Where are they now?

[Dicktar2023]

I'm bored of figure skating, so I took to Googling some indie filmmakers I haven't heard anything about in awhile.

What I found may surprise you. (Or maybe it doesn't, maybe you're hipper than me.)

Where are they now? (2026)

Behn Zeitlen
Known for: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
What happened next? He spend 8 years—that's not a typo—making a Peter Pan movie that bombed in 2020. It opened before the pandemic began, so no excuses.
Current whereabouts: Somewhere in New Orleans? If there is anyone on this list who might really be in the witness protection program, it's Zeitlen.

Ana Lily Amirpour
Known for: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)...AKA my favorite movie of all time.
What happened next? She made a a brutally violent, Jordorowsky-esque surrealist movie called The Bad Batch in 2016, and had a bit of a kerfuflle on social media about the treatment of minority characters in the film. A series of unrealized projects followed, including a Cliffhanger reboot that fell apart circa COVID. In 2021, she released the sci-fi thriller Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. The less said about that film the better.
Current whereabouts: In early 2025, she was attached to an adaptation of the comic A Basketfull of Heads starring Natasha Lyonne, but I can't find any updates. Lyonne has been everwyehere the past year and I've never heard her mention it, so that doesn't bode well. (On a personal note, there isn't an artist in the world I root for harder than ALA. I wouldn't trade her for all the directors on this list, plus David Eggers and both Daniels. But she needs to get her [shirt] together.)

Shane Carruth
Known for: Primer (2004), Upstream Color (2013)...the latter on my top ten movies of the decade, 2010-2020.
What happened next? He spent years and years trying to get financing for an epic film called The Modern Ocean. When that fell apart, his interviews became more bitter. Then he, uh, accidently tweeted a pic of a restraining order his ex-girlfriend (fellow filmmaker Amy Seimetz) filed against him. A strange meltdown on social media followed. Then he was accussed of domestic violence against a different woman a couple years later.
Current whereabouts: Legends say he's gone back to being a software engineer in Austin. No word on whether he's keeping his hands off women. Wherever he is, let's hope he's getting the help he needs.

Andrew Patterson
Known for: The Vast of Night, (2020) a wonderful micro-budget sci-fi period movie whose theatrical release was nixed because of the pandemic.
What happened next? His follow-up, The Rivals of Amziah King, debuted at South by Southwest a year ago, but didn't find a distrubtor. It's problems continued in 2025, and it's now being self-distributed by his production company, and is scheduled to be released this summer. (Ugh.)
Current whereabouts: I imagine him somewhere in Oklahoma, wondering if anyone is ever going to be able to see an Andrew Patterson Film on a big screen.

Jennifer Kent
Known for: The Babadook (2014)...Let's pause for a moment to consider how enormously influential that little horror movie has been on world cinema the last ten years.
What happened next? The Nightengale, a bleak period revenge movie that no decent person would wish on their worst enemy. It didn't go over well at the box office.
Current whereabouts: She's adapting The Thief of Tomorrow by Clive Barker. Hmm...

Michael Sarnoski
Known for: Pig, which I believe I picked as the best movie of 2021.
What happened next? A Quiet Place: Day One, released just two years later. So yeah...he punched that ticket in a hurry.
Current whereabouts: Directing a Robin Hood movie starring Hugh Jackman. But don't call him a sell out—it's for A24.