In August, I was caught in a series of traps every time I engaged a discussion around the reported rape charges from twenty years earlier that Nate Parker had been acquitted of by a near all-white jury. I entangled myself in the details, but even after 700 pages of courtroom transcripts, I still could not “know” what happened. What I do know, as human being and as a survivor, is that rape is wrong, no matter the victim or the perpetrator’s race, sexuality, or gender....

The slow-moving, atmospheric thriller (which won Coppola the Best Director award at Cannes last month) begins three years after secession during the Civil War, when one of the students in an all-girls boarding school comes across a severely wounded soldier, Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell), and brings him to the school to tend to his wounds before turning him over to the soldiers. Austere and icy cold, headmistress Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) leads the schoolhouse along with a single teacher (Kirsten Dunst), overseeing the education of several teenaged girls left in the school’s care during the war....

Reitman announced his cast on Twitter the day before the event: Fred Savage as Ferris Bueller Clark Gregg as Mr. Rooney Martin Starr as Cameron Catherine Reitman as Sloane Mae Whitman as Jeanie Michaela Watkins as Grace Richard Speight, Jr. as Economics Teacher Bueller… When veteran character actor Speight was announced for the role immortalized by Ben Stein, we were left wondering whether his iconic roll call would be part of the evening’s proceedings....

40+ Speakers and Panelists We’re bringing in leaders from every corner of the film and television world. Among them are Jason Blum, President and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, Bridget Bedard, writer for Mad Men and Transparent, and Josh Braun, Co-President of Submarine Entertainment. And that number is still growing. Keep checking back as we add even more names to the list. 70 Lunch Hosts Did we mention the lunch is provided?...

It would be impossible to keep up with it all—if it weren’t for the upcoming Film Independent Forum. From October 24-26, we’re convening a brain trust of filmmakers, content creators, game-changers and deal-makers to share their take on the latest news in the business and how it all affects filmmakers trying to get their work made and seen. We’ve already announced the opening night screening of Nightcrawler, followed by a Q&A with writer/director Dan Gilroy and producer Jennifer Fox; keynotes by Tim League (Founder of Alamo Drafthouse) and Jill Soloway, writer/director, (Transparent)....

Whether cracking the shameful spine of a trashy showbiz bio or donning my robe and pipe to curl up with an episode PBS’s American Masters, I’m a sucker for any form of entertainment centered on film history, analysis or appreciation. But just like the movies themselves, there’s a lot of bunk, bogus and otherwise bad film-focused content out there. But that’s where “The Must-List” comes in. In this column, intrepid Film Independent staffers, bloggers, guest contributors and I will offer recommendations of the best film-centric content for your enjoyment and edification....

And of course, one of the biggest things on our mind is horror. Horror movies are the death-defying roller coasters of the film world: an excuse to trick our bodies into releasing the flood of adrenalized relief that comes from testing the limits of fear. Horror movies are also an essential sector of the independent film world, often acting as the proving grounds for some of today’s top indie auteurs....

As we saw firsthand in our Must-List about the most essential behind-the-scenes docs, shooting a movie can often be as fraught and dramatic a situation as any other into which otherwise sane-minded human beings might willingly insert themselves. This week on the Must-List we asked our cinema-obsessed Film Independent staff to pick their favorite fictional flicks about life, love and lunacy behind the camera. The Player (1992, dir. Robert Altman) “I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process....

I met Noah last year when Mary Sweeney, chair of the board of Film Independent, curator Yael Lipshutz and I were on the hunt for an artist to create our poster for the 2015 LA Film Festival. After looking at his work online, Mary brought me to meet Noah, Karon and their lovely son, Moses, at the gallery space on Washington Blvd. What struck me first was how warm and kind he was....

Focus on the film. What is the most important part of the submission package? Do press materials make a major difference to programmers? Yutani and Ogdie can’t emphasize enough that a director’s focus should be on the final film and not on supplementary materials. Most of the paperwork gets separated from the actual film or discarded during processing. Don’t waste time with excessive packaging, DVD design, or elaborate credits, says Yutani....

While events IRL may be on ice for a bit, there are still plenty of great filmmaker resources to be accessed remotely, from educational video posts, to panels, to award-winning short films produced by Fi’s amazingly talented community of program Fellows—with new content being added regularly. New for today: the award-winning 2018 Project Involve short Liberty. Liberty received the Narrative Short Jury Award as SXSW (2019) and an AFI Fest Special Jury Award (2019), in addition to honors at the Miami Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and more....

