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A career in the Arts is often circuitous. Just ask Gabriela Revilla Lugo, this month’s Member Lens subject. Now a successfully established screenwriter with multiple studio projects currently in the works, the Nicaraguan-born filmmaker was previously known for her accomplished resume as a producer, with a long list of credits including recent Film Independent Spirit Award winner Palm Springs. But even those projects were but one link in a multi-faceted chain of professional engagements, encompassing everything from the Warped Tour to Martin Short....

When you think of the Golden Age of Hollywood, perhaps the most iconic film that comes to mind is 1942’s Casablanca. Countless films across the following generations have paid homage to Casablanca, either by quoting it directly or by taking inspiration from its visual aesthetic or plotlines. But perhaps no film homage has gone quite where director Robert Zemeckis has in his 2016 period romance, Allied. In fact, the whole first act of Allied takes place in Casablanca itself and the film is riddled with nostalgic nods to its predecessor, including a glamourous gin joint (though not Rick’s Café Américain), a bustling marketplace and the spark of a star-crossed relationship set against the backdrop of WWII....

Spring is here, time to get your ducks in a row The weather hasn’t been the most reliable indicator lately but according to the calendar at least, spring is here. And as the sun peeks through the budding leaves and wakening trees, we’re finally whisking away the cobwebs that have been crowding our homes (and minds) ever since the start of awards season. Spring is about energy and forward motion—the perfect time to harness some of that zeal to start planning your 2018-19 fundraising calendar....

You can imagine, then, that it’s one of our great yearly pleasures to introduce the latest group of 30 new Fellows joining the program—a free, nine-month program for writers, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, animators, programmers and entertainment execs from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. Past PI Fellows have included Lulu Wang, Linda Yvette Chávez, Marvin Lemus, Aaliyah Williams, Effie T. Brown, Jon M. Chu and Justin Simien, among many, many more (check out this year’s SXSW lineup, for example)....

Year after year, Film Independent’s Artist Development department has provided reliable, steadfast support to some of the freshest and most original voices in independent film—folks you’ve undoubtedly heard about and whose films you’ve likely come across and enjoyed at one point or another. And while success is rarely the product of any one individual program or organization, we’re more than happy to lay claim (at least partially) to any number of great projects, which have their origins—in one form or another—in our filmmaker Labs....

Those who saw Cartel Land last Thursday at Film Independent at LACMA know Heineman’s not one to shy way from a challenging situation. “So we had three editors come on board. And I cut myself a little bit,” said Heineman who was also a his own cinematographer. “We all kind of left our egos at the door, divided and conquered.” And how did they keep all of those creative voices on the same page under such tight time constraints?...

Point is: TV is great! Know what else is great? The people who make it—especially the writer-creators ably filling our current content boom with their electric imaginations and diverse perspectives, shaking up what has traditionally been an extremely conservative medium. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce the seven great filmmakers participating in this year’s Film Independent Episodic Lab, a two-week intensive virtual program that seeks to provide Fellows with the tools to refine their pilot scripts and navigate an ever-changing industry....

Tell us about your ten-year journey to make Nebraska. I had worked for ten years on a local sketch comedy show in Seattle called Almost Live! After it ended, friends in LA said I should give TV down there a try, and by the way, if you have a movie idea, they like to read those as well. Right after I finished writing Nebraska, one of the guys I started with on Almost Live!...

From Olivia Colman’s fraught sojourn to the Greek Isles in The Lost Daughter to Jessie Buckley’s terrifying trip up the M5 to the English countryside in Men and M. Night’s bummer beaches in Old, taking a little “me time” away from home is often the single biggest mistake any movie character could possibly make. Horror, psychological drama, comedy, mystery, rom-com. The genre hardly matters. In film, the simple act of taking a vacation is rarely the relaxing, restorative interlude one hopes that it might be, placing uneasy personalities in uncertain—even harrowing—circumstances....

I sat down with Film Independent Member Britta Erickson, the current Director of the Denver Film Festival and Denver Film Society, producer of Rolling Papers and all-around great gal, to discuss her experiences making the film: How did you first get involved with this project? When medical marijuana first got legalized, it just got voted in and there were no rules, no regulations, and nobody knew how to deal with it....

