All eyes are on Tatiana Huezo…

The 49-year-old Mexican Salvadoran filmmaker has been named to Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch list for 2022.

Huezo is a standout from the recent festival circuit. A documentary veteran, her powerful Prayers for the Stolen, about girls growing up in the shadow of an opium cartel, is representing Mexico in the Oscar international feature competition.

Aitch Alberto — the first trans director ever to make the list — is also guaranteed to surprise, with her sensitive and surreal adaptation of the beloved queer YA romance Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. She is directing the film, with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eugenio Derbez producing.

Overall, it’s a decidedly forward-looking — and female-driven — group of visionaries for the upcoming year, spanning genres, languages and a wide variety of backgrounds.

The 10 Directors to Watch are:

Aitch Alberto (“Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”)
Mariama Diallo (“Master”)
Audrey Diwan (“Happening”)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”)
Tatiana Huezo (“Prayers for the Stolen”)
Nikyatu Jusu (“Nanny”)
Megan Park (“The Fallout”)
Cooper Raiff (“Cha Cha Real Smooth”)
Goran Stolevski (“You Won’t Be Alone”)
Krystin Ver Linden (“Alice”)

The selection process relies on Variety editors screening dozens of new and upcoming features, and curating a mix of the most promising emerging talents from among those first and second films.

The directors selected for this year’s list will be honored in person at a brunch event on January 7 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which resumes in-person screenings, panels and parties in early January, following a COVID-19-impacted virtual edition in 2020.

“We’re very excited to continue our partnership with Variety to co-host the ’10 Directors to Watch’ brunch at the Festival,” said PSIFF artistic director Lili Rodriguez. “This year’s directors are an exceptionally gifted group of emerging talents, and we congratulate all of them for being selected on this distinguished list.”

The Class of 2022 will be profiled in full with Variety’s first print edition of the new year.

Previous directors to make the “watch” list include Cary Joji Fukunaga, Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, David Lowery, Julia Ducournau and Mia Hansen-Løve.