Most recently scoring the international film trophy at the BAFTA Awards, Sentimental Value is Danish editor — and Spirit Awards alum for The Apprentice — Olivier Bugge Coutté’s sixth collaboration with director Joachim Trier. The filmmakers have previously worked on The Worst Person in the World (which also stars Renate Reinsve from Presumed  Innocent) and Oslo, August 31^st. The Norwegian-English family drama from Trier follows actress Nora (Reinsve), who resents her father and once-successful director, Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård from Dune and Chernobyl), for abandoning the family after divorcing their mother many years ago. Along with sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), Nora has to deal with him again when he returns following their mother’s passing. In a desperate attempt to revive his career, Gustav offers the lead role in his next movie to Nora. But when she refuses it, he turns the project into an English-language film so that the role could be inhabited by American actress, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning, Spirit Award alum for the Hulu series, The Great).

After 30 years of friendship and cinematic collaborations, newly-minted Oscar-nominee, Coutté, is in sync with Trier after working together for so many years. “We’ve done six films together. Joachim and I have very similar taste in films, music for films, art, and literature. We are fascinated by the same things. And we are so in tune with what moments we like in the acting, the rhythm of the scenes, how to use music, when to hold back or give information, the playfulness of montages, etc.,” he shares, adding that: “When I see material from Joachim, I often feel “I know what you thought here, I know why you did this shot. Of course we have a lot things to solve in the edit, and it takes a lot of work but we are artistically 100% on the same page.”

What is Joachim like as a collaborator and what is the shorthand that you’ve developed over the years? 

We play this game, where I let a shot run and put a marker where I would cut out. Without looking at my marker, Joachim does the same. We always hit within the same 12 frames. We are in sync. On the one hand, it’s very challenging to cut Joachim’s films because of their complexity in storytelling, but it’s also very easy because I just need to ask myself: “Does this work for me? If yes, then there’s a 98% chance it will also work for Joachim.”

My favorite part in this film is the artistic play with the bilingual element in the film-within-a-film, where Rachel first reads a very emotional section of Gustav’s script in English early in the story, and towards the end, Nora reads the same in Norwegian. It highlights the fact that translations, no matter how well-done, sometimes simply cannot fully capture a moment or feeling, which is best left to its original language. How did you tackle both sequences?

Rachel’s delivery is very strong and very emotional. She proves to Gustav and everyone at that moment that she is very good actress. But also, just an actress. To me, it’s not so much her convincing acting that hits me, it’s Gustav’s reaction. He leans back and smiles, but what is that smile about? It takes a while before he smiles. Is he convinced that Rachel is right for the part, or is he forcing himself to be convinced?

When Nora reads the scene, it becomes personal. She recognizes it from her own life and finally understands that this script is not about Gustav’s mother [but about Nora instead]. There was one long tracking shot from the side as she reads. It was supposed to be kept in one, but it was not nearly as strong as this handheld shot, which puts you right in the feeling with Nora. It doesn’t need the tracks to tell you that “this is an important moment.” It also made it possible to cut to Agnes on the same axes as she watches her sister. That for me is the strongest part, even more intense than Nora’s read. With her hands on her face, crying, Agnes feels Nora’s pain, but I can also see hope in her eyes, because this finally allows Nora to understand their father. All three actresses — Elle, Inga, and Renate — are so incredible. What a privilege it is to cut scenes like this.

A beautiful Dragestil (or “dragon style”) house, the Borg family home is a crucial part of the story. How did you convey the tension, love, and grief that has transpired in that house? 

The opening montage is what sets the house as a center stage for the story to unfold: it has witnessed several generations of the Borg family. We would cut to an empty room or view thru the windows, let the people enter and exit the frame to leave it empty again. We would also see empty rooms and hear activities outside the frame. In one shot, a window is closing and you hear the outside world from an open and closed window’s perspective. With Nora’s voiceover, it gave a strong sense of the house just being there, not moving and witnessing the world passing by. The windows became the eyes, the rooms became the stomach, etc.

That’s fascinating! Even though the story deals with heavy topics like depression, suicide, and abandonment, how did you keep some levity for the audience?

We believe very much in humor to bring people in and engage the audience even in stories that involve death and pain. You become more receptive when you are allowed to laugh. If it’s only painful, you will shut down and protect your feelings. That’s why you often see both in our montages about the house. In the second montage, Gustav’s mum is closing the door before her suicide while teenage Gustav peeks at his aunt’s girlfriend’s naked breasts. Life is complex. You can both cry and laugh at the same event, and still be normal.

The montage where the faces of Gustav, Nora, and Agnes morph into each other on rotation is very emotional. What was that meant to symbolize?

The sequence was created in-camera by the DP Kasper Tuxen, by exposing one face, rewinding the film, and exposing on top of it again. It’s not CGI. It wasn’t written in the script. He also did the same for The Worst Person in The World, but we never found a place to use it. I can’t tell you what it symbolizes. It’s one of those open-ended lyrical abstractions that anyone can put their own meaning to. When you know the story of these three characters and their “psychological knot,” it can mean everything from an image of pain to forgiveness. It comes right after Nora’s breakdown and before Agnes’ fight with Gustav and the sisters’ reunification. From this point on, things will have to change; the status quo is no longer an option. Is it a warning? Is it about forgiveness? I don’t know.

What was the most challenging, unexpected, or rewarding sequence to cut on this film? 

One of my favorite parts is the little jazzy montage around Nora, when she was with her co-worker in the bed, before it ends at Agnes’ house. I just love the playfulness of that style of editing.

After Nora finally reads her father’s script, the emotional scene with Agnes and Nora hugging and crying is very moving. How did you accentuate this pivotal moment?

In the original script, this was meant to be earlier in the film, even before Nora and Rachel meet at the theatre. But the scene was so strong between the sisters: once Nora understands that it’s about a character similar to herself (maybe herself), they come together in a mutual understanding of what they experienced during their childhood. It felt like the highest peak in the story. After that, everything was secondary conflicts and you could feel the film was getting a life on its own and starting to close in on itself. When Nora and Agnes hug each other on the bed, it was shot with many small improvised moments. As an editor, it’s all about carefully going thru the material over and over again. Agnes saying “I love you”, and Nora replying “me too” was improvised on only one of the takes. Imagine if we had missed that.

Let’s talk about the final sequence where Nora is acting in Gustav’s movie on the soundstage.  

I get very emotional every time I see this ending shot. I know it’s a film-within-a-film and Nora is an actress, and I can see the blue screen outside the windows. But every time I want to stop her from going behind that door and scream “Nora please, don’t do it, let me help you.” Originally, Gustav gives stage direction to Nora, but we took it away. Without it, the scene is much stronger and you identify with her and with Gustav’s story about his mum and his daughter much more this way. It makes you think of the whole film that you’ve just watched. It’s a catharsis. After Gustav says “cut” and they look at each other, you see the admiration and love they have for each other. All of their problems are far from being solved, but the love and respect is back between father and daughter. They have finally found a way to communicate. The power of art has healed the void between them, and hopefully, set them on a path to communicate better as father and daughter.

Earning nine Oscar nominations, Sentimental Value is playing in select theaters for a post-nomination run and available on PVOD.

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Featured Image: Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning in ‘Sentimental Value.’ Courtesy NEON

This month at the movies we draw your attention to three compelling documentaries on the future of AI, the historic trailblazing courage of a female astronaut, and the inescapable present of colon health. Mix that up with some hockey, nursing, social commentary, neurotic romance and truly spooky fare for your Friday the 13th, for one wild storytelling ride.

YOUNGBLOOD

When You Can Watch: March 6

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Hubert Davis

Cast: Ashton James, Blair Underwood, Shawn Doyle

Why We’re Excited: It’s a reimagining of the 1986 hockey movie starring Rob Lowe. Detroit prodigy Dean Youngblood (Ashton James, Boxcutter) joins a Canadian hockey team in order to show off, really. With his father’s voice in his head (Blair Underwood, Deep Impact) and coach Murray (Shawn Doyle, Star Trek: Discovery) in his face, Dean must decide for himself what it means to be a Black man – on or off the ice. Directed by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Hubert Davis (Black Ice) after Charles Officer (Akilla’s Escape) helped write it and then passed away, Davis honored Officer’s vision to invert 80’s narratives of masculinity: learn to fight, beat up the bully, get the girl. “For me,” he told Alt A Review, “it was about taking my own personal experiences—my relationship with my dad, my relationship with my sons now—and infusing that into the story to make it feel true.” Film Independent member Allison Sokol is an Associate Producer on Youngblood.

HEEL

When You Can Watch: March 6

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Jan Komasa

Cast: Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon

Why We’re Excited: This psychological thriller stars Spirit Award winner Stephen Graham (Adolescence) and nominee Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) as a dysfunctional couple trying to rehabilitate a 19-year-old criminal named Tommy (Anson Boon, Pistol). They do this by chaining him up like a dog and attempting to train him accordingly. As the training unfolds, Tommy’s resistance cracks with an occasional show of obedience, but is it just an act to get away? Embracing dystopian allegory and dark comedy, Heel is the latest from Polish Oscar nominee Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi), whose body of work reflects psychological intensity. “It became a kind of thought experiment,” he told TPM. “Everything I’d done before was rooted in realism, so this was about opening new doors.” Film Independent member Naomi Despres is an Executive Producer.

ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT

When You Can Watch: March 6

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Tony Benna

Cast: André Ricciardi

Why We’re Excited: Spirit Award nominee Tony Benna documents the last days of a San Francisco advertising professional with a quirky lifestyle, a sarcastic wit and stage four colon cancer. Why is André an idiot? Because he could have caught it with a colonoscopy. Following Andre’s last days through chemo, indulging in his curious hobbies, and reflecting on his irreverent life choices is more entertaining than it might seem. Along the way we also meet his wife and two teenage daughters, his best friend, his therapist and many of his colleagues. Not a commercial for how to die, André aims to present his version of the experience – and potentially inspire more colonoscopies along the way. Film Independent member Joshua Altman is a Producer.

UNDERTONE

When You Can Watch: March 13

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Writer/Director: Ian Tuason

Cast: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet

Why We’re Excited: First-timer Ian Tuason initially imagined this found footage horror film as a podcast, focusing attention on sound. Podcast host Evy (Nina Kiri, The Handmaid’s Tale) listens to these sounds while creating content for her paranormal podcast. Living with and looking after her dying mother in a house full of memories, Evy’s creepy recorded sounds merge with the creepy world she’s living in, haunting her with a parallel experience to the podcast story. Evy’s denial only drags her deeper into an inevitable confrontation with the source of it all – an ancient demon that Tuason claims also visited him. “But I saged my house, and it’s fine now.”

LATE SHIFT

When You Can Watch: March 20

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Writer/Director: Petra Biondina Volpe

Cast: Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen, Alireza Bayram

Why We’re Excited: Swiss-Italian filmmaker Petra Volpe (Dreamland) consulted with dozens of nurses for this workplace thriller following Floria (Leonie Benesch, September 5) through one shift at the hospital. There’s no supernatural twist to this drama, it’s simply the riveting profile of an ordinary surgical nurse on any given day – a tense, urgent race against the clock. Volpe’s love letter to nurses prioritizes the critical frontlines of patient care, the person most likely to notice any change or be called upon to meet any need. But with one colleague absent from an already understaffed ward, it’s Floria against the laws of physics as she meets each stressful situation with humane attentiveness and professionalism – until she makes a fatal mistake.

RICKY

When You Can Watch: March 20

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Rashad Frett

Cast: Titus Welliver, Stephan James, Sheryl Lee Ralph

Why We’re Excited: Thrust back into a world he doesn’t trust and hasn’t seen in fifteen years, Ricardo Smith (Stephan James, Spirit Award-winner If Beale Street Could Talk) is making the effort to be a law-abiding citizen. At the age of 30, he’s spent half his life behind bars and is still growing up. But challenges to his freedom arise, such as gainful employment – a condition of his parole overseen by Joanne (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary) – and making choices that could just as easily land him in danger as not. It’s a razor’s edge of justice, and Ricky’s journey is inspired by filmmaker Rashad Frett’s documentary work with the criminal justice system in Connecticut. Film Independent members Robina Riccitiello is an Executive Producer and Marci Wiseman is Co-Executive Producer.

SPACEWOMAN

When You Can Watch: March 20

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Hannah Berryman

Cast: Eileen Collins

Why We’re Excited: This documentary from Hannah Berryman (Rockfield: the Studio on the Farm) explores human risk-taking through the eyes of the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft, Eileen Collins. From her difficult growing up years to breaking through layers of glass ceilings, Collins copes with fear in increasingly dangerous space shuttle missions. “Piloting was such a testosterone-driven arena in the 1970s and ’80s, the world of Top Gun,” Berryman told Variety. “With Eileen, I was interested in how her difficult background had, in a way, helped her to conquer fear more easily, a skill she’d had to develop as a child.”

FANTASY LIFE

When You Can Watch: March 27

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Writer/Director: Matthew Shear

Cast: Amanda Peet, Matthew Shear, Bob Balaban

Why We’re Excited: First-time director Matthew Shear also stars (Mistress America) as Sam, who becomes the ‘manny’ for Dianne (Amanda Peet, Spirit Award-winning Please Give) who is an actor married to a musician, living a well-to-do but creatively frustrated New York life. What ensues is a quirky comedy of backward romance, as Sam falls for Dianne with an attentive devotion that turns her head. When Sam accompanies the whole family on vacation with all four grandparents (one of whom is Sam’s therapist), the fantasy meets real life with wry honesty. Film Independent members David Bernon, Emily McCann Lesser, and Sam Slater are Producers.

THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST

When You Can Watch: March 27

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Directors: Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell

Cast: Sam Altman, Daniela Amodei, Dario Amodei

Why We’re Excited: Apart from coining a new word (Apocaloptimist is fun to say), Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Roher (Navalny) teams up with fellow dad-to-be Charlie Tyrell (My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes) to find out what AI really means for the future. Rather than draw definite conclusions, the filmmakers elicit perspectives from tech giants and dozens of experts as well as Roher and his partner, filmmaker Caroline Lindy (Your Monster) in animated vignettes. Indulging curiosity in the face of such potential (for better and worse), the filmmakers present a compelling conversation starter on the future of human jobs, development and life in general – with hope and dread right alongside. Film Independent members Diane Becker is a Producer and EJ Lykes is an Associate Producer.

Programmer’s Pick: SLANTED

When You Can Watch: March 13

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Writer/Director: Amy Wang

Cast: Shirley Chen, Mckenna Grace, Elaine Hendrix

Why We’re Excited: From Film Independent Lead Programmer Jenn Wilson: 

Film Independent member B. Quinn Curry is Executive Producer.

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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In an industry where connections and insider knowledge can be the difference between landing your first directing gig and watching opportunities pass you by, programs like the Film Independent Episodic Directing Intensive are invaluable. They democratize access to mentorship and insights that typically come from years of hustle and luck.

The Episodic Directing Intensive, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, connects an exciting cohort of talented filmmakers with the greater television industry. This year’s program, which ran February 18-20, brought together six Fellows with some outstanding mentors.

This year’s guest speakers included some seriously impressive names: Andrew Ahn, Robert Baltazar, Thembi Banks, Adam Bernstein, Ante Cheng, Ben Eisenberg, Gloria Fan, Hilarie Holt, Liz Kelly, Shari Page, Julio C. Perez, Jeremy Podeswa, Beth Schacter, Brian Tee, and Daniel Willis.

According to Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs at Film Independent, the program was built to set up the Fellows for future success. “We are thrilled to support this incredibly talented cohort of directors as they work to build careers directing television,” she explained. “With this program, we equipped them with the knowledge necessary to move into the space with confidence.”

The curriculum went deep, addressing practical and strategic topics. “We spoke to episodic directors, showrunners, editors, actors, cinematographers and executives about collaboration, prepping for episodes and career planning,” Vazquez said. “The Fellows were prepared for each session and engaged with guest speakers with incisive questions.”

If you want to know whether a program like this actually moves the needle, just ask the Fellows themselves. According to Chelsea Christer, “I feel like the mystery of breaking into television has been completely dispelled and I now have a better understanding of how to navigate the next steps in my career as an episodic director. Connecting with my cohort was another major highlight.”

Another Fellow, Jacob Combs, echoed the sentiment: “The Episodic Directing Intensive was inspiring, eye-opening and incredibly informative. A true 360-degree perspective on the state of TV directing and how to move toward landing that elusive first episode.”

We have a feeling this cohort will be directing their first episodes, and many more, very soon.

Speaking of this year’s Fellows, let’s go ahead and meet the cohort:

Alex Heller

Alex Heller is a writer/director working between Los Angeles, Chicago and Norway. Her debut feature film The Year Between, an autobiographical comedy about bipolar disorder that stars J. Smith-Cameron and Steve Buscemi, premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. It then sold to Peacock and received praise from The New York Times, Variety, RogerEbert.com and NPR. Heller’s recent short film Debaters (starring J. Smith-Cameron and Kenneth Lonergan) premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, was selected for the Sundance Short Film Tour and is a proof-of-concept for an upcoming feature film of the same title.
 

Chelsea Christer

Originally from a horse ranch in Colorado, Chelsea Christer began her filmmaking career in San Francisco. Her work centers on character-driven narratives, often exploring themes of human connection, ambition and identity. Her feature-length debut, the award-winning music documentary Bleeding Audio (2020), released to critical acclaim and screened at nearly 20 film festivals, including Slamdance. Her most recent film, the short dark comedy Out for Delivery (2025) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and screened at SXSW. She also directed the unscripted comedy series Nobody Asked (2024) for Dropout. She now resides in Los Angeles with her husband and their dog.
 

Christopher Nataanii Cegielski

Christopher Nataanii Cegielski is a Navajo director, writer and DGA member. He recently developed and co-directed the 10-part docu-series People of the West with Boardwalk Pictures and Pechanga Creative Studios, telling California’s history from a Native perspective. He made his television debut co-directing the History Channel docu-series Sitting Bull from executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio. Through his commercial work, he has partnered with clients including the FDA, ABC, United Airlines and Google. His narrative work has screened at festivals such as the Berlinale, SXSW and imagineNATIVE, and he is an alumnus of Sundance Native Lab and Film Independent’s Project Involve.
 

J.M. Harper

J.M. Harper is a Brooklyn-based director and father of two. His debut feature, As We Speak (Paramount+), premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024, and his sophomore documentary Soul Patrol premiered there in 2026 and was awarded The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary. A multi-hyphenate documentarian, Harper has edited four feature films, including the Emmy-nominated series jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogyand received a Peabody Award as an executive producer on Daughters. In 2024, he was named to DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” list and is a recipient of the 2025 Concordia Fellowship and Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship.
 

