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By Pamela Ezell / LA Film Fest Guest Blogger A complex relationship between a mother and son is at the heart of Janis Nords’ Mother, I Love You. Nords wrote and directed this coming of age drama, featuring non-actor Kristofers Konovalovs in his first film. Made in Latvia with financial support from the Riga Film Fund, the film was shot in 21 days. According to Nords, only about one or two movies a year are made in Latvia, and he had no idea when making Mother, I Love You that he would be screening it in “the film Mecca” a few months later....

MONIKA SKERBELIS Prior to leaving studio life to join the rewarding (yet labyrinthine) world of independent film, producer and festival programming director Monika Skerbelis was the Vice President of the Story Department at Universal Pictures, where she oversaw the feature film story department and worked to develop a number of screenplays. As the director of the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival since 2008—not to mention the Artistic & Programming Director at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival for 13 years—Skerbelis has identified countless new talent and championed them along the way....

As a filmmaker who’s constantly making things, how much time do you have to consume the latest TV shows, films, music and podcasts? I don’t have a lot of time at home when I’m either not working or when I’m so exhausted that any story, no matter how amazing, will put me right to sleep. I make a point to try to see the films I’m most interested in in the theater if I don’t catch them at festivals....

The five films collected in today’s Festival Spotlight include a smorgasbord of hot-button topics, from false accusation and imprisonment, to issues of asylum and Islamophobia, to the rights of journalists and for the families of victims—heavy stuff, sure, but also endlessly compelling. Each film is playing (some more than once) at the 2018 LA Film Festival, which begins next week and runs from September 20 to September 28 across the city....

It’s strange that in a country (India) whose people are majorly known to walk, talk and sleep Bollywood, the portrayal of characters from a particular religion (Islam) has always been slightly warped. In an industry that churns out hundreds of films every year, only a handful of them accommodate the Muslim narrative with honesty and the proper research in place. But, across 100+ years of Bollywood, we have come across a few brilliant films that have spoken about the Muslim experience, with Muslim characters shown not just as the kohl-eyed villain or the occasional tawaif, but in their entire humanity—their ways of living, their joys, sorrows and struggles....

What’s his secret to success in the face of such scrutiny from the networks? Fuller says it boils down to giving his collaborators a creative stake in the process. “I want everybody who works with me to feel like they’re respected as storytellers,” said Fuller, “And that way you get them coming back.” The first time he met with Mads Mikkelsen, the Danish actor who plays the titular psychiatrist turned serial killer, Fuller said he was already getting ideas from him....

Behind every (fill in the blank) great/glorious/funny/scary/sad story told on film is an equally great/glorious/funny/scary (yes, probably sometimes) sad story: the one about how the whole thing went from being an idea in a brain (probably many years ago) to a big screen premiere at a big-time Festival. In this Film/Maker Q/A blog series, our LA Film Fest programmers interview our LA Film Fest filmmakers to discover the stories behind the story....

The “overnight success story out of Sundance” is one of the most alluring career narratives in all of independent cinema. It’s an enduring and popular myth that just so happens to be true—or at least true enough of the time that young filmmakers still dream of using Sundance to become the next Wes Anderson or Karyn Kusama. But the first step is to actually get your film in. Which, easier said than done....

I recently had the privilege of participating as a Fellow in Film Independent’s Fast Track program. During the three days, producers and their writer/directors take 60 curated, one-on-one meetings with established financiers, production companies, sales and packaging agents, distributors, attorneys, granting organizations and other film industry professionals who can move their projects forward. Like speed dating for movie producing. Yep, I said 60. That’s 20 each day. Can you think of the last time you took 20 meetings in one day?...

As writer and producer, Barrett created each of these films—as well as 2010’s A Horrible Way to Die—in collaboration with director Adam Wingard. But with Wingard off wrangling kaiju as the skipper of Godzilla vs. Kong, Barrett was free to step into the director’s chair to helm the stylish new chiller Séance. Based on his own script and marking Barrett’s feature directorial debut, Séance stars Suki Waterhouse and is currently playing in select theaters and streaming on VOD....

