To the Bone, Noxon’s indie debut, premiered earlier this year at Sundance and quickly sparked a bidding war over its distribution. The film was eventually acquired by Netflix, where it became available for streaming on July 14. An intense character study revolving around anorexia, the film follows 20-year-old Eli (a wonderful Lily Collins) as she battles against the disease while confined to in-patient treatment at a California group home full of fellow sufferers....

Live Read is back! The new season kicks off Thursday with Sam Mendes’s beloved film American Beauty, which celebrated its 15th anniversary last month. (Reitman already has announced that the cast of his upcoming film Men, Women & Children, Adam Sandler will play Lester Burham, Kevin Spacey’s Oscar-winning role, and Rosemarie DeWitt will take on the role of Carolyn originated by Annette Bening). Mendes was already an acclaimed stage director in his native England when he made American Beauty, his feature film debut in 1999, and he picked up both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe that year for best director....

In our excitement for the upcoming Film Independent Spirit Awards, we’ve reached out to all of the filmmakers nominated for Best First Feature and asked them all kinds of things about their experience as filmmakers and what it’s like to be up for the indie world’s greatest accolade. Here, Director Dan Gilroy tells us how the movie Gods treated him during the making of Nightcrawler, a pulse-pounding thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles....

“…What is it that I love about making independent films?,” McConaughey began, “…Some people are making them because they want to inaugurate themselves into the filmmaking business. Other times you make an independent film because it’s over there on this feeder road. It’s not an autobon film. It’s not a freeway. It’s not even an I 35. It’s a feeder road. Sometimes it’s gravel. Sometimes it’s blacktop. Sometimes it’s dirt....

Among these stories, the odd saga of supposed literary wunderkind JT LeRoy stands as of the saddest and most convoluted hoaxes of the century thus far—a tale now being retold in director Justin Kelly’s third feature JT LeRoy, starring Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern. The gist: in early 2000s San Francisco, frustrated 30-someting novelist Laura Albert (Dern) concocts the character JT LeRoy—a young, mysterious, sexually ambiguous young writer with a tortured backstory—to serve as a front for her own work....

Here are just a few of the events you’ll be able to take part in when you register for this year’s Forum. Hear from Jason Blum about how he’s changing the distribution game The company behind recent horror success stories like Paranormal Activity, Sinister, and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit is revolutionizing the way films are released, generating more profit by screening in fewer theaters and being more targeted with their marketing....

Film Independent Fellow Sheldon Candis, who directed the VMA-nominated music video for J. Cole’s “Crooked Smile,” has another exciting project in the works: a web docu-series featuring ballet dancer Misty Copeland as part of Under Armour’s “I Will What I Want” campaign. We talked to Candis about working with the stunningly talented Copeland and making a commercial project on his own creative terms. How do you balance pitching commercial projects with making time to develop your own work?...

“Nothing much happens anyway.” That may seem an unlikely statement from a director on his films—unless he’s Richard Linklater, of course. Film Independent curator Elvis Mitchell began the Evening With … Richard Linklater event at Film Independent at LACMA last night with a featurette on the making of Boyhood, which he introduced by noting that Linklater once told him, “All movies are about time.” “That’s what his movies are,” Mitchell said....

The second and most recent installation of Bring the Noise happened on March 9, featuring a live score from the electronic band YACHT to the classic 1979 thriller Alien, directed by Ridley Scott. Here’s what went down: That all brings us to next Saturday, April 1, when Jack Antonoff of electro-pop outfit Bleachers will take us back to the ‘80s, playing a new and original live score to the John Hughes 1985 Saturday detention dramedy The Breakfast Club....

We selected a trio of Fellows—emerging artists who have gone through our Artist Development programs—and asked each of them to choose a genre to reimagine. Dana Turken chose the Screwball Comedy. Her film, A Likely Story follows two reunited lovers in a very modern world, but their outfits, movements and vocabulary belong in the 1940s, reflecting the genre’s roots, and showing a couple so meant for each other that they speak the same hilariously anachronistic language....

But each story is really about one thing: self-perception vs. the identities imposed on you by others. Such themes likewise extend to Bar-Lev’s most recent work, Long Strange Trip—a massive four-hour biography of jam band legends The Grateful Dead. We recently spoke to Bar-Lev about what commonalities his subjects share, new distribution methods for nonfiction films and what The Grateful Dead means to him as both a fan and a filmmaker....

