Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program supports a wide range of incredible projects. Every month, we shine a spotlight on new projects in our Fiscal Spotlight collum. But have you ever wondered how some of our previously featured projects are doing? That’s where FiSpo Updates come in! We’re here to celebrate the latest achievements of projects within the program.

Through Fiscal Sponsorship, independent filmmakers and media artists gain access to nonprofit funding, helping bring their unique visions to life. These projects embrace diversity, push creative boundaries, and showcase the power of independent storytelling. Want to explore the full lineup of sponsored projects? Head over to our Sponsored Projects page and take a look!

 

BETTER THAN THEY FOUND IT

Project type: Nonfiction Feature

Project status: Production

Filmmaker: Tarana Harris Mayes

Synopsis: Better Than They Found It chronicles the history and revolution of the coaching profession in the modern NFL, celebrating the progress and envisioning the future through unprecedented interviews with influential coaches and Hall of Fame players.

Filmmaker Update: We’re excited to share that Better Than They Found It will be highlighted at SXSW 2025 in the panel session, “The Play Gap: Women Behind The Camera in Sports” on Saturday, March 8th. Tarana Harris Mayes, the visionary behind the panel, will be joined by three award-winning filmmakers whose work deeply encourages audiences everywhere: Maeyen Bassey (Being Young and Coach Prime) Deborah Riley Draper (Olympic Pride, American Prejudice), and Maya Washington (Through the Banks of the Red Cedar).

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CATHEDRAL, FLORIDA

Project type: Fiction Short

Project status: Development

Filmmaker: Jacob LaMendola

Synopsis: A young boy joins his girlfriend on vacation, but finds he is more drawn to her father, who is blind. Cathedral, Florida is a 15-minute short film that tells the story of this vacation. It unfolds in a motel room, across one day, during a storm.

Filmmaker Update: Cathedral, Florida marks director Jacob LaMendola’s first narrative project in over a decade of making documentaries. Jacob’s previous works include ANOSMIA, a New York Times Op Doc about people unable to smell, and Netflix Original, LONG SHOT, which tells the story of Juan Catalan, whose alibi to escape a murder charge involved an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In late 2024, Cathedral, Florida won the Make It Short Pitching Forum at Fest | New Directors New Films Festival. This win secured the early involvement of Bleat Post Production, who has worked with some of Jacob’s favorite filmmakers, including Andrew Haigh.

In 2025, Cathedral, Florida began to assemble its team, including Oscar nominated Executive Producer, Abby Lynn Kang Davis as well as accomplished producers and old friends David Duque-Estrada, Jonathan Rosenblit and David Broad. Casting director Daryl Eisenberg is also now attached to the project and is currently auditioning blind and low vision actors. This will bring a sense of realism to the film that simply cannot be achieved otherwise.

We are now actively raising funds and with the help of Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship, have been able to raise a third of our budget. While this is a massive achievement, we need to raise more in order to meet our goal of moving into production this year. Your donation helps us continue to build a team and make the best film possible. From everyone involved, thank you for your support. It’s a scary time, but much scarier to not make a film.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Project type: Fiction Short

Project status: Development

Filmmaker: D’Angelo “D’Lo” Louis

Synopsis: A Bay Area transplant fights to survive in a Los Angeles high school where announcements often signal tragic farewells, caught between gang violence and forbidden attraction.

Filmmaker Update: We are excited to share that Announcements is evolving from a short into a feature-length film. The world we are building demands more time and space to fully explore the weight of violence, community, and survival in a city that never stops moving. Keeping this story under 40 minutes wouldn’t do it justice, and we’re embracing the challenge of expanding its scope. We are also excited to announce the attachment of Lexi Underwood (Sneakerella, Little Fires Everywhere) and TyQuan “Watts Homie Quan” Givens (The Vince Staples Show, Rap Sh!t, Growing Up In L.A.) to the cast, bringing even more depth and authenticity to this world. In addition, we’ve welcomed Kwajalyn Brown to the Announcements family as an Executive Producer. Known for her powerful performances in Cobra Kai, Black Bird, and The Young and the Restless, Kwajalyn brings invaluable experience and passion to the team.

This journey is just beginning, and we’re grateful for the support of Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship as we push forward. Stay tuned for more updates, and if you want to be a part of this project’s growth, we invite you to follow along and support our journey.

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To learn how Fiscal Sponsorship works, check out the above video or read about it here.

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A film made under $100,000. Impossible!

Well, no. A daunting task, sure. But yes, good films CAN be made for what we’re dubbing the “Ultra Micro-Budget” price range.

Yes, it takes strategy. Yes, it takes clarity of vision. It hopefully takes talent. And yes, it takes cajónes. But everything on that list also applies to making a film on a bigger scale too. The difficulty knob is just turned up a bit in the Ultra Micro case.

Just ask Felix Werner, co-founder of Modern Media Company and HieronyVision, which has a micro-budget incubator. Werner has seen all sides of the film world, from working on studio fare, to directing indie films, to being a film investor. He believes that the era of shorts is over and making a feature is more important than ever to have a successful career in indie film. That’s why he’s such a proponent of the Ultra Micro-Budget model.

Over the course of the next few months, he’ll be teaming up with Film Independent for a three-part Filmmaker Tuesday series called On A Shoestring: Ultra Micro-Budget Filmmaking. This will include two virtual sessions and an in-person session here at Film Independent HQ. You can see the next event here.

We asked Werner some questions about making a film on an “Ultra Micro-Budget,” to give you a taste of what’s to come at these sessions.

Tell me a little bit about your background in Ultra Micro-Budget filmmaking.

I started as a crew person working on studio films, then my wife and I realized that wasn’t the world we wanted to work in, so we got into independent film, and learned that we had to understand everything from financing and distribution to production. We have a company, Modern Media Company, that’s done a little bit of all of that. We used to own a distribution company that we sold, and we still do a certain type of film funding.

But I realized there’s this massive need for something that’s a little bit different than what traditional independent filmmakers have been doing for the past couple of years. There’s a big gap between the YouTube generation that’s used to creating content in a certain way, and my generation of independent filmmakers that’s also used to doing films their way. And both could learn from each other, quite honestly.

I think the, for lack of a better term, ‘YouTube generation’ can learn from the wonderful storytelling abilities of some of these incredible independent filmmakers, and my generation can learn from the sort of roll up your sleeves, just get it done attitude of these YouTubers.

The people that inspire us the most: let’s start with Sean Baker. He’s the poster child for how this should work. He’s made films under $100,000. He made a film on an iPhone.

Now he’s won Cannes and a bunch of Oscars. I think it’s the best example of where young filmmakers should start and how they should progress.

Even if you take the change of technology from when Sean Baker shot Tangerine to now, the iPhone is a remarkable tool. What we need are filmmakers who understand the aesthetics of that and how to basically get the most out of it. And that they’re trying to tell a long form story, not just disposable clickbait.

It’s the thought behind the camera. And then what you put in front of the camera.

Exactly. So have your story first, your actors. And quite honestly, even though we end up talking about technology, that’s not really not the discussion.

It’s never been cheaper to make a feature film than now. But do you have the eye? Can you have something to say? Do you have a story to convey?

Can you find the right people to convey that? They don’t have to be SAG actors. David Gordon Green or Richard Linklater, for example, chose people off the street, essentially. It’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but people without classically trained acting backgrounds. They had something to say, they found the right people to cast, and then they used what means were available to them.

It’s easier than ever to make something look great. So now you have to find people to tell good stories and find interesting people to convey those.

And Sean Baker, again, perfect example of how he casts and finds people. But he has something to say.

What types of stories work well for micro budget and ultra micro?

We have an incubator program at HieronyVision. We’re in the second year now. And we have a pretty remarkable group of young filmmakers from Yale, Columbia, Wesleyan, Cal Arts, and two who haven’t attended film school.

And what we tell them in our incubator program is, instantly know your limitations. Don’t go over a certain budget range, limit your number of actors that you have, make sure your story doesn’t have too many locations. But again, have something to say, have something that you’re passionate about, and don’t be afraid to be as provocative as you want.

That’s probably the other part that that frustrates me with the social media platforms. They’re so limiting about what they allow to be shown. So you don’t have bold voices going out there being able to put things on YouTube or Instagram, because quite honestly, it’ll get taken down.

We say find stories that you can tell outside of those ecosystems, use the methodology and the roll-up-your-sleeves attitude from those filmmakers, then find alternative methods to distribute.

When it comes to funding for films of this scale, what’s an effective way to pitch financers for micro budget films? And where do you look for finances.

There are two different types of investors that I say that work in independent film: the ones that have little experience, usually family and friends. They put their goodwill out there and help you out. Oftentimes, they get disappointed financially.

And then there are the sort of professional class of investors who are savvy to all the things that go on, but they tend to be a little bit less risk averse. And they tend to look for things that are a sure bet. And that tends to be a little bit more the B movie world.

We’ve been both. Though we never do “B movies” we have worked in certain types of funding, like gap funding, that are far more secure ways to fund independent films. We started off doing straight equity investing. I wouldn’t say it was family and friends, but we were naive to how we approached it. And we’ve learned a lot.

We have gone to many film fund financing forums where a lot of agents and people are there trying to lure equity investors to participate in their films. And we have been those investors but now we shy away from that because we had not great experiences.

What I think is a much better model is to say to these investors, well, rather than you become part of a piece of a film where you have zero control, you can’t even track where the money’s coming in or where it goes, why not be involved in a smaller film where you can be 100% involved? You make 100% the financial commitment to that film, it’s a much easier proposition.