We’re proud that three of the short films created during Project Involve, Film Independent’s Artist Development program for diverse and emerging filmmakers, were among the 25 selected for the 2014 PBS Online Film Festival: My Dear Americans, directed by Arpita Kumar; 7 Day Gig, directed by Kate Marks; and You’re Dead to Me, directed by Wu Tsan. We asked Kumar to write about her experience making her short during Project Involve and what she learned about the form....

Myrna the Monster, a short film starring an adorably awkward and reflective alien (think E.T. but with a valley girl accent) tells Myrna’s American assimilation story and search for her home away from her homeland [the moon]. Myrna is charming, lovable and infinitely relatable—a dream leading lady. We spoke to writer-director Ian Samuels, a Project Involve Fellow, about the making of Myrna, how she came to be (did we mention she’s a puppet?...

May is for Members! This week only: 50% off Filmmaker Lover or Filmmaker Pro. This month, we’re celebrating our Membership experience for filmmakers and film lovers all over the globe. All month-long you can enjoy an array of special discounts on Membership. Melissa Haizlip isn’t someone who had to go searching for culture. The New York-based director, producer and actor grew up immersed in a world of creators, her uncle Ellis—host of the landmark PBS variety show SOUL!...

As is Live Read tradition, Jason Reitman took to the Twittersphere yesterday to whet our appetites by tweeting out the surprise cast for tonight’s Live Read of Dazed & Confused. Ever since, we’ve been indulging in our favorite Live Read-day pastime: who-will-play-who? James Vanderbeek as Randall “Pink” Floyd? Mae Whitman, Whitney Cummings or Mindy Kaling as Darla “Air Raid” Mark? Will Nick Kroll or Eric Andre get the great honor of delivering “Alright Alright Alright?...

Scott Cooper knows his films don’t always go down easy. Once, on the way out of an advance screening of his second feature, Out of the Furnace, he overheard two women discussing their impressions of the film. “One turned to the other and said, ‘Ooooo, his wife has to live with that?’” Cooper’s first film, 2009’s Crazy Heart, was the subject of last night’s Film Independent at LACMA screening celebrating 30 years of the Film Independent Spirit Awards....

While there’s certainly not an overabundance of industry support out there for emerging nonfiction filmmakers, there is at the very least the Film Independent Documentary Lab. And today, we’re thrilled to welcome seven new Fellows and six new projects to the 2023 Doc Lab cohort. “Documentary filmmakers remain at the forefront of innovative cinema, telling real stories with urgency and accessibility,” says Daniel Cardone, Film Independent’s Manager of Nonfiction Programs, “Our selections [for this year’s Lab] emphatically demonstrate this, tackling important cultural issues and events with compassion and limitless creativity....

One is is how much filmmakers should expect to pay for a publicist. Desrochers’ answer: between five thousand and $15 thousand per festival, depending on the size of the fest, the number of cast and crew representing the film and how much travel is involved. The other question she’s most often asked is when filmmakers should start looking to hire a publicist. While Desrochers stressed that a publicist can’t start working to bring attention to a film until it has been accepted to a major festival, she emphasized that the time to start thinking about publicity is right now....

Filmed in 1967 on a reported budget of $114,000, Living Dead’s grit and verisimilitude more or less launched the entire modern horror era, salvaging the genre from a decade-plus of kitschy gothic castles and goofy monster movies, setting the stage for everything from The Exorcist to The Blair Witch Project. The film also single-handedly invented the modern idea of the “zombie”—a carnivorous, undead corpse methodically shambling toward its next meal....

But how about an awards show designed to honor another awards show? It may seem a bit like a hall of mirrors reflecting off each other into a recursive spiral of backslapping showbiz fractals—but the impulse to honor these shows is legit. Awards shows are every bit as much of a production as any critically acclaimed Hollywood blockbuster or prestige cable drama; full of careful creative choices, aesthetic decisions and thoughtful, consistent thematic messaging....

TOP FESTIVALS FOR DOCS If you’re a filmmaker looking to live The Doc Life (or even just a documentary aficionado) you must, I think, at some point make a film festival pilgrimage. Now, much has been said about how to make the most of your festival experience, and you’ve no doubt read about filmmakers’ mythical journeys to various exotic locales—full of VIP parties, bidding wars and the inevitable popping champagne to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime studio acquisitions deal....