Diego Nájera knew one thing growing up: he did not want to be in front of the camera. Instead, when visiting his TV-producer father at work in the soundstage at home in Guadalajara, Mexico, Nájera would instead find himself drawn to the master control booth, observing the twinkling command center with a precocious interest that would soon develop into a lifelong fascination with film and the process of bringing big ideas and new voices to screen.

Applications for Film Independent’s Fast Track film financing market are now open. The non-Member deadline to apply is June 7, while the Film Independent Member Extended Deadline in June 21. And to celebrate, here's a rundown of some of our favorite Film Independent Fast Track supported projects of all time...

Film Independent Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson talks to the directing duo behind Bleeker Street's new Western drama 'Montana Story', starring Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teauge.

Over the past week or so our already polarized national discourse has been further electrified, thanks an uncharacteristically leaky Supreme Court, which let slip recently with details about a shock overturning of the landmark 1973 civil rights case Roe v. Wade. But what the ensuing cacophonous reaction—online and otherwise—to this news too often left out were the experiences of actual women whose lives would and have been most affected by America’s complicated web of jurisdictional restrictions and pervading stigmas surrounding abortion.

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! (1968-1973) and subject of Haizlip’s Peabody-award winning 2018 documentary Mr. Soul!—acting as the catalyst bringing of the 20th century’s most important Black cultural figures into her literal living room. It’s a tradition the proud Film Independent Member and Project Involve Fellow has continued, with further documentary projects chronicling…