The world is heating up out there, but the gusts and erratic temperature swings of early Spring can often be deceiving. One minute it looks sunny and warm, the next you’re stranded on a long walk in just basketball shorts when a sudden chill descends. Or it looks nasty, and all of a sudden you’re overdressed in 80-degree heat. It might be best to stay safely within the confines of your local art house or home theater with some Don’t-Miss Indies instead.

 

MONKEY MAN

When You Can Watch:  April 5 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters  

Directors: Dev Patel 

Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala 

Why We’re Excited: Famous for his lead role in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel has turned his attention to directing with his debut Monkey Man, which premiered last month at SXSW. Inspired by the Indian legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man follows Kid (Patel), who makes a meager living getting pummeled half to death on a regular basis in an underground fight club. Soon, though, Kid is pushed to his limits and embarks on a mission for revenge against India’s wealthy and corrupt, emerging as an unlikely savior to the destitute and powerless. Initially scheduled to shoot just as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to a standstill in 2020, the film shot on a small island in Indonesia, where a bubble of 500 crew members was maintained for nine months. Film Independent Members on the project include executive producers Jonathan Fuhrman and Steven Thibault, as well as production executive Jordan Moldo. Initially sold to Netflix, the project was acquired by Film Independent Spirit Awards winner for Get Out, Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions (Universal) shingle for theatrical release.

 

 

THE BEAST

When You Can Watch: April 5 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Bertrand Bonello 

Cast: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova 

Why We’re Excited: Loosely based on Henry James’ novella The Beast in the Jungle, writer-director Bonello’s romantic sci-fi thriller is a French-Canadian co-production. Set in the not-so-distant future, the time-jumping story covers three different periods: Belle Époque-era 1910s Paris; 2010s Los Angeles; and finally 2044, when artificial intelligence has invaded all aspects of life and human emotions are relegated to the dumpster to be “erased.” Fascinated by the romantic sojourns of her past lives, Gabrielle (Seydoux) uses advanced technology to delve into the past in order to fall in love–over and over again–with different versions of Louis (MacKay) in an attempt to eliminate the pain that comes from lost love. Shot mostly in Paris, the bilingual French-English film premiered last year as part of the official competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival.

 

WES IS DYING

When You Can Watch: April 9 

Where You Can Watch: VOD 

Director: Parker Seaman 

Cast: Devin Das, Parker Seaman, Aparna Nancherla, Mark Duplass 

Why We’re Excited: Although this lo-fi road trip comedy premiered at Tribeca Film Festival all the way back in 2022, it’s finally available on VOD this month thanks to indie distributor Gravitas Ventures. Seaman’s directorial debut (co-written with Das) finds Hollywood wannabes Parker and Devin (Seaman and Das, playing heightened versions of themselves) deciding to turn their friend’s impending death into a hit documentary–one that might potentially give them the chance to finally make it big. After finding out over Zoom that their buddy Wes is dying after contracting COVID-19, Parker and Das embark on a road trip to Wes’ Idaho home to see him one last time, with nothing more than a cheap camera, an old van, and a potential EP attachment by Spirit Award winner Mark Duplass in hand.

 

 

SASQUATCH SUNSET 

When You Can Watch:  April 12 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters  

Director: Nathan Zellner, David Zellner  

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajac-Denek 

Why We’re Excited: Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, the Zellner Brothers’ new absurdist comedy will be released in theaters this month by Bleecker Street. Filmed in Northern California in 2022, the film follows a family of Sasquatches (aka Bigfoot) in North America for over a year. The mythical (?) creatures are played by (human) actors, including Spirit Award nominee Riley Keough (American Honey), without any dialogue and in full prosthetic makeup. To prepare for their roles, Eisenberg (The Social Network, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)–also one of the film’s producers–and co. brought in movement and mime coach Lorin Eric Salm. Film Independent Members on the producing team include EPs Andrew Karpen, Kent Sanderson, and Todd Traina.

 

 

CIVIL WAR 

When You Can Watch:  April 12 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Creators: Alex Garland 

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman 

Why We’re Excited: Writer-director Alex Garland’s (Annihilation, Ex-Machina) fourth film is a dystopian actioner set in the not-so-distant future, where a second civil war has erupted in the United States. As the U.S. government veers deep into dictatorship, a team of war journalists including Lee (Dunst) and Joel (Moura) struggle to survive, ensnared between the separatist “Western Forces” government led by Texas and California and the incumbent government, led by recent Spirit Award winner Nick Offerman’s despotic President. Incorporating several not-so-veiled references to recent IRL upheavals in American society–Charlottesville, VA is one of the important battlefields in the story–there’s also a reference to an “Antifa massacre” at one point in the film. Premiering last month at SXSW, this $50 million film is reportedly A24’s most expensive project to date.

