But El Niño is no match for the gathering storm of Awards Season, which kicks off in earnest this Saturday with the Film Independent Spirit Awards Filmmaker Grant & Nominee Brunch at Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood—rain or shine. For several year now, the brunch has been an opportunity for actors, filmmakers, press and industry to meet up, network and celebrate yet another banner year in the ever-evolving history of independent film....

LOVING When: November 4 Where You Can Watch: Theaters, VOD Director: Jeff Nichols Starring: Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton, Michael Shannon Why We’re Excited: The true-life love story of Richard and Mildred Loving is the subject of Film Independent Spirit Award winner Jeff Nichols’ latest feature, which received a standing ovation after its premiere at Cannes. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga star as Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and black woman living in Virginia during the late 1950s when it was not legal for interracial couples to marry....

Documentary Feature Director: Kirby Dick Producers: Amy Ziering, Tanner Barklow Budget: $850,000 Financing: Television sales, non-profit donations, grants Production: February 2010 – December 2011 Shooting Format: Canon 5D, Sony Z1 Screening Format: HDCAM, DCP, Blu-Ray World Premiere: 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards: 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Winner Audience Award – Best Documentary 2013 Academy Awards: Nominated – Best Documentary Feature 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated – Best Documentary 2012 National Board of Review: Top 5 Documentaries of the Year 2012 International Documentary Association: Nominated – Best Feature Documentary 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards – Nominated – Audience Award 2012 Human Rights Watch Film Festival
: Winner Nestor Almendros Award 2012 Dallas International Film Festival
: Winner Silver Heart Award 2012 Seattle International Film Festival
: Winner Best Documentary 2012 Provincetown International Film Festival: Winner Best Documentary 2012 International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma: Distinguished Service Awards for Excellence in the Medium of Film 2012 Peace Over Violence 41st Annual Humanitarian Awards: Humanitarian Award Media Advocacy 2012 DocuWest Documentary Film Festival: “Best of Fest” Website: http://invisiblewarmovie....

SHORT TERM 12 won both the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) in 2013. The film was nominated for three Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2014, including Best Female Lead for Brie Larson, Best Supporting Male for Keith Stanfield and Best Editing for Nat Sanders. Producer Asher Goldstein talked in depth with Film Independent to provide the following detailed case study on how he and his colleagues got SHORT TERM 12 made and into theaters....

Traditionally Film Independent’s Directors Close-Up series has been a little bit of all of the above, presenting behind-the-scenes insight into the year’s most important works of cinema, straight from the mouths and brains of filmmakers themselves. As the virtual portion of this year’s programming winds down (see below), we’re looking ahead now to our three in-person sessions coming up at the Directors Guild of America in LA. Starting next week on Monday, February 12 DCU attendees will be treated to three great weeks of filmmaker insight from Film Independent Spirit Award wave-makers past, present and future....

See if you can follow my reasoning: for better or worse (I’d argue better), whatever America represents to the rest of the world, so too does California represent those things to the rest of the United States. And within California, Los Angeles is the city that best embodies these intrinsically American—and California—ideas and ideals. But what are these ideals, exactly? Basically, it all boils down to some combination of self-reinvention, entrepreneurship, melting-pot multiculturalism and relentless, guile-free optimism....

This week’s Playlist is inspired by a hobby of mine: reading about film history and then driving around to see if the actual places where things happened still exist. Surprisingly, a lot of old silent film studios, houses, buildings, film locations, etc. do still physically exist here in Los Angeles. One such place is the Hollywood Studio Club (1916-1975), a chaperoned dormitory for young women aspiring to work in the film business....

Of course, horror and short films go together like peanut butter and mini Reese’s cups, which is why were turning this month’s #FiSpo column over to three concise, high-concept chillers that are sure to send a shiver down your spine—and perhaps bring up a salient social point or two, as horror so often does. As always, these films are being supported by Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program, enabling filmmakers to solicit tax-deductible donations and organizational grants in partnership with Film Independent....

FISCAL FRIDAYS Everyone can identify with the feeling of being an outsider. It’s why movies—and especially documentaries—about marginalized individuals or groups so often resonate with those who at first glace might not seem to have much in common with the experiences of those onscreen. Sure, we may not know what it’s like to be part of an indigenous community whose land has been stolen, or homeless, or to cope with a debilitating neurological disease....

