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So as everyone’s favorite three-month chunk of midday Margaritas-and-Matinees frivolity marches toward its inevitable conclusion, we decided to make use of the #FlashbackFriday hashtag and cast our minds all the way back to early June, when for nine glorious days the 2016 LA Film Festival ruled the city with an eclectic mix of world premiere screenings, exclusive panels and one-of-a-kind parties we’re still recovering from these many weeks later. And what better place to point our way-back machine to than Saturday, June 5 at the Culver Hotel—the day the Festival hosted its annual Coffee Talk panels, featuring intimate conversations with some of today’s most fascinating and accomplished Documentarians, Screenwriters, Directors and Actors....

Because husband and wife were of two different races, it was illegal for them to be together in their home state. Following the lives of Richard and Mildred Loving, Jeff Nichols’ new film Loving—which opens today, November 4—does not hit the typical beats of a civil rights film, but does powerfully portraying the struggle of a young couple forced apart (and later, into exile) by prejudice. Opening the 2016 Film Independent Forum on October 21, Loving invited an enthusiastic audience of filmmakers to fall in love with two people who, more than anything, loved each other....

Hi. My name’s Will. I work with Ralph and Catherine and Elvis at Film Independent. I also just made a movie called Cold Turkey starring Peter Bogdanovich and Cheryl Hines. It’s about a black sheep sister, played by Alicia Witt, who finally comes home for Thanksgiving. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I’ve been asked to write a dear diary-style blog about the release. Something like this. Except there’s no way mine’s gonna be that good ’cause that chick’s way smarter and funnier and more charming than me....

You’ve heard filmmakers say it time and time again—making a movie is like giving birth. If that’s the case, then for producers, selling a film is like giving that baby up for adoption. After you’ve spent years nurturing and creating your film, you then (if you’re lucky) turn your baby over to a distributor. While this is a glorious accomplishment, you now have a fleet of people, many you’ve never met, who take ownership of your film and believe they know what’s best for it....

But that’s not all: in addition to general Membership, Film Independent now offers a brand-new Film Lover Membership level specifically designed for cineastes, with its own unique set of year-round and Festival perks. But we’ll get to that. First, let’s talk about what you get starting right now as part of your general Film Independent Membership: FILM INDEPENDENT GENERAL MEMBERS RECEIVE Priority opportunity to purchase LA Film Festival passes. So get a jump on things now while the rest of the city slumbers....

If you watched our livestream of the Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 4, then you very well know that this year’s ceremony was about way more than just making fun of the 2008 Will Ferrell vehicle Semi-Pro. The 2023 awards show kicked off a year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of our Artist Development efforts – known on these streets as #AD30. That’s right, ever since Project Involve debuted in 1993, Film Independent Artist Development has been on the forefront of filmmaker support and education within the industry....

Well, if you’ve been to any of Film Independent’s Bring the Noise events this year, then you know that that’s exactly what were doing, inviting a fascinating roster of rotating guest musicians to select a classic film to play along with, performing a new, live, reimagined score onstage at LACMA’s Bing Theater. See what you may have missed below. First, Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff performs a new live score to John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club on April 1....

Writer/Director: Emily Dell Producer: Elizabeth Dell Budget: Around $700K Financing: Private Equity Production: 24 days/Los Angeles/July 2007 Shooting Format: Super 16mm Screening Format: HD Story: A story about a female break-dancer overcoming a brutal attack to claim her place in the world of underground hip-hop. Development & Financing Elizabeth Dell and her sister Emily were at a street fair in San Francisco’s Mission district in 2002 when they were first introduced to the world of b-girls....

Before joining Film Independent Curator Elvis Mitchell for a conversation at Film Independent at LACMA, Guggenheim screened the film for 6,000 high school girls at a downtown venue. “You could hear a pin drop when Malala gets shot,” he said. “But you could also hear the roar of the audience when she gave the speech at the United Nations.” His own father, Charles Guggenheim, was a filmmaker and he fondly remembered tagging along at five years old when his father was working on a documentary about Bobby Kennedy....

