Moviegoing in Los Angeles has never been better, at least not in the 13 years I’ve lived in the city. When covering Slamdance’s move from Park City to LA last year, I listed a host of these either new or newly expanded theatrical offerings. In the year since, American Cinematheque, the undisputed king of repertory cinema in the city (at least in terms of scale), has acquired the historic Village theater in Westwood, with plans to re-open it next year. And Kristen Stewart’s recent purchase of the Highland Theatre is particularly exciting, especially considering that it’s located only one mile […]
by Caleb Hammond on Apr 29, 2026
Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks and Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron make time travel feel possible. Levack retreats into the beer-drenched, laissez-faire vibe of Montreal’s indie rock scene circa 2011; Romvari reflects on her Hungarian immigrant family’s domestic struggles on Vancouver Island in the late 1990s. In Mile End Kicks (Sumerian Pictures), 23-year-old Grace (Barbie Ferreira) is an avatar for Levack, a music critic at a Toronto alt-weekly who leaves her bro-dominated publication for a creative summer in Montreal. She’s supposed to write a short book for the 33 ⅓ series about Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. Instead, Grace loses herself […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 16, 2026
Returning for its third annual edition, the Los Angeles Festival of Movies boasts a lineup of critical darlings from other festivals, newly-restored global cinema, and even the odd world premiere. Co-founded by Sarah Winshall, producer behind indie gems like I Saw the TV Glow and Good One, and Micah Gottlieb, artistic director of the programming non-profit Mezzanine, LAFM was created in part to respond to a dearth of indie film exhibition in the metropolis. From April 9 through 12, L.A.’s east side will serve as a watering hole for filmgoers in a city that, while integral to the filmmaking ecosystem at large, has been […]
by Natalia Keogan on Apr 9, 2026
Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker Sophy Romvari draws inspiration from memories across her acclaimed shorts, while also conjuring up a whole new (cinematic) world to shield them from the passage of time. After Nine Behind, Remembrance of József Romvári and Still Processing, Blue Heron is a fully staged narrative following a Hungarian family of six moving into their new home on Vancouver Island. With the promise of a clean start, they try to rewrite the family history in present tense—an effort seen through the experiences of the youngest child, Sasha (Eylul Guven). Jeremy (Edik Beddoes), the oldest, is affectionate and gentle towards her, […]
by Savina Petkova on Sep 8, 2025