Point is: scary movies are both fun and—in some weird way—necessary. Particularly as the evenings begin to dim and pumpkin spice flavonoids start to invade any and all commercially available foodstuffs. But! There are nearly as many different shades of Halloween comfort-viewing as there are of autumn leaves. Whether you’re an unabashed gore-hound with a taste for ultra-intense indie horror or a comedy nerd with a soft spot for trick-or-treat silliness, you no doubt have some sort of perennial Halloween viewing ritual....

Along with falling leaves and pumpkin spice, the next few months are equally steeped with grant opportunities, many with fall/winter deadlines, that can help you move the financial—and artistic!—needle on your project. There are many things to consider when deciding whether to apply for a particular grant. Things like: is the grantor looking to give to a specific social issue? Do they work with first time filmmakers? At what stage does the grantor fund the project?...

Here are five other ways to enjoy this year’s great Festival freebies. Bust out your dancing shoes. On Friday, June 12 at 8:00 pm at FIGat7th, we are presenting a free screening of Jon M. Chu’s latest cinematic dance adventure, The LXD: The Uprising Begins. The director (and Project Involve Fellow!) will be on hand. Bring the little ones. Movie lovers of all ages will love this screening of the iconic Who Framed Roger Rabbit, In 1988, Director Bob Zemeckis pulled off something no one dreamed possible: he packed a period detective yarn about the changing landscape of Los Angeles with a energetic, slapstick story about where reality begins and ends....

Any stressed-out freelancer sitting at Starbucks with their laptop open to a blank Final Draft document will tell you: a good idea unrealized can drive the creative brain crazy. And the only way to truly exorcize this recursive and ever-spiraling thundercloud of unfocused creativity is to flush it out into the physical world in the form of a movie, TV show or web series—preferably without going totally broke in the process....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEvt4Z5VEXQ&list=PLpPm9s-eElkEVdWSOVB1S8eGORhCO8Z7V Project Involve being, of course, one of Film Independent’s longest running, impactful and just generally very cool Artist Development programs. Each year, Project Involve selects 30 new filmmakers—including producers, writers, directors, cinematographers, editors and execs—hailing from underrepresented backgrounds to take part in intensive filmmaker workshops and mentorship sessions, culminating in group collaboration to create between five-seven shorts. And today, we’re thrilled to announce the 30 new Fellows selected to 2020 edition of Project Involve—the program’s 27th year....

Let’s face it: voting is stressful. Or at least it is when the fate of the free world hangs in the balance. But there’s still one form of voting that’s actually fun. And no, we don’t mean voting for American Idol or the NBA All-Star ballot (though those are fun, too). We’re talking about the 31st Film Independent Spirit Awards. Film Independent Members have until February 16 at 9:00am PT to cast their ballots, which means there are still 12 days to cram as many of our nominees into your eyes and ears as possible....

When it comes to celebrating our love lives, there are two types of people out there: those who look forward to the kisses, roses, chocolates and the romantic happenings of Valentine’s Day, and everyone else. But hey, at least there’s chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. We dedicate this blog to the singles, the recently dumped, or anyone else out there who hates V-Day and is in no mood for PDA....

Story Goldmine In 2006, after turning on the radio and hearing a blast of funk music over the airwaves, Mark Landsman became increasingly fascinated with the NPR story that followed about the Kashmere High School jazz musicians in Houston and their teacher, “Prof” Conrad O. Johnson. Landsman praises NPR and its goldmine of stories as “one of the best sources for stories for filmmakers ever.” Once the story concluded, Landsman went on a hunt for the real Prof....

Andrew Droz Palermo For cinematographers, the cataloguing and study of images goes well beyond simple mood-board inspiration. Last year, Arthur Jafa’s trove of notebooks were worthy of an installation at LA’s Hammer Museum, the striking images he paired in those pages revealing the careful construction of his aesthetic. Like Jafa, Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow Andrew Droz Palermo (who shot the upcoming A Ghost Story for director David Lowery) accumulates images, taking screenshots of the films he watches while also reading critical texts on those same films—so he can see them outside of his self, he says....

“This is the first Live Read where we outnumber you guys,” Reitman joked, before introducing the 11 diverse actors that were about to take the stage. Of course this wasn’t literal, as The Bing theater was packed with a crowd eager to experience this rendition of what Reitman considers the “quintessential” screenplay to capture youth and coming of age. Being that there were so many characters in Linklater’s script, all of the actors read multiple roles, and of course everyone in attendance was anxious to discover who was going to read for the role of Wooderson, the character made famous by Matthew McConaughey in the film....