Dont’ Miss Indies: What to Watch in May
It’s an exciting month at the movies with three bold, Black fantasies packed with swagger and two Argentinian films made by female filmmakers. Whether your taste tends toward low-key suspense, creepy horror, sexual philosophy or hunting snakes in the middle of the night, indie filmmakers are always making something fresh for inquiring minds.
BLUE FILM
When You Can Watch: April 27
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Writer/Director: Elliot Tuttle
Cast: Reed Birney, Kieron Moore, Turner Beckett
Why We’re Excited: Aaron (Kieron Moore, Boots) is a fetish camboy who agrees to a night with a patron, named Hank (Reed Birney, Spirit Award winner Mass) but the rendezvous takes a turn when Hank’s true identity is revealed. As the night unfolds, Aaron and Hank revisit their history in light of recent changes in Hank’s life, exploring gray areas of philosophy as well as real life implications. Elliot Tuttle (The Steps) shared the film’s germination and intention with Them, “I found a very personal arc in the character of Aaron about how I feel as a gay adult operating in the Los Angeles gay culture…the Hank character really stemmed from writings that I had done about sex that were just on my computer. It was more a discursive exploration of years’ worth of thoughts and ideas about sex, and how it affects the way that you live your life.”
OUR LAND
When You Can Watch: May 1
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Cast: Javier Chocobar, Comunidad Chuschagasta
Why We’re Excited: Lucrecia Martel (The Headless Woman) started researching this film in 2011, two years after Argentinian Javier Chocobar’s death at the hands of white miners. The moment was documented with Chocobar’s own video recorder, referenced by both sides for different reasons in the 2018 murder trial that finally took place after years of protests by Chocobar’s people, the Chuschagastas. Martel’s first documentary uses her own photography of the courtroom, drones, interviews and photos to tell the story of a country so segregated that white Argentinians have difficulty believing Chocobar’s death took place at all. As Martel traces this disconnect back to Spain’s colonization of the country in the 1500s, Land is a foray into ongoing attitudes toward land rights and human rights – a complex bureaucracy that obscures underlying prejudice.
ONE SPOON OF CHOCOLATE
When You Can Watch: May 1
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: RZA
Cast: Shameik Moore, RJ Cyler, Paris Jackson
Why We’re Excited: The latest from grindhouse filmmaker RZA (The Man with the Iron Fists) is a cinematic experience made for theaters. Unique (Shameik Moore, Dope) is a military veteran recently released from prison for assault while protecting a neighbor. Languishing in a veteran’s shelter, Unique laments the single spoonful of cocoa mix left in a tin, to which his companion replies that one spoon can change a whole cup of milk. This plays out when Unique makes it back to his hometown of Karensville, Ohio – the worst of the whitest places on earth. When Unique’s cousin falls victim to organ-harvesting thugs, his desire to blend in gives way to a violent compulsion for revenge. Chocolate premiered at Tribeca and is inspired by RZA’s own experiences with racially motivated violence in Ohio and New York.
TUNER
When You Can Watch: May 8
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Director: Daniel Roher
Cast: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu
Why We’re Excited: Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Roher (Navalny, The AI Doc) makes his debut with narrative filmmaking, working with actors for the first time to explore the converging worlds of piano tuning and safecracking. As long as we’re involving actors, why not start with Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man)? Hoffman is paired with Leo Woodall (White Lotus), a veteran piano tuner and his apprentice – but where Woodall’s character has super-sensitive hearing, Hoffman’s is going deaf. Together they tune the most desirable pianos in town, including one in which a group of men are attempting to open a safe. Drawn in with a genuine desire to help, Niki (Woodall) applies his hyperacusis to unwittingly rob the client. As he begins to fall for a conservatory student (Havana Rose Liu, Bottoms), he continues to be called upon for help with the safecracking crew, putting Niki in an increasingly complicated position.
THE PYTHON HUNT
When You Can Watch: May 8
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Xander Robin
Cast: Toby Benoit, Jimbo McCartney, Shannon McCartney
Why We’re Excited: Film Independent members Ale Maria Odriozola and Joshua Sobel worked as Line Producer and Field Producer, respectively on this first documentary from Xander Robin (Are We Not Cats). In this wild ride through the Florida Everglades, it’s citizens versus invasive species – specifically Burmese pythons – on a sanctioned killing spree called the Florida Python Challenge. Anyone can enter, and after ten days of python-catching, there’s a $10,000 prize. Even so, rising to the challenge may be tougher than it looks. Robin joined the fray a year before filming, and didn’t even see a python, let alone catch one. Thankfully the pythons weren’t camera-shy, and even some other species turned up for the shoot. With a medic on site, the Python crew put a premium on safety measures (which thankfully were never needed), following hunters from all walks of life in pursuit of the prize.
