Five directors to watch in 2014

Young directors make breakthroughs every year as old ones often have a resurgence and return to form. Here are five that I reckon will gain plaudits for their talent.

Clio Barnard

Barnard made waves last year with her feature debut The Selfish Giant – based on the children’s story by Oscar Wilde. Directors with a provenance in documentary films can find the transition to features difficult, but Bernard has proven that she can comfortably handle the feature film.

José Padilha

The director of the RoboCop reboot must be some sort of Brazilian Michael Bay right…? Wrong – Padilha is the director of two of the biggest Brazilian films ever made: Elite Squad and its sequel. Expect RoboCop to be a great, gritty English language debut for him.

David Ayer

Fury has been beset with controversy due to a feud between Shia LeBeouf and Brad Pitt, which apparently was centred around the fact that LeBeouf refused to bathe during filming… Despite this hygiene setback, the film should be roaring fun and Ayer has also directed Sabotage with Arnie and Sam Worthington, scheduled for release during the spring.

Terrence Malick

Malick had a twenty year directing hiatus between 1978’s Days of Heaven and 1998’s The Thin Red Line. Since then he has become much more prolific and has three films scheduled to be released over 2014 and 2015. Given the success of Tree of Life, I can only assume that these films will be critically lauded.

Amma Asante

Asante is the second women on the list and again looks as if she is going from strength to strength. She has only made one film so far (2004’s A Way of Life) but her biopic of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed race daughter of an 18th century admiral, should succeed on the back of the success of 12 Years a Slave.

By Guy de Vito