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The Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas will kick off June 16 with the drama East of Wall, one of many highlights of the 11th edition of the cinematic showcase led by Oscar winner Geena Davis.

East of Wall, which premiered at Sundance, is written and directed by Kate Beecroft. “Inspired by the real lives of Tabatha and Porshia Zimiga, and with a cast of predominantly non-professional actors playing themselves, East of Wall is an authentic portrayal of the modern American West,” the festival said in a release. Beecroft and the Zimigas will be in attendance for a moderated conversation to follow the film.

“We are thrilled to open the festival with a film that speaks so genuinely to the power of female resilience,” said Bff president Wendy Guerrero. “The raw, gorgeous landscapes are matched by the vulnerability and passion of the women and girls at the heart of East of Wall.

The BFFoundation (Bff), in collaboration with founding partner Walmart and presenting partner Coca-Cola, has today announced the full lineup for the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival (Bff), launching next month. As ever, the festival remains committed to building a slate around inclusion and authentic representation.

This year’s festival will showcase 28 feature competition films, including 9 world premieres, plus the newly-launched Homegrown Competition highlighting powerful stories from filmmakers based in or filming in Arkansas. Of this year’s competition slate, 66 percent of the films are from creators identifying as female or gender non-conforming; 51 percent identify as Bipoc, Asian, or Pacific Islander; 29 percent identify as Lgbtqia+; 18 percent are filmmakers over the age of 50; and 12 percent identify as a person with a disability.

The festival, which was founded by Geena Davis and backed by Wal-Mart, celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, a period that’s been marked by profound growth, both for the festival and...

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles has released the nominees and jury for its 14th annual awards that recognize the top rising talent in independent film globally.

The awards will recognize 130 nominees spanning 16 award categories, encompassing directors, writers, producers, performers, cinematographers, editors, sound designers, and composers. These outstanding nominees were chosen from Nfmla’s most recent programming year, which took place in 2024 and reflect some of the most promising emerging independent filmmakers globally. The selection includes projects from Nfmla’s InFocus initiative, which highlights stories and filmmakers who are often not adequately represented in mainstream media.

“We are proud to support and uplift the work of such a talented cohort of filmmakers whose work deserves to be widely seen and acknowledged and to be part of their journey,” says Nfmla p programming director Bojana Sandic.

The jury for the 2025 Best of Nfmla Awards is composed of industry professionals, including Alvie Hurtado at Will Packer Productions,...

SeriesFest, the event held in Denver, Colorado, has unveiled its latest pilot competition lineup.

The event, which runs April 29 to May 4, has revealed its Independent Pilot Competition, which features projects across drama, comedy, unscripted digital shorts and late-night.

This year’s crop features titles that star the likes of Mary Steenburgen, Harvey Guillén, Omar Epps, Ann-Margret, Roy Wood Jr., Shari Belafonte, Michael Kosta and Eric Roberts.

Other stars include Tauheed “2 Chainz” Epps, Barry Bostwick, Rutina Wesley, Joanna Leeds, Kate Burton, Jackie Hoffman, Emil Wakim, Vella Lovell, Alysia Reiner, Milana Vayntrub and Martin Kove.

SeriesFest has been the launch pad for over a dozen independent projects that have secured mainstream distribution including Cooper’s Bar, which landed at AMC, Generation Por Que, which was acquired by HBO and Everyone Is Doing Great, picked up by Hulu.

As Deadline covered last year, independent pilots are having a moment.

“We believe this year’s...

For years, the Slamdance Film Festival has existed in the shadow of Sundance. Founded in 1995, Slamdance always been a parallel (but unrelated) event that ran in Park City at the same time as Sundance, providing a platform to outsider artists making fringe cinema not showcased at the bigger festival. It helped launch the careers of A-listers like Christopher Nolan (“Following”) and the Russo Brothers (“Welcome to Collinwood”), proving itself to be a vital piece of the indie film ecosystem.