Jacob Combs

Jacob Combs is a Los Angeles-based director, writer and producer whose work blends humor and heart to explore characters bridging conflicting worlds. He was a 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow and Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship recipient, directing the satirical, dark comedy short Tradwife as part of the program. His previous film, the intergenerational queer short The Orange at the Seder, screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, BFI Flare London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, HollyShorts and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Combs’s previous episodic projects include Netflix’s comedy Blockbuster, as well as Pixar’s Dream Productions and the Emmy-nominated series Inside Pixar.
 

Stefon Bristol

Stefon Bristol hails from New York with a distinctive voice in independent cinema. Inspired by his Guyanese heritage, his work blends genre storytelling with humanistic social commentary and cultural specificity. Bristol co-wrote and directed the time-travel movie See You Yesterday, produced by Spike Lee, which premiered at Tribeca before launching on Netflix to critical acclaim. The film earned Certified Fresh and won Best First Feature Screenplay at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. His latest dystopian thriller, Breathe, stars Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Common and Sam Worthington. Bristol graduated from Morehouse College and earned his MFA in Film from New York University.
 
 

For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.

Film Independent Members watch nominees and vote for the winners of the Spirit Awards. To become a Member of Film Independent and make your vote count for next year’s 40th Annual Spirit Awards, just click here. To support our mission with a donation, click here.

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Art and science are simpatico. Both are studies of nature, joining the physical world of science with the social realm of story and humanity. Deep scientific understanding enriches a film with detail and realism. Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation work together in providing grant opportunities for storytellers and scientists to display their work in narrative form. The 2026 Sloan Salon: Discovering the Story in the Science moderated by Ashley Flores, Manager of Film Independent Fiction Programs, included an array of filmmakers and scientists alike – Liz Neeley, Latif Nasser, Dr. Neil Garg, Sara Seager, Sara Crow, David Rafailedes, Ioana Uricaru, and Dr. Katie Biberdorf. They discussed the crossover of story and science along with methods of bringing these narratives to light before turning to the future of the scientific community and its representation in our culture. 

Liz Neeley, a science communicator and former marine biologist, spoke to the fundamental spark of curiosity as catalyst for both researchers and the audience of any science-based narrative. Host of Radiolab podcast Latif Nasser referred to creating a “vacuum in the listener” so they may become “infected with a question” answered later in the story. Characters are the constructed vessels that steer our curiosity through a narrative, across what Neeley calls the “curiosity gap” to an answer. 

In regards to the film Shitoshi depicting a fictional Bitcoin origin story, co-writer/director Sara Crow discussed how they chose to “weave the technological problem into our character’s personal life.” Breakthroughs were connected to the main character’s growth in this “problem of how to solve Bitcoin and the blockchain.” Co-writer/producer David Rafailades added: “The dramatic pressures in her life are driving why she wants to make this scientific breakthrough. In a fun way, we tried to make those scientific breakthroughs, where you see the most science, be everyday moments in this girl’s life.”

While there still remains “Eureka! moments” along the way (Nasser), answers may only show themselves across vast time scales in science. A duality exists between the everyday and the extraordinary, of scientists “miles deep in the ocean, out in the field, and touching people’s brains” (Neeley) and the less glamorous work taking place in a lab day by day. MIT Professor of Exoplanet Astronomy Sara Seager and UCLA Professor of Organic Chemistry Dr. Neil Garg both touched on the paradox of capturing excitement over long research periods in a high-stakes narrative. Seager, whose work has played out over several decades, now focuses on the mysteries of Venus: “Could there be life floating around there in the atmosphere?” In presenting her work to the public and even to get funding, she stressed how it “has to have a narrative that can flow, to hang it together from start to finish.”

Ioana Uricaru – writer/director, former molecular biologist, and multiple-time Sloan collaborator – joined in on storytelling: “When science is in the mix, I find that the most compelling type of questions that scientists might be confronted with are conscious, moral questions – when they get to a point in their journey as scientists where they suddenly have to choose between what they discover and what that’s going to do to the world, standing by what they found and risking their reputation, or even their life.” Uricaru’s work in historical/period scientific narratives where a wealth of source material is available led her to emphasize “culling” as vital to picking elements most propulsive to the story. 

Dr. Kate Bibendorf, an inorganic chemist and educator familiarly known as Kate the Chemist (@katethechemist), added that the only way out of the “jargon jungle” was through narrative: “If you are trying to actually teach something, if you are trying to get one scientific principle across, using a story is the best way to get that across. We do that in general chemistry all the time.”

All the panelists agreed that science ought to be accessible to everyone regardless of education or expertise, encouraging anyone interested to reach out and take advantage of this like-minded community. They cited current work of inspired scientists and filmmakers, harkening back to the tremendous importance of research in developing any story or breaking new ground. As the conversation drew to a close, Dr. Neil Garg stressed: “It’s really important. The scientific community currently feels, if I can say, a little bit under attack if you will, and there are all these innovations that happen as a result of scientific research. Sometimes there are things that are very clearly going to be impactful. Sometimes it takes decades of research for something that’s transformative for humanity for the science to evolve, to be figured out to that level. Overall I would just encourage folks who are interested in this to get involved because the world needs you right now. Not just the scientists now, but I think thirty, forty, fifty years from now, if we’re not pursuing science, understanding science, prioritizing science and communicating it, what does that look like for humanity?” 

In a final inspirational cue, Latif Nasser decreed: “Science is for everyone. Even you!”

Film Independent has announced the six filmmakers selected for the fifth annual Amplifier Fellowship — and with $180,000 in unrestricted grants on the table, this year’s cohort is poised to make serious waves.

Each Fellow will receive a $30,000 grant along with a year-long program of creative and strategic support, customized mentorship from industry advisors and a Film Independent Board member, professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, and financial and business advisement in partnership with The Jill James.

The 2026 Fellowship is supported by Founding Sponsor Netflix and its Fund for Creative Equity, continuing a five-year partnership dedicated to championing bold storytelling across fiction and nonfiction.

As Angela C. Lee, Film Independent’s Director of Artist Development, put it, “We are thrilled to partner with Netflix for a fifth year to support this incredibly talented cohort of filmmakers across fiction and non-fiction in our 2026 Amplifier Fellowship and provide the crucial granting, resources and community for these artists to thrive as both artists and entrepreneurs.”

That balance — artistry and entrepreneurship — defines the Amplifier Fellowship. It’s not just about finishing a film, it’s about equipping filmmakers with the infrastructure, strategy and confidence to navigate a rapidly evolving industry.

And to show what a potent combination those traits end up being, just look to our past Fellows. They include J.M. Harper, whose Amplifier supported Soul Patrol won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award at Sundance; Contessa Gayles, whose Songs from the Hole, also Amplifier supported, won the Cinema Eye Honors Heterodox Award and is now available on Netflix; and David Fortune, whose Colorbook premiered at Tribeca and earned a NAACP Image Award nomination after he was named one of Variety’s Top 10 Directors to Watch.

The 2026 Amplifier Fellows and their projects are:

AKIL RASHAD ANDERSON Writer/Director

Akil Rashad Anderson is a Haitian American screenwriter and director from Miami. Months after receiving his MFA in Screenwriting from USC as a George Lucas Scholar, Anderson was hired as a staff writer on Beacon 23. He is a 2026 Film Independent Amplifier Fellow and an inaugural alumni of Rideback RISE. His proof of concept for Mr. Negro had its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival 2025. The son of a rap artist and grandson of a preacher, Anderson’s work often centers on ambition, the underworld and the surreal. Outside of film, he’s a beatmaker, birdwatcher and trombonist.

Project: Mr. Negro (Fiction Feature)
Logline: An elderly man discovers his deadbeat son transformed into an otherworldly creature, triggering a nightmarish odyssey in search of a cure for his ghastly baby boy.

AURORA BRACHMAN Director/Producer

Aurora Brachman is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent. Her film, Hold Me Close, premiered at Sundance 2025. Her shorts When the Revolution Doesn’t Come, Club Quarantine, Joychild and Still Waters were acquired by The New YorkTimes, The New Yorker, The Guardian and POV. She co-produced Apple TV+’s Girls State (Sundance 2024) and A24’s Stephen Curry: Underrated (Sundance 2023). Brachman is supported by The Sundance Institute, Firelight Media, Film Independent, Chicken & Egg, The Gotham and is one of Vimeo’s Breakout Creators. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film from Stanford University.

Project: Dear You (Nonfiction Feature)
Logline: After escaping an abusive marriage and fleeing to the US, Grace James finds herself trapped in the US asylum system for 10 years.

CLAIRE BROOKS Producer

Claire Brooks is an independent film producer whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, creative infrastructure and cultural policy. She served as Head of Production at Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures, overseeing independent features including Exhibiting Forgiveness, the debut film by Titus Kaphar, which premiered in competition at Sundance. Brooks also established Netflix’s Emerging Filmmaker Initiative, producing studio-level short films helmed by emerging voices. She is a 2025–2026 Women In Film Producing Fellow, holds an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University and a BA from NYU Gallatin and is the Executive Director of the Association of Film Commissioners International.

Project: The Presser (Fiction Feature)
Logline: When a small-town business owner rents his store to a local politician, he lands himself and his employees at the center of a media circus.

A. SAYEEDA MORENO Writer/Director

A. Sayeeda Moreno is a director/screenwriter whose films draw from the mythology of the NYC metropolis where she was born and the bohemian cast of characters from her childhood home who shaped her worldview. Her character-driven body of work, filtered through her own body, boldly explores our humanity, resilience and love. Moreno is a Film Independent, Sundance Women in Finance and Tribeca All Access Fellow and SFFilm Society Hearst Grant recipient. She is developing the coming-of-age romance Out in the Dunes and memoir-based essay film An Ambivalent Daughter. Moreno earned her MFA from NYU Tisch and teaches at Bard College.