And then for investors, we say, be smart. Equity investing is the worst type of film investing to do to be honest, in terms of a safety standpoint. But if you do it on a smaller film, and you have 100% of the involvement in that film, that at least gives you a clearer picture of what’s going on. And then you know what you’re getting. Yeah, you might lose your money. Only invest in films if you’re prepared for it to go south. It’s a very tricky, murky investment.

With budget this small, when it comes to actually making the film, it’s only natural that as a filmmaker, you have to make some sacrifices. What are some things that you feel are worth fighting to keep for micro budget film?

I still go back to knowing your parameters. You have to understand whether unions are involved or not. I think that’s very tricky.

You want the best person performing and directing your film, right? You can fix writing that is challenging if you have a really good actor and director. However, if you have a great script, but your actor can’t deliver that and your director can’t deliver, then it’s really a waste, which is a shame because great scripts are hard to come by.

You’re currently working on a project about your father, the actor Oskar Werner, Teixl. What are some microbudget techniques you’ve used on that project?

So we filmed the main portion of this documentary in seven countries in six weeks, drove 4,500 miles with a crew of 3-4 people that included me.

One of the biggest things that we think in micro budget filmmaking is, no one can be precious, everyone has to be willing to do everything from cooking to cleaning to carrying the bags. Whatever it takes. There can be no prima donnas, no great auteur theory. Everyone has to do everything, be a multitasker, and have multiple skills.

My crew that I generally work with can do everything. I jokingly say they’re like a little Navy SEAL team, you can drop them in anywhere creatively. And the three of them can get together and pull together a whole movie from development through post production, through marketing. And that’s super helpful. So having the right crew.

We’re also absolutely committed to an all-digital workflow.

Even drones are a fun thing. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, did you get that great drone shot?’ Well, we think drones can be used far more effectively like mini cranes. You do a slight raise of a drone six feet, and all of a sudden you get movement in the camera, and it doesn’t have that sort of static look. So we’ve used it instead of a dolly we’ve just flown the drone straight across, but you will think it’s a dolly, not a drone necessarily.

That’s the practical stuff that we do.

That’s very creative. That’s a great way to use the tools that you have.

You spoke about marketing being a huge aspect of the filmmaking process. How should you get your film scene or aim to get it seen?

The biggest mistake that independent filmmakers make when they are putting a project together, and this goes back to financing, is they need to have 50% of what your production budget be there for marketing and distribution, in case you have to do it yourselves.

And then they need to have one dedicated crew person who is filming them filming and making sure you have enough content. That’s probably the biggest mistake we’ve done in our micro projects, we get so busy, and we’re so small, that we forget to film ourselves filming. So we didn’t have enough BTS. I think that’s incredibly important.

But more important than anything is have a budget for it, be prepared to distribute your film yourself.

And look, there’s so many great success stories. The number 1 right now is probably Hundreds of Beavers, right? They had an alternative distribution strategy, and I think they just passed the $1 million distribution mark, which is fantastic.

One important point that I want to make is that we strongly discourage people from doing shorts anymore. If you want to do a few shorts just to get your feet wet, and you do them in film schools, fine. But I think it’s one of the biggest pitfalls in film schools.

Everyone needs to have made a feature film who wants to be a filmmaker. And that’s the way to get started. That’s the way to launch your career and have people be willing to give you more money for the film that you might really want to make. But you need to start small.

That’s why we encourage the micro budget start. And we jokingly say that we’re where the French New Wave meets Y Combinator, or Roger Corman meets Dogma 95, you need to have those mentalities– small, lean– but just get it done.

 

 

To learn more about Felix Werner and HieronyVision, click here. To attend the Filmmaker Tuesday series On A Shoestring: Ultra Micro-Budget Filmmaking, click here.

A film without a cast is, miraculously, still a film (non-voice work animation, experimental efforts, etc.). However, a cast—even if it’s just one or two actors—has undoubtedly become an integral part of a film, and for good reason. Films offer a variety of adventures that can be both so relatable and not so relatable. It’s the faces on the screen who the audience attaches themselves to, whether it’s to deliver a humane message or thrilling escapism, these faces help bring the audience to the film’s home stretch. Hence, who these actors are is of much importance, and who better to assist a filmmaker’s decision-process than a casting director.

On January 28, Film Independent Education held the annual panel and networking event spotlighting some of the top casting directors working in independent film today. The event marked Film Independent’s first of 2025, and was hosted at the company headquarters. It was moderated by Sunday Boling Kennedy (Martha, Hello My Name Is Doris), and the panelists included Nicole Arbusto (Winner of the Robert Altman Award for His Three Daughters), Richard Hicks (Together Together, Hell or High Water), and Julia Kim (Minari, Spa Night). Attendees got to learn about the impact a casting director has on a project and how to connect professionally, along with the chance to network after the panel while enjoying a pleasant reception. For all the independent filmmakers who missed it, here’s the recap.

On why you should pursue a casting director in the first place, our panelists shared several benefits that can come from the partnership. For one, they help build creative and administrative relationships. Creatively, they introduce you to actors. An actor may not get a part for whatever reason, but they can still leave an impression on you—or anyone else for that matter—for future projects. In the same vein, administrative relationships are formed between you and the actor’s team, and by extension other industry people. Hence, casting directors act as catalysts to varying degrees when it comes to connections. Then, of course, there’s the main benefit of expediting the casting process. A seasoned or promising casting director understands the importance of getting the right cast together, and aims to audition actors that best fit your vision; they help move your project forward out of pre-production. Also, “a casting director adds validity to your project,” as Julia Kim puts it. More on that later.

“Give me one thing to fall in love with, because it’s most likely not the money.” – Richard Hicks

 
When it comes to getting in touch, our panelists agreed that email is the preferred mode of communication—along with a complete report. Research on casting directors and their work is highly encouraged as preliminary work, as there are many to look into. It’s about finding those who’ve worked on projects that best align with your project. It also just looks good on the filmmaker to be familiar with the casting director’s work. A complete report involves several details surrounding the project, all in an effort to increase the likelihood of a response: estimated budget, shoot dates, producer(s) and crew, and a captivating logline. Budget raises the Catch-22 that challenges many indie filmmakers: no money without talent and no talent without money. Indie filmmakers are truly put to the test, but it doesn’t have to be a hopeless dead end! Our panelists recommend carefully considering how your film stands out, or rather—in the eyes of producers and investors—what makes it worth investing in, which also goes for the report to the casting director. What will make them want to read your script? That is, the best version of it. As Richard Hicks puts it, “Give me one thing to fall in love with,” jokingly adding, “because it’s most likely not the money.”

They also recommend going through all your existing connections, the direct ones as well as the indirect ones that require extra effort. Nicole Arbusto cautions, “There’s no use in not involving representatives and agents,” because it could be that a represented actor wants to be involved, but their team has undisclosed commitments or reasons that may curb the actor’s involvement—a blow to the gut that could’ve been avoided. Also, because it bears repeating, maintain persistence. As mentioned earlier, having a casting director on board further adds legitimacy to your project. In the eyes of investors, they’re a respectable collaborator that shows pre-production on your project is in-progress. Circling back to the report to the casting director, an attached producer goes a long way as casting directors are not producers, unless stated otherwise.

“Casting is always a leap of faith.” – Nicole Arbusto

 
Obviously, you should already have ideas about your cast. This is where a lookbook should be considered, serving as a tool for the casting director to work with. From the perspective of independent filmmaking, it should primarily include lesser known or up-in-coming names, and “not just pasting people who are famous,” pro tip from Julia Kim. When it comes to first time directors in auditions and table reads, our panelists stressed the importance of effective communication with the actors. Take the time to learn about the actor as a person, and their skills that could come into play with the character. If you feel like most of the actors are not making a part of your script sing, consider that maybe that part of your script just isn’t working as you thought it did. Furthermore, it’s important to keep in mind that casting is like a domino effect. Each casting holds influence over the next one, so there should be special consideration about which characters to prioritize. All in all, as Nicole Arbusto perfectly expressed it, “casting is always a leap of faith.”
 

This event was free for Members. Learn more and join today to make sure you have access to future Members-only events. A special thanks to all the panelists for sharing their professional advice, and to everyone who attended.
 
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Header: Casting Director Nicole Arbusto with the cast and crew of His Three Daughters at the 2025 Spirit Awards afterparty.

Breaking down a script, working with actors, shot listing, guiding the edit – all crucial tasks for a director, but in the TV world, that’s just the start. TV directors have the unique challenge of having to put a personal touch on a long running story, while collaborating not only with the executives, cast and crew, but also the showrunner.

Oh and did you know, TV is becoming more cinematic, (just look at the amazing shows we honored at the Spirit Awards this year), Yes it’s great for us at home, but for those hard working TV directors, it still requires creating tens of hours of content per season, and usually at a budget that would make a studio director cry.

Beating the odds is something that indie filmmakers are used to, and that’s why it just makes sense that the Film Independent Episodic Directing Intensive brings together some seriously talented Fellows, and some of the biggest names in the TV industry, including Christian Alvarez, Jen Arnold, Pete Chatmon, Bruce Francis Cole, Julia Dillard, Paola Franco, Alex O’ Flinn, Sonia Gambaro, Rachel Goldberg, Liz Kelly, Maggie Kiley, Leonardo Nam, Shari Page, Beth Schacter and Rina Varughese.

“We are thrilled to support this incredible cohort of directors,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs. “We know each of them has the experience and talent necessary to hit the ground running and we are proud to provide the tools necessary for them to successfully make the exciting and challenging leap into episodic directing.”

