25 Directors Who Are 35 and Under You Should Know

Making a movie is an expensive, difficult thing. To get financed and assemble all the people necessary to pull off a feature—well, it's no wonder that so many directors don't really make it until they're in their 30s. This isn't like modeling or something, where youth is so important. Thus, the rising filmmakers here aren't teenagers. Most aren't even in their early 20s. But hopefully they're going to save us from the numbing CGI specatcle of Hollywood sequels and franchises. They've demonstrated talent and skill. Now it's on us to support them so that they can continue to grow.

Here are 25 Directors Who Are 35 and Under You Should Know.

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Age: 34
Notable films: Smashed (2012), The Spectacular Now (2013)

James Ponsoldt knows how to sew up the special moments of life to create a comforting blanket of an experience. Both Smashed and The Spectacular Now are intimate looks at peculiar characters—one a recovering alcoholic, and the other a lost and hopeless teenager. His movies bring to the screen a sense of heart and soul that's lacking amidst the chaos of flashy blockbuster movies.

With a gig as the director of the upcoming Hilary Clinton biopic Rodham, Hollywood is taking notice of Ponsoldt's talent. He's got an ability to capture subtlety and ground his stories in a reality—as well as make his actors comfortable enough to exist in that unglamorous reality—that actually looks familiar to an everyman. —TA

Age: 31
Notable films: LOL (2006), Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), Alexander the Last (2009), Silver Bullets (2011), V/H/S (2012), Drinking Buddies (2013)

Joe Swanberg has certainly evolved from LOL, an ambitious, somewhat successful look at the pervasive influence of technology on American culture. His movies have gone from playing like impressive student films to prime examples of thoughtful independent cinema.

Watching 2012's V/H/S and 2013's Drinking Buddies, it looks like Swanberg has grown up from simply filming meditations on his own life, and has begun to explore the outskirts of genre conventions. In V/H/S, he manages to take the tried and true found footage technique a step further, this time using Skype cameras to tell the story of a long-distance couple dealing with some supernatural problems.

As for Drinking Buddies, on the surface it looks like just another rom com: it's about best friends teetering on the edge of something more. However, what makes it a surprising leap for Swanberg isn't just his stacked cast of name actors—Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston—but also his ability to take the romantic comedy formula and make it digestible for cynics who associate the genre with Katherine Heigl. —TA

Age: 35
Notable films: Evil Dead (2013)

This year's Evil Dead remake should have been a disaster. Consider the components: It's yet another unnecessary Hollywood-backed reboot of a classic horror movie, starring a bunch of attractive twenty-somethings who'd look right at home on a CW show. Visions of 2009's Friday the 13th and 2010's A Nightmare on Elm Street surely clouded genre lovers' minds before Evil Dead's release, preparing them for the worst.

God bless producers Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Rob Tapert (the original Evil Dead brain trust), then, for letting Uruguayan first-timer Fede Alvarez run wild with their cabin-in-the-woods-overrun-by-demonic-forces source material. Though it's not perfect, Alvarez's Evil Dead succeeds by going all out with its mostly practical gore. He embraced the chance to make a studio film that feels reminiscent of Peter Jackson's gleefully over-the-top Dead Alive, without totally abandoning the story's characters or letting it diverge into one-note sadism.

And for that, horror fans who've suffered through shitty remake after shitty remake owe Alvarez a huge debt of gratitude. —MB

Age: 30
Notable films: Pop Skull (2007), A Horrible Way to Die (2010), V/H/S (2012), The ABCs of Death (2013), V/H/S/2 (2013), You're Next (2013)

If you're a regular visitor to film festivals like Sundance, SXSW, and Fantastic Fest, you should already be familiar with Adam Wingard.

Since making a name for himself amongst horror aficionados with the experimental and impressively ambitious Pop Skull in 2007, the Alabama-born Wingard has been a frequent contributor to festival lineups, particularly their midnight screenings. In 2010, he and filmmaking partner Simon Barrett (the screenwriter to Wingard's behind-the-camera man) reinvented the serial killer film with A Horrible Way to Die, a disturbing look at how a woman (played by Amy Seimetz) deals with knowing that her ex (AJ Bowen) is a Ted Bundy-esque mass murderer. Wingard left that film's coldness behind for more balls-out anarchy in the found-footage anthologies V/H/S and V/H/S/2, both of which he co-directed and executive produced.