Project: Out in the Dunes (Fiction Feature)
Logline: Provincetown/1992: In this summer romance, Soledad, a heartbroken romantic, starts a passionate affair with Jules, a butch lesbian artist who challenges her belief in love.

PHILIP THOMPSON Writer/Director

Philip Thompson is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2023 and a Sundance Ignite x Adobe and NYFF Artists Academy Fellow in 2024. His work explores popular media’s influence on culture, focusing on the emotional impact of media consumption and the one-sided relationship between viewers and image subjects. His films, Living Reality and I’m At Home, have screened at festivals such as Palm Springs, Atlanta, Indie Memphis, New Orleans and Chicago Critics, amongst others. His debut feature, Dance Monkey Dance, was recently selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab.

Project: Dance Monkey Dance (Fiction Feature)
Logline: A fictional found-footage documentary tracing a Black comedian whose success catering to white audiences erodes his identity and reveals fame as a form of control.

THANH TRAN Director/Producer

Thanh Tran is an Amerasian Vietnamese and Black filmmaker, music artist and community organizer. He co-founded Uncuffed, an award-winning podcast amplifying incarcerated voices, and ForwardThis Productions, one of the first film collectives led entirely by incarcerated people. He is co-founder of New Krma Media, a worker-owned social enterprise supporting system-impacted artists through music, film and activism. He directs Finding Má, a feature-length documentary following his family’s search for their unhoused mother after decades of separation. He also serves as Program Manager for the Returning Filmmaker Fellowship and Board Member of the Andrus Family Foundation.

Project: Finding Má (Nonfiction Feature)
Logline: After decades apart, an Amerasian Vietnamese and Black family separated by foster care and prison reunite to heal, beginning with searching for their unhoused mother.

For more on Hamnet, join us this Thursday, February 26, for an intimate conversation with the director in “An Evening With …. Chloé Zhao.”

***

A cinematic meditation in grief, loss, and healing through art, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel by the same name. The period drama reimagines William Shakespeare’s (Paul Mescal) stage play Hamlet as being inspired by the death of his son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). The Shakespeare household’s life is told through the lens of his wife and herbalist, Agnes (in an agonizing and powerful performance by Jessie Buckley), as they move from courtship and marriage to unspeakable grief when Hamnet dies.

Zhao, a Spirit Award winner and Screenwriting Lab Fellow, co-wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell and entrusted the set dressing to one of two set decorators, Alice Felton (along with Niamh Cunningham), who is part of the production design team under Fiona Crombie. Throughout the film, Felton’s set dressing evolves to chart the family’s emotional spiral as they wrestle with love and loss.

Days after scoring her second Oscar nomination for Hamnet as part of Crombie’s team (following 2019’s period dark comedy, The Favourite), Felton spoke with Film Independent about her work on the film, which has nabbed eight Oscar nominations.

Congratulations on your second Oscar nomination!

Thank you! We’re so happy, especially for a small artistic film like this. It’s amazing to be recognized in this way.

How big was your team and how long did you work on this film?

Because Fiona and I know each other really well, I often know about projects very early and start thinking about it before working on it. I normally have about 12 weeks of prep. Most of my 2024 was on Hamnet.

What was your first impression when you first read the script?

It was pitch perfect from the beginning. Very similar to when I read The Favourite, I also couldn’t stop turning the pages of Hamnet, I finished it in one go. From a set design perspective, the world was completely contained, which is so exciting because you realize the potential for ideas.

What do you mean by a “contained” world?

Even something like Cruella where I dressed 120 sets, its visual world was very tight. Similar to this, there’s a visual storyline that runs through the spaces. Other scripts may run through different worlds and planets. But when it’s so contained, it can be very precise. In Hamnet, because we experience Shakespeare and Agnes’ life through her eyes, we move through her life in a very contained way. We’re not in the streets with thousands of people or running through markets with lots of stunts. It’s a very contained and thoughtful, emotional story. My first thought was, this really hangs on those twins — if we don’t believe in these children and their domestic world, then we’re not going to care about anything else. Even though the love story between Will and Agnes is really beautiful, we need to care about the family. So, creating the family home and that domestic world was very important to bringing context to their world.

What were the texture and tone that you had in mind as the story unravels?

That contained world and palette restriction is really exciting in the design process. The Henley house, Shakespeare’s family home, was drained of color. Until Agnes arrives, the only color there is the blue on Will’s costumes — they are blue because his head is in the clouds. So, in the set design, we add hints of blue wherever he was. But if he doesn’t dominate a space, we’d go for very tonal browns, creams, and little threads of color. Will had his writing area, which Paul wanted to be messy, with ink all over the desk. When Agnes arrives, red and green start coming in because she brings the outside world into his life. The red of her dresses spilled into the A-frame set in the attic of the Henley house. Agnes’ mother, Rowan (Louisa Harland), was much freer and had color and nature in the flashbacks. But as Agnes gets older, her stepmother, Joan (Justine Mitchell), strips the colors out. So, her safe place was the apple shed, which brings nature inside.

The color palette here reminds me of the evolution in Agnes’ costumes as the story goes from love and hope to grief and loss. How closely did your team work with Malgosia Turzanska’s costume department?

Each character had a palette, as time moved on, it would change with them. We worked very closely with costume, so our set dressing changes with what Agnes wears. As she went into grief, her dress went to dark gray, purple, dark brown, so the bed drapes also change from the washed-out burnt orange to a grayish blue. You can really see it in the film. Even if someone’s not registering them [visually], you can feel the mood in the room shift. We worked with Malgosia and Chloé, who talked about the “rose period” and the “blue period.” The palette was very intentional.

What changes were made once the children were born?

Once Agnes and Will get married, they move upstairs into the A-frame. As the children were born, color seeped into the bed drapes. Both the Henley house and the A-frame were set builds. Each baby had a baby blanket that Agnes made, which we aged it throughout their life so it has different colors for each child.

Let’s talk about dressing the attic with the twins’ beds, where mournful scenes take place later in the story.

We had a dressing plan for each time period. We wanted that attic space to be very playful for the children, they had little nooks where they kept their things, the beds, and washing and dressing areas. At one point, there’s a little play tent made of sticks and their bed spreads. They never make their beds because Agnes is very free, she just wants to like be in nature. So, their beds are always unmade, there’s a looseness to it. After Hamnet dies, one of the beds is removed; that’s when joy leaves the space. His bed would have been burnt — it was filmed but lost in the edit — anyone who died of the plague, you would burn all of their bedding, everything. So, in the garden, Agnes’ brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn), burnt Hamnet’s bed, his baby blanket, everything that was associated with him. A lot of people have said they noticed the change in that room. The A-frame has Will and Agnes’ marital bed and the twins’ beds, we made all of them. When Hamnet dies, one of the beds is gone, so the space dramatically changes, the drapes change, and we stripped out quite a lot of the playful dressing. The atmosphere in the house was changed.

I loved the details surrounding Agnes’ apothecary instruments, the herbs, flowers, treatments, and ointments. Can you talk about that?

Maggie O’Farrell had done so much research, so the book was full of details. That all stems back to Shakespeare’s writing, which is full of botanicals, herbs and plants, and the reference to the flowers and herbs that Ophelia has in Hamlet. We grew an herb garden in Elstree Studio, so we had the real herbs that we bought from a historical herb place called Jekka’s. We also had an onset herbalist advisor, Kim Walker [a consultant at the Economic Botany Collection and the Antonelli Lab at the Royal Botanic Gardens], who teaches herbalism. She advised us on how to lay the herbs out and mix them. Everything that Jesse did on set was actually the correct herbs to make what she was talking about [in the scene]. Jesse even went foraging with Kim. There was a lot of research, thought and care that went into everything we see on the screen.

What went into building Agnes’ herb garden?

Very early in the process, we bought a lot of herbs, grew and dried them. My florist, Amanda Willgrave, helped us plant three big beds of herbs. We’d cut the flowers, which were all historically accurate. We cut herbs for the garden, they got quite leggy and big and bees and would visit them. Kim worked with the initial scripted herbs that were being mixed and helped us plant our garden with Amanda’s help. Kim also worked with Jesse in foraging and showing her how to pick and strip the herbs correctly.

In the cathartic and gut-wrenching final sequence, Agnes finally comes to terms with the grief of her son’s death, when she watches the stage debut of Hamlet at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. What went into constructing that set?

Chloé and Fiona went to see the original Globe Theater, but there were a lot of problems: it’s the middle of summer and that’s their biggest season for plays. Chloé really wanted it to be more intimate, so the decision was made to build it. She wanted it to feel like the inside of a tree. So, that Globe stage was constructed with reclaimed wood — our art director knew someone that was taking a barn down in France. Our amazing construction company reconstructed the huge beams to make the circular wooden Globe — you felt like you were inside of a tree, since a lot of aging was already in the wood.

Where was this set built?

We were in Elstree Studio. Henley house was built angled for the sun to come through the windows. We didn’t use greenscreen, it was real greenery and real sky behind it. The Globe was right next to it and both attics were there as well. They were all built simultaneously.

The sequence hinges on Agnes’ reactions as she watches the play, so a significant portion of it is the Hamlet stage play unfolding on-stage, with Will playing the ghost.