Without further ado, let’s meet the 2025 Film Independent Episodic Directing Intensive Fellows:

DEBORAH RILEY DRAPER

Deborah Riley Draper is an award-winning filmmaker who has been recognized by Variety Magazine as one of their “Top 10 Documakers to Watch.” She is the director and executive producer of the August 2024 CBS/Paramount+ documentary 13 Days in Ferguson, which revisits the tragic days following the killing of Michael Brown. Additionally, Deborah directed The Legacy of Black Wall Street for OWN/Discovery+, earning an NAACP Image Awards nomination for Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Television).

 

LAURA MOSS

Laura Moss is a filmmaker from NYC. Their work has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, Rotterdam and SXSW, and they were one of Indiewire’s “10 LGTBTQ Creators on the Rise” in 2023. Their feature debut, birth/rebirth, premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance 2023. It was distributed theatrically by IFC and Focus/Universal and was nominated for three Film Independent Spirit Awards. Their short film Fry Day premiered at SXSW, was featured as a Vimeo Staff Pick and is currently on the Criterion Channel, paired with the classic satire, Man Bites Dog.

 

MARY DAUTERMAN

Mary Dauterman is a writer-director from Texas based in Brooklyn. Her debut feature Booger, a body horror comedy, premiered at Fantasia in 2023 and was supported by Tribeca Creators Market and Film Independent. Booger was released theatrically by Dark Sky Films. Her shorts have been selected for multiple Vimeo Staff Picks, screened at 30+ festivals and on Hulu, NoBudge, Vulture and Booooooom. She has written and directed projects for Adult Swim, published kids’ books that aren’t for kids and directed some decent commercials.

 

SHERIDAN O’DONNELL

Sheridan O’Donnell is a low-vision, Korean American director based in Los Angeles. His feature debut  Little Brother, starring J.K. Simmons, won the Audience Award at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival and was distributed by Gravitas Ventures. A 2023 Inevitable Foundation Accelerate Fellow, O’Donnell is being mentored by Alex Garland, Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Ahn. Vince Gilligan has taken him under his wing, inviting him to shadow on his new Apple series.

 

SHUCHI TALATI

Shuchi Talati is a filmmaker from India whose work challenges dominant narratives around gender, sexuality and South Asian identity. Her feature film, Girls Will Be Girls, premiered at Sundance, where it won an Audience Award and a Special Jury Award. Shuchi recently won the John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards and was nominated as a Breakthrough Director at the Gothams.  Her previous short film, A Period Piece, premiered at SXSW. Shuchi is an alum of AFI and Berlinale Talents.

 

V.T. NAYANI

V.T. Nayani is a director, performer and writer, whose work explores how we continuously come of age. She is an alumn of Film Independent’s Episodic Lab (’24), the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Directors Program for Women (‘22) and the Canadian Film Centre’s Directors’ Lab (‘21). Nayani’s award-winning feature directorial debut, This Place, premiered at TIFF (’22) and has since screened globally. She is currently in development for her sophomore feature and two original series.

 

The Episodic Directing Intensive is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Film Independent Artist Development promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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We’ve once again staggered into March by the skin of our teeth. Another awards season, confronted and conquered, the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards still ringing in our ears like the sonic remnants of Blue Angels flyover. But lo! There’s no rest for the wicked. The calendar begins anew right now, with a bumper crop of freshly hand-picked Don’t-Miss Indies for March. So! Whether you’re in the full bloom of Spring or grinding out the last gasps of winter, get ready–there’s a lot more to watch.

 

I LOVE YOU FOREVER

When: March 9, March 13 (Film Independent Presents)

Where:  Film Independent Theater, Theaters,

Directors: Cazzie David, Elisa Kalani

Cast: Sofia Black D’Elia, Ray Nicholson, Jon Rudnitsky, Cazzie David

Why We’re Excited: Rom-com tropes are subverted in a big, big way in I Love You Forever–screening as part of Film Independent Presents on March 13. Law student Mackenzie’s (Sofia Black D’Elia) dating woes are momentarily relieved when she meets charming TV news reporter Finn (Ray Nicholson, son of Jack) at a friend’s birthday party. Initially swept off her feet, sweet quickly becomes sour when Finn reveals himself to be an obsessive stalker, utilizing all the tools of our digital era to make Mac’s life a living hell. An updated spin on the reliable Fatal Attraction and Fear blueprint for Gen Z, I Love You Forever leans into the black comedy of toxic relationships. Not a surprise coming from filmmakers Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani, the former of whom is the daughter of cringe king Larry David. Cazzie acts in the film alongside stand-up comedian Jon Rudnitsky, as Mackenzie’s quippy BFFs. Touch grass, folks!

 

 

DELI BOYS (SEASON ONE)

When: March 6

Where: Hulu

Creator: Abdullah Saeed

Cast: Asif Ali, Saagar Shaikh, Alfie Fuller, Poorna Jagannathan, Brian George

Why We’re Excited: In Hulu’s new crime comedy Deli Boys, spoiled Pakistani-American failsons Mir and Raj (Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh, respectively) discover the shocking secret behind their family’s success after their father, Baba (Iqbal Theba), suddenly dies. Upon discovering that their paterfamilias and supposed convenience store magnate dad was, in fact, a drug kingpin merely using the retail operation as a front, the bickering brothers are drawn into a life a crime under the reluctant tutelage of their gun-toting Auntie Lucky (Jagannathan). The original series was created by former Vice contributor Abdullah Saeed, also a writer for the similarly cannabis-driven HBO original High Maintenance. Further HBO dramedy pedigree comes courtesy of EP Jenni Konner, one of the co-creators of Girls. The show’s writing staff features Film Independent Member Kyle Lau.

 

 

ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL

When: March 7

Where: Theaters

Writer, Director: Runango Nyoni

Cast: Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela, Henry B.J. Phiri, Roy Chisha, Blessings Bhamjee

Why We’re Excited: Nominated for a 2018 Best International Feature Spirit Award for her arresting debut I Am Not a Witch, Zambian-English filmmaker Rungano Nyoni returns with an ambitious sophomore outing, utilizing disquieting touches of magical realism to tell the story of upheaval, denial and mythmaking within a seemingly representative modern Zambian family. Driving home from an unspecified outing (replete in fully-inflated Missy Elliott cosplay, no less), Shula (Susan Chardy) comes across the dead body of her uncle Fred. As funeral rituals get underway, the mystery of Fred’s ignominious death and–more importantly–the unsettling reality of his life and crimes begin to unravel, calling into question a familial legacy steeped in misogyny and abuse. The film premiered last year, in the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Un Certain Regard section.

 

 

BLACK BAG

When: March 14

Where: Theaters

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan

Why We’re Excited: A new Steven Soderbergh flick is always cause for celebration among cineastes, even coming a mere two months after the American indie majordomo’s last film, the formalist horror exercise Presence. Why, a kitten born the day that film was released would still, in fact, be a kitten as Black Bagexplodes into theaters this month courtesy of Focus Features. From an original script by A-list Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp (Panic Room, Spider-Man, War of the Worlds), Bag finds married intelligence agents Kathryn and George Woodhouse (Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender) suddenly at odds when George’s superiors suspect that Kathryn may be a mole working for rival powers. With elements of Hitchcockian suspense and Mr. & Mrs. Smith-eque romantic entanglement, Soderbergh’s expedient commitment to issuing classic Hollywood entertainments remains unbroken.

 

 

OPUS

When: March 14

Where: Theaters

Writer, Director: Mark Anthony Green

Cast: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder

Why We’re Excited: Yet another ambitious A24 original, the basics of filmmaker Mark Anthony Green’s Opus suggest an unholy bouillabaisse of Willy Wonka, Velvet Goldmine and the “Teddy Perkins” episode of Atlanta. Playing hooky from his regular job as GQ’s “Style Guy,” first-time filmmaker Green enlists the help of Spirit Award winner Ayo Edebiri, playing Ariel Ecton, a young journalist invited to the isolated retreat of reclusive pop star Alfret Moretti–played with signature deliciousness by the great John Malkovich. Summoned to the retreat alongside a motley assortment of dubious invitees, Ariel soon finds out that Moretti has more up his sleeve than merely a listening party for his 30-years-in-the-making comeback album. As Moretti’s guests slowly become aware that their outing may be a whole lot more “cult” than “culture,” things begin to spiral violently out of control. The film premiered at Sundance in January, somehow without a single other resident of Bloom County in attendance.

 

 

MICKEY 17

When: March 17

Where: Theaters

Director: Bong Joon-ho

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo

Why We’re Excited: In his first film since 2020 Best International Feature Spirit Award winner Parasite, superstar Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho’s new Mickey 17 is only the director’s second English-language feature, after 2017’s similarly speculative fictive Okja. Adapted from a 2022 novel by sci-fi author Edward Ashton, the upcoming Warner Bros. release features a hodgepodge of elements familiar to genre nerds from yesteryear cult favorites such as Moon (2009) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). But what’s one-of-a-kind here is/are Robert Pattinson’s gonzo performance(s) as successive editions of the expendable “Mickey” clone–a sad-sack interstellar worker bee in a dystopian near-future, utilized as ever-renewable cannon fodder for the colonization of  a far-off ice planet (fans of classic Hoth-ready fashion will eat, courtesy of costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo). Complications naturally arise when different Mickeys begin to overlap without being properly disposed of, thus presenting major supply-chain issues to Mickey’s frigidly capitalist overlords. The film premiered at Berlin in February. Film Independent Members involved in the film include producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner.

