Essays · Movies

The 20 Most Interesting New Filmmakers We Met in 2020

When we needed fresh perspective, these filmmakers rose to battle.
New Filmmakers 2020
By  · Published on December 28th, 2020

10. Arthur Jones (Feels Good Man)

Feels Good Man New Filmmakers

If you’re looking to understand today’s America, watch Feels Good Man. The documentary details comic book artist Matt Furie’s absurd nightmare in which a hopeful artistic outreach on My Space transformed into the creation of a white supremacy icon. Arthur Jones cobbles together the whos, whats, and whys of Pepe the Frog and roasts the cultural hellscape that made it all possible. Not an easy watch, you’ll dip to some very dark depths during the runtime, but the film swings into hope by credits end. Matt Furie may have originally sought a chuckle with his urinating stoner character, but he ultimately bought into a revolution or two. Only time will tell as to which one wins out.


9. Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)

Sound Of Metal New Filmmakers

Darius Marder spent more than a decade attempting to bring Sound of Metal to life. The story bore out of his relationship with Derek Cianfrance, the director who quit drumming due to tinnitus. Their collaboration resulted in The Place Beyond the Pines, but when Cianfrance refused any interest in Sound of Metal, Marder stayed on target. The film was a bug he couldn’t kill; it just kept worming its way through his mind.

Sound of Metal chronicles a nodal event. Riz Ahmed’s Ruben desperately wants to return to a life of hearing, but there is no going back. He spends much of the film denying forward momentum, and it’s impossible not to relate his experience to our own. Remember 2019? Remember 2015? Were they better times? Sure. Maybe. So what? With his first feature, Marder is screaming humanity’s direction. Don’t get caught in what was; live with what is. The past is a trap. Fight for the future.


8. Natalie Erika James (Relic)

Relic

No horror film this year hit us as hard as Relic did. The film is terrifying, real, and crazy beautiful. Natalie Erika James devilishly crafts several successful scares and excels even further in establishing an unbearable mood, but the film’s climactic win rests in its characters. You pull away from the film quivering, but it’s not the jolts that got ya; it’s the undeniable heartache. One movie in and James firmly roots her status as a premier horror filmmaker. Her next film, whatever it may be, is a must-watch.


7. Channing Godfrey Peoples (Miss Juneteenth)

Miss Juneteenth

Miss Juneteenth showcases the turmoil between mother and daughter without any sign of pretension or import. The film merely breathes. Channing Godfrey Peoples defies coming-of-age tropes by drilling down into perspective. She loves her characters, giving them the required space, and never floundering into the unnecessary. Miss Juneteenth grapples with notions of Black freedom and the generational desire to provide a better path for those that come after. The conversation stings and rattles long after the fade out.


6. Autumn de Wilde (Emma.)

Emma

Emma. is about as scrumptious a movie as you would expect from the filmmaker responsible for countless Elliott Smith, Decemberists, and Rilo Kiley music videos. Autumn de Wilde paints her Jane Austen adaptation with an obsessive’s eye. Each frame a perfect shot, each corner of every frame a perfect spot. Her Emma. is a feast worth gobbling, or a spoonful worth tasting. As an added bonus, the Emma Woodhouse supplied by her and Anya Taylor-Joy magically recontextualizes a character you thought you knew since the eleventh grade. Autumn de Wilde’s adaptation is so energetic that it leaves you craving another stab at the book from another filmmaker. Let’s see how others can spin this story into radical fashion?

 

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Brad Gullickson is a Weekly Columnist for Film School Rejects and Senior Curator for One Perfect Shot. When not rambling about movies here, he's rambling about comics as the co-host of Comic Book Couples Counseling. Hunt him down on Twitter: @MouthDork. (He/Him)