Twice-delayed due to COVID-19, the first Sloan Film Summit since 2017 (were we ever so young?) is happening next week, April 8-10, at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. The invitation-only summit—with blogs and videos of full panels, Q&As and other event highlights publicly available here—will bring together 150+ screenwriters, directors, producers, scientists, engineers and representatives from top film schools and film programs around the world. To refresh your memory, here are some highlights from the last Sloan Film Summit, back in 2017:...

But don’t worry. Film Independent’s weekly film screening series isn’t ending, nor is the imprimatur of program curator Elvis Mitchell. Film Independent will continue to offer Members an exciting slate of monthly screenings and unique cinematic events. But, like… where? We’ll tell you: we’re spending the summer at the WGA Theater, with a new permanent home to be announced in the fall. So stay tuned, watch our Events page and keep those fingers poised above GPS!...

That’s absolutely the case with the seven films we’re stamping our passport for today’s LA Film Festival Spotlight. The subjects and settings of these films may be separated by thousands of miles and at least seven different languages, but they’re all united by strong personalities and the desire for human connection. But no need to set sail just yet—all seven titles are playing at the 2018 LA Film Festival, which begins this Thursday and runs from through September 28....

When all is said and done (sooner rather than later, hopefully) we’ll undoubtedly look back on the year-plus COVID-19 pandemic as a time of incredible challenge and, frankly, incredible drama. For example: imagine a storytelling milieu whose baseline is already ripe with obstacle and pathos—an election campaign, a hospital, a poet and an artist in the Midwest—and then add an extra layer of pervasive global emergency. Really, how could a host of compelling stories not come out of such a potent and culturally urgent narrative cocktail?...

The world we live in is increasingly unlike the one we grew up in—as longstanding rules and institutions fall away and are replaced by new modes of culture, commerce and economic ecosystems. At least that’s what the three fiscally-sponsored films being spotlighted this month seem to suggest, using narrative and nonfiction filmmaking techniques to explore issues like California’s soon-to-be-legal weed industry, illegal drug trafficking on the dark web and the comedy world’s place in the immediate aftermath of national tragedy....

Last weekend, Film Independent hosted the Sloan Film Summit, a triennial conference for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s film program, which has partnered with Film Independent, among other artist development organizations and film schools, to support films exploring science and technology that are as accurate as they are entertaining. The entire weekend was a celebration of science and the art of storytelling, and over 100 Sloan-supported artists were there to share and discuss their work with scientists, industry experts, representatives from the Sloan partner organizations and, of course, each other....

In this new media landscape, with a plethora of attention-grabbing indies being released with astounding regularity, smart filmmakers need to start thinking about distribution and marketing right from their project’s get-go. And that means building a brand. Now, you might be hesitant of all of this “brand-building” talk when it comes to your own film. But this brand building is exactly what will increase your odds of being seen–of your film finding an audience in such a crowded, competitive marketplace....

FORKS OVER KNIVES (2011) Where You Can Watch It: iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube Directed By: Lee Fulkerson A vegan lifestyle can be too strict of a commitment for some people, but that doesn’t mean that we as a society shouldn’t accept vegans and respect their reasons for adopting such a restrictive diet. Forks Over Knives provides a close look at the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet. This documentary claims that most (if not all) of the diseases we acquire throughout our lives can be prevented, or even reversed, by dropping our animal-based consumption habits and adopting a safer whole-foods diet....

We pulled up in a motorcade to a theater with gold Cannes laurels on its door. I walked the red carpet (to 2Pac’s “California Love”) past a canyon of press and up the stairs into the 2,300-seat Palais des Festivals Theater. Our film—Yomeddine, for which I was the editor—won the Francois Chalais Prize, for a film dedicated to the values of journalism and life affirmation. It was a moment, to say the least....

This year’s ceremony streamed live on IMDb’s YouTube and across other social platforms, including Film Independent’s own YouTube channel and Twitter (or “X” if you’re being pedantic). The full livestream (see below) will remain available to watch On Demand for the next eight weeks, which highlights, behind-the-scenes moments, arrival carpet interviews and more will are available at filmindependent.org and wherever fine entertainment journalism prevails. Da’Vine Joy Randolph The Holdovers Award given to the director and producer Four Daughters Director: Kaouther Ben Hania Producers: Nadim Cheikhrouha Nick Offerman The Last of Us Award given to the director Anatomy of a Fall Country: France Director: Justine Triet Sammy Burch May December Cord Jefferson American Fiction Jury Duty Ensemble Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer Beef Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin Executive Producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich Co-Executive Producers: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 28th year, is presented to an emerging director of nonfiction features who has not yet received significant recognition....