The amazing thing was we got to do the whole backstage of the Globe. Chloé ran the play like you would for real, so the players were Shakespearean players, we had all the props and everything was period-accurate. Even the standbys were in full costume with the props, armor, lantern, and swords. In Will’s makeup area, we used oyster shells, which were commonly eaten and thrown on the street, as a dish to mix the paints in; that comes from a reference of how Rembrandt would mix his paints. It wasn’t just Hamlet that was playing, there was other plays. So, we had nice details like the flags outside: if it was a comedy, it would be one color, and a tragedy would be a black flag. They’d have food, so we had sellers outside the Globe selling dried fruits. It was muddy. It was a very visceral experience, it really felt like we were in a play instead of on a set. It felt like we had built a theater. It was an amazing construction and decoration collaboration.

Hamnet is playing in select theaters for a post-nomination run and available on PVOD. 

To learn more about the film, please join us this Thursday, February 26, for an intimate conversation with writer-director, Chloé Zhao, in “An Evening With …. Chloé Zhao.”

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices, providing a wide variety of resources to help filmmakers create and advance new work. Learn more online and become a Member of Film Independent today.

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Featured Image: Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes Shakespeare in ‘Hamnet.’ Photo Credit: Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Sun shining on Sunset Boulevard, the indie stars came out to the Hollywood Palladium – for the first time in 32 years when the Spirit Awards were last hosted here in 1994.

Lavazza kept everyone caffeinated, with coffee stations as well as bartenders mixing coffeetails and passing out espresso potato chips. Fiji kept everyone hydrated with lipstick-friendly water bottles – straws conveniently installed through a hole in the lid. And visual branding partner Pentagram made everyone look good with the revolving pink and purple motif on stage (coordinating nicely with Film Independent’s Acting President, Brenda Robinson).

Ego Nwodim facilitated the party as our host this year, encouraging attendees to embrace the indie filmmaking spirit and be ready to act casual in the event that we drew the attention of the authorities. “In the spirit of independent filmmaking, we don’t have a permit… If I shout, ‘Cameras down!’ y’all know what to do – scatter and act like you’re waiting for the bus!” Nwodim also introduced – and awarded – a new category: The Best Movie None of Y’all Made… won by Nwodim’s favorite movie of all time, The Town.

Maybe you saw the promenade of filmmakers receiving awards on stage. But we’re letting you backstage to see what happened after they left.

SORRY, BABY

As soon as Amy Madigan (Spirit Award nominee for Best Supporting Female in Loved) declared Eva Victor’s win for Sorry, Baby, Victor expressed intense gratitude for independent cinema and love for everyone in the room. “Making this film independently is the only way I could have ever made it the way I needed to.”

Backstage: Full of adrenaline from the win, Victor received press questions with enthusiasm, particularly the one about the sandwich scene going viral. “I owe a lot of the magic of that scene to John Carroll Lynch,” who plays the gentle sandwich shop owner named Pete. Victor reflected on how amazing it was to give Agnes “sort of dad for a day.” Maybe the honesty in that conversation was possible because the two actors had no relationship in real life? 

The scene is one of the few Victor shot that features a man, and being outside together with this difficult conversation lent an air of openness and freedom. An important beautiful moment in a story about recovering from trauma. 

THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR

Fellow Spirit nominee Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You) announced this award to the team of The Perfect Neighbor, which follows the aftermath of a minor disagreement between neighbors in Florida that took a lethal turn. Surrounded by teammates, director Geeta Gandbhir spoke her gratitude. “To be recognized by this community – people who understand how collaborative, vulnerable, and demanding this work truly is – means everything.”

Backstage: As Neighbor depends on footage from police body cameras to help tell the story of Ajike Owens and her community, the team responded to questions about the process and vision behind distilling 30 hours of surveillance into a story. The team felt this point of view was tantamount, allowing the audience to see for themselves what happened as it unfolded in real time. “You cannot ignore what you see with your own eyes,” asserted producer Alisa Payne, “It’s undeniable.”

BECAUSE A KISS CAM IS BASIC

Since the awards took place the day after Valentine’s Day, our host decided to spring a Sexual Tension Cam on the attendees. “I need you to show us that angst, that conflict, that energy that says we can – but we shouldn’t!” Nwodin turned the camera on unsuspecting couples and directed them through the beats. 

Backstage: We watched and laughed along, glad to be safely distanced from the sexual tension.

THE SECRET AGENT

Brazilian writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho began his acceptance with, “It’s Carnaval time in Brazil right now.” This is Filho’s third nomination and first win; he commended it to young filmmakers everywhere who have a chance to make films about their neighborhoods. 

Backstage: Commenting on the effects of authoritarian government on Brazilian cinema, Filho was frank but hopeful, declaring that it’s back after a blackout period when the government shut down the minister of culture, then went after artists. “The usual authoritarian, fascist playbook. Now we’re back, public funding is back.” Filho is convinced this is a strong time to make films and tell stories.

LURKER

Alex Russell’s first screenplay and first feature won both those awards. “It can amaze you how much no one cares at the beginning, and then it’s so much more meaningful when someone does.” Why did no one hand him 3-5 million dollars at the beginning of his film career? Still unclear, but thankfully Lurker progressed anyway.

Backstage: Russell’s friends in the room wanted to know his plans after this. “After this moment? I’m drinking champagne. With you. We’re going to the W – you’re all invited!”

Russell also spoke about his experience in a writer’s room (The Bear and Dave) and how that prepared him for his first feature. “What seems important or funny in the room turns out to be different from what really mattered for the show.” It taught him to be flexible about what the script is trying to be rather than getting precious about the writing. 

CHIEF OF WAR

Speaking for Chief of War’s Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series was Cliff Curtis, who plays Keoua in the show. “Quite often Pacific Islanders are asked to play background in other people’s stories – even stories that take place in our own homelands…[For Chief of War] we were asked to represent proud royal bloodlines with the complexities of their own personal histories.” Moses Moku finished by addressing the room in Hawaiian native language, Olelu Hawaii, followed by a moving and visceral series of movements from Keala Kahuanui-Paleka.

Backstage: The ensemble brought a swell of energy with them as they squeezed together for a photo and reflected their experiences working together. From staring into the eyes of Jason Momoa to filming on active lava fields in episode 9, the cast took turns calling out memories.

But Cliff Curtis spoke about how it feels to have so many indigenous Hawaiian faces on a popular show. He asked the room, “How many of you have been to Hawaii? What did you do there?” Playing golf, hanging out at a resort, most people have no idea about Hawaiian royalty and the culture of people living there. “Most of the planet do not understand the story of Hawaii.” But the story is still alive and the people still exist. This cast is celebrating their culture in the spotlight.

ADOLESCENCE

Accepting the award for Best New Scripted Series was Jeremy Kleiner – 10-time Spirit nominee and 2-time winner. Kleiner spoke frankly about the need for money and how ideological the pursuit of it can be. “That ideology isn’t total, it doesn’t know everything. There’s a place for what we believe in, even if it doesn’t necessarily conform to what is considered conventionally correct. You have to keep pushing for that space.”

Backstage: Erin Doherty, who won Best Supporting Performance for her work in Adolescence, commented on the enriching experience of having conversations with strangers who resonate with the show, “the thing you could never dream of. This show is bringing everyone together.”

Kleiner continued the thought on how different shows provide different types of comfort. “There are things that hit people in a place that may not be necessarily comforting on the surface, but that provides a different kind of comfort – because it’s dealing with things in their lives.” The Adolescence team felt emboldened to keep going for the stories worth telling.

ESTA ISLA

In honor of John Cassavettes – who raised $40,000 on a late night radio show, making him the father of crowdfunding as well as the father of independent film – the category of films made for under $1 million. The creators of Esta Isla cheered their home of Puerto Rico as inspiration.

Backstage: Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina are very proud of Bad Bunny. They acknowledged that Puerto Rico has always been a powerhouse for music, but they are pleased to be part of the new wave of Caribbean filmmaking that’s trying to do the same thing.

“This is definitely a love letter to Puerto Rico,” said Molina, “because we weren’t seeing our stories being told in a way that felt very honest to us.” In an effort to reconnect with the land, culture, history, ancestors, and show what it’s like to actually live there has been powerful. “We’re not just winning it for us, we’re winning it for all of us. All of our stories. And honestly every story that isn’t being told, people who are unheard.”

Carratero added that the expense of filmmaking has made it a high art, but the spirit of the Cassavettes award makes that art more attainable. “You don’t have to wait for permission or a perfect moment. I think you have to go out there and film. Things will fall into place eventually.”

THE PLAGUE

Kayo Martin won Best Breakthrough Performance as Jake in The Plague, and called his time filming in Romania “one of the best times of my life. For a while all I knew was skateboarding and boxing and competition. Acting has opened up a completely new area of my brain.”

Backstage: So how did the filmmakers find you? Martin unabashedly proclaimed, “My account was banned on social media, so they emailed my sister.” That’s how Martin learned they wanted him to try out for the part. “I got a callback and I met them in downtown New York and got some pizza with the director. The rest is history. Let’s go!”

THE LONG WALK

The Robert Altman Award went to Francis Lawrence, director of a film about teenage boys in a walking competition with deadly stakes – based on Stephen King’s 1979 novel. As a short feature played clips and interviews, we learned the camera rigs were custom-made to accommodate long walking scenes. How long were those walking scenes?