 

 

THE STUDIO (SEASON ONE)

When: March 26

Where: Apple TV+

Created by: Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg

Cast: Seth Rogan, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders

Why We’re Excited: It’s hard to pinpoint when exactly it all may have all begun–Streaming? COVID? Strikes? AI?–but in recent years it seems like the most perilous Hollywood drama has been happening behind the scenes, as our industry rushes time and time again to reinvent itself in the face of existential threats both immediate and omnipresently looming. Add to that the perennial battle between art and commerce, and you’ve got some pretty rich material for a dramedy series. The latest product of star Seth Rogan’s fruitful creative partnership with Evan Goldberg, the co-creators’ new Apple TV+ series kicks off with Rogan’s Matt Remick taking the reins of (fictional) Continental Studios in present-day Hollywood. Though well-intentioned, as the practical realities and frustrations of making movies begin to pile up, Remick is nevertheless left to ponder: Am I the bad guy here? The series co-stars and who’s-who of famous faces, including Kathryn Hahn, Catherine O’Hara, Bryan Cranston and more.

 

 

BOB TREVINO LIKES IT

When: March 11 (Film Independent Presents), March 21

Where: Film Independent Theater, Theaters

Director: Tracie Laymon

Cast: Barbie Ferreira, John Leguizamo, French Stewart, Lauren “Lolo” Spencer

Why We’re Excited: Filmmaker Traci Laymon’s debut feature is a small-scale, feel-good dramedy based on an improbable true story. Starring the great Barbie Ferreira (Unpregnant, Nope) and the always welcome John Leguizamo, the story finds Ferreira as Lily Trevino–a sweet, somewhat adrift young woman in search of her estranged father. Searching “Bob Trevino” on Facebook leads not to her father, but to a different middle-aged man with the same name. Once connected, this auxiliary Bob finds himself drawn, paternally, to learn more about Lily’s messy life. Lily in turn begins to learn more about Bob’s tragic backstory, and soon an unlikely friendship is formed. With the other people in their respective lives struggling to make sense of the relationship, Bob and Lily find themselves drawn together, sweetly, as surrogate father-and-daughter.

 

 

ASH

When: March 21

Where: Theaters

Director: Flying Lotus

Cast: Eiza González, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais, Beulah Koale

Why We’re Excited: Premiering just 10 days after its premiere at SXSW this month is musician/producer/DJ/artist Flying Lotus’s second feature Ash, which follows 2017’s gonzo gross-out omnibus Kuso. If things look a little more reigned in between FL’s unforgettable debut and this sophomore outing, it’s surely only relatively. Here, outer space explorer Riya (Mexican singer and actor Eiza González) wakes up to find all her colleagues mysteriously dead. With their off-world mission now aborted, rescue mission liaison Brion (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul) arrives to bring her home. But Riya senses that something’s not right. Full of arresting visuals (check out the lighting, which is not only bisexual, but extraterrestrial) and–naturally!–great music, Ash comes ready-made for the “Mind-bending” vertical on your streaming service of choice.

 

 

DEATH OF A UNICORN

When: March 28

Where: Theaters

Writer, Director: Alex Scharfman

Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant

Why We’re Excited: A veteran indie film producer whose credits range from progressive horror (Lyle, 2014) to gynocratic neo-noir (Blow the Man Down, 2019), Alex Scharfman’s feature debut as writer/director is an idiosyncratic mash-up of genres: fantasy, horror, satire, door-slamming farce–you name it. A slick-but-sympathetic crisis PR manager (smooth-faced favorite Paul Rudd) is summoned to the remote, sprawling estate of a Sackler-esque pharmaceutical family (Leoni, Poulter, and Film Independent Spirit Award winnerGrant) with his surly teen daughter (Wednesday’s Ortega) in tow. En route, father and daughter hit and kill (?) what appears to be–you guessed it!–an actual goddamned unicorn, magic horn and all. Torn between capitalizing on the medicinal properties of said horn to further their empire and, well, staying alive once the beast’s demise unleashes supernatural forces outside their control, our ensemble is promised an incident-rich one-hour-and-forty-minute runtime. Bonus: the film features an original score by none other than the legendary John Carpenter. Producer Theresa Page is also an active Member of Film Independent.

 

 

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

 

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“If there was only certainty, and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore, no need for faith. Let us pray that God will grant us a Pope who doubts,” Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes, Spirit Awards alum for A Bigger Splash) cautions his fellow cardinals in Conclave in a poignant speech at the start of the papal summit to select the next leader of the Catholic Church.

The Machiavellian machinations escalate as over 100 cardinals from around the world gather after the expected death of the current Pontiff to participate in a brutal battle of succession, pitting the liberal camp of the order—led by Cardinal Bellini (three-time Spirit Award winner, Stanley Tucci)—against the conservatives with Cardinal Tedesco of Venice (Sergio Castellitto). A fast-paced tale of duty, power, faith, and comeuppance, director Edward Berger’s (Oscar-winning WWI epic, All Quiet on the Western Front) riveting election thriller was recently anointed the Best Film of the year by BAFTA and nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Scoring his first BAFTA win for the film two weeks ago, Irish picture editor Nick Emerson (Emma, Lady Macbeth) is also nominated for an Oscar.

Even with a captivating script and a flawless cast, it still seems challenging to make a play-by-play account of the papal electoral process the gripping thriller that Conclave is, but you did it! What was your process working with Edward?

Thank you very much! The way he shot it and our editorial approach kept things engaging. He went into it extremely prepared with storyboards and shot lists because he wanted scenes that never repeated a shot or the same setup. With every cut, there was something fresh to see. That was inspired by his love—and my love—of the ’70s paranoid thrillers of Alan Pakula, The Parallax View, and All the President’s Men. There’s a rigor to them that we wanted to aspire to.

Do you think that your background in television news and documentaries helped you find the drama, tension, and pacing?

Absolutely. To draw a story out of a great mass of material for a documentary, you need to know what’s absolutely vital. Every frame counts—it has to have a reason to be there. Knowing what’s important and what to lose, you have to be willing to cut stuff to tell the story. I’ve taken that approach into editing feature films. Even though they’ve spent a fortune and time on production, you’ve got to interrogate it and make sure that it has a place. When you reduce things down, the more important bits tend to rise to the surface. Even though documentaries are a different style and form, the narrative storytelling is identical.

How long was this project and were you editing on the set?

I edited in London while we shot in Rome for two months, but I also worked with Edward in Rome. I was probably on it for seven or eight months.

How big is your team?

It’s just me and my brilliant First Assistant Editor, Charlie Thorne, we’ve worked together on so many things and working together now on Edward’s next film. Since Charlie has worked as a VFX editor, he did a lot of the temporary VFX work on this, like when we had to digitally extend the Sistine Chapel set. So, that was wonderful.

Each cardinal brings his own agenda to this high-stakes gathering, but we rely on Cardinal Lawrence as our POV into the story. How did you convey the tension of the situation and the pressure on him to deliver on this difficult task?

Edward wanted a center POV as the compass of the film. You’re always with Lawrence, seeing everything through his eyes, which makes it super engaging. Ralph Fiennes obliviously delivers a wonderful performance, which is a joy because it gives you such freedom, since you’re not forced into other shots. The cast is so strong that you can cut to any of them at any point, and you’ll always have something interesting. In terms of conveying the tension, we hold on shots longer and was very precise and deliberate about the cut points, leaving it to the last minute until the audience needs something more. Often, we ended scenes early to get quickly into the next scene, so the tension or emotion carries through.

The film opens with Lawrence walking in the rain towards Casa Santa Marta [the cardinals’ dormitories] soon after the Pope’s death. Why was it important to start the story there?

At one point, we had something else before that scene, but decided the best way to start was with that moment, on the back of the main character’s head. The audience has to catch up a little bit. Who’s this man? Where’s he walking to? He’s obviously in a hurry. It keeps you excited. The first frame of a film is so important because the audience is completely without prejudice with that frame. It’s really important to get that first shot right.

You can tell that Lawrence is very tense and almost filled with dread as he walks. How did you hone in on the seriousness and strain of the moment?

We did many shots like that with the back of people’s heads and high angles looking down on the back of his head. Edward loves those shots because it gives you a strange access to the character. Usually, we think of access as being through the eyes, but when you see something at an odd angle like that, it gives you an unsettled access. With the camera’s above his left shoulder at three-quarter angle, you can feel yourself trying to look around and almost see into his eyes, which creates unease and tension.

On the first day of the conclave, the gorgeous sequence inside the Sistine Chapel has the choir singing the piece of music that Edward found on a 6am guided tour. What was it like to cut that majestic sequence?

I love everything in that scene. Edward had sent me that piece of music beforehand. I remember hearing it and was absolutely flabbergasted. We don’t have that much religious music in the film, but that piece really takes your breath away. Edward gave me a very specific shot list for it, so I knew roughly where I was going with it. You have an inkling about each character and his desires and each man is deliberately set in these beautiful, composed frames. It was about finding the right rhythm to lead up to the point where Lawrence goes off the track and says his own thing. There’s so much tension building up to that.

Cardinal Lawrence’s homily about faith versus doubt was genuine, moving, and contained a very potent message. How did you tackle that pivotal speech, which was fairly long, and account for the other cardinals’ reactions?

