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The 16th incarnation of the Forum commenced on Monday, October 24 with a full day of in-person events, ranging from one-on-one Industry Connect meetings and an in-depth presentation on impact producing, to the Filmmaker Keynote from writer-director duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka “Daniels”) and Opening Night—a screening of A24’s The Inspection, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers. This week marks the first time in the Forum’s history where the event is offered in a hybrid format: after yesterday’s in-person programming, the rest of this jam-packed week is filled to the brim with virtual and livestream panels, case studies, and workshops for global audiences to enjoy!...

As with many great documentaries, Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s United Skates uses the colorful subculture milieu of its ostensible subject, in this case African American roller-skating rinks, to explore deeper social ideas. The film—which recently concluded an Oscar qualifying theatrical run and will be premiering wide on HBO in February 2019—uses roller skates to explore hard truths about the intersection of race, community and capitalism in America. But before the film was serving as the subject of an expansive New York Times long read or earning a whopping 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was one of six new projects being shepherded through the 2016 Film Independent Documentary Lab, with Brown as Winkler as two of the lab’s 10 2016 Fellows....

Enter writer-director Clay Liford’s new indie comedy Slash—a coming-of-age story centered on high school student Neil, played by Michael Johnston. When not questioning his own budding sexual orientation, Neil’s primary activity is writing erotic fan fiction about a sci-fi action character called “Vanguard”—an offbeat hobby that earns him nothing but mockery from his fellow students. Eventually, Neil befriends fellow outcast Julia (Hannah Marks) and the two set off on an adventure to a local “slash fic” con to present Neil’s stories to Denis, an esteemed erotic genre fiction tastemaker played by the Michael Ian Black....

Awards Season Fever is rising. And, of course, we can’t help obsessing over how the 30th anniversary of our favorite shindig, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, will play out. One thing we do know is that our Film Independent family already is getting in the mood to celebrate. Rosemarie DeWitt, Steve McQueen, Jason Reitman, John Waters, Jeff Bridges, Laura Dern, Zach Braff, Jill Soloway, Jason Schwartzman, Ray McKinnon, Rosario Dawson, Reese Witherspoon and many more have sent us video greetings in honor of the occasion....

Yesterday on the Film Independent blog, we spoke with producer Jennifer Dubin about the harsh realities filmmakers sometimes face when it comes to distribution. If no one will release your movie the way you want it done, it’s up to you to do it yourself. Other times, a film is a hit with audiences from the moment it screens. “We always felt that if we could get an audience in front of this movie, that it’s got a chance,” said Ravi Patel, who stars in Meet the Patels and co-directed the film with his sister Geeta Patel....

The actress who began her impressive turn as Sally Draper at the age of 6 lived up to that reputation Friday night at part two of the Mad Men Tribute at Film Independent at LACMA, when she held her own as she took the stage alongside the fabulously attired costume designer Janie Bryant (rocking a pantsuit that would have made Megan Draper green with envy.) The two women joined Film Independent at LACMA Curator Elvis Mitchell for a Q&A following a screening of At the Codfish Ball, [the season five episode in which Don, Megan, Sally, Megan’s parents and Roger get dolled up for a swanky awards banquet honoring Don....

“My choice selection is either going to jail, being in jail, or coming out of jail. If my character is not even high, I’m excited.” So describes Andre Royo on the difficulties of being an African-American actor in this year’s Coffee Talks: Actors. By Wendy Chuong / LA Film Fest Guest Blogger The 2013 LA Film Fest brought together Garcelle Beauvais, Joe Manganiello, Gina Rodriguez and Andre Royo to discuss, through hilarious personal anecdotes, the triumphs and challenges of working as actors....

Said Film Independent President Josh Welsh, in his opening remarks: “We’ve never opened with a documentary, or at the Ford.” But the film itself was only the start of the evening’s festivities. The screening was followed by Q&A moderated by Rolling Stone’s David Fear with Slater and two of the documentary’s star subjects: musicians Jakob Dylan and Michelle Phillips. After that followed 30 full minutes of live performances of classic Laurel Canyon tunes by the “Echo in the Canyon Band”—Dylan and his crack team of backing players, rounded out by special guests Jade Castrinos, Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power), Michelle Phillips and Jackson Browne....

“I fall in love with my main character…and that’s how it all begins,” director Kimberly Peirce said at the Coffee Talks: Directors panel discussion at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival, during which four trailblazing independent filmmakers— Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, the married directing team behind Little Miss Sunshine, Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) and Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone)—shared their insights into topics such as character, acting, sound and screenwriting....

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 Nightfall section, which features suspense-heavy and spine-tingling stories, about the genre, their filmmaking ups and downs and Freddy Krueger. Here’s what they had to say. What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? The Blair Witch Project What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror?...

