{"id":425027,"date":"2025-12-04T22:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425027\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T22:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:12:14","slug":"varietys-2026-directors-to-watch-kristen-stewart-harry-lighton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425027\/","title":{"rendered":"Variety&#8217;s 2026 Directors to Watch: Kristen Stewart, Harry Lighton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLast year, when Sean Baker\u2019s \u201cAnora\u201d won both the Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes \u2014 followed by best picture at the Oscars \u2014 those honors reinforced what Variety had been saying a decade earlier, when the filmmaker appeared on the publication\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/10-directors-to-watch\/\" id=\"auto-tag_10-directors-to-watch\" data-tag=\"10-directors-to-watch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 Directors to Watch<\/a> list, before \u201cTangerine\u201d had even premiered at Sundance. The same goes for Chlo\u00e9 Zhao, winner of the audience prize at this year\u2019s Toronto International Film Festival for \u201cHamnet,\u201d who was selected for her earlier film \u201cThe Rider.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThose names join the likes of Christopher Nolan, Coralie Fargeat, Jonathan Glazer, Ruben \u00d6stlund, Wes Anderson, Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n, Steve McQueen and Benh Zeitlin, who were all named \u201cdirectors to watch\u201d by Variety far in advance of being nominated for best director at the Academy Awards. Not that the distinction is reserved only for awards contenders. The aim is to represent the incredible range of up-and-coming talent in all respects, encompassing a wide range of budgets, genres and identities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOn this year\u2019s list, you\u2019ll find a mix of American-made and international directors, including two with films submitted to the Oscar international feature category (\u201cMy Father\u2019s Shadow\u201d and \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d), a handful of festival-friendly independent films world premiering in 2026 (\u201cIf I Go Will They Miss Me,\u201d \u201cJosephine\u201d and \u201cRun Amok\u201d) and three stellar debuts from the Cannes Film Festival, where actress <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/kristen-stewart\/\" id=\"auto-tag_kristen-stewart\" data-tag=\"kristen-stewart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kristen Stewart<\/a> premiered her first feature behind the camera, \u201cThe Chronology of Water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe 10 Directors to Watch are the following:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Akinola Davies (\u201cMy Father\u2019s Shadow\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Beth de Araujo (\u201cJosephine\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Jan-Ole Gerster (\u201cIslands\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Sarah Goher (\u201cHappy Birthday\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Dave Green (\u201cCoyote vs. Acme\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Chandler Levack (\u201cMile End Kicks\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Harry Lighton (\u201cPillion\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>NB Mager (\u201cRun Amok\u201d)\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Kristen Stewart (\u201cThe Chronology of Water\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Walter Thompson Hernandez (\u201cIf I Go Will They Miss Me\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tVariety\u2019s 10 to Watch series spotlights emerging writers, actors, producers, directors, comics and cinematographers. Each of these lists is curated by a team of Variety editors, critics and reporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe directors selected for this year\u2019s list will be honored at a brunch event on Jan. 3 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which offers screenings, panels and parties from Jan. 2-12. Profiles of all 10 directors will run in the print edition of Variety publishing on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cDiscovery is such an important part of what we do at film festivals, and partnering with Variety on 10 Directors to Watch is an especially exciting part of PSIFF,\u201d said PSIFF artistic director Lili Rodriguez. \u201cIt\u2019s always a thrill to encounter the filmmakers that make the list, which has an incredible track record, and we\u2019re glad to be the stage to celebrate these artists.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, when Sean Baker\u2019s \u201cAnora\u201d won both the Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes \u2014 followed by best picture&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[198033,171,100717,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-425027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-10-directors-to-watch","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-kristen-stewart","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115663598155073775","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}