2021 was an unusual year for cinema, as many of the most highly anticipated films of 2020 were pushed back as a result of COVID-19 theatrical shutdowns. As a result, the stacked year’s lineup featured many films from some of the greatest directors working today; Steven Spielberg, Joel Coen, Jane Campion, Edgar Wright, Asgard Farhadi, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Ridley Scott, Lana Wachowski, Pablo Lorrain, and Denis Villeneuve just to name a few.

Given the sheer number of established names dominating the headlines, it's more than impressive that many first-time filmmakers were able to break through. The ever-changing nature of theatrical windowing makes it even more challenging to define what a “theatrical success” even is, but hopefully, we will be seeing more projects from these emerging auteurs.

Here are the top seven greatest directorial debuts of 2021.

RELATED: Every Live-Action Movie Musical of 2021, Ranked

'Pig' (Michael Sarnoski)

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Image via Neon

Although he’s spent most of the past decade hamming it up in low-budget DTV genre fare, Nicolas Cage will occasionally take a chance on a young filmmaker and remind viewers of the great actor that he is. Although films like Mom and Dad or Mandy were fun “unhinged” projects, Cage delivered one of his most sensitive and affecting performances ever in Michael Sarnoski’s first-time feature Pig.

Cage stars as Robin Feld, a former Portland chef who now lives as a recluse in the wilderness with his loyal pig, searching for truffles. Sarnoski treats the unusual character with complete emotional sincerity; he’s incredibly patient in exploring Robin’s relationship with his former profession without stigmatizing his eccentricities.

'The Lost Daughter' (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

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Image via Netflix

Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter is one of the great novels deemed “unfilmable” by many due to its piercing first-person perspective, and the prospects of an adaptation from Maggie Gyllenhaal raised concerns among Ferrante’s loyal fanbase. However, the author herself took to The Guardian and wrote an open letter; not only did she believe that Gyllenhaal’s screenplay satisfied her intents with the material, but she insisted that Gyllenhaal direct the film herself.

The Lost Daughter is a masterclass in tension that understands the importance of mounting anxiety gradually, and many first-time directors opt for more oblivious subtext. Set in an isolated summer holiday beach, the film follows the middle-aged woman Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman) as she grows obsessed with the younger woman Nina (Dakota Johnson) and her daughter. Gyllenhaal is a great actress in her own right, and she naturally gets awards-worthy performances out of her stellar ensemble.

'Mass' (Fran Kranz)

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Image via Bleecker Street

Fran Kranz may be best known as the goofy stoner in Cabin in the Woods, but the former comic relief certainly subverted expectations with his devastating directorial debut Mass. The single location drama is a conversation piece between two sets of parents. Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) lost their son in a school shooting, and they meet for a sit down with the shooter’s parents Richard (Reed Birney) and Linda (Ann Dowd).

Kranz’s screenplay doesn’t offer any easy solutions or opt for melodrama, and the details of what occurred are gradually revealed in a heartbreaking fashion. Tackling uncomfortable material is certainly the sign of an ambitious filmmaker, but Kranz didn’t simply reiterate trauma. Mass may not be an easy watch, but its sensitive approach justifies reiterating the traumatic material.

'tick, tick...BOOM!' (Lin Manuel-Miranda)

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Image Via Netflix

One year after the groundbreaking success of Hamilton on Disney+, and Lin Manuel-Miranda was all over 2021. Between the big-screen adaptation of his Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, his vocal performance and music for the animated film Vivo, and composing the soundtrack for Encanto, Miranda somehow had time to adapt Rent playwright Jonathan Larson’s iconic musical tick, tick…BOOM!

In a year filled with movie musicals, Miranda’s film stands out with its narrow focus on artistic anxiety. Andrew Garfield’s performance captures the pressure that artists feel to execute their ideas before they run out of time, and compared to the more ensemble musicals of 2021, Miranda’s work stands out as the most personal. Clearly, Miranda knows a thing or two about choreography and visual spectacle, and while tick, tick…BOOM! captures lavish musical numbers, including the standout opening “30/90.”

'Passing' (Rebecca Hall)

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Image via Netflix

Rebecca Hall is an actress who's been showing up on “underrated” lists for over a decade, so it's almost fitting that her directorial debut Passing was seemingly lost within Netflix’s stacked slate of awards contenders. It's unfortunate that Hall isn’t recognized as one of the best actresses of her generation, and it's similarly unfortunate that her beautiful debut feature has slipped under the radar. Passing is a quiet film shot in beautiful black and white.

Set in 1920s New York City, the film follows the relationship between childhood friends Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Bellew (Ruth Negga) who reunite. Clare “passes” as white and is married to the wealthy racist John (Alexander Skarsgaard), while Irene lives in Harlem with her husband Brian (Andre Holland). While there’s a necessary conversation that should occur regarding whether or not Hall was the right person to adapt the material, she certainly crafts a gorgeous period piece and garners incredible performances from her ensemble.

'Nine Days' (Edson Oda)

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Edson Oda’s acclaimed debut Nine Days was another victim of the pandemic’s disruption of release windows; despite earning immense praise at its Sundance Film Festival debut in 2020, the film was pushed to a summer 2021 limited theatrical release and unfortunately hasn’t garnered the awards support that it deserves. While a $10 million supernatural drama isn’t a typical awards contender, Oda’s beautiful take on existentialism is bound to surprise many.

In Oda’s version of the afterlife, the arbiter Will (Winston Duke) judges five unborn souls to determine which should inhabit a human body. The arbitration process is held at an isolated house in the middle of the desert, and the more recognizable environment allows the viewer to connect easily to the characters. Oda doesn’t get lost within his own mythology, and instead chooses to let each potential soul consider the heartbreaking prospect that they may never exist.

'The Humans' (Stephen Karam)

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Image via A24

There’s always an inherent risk at adapting a stage play, as the intimacy of a theatrical setting is hard to capture onscreen. However, playwright Stephen Karam managed to capture the same isolation with his adaptation of his own acclaimed one act The Humans. The Tony Award-winning dialogue is already fantastic, but Karam captures unique visual details that highlight the rising tension. His focus on a spiraling staircase sets an immediate tone of uneasiness.

The Humans is perhaps the most depressing Thanksgiving movie ever made (it gives The Ice Storm a run for its money); the story centers on a painful Thanksgiving conversation between the couple Erik (Richard Jenkins) and Deidre (Jayne Houdyshell), Erik’s mother Momo (June Squibb), their daughter Brigid (Beanie Feldstein) and her boyfriend Richard (Steven Yeun), and their unmarried daughter Aimee (Amy Schumer).