That scene has several anchor points. Sometimes, when you’re putting a scene together, the best place to start is actually not at the beginning, but at the most interesting, provocative point. Because of the way Edward shot it, I knew the final part of the speech was going to be on a long, slow zoom or track. It starts with that long dolly shot into Ralph and ends with a close-up, so I knew where I was going to end it. I worked back from that and found the best places to see the other characters. We went back and forth—sometimes the place is really obvious for when you need to see Tremblay or Tedesco. But it also exposes you if, for some reason, you can’t cut at that point, then you have to figure it out. That magnificent shot with all the cardinals is like a tableau of them all sitting and reacting to what he has said. You start with that crucial beat and work out from there. If you start building the scene at the beginning, let’s say with a wide shot that dictates a rhythm, then you get halfway through the scene before you realize oh, I’m in the wrong place. You’re better off starting at an anchor point and working back from that.

What were some other editorial techniques that sustained the intrigue and tension?

We did lots of things to unsettle the audience, to give them a little jolt. When Cardinal Lawrence goes to confront Cardinal Adeyemi about his past in his chambers, Adeyemi opens the door and retreats to his room. Edward said to me, try and do something really jarring and exciting there. So, I came up with this idea of Lawrence standing at the door when he’s about to cross this threshold to become this reluctant detective. He hovers at the doorway, going, should I or shouldn’t I? And next, we see him leaning forward ever so slightly, so you get the impulse of his decision. Then we cut another angle after the door is closed—we don’t see him go through the door. It’s just this little jarring jump. We do that throughout the film to create a sense of unease and keep it exciting.

When Lawrence finally decides to break the seal of the Pope’s quarters to see if he could find any clues, that was another pivotal moment.

That was maybe three or four micro-cuts really fast with different angles of this one moment, when he breaks the seal. For a film that’s so rigorous and composed to do those fractured cuts is really provocative for an audience. It increases the capital of tension. After that, you can let things play out really slow, like when he is inside searching for clues, because you’ve got the audience on edge by then. But they take time, because if you don’t get them right, you can take an audience out of it. You’ve got to pick the right moments. If you have this fractured moment at the beginning, it buys you a little time to enjoy the tension.

The cardinals have to cast their votes over and over until they reach a two-thirds majority, so the voting and tallying takes up quite a bit of the film. I have never thought that watching people write down names on a piece of paper and sliding it into a golden urn could be so thrilling, but it was! How did you make that suspenseful?

Edward shot them each time very differently, so that we could edit and make them look different. I changed the speed, slowed them down, or cross-cut them to keep those interesting. Every moment of the voting scenes was storyboarded to reflect the drama of the moment. Then, we went in and changed them around and the rhythm, some we decided to cross cut, like before or after the ballots were burned. The one I really love is a very simple one, when Cardinal Adeyemi casts his first vote after Lawrence tells him that he will never be Pope [ramifications from a rumored sex scandal]. We jump ahead out of that scene and go back to when Lawrence holds his hand and comforts him in his room after their conversation. Then we cut to this really huge close-up of Lawrence watching him [Adeyemi] cast his vote, and it’s very jarring. We’re inside Lawrence’s head as he reflects on that. Then, we cut to Adeyemi and back to them again, praying in his room. You’re melding the scenes together to create an interesting feeling. It’s an interesting temporal trick that’s classic with editing.

 

If you missed our Film Independent Presents Live Read of Conclave with Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso) and Josh Gad (Book of Mormon), you can watch it on Focus Features YouTube channel.

And of course, he was a part of Film Independent’s Episodic Writing Labs. The lab gave him the opportunity to hone his craft, practice pitching, and build a community with his fellow writers.

We spoke with him earlier this month about his journey, and what he would say to aspiring TV writers.

Oh and by the way, you can still apply to this year’s Lab right here.

 

Picture this: a crisp Santa Monica afternoon with the ocean breeze rustling along the infamous blue carpet, laughter filling the air, the gentle hiss of milk being frothed, courtesy of Lavazza, and liquid gold from Bulleit splashing into guests’ glasses.

Welcome to the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards – an experience like no other. In a homecoming of sorts, filmmakers didn’t just arrive to celebrate; they came to quench their thirst for collaboration, community and seriously good cappuccinos, refilling their creative cups and paying homage to a year of indie cinema that soared despite global chaos.

 

AIDY SETS THE TONE

The day kicked off with our host, SNL alum Aidy Bryant, who greeted the crowd and remarked, “40 is the new 20!” Though the show has officially entered middle age, it has no plans of slowing anytime soon. “I saw a lot of your old asses get sad when TikTok got banned,” Bryant teased. Ouch, but also… truth. Aidy kept the quips coming: “I feel like a lot of people in their 40s realized that their whole life they’ve actually been bi.” So, congrats!? Although she did posit that maybe that’s just the extra excitement we get from simple things as we get older. You know, like a fresh loaf of French bread. Oh, Aidy… never change.

A TRIBUTE TO JOSH WELSH

The 40th Spirit Awards marked the first in many years without our beloved President, Josh Welsh. Since 1996, he championed the independent spirit with tireless devotion and unshakable faith in filmmakers. Acting President Brenda Robinson honored him in her speech. “Today is a day of celebration, not just of artistry but of legacy. We are honoring excellence in storytelling and,” she continued, “in the case of our beloved Josh Welsh, excellence in a life well lived. Josh is a visionary that comes along once in a lifetime.”

Robinson spoke of Josh deliberately in the present tense, as his spirit was most certainly in the room with all of those in attendance.

BABY’S FIRST REINDEER

The first award of the night, Best Breakthrough Performance in film, went to Maisy Stella (My Old Ass). Visibly moved, Maisy admitted, “I’ve felt so much support from the independent film community.” She also shared how she loves it when fans tell her, “I just wanna call my mom and tell her I love her.”

Soon after, Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer) glowed on stage accepting her award for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series. She spoke to reporters candidly about her heritage: “I was born in Mexico City. My entire family is from Mexico. I’m very proud to be Mexican American. It taught me to be collectivist. I think film and TV is meant to be collectivist.”

Mau’s co-star, Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer), nabbed Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series shortly thereafter. Reflecting on her decision to join the project, Gunning said of Richard Gadd’s scripts, “They were just so strong. I got to read all seven in one go.”

Gadd himself scored Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series for Baby Reindeer. He addressed the show’s intensely intimate scenes, explaining that revisiting that period was “tough” and required time to “undo the show” from his body and spirit. The effort, however, paid off. “I can’t believe how much this show has resonated with people. I never thought it would be watched by this many. I think a quarter of a billion people have watched Baby Reindeer.” If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t wait any longer to watch this decorated series.

DÌDI’S BIG MOMENT: A LOVE LETTER TO MOMS ACROSS THE GLOBE

Sean Wang, the director of Dìdi, which took home Best First Screenplay, joked, “I started writing this when I was a kid – and I still look like a kid.” He credited the indie film community for embracing a story about a young Taiwanese boy from the East Bay, who learns how to love his mother the summer before 9th grade. “I remember googling ‘coming-of-age movies’ and not seeing a single poster featuring anyone who looked like me or Izaac [Wang, the film’s star]. So having people believe in this project, investing their time and energy, is something truly special.”

JOHN CASSAVETTES AWARD, RENAMED?

Playfully coined “The Gena Rowlands Award” by Patti Lupone and Natasha Lyonne, in honor of the recently departed collaborator and spouse of Cassavetes, the John Cassavetes Award award is presented to the creative team of a film with a budget less than $1,000,000. The pair presented the honor to Shuchi Talati and Richa Chadha for their film Girls Will Be Girls. Shuchi confessed, “I’m grateful to my friend who told me this morning I should prepare something.” She described orchestrating a massive scene with 150 kids on their second day of shooting. Talk about jumping right into the deep end.

Then, director Gints Zibalowis picked up Best International Film for his animated feature Flow and joked, “We usually get ice cream when we lose [at an awards ceremony] – tonight, no ice cream!”

SEAN BAKER, ANORA’S TRIPLE WIN – AND THAT SPEECH!

Sean Baker scored Best Director for Anora, one of three Spirit Awards his film would earn (along with Best Lead Performance and Best Feature). In his inspiring acceptance speech, Baker addressed the precarious future of indie film. “Indie film is struggling right now more than ever,” began his call to action. With fewer distribution avenues and revenue from DVD sales long gone, he mused that indie filmmaking is becoming harder and harder to sustain, with the average film taking three years or more to make. “If you are a writer or director trying to break in right now, there is a good chance you are making a film for free. How do you support yourself with little to no income for three years,” he questioned, as the audience erupted in applause and agreement, all too familiar with the myriad challenges that stand in the way of creatives earning a fair living.

Later, when speaking to press, Baker shrugged when asked about the future. “We have no idea what’s happening in the next four years, but we know the last five changed everything.” The unstoppable Anora also garnered Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison, who beamed, “I’m grateful for the love people have for Anora.”

At the end of the show, as the team from Anora accepted the Best Feature prize, producer Alex Coco exclaimed, “I’ll make a thousand student films with you, Sean Baker,” speaking about the director’s filmmaking process. “It’s amazing journey to go on.” Fellow producer Samantha Quan added, “We hope we can always be young and dumb enough to follow our dreams, no matter the outcome,” celebrating the pursuits fearless dreamers everywhere.

CINEMATOGRAPHY AND THE 1%

After winning Best Cinematography for Nickel Boys, Jomo Fray powerfully noted, “99% of images of people of color have been taken by white people; those who don’t know them on a deeper, intrinsic level.”

His mission, along with director RaMell Moss, was to capture intimacy and compassion, offering a new and authentic perspective on stories often viewed through the lens – literally and figuratively – of that 99%. The film, set in Florida in the 1960s, was an ode not only to young black men at that time, but to the 1% of people who saw them as human beings.