IS GOD IS
When You Can Watch: May 13
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Writer/Director: Aleshea Harris
Cast: Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox
Why We’re Excited: This brassy cinematic odyssey is also the directorial debut for playwright Aleshea Harris, who brought the story to stages around the country when it won the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award in 2016. This version of a revenge fantasy pits twin sisters Anaia and Racine (Mallori Johnson, Kindred and Kara Young, I’m a Virgo) against their father (Sterling K. Brown, Black Panther) at the request/command of their mother (Vivica A. Fox, Independence Day) – aka God. Sighting the Man as the reason for the burn scars on all three women, God sends the sisters on a cross-country quest to confront their abuser. The mix of family trauma, epic landscapes and biblical proportions set the scene for a confrontation that could lead to vengeance or mercy. “I hope that people are thinking about rage, about Black women’s rage in particular,” Harris said in an interview on Daily Bloid, “There’s a lot going on in this story that I hope people sit with.”
I LOVE BOOSTERS
When You Can Watch: May 22
Where You Can Watch: Select Theaters
Writer/Director: Boots Riley
Cast: Keke Palmer, LaKeith Stanfield, Naomi Ackie
Why We’re Excited: Spirit Award winner Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You) embraces the title of “boosters” for shoplifters who turn clothing around for discount sales. His cast is a collection of Spirit Award winners: Keke Palmer (One of Them Days), LaKeith Stanfield (Short Term 12) and Naomi Ackie (Sorry, Baby) – a ragtag bunch living large in a hyperrealized world of color and couture. Their nemesis? Diva designer Christie Smith (Spirit Award winner Demi Moore, The Substance), who not only towers atop a regime of fashion fascism, but has also stolen a design from one of the boosters, Corvette (Palmer). This setup leads to a series of retail adventures, as the boosters go undercover, engaging with Chinese factory workers and stop-motion animation in a quest to equalize the balance of power (and look great doing it). Film Independent member Gus Deardoff is an Executive Producer and Allison Rose Carter is a Producer.
BACKROOMS
When You Can Watch: May 29
Where You Can Watch: Theater
Director: Kane Parsons
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass
Why We’re Excited: First-timer Kane Parsons’ feature version of his hit web series (under the name, Kane Pixels) is an eerie twist on horror that blends urban legend and a concept that some of us just learned right now: creepypasta (a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet, according to Wikipedia). It all starts when therapist Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value) learns her patient, Clark (Spirit Award winner Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk to Me) has discovered a secret door in the basement of the furniture store where he works. He’s been exploring the maze of backrooms systematically, documenting his findings with video and marking the way to get back out again. But when Clark goes missing, someone has to go in after him.
THE CURRENTS
When You Can Watch: May 29
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Milagros Mumenthaler
Cast: Isabel Aimé González-Sola, Mauricio Bertorello, Sara Bessio
Why We’re Excited: Argentinian filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler (Back to Stay) grew up in Switzerland, which hints at the origins of her psychological mystery that takes place in both countries. We meet Lina (Isabel Aimé González Sola, La Révolution) in Geneva, where she receives a prestigious award for her work as a fashion designer, then jumps off a bridge. When she returns to her husband and child in Buenos Aires, it’s almost as if the Switzerland incident never happened – except for her extreme fear of water. Masking and dissociating only goes so far, as Lina’s skin and hair betray her inability to bathe. But more than that, it seems she no longer wants anything of the life she so intentionally built. As her family and friends wonder what can be done, Lina must face her true self.
PROGRAMMER’S PICK: SLIP
When You Can Watch: May 11
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Creator: Zoe Lister-Jones
Cast: Zoe Lister-Jones, Tymika Tafari, Whitmer Thomas
Why We’re Excited: From Film Independent Lead Programmer Jenn Wilson–
Zoe Lister-Jones’ terrific series Slip about an unhappily married woman who “slips” between timelines where she’s partnered with different lovers premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival and had a streaming deal on Roku. In September 2023, Roku suddenly announced it was removing several projects, including Slip, from its streaming service as a cost-cutting measure. Despite being stuck in limbo with fans having no way to watch it, Slip was nominated for two Spirit Awards (Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and Best New Scripted Series). After almost 3 years, Lister-Jones announced on social media that Slip was acquired by Peacock and would begin streaming in April 2026. Lister-Jones created, wrote, and directed the whole series herself, and it’s one of the strongest projects written for TV in a long time. At points it’s laugh-out-loud funny, but also incredibly poignant in its exploration of long-term relationships, love, and sex. Lister-Jones, Whitmer Thomas, and Tymika Tafari all give wonderful performances that infuse the series with so much energy. Viewers should count themselves lucky that such a unique show finally found a new life on another platform. Might we be lucky enough to get a Season 2?
KEY
Film Independent Fellow or Member
Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A
Microbudget
Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color
Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee
Female Filmmaker
LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters
First-time Filmmaker
LA Film Fest Winner or Nominee
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