Backstage: The cast and crew walked 8-15 miles a day. “We were outside in the heat,” Lawrence reminisced, “getting bitten by ticks, walking 15 miles a day. These guys are fantastic, they carried the weight of the movie. I’m glad they’re being recognized.” One cast member tracked 261 miles walked in the course of the film.

Of course we had to break that down: “Some scenes are 8 pages long. If you average a minute per page, you’re talking 8-minute takes. You’re walking a quarter mile. You walk the take, you walk back, you walk the take. It’s amazing the physical toll it took on these guys and the crew as well.”

Lawrence was moved to be honored with a Spirit Award, and praised his cast and casting director Rich Delia, who brought them all together. “If I’m being dead honest, the movies I do don’t usually win awards. They’ve done fine for me, but I choked up when I found out. To be recognized by the Film Independent group was amazing – the filmmakers that are recognized are really fantastically talented. It’s touching.”

IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU

Rose Byrne shared the award for Best Lead Performance with writer/director Mary Bronstein, who fought for eight years to make her deeply personal story. Byrne claimed her character could only exist in an Independent film – “She’s firm and she’s ferocious and she’s a middle aged woman!”

Backstage: Is Byrne planning more dramatic roles? Kind of the opposite – “I’m about to do a Noël Coward play!” But found it so refreshing to be amongst fellow indie filmmakers full of hope instead of cynicism. After difficult days of filming, Byrne credits her two small children to help her leave the film world behind and be in the moment, responding to their curiosity and ability to move on. 

TRAIN DREAMS

In addition to Best Feature, the sweeping story about “the small lives that keep the world going,” in director Clint Bentley’s words, also took awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography. Bentley was gobsmacked and cinematographer Adolpho Veloso avoided preparing a speech so he wouldn’t jinx it (which apparently worked).

Backstage: The second Brazilian to accept an award today, Adolpho Veloso was overjoyed that Netflix added Train Dreams to its roster so that his family in Brazil could see one of his films for the first time. Veloso also spoke to the benefits of long-term collaboration with Clint Bentley. Drawing from other films as references, they were  also able to draw from their own – “everything we didn’t like, the problems made a very long list. But also things we liked.” And in that way, the team has honed their visual style together.

Bentley credited Veloso’s work with turning a relatively unfilmable novella into the film that Train Dreams is. The book’s poetic, stream of consciousness narrative lent itself as much to the cinematic visual as to a script. We also learned that the precise style of locomotive we see in the film is built by the crew from plywood. “Amazing craftspeople doing brilliant work.”

THE DREAM CONTINUES 

Throughout the day, echoes of love for this important, difficult, expensive, hugely collaborative medium have reverberated through the room. Through every up and down in the market and the receptivity of cultures and audiences, independent film continues to make way for unpopular opinions, unsung heroes and unconventional stories.

Which is exactly what keeps us coming back year after year. Congratulations to this year’s nominees, winners and patrons.

We do it for the love.

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices, providing a wide variety of resources to help filmmakers create and advance new work. Learn more online and become a Member of Film Independent today

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following list originally ran in June of 2020. We’re re-posting it here to honor the passing of Jesse Jackson. The updated piece includes minor edits and, more importantly, updated info re: streaming availability.

***

Jesse Jackson played a pivotal role in not only the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, but for the improvement of American lives throughout his career. After Shirley Chisholm, he became the second Black person to run for President in a major political party, in 1984 and again in 1988, building a “rainbow coalition” of likeminded progressive Democrats. Despite not getting the nomination either time, he remained a stalwart of the Democratic Party and of left wing causes, like statehood for Washington D.C. and anti-poverty initiatives.

He was know for his gift for oratory. One of his most famous speeches, the “I Am Somebody” speech, was captured in the documentary Wattstax. The 1973 doc is one of just a few (but definitely not all) of our favorite films on civil rights and the black experience we’re listing below. Whether based on a true story or totally invented, narrative or nonfiction, these eight great movies are important creative works designed to help further the conversation and inspire viewers to direct action.

Below, we’ve collected excerpts of writing about these films from some of our favorite Black film critics and cultural voices, with links to the original articles online—which you should absolutely read to get the full picture.

WATTSTAX (1973)

Director:Mel Stuart

Featuring: Jesse Jackson, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Richard Pryor, Carla Thomas, The Bar-Kays

Where You Can Watch: Rental Platforms

What Critics Say: “A record of an all-day concert put on by Stax as part of the Watts Summer Festival to celebrate the riots. There isn’t enough music, but Stax have at least had the wit to hire Richard Pryor to deliver one of his characteristic monologues (the rest of the time is filled out by chats with the denizens of Watts). Much good music all the same, from Carla Thomas and others, with an anti-climactic appearance from Isaac Hayes. See it for Rufus Thomas doing ‘Funky Chicken’, and for the genuinely stirring ‘I am Somebody’, the National Black Litany led, incredibly, by Jesse Jackson with the 100,000 auditorium joining in – a strong experience.”

• Source: Time Out – original review

CRIME + PUNISHMENT (2016)

Director: Stephen T. Maing

Featuring: Sandy Gonzales, Manuel Gomez

Where You Can Watch: Hulu

What Critics Say: “Crime + Punishment doesn’t put police corruption on the map, but it does fill in the gaps, mapping out the gang culture of police departments around this country. It also looks inward towards the police themselves to try and figure out how to change and shift things. It’s unclear at this point if an entire system can be overhauled and corrected–it certainly won’t happen overnight. However, what Crime + Punishment does reveal is that when you begin to view people as numbers and quotes to be filled, everyone involved becomes monstrous. That in itself is a massive reason why our police departments continue to fail us. We’ve grieved for Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and countless others and yet, police departments across the country, in spite of investigations and overhauls, have made little to no changes. Maing doesn’t seek to offer any solutions; instead, he does something that we often fail to do in our embattled society, he gives these particular officers and the people that they police their humanity back.”

• Source: Aramide A. Tinbu, Shadow and Act – original review

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (2016)

Director: Raoul Peck

Featuring: James Baldwin

Where You Can Watch: Youtube, Kanopy, Tubi, Prime

What Critics Say: “Peck provides an intelligent, soulfully shocking and jarring journey into America’s checkered past and present race-based turmoil in the crafty and confrontational documentary I Am Not Your Negro, a compellingly menacing—yet oddly meditative—study of one man’s deep-seeded look into the radical boundaries of racial hostilities and identities, indifferences and indignities. Cleverly, Peck reinforces his message by incorporating a couple of stirring factors that pleads his case for his masterful and mind-numbing dissension into our curious psyches: Using the symbolic and powerful presence of one of the 20th century’s vibrant and welcomed vitriolic voices in noted author/activist James Baldwin and bridging together a trio of his famous friends all slain for the cause of unifying their troubled people through realized empowerment and principled pride: the immortal Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers.”

• Source: Frank Ochieng, Critical Movie Critics – original review

HIDDEN FIGURES (2016)

Director: Theodore Melfi

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe

Where You Can Watch: HBO Max, Hulu, Prime

What Critics Say: “Indeed, the women in Hidden Figures are role models. And I believe this film would have encouraged me at the start of my career—or even in choosing to study science in the first place… After working on the race equality charter mark projects within the diversity and inclusion team at King’s College London, and speaking to staff and students, I realized that many black female students did not study sciences not because they didn’t want to but because they did not see female scientists from their ethnic background. They didn’t see black women pursuing science as a career, there wasn’t a history they could look to, there weren’t footsteps to follow in. Hidden Figures is a brilliant retelling of a historical event–making black female scientists visible. However, it is crucial that now we know, we make it relevant and tangible in today’s society.”

• Source: Bernadine Idowu-Onibokun, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science, University of West London (via The Guardian) – original article

THE HATE U GIVE (2018)

Director: George Tillman, Jr.

Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby

Where You Can Watch: Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Tube

What Critics Say: “Talk of ‘civility’ and ‘debate’ has become common in American politics and media in the face of protests with minorities at the centre. For black people, this not-so-subtle coded language is a call for silent obedience. The idea means the suppression of their voices, their character, and more, just to fit in. The Hate U Give, to varying degrees of success, says fuck all that. The film paints a wide picture of what it means to live in a society that desires the silence of minorities, from code-switching, to stop and search encounters, to police shootings and their far-reaching aftermath. Taking big swings at the notion that human rights can be debated, The Hate U Give makes up for any misgivings over the heavy-handedness of the writing with a righteous anger and burning passion.”

• Source: Kambole Campbell, Little White Lies – original review

13th (2018)

Director: Ava DuVernay

Featuring: Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Michelle Alexander

Where You Can Watch: Netflix, YouTube

What Critics Say: “13th doesn’t tell you anything you didn’t already know if you’ve been paying attention. Its triumph is to fit the pieces together, to make visible the pattern that was there all along. Hardly anyone looks at it and says, ‘The system is working as designed.’ Hardly anyone says, ‘This is not about criminality, but control.’ DuVernay says it forcefully, explicitly and convincingly. In 13th—the title comes from the constitutional amendment that ended slavery— the director of Selma draws a line from Appomattox through convict leasing, through lynch law, through the Southern strategy, through mass incarceration, through the commodification of black bodies and black misery by private prison entrepreneurs. All the way up to now.”

