Variety’s ’10 Directors to Watch’ to be recognized during 2025 PSIFF
Organizers of the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival today confirmed that Malcolm Washington and Coralie Fargeat would be among those honored at Variety's Creative Impact Awards.
The filmmakers will be officially recognized on Jan. 4 at the Parker Palm Springs as part of the publication's "10 Directors to Watch'' series.
Names from past lists include Wes Anderson, Alfonso Cuarón, Christopher Nolan, Chloé Zhao and Taika Waititi. Cord Jefferson, an alumnus from the most recent group of 10, won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar at the 2024 ceremony for "American Fiction."
In addition to Washington ("The Piano Lesson") and Fargeat ("The Substance"), the other honorees in this year's crop are Durga Chew-Bose ("Bonjour Tristesse"), David Fortune ("Color Book"), Drew Hancock ("Companion"), Zoë Kravitz ("Blink Twice"), Tom Nesher ("Come Closer"), Halina Reijn ("Babygirl"), James Sweeney ("Twinless") and Magnus von Horn ("The Girl With the Needle").
``The Substance'' premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival, winning the best screenplay award. The feminist body horror satire earned over $50 million at the box office since its theatrical release in September, the highest-grossing film ever for distributer Mubi.
While Fargeat's newest film follows 2017's "Revenge," Washington is among those making his feature directorial debut with "The Piano Lesson," receiving some critical praise for its use of supernatural realism. The Netflix film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and stars John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher and Samuel L. Jackson, who earned his first Tony nomination in the same role during a 2022 Broadway revival of the August Wilson play.
Other directors at the helm of their first full-length movie include Kravitz, Chew-Bose, Fortune and Hancock.
There will be more than one representative from ``Babygirl'' in Palm Springs. Organizers announced Friday that Nicole Kidman, star of the A24 erotic thriller, would be given the International Star Award for her leading role in Reijn's movie. She earned the Volpi Cup for best actress following its first showing at the Venice International Film Festival.
Reijn was previously known as the director of the murder mystery dark comedy ``Bodies Bodies Bodies,'' also distributed by A24.
Von Horn's ``The Girl With the Needle'' and Nesher's ``Come Closer'' were selected as official entries in the Academy Awards' Best International Feature category for Denmark and Israel, respectively.
After the ceremony on PSIFF 2025's third day, the film festival will continue through Jan. 13.