Yet none of those films are as creatively triumphant as You're Next, the one-time indie film festival favorite that was picked up by Lionsgate and, if all goes well, could turn Wingard and his fellow indie pals into box office champions. Part home invasion thriller and part slasher movie, You're Next is funny, clever, and engineered to entertain popcorn-devouring audiences. It's pure, crowd-pleasing genre movie bliss. —MB

Age: 27
Notable films: Fruitvale Station (2013)

Remember when John Singleton and the Hughes Brothers broke into the Hollywood system with eye-opening and critically adored looks at the struggles of young black men in and around Los Angeles? With Fruitvale Station, first-time filmmaker and Bay Area native, Ryan Coogler recaptured the revelatory vibes of Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, except with one major difference: Coogler's film is based on a real-life American tragedy, and, because of that, it's that much more emotionally devastating.

Deeply affected by the wrongful death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant at the hands of a police officer in 2009, Coogler took it upon himself to turn a statistic into a human being, an ex-con who just wanted to finally do right by his young daughter and her mother. As of now, it's one of the year's best films, hands down, and in the months ahead, both Coogler and his film's star, Michael B. Jordan, could find themselves walking red carpets and sitting alongside A-listers at prestigious awards ceremonies. Which should only fuel interest in Coogler's next collaboration with Jordan, Creed, a Rocky franchise addition, co-starring Sly Stallone, in which Jordan will play Apollo Creed's grandson.

As long as its better than Abduction (*ahem* John Singleton *ahem*) and The Book of Eli (*cough* Albert and Allen Hughes *cough*), we'll be happy. —MB

Age: 34
Notable films: Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2013)

Jeff Nichols has proven himself a master of taking small town stories and making them larger than life. The ticking time bomb that is Shotgun Stories follows a nasty family feud that gets violent after the death of the patriarch. Take Shelter tracks the struggles of a rural father who begins having hallucinations of the apocalypse. And, told from the point of view of a couple of young boys, Mud is about their quest to help a fugitive escape the bounty hunters after his head.

In addition to the original elements of his stories, what makes them all distinctly Jeff Nichols is the musky and dour look of his scenes. He's proven a knack for having his films embody the messages they convey. Oh, and they always feature Michael Shannon.—TA

Age: 31
Notable films: Sound of My Voice (2012), The East (2013)

Zal Batmanglij knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. And that's without the tricks of CGI. A frequent collaborator with notable screenwriter/actress Brit Marling, Batmanglij is interested in moral ambiguity and asking important questions he won't necessarily answer.

Sound of My Voice tells the story of a cult that worships a figure who may or may not be from the future, while The East follows a private intelligence operative infiltrating an anarchist group. He engages you in his films by making you think beyond what you consider possible. —TA

Age: 34
Notable films: I Am Not a Hipster (2012), Short Term 12 (2013)

Hawaii native Destin Daniel Cretton makes movies about tough-shelled people who want to connect. His first film, I Am Not a Hipster, dared you to hate it from the title on, following a guarded young San Diego musician fond of weepy music and me time. It's definitely a first feature, all out-of-control angst and solipsism.

For his second feature, Cretton's opened his heart. Short Term 12, a project he's been working on for years—he won a screenwriting fellowship for the script in 2010—takes place in a group home for at-risk teens. Brie Larson makes a case for stardom playing Grace, the adult in charge of the kids who can barely keep her own shit together. But—and this is where artistic growth becomes a reality for Cretton—she tries. She tries to better her relationship with her boyfriend, with her kids. She fucking tries.

