The Sundance Institute announced today the 87 feature films and six episodic projects selected for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Among the films are new pictures from returning filmmakers Cherien Dabis, Bill Condon, Amalia Ulman, Ira Sachs, and Amir “Questlove” Thompson, while in the U.S. and World Dramatic Competitions, all 20 filmmakers are making their first appearance at the festival. Additionally, 41% of the entire feature film program across the festival consists of films by first-time directors. Those statistics, says Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programing, in an interview with Filmmaker, are “a reminder of how much […]
The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Filmmaker‘s parent publication, announced today that UTA Partner Theresa Peters will join the organization’s Board of Directors. Known as a guiding force in entertainment who has shaped the evolution of countless careers across film and media, Peters will work with The Gotham to advance its mission of celebrating and nurturing independent film and media creators by providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition. “Theresa Peters represents the very best of what an industry leader can be – someone who not only shapes the careers of renowned artists but also creates […]
Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson are the stars of Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’ bold and brilliant adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel that tells the story, cinematically, almost entirely in a first-person POV-style. Herisse and Wilson talk about the challenge of acting to the camera, their saga of navigating auditions, the “freedom” and “openness” they both felt from Ross, how the trust they built with the crew played a big part in performing in this process, and much more. Nickel Boys opens in select theaters on December 14th. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple […]
For years the object of cult devotion, Maria Callas went from a dazzling career as a soprano to international celebrity, a figure of relentless scrutiny even after she lapsed into silence. Maria continues director Pablo Larraín’s fascination with larger-than-life figures like Jacqueline Onassis (Jackie) and Princess Diana (Spencer). Here, Angelina Jolie takes on the role of Callas, seen over several years of her life in Europe and the United States. Larraín’s kaleidoscopic approach jumps among timelines and locations, assembling a character from moments large and small. Although we see glimpses of Callas’s successes on stage, Steven Knight’s screenplay primarily takes […]
Oxbelly announced today an open call for the Oxbelly Retreat’s 2025 edition, to be held June 28 through July 6 at Costa Navarino in Messinia, Greece. Also announced are Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World director Radu Jude as the leader of the Screenwriters Program and The Road to the Country author Chigozie Obioma as leader of the Fiction Writers Program. The application deadline is January 22, 2025. There is no cost to apply, and all expenses for fellows are covered. More from the press release: The Oxbelly Retreat is an annual gathering of international […]
Mati Diop likes summoning spirits. In 2019’s Cannes-premiering Atlantics, the ghosts of young Senegalese men lost in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Dakar come back to haunt people in their bid to demand what is rightfully theirs. In her latest hybrid documentary, Dahomey—which won the Golden Bear at Berlinale this year—she exorcises the spirit of artifacts looted by the French from the West African kingdom of Dahomey between 1892-94. After centuries of lying inert in Paris’ Musée du quai Branly, 26 of these artifacts were restituted to Benin in 2021. Dahomey not only documents their long journey home […]
While the eruption of violence at the US Capitol on January 6th left most Americans dazed and confused — and too many journalists and talking heads scrambling to dissect the psyche of the rioters as if they were extraterrestrial beings and not our actual next-door neighbors — multimedia artist Michael Premo had been listening and filming throughout the summer of 2020 with open ears and eyes all along. His Venice-debuting Homegrown follows three diverse (yes, diverse) Trump-supporting “patriots”: an excited young father-to-be (to a biracial child) in New Jersey, an Air Force vet and rightwing organizer in “liberal” NYC, and […]
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. It’s now primetime for FYC campaigning. I was inundated with digital codes and old-school DVDs early last week; studios know that voters—at least American ones—might have had lots of downtime and perhaps visiting family members to entertain. What better way to treat your guests than showing them A24’s entire 2024 slate (with the exceptions of the still-unreleased Babygirl, The Brutalist and Queer)? There were also a slew of FYC events in Los Angeles ahead of […]
Here’s a funny thing to think about: One of the best places to get a handle on what’s happening in American (and sometimes Canadian) independent film is a very long travel day away from New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, at the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, a millennium-old city with a historic Old Town. Adjacent is the very modern cineplex New Horizons, which shares its name with a sprawling summer festival and each November also hosts AFF and its industry-only sidebar, US in Progress. Described by one attendee as “foreign aid for American indies,” USIP has, over its […]
While it’s not uncommon for a filmmaker to earn an Oscar nomination for directing their first narrative feature—directors to do so since the turn of the century include Emerald Fennell, Jordan Peele, Benh Zeiltlin, Tony Gilroy, Rob Marshall and Spike Jonze—it’s very rare for a film debut to win best director. Only six have accomplished the feat: Marty’s Delbert Mann, West Side Story’s Jerome Robbins (sharing the Oscar with co-director Robert Wise), Ordinary People’s Robert Redford, Terms of Endearment’s James L. Brooks, Dances With Wolves’ Kevin Costner and American Beauty’s Sam Mendes. This year, the best director race is packed […]