On The Rise 2015: 20 Directors To Watch

It’s that time of year again, when the blockbusters start to lull, the fall festival season hasn’t quite begun, and when the movies on release tend to be slim pickings. And that’s when we like to look to the future, and the talents who’ll be shaping it, with our On The Rise season of actors, actresses, writers, directors, cinematographers and composers to watch.

A month or so on, our On The Rise season draws to a close, and after actors, actresses, cinematographers, composers and screenwriters, there was only one category left —the directors. Film is undoubtedly a director’s medium: you could give the same script and same actors to a hundred different filmmakers, and end up with a hundred wildly different versions, each one reflecting the tastes and personality of the director behind it.

Perhaps even more so than with actors, the film business is always on the look out for new directors, and festivals and other outlets are happy to oblige. In the past, we’ve tipped...