The film follows Maria, an aging international film star—played by Juliette Binoche—who must return to the play that launched her career 20 years prior. This time, however, she’ll take on the role of the aging actress while a hot young Hollywood starlet, with the paparazzi at her heels, will play the part that made her a star. “[Assayas] had no idea that he was going to cast me when he wrote the script,” said Stewart....

“10 Questions with LA Film Fest Filmmaker Spotlights” is a series of posts to help you get to know our Festival filmmakers and their films just a little bit better. Joe Burke FILM: Four Dogs / Narrative Competition Already branded an acting school drop-out, Oliver courts further indignation by serving as his aunt’s live-in dog sitter and pool boy. Having reduced his (anti)social circle to his paranoid drug dealer and embittered best friend, Oliver is shaken from his stupor by the arrival of an alluring houseguest dealing with her own issues....

In recent years, the juke joints, BBQ pits, tattoo parlors and microbreweries of South Congress Street and surrounding environs have swelled to virtual capacity with scores of bespectacled and (for the gentlemen) bearded creators hustling and hawking their wares—the locus for which, since 1987, has been SXSW. Originally begun as a music festival, SXSW has expanded to include Interactive and Educational sections, as well as the SXSW Film Festival, which begins this Friday, March 11—plenty of time to commandeer an art car and hit up the Texas capital....

When asked about the script (Silver co-wrote with Chloe Domont and Cody Stokes), much of which appeared to be improvised, Silver explained, “we wrote an outline, basically detailing all the actions, and then each day we’d all sit down and discuss lines for each scene. We’d feed some lines to the actors, and then allow them to improvise, and take it from there.” Lead actress India Menuez appreciated this approach: “it was my first experience working on a film [like this]—I never saw the full ‘script,’ quote unquote,” she admitted, “a lot of people were asking me, ‘oh, are you scared?...

As with traditional “flat” cinema, VR/AR/MR can be used toward a variety of ends—ranging from fraught to frivolous. But as with any new medium, there’s a burgeoning group of socially conscious artist-activists using MR to explore a wide variety of complex issues. But far from being dour or haranguing, these pieces are often colorful, playful and above all beautiful. The intersection of art, activism and immersion was the subject of the “Dreams of the Future: Social Justice and Equality” panel at Film Independent’s second-ever edition of its immersive showcase The Portal, September 20-22....

The January 28 performance commemorated Todd Solondz’s classic 1996 coming-of-age film Welcome to the Dollhouse and featured a surprise appearance by none other than Dawn Wiener herself, aka original Dollhouse star Heather Matarazzo. And to do this black comedy justice, the screening featured original music by Seth Bogart, a professed Dollhouse superfan and frontman of garage-rock outfit Hunx and His Punx. For Seth, seeing Welcome to the Dollhouse for the first time was an “instant obsession....

Our hope, though, is that minds will be somewhat de-boggled this Saturday, October 22, when Esmail takes center stage at DGA headquarters in West Hollywood for the 2016 Film Independent Forum keynote conversation, offering insight into his process and sharing a wealth of behind-the-scenes anecdotes. The panel is supported by the USA Network, Mr. Robot’s home base. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfSRGcrPCYY An intimate peek into the fractured psyche of anarchist-hacker Elliott Anderson, Mr....

Case Study: Must Read After My Death Documentary Feature Director: Morgan Dews Producers: Morgan Dews; Sarah Langley; Cristina Gironés (co-producer); Alison Palmer Bourke (executive producer) Budget: $85,000 Financing: self-financed; $3500 grant Production: None The film is comprised of archive footage and recordings; various original sources, home movies; photographs; Dictaphone recordings, reel-to-reel tape recordings, made during the 1960s; cut together into a cohesive documentary. Shooting Format: 8mm Screening Format: HD U....

The award is given to the lead creative roles of the awarded film: writer, director and key producers to recognize the work it takes by a core team of dedicated storytellers to deliver an artfully crafted piece of microbudget cinema, very often catching soon-to-be important filmmakers on the early side of their careers; for example, Miguel Arteta and Mike White (Chuck & Buck, 2000), Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, 2003) and Andrew Ahn (Spa Night, 2017)....