 

 

ABIGAIL

When You Can Watch: April 19 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters  

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett 

Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Alisha Weir 

Why We’re Excited: Originally titled Dracula’s Daughter, this monster movie from horror auteur collective Radio Silence–the filmmaking team behind the recent Scream films, among other credits–is a remake of the 1936 film from Universal’s stellar repertoire of supernatural villains. A group a disparate collaborators kidnap 12-year-old ballerina Abigail (Matilda’s Weir), the daughter of a powerful Russian underworld criminal, demanding $50 million in ransom. Too bad for the criminals, who soon learn a valuable (re: fatal) lesson: the little girl is actually a vampire, ready to hunt them down individually over the course of one bloody night. Filmed in Dublin, the project was interrupted by the actor’s strike last year and finally wrapped in December.

 

WE GROWN NOW

When You Can Watch: April 19 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (limited), May 10 (wide) 

Director: Minhal Baig 

Cast: Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jurnee Smollett 

Why We’re Excited: Recently nominated for three Spirit Awards, writer-director Baig’s second feature (after 2019’s Hala) is a nostalgic coming-of-age drama, set in the filmmaker’s hometown of Chicago. Growing up in the sprawling Cabrini-Green public housing complex (pop. 15,000) in the early 1990s, 12-year-olds Malik (James) and Eric (Ramirez) are best friends. But when drugs and crime encroach on the neighborhood and Malik’s mother Dolores (Smollett) considers a job that will move them out of the area, the boys face the first true test of their unbreakable bond. Film Independent’s Members on the producing team include producer Joe Pirro and EP James Schamus.

 

 

THE MOON AND BACK

When You Can Watch: April 23 

Where You Can Watch: VOD 

Director: Leah Bleich 

Cast: Isabel May, Missi Pyle, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Nat Faxon, P.J. Byrne 

Why We’re Excited: For her debut as a feature director, filmmaker and Film Independent Member Leah Bleich brings us a heartfelt, filmmaking-centric, coming-of-age comedy about grief and healing. A year after Lydia’s (May) father was taken from her by a sudden illness, the quirky high schooler finds herself hot-tempered and lost. Struggling to deal with her grief, she has alienated her friends and classmates, instead befriending guidance counselor Mr. Martin (P.J. Byrne). When she finds her father’s space opera screenplay intended for a blockbuster-sized production, she decides to turn it into reality, armed with only her father’s old VHS camcorder and a childhood friend and A/V club member, Simon (Gutierrez-Riley).

 

 

CHALLENGERS

When You Can Watch: April 26 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Luca Guadagnino 

Cast: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist 

Why We’re Excited: Directed by Call Me by Your Name and Bones and All multiple Spirit Award nominee Luca Guadagnino, the Italian auteur’s latest is a sports-themed romantic drama following former tennis-prodigy-turned-coach, Tashi (Dune 2’s Zendaya), who is desperate to turn the tide on her husband Art’s (Faist) recent losing streak on the court. Her solution is to have him play a challenger event: a low-level tournament on the pro tour. However, her plan turns into a complicated love triangle when his opponent turns out to be her former boyfriend Patrick (O’Connor, Netflix’s The Crown), who also happens to be Art’s former BFF. Shot in Boston, filming for the MGM-produced film occurred around the Back Bay and East Boston neighborhoods.

 

 

*PROGRAMMER’S PICK* THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED

When You Can Watch: April 26

Where You Can Watch: Theaters, VOD 

Director: Joanna Arnow

Cast: Joanna Arnow, Scott Cohen, Babak Tafti, Phillip Andry

Why We’re Excited: From Jenn Wilson, Film Independent Senior Programmer: “Living is painful. The extreme absurdity of life in the 21st century is on display here, in Joanna Arnow’s 2024 Spirit Awards Someone To Watch Award nominee. Ann’s misery seems deliberately curated by her and thankfully it’s pretty hilarious at times. A 30-something millennial New Yorker, Ann (Joanna Arnow) has been having a long-term but casual BDSM relationship with an older man (Scott Cohen), and frankly it feels like the most low-stakes sub/dom relationship that’s ever existed. But Ann overall seems to be living a life of extreme submissiveness and dissatisfaction everywhere–at work and when she visits her family, too. She’s practically raising it to an art form. At a certain point Ann seems to chafe at her limitations so she joins a dating app to date more ‘vanilla’ men. She finds a handsome and nice new guy, and seems to actually enjoy herself a little, but ah, is that actually what Ann really wants? It’s complicated. Directed, written, and starring Joanna Arnow in the best low-key hilarious performance given in a movie so far this year, this film dares to ask the question if someone’s sexual kink can be turned into a whole lifestyle.”

 

 

KEY

Film Independent Fellow or Member

Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A

Microbudget

Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color

Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee

Female Filmmaker

LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters

First-time Filmmaker

(Header: Challengers)