Short Term 12, which won the audience award at SXSW earlier this year, is going to make a lot of folks cry, and, come awards season, it's gonna earn Larson and Cretton gold. —RS

Age: 32
Notable films: Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013)

A few words that've been used to described David Lowery's work: "atmospheric," "poignant," "melodic." Yes, yes, and absolutely. He'll tell you himself, he's inspired by folk music, which is the perfect way to sum up his mainstream debut, Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

Starring Rooney Mara and Casey Afflect, Ain't Them Bodies Saints looks at the life of two outlaws struggling to reconcile the present with the bad decisions they've made in the past. Watching this film, it's understandable why Lowery's being compared to Terrence Malick. The sweeping landscapes, lullaby-like voiceovers, and overwhelming romanticism that envelopes the screen all bear the mark of Malick.

Lowery's skill makes it apparent that he's not a rookie in the game. He writes his own screenplays and has been editor for years, notably working on Amy Seimetz's Sun Don't Shine and Shane Caruth's Upstream Color. Essentially, Lowery's got every tool he needs to become a household name. —TA

Age: 29
Notable films: The Kings of Summer (2013)

It'd be easy to pigeonhole Jordan Vogt-Roberts' The Kings of Summer as another coming-of-age teen comedy based on its premise and trailer. Three teenagers, tired of their controlling parents and looking for a change of pace, spend their summer vacation living in a house they've built in the woods. Fueling any Superbad-minded connections is the presence of an eccentric, McLovin-esque kid named Biaggio (Moises Arias).

But a strange, unexpected thing happens while you're watching The Kings of Summer: The tone moves from slacker comedy to scenic wonderment, something like early David Gordon Green, then back to wacky comedy and suddenly into avant-garde strangeness.

First-time director Vogt-Roberts uses the familiar kids-are-funny bit as a lynchpin for experimentation, subverting preconceptions and directing his characters into unpredictable, sometimes painfully dark places. That he's consistently able to undercut all of The Kings of Summer's quirkiness with a strong sense of warmth and heart makes Vogt-Roberts a filmmaker to watch. —MB

Age: 32
Notable films: The Roost (2005), The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2012), V/H/S (2012)

Critics love to describe Ti West's horror films as "slow burns" because he favors meticulous pacing and big payoffs over breakneck energy. It's a fair description, but one that often overshadows West's greatest strengths as a filmmaker.

As seen in his two best films, the satanic '80s throwback The House of the Devil and the supernatural horror-comedy The Innkeepers, the Delaware-born writer/director harkens back to the Repulsion/Rosemary's Baby days of Polanski, developing his characters long enough and with enough precision that, once the climaxes hit and the scares pile up, the stakes are high.

Since The Innkeepers was released in early 2012, West has been working the horror anthology circuit, contributing lo-fi shorts to V/H/S and The ABCs of Death. At the upcoming Venice and Toronto film festivals, however, his latest full-length effort, The Sacrament, will be unveiled, and it sounds like West's most ambitious film to date. It's a found-footage look at a cult in the vein of Jim Jones and his tragic Jonestown community, produced by Eli Roth (the Hostel movies and Netflix's Hemlock Grove). —MB

Age: 31
Notable films: An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2013)

Terence Nance's debut should be simple given its title, and in the hands of a less ambitious director, surely this small boy-meets-girl-but-its-complicated romance would be. Born in Dallas, Texas, Nance is a visual artist first, and its his background in this medium that explodes An Oversimplification of Her Beauty into something breathtaking and special. Effortlessly the film blends animation and live action to tell the maybe fictional, maybe true tale of how Nance fell for a young woman named Namik Minter. They play themselves, or versions of themselves that try to unpack falling for someone, how we perceive others in the midst of love.

Heady, beautiful, and one-of-a-kind, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty won the Gotham Award for “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.” Nance's next project is a film called The Lobbyist. It can't happen fast enough. —RS

Age: 27
Notable films: A Teacher (2013)

News reports about adult teachers sleeping with their underage high school students are, understandably, often greeted with contempt. "That teacher's disgusting," or, "What kind of low-life would do that?" Upstart writer-director Hannah Fidell isn't about to let secondhand parties get off that easily, though.