With Sundance considering a move to Cincinnati or Boulder, Park City’s future as a film festival destination is in flux. Slamdance ended up being the first domino to fall, relocating to Los Angeles and moving to a February calendar spot. This year’s festival will be the first in its new L.A. home and the beginning of an era where Slamdance can have the spotlight to itself — and potentially...

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? One of my favorite memories from production was the night we filmed the flash mob. After four long days of rehearsing and three nights of filming, we needed a boost of adrenaline, and boy did choreographer Malia Baker deliver! I remember emerging from a production meeting and walking outside to the backyard to see […]

The post “The Night We Filmed the Flash Mob” | Erin Brown Thomas, Chasers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? One of my favorite memories from production was the night we filmed the flash mob. After four long days of rehearsing and three nights of filming, we needed a boost of adrenaline, and boy did choreographer Malia Baker deliver! I remember emerging from a production meeting and walking outside to the backyard to see […]

The post “The Night We Filmed the Flash Mob” | Erin Brown Thomas, Chasers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In a confirmed nod to the 8,000-person 2016 Women’s March in Park City, Erin Brown Thomas and her show Chasers took to Main Street for a flash mob.

A mob of people in pink hats took to the streets at Sundance this year. No, it’s not 2016, but the stunt was a reference to the infamous protest event that took place at the festival and in cities around the world following the first inauguration of Donald Trump.

On Sunday outside the Egyptian Theater on Main Street, a large group of dancers in hot pink hats broke out into a choreographed routine to celebrate the new one-shot, half-hour comedy Chasers, a TV series pilot debuting at the festival. The flash mob included many members of the Chasers cast and crew.

As a part of the flash mob, the cast and crew handed out buttons featuring phrases such as “Attention starved dreamer in financially perilous situation,...

With Fiscal Sponsorship, independent films and their creators can accept sponsorship as if they were a non-profit through Film Independent. The program supports an inclusive variety of projects, narrative and nonfiction, shorts and features, as well as the occasional new media project, special event or advocacy initiative. Our monthly Fiscal Spotlight column introduces new fiscally-sponsored projects worth supporting.

Naturally, we want to see the fruits of all that awesome sponsorship, so today we’re checking in with four sponsored projects to see how there doing with another FiSpo Update.

Row Of Life

Project type: Nonfiction Feature

Project status: Distribution

Filmmakers: Soraya Simi, Nicholas Weissman

Synopsis: Row of Life is a feature documentary that follows Angela Madsen, a former Marine, 3x Paralympian, and renowned ocean rower, on her attempt to solo row unsupported from LA to Hawaii. Row of Life captures the year before the row and her preparation alongside her...

Erin Brown Thomas is speaking from the heart with “Chasers,” an official entry in Sundance 2025‘s Episodic Pilot competition premiering at the festival in Park City, Utah later this month. Watch the trailer debut above.

Co-written by the director and lead actress Ciarra Krohne (A24’s “Waves”), this 31-minute one-shot follows a girl named Sophia through a Los Angeles house party. Evocative of a poppier “Euphoria” with a more satirical feel, at least going by the first-look, what began as a short film expanded into a series after the screenwriters fell in love with their complex characters, all navigating near-kaleidoscopic emotion.

The pilot will also screen in February as part of Slamdance 2025 — making it the rare “double dance” in a circuit that previously prevented competition in both festivals. “Chasers” aims to deliver a vibrant and self-reflective thesis from the filmmaker on the cost of paying your dues in an industry...

Exclusive: Independent producers Floriane Andersen, Marianne Bourg, Yessi Sanchez, and Nina Seul have announced the launch of Artak Pictures, a new U.S.-based production company committed to fostering fresh voices and innovation in today’s entertainment landscape.

With roots in France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Germany, the producing quartet are part of the next wave of European talent with ambitions to make a global impact. Their company is set to debut three feature films in 2025, all from first-time female directors: Julia Stiles’ romantic drama Wish You Were Here, on which Bourg is EP; Julie Pacino’s psychological thriller I Live Here Now; and Perfect from music video maestro Millicent Hailes.

