Two Latinx filmmakers have been selected as part of Variety’s 2020 roster of 10 Directors to Watch: Jamaican-American director Janicza Bravo and Colombian-American director Esteban Arango. The list includes ten breakout directors with promising careers ahead who’ve stood out on the recent festival circuit, or whose movies will soon be hitting screens in the coming year.
Bravo was born in New York and raised in Panama. She attended New York University, where she majored in directing and design for theater, and also studied acting at New York University's Playwrights Horizons Theater School. Her 2011 debut short film Eat premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and was acquired by Vice. Her second short film Gregory Go Boom (2013), starring Michael Cera, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2014, she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
In 2017 she premiered her debut feature Lemon in the official competition at Sundance. The off-kilter indie comedy starring Brett Gelman—Bravo’s husband and co-writer of the film, Michael Cera, and Judy Greer, was a big hit and was released stateside by Magnolia Pictures. As a director, Bravo’s TV credits include Atlanta, Dear White People, and Love, as well as HBO’s Divorce and Here and Now. Bravo is also an actress who’s credits include Lena Dunham’s new HBO series Camping and Lake Bell’s In a World… Bravo will be premiering her second feature film Zola next year.
Arango was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2000, he moved to the U.S. with his mother and brother. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Florida International University with a BA in Communications, and later went on to work for Discovery Channel as a Creative Producer. In 2013, he started developing his first feature film, Of Stars and Alligators, with screenwriter, Erick Castrillon.
Esteban completed the intensive 2014 Directors Series workshop at the acclaimed National Film and Television School in England under the mentorship of DGA director Brian Gilbert. In 2016 he premiered his short film Blast Beat, which played in numerous international film festivals. Next year, Arango will premiere his debut feature based on his short film, a coming-of-age drama, starring Moises Arias, Mateo Arias, Wilmer Valderrama, Kali Uchis, and Daniel Dae Kim.
The directors selected for this year’s Variety list will be honored at a special event at the Palm Springs International. Film Festival in early January.
