But Roach said that thanks to the work of his screenwriter, John McNamara, juggling all of these elements wasn’t a major concern. What did intimidate him was bringing well-known, real-life personalities like John Wayne and Kirk Douglas to the screen. “I remember going, ‘Oh my God, Maybe we should shut down,’ because I was so scared about portraying all of the real-life people,” said Roach. “How are we going to do John Wayne?...

But don’t take our word for it. Check out this exclusive video, produced and directed by yet another Film Independent success story, 2014 Project Involve Fellow Ryan Velasquez. Prendergast joins several others—including Meet the Patels’ Geeta and Ravi Patel and Thirteen’s Catherine Hardwicke—to explain how their careers were advanced and supported with the help of Film Independent: Look—if that doesn’t make you want to check out our stellar curriculum filmmaker resources (or at least make you hungry for some samosas), nothing will....

Last Sunday morning at the Film Independent Forum, Tim League lived up to his renegade reputation—(See: Fantastic Debates.)—by beginning his keynote with the declaration that “distributors are bloodsucking freaks,” shortly after cracking open a can of beer. (League said he was inspired to hit the mini bar just to dash a Twitch Film writer’s desire to see League address an audience, just once, without a beer in his hand.) The CEO/Founder of Alamo Drafthouse also warned the audience he’d created his presentation en route the day prior....

Nightcrawler, screenwriter Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut, is a darkly comedic, sharply satirical thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, an ambitious videojournalist who cruises around Los Angeles at night, listening to a police scanner and racing to bloody crime scenes to collect horrific footage. This past weekend at the Film Independent Forum, Gilroy, his brother and editor John and his producer Jennifer Fox were on hand for a Q&A following a special advance screening of the film, which premiered at Toronto in September and gets a wide release on Friday....

Bain’s independent family drama stars William Ainscough as the titular 11-year-old Milton, who appears alongside veteran actors Donald Sutherland, Michelle Rodriguez and Mia Kirshner. On the brink of puberty, Milton struggles with challenges many children across the world unfortunately face. One such challenge being the emotional distress caused by being the victim of bullying. A worldwide issue not fully understood until more recent years, bullying is one of Milton’s main thematic elements....

Holding the Man When: August 2 Where: iTunes, DVD/VOD Director: Neil Armfield Starring: Ryan Corr, Craig Stott, Anthony LaPaglia Why We’re Excited: Chances are late Australian actor, writer and activist Timothy Conigrave wouldn’t have been aware of the impact his 1995 memoir would have on future generations of readers; readers who would be forever touched by Conigrave’s life and the love he and his partner of 15 years, John Caleo, shared in their all-too-brief time together....

12 Years a Slave (2013) Best Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Female Breakthrough Performer: Lupita Nyong’o Where You Can Watch It: DVD, HBO Last year, director Steve McQueen’s heart-wrenching epic brought the emotional true story of Solomon Northup to life, and took the awards season by storm. Chiwetel Ejiofor was captivating as Northup, a man sold into slavery and fighting for his life, never giving up hope that he will be emancipated....

Passionate conversations often lead to creative collaborations. In this case, it all began in a car outside an airport. As Tracy Droz Tragos tells the story: “In August 2011, I drove my cousin (and now co-director) Andrew Droz Palermo to LAX. On the way, we talked about our parents’ hometown of Rich Hill, Missouri (population 1,393) and how hard things had gotten over the years – fewer jobs; the center of town falling in on itself; houses left in disrepair; low-income families struggling....

Even if you don’t have kids, you’re still well aware that (once again) it’s back-to-school season in America. Naturally, the youngsters all look a little bummed as they gather their sundries and trudge back toward the classroom. But hey, it could be worse. They could be independent filmmakers, who never get any time off, let alone three months—always hustling and scrapping and scheming to find the resources to make their latest dream a reality....

Moderated by entertainment attorney Lisa Callif, the panel included executive producer Doug Pray, Archival Producer Ryan Gallagher and Barbara Gregson, who managed the licensing process. None of them knew what they were getting themselves into when they took on what was originally meant to be a 90-minute film. But after three years and a final cut running 260 minutes in length, the team agreed it was a hugely satisfying experience—albeit an emotionally challenging one....

