First on the docket: if you’ve been watching IFC lately (which you should be, always) you may have spied our amazing 2017 Spirit Awards hosts Nick Kroll and John Mulaney looking sharp in fitted tuxedos and cracking wise against a featureless white void. That wasn’t a hallucination. It was just one of three new promos offering a quick glimpse into some of what you can expect when the duo takes the stage inside the Spirit Awards tent on February 25....

In honor of Mother’s Day this past Sunday, what better way for a film lover to celebrate his or her mom than by either A) reminiscing with a classic mother-child themed Hollywood classic, or B) catching up with a newer mom-centric indie? James L. Brooks’ 1983 drama Terms of Endearment and Paul Duddridge’s recently released Mothers and Daughters are two possible picks for the occasion. Both films have deceptively simple plot lines, providing a glimpse into the life of one specific mother and daughter relationship over time....

Yesterday, we happily announced that the lineup for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival features 25 Fellows from Film Independent’s Artist Development and grant programs. Now, more good news: 31 Film Independent Members will have films screening at Sundance. (See the full list below.) We asked them, too, to tell us what it’s like to be going to the big indie film showcase and what they learned along the way. In one word, what was your reaction to finding out you got into Sundance?...

Of course, those are just some of the more fanciful suggestions. An easier, more conventional and ultimately more proven method of bending the ears of power-wielding industry types: Film Independent’s 14th annual Fast Track program, which returns once again to the LA Film Festival this month, June 19-22, in Culver City. This year 24 filmmakers representing 10 different projects will descend on the 2017 LA Film Festival for three days of intensive meetings with top industry financiers, agents, managers, distributors, production companies and granting organizations with the goal of forging ongoing business and creative relationships and gain invaluable exposure....

This summer, Film Independent and Project Involve are bringing independent film to South Central Los Angeles with Summer Movie Nights, free community screenings presented in collaboration with A Place Called Home (APCH), a dynamic youth center in the neighborhood that offers a range of educational programs, along with counseling and mentorship for youth from 8 to 21. Last week, the series kicked off at APCH when 270 people arrived, mostly children with their families—many in colorful pajama pants with fluffy blankets in tow....

It’s challenging to build an audience without a budget, but it’s possible, and social media has become a viable tool for many filmmakers. Social media may be free, but it does take effort. Creating a Facebook page with one lonely film still just won’t cut it. If that’s all you’re willing to do, best to save your internet breath. As Film Independent’s Online Community Coordinator, I’ve been privy to numerous tactics used by filmmakers to sell and promote their projects....

Making movies about poor kids is a fraught enterprise. Plenty of films have come under fire for charges of exploitation, especially in cases where the actors hail from the communities being depicted. One of the most notable of these is Hector Babenco’s 1980 crime drama Pixote, whose young star, Fernando Ramos Silva, was feted upon the film’s release but soon found himself back on the streets and was shot to death by police at the age of nineteen....

For about one third of the independent filmmaking community, the last few weeks of September are the most pressure-packed weeks of the year. Why? Because filmmakers are rushing to finish their films before the final Sundance Film Festival deadline. The other two thirds of them either submitted last year or they’re looking to submit next year. To ease some of the stress, Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Kim Yutani and Shorts Programmer and Manager of the Native and Indigenous Program Adam Piron sat down with Film Independent Members to answer questions and clear up a few lingering misconceptions about submitting to Sundance....

When Taylor Kitsch took the Bing Theater stage and opened his mouth, the Friday Night Lights star sounded nothing like Tim Riggins. Kitsch said his accent was one of creator Peter Berg’s only stipulations when he cast him in the NBC high school football drama. “We’re walking down the hallway [after the audition] and he’s like, ‘You’re going to be just fine. If you do what we just did in the room, you’re going to be just fine....

We spoke with some of our Indielink hosts about what advice they have for filmmakers looking to make the most of their Indielink sessions. Here are four things networking filmmakers should do… and four they shouldn’t. Do: Strategize Indielink veteran Mia Bruno, Producer of Marketing and Distribution at Seed & Spark, said those who have done their research and have questions prepared have the best chance of success. “The Indielink sessions tend to be very short, and in a precious ten minutes, do you really want me to dominate the conversation by explaining what my company does, rather than being able to work with you on very specific questions that pertain directly to your project?...

Founded by Friesen in 2012, Cinema Falls seeks to serve a growing population of film lovers—and increasingly, filmmakers—within the Mt. Rushmore State, organizing a variety of screenings and special events in and around the Dakotas’ most populous city, while also helping to provide info about production resources to local creators. If you missed Part One of our conversation, about Friesen’s experiences as a film lover and Film Independent Member, click here....