In her superb feature debut, A Teacher (opening in limited theaters September 6), Fidell examines loneliness, obsession, and insecurity through the point-of-view of that exact kind of educational figure. Played with powerful command and tragic vulnerability by newcomer Lindsay Burge, A Teacher's protagonist, Diana Watts, has an unhealthy infatuation with one of her students, the hunky and charismatic Eric (Will Brittain), that's explicitly physical.

It'd be easy to dislike Diana, but Fidell's too good of a storyteller to let that happen—any instinct to chastise Diana gets curbed by overwhelming sympathy. Against your better judgment, you want this law-breaker to be OK. —MB

Age: 33
Notable films: Merantau (2009), The Raid: Redemption (2012), V/H/S/2 (2013)

At this point, Welsh writer-director Gareth Huw Evans might as well be a genre film demigod. He's given both action heads and horror die-hards some of the best filmmaking they've seen in, well, lord knows how long.

Last year, Evans' The Raid: Redemption kicked, punched, and wall-flipped its way into the action movie history books. There's no CGI, explosions, or visual trickery as S.W.A.T. team members work their way through a gangster-occupied apartment building in Indonesia—every hand-to-hand fight is authentic. Evans continually tops himself, staging one see-it-to-believe-it round of one-versus-many fisticuffs after another, to the point where Hollywood action extravaganzas like those Expendables movies seem flaccid.

Adding onto the goodwill earned through The Raid: Redemption, Evans teamed up with Indonesian horror maestro Timo Tjahjanto to give scary movie fans an epic short film. Included in the found-footage anthology sequel V/H/S/2, "Safe Haven," also set in Indonesia, shows what happens when a camera crew steps inside a Jonestown-like compound housing a doomsday cult. Once all hell (literally) breaks loose, Evans and Tjahjanto hold nothing back in a continuous, no-cut-aways sequence of escalating insanity.

The bar is set sky-high for Evans' next film, a sequel to The Raid. Considering how the explosiveness of his films keeps increasing, the screen may damn well explode when that premieres. —MB

Age: 34
Notable films: Away From Her (2006), Take This Waltz (2012), Stories We Tell (2013)

If Sarah Polley sounds familiar, it's probably because you remember her for her work in front of the camera in Go (1999) and Dawn of the Dead (2004). However, her most impressive film work has happened behind the camera.

Polley's strength lies in examining the difficult truths of relationships, as is the case with every notable film she's worked on. And, trust, you need a strong heart to watch them. In Away From Her, she examines an elderly couple that's falling apart (of course, that's to say nothing of the Alzheimers and other handicaps that plague them), while in Take This Waltz, she meditates on a young woman who becomes taken with a new neighbor.

Her documentaries continue this exploration. Arguably her best work, Stories We Tell is a remarkable and honest look at her own family, complete with the lies, the secrets, and the sweet memories that define them. Polley is a undoubtedly a filmmaker with evocative stories, and they're all refreshing to hear.—TA

Age: 31
Notable films: Hobo with a Shotgun (2011), The ABCs of Death (2013), V/H/S/2 (2013)

To say that Jason Eisener has a wicked imagination would be like saying Quentin Tarantino writes memorable dialogue—it'd be a massive understatement.

After all, we're talking about the guy who directed a movie called Hobo with a Shotgun, not to mention one dialogue-free short about an abused kid channeling his revenge against a pedophile through a decapitated deer head (Eisener's The ABCs of Death short "Y is for Youngbuck") and another in which a nightmarish alien invasion is captured by a camera that's attached to a pint-sized dog. Not to mention, a holiday short titled Treevenge, about, that's right, Christmas trees that ferociously slaughter humans.

When Jason Eisener steps behind a camera, you never know what to expect, except that whatever the Nova Scotia native makes, it's sure to be inventive, unruly, hilarious, and exceptionally executed. —MB

Age: 34
Notable films: The Maid (2009), Crystal Fairy (2013), Magic Magic (2013)

The Chilean writer/director Sebastián Silva is having a great year. In a bold move, Michael Cera lighted out for South America to make a film with Silva, and ended up spending months in Chile with the director and his family (Silva has six brothers). This period produced two movies: the thriller Magic Magic and the drug-fueled road comedy Crystal Fairy. Outside of his comfort zone, Cera's work in these movies seem like attacks on his image here in the States, and the attention he's received for this has helped bring attention to Silva. That the child star Gabby Hoffmann returned to the screen with one of 2013's best performances in Crystal Fairy has helped, too.

