When the nominees of the 95th Academy Awards were announced on January 24, we took a beat to consider the list and then thought to ourselves, “Hmm… seems familiar.” Never mind the usual overlap with our own Film Independent Spirit Award nominees–we’re used to that. What caught our eye this time was just how many Oscar nominees had previously screened their work at Film Independent Presents.
We did spot one glaring omission among Hasan’s long list of accomplishments: he had never hosted the Film Independent Spirit Awards. A pitiable oversight, it occurred to us—and Mr. Minhaj agreed. Phone calls were made, and now we’re thrilled to announce (brace yourself for all-caps!) HASAN MINHAJ IS HOSTING THE 2023 SPIRIT AWARDS.
As one of Hollywood’s most highly regarded diversity and inclusion initiatives, the launch of each year’s new cohort is always an occasion for liberal overuse of the party-popper emoji. Today, the PI ranks add 30 new faces as the program—a free, nine-month program for writers, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, animators, programmers and entertainment execs from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds—announces its Class of 2023.
Guest moderator Scott Mantz talks with the filmmakers and subjects of the new documentary LET ME BE ME, now available for streaming rental.
Ever since its launch, Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program has supported a wide variety of projects: shorts, features, both narrative and nonfiction—even the occasional new media project, special event or advocacy initiative. Each month’s Fiscal Spotlight column announces three new projects taking part in the program.
You’re invited to join us for a theatrical screening* of Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, followed by an in-person conversation with director/producer Alek Keshishian, moderated by Jazz Tangcay (Artisans Editor, Variety).
In this guest post, 2021 Film Independent Episodic Lab Fellow Marissa Díaz shares her experiences as a participant of the program. The non-Member deadline to apply for the 2023 Lab is February 10. The Member deadline is February 24. Are you developing an original TV/streaming series as a writer or creator? This Lab’s for you.
It’s been a month of record snowfall across Utah’s picaresque Wasatch Valley. Which, of course, means that at this very moment many of your favorite independent filmmakers and Hollywood superstars are laboring under imminent threat of a devastating ACL injury. That’s right: with the 2023 Sundance Film Festival underway and in person following two years of COVID-necessitated virtual programming, we’re just one patch of black ice and an ill-timed step off the Java Cow entryway from Anne Hathaway being airlifted to the Mountain West…
Guest moderator Pete Hammond (Awards Columnist & Chief Film Critic, Deadline) talks to filmmaker Ruben Östlund about his critically-acclaimed English-language satire, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS.
Growing up in the wake of the Iranian Cultural Revolution of the early 1980s, nonfiction filmmaker and Film Independent Member Nazanin Nematollahi quickly came to realize her ambitions placed her at odds with her country’s rapidly diminishing protections for both women and artists. Having already begun to experiment with filmmaking as a university student at the time of the Green Movement, Nematollahi and her partner immigrated to the United States.
Film Independent Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson talks to the team behind 'Searching' and its new follow-up feature 'Missing', out Friday, January 20 -- writer/directors Will Merrick & Nick Johnson and producers Natalie Qasabian, Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian.
We thought it might be fun to have a change of pace, during this awards season, and accelerate into some high-octane automotive action! In this special guest post our friend, director and action design expert Lawrence Ribeiro and his team discuss the critical elements of assembling a dynamic, logistically feasible and—above all—safe car chase sequence. Here are five tips for filmmakers looking to put the pedal to the medal...
Since 2007, Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have joined forces to encourage filmmakers to create more realistic and accurate stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.
Guest moderator Janelle Riley (Senior Editor, Variety) speaks to the creative team behind the hit action epic THE WOMAN KING: director Gina Prince-Bythewood, writer Dana Stevens, editor Terilyn A. Shropshire, ACE, composer Terence Blanchard, supervising sound editor Becky Sullivan, re-recording mixer Tony Lamberti, costume designer Gersha Phillips and production designer Akin McKenzie.
Film Independent Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson talks to Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman about his latest project, RETROGRADE.
Wow, 2022 was a pretty good year for movies, huh? We can safely claim this as a fact (not opinion) based on our own current state of frenzied media consumption.
Director Lizzie Gottlieb talks to Film Independent Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson about her new documentary TURN EVERY PAGE, about the longtime collaboration between writer Robert Caro and editor Robert Gottlieb.
Film Independent Fellow Reed Harkness began to lay the groundwork for his acclaimed 2022 documentary Sam Now way back in 1997.
Directors Betsy Hershey and Emma Wall talk to Film Independent Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson about their new short GUERRILLA HABEAS.
