s Alex Cross novels with Aldis Hodge, Isaiah Mustafa, and Ryan Eggold starring.
Hannah Pearl Utt directs 2023 SXSW-selected comedy “Cora Bora” starring “Hacks” actress Megan Stalter as the titular Cora who tries to win back her girlfriend. Chelsea Peretti, Ayden Mayeri, Margaret Cho, Chrissie Fit, and Heather Elizabeth Morris round out the ensemble cast.
Actress-director Zelda Williams began directing with 2016 JoJo music video “Save My Soul” before helming her feature debut “Shrimp” shortly after. Williams now teams up with Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (“Juno,” “Jennifer’s Body”) for “Lisa Frankenstein” about a high school girl who accidentally re-animates a handsome Victorian corpse during a lightning storm. Set in 1989, the film centers on the teen shaping the man of her dreams from the undead. “Freaky” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” actress Kathryn Newton stars alongside Carla Gugino and Cole Sprouse.
“This Is Us” and “13 Reasons Why” helmer Jessica Yu makes her feature debut with a yet-untitled sister comedy written by Jen D’Angelo (“Workaholics”). Awkwafina, Will Ferrell, Tony Hale, Sandra Oh, and Holland Taylor are confirmed to star in the project about a recluse whose life is turned upside down after her hot mess of a sister tries to mend their relationship.
Writer-director Anna Zlokovic helms “Appendage” about a fashion designer whose darkest inner thoughts physically manifest. Hadley Robinson (“The Pale Blue Eye”) leads the film and serves as a producer. “Schitt’s Creek” breakout Emily Hampshire and Kausar Mohammed also star.
