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The American Civil Liberties Union is collaborating with the creative team behind the Oscar-nominated short “A Lien” on an impact campaign working to protect the rights of immigrants.

The campaign will be led by the production and distribution company Willa, focusing on litigation and advocacy work to create empathetic conversations around border policies and the rights of asylum seekers. For over 25 years, the ACLU has protected the rights of immigrants and will focus on leveraging “A Lien”s narrative to inspire meaningful action through screenings and discussions.

“At the ACLU, we work through the courts, the legislatures, through grassroots organizing and through shifting the culture to reach people’s hearts and minds,” nationwide director of artist & entertainment engagement at the ACLU Jessica Weitz said. “We know the harrowing story in ‘A Lien’ is happening all over our country. By developing impact campaigns like this, we give people a glimpse of...

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Adam McKay is reentering the Oscar race in support of a new, timely project.

IndieWire can exclusively announce that “The Big Short” and “Don’t Look Up” director is boarding “A Lien,” one of the titles on the Oscar shortlist for Best Live-Action Short, as an executive producer via his production company Hyperobject Industries.

Written and directed by brothers Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz, who Vimeo just recently added to their list of Breakout Creators of 2024, “A Lien” highlights the often traumatizing experience surrounding the path toward permanent residence in the United States, and the unseemly tactics the Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses in order to round up more detainees.

“‘A Lien’ is pure cinematic tension,” said McKay via statement. “And then it hit me, this is reality for thousands of people every day.” The filmmaker is known for being outspoken on social media about the many issues Americans are facing,...

US revenge thriller Clearmind has closed in a slew of territories for the UK’s Film Seekers, including UK (Tmp), Germany (Spirit), Latin America (Encripta), Airlines (Encore), Cis (New People), Turkey (Mars) and Portugal (Vendetta).

Rebecca Eskreis’s feature follows a grieving woman who uses her virtual reality simulation to crash the weekend getaway of her former friends, which turns into a deadly night of revenge.

Toks Olagundoye, Rebecca Creskoff, Rob Benedict and Matt Peters star, while Kristin T. Higgins and Seana Kofoed produce.

BFI Filmmaking Fund director Mia Bays extends contract by two years (exclusive)...

Exclusive: Film Seekers has acquired international sales rights to dark-comedy-thriller ClearMind about a virtual reality therapy experiment that takes a deadly turn for a Cannes sales launch.

The Northern California-shot drama revolves around old friends whose lakeside getaway is disrupted by the unexpected appearance of a grieving woman that they had dropped from their group.

She attempts to use VR therapy to avenge her sense of rejection and anger against them, but it backfires, and revenge turns from virtual to real.

It is the second feature by Rebecca Eskreis, after the Cinedigm acquisition What Breaks the Ice. Seana Kofoed (30 Miles from Nowhere) wrote the screenplay.

Toks Olagundoye (Frasier), Jenn Lyon (Dead Boy Detectives), Kadeem Hardison (Moonhaven), Rebecca Creskoff (Claws), Rob Benedict (Supernatural), Matt Peters (Orange is the New Black), Kofoed (NCIS: Hawai’i), Jessica Meraz (Drunk History), and Alec Mapa (Ugly Betty) make up the ensemble cast.

“We’re excited...

Exclusive: Filmmaker Walter Hill was honored with a Tribute Ceremony in France on Tuesday evening, which marked the opening night of the International Thriller Film Festival – Reims Polar.

A retrospective of Hill’s films are being shown at the festival, which runs through April 10, including The Warriors, 48 Hrs., starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte, Extreme Prejudice, Last Man Standing and Bullet to the Head, starring Sylvester Stallone. The filmmaker attended a screening of his film Southern Comfort in Paris earlier this week, and will be presenting a masterclass moderated by Jean-Francois Rauger, who serves as Head of Programming at La Cinémathèque française.

Hill’s many other credits include the Westerns The Long Riders, Geronimo: An American Legend and Wild Bill. He co-produced Alien and served as producer or exec producer on its three sequels, winning an Emmy and DGA Award in 2005 for the pilot of HBO’s Deadwood. He also directed AMC’s Broken Trail,...

Exclusive: Rebecca Eskreis has signed on to direct ClearMind, a thriller about the dark side of Virtual Reality therapy and the slippery slope of using simulated life to avenge the real.

The film scheduled to enter production in Northern California next spring is the second from Eskreis, whose feature directorial debut, What Breaks the Ice, was recently released in theaters, on demand and on digital platforms via Cinedigm. 30 Miles from Nowhere’s Seana Kofoed penned the screenplay and will produce with River Place Production’s Kristin Tegtmeier Higgins (The Boy’s Gone). Miriam Hoffman is handling casting.

Eskreis is represented by Sara Alexander of Alexander Creatives and Stuart Rosenthal at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.

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Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American VOD rights to The Xrossing, an Australian coming-of-age thriller from director Steven J. Mihaljevich. The digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios...

Exclusive: Cinedigm has acquired North American rights to the coming-of-age thriller What Breaks the Ice, with plans to release the film in select theaters, on demand & digital this fall.

The first feature from writer/director Rebecca Eskreis is set during the tumultuous summer of 1998. As the sociopolitical landscape is turned on its head, two girls from different worlds form an unlikely friendship in the sweltering summer heat. Their fun and carefree days quickly turn cold as they find themselves at the center of a murder that rocks a nostalgic East Coast summer getaway.

Madelyn Cline and Sofia Hublitz (Ozark) star, alongside Lukas Gage, Catherine Curtin (Homeland), Aimee Mullins (Stranger Things), Shakira Barrera (Glow) and Joel Allen (The Purge).

Eskreis produced the project with Michael Cuomo, Dustin Duke Dlouhy, Michael W. Gray, Courtney Jones and Katie Leary. She developed it under...

Coming-of-age thriller stars Sofia Hublitz from Ozark, Madelyn Cline of Stranger Things, Boy Erased.

Saboteur Media will handle worldwide sales rights to Afm-bound What Breaks The Ice, a thriller mentored by Richard Linklater that features rising stars from hit shows like Ozark, Glow, and Stranger Things.

The coming-of-age thriller centres on two 15-year-old girls whose summer takes an unexpected turn when they become accidental accomplices in a fatal crime.

Sofia Hublitz (Ozark), Madelyn Cline, Joel Allen (Never Goin’ Back), Shakira Barrera (Glow), Erik Jensen (Messengers), Catherine Curtin and Aimee Mullins (Stranger Things) star.

Rebecca Eskreis makes her feature directorial debut,...

Rebecca Eskreis worked as Demme's assistant from 2014 to 2016. She's currently prepping to direct her first feature.

When I heard the news that Jonathan Demme had passed away, I felt a piece of my entire being wither. And yet, in my profound sorrow at the loss of this great man, my former boss and mentor, I also experienced an intense feeling of déjà vu. I’d felt this way before: Venice, Italy, August 2015.

Let me explain.

Two years ago, Jonathan was selected to head up the Orizzonti Jury of the Venice Film Festival, and as I was his assistant, I...