Eric Appel (Strange: The Al Yankovic Story)
Renowned parody musician ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic co-wrote his own satirical biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe. Appel’s film explores Yankovic’s rise to fame and his relationship with the fictional Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood).
Elegance Bratton (test)
Bratton’s first narrative feature (he directed the 2019 document peer kids) is an autobiographical drama that chronicles the story of a gay man (Jeremy Pope) who feels he has nowhere to turn after being rejected by his homophobic mother (Gabrielle Union).
Mariama Diallo (master)
Regina Hall leads this horror film as Gail Bishop, the first black woman to serve as dean of the prestigious university. Along with her two other black women at school, Gail soon discovers a disturbing presence in the mostly white school.
Adama Ebo (Sound your horn for Jesus. save your soul)
After a massive sex scandal, the power couple (again Regina Hall, this time Sterling K. Brown) running a Southern Baptist megachurch were forced to close its doors. The Ebo comedy hires a documentary crew to capture the reopening attempt.
Parker Finn (smile)
Earning over $216 million worldwide, this box office giant tells the story of a therapist who, after witnessing a traumatic event, begins to believe he’s haunted by something otherworldly. Finn adapted it from his 2020 short film. laura is not sleeping.
John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal)
Aubrey Plaza was nominated for a Gotham Award for playing the title character in Ford’s crime thriller about a young woman with student loan debt who becomes involved in a large credit card fraud gang.
Nikatsu Jusu (Nanny)
of Jus Nanny It was the first horror film to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It follows an undocumented Senegalese woman who takes a job as a caregiver for a wealthy family in Manhattan.
Lila Neugebauer (causeway)
Theater director Neugebauer’s film debut with Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence Atlanta The lead, Brian Tyree Henry, does a rich character study about a veteran who returns home after suffering a brain injury while stationed in Afghanistan.
BJ Novak (revenge)
office Directed, written and starring veteran Novak, this dark comedy follows a New York journalist who travels south to investigate the death of a girl he had a brief romantic relationship with and turn a murder mystery into a podcast.
Charlotte Wells (after sun)
Wells is a landmark director with a self-proclaimed “emotionally autobiographical” film that follows Sophie as she recounts a past-the-best resort trip she took with her father Callum (Paul Mezcal) 20 years ago. won the Gotham Award. .
This story first appeared in the January 5th issue of The Hollywood Reporter.Click here to subscribe.