JESSE EISENBERG’S FAIRY GODMOTHER

Ever humble yet always witty, Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) claimed his first Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. He took a moment to praise producer and fellow actor Emma Stone: “I think about her not as my producer but as a fairy godmother. I am riding the coattails of her goodwill and I think it’s so important that someone like her, who is so unbelievably successful in mainstream movies, looks for people like me and Julio [Torres, Problemista] and Jane [Schoenbrun, I Saw The TV Glow] to try and produce our movies with all the goodwill that she’s amassed so rightly and deservedly over the last several years. Thanks, Emma.”

HOW NOT TO DIE AT THE WHITE LOTUS

Presented by her The White Lotus co-stars Carrie Coon and Walton Goggins, How To Die Alone creator and star Natasha Rothwell accepted Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series for her series. In the press area backstage, she called the show “a love letter to the version of myself who was afraid to take off,” garnering a unanimously warm response. She noted the show’s eight-year journey from idea to screen, saying, “I could have sacrificed the show’s integrity, but I didn’t.” Spirited and steadfast, indeed.

BEST NEW SCRIPTED AND NON-SCRIPTED SERIES

Shōgun claimed Best New Scripted Series, with its creators joking about extended COVID delays: “We had a year longer than we thought before shooting.” Sometimes that much extra time can be a blessing, and sometimes not. But in this, that extra time helped the Shōgun team create a show that has resonated with audiences around the world.

When asked what Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series Hollywood Black was missing, Justin Simien, one of the show’s executive producers, said, “Josephine Baker and Nobel Johnson just to name a few. I am so excited to talk about black queer cinema too!” He gave a heartfelt shoutout to showrunner Shayla Harris and shared how meaningful it was to connect with contemporaries like Forest Whitaker. “His process was my process.”

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD & BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

The Robert Altman Award, which celebrates a film with an outstanding ensemble cast, went to His Three Daughters, directed by Azazel Jacobs. He recalled learning “that punk rock lesson of making art for myself,” after seeing Altman’s controversial film Popeye as a kid and watching audience members storm out of the theater – which he loved and appreciated, then and now.

One of the film’s stars Carrie Coon noted she and the cast had just 17 days to film and create palpable, believable chemistry on screen. “We all came in really prepared,” she shared. “We respect and love each other,” she grinned, turning to hug her costars Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne.

CLOSING APPLAUSE

As the Spirit Awards came to a close, we raised our glasses – Lavazza for the caffeine lovers, Fiji for a spot of hydration, or a splash of Bulleit to keep the celebration rolling – in honor of the indie spirit. After four decades, the Film Independent Spirit Awards remains a beacon. No matter how the industry shifts in the face of streaming, social media bans, wildfires, or any other variety of catastrophe, the independent filmmaking community endures.

As Nicole Kidman famously says, “There’s something magical about this place.” Indeed, the magic of Josh Welsh still reverberates. He gave countless storytellers a place to grow, encouraging them to persevere, even in his absence. The sun has set on the 40th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, but his legacy, and those of the storytellers the show has celebrated and will celebrate, will shine on for another four decades, and beyond.

Until next year, keep your community strong, and let it overflow with passion, love, and a fiercely independent spirit. Cheers!

For more on this year’s Spirit Awards, take a look at the complete list of winners and revisit your favorite #SpiritAwards moments at youtube.com/filmindependent.

Film Independent helps creative voices advance new work and builds awareness and community around artist-driven visual storytelling. Film Independent Members screen nominated films and series, and vote for the winners of the Spirit Awards.

To become a Member of Film Independent and make your vote count for next year’s Spirit Awards, join today. To support our mission with a donation, click here.
Header: The Anora team. Photo Credit: Getty images for IMDb

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As we gear up for the big afternoon on the beach this Saturday, now’s a great time to get to know your nominees. Hopefully you’ve seen their films, and if you’re a Film Independent member, watched your screeners and voted too. But there’s nothing quite like hearing about the process from the creative minds themselves.

That’s exactly what we did with this year’s Directors Close-Up, where we brought together the nominees from some of the top filmmaking categories, to talk shop. Over two weeks this February, we held Zoom sessions for our members, where these creators tell how exactly they got their projects off the ground, the creative choices they made, and what inspires them.

If you missed them live, we’ve got you covered. Let’s take a look at all the action from this year’s Directors Close-Up:

SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE

The directors of this year’s Best Feature & Best Director nominees talk about collaboration over video calls in Sing Sing, interviewing real immigrant cooks for La Cocina, the visceral sound design of The Substance, having an outsider perspective for The Apprentice, what draws us to screens in I Saw the TV Glow, and questioning perspective and representation in Nickel Boys.

FEATURING: Ali Abbasi, (The Apprentice), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing), RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys), Alonso Ruizpalacios, (La Cocina), Jane Schoenbrun, (I Saw the TV Glow).

Moderated by Jennifer Wilson (Senior Programmer, Film Independent)

 

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

The creators of this year’s Best New Scripted Series nominees talk about being scrappy and maxing out credit cards for Shōgun, the reality of product placement and budgets in Diarra From Detroit, the benefits of writing and directing yourself in Baby Reindeer and Fantasmas, and the joy of collaborating in a writers room in English Teacher.

FEATURING: Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer), Brian Jordan Alvarez (English Teacher), Diarra Kilpatrick (Diarra From Detroit), Rachel Kondo (Shōgun), Justin Marks (Shōgun), Julio Torres, (Fantasmas).

Moderated by Wendy Calhoun (Writer/EP; Prodigal Son, Empire)

 

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

This year’s Best International Film nominees discuss music driving and even changing the story in Flow, how the star of the film ended up adopting a ‘canine actor’ after production of Black Dog, making a film your government doesn’t want you to in Green Border, and finding the universal in specific details in All We Imagine as Light.

FEATURING: Agnieszka Holland, (Green Border), Guan Hu (Black Dog), Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light),Gints Zilbalodis, (Flow).

Moderated by Robert Abele (President, Los Angeles Film Critics Association)

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

The creators of this year’s Best Documentary nominees talk about taking time to know the participants and to get the shot in Gaucho Gaucho, recontextualizing historical figures in Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, pointing the camera at yourself in Hummingbirds, and working a camera into a preexisting relationship in Patrice: The Movie.

FEATURING: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños (Hummingbirds), Michael Dweck (Gaucho Gaucho), Johan Grimonprez (Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat), Gregory Kershaw (Gaucho Gaucho), Ted Passon (Patrice: The Movie).

Moderated by David Wilson (Co-Founder True/False Film Fest)

 

BEST FIRST FEATURE

The Best First Feature nominees talk about taking the right notes for your film in Janet Planet, writing out your feelings on theme for The Piano Lesson, how the unique details add up to make a film stand out for Didi, being ok with the not knowing in Problemista, and betting on yourself in In the Summers.

FEATURING: Annie Baker Janet Planet), Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio (In the Summers), Julio Torres (Problemista), Sean Wang (Didi), Malcolm Washington (The Piano Lesson).

Moderated by Shelby Stone (Executive Producer, The Chi)

 

JOHN CASSEVETES AWARD 

 Casting in the location in Jazzy, building a community of artists for The People’s Joker, the alchemy of casting in Girls Will Be Girls, collaborating with actors on Ghostlight, and making sure characters sound authentic in Big Boys are just a few of the topics covered with the nominees for the John Cassavetes Award.

FEATURING: Vera Drew (The People’s Joker), Morrisa Maltz (Jazzy), Kelly O’Sullivan (Ghostlight), Corey Sherman (Big Boys), Shuchi Talati (Girls Will Be Girls), Alex Thompson (Ghostlight).

Moderated by Darrien Michele Gipson (Executive Director, SAGindie)

 

BEST SCREENPLAY 

 The Best Screenplay nominees talk knowing your story in My Old Ass, years of researching world religions for Heretic, finding your own structure with A Different Man, and finding the right setting for a character story with A Real Pain.

FEATURING: Scott Beck (Heretic), Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain), Megan Park (My Old Ass), Aaron Schimberg (A Different Man), Bryan Woods (Heretic).

Moderated by Daniel Waters (Writer; Heathers, Batman Returns)

 

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

The creators of this year’s Best First Screenplay nominees speak about using screens cinematically in Didi, opposites attracting in Problemista, taking a new look at the single-mother/child relationship in Janet Planet, creating different rules for different chapters of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, and balancing dialogue and action in Good One.

FEATURING: Joanna Arnow (The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed), Annie Baker (Janet Planet), India Donaldson (Good One), Julio Torres (Problemista), Sean Wang (Didi).

Moderated by Ritesh Mehta (Freelance Journalist and Critic, Indiewire)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read part 1 here.

Hosted by John Waters, the 16th annual Independent Spirit Awards (allow us here to retcon this as the 16th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards) took place on March 24, 2001, underneath the big white tent at the ceremony’s now-regular home on the beaches of Santa Monica. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was the afternoon’s big winner, with Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream) and Willem Dafoe (Shadow of a Vampire, as cinema’s third–but certainly not last!–Nosferatu) taking home top acting honors.

The next day, Gladiator would win Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards. But perhaps more significantly, this was also the night that the fifth episode of Season Three of HBO’s The Sopranos aired. Though not a particularly memorable episode in and of itself the show was nevertheless peaking in public adulation, marking the ascent of the so-called “Golden Age of Television”–a global shift in audiences’ consumer preferences which continues to influence and impact cinema, and the Spirit Awards, to this day.

The story of the Film Independent Spirit Awards during the second half of its presently accumulated 40 years is a story of contrasts–of entrenchment running parallel with reinvention; reactive to trends yet committed to core values. It was also two decades full of very funny and often very weird on-stage moments.