Still, Poul kicked off the panel by reminding attendees that there has been a history of downgrading the television director and it’s only now that television is going through another golden age that the medium is drawing quality filmmakers to the director’s chair. After each panelist presented clips from episodes they have directed, the conversation evolved quickly to cover the technicalities of directing for TV (handling actors, planning your shoot), the new models for episodic TV (distribution platforms, social media and the second screen) and the general difference between directing for the small screen and the big screen....

Curated by Film Independent’s Associate Director of Programming Doug Jones, the free fest gives the four talented young directors an opportunity to share their work with a worldwide audience. “It’s easy enough for someone to put their film online, but that’s like throwing a pebble into the ocean,” Jones told Variety. “It’s hard enough to make a movie. It’s even harder to get people to watch it.” Here’s a rundown of the four don’t-miss flicks: Pincus, directed by David Fenster (79 min....

DAY TWO And we’re off to the races! This year’s LA Film Festival has begun in earnest, with nine theaters rarin’ to go with tonight’s programming. The term “embarrassment of riches” comes to mind while scanning the schedule. This is not a time for casual viewing. This is an exercise in strategic creative absorption. While Bill Nye inspires the next generation of space explorers, Sofia Coppola “beguiles” Film Independent at LACMA audiences with Civil War-era drama and intrigue....

Film Independent joins the film community in mourning the death of Elizabeth Peña. Elizabeth was a gifted actress who won a Spirit Award in 1996 for her role in John Sayles’ Lone Star, and had notable roles in films such as Neil Jimenez and Michael Steinberg’s The Waterdance, Rodrigo García’s Ten Tiny Love Stories, Maria Ripoll’s Tortilla Soup, and Allison Anders’ Things Behind the Sun, not to mention Brad Bird’s The Incredibles, among many other films....

Like animation, “documentary” is often misunderstood as a genre when really it’s a fully-fledged medium. Nonfiction film indicates an entire craft and method of storytelling as opposed to a specific type of story itself. And as a medium, docs are incredibly flexible, encompassing everything from academic visual essays, to histories, to modern journalism, memoir, and comedic character studies. Which probably also explains why docs so often make such a profound cultural splash in our new Golden Age of streaming—there’s a large enough range of content to fully satiate any media diet with nary a line of scripted dialogue in sight....

There are plenty of things out there you could argue our society is starved for in the year 2018. Empathy, for starters. The one thing we’re not starved for (ask anyone) is the glut of real-life images ceaselessly funneled our way on a daily basis though the open spigot of social media and TV news. But the big difference between this white noise and what any of us would consider art is all in the hands of the storyteller—the person tasked with shaping the messy facts of reality into a compelling narrative with value outside the 24-hour news cycle....

But maybe you’re curious how some of those prior subjects have turned out. Well hey, you’re in luck! Once again it’s time for another FiSpo Update highlighting the recent achievements of previous Fiscal Spotlight subjects. Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. The projects and makers participating in the program express a uniqueness of vision, celebrate diversity and advance the craft of filmmaking through the creation of these special works....

Let’s say you made your movie, took it to festivals and somehow managed to sell the damn thing to an honest-to-god film distributor. Time to celebrate, right? Not so fast. There’s still a lot of work left to do, and the first order of business is to gather your film deliverables to hand off to your new BFFs, aka the folks who are actually going to put your passion project into theaters....

There’s plenty of uncertainty ahead for all of us. And in some respects, you could argue that independent filmmakers are as well prepared a bunch as anyone to endure it. Seems we never know when our next project is going to go, where the funding is going to come from, when we’re ever going to be able to finish our films, if anyone is going to want to (or even be able to) see them when they’re done, I could go on… Uncertainty?...

After all, staying at home doesn’t mean we have to binge-watch the same six TV shows everyone is watching. We just need to be a little creative to recreate the movie theater experience we all miss, right in our own backyards. And even if you live in a small apartment, you’ll find there’s no reason you can’t enjoy new movies on a big screen. While many might feel intimidated by this type of project, it’s actually a great opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and keep yourselves busy!...

But fret not, friends, for the gloom is only temporary. By the time June actually arrives, the clouds will part and the (at least metaphorical) sun will shine down on us: the 2016 LA Film Festival will be here! But you already know that. We’ve kept you in the loop every step of the way, letting you know what to expect at this year’s Festival, from competition category film entries to non-competition exhibitions, premieres and special events....