In Part One of this double-feature, we examined how this year’s resurgent summer box office demonstrates what was once conventional wisdom: that the theatrical window is still extremely relevant to Hollywood’s bottom line. We also looked at Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s critical about-face attempt to put the studio’s emphasis back on theatrical releases. These reinforcements have come not a minute too soon, if indeed it’s not already too late....

While at home lately I’ve been curious how film composers—in LA and beyond—are personally coping and moving forward professionally during the pandemic. My aim is to offer a partial chronicle of how the creative community is channeling their energy in the time of COVID. The picture that emerges reflects how differently each of us responds. Every one of the composers is locked down inside their home, but the choices each has made creates a varied pattern coming into focus....

Notes. They’re the bane of every screenwriter’s existence—whether they come from friends, other scribes or executives. And nothing could be further from the truth. “Writers can be defensive and that screws yourself in so many ways,” said Ed Solomon, writer of Bill &Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Now You See Me. “Get your ego out of the way and accept the fact that despite what you wanted your script to be, it’s not appearing that way to others....

After the LA Film Festival screening, the stars of the show–Farmiga, Nina Dobrev, Tory Thompson, Angela Trimbur, co-writers Joshua John Miller and M.A. Fortin and Strauss-Schulson–took the stage to talk about making The Final Girls. Miller said the film came from a very personal place. “The idea started because my dad played the priest in The Exorcist, so I grew up seeing my father being possessed by the devil and being thrown out a window and down the stairs....

*** This month’s film: Captain Fantastic (2016, dir. Matt Ross) “Live each day like it would be your last. Drink it in. Be adventurous, be bold, but savor it. It goes fast. Don’t die.” –Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) advising son Bo (George MacKay) moments before Bo takes off on a journey of self-discovery to Namibia Ben’s words above sum up his life’s philosophy well: live life on your own terms; do not let the government and/or society dictate your decisions and thoughts; and, most importantly, be self-sufficient, because “There’s no cavalry, no one will magically appear and save you in the end....

For the fourth straight year Jameson has partnered with Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti of Trigger Street Films in giving three undiscovered filmmakers a chance to break into the film industry. Spacey, who was on hand for the premiere of the three short films at Paramount Pictures last Saturday, said the program started after he was invited to do a Q&A for a Jameson Cult Film Club screening of The Usual Suspects in 2011....

Journalist Stacey Wilson Hunt moderated the engaging conversation with the charming and always-lovely Gyllenhaal, eventually arriving at her much-anticipated directional debut, based on the pseudonymous Italian author Ferrante’s 2006 fiction novel of the same name. The Lost Daughter will be streaming on Netflix starting December 31. Of her breakout role in Steven Shainberg’s 2003 workplace S&M fable Secretary (which earned her a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead), Wilson Hunt observed that in light of the #MeToo movement, there had been some renewed interest in the film and if, for her, the project feels any different now that it did when it was released....

There’s a reason filmmaking is so often referred to as a journey. Getting from point A (idea in your head) to point B (feature film on the big screen for all the world to see) is a long (sometimes strange) trip indeed. We’ve asked our Festival filmmakers to share their journeys’ highlights and potholes—and reveal what’s kept them moving forward along the way. Here, we meet five of the directors in this year’s narrative competition (To meet the filmmakers in our LA Muse section, go to Part 1....

This year’s Future Filmmaker Showcase—playing at the ArcLight Cinemas in Culver City Saturday, June 5 in two programs (click here for more details)—features 33 short films spanning a diverse range of topics and genres, from meditative dramas, to video essays, hilarious coming-of-age stories, adventures through strange new worlds and thoughtful, issue-driven documentaries. From youthful introspection, to beautiful animation, to nonfiction films attacking major social problems it’s truly incredible what these young filmmakers have managed to bring to the screen, and the LA Film Festival is honored to provide a platform for these innovative new voices to showcase their work....

Growing up, Project Involve Fellow and proud Fi Member SJ Main-Muñoz drew her earliest cinematic inspiration, she says, from the surrounding landscape. A native of Cambria, CA, located on the Central Coast just south of Big Sur, and surrounded throughout her early life by panoramic ocean vistas and expansive farmland, it’s no wonder that the up-and-coming writer/director has—in her own work—largely gravitated to classic Western vistas, most regularly seen from the point of view of Latinx protagonists fighting through impossible circumstances....