This story first appeared in the Jan. 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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Ari Aster
Image Credit: Courtesy of Subject WHY HIM The snowbound horror film starring Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne could cement the 31-year-old director as the next genre rising star in the same vein as The Witch's Robert Eggers. The AFI grad previously helmed a visceral 30-minute short, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, that became a viral sensation in 2017, five years after its creation.
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Dominique Fishback
Image Credit: Courtesy of Steve Zak WHY HER Recently seen on HBO's The Deuce, the Brooklyn native plays a young woman who gets out of juvenile detention and must face her past. The NEXT section feature is a leading-role stepping-stone for the 26-year-old actress who has proven her versatility with parts in FX's The Americans, Showtime's The Affair and upcoming YA film The Hate U Give.
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Augustine Frizzell
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images WHY HER The Texas native, a writer-editor-helmer who also acts, makes her feature directorial debut with a high-energy drama about two teen BFFs who ditch school to head to the beach but find themselves broke and in trouble (think Spring Breakers). The 38-year-old (who is married to director David Lowery) has seen two of her shorts debut at SXSW.
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Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie
Image Credit: Courtesy of Subject WHY HER Director Debra Granik made Jennifer Lawrence into a sensation with 2010's Winter's Bone. Now she's finally returning to Sundance with Leave No Trace, which stars 17-year-old McKenzie, who hails from New Zealand, as a young girl secretly living on a nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, with her troubled father (Ben Foster).
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Valter Skarsgard
Image Credit: Courtesy of Paradigm WHY HIM His name may be familiar: He's the younger brother of actors Alexander (Big Little Lies) and Bill (It) Skarsgard (all sons of Stellan Skarsgard). While he plays a supporting role in the Norwegian black metal movie starring Rory Culkin, it's a promising American film debut for the 22-year-old, who starred in the Swedish drama Black Lake.
