Who is the Most Promising U.S Director?

An observation. The ‘90s indie boom rewarded us with a slew of brilliant young U.S. filmmakers: Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Todd Haynes, Alexander Payne, Richard Linklater, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Jonze, Steven Soderbergh, David O Russell and Kelly Reichardt, just to name a few.

They were all part of the U.S. indie scene which kickstarted an incredible decade of creative risk-taking, and heralded a promising future for the medium. Things have sadly slowed down this century, and much less talent is being cultivated in Hollywood, some of it due to studios’ unwillingness to bet on original storytelling, and their hyper-reliance on IP.

Now, here’s a question for you; think of a U.S. filmmaker who directed his/her debut film in the last 20 years, since 2005, with the potential of having the largest impact on cinema in the years to come.

I can think of a few filmmakers born outside the United States who have emerged above the fray; Steve McQueen, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold, and Celine Sciamma come to mind.

But what about U.S. filmmakers? Sean Baker, Damien Chazelle, Bennett Miller, and The Safdies are the first to pop in my head. All exceptional talents. A case could certainly be made for S. Craig Zahler, Robert Eggers, Jeff Nichols, Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, Sean Durkin, Ari Aster, Jeremy Saulnier, David Lowery, Trey Edward Shults, Greta Gerwig, and David Robert Mitchell.

One of the filmmakers I had very high hopes for was Shane Carruth (“Primer,” “Upstream Color”) but he’s been canceled, and has basically stopped making movies. Carruth directed just two films, and they were both exceptional: 2004’s “Primer” and 2013’s “Upstream Color.” It’s now been 12 years since his last film.

The amount of homegrown talent that’s emerged from the U.S. studio system the last decade is worrisome, at least when compared to the abundance of rich talent we got in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. It doesn’t help that a filmmaker showing any signs of promise quickly gets sucked up into the IP vacuum. The likes of Ryan Coogler, Destin Daniel Cretton, Jon Watts, and many more, all sold their creative souls to corporation; It’s become common knowledge that the big studios scour Sundance every year looking for the next talented director to snatch up with a big paycheck.

What’s the future of American cinema going to be like? It looks bleak, to say the least, but some of the filmmakers listed above are starting to form impressive filmographies, despite the constant fight for creative freedom, and money, to get their true vision spread across the screen.