In the first two episodes, screened at Film Independent at LACMA last night, characters move in and out of frame, racial and cultural stereotypes are challenged and cars rain out of the sky—all in the aftermath of a horrific murder set in Modesto, California. Thematically, the noir take is key, Ridley told Film Independent curator Elvis Mitchell. “To me what makes what we call noir is marked by two things, alienation and obsession....

Week Three of Film Independent’s 2019 Directors Close-Up series featured five filmmakers whose recent nonfiction films all managed to bring us closer to the truth with their deeply engaging, real-life narratives. The February 13 panel—titled Another Type of Narrative: The Truth of Docs—was moderated by Award-winning director Lisa Leeman, herself no stranger to intimate character-driven storytelling by shining a light on social issues, in films such as One Lucky Elephant and Out of Faith....

The film’s 37-year-old director James Ponsoldt (Smashed, The Spectacular Now) anchored the panel, speaking earnestly and extensively about the challenges faced in bringing journalist David Lipsky’s 2010 memoir, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself to the screen. Much of the discussion focused on Ponsoldt’s collaboration with his cast and the inherent difficulty of depicting late novelist David Foster Wallace on film. Wallace—best known as the author of Infinite Jest—is as close to a secular Christ figure as exists in culture today, making his depiction a potential minefield of hurt feelings and the impulse to be overprotective of the material....

The Circle When: Now Available Where: DVD/VOD Director: Stefan Haupt Starring: Matthias Hungerbruhler, Peter Jecklin Why We’re Excited: In Zurich during the late 50’s, a gay organization, “DER KREIS” (The Circle), was known in the whole of Europe as groundbreaking movement in gay emancipation. Documentary filmmaker Stefan Haupt’s latest film is a combination of interviews and scripted, re-created footage, telling the love story of Ernst Ostertag and transvestite star Robi Rapp....

Founded in 2015 by activist and Oscar winner Geena Davis, in partnership with producer and businessman Trevor Drinkwater, the annual June festival is the centerpiece event for the year-round BFFoundation, providing a safe space and exhibition venue for emerging creators and visual storytellers hailing from underrepresented backgrounds—sounds familiar! But don’t worry, we’re not being paid off by Big Arkanite to say nice things. Next week, Film Independent kicks off Festival Visions, a Film Independent Presents summer spotlight series featuring—online and for free—some of the best indie films programmed in the past year at our favorite regional film festivals....

This month’s Fiscal Spotlight column is looking at three short narrative projects about complicated, fractured or otherwise incomplete gay relationships–sex of course being an inextricable element of the drama dynamics. Here we have stories of fractured relationships on the tentative road to recovery, fleeting encounters perhaps resulting in an irrevocable mortal ending, and a union of spirits that isn’t exactly what it may seem. These films are all are supported by Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program, which enables filmmakers to solicit tax-deductible donations and seek organizational grants in partnership with Film Independent....

Oh Hello! masterminds and comedy world BFFs Nick Kroll and John Mulaney are back once again to host, capping off a busy week for the funnymen, who tonight will be at LA’s Largo at the Coronet to emcee a benefit for March 24’s March for Our Lives protests against gun violence (for more info click here.) But while cracking wise about movie industry peccadillos may seem like an ignominious move after such an altruistic gig, helping to attract nearly a million eyeballs to the efforts of a diverse group of innovative storytellers and their experiences is actually anything but....

Film Independent is now accepting submissions for a 2015 Canon Filmmaker Award. We will select one filmmaker to receive a Canon Cinema EOS package loaned to his or her production. (Only Film Independent Fellows, Los Angeles Film Festival alumni and Spirit Awards nominees and winners are eligible.) Go to Canon Awards at filmindependent.org for more information and to apply. The application deadline is February 23. Last quarter, the award went to 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story, a quirky coming-of-age story of a young Black kid becoming a man in Brooklyn....

Writing is not a lonely process. It’s a courageous act that is done in solitude. It’s maddening, sometimes rewarding and lucrative, unhealthy, a superpower, and most of all… difficult to navigate. Your back hurts from hours hunched over a screen, wondering if the reader will understand the intention behind your well-placed ellipses. You die a little inside when you hear your work read aloud. And most aggravating, obtaining representation and jobs feels like playing an already challenging video game on hard mode....