Openly gay, Silva has spoken about the prejudice he experienced growing up, and it's no great leap to connect this to the deep empathy found in his films. Crystal Fairy asks you to spend time with two of the most insufferable Americans traveling abroad that you've ever had to stomach, and The Maid takes a deep dive into the life of a woman who has spent most of her life looking after a family that isn't her own. By turning his attention on characters you'd either choose to ignore, or who can easily fade into the background, Silva makes his mark. Here's to a great 2014. —RS

Age: 31
Notable films: Sun Don't Shine (2013)

It's not as if Amy Seimetz even needs to make her own films. Already an accomplished actress, she's brought endearment and radiance to challenging, unpleasant indie movies like A Horrible Way to Die (2010) and this year's brain-scrambling Upstream Color. She also held her own against the towering one-two acting combo of Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman on AMC's The Killing this year. If she wanted to, Seimetz could focus her talents solely into acting and work her way into becoming the next indie-to-major darling, the next Jessica Chastain.

Anyone's who seen her directorial feature debut, Sun Don't Shine, though, knows that Seimetz's desire to tell her own stories is a cinephile's gain. Set in her native state of Florida, Sun Don't Shine blends drama, mystery, romance, and horror into an unsettling brew. A neurotic, uneasy woman (Kate Lyn Sheil) and her slightly less tense lover (Kentucker Audley) drive through central Florida in the immediate wake of a homicide—an inherently dark set-up that's made all the more unnerving by the dreamlike mood, hazy visuals, and haunting voiceover, all courtesy of Seimetz's imagination. —MB

Age: 30
Notable films: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Even though he didn't take home any Oscars, Benh Zeitlin was certainly one of 2012's biggest awards season success stories. In January of that year, he was just a humble, unassuming filmmaker at the Sundance Film Festival, premiering his New Orleans-set coming-of-age adventure Beasts of the Southern Wild. And, before he could process what was happening, Beasts became the indie fest's most critically adored breakout. The onslaught of praise continued through the Cannes Film Festival and all the way into the Academy Awards, where he received two nominations (for directing and adapted screenwriting).

That's a lot for any 30-year-old, independently minded director to handle, but it's also the unavoidable byproduct of making a film as powerful, enchanting, and one-of-a-kind as Beasts of the Southern Wild. Whatever Zeitlin's next move ends up being, please believe that the always looking Oscar will be on high alert. —MB

Age: 29
Notable films: Afterschool (2008), Simon Killer (2013)

Two films into his career, writer/director Antonio Campos has established himself the independent scene's resident Dr. Feel Bad. Devoid of any warmth, his pair of downers make for a traumatic double feature.

Afterschool is the kind of teenager-drive film that'll make you want to home-school your future progeny; in it, Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) plays an Internet-obsessed, antisocial high schooler who films two female peers overdosing on drugs, which, of course, doesn't exactly lead to any Can't Hardly Wait-esque joy. Released earlier this year, Campos' follow-up, Simon Killer, depicts an even less comprehensible protagonist (portrayed by actor Brady Corbet) embarking on a one-man mission to ruin people's lives—and, as a result, discover his fondness for murder—while on a solo vacation in Paris.

Campos' brand of filmmaking isn't all that inviting, but that's the point. He's a provocateur in the vein of Roman Polanski and Lars von Trier, directors who care less about accessibility and more about stylish and narratively uncompromising darkness. —MB

Age: 33
Notable films: Antiviral (2013)

You have to respect Brandon Cronenberg's gutsiness. For his feature film debut, Antiviral, the Canadian newbie made a sterile, cold, and thoroughly engrossing exercise in body horror, set in a depressing future where celebrities' diseases are legally sold to star-obsessed fans wealthy enough to afford them. With its scenes of grotesque limb distortion and ickiness, it falls directly in line with body horror classics like The Brood, Videodrome, and The Fly—you know, those genre mainstays directed by the almighty David Cronenberg, a.k.a. Brandon's father.