As an organization, Film Independent is made meaningful by our community of filmmakers and film lovers who are not just the beneficiaries but, through their support and enthusiasm, the patrons who make our events, educational opportunities and awards-show merrymaking possible. And while we’ve always been thankful for such an incredible Membership community, it’s time we used our platform to turn the spotlight around on you—to learn how you got here, what you’re working on and just how, exactly, Film Independent has either helped or can help....

Here at Film Independent, we’re lucky to be able to interact with a lot of very cool people—filmmakers, festival programmers, the occasional freshly scrubbed celeb. That sort of thing. Rarely, though, do we get a chance to geek out as much as we did August 4 to kick off Day Five of the 2020 Film Independent Forum. Why? Because, like a lot of people out there (including Emmy voters), we’re big, big fans of the Hulu original series Ramy—created by and starring Egyptian-American writer, director and comedian Ramy Youssef....

“If you gave me a million years to ponder, I would never have guessed that true romance and Detroit would ever go together.” Or so says Alabama, the gentle call girl played by Patricia Arquette. But every Bonnie has a Clyde, and Alabama’s is her Elvis-loving drifter beau Clarence, as embodied by Christian Slater. “We’re not negotiatin’. I don’t like to barter. I don’t like to dicker. I never have fun in Tijuana....

But fair warning: it won’t be easy to decide. By any metric 2019 was a fantastic film year, making it extremely difficult to whittle talent down to manageable list of nominees, let alone a single winner. Luckily, Fi Members have until January 29 to cast their picks in all categories, with the winners announced at the 35th Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 8 in Santa Monica, hosted once again by the great Aubrey Plaza and broadcast only on IFC....

Albert Berger: Best Picture, (Nebraska) Dede Gardner: Best Picture (12 Years a Slave) Spike Jonze: Best Picture, Original Song, Original Screenplay (Her) Vincent Landay: Best Picture (Her) Joey McFarland: Best Picture (The Wolf of Wall Street) Steve McQueen: Best Picture, Best Director (12 Years a Slave) Morgan Neville: Best Documentary Feature (20 Feet from Stardom) Caitrin Rogers: Best Documentary Feature (20 Feet from Stardom) Kim Magnusson: Best Live Action Short Film (Helium) Ron Yerxa: Best Picture (Nebraska) Pamela Miller / Website & Grants Manager

We kid, we kid. The Spirit Awards are, in fact, extraordinarily unique among Hollywood awards shows—an all-day celebration of independent film in amazing location that acts as the primarily fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round calendar of events, international programs, filmmaker education and artist development programs. Then again, some things never change—like the fact that Spirit Award winners are voted on exclusively by Film Independent Members. Join by Dec 5 to receive awards screeners and full Spirit Award Member benefits....

The documentary genre encompasses a wide range of filmic approaches to nonfiction storytelling. Some directors may use an observational approach—a “fly-on-the-wall” model capturing candid moments while striving to have as little interaction with the people in front of the camera as possible. Others employ a more participatory style, engaging in interviews and sharing impressions, thoughts and opinions with subjects throughout the course of the film. But no matter the style, when filmmakers are able to focus in on a compelling central character, it’s usually a recipe for success....

Not to mention, it’s always interesting to hear how friends and colleagues have been filling their schedules during these strange times. Even if you’re not looking for a recommendation for yourself, hearing what sort of content is being gobbled up can still provide a tiny insight into the lives and personalities of the people we know—perhaps even more illuminating than the fascinating scraps of domestic space glimpsed in the passport-photo versions of ourselves we see on Zoom....

It was a nice surprise, nonetheless, to see Hamm as the anti-Don, mugging and cracking jokes with an ebullient Weiner, who himself had selected the finale of season five, The Phantom, to screen. In it, the SCDP partners are coping with Lane’s grisly suicide—he hanged himself from his office door; mid-life crisis-ing Pete (who gets punched out by two different guys in same train car) has a heavy fling with a woman whose electroshock therapy zaps her awareness of him from her brain; Don, suffering a debilitating toothache, is haunted by his dead brother (who also hanged himself) and Megan, flailing to find her place in the world, begs Don to breathe hope into her lifeless career....

A lot of mentoring happened, which I enjoyed. But for the show, it was a fresh approach because people didn’t have bad habits. They just talked freely about ideas, life experience… It made it more difficult in some ways because everyone had such a huge learning curve, but ultimately it really served the show well. It was different from other shows I’ve been on in that Jill likes to focus on emotional truth, which sounds like an obvious thing that you would want to do, but a lot of shows just kind of get stuck in the plot of things and trying to make it work and trying to make a good ‘act out’ for the commercial break, and there’s not a lot of time in the room spent saying, like, ‘Would that really happen?...