In the years following the Miramax boom of the 1990s, the line between studio filmmaking and independent cinema became blurrier than ever, with shingles like Fox Searchlight, Paramount Vantage and Sony Classics sharing space with mega-minors like Lionsgate, Focus and New Line–which suddenly found itself in the billion-dollar box office business with the independently-produced Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Picking up right where Buck Henry left off, counterculture icon John Waters became the Spirit Awards semi-permanent host for the first half of the 2000s, hosting the show four times between 2001 and 2004. These years saw a number of memorable moments, good, bad and cringe–see poor Brittany Murphy’s presenter meltdown in 2003, Mickey Rourke’s rambling defense of Eric Robert’s employability in 2009, or Derek Luke’s triumphant journey from Spirit Awards cater-waiter to Best Male Lead winner (also 2003). Plus countless others. Through this period the show was in its groove, thanks in part to a steady partnership with IFC, which had been broadcasting the ceremony on cable airwaves since the early ‘90s.

But! There were changes looming; subtle at first, then radical…

Concurrent with the boom of shows like Breaking Bad, Deadwood, The Wire, Mad Men, Dexter and the aforementioned Sopranos, so too emerged a new “alt-comedy” boom which like the indie music and movies of a decade earlier was by 2010 edging perilously close to the mainstream. And the Spirit Awards were watching.

By the end of the 2000s Spirit Awards hosting assignments were already being handed out more reliably to figures from the comedy world: Sarah Silverman (2006 and 2007), Rainn Wilson (2008) and a pair of British imports, Steve Coogan and Eddie Izzard (2009 and 2010, respectively). In 2010, IFC rebranded itself as an alt-comedy network (“always on, sometimes off”) and the tenor of Spirit Awards ceremonies evolved to match it, with a greater emphasis on comedy and absurdist televisual spectacle.

As the Obama Administration rolled on, funny hosts included Joel McHale, Seth Rogan, Andy Samberg, Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Kate McKinnon and Fred Armisen, co-hosting with Kristen Bell for the Spirit Awards 30th anniversary show in 2015. There were sketches and parodies and even an ear-splitting performance by ‘80s metal gods Anvil, subjects of 2010 Best Documentary winner Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

Meanwhile, the Venn diagram between the Spirit Awards and the Oscars was growing evermore circular, with winner overlap between the two shows becoming commonplace. Even so, the Spirit Awards regularly waded into waters reflecting a greater vision of inclusion, with top honors in the early 2010s going to diverse, daring projects like Precious, Short Term 12, Blue is the Warmest Color, Exit Through the Gift Shop, etc.

In 2016, history was made when Mya Taylor won Best Supporting Female at the 2016 Spirit Awards for her electric co-starring performance in Sean Baker’s sex worker farce Tangerine. It was the first win by a transgender actor at a major Hollywood awards show. As traditional notions of binary gender began to dissipate on a mass scale in the late 2010s, a conversation began behind closed doors at the Spirit Awards asking if perhaps there was a better way to do things. After examining the idea from all angles in consultation with leaders in the LGBTQIA+ community, the Spirit Awards introduced fully gender-neutral categories in 2022.

Following Harvey Weinstein’s fall from grace in 2017 and the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, Film Independent and Spirit Awards doubled down on providing platforms for underrepresented communities. Weinstein, Brett Ratner and a few other deserving targets would also be savaged–brutally–in hosts Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s opening monologue from 2018. The duo had first teamed up to host the year before, their 2017 monologue accumulating a whopping 3.3 million views on YouTube.

People were starting to watch the show in a big, big way–just not always on IFC. Since 2016 the show had been uploading winners’ acceptance speeches, monologues, sketches and other breakout segments in close(ish) to real time on Film Independent’s social media outlets, resulting in a whopping increase in the awards’ digital audience. With the IFC deal expiring in 2022 the show began livestreaming on YouTube in 2023–the proof of concept of which was (unintentionally) the interactive digital livestream of the show that happened in 2021, when business-as-usual was rudely interrupted by COVID-19.

Post-COVID, the ceremony introduced another dramatic innovation: the introduction of TV and streaming categories, which were first given out during host Melissa Villaseñor’s  plucky pandemic-year ceremony in 2021. Acknowledging the fact that the Peak TV era now gave idiosyncratic creators room enough to play through episodic storytelling–not to mention make a living–the Spirit Awards have since honored titles including Reservation Dogs, The Bear, I May Destroy You, Pachinko and Squid Game, among others. Perhaps the best moment? The Rehearsal (Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series) creator/star Nathan Fielder’s good-natured razzing of late Film Independent President Josh Welsh, whose passion, vision and authenticity guided the Spirit Awards’ many new progressive innovations and evolutions. (Miss you, Josh.)

With Hollywood and the movies it’s always just one damn thing after another. Strikes. Wildfires. Red One. With no shortage of existential threats grinding down atop our beloved medium, there are still somehow more and more great movies every year–just ask anyone with access to our yearly tidal wave of Spirit Award screeners. The next 40 years are about as big a question mark for the world as has ever been, and of course that uncertainty exists in a microcosm for independent film. But for as long as there are stories to tell and tents to be erected, the Spirit Awards will remain here to be shared.

To see all this year’s nominees, click here. Remember to tune in to the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 22, 2025, which will be helmed by returning host and Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant. The show, taking place at the beach in Santa Monica, will be streamed live on the IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels, and across our social platforms.

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To support us with a donation, click here.

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A former member of the Film Independent staff, Matt Warren is a Utah-raised, Louisville-based writer, director and producer whose most recent work is the feature Delicate Arch, now streaming on Screambox and available to rent on all platforms. He has made numerous scripted and unscripted web series, and has worked as a film critic, entertainment journalist, humorist, editor, graphic designer and videographer. His favorite movie is The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton.

To put it bluntly, Valentine’s Day is perhaps the most awkward national holiday. On the one hand you have lovely and joyful romantic partners eager to get their plans started, and on the other hand you have lovely but dissatisfied singles preparing to witness all the plans in action, right? No! There are also people who get together with their palentines and do something quiet or have an absolute rager, people who go to bars or clubs or parties for the sake of a good time, people who visit loved ones—who may have lost loved ones—to offer comfort and company, etc. Then, there are those of us die-hard cinephiles who don’t have a fulfilling holiday without popping in a film or two. Whether you have a valentine, palentine, or you’re a singleton, there’s something for everyone to enjoy under the “Sweet and Sour” sublist, and/or dislike (in a good way, of course) under the “Bitter and Dour” sublist. Turn down the lights, take out the desserts, and hit play with love.

Sweet and Sour

 

Desert Hearts (1985)

Director: Donna Deitch

Original Writer, Writer: Jane Rule, Natalie Cooper

Cast: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau

Why We Love It: Set in 1950s Reno, Vivian (Shaver), a literature professor from the big city, is fracturing from within as she finalizes her divorce in an unfamiliar place. Enter sweet and high-spirited Cay (Charbonneau), the remedy she didn’t know she needed; the next chapter in her life’s story. However, a fresh wound of the soul can only heal so much so fast. Unlike Cay, Vivian struggles with her emerging attraction to the same-sex, causing significant anxiety fueled by unwanted and intolerant attention. Still, Desert Hearts optimistically demonstrates that as soon as one heart-shaped door closes, another one a little bit more colorful could open up and lead to something meaningful. Classic dreamy tunes by Patsy Cline and Kitty Wells are just the cherry on top of the journey.

 

Mississippi Masala (1991)

Director: Mira Nair

Writer: Sooni Taraporevala

Cast: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury

Why we love it: Mina (Choudhury), a South Asian woman with roots in Uganda, and Demetrius (Washington), a Black man from Mississippi, come from very different cultural backgrounds, but that doesn’t stop love from drawing them together. Set primarily in the deep southern state of Mississippi, their relationship is challenged by both of their families whose criticisms are based in bigotry. Moreover, basically everyone is challenged by the bigotry that surrounds them in American society; in the case of Mina’s family, Ugandan society, too. This multicultural story deals with several sociological and political issues, with Mina and Demetrius’s romance right at the center of it all. Tensions target their blossoming romance from all sides and corners, but unbeknownst to everyone, it’s not so easily wilted.

 

Before Sunrise (1995)

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Why We Love It: Sometimes it takes all the courage you can muster to spark a connection. For Jesse, it was inviting her to spend his last day in Europe with him. For Celine, it was trusting him and saying yes. Before Sunrise is what dreams of a swept-off-your-feet romance are made of, however through a more realistic lens. On a regular day in Vienna, they walk around the city, visit a record store, go to bars and restaurants, all while talking about everything to do with life and the world as we know it. Unsure if they’ll ever meet again, it’s the rush of their thoughts like rivers and growing chemistry that makes this title one of the most effortlessly romantic films you’ll see.

 

Beautiful Thing (1996)

Director: Hettie Macdonald

Writer: Jonathan Harvey

Cast: Glen Berry, Scott Neal

Why We Love It: If discovering your unpopular sexual orientation and getting bullied wasn’t enough as a teenager, imagine falling in love for the first time—all at the same time. Jamie (Berry) experiences this exact reality, Ste (Neal) being his object of affection who struggles more with his feelings towards Jamie. Unsurprisingly, as they grow closer, worry about getting caught increases, yet what makes their connection so touching is that they bounce back stronger than before. Beautiful Thing manages to capture a hopeful and sensitive portrait of young gay love, while also maintaining a sense of ease and comedy. Also, the supporting characters definitely give the film that extra kick.