Antiviral immediately drew comparisons to the older Cronenberg's filmography, something that Brandon must have anticipated. But, to his credit, he didn't give a damn. Its obvious connections to David's work aside, Brandon's debut is a singular vision, one that's even less accessible than daddy's weirdest movies but also envisioned through a well-thought-out, fully lived-in, futuristic society that's basically the most ghoulish exaggeration of TMZ imaginable. —MB

Age: 30
Notable films: The Vicious Kind (2009), Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)

What's lamer in Hollywood than a run-of-the-mill, studio-backed romantic comedy? Well, nothing, really. Still, we like to watch love blossom and/or disintegrate amidst laughter on the big screen—doing so makes our own romantic triumphs and defeats feel all the more real.

Thus, it's a good thing that filmmakers like Lee Told Krieger exist. Working far below Hollywood's major studio system, Krieger has a penchant for making the anti-rom-com. In The Vicious Kind, Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) falls in love with his brother's no-good new girlfriend, with often humorous but always unflinchingly raw results. The same kind of honesty powers Celeste and Jesse Forever, last year's underrated indie about a divorced couple (co-writer Rashida Jones and funnyman Andy Samberg) trying to adjust to being just friends.

Both films include numerous moments of genuine hilarity, yet never at the expense of story, character, or credibility. Krieger's not a fan of cheap laughs. —MB

Age: 31
Notable films: Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Sean Durkin's career makes the case for collaboration between filmmakers. His partnership with director Antonio Campos has yielded three powerful films: 2008's Afterschool, which Campos directed and Durkin produced; 2011's Martha Marcy May Marlene, which Durkin directed and Campos produced; and 2012's Simon Killer, directed by Campos and produced by Durkin. A strong shared style unites the three films; each one is chilly and clean-looking, like polished steel sculptures.

Durkin's only feature explores the difficulties one young woman (played by Elizabeth Olsen) faces after leaving a violent cult. Precise editing braids her time in the cult with her new life in her older sister's care, making for a hypnotic, nerve-rattling experience.

The next project we'll see from the Canadian filmmaker and producer is a three-part miniseries produced by Channel 4 in the UK entitled Southcliffe. Employing a similarly stylish editing style, it details the aftermath of a shooting in a small town. —RS

Age: 30
Notable films: Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2011), American Mary (2013)

The horror film community—like Hollywood at large—has long been plagued by a problem that never seems to get solved: the lack of strong, prolific female directors. Canadian siblings Jen and Sylvia Soska, however, are here to change that.

Not that they're on a self-conscious mission to do so, though. The fun-loving, social media savvy sisters have amassed a large, fanatical online following known as the "Twisted Twins Army," a growing sect of supporters that loves the filmmakers' unique sense of style, their willingness to actively attend and participate in every horror convention available, and outspoken appreciation for their fans.

Fortunately, now Jen and Sylvia have the dynamic, bizarre, and highly impressive film to back it all up. Released in May, American Mary has been hailed by some horror critics as a modern-day classic—though it's too early to tell if that's just hyperbole or not, the film certainly warrants a great deal of praise. It's a tough one to classify, working on various levels of genre oddness: It's a gruesome revenge tale, a la I Spit on Your Grave; a Cronenbergian display of body horror, via the world of underground body modification; and, at times, a character-drive dark comedy.

Most importantly, it's a calling card for two of the most exciting young directors to hit the horror scene in years. —MB

Age: 31
Notable films: Gimme the Loot (2013)

Leave it to a young white dude to make a film set in the city with young black protagonists that doesn't have any violence or bleakness. No, seriously.

That's precisely what first-time feature filmmaker Adam Leon did with Gimme the Loot, a warm, funny, and charming coming-of-age flick about two Bronx-bred teenage graffiti bombers on a mission to tag up the New York Mets' Home Run Apple, over in Queens. With naturalistic performances and zero artificiality, Leon's debut is a less-raunchy and not-so-sexual Superbad for the projects. And it's also a sign that this native New Yorker has a knack for a different kind of urban realism. —MB