A romantic drama based on Renée Carlino’s bestselling novel of the same name, Wish You Were Here will be released by Lionsgate on January 17. Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Jennifer Grey, and Kelsey Grammer star. Utopia is handling worldwide sales...

As the Sundance Film Festival weighs the possibility of leaving Utah, its rebellious younger sibling has already packed its bags.

Slamdance, the unaffiliated festival that has run parallel to Sundance and celebrated outsider cinema in Park City since 1995, has officially relocated to Los Angeles. The organization announced its presence in town with the inaugural Indie Awards ceremony in December, and will break from its Sundance-adjacent schedule for its 30th edition, which will runs from February 20-26.

In addition to its lineup — which features 146 films, with all competition titles hailing from first-time directors at budgets of $1 million or less — Slamdance has announced more details about its plans to run a Los Angeles festival. Screenings will take place at the Director’s Guild of America and Quixote West Hollywood, with a special opening night event at the Egyptian Theater on February 20. Films will also be available to stream on the Slamdance Channel...

Sundance Film Festival’s 2025 line-up comprises 87 features, nearly half of which are directed by women, and is crammed with new work by returning stars and indie stalwarts including Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jennifer Lopez, Isabelle Huppert, Mark Ruffalo, and Dev Patel.

Among anticipated highlights are the feature directorial debut of UK playwright and incoming Young Vic artistic director Nadia Fall with her Bankside Films sales title Brides inWorld Cinema Dramatic Competition,about teenage friends who plan to travel to Syria.

Scroll down for the full line-up

Peter Hujar’s Day, a drama in Premieres about the New York portrait photographer...

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival revealed the 87 feature films and six episodic projects selected for the festival on Wednesday, announcing that new films starring Jennifer Lopez, Dylan O’Brien, Chloe Sevigny, André Holland, Conan O’Brien and Olivia Colman will debut in Park City in January.

Ahead of the festival, which runs from from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2, TheWrap spoke to Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming and Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming, about this year’s festival – what people should look out for and if they’re ready for the Sundance arrival of Lopez, whose new version of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” from director Bill Condon is one of the buzzier titles at the festival.

Considering this is awards season, Hernandez said that Sundance is “the crystal ball.” “This is the chance to look into the future,” Hernandez said. And he’s right – current Oscar contenders...

The Sundance Film Festival is considering a big move for 2027, but the 2025 feature film and episodic programs find the Robert Redford founded gathering very much in its traditional wheelhouse with a mix of big-name projects, politics, and what might just be the next big thing.

See the full list of Sundance 2025 feature films (including world premieres) and episodic projects below.

“The Sundance Film Festival remains steadfast in its commitment to elevating unique and urgent voices in independent storytelling,” the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star said today of the 41st iteration of the festival kicking off on January 23. “Audiences can expect a 2025 program that showcases varied and vibrant filmmaking globally,” Redford added of the 87 features and six episodic projects selected for screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and online next month.

It wouldn’t be Sundance without stars in plushy hooded ski coats, and they’ll be aplenty...

The 2025 line-up for the Sundance Film Festival has been announced.

This year’s fest features the latest projects from Oscar winners, studio filmmakers, and indie stalwarts like Justin Lin, Ira Sachs, Barry Levinson, and Questlove while the U.S. Dramatic Competition section is made of selections from directors new to the Park City fest.

“The combination of these new voices and some of these filmmakers who might be more household names, speaks to the the power of independent cinema and how, no matter where you are in your career, you are drawn to this community that Sundance has helped build over the years,” Sundance director of programming Kim Yutani told The Hollywood Reporter. Of the 87 feature films announced thus far, 36 titles (41 percent) are directed by first-time feature film directors.

Across the line-up, talents like Jennifer Lopez, Dev Patel, Bowen Yang, Chloë Sevigny, Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ayo Edebiri star in fest films,...