• Source: Leonard Pitts, Jr., The Miami Herald – original review

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 (2016)

Director: Göran Olsson

Featuring: Abiodun Oyewole, Talib Kweli, Harry Belafonte

Where You Can Watch: AMC+, Direct TV,

What Critics Say: “This is a movie that shows us the black experience through European eyes. But the Swedish filter is an important one. Early on we see King Gustav VI warmly receiving Belafonte, Martin Luther Kin, and Coretta Scott King in 1966. They toured Europe to drum up support for civil rights… But this isn’t a work of propaganda or heart tugging. Olsson doesn’t tell us how to feel. He doesn’t have to. His sharing this footage is a moral act whose righteousness can stand on its own. The material obviates the need for an outsider’s commentary. It’s powerful, vivid, inspiring, demoralizing, and damning enough to speak for itself.”

• Source: Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe – original review

SELMA (2014)

Director: Ava DuVernay

Starring: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo

Where You Can Watch: Paramount+, Peacock, Hulu, Tubi

What Critics Say: “Selma shows the evolution of change while beaming a spotlight on the stunted growth of that which has not changed. Its timeliness is a spine-chilling reminder that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. Its story provides a blueprint not only of the past, but of the way forward. Dozens of kneeling, peaceful protests fill the screen end to end, and the juxtaposition between the historical depiction on the movie screen and the current images on today’s TV screens does not go unnoticed. This is an emotional movie that aims to anger, sadden, and inspire viewers, sometimes in the same scene. Selma takes no prisoners and, while it welcomes moviegoers of all hues, it has no intention of sugarcoating its horrors for politically correct comforting.”

• Source: Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com – original review

LA 92 (2017)

Director: T.J. Martin, Daniel Lindsay

Where You Can Watch:  Rental Platforms

What Critics Say: “LA 92 highlights repeated frustrated declarations of injustice, inhumanity and invisibility following the King verdict is seen in the film, coming from not only South Central residents but political leaders like Maxine Waters, who had taken office just a year earlier as U.S. Representative for California’s 43rd congressional district. For the first time in a long while, the Los Angeles landscape in 1992, the frustrations of the people, the fragile Korean and African-American relationship, and police relations are put into perspective—one which still resonates today. While many documentarians feel the need to match images of past events with people and events that are happening right now, directors Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin never once include an image of someone like Oscar Grant, Eric Gardner, or any of the many black people who die at the hands of police to this day to emphasize the narrative’s relevance. They don’t need to. We already know.”

• Source: Candice Frederick, Reel Talk Online – original review

AUTHORS CITED

• Kambole Campbell
• Candice Frederick
• Odie Henderson
• Bernadine Idowu-Onibokun
• Wesley Morris
• Frank Ochieng
• Leonard Pitts, Jr.
• Aramide A. Tinbu

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices, providing a wide variety of resources to help filmmakers create and advance new work. Learn more online and become a Member of Film Independent today

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(Header: Wattstax)

Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program supports so many great films, we can’t help but brag every now and then. That’s what our Fiscal Sponsorship Update columns are all about—highlighting the awesome work in the program.

This month, we’re talking some unexpected journeys, whether they’re literal road trips with surprising destinations like in Father Son Time, trips back in time that get our hero into some dangerous situations like in Loser, into a web of corruption as in Evergreen, or even through the most mysterious and dangerous trip of all, navigating creative careers in Hollywood, ala Lost In LA.

Take a look at how these films have been progressing thanks to Fiscal Sponsorship, and how you can still help get these films across the finish line.

EVERGREEN

Project Type: Fiction Short

Project Status: Post Production

Filmmaker: Natalie Jasmine Harris

Synopsis: Following her grandmother’s death, a young woman journeys to the Blue Ridge Mountains with the man her Nana loved late in life to honor her memory.

Filmmaker Update: I’m excited to share that we successfully wrapped principal photography in November in North Carolina. We were pleased to bring on leads Kiah McKirnan (Perpetrator, Mare of Easttown, The Adults) and the illustrious Michael Potts (The Wire, The Piano Lesson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) to our cast. We’ve just started our edit with Harry Cepka, who previously edited my short films Grace and Ben in Bloom. 

Project Page

LOSER

Project Type: Fiction Feature

Project Status: Post Production

Filmmaker: Colleen McGuinness

Synopsis: A brilliant physicist, Alice, tries to heal her trauma through time travel but gets entangled in a twisted game of murder and violence in NYC, turning her quest into a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase.

Filmmaker Update: After a whirlwind 19-day shoot in New Jersey with our fantastic cast (Angourie Rice, Finn Bennett, Lukas Gage, Julia Fox, Eric Nam, Cathy Moriarty, Andrew McCarthy, Dylan Mulvaney) and amazing New York/New Jersey based crew, we have reached the rough cut phase and are aiming to complete the film later this spring. In post, we are working toward combining the initial vision for the film with all of the beautiful, unexpected moments that arose during filming. While we continue our fundraising efforts to complete post-production, we have begun mapping our film festival route with key submission deadlines approaching this spring and summer.

Project Page

LOST IN LOS ANGELES

Project Type: Fiction Feature

Project Status: Pre-Production

Filmmaker: Drue Grit

Synopsis: Carson (33) and Lila (31) are actors ten years deep in Los Angeles but still can’t pay rent or find love. Two parallel stories traverse the odyssey of Hollywood and will ask: how much more rejection and sacrifice can they endure? And is there still time to make dreams and love come true?

Filmmaker update: Lila and our major roles are now fully cast with exciting actors from around the world, including Hawaiian native Ta’imua, who stars in Jane Austen’s Period Drama, nominated for a 2026 Oscar for Live Action Short Film.

As we just launched our grassroots fundraising campaign, we’ve already begun to feel strong community momentum including early distribution interest, support from Kodak to shoot on film, and the generous backing of several of our favorite locations and iconic diners across Los Angeles!

Project Page

FATHER SON TIME

Project type: Fiction Feature

Project status: Pre Production 

Filmmaker: Josh Long 

Synopsis: Autistic father Clay takes his 15 year old son Sam on a spring break road trip, but doesn’t reveal that the trip’s real goal is to reconnect with the wife/mother that left them fifteen years ago.

Filmmaker Update: Production is just about a month away! We’re in the thick of casting, location scouting, and locking in our department heads. Our DP Antonio Cisneros recently returned from Park City, where two of his films (Cookie Queens and They Dream) made their debut at the Sundance Film Festival. Our team is in talks to secure various sponsorships to help provide partial funding, as well as state-of-the-art film production equipment.

We’re also excited to be working with Inclusion Films, a nonprofit filmmaking training center that is helping connect us with neurodivergent crew members for our team.

Look for some exciting casting announcements from us soon. Cameras start rolling this March, helping to keep indie filmmaking alive in Los Angeles!

Project Page

Through Fiscal Sponsorship, independent filmmakers and media artists gain access to nonprofit funding, helping bring their unique visions to life. These projects embrace diversity, push creative boundaries, and showcase the power of independent storytelling. Want to explore the full lineup of sponsored projects? Head over to our Sponsored Projects page and take a look!

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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With the Film Independent Spirit Awards in just a couple weeks, we thought it was a good time to focus our Member Lens series on a Member who is a past Spirit Award winner.

Anne Carey grew up watching both blockbusters and art-house movies with her parents. She started out in art school and decided to go into film and transferred to NYU, where she found her skillset best fit producing.

Her big break as a producer came with HBO’s The Laramie Project while she was working with Good Machine. Since then, she’s been a mainstay in the indie film world, producing hits like Lost Girls, Adventureland, and 20^th Century Women.

In 2016 she won Best First Feature as a producer for Marielle Heller’s Diary of a Teenage Girl. She’s continued to work with Heller on films like Can You Ever Forgive Me and last year’s Spirit Nominee, Nightbitch.

We spoke with her about what it takes to put together a Spirit Award winning film.

What was the thing that drew you to movies?

I grew up in the Midwest. And as a kid, we would just go to the movies a lot. My parents liked the movies. My mom would take us to go see everything from Marx Brothers movies to blockbusters. We just went to the movies a lot as a family.

What was your first job in the industry?

My first internship, I worked for a small production company that made car commercials in New Jersey and videotaped weddings and video resumes. And one of my jobs for the wedding videos was to cut out all the relatives the people paying for the video didn’t want preserved in the video. I guess it goes to show that one should choose one’s investors carefully.

What drew you to producing and what brought you into that world?

I did go to NYU film school, but I was definitely not a director and I was an undisciplined writer. And I was sort of organized and bossy. I think that’s kind of what happened.

My first formative job, I worked at the William Morris Agency in the Department of Literary Development – looking for books for the agency’s top client. So, I came to producing out of development.  Coming to it from a story perspective– finding the narrative across any genre and then putting together the team to realize something.

I worked for a couple of different producer teams doing that. Then when I got to Good Machine, it really became about working directly with the filmmakers and the producers that were part of the Good Machine family. And that was really were I think things clicked in for me. That was the beginning of it.

The first project where I put my hand up and said, I would really like to produce this was The Laramie Project. It came into the company, and it was a competitive situation as Moisés Kaufman and HBO were looking for a bunch of different producers. I really fell in love with it, and I went to Ted Hope and James Shamus and said, ‘I’d really like to do this’.

I had never produced anything before, and I partnered with Ross Katz. He knew more about physical production that I did at the time. So, I was like, ‘We’ll work together on the development and then we’ll work together on the production’. And that was really the first one.

Tell me about the relationship between bringing the story element of producing, and the logistics part of producing, and how those work in tandem for you.

Once you identify a story that you love and want to make, part of the ethos of what we all practiced at Good Machine was ‘development as pre-production’.  Whatever raw material you’re starting with, be it a play with 36 characters in four time-zones, or somebody’s real life story, or a novel, or even an original screenplay, the idea is just to review what’s in the script.

