Lana Wachowski

Lana Wachowski

Last year was a great twelve months for female directors with the likes of Kathryn Bigelow, Jennifer Lee, and Haifaa Al-Mansour delivering critical and commercial successes.

And it looks like 2014 is also going to be another great year for female filmmakers, as there are a number of exciting projects on the horizon.

- Lana Wachowski- Jupiter Ascending

Lana Wachowski is set to reunite with her brother Andy for new sci-fi project Jupiter Ascending.

Lana and Andy have made some terrific sci-fi films over the years, and this comes hot off the heels of the fabulous Cloud Atlas last year.

As well as directing, both Lana and Andy have penned the screenplay for this action packed summer blockbuster.

Jupiter Jones (Kunis) was born under a night sky, with signs predicting that she was destined for great things.

Only when Caine (Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-military hunter, arrives on Earth to track her down does Jupiter begin to glimpse the fate that has been waiting for her all along.

Lana and Andy Wachowski always make sweeping and epic science fiction films, and Jupiter Ascending looks set to be another massive box office success. This is one of the sci-fi movies that we cannot wait to see.

- Lynn Shelton - Laggies

Lynn Shelton has brought us movies like Touchy Feely and Humpday, and now she is back with her new film Laggies.

Laggies sees Shelton return to the big screen after a small stint in TV... and she looks set to return with a bang.

A woman stuck in permanent adolescence lies to her fiancé about going on a retreat and spends the time hanging out with friends instead.

Shelton has brought together a great cast, as Keira Knightley, Chloe Moretz, and Sam Rockwell are all set to star.

The movie was part of the Sundance Film Festival line-up last month, and was met well by the critics... could this be Shelton's best film to date?

- Susanne Bier - Serena

We have already seen Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence star in two movies together, and now Serena will make a third,

Serena will see Susanne Bier return to the director's chair for the first time since Love Is All You Need.

The film follows newlyweds George (Cooper) and Serena Pemberton (Lawrence) who travel from Boston to the mountains of North Carolina where they begin to build a timber empire in 1929.

However, their lives are shattered when Serena learns that she can never bear a child. She sets out to murder the woman who bore George a son before his marriage.

The movie is based on the novel by Ron Rash, and has been adapted for the big screen by Christopher Kyle.

- Amma Asante - Belle

Amma Asante is an actress, director, and writer who is back in the director's chair with Belle.

This is a second feature film for Asante, but the first since A Way of Life back in 2004.

Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Belle, a mixed race girl raised as an aristocratic Lady in England at the end of the 18th Century.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw take on the role of Belle, while Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon and Matthew Goode are all also on board.

If you are a fan of the period genre, then this is a movie that should be right up your street. It is also exciting to see Asante back in the director's chair.

- Jenee LaMarque - The Pretty One

Jenee LaMarque is making her feature film directorial debut with The Pretty One; a screenplay that she has also written.

LaMarque made her debut with short film Spoonful, but now she is making the leap into feature length projects.

The Pretty One is a coming of age comedy about identity and loss and a wallflower who finally learns how to break out of her shell.

LaMarque has brought together a great cast as Zoe Kazan, Jake Johnson, and Ron Livingston are all on board.

The Pretty One was met well at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I am looking forward to seeing how LaMarque's career develops over the next couple of years.

- Maya Forbes - Infinitely Polar Bear

Maya Forbes is another female filmmaker making her debut this year with Infinitely Polar Bear.

Infinitely Polar Bear has already been released in the U.S. and was part of the Sundance Film Festival 2014 line-up.

Forbes has written the screenplay as well as being in the director's chair, but comes from a producing background.

A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.

Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo, and Keir Dullea have all come together for this excellent and well received debut.

Other female filmmakers to watch out for this year include
Gren Wells with The Road Within and Gillian Robespierre with Obvious Child.

Angelina Jolie is currently filming her second film Unbroken, but that will not be released until 2015. Scarlett Johansson and Elizabeth Banks have also been linked to the director's chair. 


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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