Letterboxd — Your life in film

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…

Editor’s note: this piece originally ran in 2020. We’re re-posting here with minor edits. Unpregnant is currently available to stream on HBO Max.

Director Natalie Morales joins Film Independent Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson for an in-person, post-screening Q&A with 'Plan B' filmmaker Natalie Morales.

Our two-part interview with The Flight Attendant set decorator Jessica Petruccelli originally ran in last November following the completion of the show’s first season. With Season Two now out on HBO Max, we thought appropriate to return our seat to an upright position and revisit.

Filmmaker Goran Stolevski talks to Film Independent Senior Programmer Jen Wilson about his Sundance-favorite witch epic, 'You Won't Be Alone' -- now out from Focus Features.

For 2019 Global Media Makers Fellow Rezwan Shariar Sumit, his small-scale narrative feature, The Salt in Our Waters, about an embattled fishing community in southern Bangladesh—the coastal Patuakhali District—has blossomed into something much larger. The film has played at festivals worldwide. A series of community screenings brought the film to its participants in the region and opened a dialogue between villagers and local government.

Editors note: this blog originally ran in December of last year, concurrent with the release of Michael Sarnoski’s Film Independent Spirit Award-winning Pig. With Cage’s latest film Massive Talent now out, we thought it appropriate to revisit.

Filmmaker Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) discusses the making of his latest feature, the Focus Features viking epic THE NORTHMAN with Rotten Tomatoes Awards Editor Jacqueline Coley.

In this series of special guest posts, we’re asking first-time feature directors (narrative and nonfiction) to share what they’ve learned from these debut outings, focusing on one specific aspect of production. This month: crowdfunding.

One of the the most reassuring elements on display at the 2022 Sloan Film Summit—which took place earlier this month, April 8-10, in LA’s Little Tokyo neighborhood—was that of the event’s omnipresent COVID-19 safety procedures. Regular testing for all staff and attendees! Indoor mask requirements! Limited indoor event seating!

Looking for money for next film, be it a narrative feature, documentary, or multimedia project? Consider applying for fiscal sponsorship though Film Independent.

As the crisp THWAP! of Hollywood’s most infamous backhand recedes into industry lore, so too has a historic 2022 awards season been issued, absorbed and dissipated. So what next? Well, with the springtime weather (and bellyfuls of Easter chocolate) getting us hyped up like a grease-covered Northman dancing around a Bjork-approved Icelandic campfire, we now turn our attentions toward a more primal state of being—and a more heightened set of emotions. Madness. Lust. Fear. In other words: the sort of…

Hollywood sound professional Casey Genton (Justice League, Zombieland: Double Tap) demonstrates how sound mixing and sound editing completes and enhances the cinematic experience. Shot at The Formosa Group during the production of 2021 Film Independent Project Involve short 'The Mason Ring' written & directed by Terry Dawson.

Applications for the 2022 Film Independent Producing Lab and Fast Track film financing market are now open. And look, you don’t have to our word for it that these are great programs. For this guest post, we asked dual 2021 Producing Lab and Fast Track Fellow Lysette Urus to share her experiences and discuss the path to Wild Animal, her current feature project.

“One day soon, this kind of panel will be obsolete.” So said writer and producer Wendy Calhoun by way of her introduction to the 2022 Sloan Film Summit “Women in Science and Film” conversation on April 9, at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum in Little Tokyo. The all-female panel, which Calhoun described as a “time capsule” in the making, brought two of America’s most prominent scientific voices—NASA Flight Systems Engineer Tracy Drain and Dr. Ziva Cooper, Director of UCLA’s Cannabis Research Initiative—together with…

Hollywood Intimacy Coordinator Heather María Ács takes you behind the scenes of a simulated love scene to discuss her work and show off a few of the TOOLS OF THE TRADE of this emerging and important crew position.