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For the perpetually impecunious (see: poor) indie filmmaker, a well-executed short or feature project can often be your best passport to the larger world. Left to our own scant devices, our calendars are unlikely to fill up with myriad jaunts to such exotic locales as Cannes, Venice, Locarno or, erm, Arkansas. But with a piping hot Dcp in hand, you not have not just an excuse to visit such places but an invitation. And few American cities are quite as dreamily summoned in the mind as day-glow Miami. After all: if it’s good enough for LeBron James, it’s good enough for us.

For 41 years, the Miami Film Festival has been showcasing innovative, inclusive work from new and emerging independent creators worldwide. Unsurprisingly, many of said creators are our own beloved Film Independent Fellows. In fact, a whopping 38 Fi Fellows will be in the Magic City next week to show new work,...

Exclusive: Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, shared the five short films directed by fellows selected to participate in its Global Media Makers Fall 2022 LA Residency.

The mentoring initiative and cultural exchange program that fosters relationships between filmmakers and industry professionals in the U.S. and abroad.

The shorts are a result of a workshop where Gmm fellows participating in the Residency’s Creative Producing Track were paired with Los Angeles-based Film Independent fellows to direct a short impressionistic film encompassing their personal views of Los Angeles. This collaborative initiative is an opportunity to establish a creative dialogue between international and local filmmakers while exploring the city.

“Providing our Gmm Fellows a space and time to explore our city of Los Angeles, guided by a local Film Independent Fellow, is central to the mission of the program: building bridges and fostering a dialogue...

Exclusive: Dwindling staff at the International Documentary Association are pursuing plans to unionize, Deadline has learned.

The 11 remaining full-time staff members below the level of senior manager voted unanimously to organize as the Documentary Workers United, under Communications Workers of America local 9003. They sent a statement to IDA executive director Rick Pérez on Monday morning informing him of the decision, and gave him 24 hours to grant “voluntary recognition” of the union.

The unionization push “comes as staff face unprecedented challenges at the organization,” the IDA staffers wrote in a release obtained by Deadline. “Since December 2021, nearly 50% of staff has left the organization, many in protest to the fact that numerous concerns raised by staff remain unaddressed.”

As Deadline has reported, four senior managers quit the IDA in early January after filing a complaint against Pérez accusing him of regularly engaging in abusive conduct. The complaint also criticized actions taken by the IDA board,...

Film Independent has set animator Javier Barboza, cinematographers Gemma Doll-Grossman, Phillip Jackson, Garland McLaurin, Lidia Nikonova, Michael Tanji and Akina Van de Velde, directors Hannah Bang, Jaime Castañeda, Logan Jackson and San-San Onglatco, editors Calvin Chin, Marcus Heleker, Christopher Ma, Ziyang “Lucia” Wang and Skylar Zhang, executives T’Essence Minnitee, Eboni Robinson and Danni Xin, producers Sarah Al-Qatou, C.A. Barrow, Ebony Elaine Hardin, Trent Nakamura, Jera Wang and Rui Xu, writers Danielle Ellen, Henry Alexander Kelly, Justin Omori and Tumelo Tladi, and writer-director Jesus Celaya as the filmmakers for the 2022 edition of Project Involve, a free nine-month program for creatives from diverse backgrounds.

The nonprofit arts organization behind the Spirit Awards also today named Barboza as its fourth annual Laika Animation Fellow, who will receive a grant enabling production on a stop-motion animated short film.

Project Involve offers participants the opportunity to create short films, attend master workshops and industry networking events,...