All interpersonal relationships are complicated. But there’s just something classically (even banally) fraught in the complex negotiation of emotion between Male and Female, a knotty 50-foot Route 66 twine ball full of interwoven power dynamics, sexual dysfunction and societal expectation. The heat fractals thrown off by this ceaseless Xx/Xy friction have propelled 10,000 of human civilization and countless works of art and storytelling—from Bible stories to sexy Netflix originals like Fair Play and May December. Or, for that matter, the three projects in this month’s Fiscal Spotlight.

Each of these three short narrative films center female protagonists, unmoored in the midst of an existential crisis brought on by a male counterpart. In two of the films, the male in question is a romantic foil—or at least perceived to be. The third explores the dynamic between student and educator, placing its dynamic in the context of artistic potential...

Oscar-winning directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – popularly known as “the Daniels” – are set to reveal secrets of the visual effects in their breakthrough hit Everything Everywhere All at Once.

They will moderate a panel titled “The Disruptive VFX of Everything Everywhere All At Once” on August 18, opening night of the 7th Salute Your Shorts Film Festival in Los Angeles.

“Our opening night audience will get a real behind-the scenes understanding of how this film became a phenomenon through VFX,” festival director Elle Shaw said in a statement. “Filmmakers can add knowledge to their tool kit, and film enthusiasts can satisfy their curiosity.”

Michelle Yeoh in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’

The event will take place at the Assistance League Theater in Hollywood. It’s free to the public, although space is limited. Everything Everywhere All at Once claimed seven Oscars in March,...

Victor Gabriel’s “Hallelujah,” Seemab Gul’s “Mulaqat/Sandstorm” and Joseph Pierce’s “Scale” have won the top awards at the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival, which presented its prizes on Saturday afternoon in Hollywood — thus qualifying for this year’s Academy Awards.

“Hallelujah” won the Grand Prix for the festival’s best short, “Mulaqat/Sandstorm” took the honors as the best live-action short and “Scale” won for animation. HollyShorts is an Oscar-qualifying festival for the short-film categories, and the winners of those three awards are automatically entered in the Oscar race.

The award to “Hallelujah” was presented via video by this year’s Oscar winners for Best Live Action Short, “The Long Goodbye” filmmakers Riz Ahmed and Aniel Karia. The Oscar winners for the 2018 live-action short “Skin,” Jamie Ray Newman and Guy Nattiv, presented the awards to “Mulaqat/Sandstorm” and best-director winner Carlos Segundo (“Sideral”), respectively.

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Oscars Short Doc...

Dane Morck, the co-creator of the CW series All American, has signed with Zero Gravity. He will serve as the Executive Consultant going into Season 3 of the sports drama.

Prior to All American Morck worked in the unscripted space under Vin di Bona on America’s Funniest Home Videos and was a development exec at di Bona’s production banner Fishbowl Worldwide Media. While at Fishbowl, he worked on Bravo’s Toned Up, Animal Planet’s Insane Pools: Off the Deep End as well as projects for Travel, HGTV, Nat Geo Wild, and NFL Network.

Morck and his producing partner/ex NFL player, Spencer Paysinger established Moore Street Productions in 2019. The company worked on many projects including an original sports and entertainment podcast with Lebron James’ Uninterrupted.

Morck continues to be repped by Gochman Law Group.

Producer and Black List screenwriter Evan Mirzai has signed with Innovative Artists across all departments.

Chicago – On Tuesday, December 5th, the Midwest Independent Film Festival will award their 2017 “Best of the Midwest” honors with a ceremony at Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago at 7pm. Nominees include the feature films “Dave Made a Maze,” “Halfway,” “Signature Move,” “The Legend of Swee’ Pea” and “The View From Tall.”

Presented by the Midwest Independent Film Festival

Photo credit: MidwestFilm.com

The Midwest Independent Film Festival is a year-round movie event in Chicago that takes place the first Tuesday of every month, at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. The festival has been recognized by Chicago Magazine in their “Best of Chicago” issue, and has become one of the top places for local filmmakers, producers and actors to network in the city. The “Best of the Midwest” Awards has a number of TV & Film guests (click here) scheduled to attend.

The nominees for the 2017 “Best of the Midwest” Awards are as follows…...