When a journalist once told James M. Cain that Hollywood had ruined his book, the novelist famously replied, “They haven’t done anything to my book. It’s right there on the shelf.” Writer-director Robin Swicord, who has adapted such novels as Little Women and Memoirs of a Geisha for the screen, quoted Cain at last month’s Film Independent Writers’ Salon discussing the process and pitfalls of film adaptation. Swicord moderated the conversation, with screenwriters Jane Anderson (How to Make an American Quilt, HBO’s Olive Kitteridge), Scott Neustadter (The Fault in Our Stars, (500) Days of Summer) and writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball and this month’s Beyond the Lights)—all were there to share insight and anecdotes about converting prose into cinema....

It’s no secret that the moving image can leave a lasting impact, both consciously and subconsciously. This is especially true regarding images of people engaged in struggle and/or enjoying wild success—a phenomenon that supports the necessity for thoughtful representation of people of all backgrounds and experiences in film. Today, representation is too often conflated with diversity, but they’re not exactly the same thing. Representation goes beyond the surface inclusion of different types of people popular media—it’s about lived experience and authenticity....

Whoever said an indie movie has to be a quiet and understated character study? If you’re an independent filmmaker and bloody violence is more your style, then by all means, go for it. But if you plan to use weaponry in your film, you had better plan on hiring an armorer. We spoke to armory services professional Gerry Wright about how to let your characters get violent while keeping your cast and crew safe....

“Considering these unprecedented times, Outfest has reflected on how it rises to serve the needs of our community during Pride,” says Outfest Executive Director Damien S. Navarro. “United in Pride is a program that stems from our Outfest Always On initiative. By leveraging our new Vimeo-backed digital platform and partnerships like Film Independent, we significantly increase the opportunities for filmmakers and audiences to discover one another.” Fi’s contribution to the digital initiative—which continues with the Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter Pride Summit and Pride Prom, taking place online tomorrow, June 13—includes a special Coffee Talk presentation of a conversation between New Queer Cinema icons Gus Van Sant and John Cameron Mitchell, as well as a specially curated playlist of queer-themed P....

Participants included Russell Hornsby (Fences, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector), Rob Morgan (Bull, Stranger Things), Yolanda Ross (The Chi) and Jordana Spiro (Ozark). Andre Royo (The Wire, Empire) served as moderator for the half-hour chat, which was streamed live for Film Independent Members and is now available for the general public. Watch the full recording of our Actors Coffee Talk below, and keep reading to get the 411 on a day in the life of a working actor during these remarkable times....

I was over the moon to learn that I was awarded a Sloan Fellowship to attend the 2014 Film Independent Producer’s Lab with the script The Buried Life by co-writers/co-directors Joan Stein Schimke and Averie Storck. This invitation would require me to spend four weeks in Los Angeles with seven other producers all of whom had projects at various stages of development. Our bi-weekly meetings were organized so that each night a different script or two were spotlighted during an open discussion with an industry mentor and moderated by Film Independent Artist Development team Angela Lee or Jennifer Kushner....

All this has gotten us talking about booing in theaters: who’s done it and who wouldn’t dare. Here’s what Film Independent’s most passionate film lovers/haters said: “If you can laugh, cry, gasp, scream and clap in theaters, you might as well boo if it’s called for!” –Stephanie Allain, Festival Director “I’m an interactive type of gal, so if the spirit hit me. I’d boo, for sure.” –Mel Jones, Festival Assistant “I would boo in my head, but only in a commercial theater and never at a film festival with the filmmakers present....

Twelve years ago, Barbara Stepansky was accepted into Film Independent’s Directing Lab with a script called Sugar in My Veins. Two months ago, she was named one of the five screenwriters awarded the prestigious 2013 Nicholl Fellowship by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each year, the Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting recognizes undiscovered talent with $35,000 Fellowships. (Two other Film Independent Fellows, Debra Eisenstadt and Terah Jackson, were selected as 2013 Semi-Finalists....

This weekend, the film is up for both an Oscar and a Film Independent Spirit Award. That makes Rogers one of nine Film Independent Members nominated for a 2014 Academy Award. Rogers became involved with 20 Feet From Stardom when Gil Friesen, the other producer of the film brought the idea to director Morgan Neville. (Friesen, the renowned A&M record executive, has since passed away.) Neville needed an on-the-ground producer to manage the day-to-day of the production, so he found Rogers through a mutual friend....