A multiple-time Film Independent Spirit Award winner for 2004’s Lost In Translation, indie favorite Sofia Coppola’s most recent directorial effort was 2017’s The Beguiled—a female-focused reimagining of the cult-favorite 1971 Western starring Clint Eastwood. In the remake (for which Coppola won Best Director at Cannes), Nicole Kidman leads an all-star cast as the austere headmistress of a Civil War era girls’ school in the South, where a group of young women have been holed up for the duration the conflict....

The gender gap in Hollywood is the town’s worst kept secret. The most startling—and often-cited—statistic: Women accounted for only 9% of directors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2012, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film. But lamenting a problem and addressing a problem are two different things. And that’s where the aptly named Gamechanger Films comes in. Never before has a for-profit film fund been dedicated solely to financing narrative features directed by women....

Formation. We all came into COVID with demons. Mine were gnawing at my flesh, consuming the remnants of a person I no longer remembered. It is hard to write this from a space where avoidance still reigns. As much as I want to believe I am healed—healing—the truth is I have only been in therapy for a year. So, how do I begin to heal decades of suppressed trauma? I wish there were a pill or a shot I could take that would instantaneously process all of my unresolved [insert mental health word of the day....

But ironically, it was the difficulties Esmail encountered when making his debut feature Comet (which premiered at the 2014 LA Film Festival) that ultimately pushed the 38-year-old writer and director in the direction of TV. “I feel like indie filmmaking is really struggling,” Esmail told the audience in Theater One at the DGA building in Los Angeles, kicking off Day Two of the Forum in a panel sponsored by Robot’s TV home, USA Network....

Elvis Mitchell introduced Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele at the Los Angeles Film Festival last night as “the two black men who won the Peabody Award not for tragedy, but for comedy.” The stars of the critically acclaimed and popular Comedy Central show, Key and Peele “who fearlessly apply their mischievous minds and satirical savvy to racially aware sketches both broad and incisive” revealed the roots of their comedic philosophy and presented clips from some of their favorite sketches that have influenced their style....

Ugh, too hard. We’ll just focus all our energy on TikTok instead. Fortunately, there are plenty of other filmmakers out there whose investigative fortitude far outstrips our own—whose curiosity and sense of adventure prompts them to dive deep into subjects ranging from the immediately relevant to the deeply esoteric and obscure. And at the very least, we’re proud to be able to support these true-blue documentarians, today announcing the 11 new filmmakers participating in the 2020 Film Independent Documentary Lab....

What better way to get to know this year’s unique crew of Festival filmmakers than to pick their brains with a poll? We quizzed our filmmakers in the LA Film Fest’s LA Muse section, with films in which Los Angeles is very much a character, about their movie making ups and downs, why they film here and how they feel about the city they live and work in. Here’s what they had to say....

We all know the dismal statistics about the lack of filmmakers of color in the industry. Women and LGBT artists also nearly impossible to find. Project Involve is working to change all that. The program helps emerging artists hone their skills, build their collaborative networks and break into the industry. Project Involve is free and open to underrepresented filmmakers with unique vision and voice. Now’s the time to apply! The deadline is April 27....

It was, like, SUCH an AMEEZING night last night with the cast of Kroll Show at Film Independent at LACMA. Of course Cassandra f*cked up some very important gift bag stuff on the red carpet, but, like, everything worked out when the super hot talent arrived. Actor John Mulaney, actor-writer Jon Daly, co-creator John Levenstein, and actor-creator Nick Kroll were all there, and Film Independent Curator Elvis Mitchell moderated. Not a big deal....

This year’s monologue traded last year’s political jabs for vitriolic digs at several former giants of the entertainment industry crushed by recent sexual harassment accusations. Mulaney recounted a story of his first meeting with Harvey Weinstein in 2015, wherein the once-powerful producer groused about Weinstein TV taking up too much of his time. Quoting the disgraced mogul, Mulaney said: “’No one’s gonna remember my movies, forget Pulp Fiction. My tombstone’s gonna say Project Runway....