We were particular moved by Dawn Porters’s featured Documentary Keynote, which in large part touched on her extremely timely new feature John Lewis: Good Trouble, about the late Civil Rights legend. Porter was also relieved to hear—as surely you will—that all #FiForum20 content will remain available for Forum pass-holders to stream, post-event, through October. Day Three highlights are below. Be sure to keep up with Film Independent’s blog and YouTube channel for more event coverage throughout the week....

Believe it or not, in the Arab world the main primetime TV season occurs during Ramadan—the traditional Muslim month of observance (taking place this year between May 15 and June 14). It’s a time for families to gather around after sunset, to break their fast and watch new shows. And each year, television networks compete for the highest ratings as they flood the market with new dramas and comedies. This year alone there were approximately 100 new programs premiering across the Arab TV landscape....

I think every writer has that one idea they’ve talked about for years but have done nothing with because, well… they didn’t. And then there’s always someone to call you out with the dreadful question: “Hey, what ever happened to that idea?” And then there’s you again, having to be like, “Oh, yeah, I’m working on it…” And sometimes—as in most times—it can feel like you’ve been working on a script forever....

Then I wake up and realize I’m more likely to catch the measles or be hit by lightning. Let’s keep dreaming, but at the same time, devote our waking hours to taking action—like veteran assistant director and production manager Tom Seidman has. Seidman’s resume includes working for directors Clint Eastwood on Honkytonk Man, Peter Weir on Dead Poets Society and Robert Redford on Ordinary People. He shared his experiences with low-budget indie productions at a recent Film Independent education event....

What are you most looking forward to about the Festival? My favorite part of any film festival is the opportunity to experience new films and filmmakers. Being an independent filmmaker can often feel like you’re walking a long and lonely road. The festival experience is such a great place to bond with and be encouraged by fellow travelers, fostering relationships that can last a lifetime. What was the biggest obstacle you encountered in the making of this film and how did you overcome it?...

Stephen Mao may live halfway around the world, but that hasn’t kept the award-winning producer and proud Film Independent Arts Circle Member from continuing to be a major creative voice in the world of American independent cinema. Now living primarily out of Moscow, Russia, Mao—a former photojournalist for the Associated Press— boasts an impressive portfolio of titles, from gritty black comedy Filth (2013) to the Spirit Award nominated American Honey to the Oscar-winning short Skin (2017), Sundance favorite The Kindergarten Teacher (2018) and more....

Set at a foster care facility, the film follows the trials of a group of mixed-up adolescents who form a makeshift, albeit dysfunctional, family led by two counselors (Larson and Gallagher Jr.) who may be as troubled as their young charges. Cretton, along with producer Asher Goldstein, casting director Rich Delia (August: Osage), and actors Dever, Stanfield and Calloway took to the stage to illuminate the casting process and the techniques they used to create a relaxed and collaborative environment on set....

The latest feature from 2009 Directing Lab Fellow Sian Heder, CODA—which stands for children of deaf adults—tells the story of a teenager Ruby, who, being the only hearing-person in her otherwise all-deaf family, finds herself conflicted between the choice to remain at home with her family to help run the family business, or pursue her love of singing at music school. One of this year’s biggest Sundance hits (and acquisitions!...

As a 2012 Project Involve Fellow, I learned how to keep a short short, to think about distribution before I ever put pen to paper, and that tenacity is a necessity in the world of film. Two years later, after countless nights of plotting, outlining and penning, I had the opportunity to participate in Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab with a feature screenplay project called, Transformation Awaits, which I co-wrote with Jonathan Pope Evans....

There are a variety of reasons why a filmmaker might remake their own film. Sometimes, a director may feel like for whatever reason, he or she didn’t quite nail it the first time around. Other times, Hollywood gives a successful overseas filmmaker the chance to translate their foreign-language hit for the U.S. And very occasionally, a filmmaker imagines that an updated, re-contextualized version of their own story will lend an added dimension of meaning to both....

When I was a kid, a couple of my favorite TV shows were BJ and the Bear and Grizzly Adams. I remember envisioning the chimpanzee TV star hanging out in his awesome Hollywood apartment enjoying the good life. And I imagined that all those wonderful woodland creatures that hung out around the cabin in the wilderness all lived together on some perfect ranch. The truth about the plight of our animal actors is sadly far from my childhood fantasies....