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Nicholas Fackler
Writer-director Nik Fackler's rise to prominence in the independent film world was one of the more original stories to emerge in 2010. While still in high school, he gained entrance into the Los Angeles Film School, but passed up the chance and instead honed his talents in his home state of Omaha. There, he became an in-demand helmer for music videos while he toiled on a feature script about a pair of lonely senior citizens who come together over Christmas. After a half-decade of development, Fackler landed Oscar winners Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn to play his leads in "Lovely, Still" (2010), which earned groundswell of buzz around its director, who was labeled as the next big thing in indie film.