 

Rye Lane (2023)

Director: Raine Allen-Miller

Writers: Tom Melia, Nathan Bryon

Cast: David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah

Why We Love It: Dom (Jonsson) is shy and highly sensitive. Yas (Oparah) is more upfront and out-going. They meet at a mutual friend’s art gallery, and soon learn that they’ve both just got out of serious relationships, inspiring them to spend a longer period of time together. As they learn more about themselves from the help of one another, they in turn also see the value in each other, making the film ever so charming to watch. Incredibly eventful, sharp in its filmmaking and quick-witted in its dialogue, Rye Lane is hands down one of the most stupendously crafted rom-coms of the decade so far. Its upbeat and vibrant atmosphere doesn’t let you go until the credits roll; a delightful treat you don’t want to pass out on.

Bitter and Dour

 

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

Writer/Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Cast: Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem

Why We Love It: One is never too old to fall in love for the first time, or as many times. In Emmi’s (Mira) case, a near-elderly German woman, her chance at a next great romance comes in the shape of Ali (Salem), a younger Moroccan stud with a heart of gold—for better and for worse. Set in 1970s Germany, these two lonely hearts quickly form a connection, which is just as quickly criticized and condemned by her family, friends, and local community. They do their best to persevere through the haze of prejudice that plagues their love, but how strong is their grip against the world’s wrench? Poignant and profound in its depiction of an “unconventional” relationship, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul may not be an easy watch, but it’s worth a watch.

 

Secretary (2002)

Director: Steven Shainberg

Original Writer, Writer: Mary Gaitskill, Erin Cressida Wilson

Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Spader, Jeremy Davies

Why We Love It: Warmth and tenderness generally comes to mind when imagining romance in its finest form. That’s how it’s commonly depicted on the screen, anyway, but certainly not the screen playing this title. For Lee (Gyllenhaal) and Edward (Spader), soft kisses and warm embraces are not nearly enough to satisfy their desires. The stars truly align when they meet, because their idea of love heavily involves alternative behavior—unlike everyone else around them, including Peter (Davies) who vies for Lee’s affections. Will she pursue a socially accepted love, or a love less traveled? Dark in its themes and alluring in its presentation of S&M, Secretary is sure to keep one’s perceived decency on the edge of its seat.

 

Let the Right One In (2008)

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Original Writer/Writer: John Ajvuide Lindqvist

Cast: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

Why We Love It: Tween love—or rather admiration, but who’s to say they know everything about love, anyway—is supposed to be cute and innocent. Then, there’s Eli and Oskar. They’re both twelve, except Eli’s been twelve for a really long time, as it so often goes when it comes to vampires. It would’ve felt like a crime to not include at least one film in this sublist that contains horror, considering how much more captivating stories that blend romance and horror can be, such as this one. The darkness that quietly looms over Eli and Oskar’s sincere and childish romance feels like poetry. Elegantly shot with grim surprises sprinkled throughout, here’s a contemporary gothic romance you want to let in.

 

Medicine for Melancholy (2008)

Writer/Director: Barry Jenkins

Cast: Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins

Why We Love It: Micah (Cenac) just got out of a serious relationship, and Jo (Heggins) is still in one. What could’ve been left as a one-night stand, turns into a question of “What if?” It’s possible that Jo is more of a rebound to him, and it’s possible that Micah is just a quick-fix to her loneliness since her boyfriend is often away. Regardless, they give in to that bit of compatibility and poke around at the idea of them. You’re not supposed to root for them, yet despite the problematic circumstances, it’s obvious that in another lifetime they’d make a meaningful couple. Nuanced in its approach, how is the viewer to perceive this thought-provoking relationship? Perhaps not in the best light, but one must see for themselves.

 

Blue Valentine (2010)

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, Joey Curtis

Cast: Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling

Why We Love It: Everyone has the right to pursue a good love, and it seems that’s how it often begins. Good, or even good enough. What we hear all the time, and simultaneously don’t want to hear, is that love fades. Of course, that’s not everyone’s story, and we hold onto those success stories like batteries to use when one’s relationship starts to feel off. We don’t want to hold onto the separation stories, however they continue to hold onto us, as seen with Cindy (Williams) and Dean (Gosling). Blue Valentine confronts the viewer with this undesirable possibility in its relentless depiction of a crumbling marriage where love used to live. As heartbreaking as it is, its realistic portrayal of the themes and composed pacing makes it befitting as a cautionary tale to experience.

 

Working as an independent producer feels like a constant uphill climb that gets tougher with every change in the industry landscape. Developing projects can take years with little to no payment for the producers who are on the project who are each likely working on a slate of projects at all different stages. It’s difficult work in the best of circumstances. To continue our support of producers in 2022 Film Independent launched the Imaginar Producers Residency made possible by The Walt Disney Company and Searchlight Pictures, in collaboration with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). The residency is a nine-month program that supports three Latinx Producers where each Fellow receives mentorship, project specific support and a $50,000 grant to support their slate.

With this year’s applications closing this Friday(!), we thought it was a good time to highlight everything that the Residency has to offer. And who better to hear it from than two of last year’s Fellows. We spoke with Imaginar Producers Residency Fellows Nico Blanco and Maria Altamirano about their experience in the program.

Why did you apply to the program?

Nico Blanco: I applied to the program because I was looking for a place where I could grow as an independent producer, beyond moving forward a specific project. I was trying to understand how to make it more sustainable

Maria Altamirano: I applied because it’s rare to find a program that supports independent producers in a holistic way. Many fellowships focus on specific projects, but I was looking for something that would also help me grow in my career overall. After producing my second feature, I was entering a transitional moment in my journey, while grappling with questions around what was next and how to build a sustainable career. Imaginar’s approach, offering mentorship, financial support, and space to reflect on my identity and place as a producer in today’s industry, felt like exactly what I needed at that time.

How would you describe the program?

Nico Blanco: The program is looking to help Latine independent producers grow and further their careers, trying to erase the barrier of entry that there is for producers who are not independently wealthy.

Maria Altamirano: Imaginar is a game-changer for independent producers. It’s a residency that not only helps advance your projects but also invests in you: your career, your financial health, and your professional development. It provides creative support through conversations with the Searchlight team, financial coaching, career mentorship, and access to invaluable industry spaces. It’s the kind of support system that producers rarely get.

How did you change as a filmmaker from before to after the program?

Nico Blanco: I think I grew more comfortable with who I am as a filmmaker and definitely learned that what I say and do matters and has weight.

Maria Altamirano: I left the program with a stronger sense of confidence, not just in my producing skills but in how I navigate the industry. I refined how I communicate about my work, learned strategies for managing my time and business ventures, and deepened my understanding of how to advocate for myself and my projects. The experience also made me more intentional about the kinds of stories I want to champion and how I build sustainable career pathways. I also got a deeper understanding of the studio system’s approach to working with producers.

What was a note or piece of advice that stood out to you?

Maria Altamirano: One of the biggest takeaways was the importance of approaching my career with the same level of strategy and care that I apply to my films. Producers are often so focused on their projects that they don’t always prioritize their own long-term goals. The program reinforced the idea that investing in yourself – financially, creatively, and professionally – is just as crucial as investing in the work.

How did this program differ from other labs and programs you’ve participated in?

Nico Blanco: It was a program that was about me as a producer and an artist, not just about my projects.

Maria Altamirano: Most producer programs focus on a specific project, but Imaginar is unique because it supports both your work and your career. The structure and level of support was incredibly thoughtful, balancing creative, financial, and professional mentorship in a way that feels rare. It wasn’t about putting us into a box as independent producers but instead allowing space for us to approach our careers in imaginative ways, helping us explore new opportunities and build a sustainable path forward.

What is your relationship like with your cohort now that the program is over?

Nico Blanco: I see them not only as close friends and I believe future collaborators. I value their opinion and can’t wait to create something with them.

Maria Altamirano: We’ve built a strong bond and friendship, and I know I can turn to my cohort for support and advice. We continue to stay in touch, celebrate each other’s wins, and offer insights as we navigate our careers. Being in a program like this reminds you that you’re not alone in what you experience as a producer and it’s important to build a real sense of community and shared purpose.

What was one of the most memorable sessions in the program?

Nico Blanco: Being able to connect with agents was great, if there was a way to work on deepening those relationships further that would be great for the next cohort.

Maria Altamirano: The creative feedback sessions in general with the Searchlight team were a highlight. Having the opportunity to receive thoughtful, in-depth notes from the executives helped me see my projects from new angles and gave me practical ways to strengthen them. Other standout moments were participating in panels at the Latinx House at Sundance and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Leadership Conference in DC. Both were incredible opportunities to share our experiences and expand our networks.

How did this program impact your career?

Nico Blanco: It allowed me to explore things I had never considered before and now I am someone who works in both the fiction and nonfiction realm.

Maria Altamirano: It came at a pivotal moment. The financial grant provided crucial support during a challenging time for the industry and personal transitions, and the mentorship helped me sharpen my approach to producing. I’ve expanded my network, refined my goals, and feel more confident navigating the industry as a producer.

What would you say to a friend or colleague to convince them to apply?

Nico Blanco: I’ll say that if they want to grow as an independent producer it will provide not only economic support but will also help them grow more confident in their work.

Maria Altamirano: If you’re a producer looking for a program that truly invests in YOU, apply! Imaginar isn’t just about supporting your projects, it’s about helping you build a long-term, sustainable career. You’ll gain invaluable mentorship, financial coaching, creative guidance, and a supportive community that will stay with you long after the program ends.

Applications for the 2025 Imaginar Producers Residency are now open, with a deadline of February 14 and a Film Independent Member deadline of February 28.

 

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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