The script is such a specific document. Every single line and every single word is going to make a bunch of people run around to do something, right? If the script says there’s a red doorknob, somebody is going to figure out how to do a red doorknob.

It’s an interrogation of intent to make sure everything fits. And then the reality of cost– what kind of story yields what kind of budget and are we going to be able to get the resources to execute this film the way that we need.

Then being very mindful of casting. Does every character in the movie need to be in the movie? Do they all have something great to do? Does everybody have an arc, primary characters obviously, secondary characters, less so, but even still, you don’t want to spend money on a role you don’t need in a movie. Combine two mediocre parts to make one good one. Really thinking about, ‘What is going to be exciting to the actors about this?’

If there’s not a director involved, then you must do the same thing — think about why would a filmmaker come and make this? Why would somebody come and direct this movie?

Speaking of a project without directors, when you’re meeting with a new writer or director, what’s the thing that makes you want to attach yourself to a project?

I really look for the sense that they will do it whether I help them or not. That sort of drive, that sort of determination. I can’t make somebody’s movie happen for them, but I love to be part of it finding the path forward.

And if they’ve got part of a team assembled already, making sure that team is all moving in the same direction. I think that’s essential.

I love that.

I want to talk about a little bit about your experience with the Spirit Awards. You won for Diary of a Teenage Girl, which I loved. NightBitch was great as well and a big Spirit Award nominee last year. Talk about your relationship with Mariel Heller and how that’s grown over the years.

I initially met Mari because of a project that didn’t happen. The subject of the story decided that they didn’t want to give us their life rights at the last minute, but I really loved Mari. So I asked, ‘what else are you doing?’

She had the rights to Diary of a Teenage Girl, and she was putting it on as a play. I was really taken with her point of view on it. And just how bold it was to be able to put it on a play and direct and act in it.

And then it ended up being accepted by the Sundance Labs. That was a huge win for us. Mari came out of that lab with a great script and great sense of how to direct the film.

And then we dealt with all the problem solving of how to deal with the animation and how to put that cast together. She had some great relationships already and the women from Cold Iron became a very big part of it. And the producers from Caviar became part of it.

It was a lot of all-hands-on-deck to support her, but again, to my point about directors, Mari won that award. We just participated with her.

My relationship with her continues to be a good one. Whether it’s coming together on something that I share with her that she responds to like Can You Ever Forgive Me? – a mutual love for those characters and loving that as a New York movie, and then subsequently joining her and the team at Annapurna, with Amy Adams and her team on Nightbitchplus bringing in our friends at Searchlight to get it made.

I’m always thrilled to be part of putting a thoughtful group of collaborators together. Like all directors who are most exciting to me, Mari’s movies are so different from one another. She’s always pushing into new territory. She’s never safe. And I really admire that.

What makes the Spirit Awards unique in the awards season landscape?

If you want to see the happiest man ever at the Spirit Awards, there is a brief clip of Mari’s dad, when her name was called, and I don’t think there’s ever been a happier person at the Spirit Awards.

But I think for many filmmakers, it’s that first initial recognition, right? And the fact that it falls in the calendar where it does in the awards season mix and that cool party by the beach. Coming from New York in February – scrappy, dark, gray winter and indie world, it always feels fun and sexy to be at that party.

As a young filmmaker you feel recognized by the industry at a very special time in the industry’s calendar year. For many emerging producers and filmmakers of all sorts, it’s a recognition of being part of something.

Still, you can be an independent filmmaker all your life. I think sometimes there’s a misconception that you start off being an independent filmmaker, so you can grow up to be a studio filmmaker. Sometimes you just want to make films that are just a little outside the system. It’s great to see that type of filmmaking gets celebrated.

When did you become first aware of Film Independent? What made you want to be a Member?

I think I was just a member of the Independent Feature Project. And then Film Independent became its own thing. I think I have been part of it since before the split. And then once it’s split, like, why wouldn’t I be part of both?

What’s been your favorite part of being a Member?

Obviously, the ability to see all the movies and to know what’s coming and to feel like you’re participating and you can have a voice. I think that’s the real plus of it.

And I’ve worked frequently with the International Programs, which are fantastic. At various times, I’ve also done judging and mentoring as well.

But most of all, it’s just a sense that there’s a community and we can access one another.

That leads me to my next question, which is about mentoring. Why that’s important for you?

I think there are people making movies today that I can learn things from, in terms of audience and genre and approach.

So many of the conversations today are about how do you find your audience? And how do you reach your audience? One of the things I love about being a producer is that every day is a different day, that each project has its own universe.

I love the different points of views, different voices, learning how somebody figured out something in a way that I hadn’t before. Hopefully I’m giving back to people. I was so lucky to have incredibly generous mentors along the way, and so I try to return that.

Great. I love that. Is there anything that you want people to know about?

I spent many years at a company called Archer Gray. I think I really helped build and define it. And I spent last year working with Priyanka Chopra’s company under a first look deal at Amazon which was very exciting.  And now at the top of 2026 I find myself independent on my own. And I’m enjoying it. It’s a bit of a new thing.

That is exciting. And I hope all the best for you.

Remember to tune in to the 41st Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday, February 15, 2025, which will be helmed by Saturday Night Live alum Ego Nwodim. The show, taking place in Hollywood, and will be streamed live on the IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels, and across our social platforms.

Want to vote for the winners of the 2026 Spirit Awards? Easy: just Become a Member today and you’ll be able to watch screeners of the nominees and vote for the winners, plus you’ll get year-round access to a plethora of virtual and in-person screenings, special events, education, workshops and more.

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To support us with a donation, click here.

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We asked 2020 Episodic Lab Fellow Van Nguyen to share her experience in the Film Independent Episodic Lab developing her series project Descent, about a Vietnamese cop torn between the duty to her family and her oath to protect and serve. 

Applications for next year’s Episodic Lab are currently open, with the regular deadline of February 2.

***

I was sitting in my apartment during covid lockdown, wondering what the future held, when I received an email that changed the course of my life path. “Your project is in consideration for the 2020 Film Independent Episodic Lab, and we’d love to schedule an online interview.”

As the youngest and only American born in my family, I had a great fascination with film and TV as a kid. This was partially due to the fact my older siblings babysat me, and (as any good babysitter would do) they let their kid sister watch tons of films and TV shows that were not catered to my age group. But, that was the beginning of my journey as a storyteller. I learned about character. I learned about visual language. I learned about story. And I was always deeply invested. One day, I discovered another story, one I didn’t watch on a screen, but only learned about by asking: my parents’ harrowing journey to America. When my mom shared their story, I felt every emotion, envisioned the entire journey, and saw my parents through a different lens. This was the power of storytelling, and I knew in that moment, it was my jam. Hollywood, here I come.

Not so fast. I had no clue how or where to start, but I did know this: writing is accessible. You can do it when you can, where you can, and do it as often as you can if that’s the path you want to pursue. However, there’s no set path to this life. The only person who can direct you on this path – is you.

For years, I applied to every program, lab, contest, and film festival I could reasonably afford. I placed in a few contests and festivals, but never a program or lab. It didn’t stop me from continuing to try. It didn’t stop me from continuing to write. Those trying years of writing in my spare time outside of working in different careers to pay the bills were some of the best years of my life. It allowed me to further hone my voice on the page and develop my craft as a writer and as a person.

CUT TO: 2020

I had just finished my most personal pilot yet, one that revolved around a Vietnamese-American family in my hometown of Houston. It’s not a story we see often on our TV screens, but one that is close to heart. I wasn’t sure if anything would come of it, until I received that wonderful email from Film Independent.

Receiving this at the height of a pandemic where everyone was reevaluating things in their life was monumental. Film Independent is a leading organization that fosters new and diverse talent. I was thrilled and honored to be given a chance to grow within a Film Independent program.

I, along with my fabulous cohort, experienced two solid weeks of meetings, workshops, panels, and discussions from the most giving people. LaToya Morgan, Dailyn Rodriguez, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Veena Sud, and the many executives from Netflix, FX, and Searchlight just to name a few. We had a mock writers’ room with Beth Schacter where we broke an episode. All of this was a dream come true.

My favorite thing from the lab was our focus on pitching. Not just pitching our project, but pitching ourselves because I learned that is just as valuable as the project. There is no project without you. At this point in my career, I was still new to talking about myself and essentially “selling” myself. We’d pitch, get notes, rework it, then pitch again, get notes, rework it, over, and over. At the end of the lab, the cohort has to pitch in front of a ton of Netflix executives. This was during covid, so it was a big brady brunch of approximately twenty of us on Zoom. It was nerve-wracking, exhilarating, and fun all at the same time. Executives that ranged from comedy, drama, genre all took the time out of their day to listen to us. With the help of Film Independent, my cohort, and the encouraging people who listened and gave thoughtful feedback, I walked away from the lab feeling more confident.

When I look back on my journey from being a little kid mesmerized by storytelling, to an adult who gets to tell stories for a living, I’m forever grateful to all the people I’ve crossed paths with. Those two magical weeks of Episodic Lab really taught me to dive deep, not just with my project, but dive deep with myself.

After the Episodic Lab, I continued my journey with Film Independent as a Project Involve Fellow. The community I’ve gained from that fateful email I received in 2020 has been absolutely invaluable. Do yourself a favor and apply because you never know what will happen.

Van B. Nguyen is an award-winning queer Vietnamese-American writer/director who built a career in production as an assistant director before making the leap to a writing career. Her work has been placed in the Nicholls, Sundance, Austin Film Festival, and she has been a fellow for the WeForShe WriteHer List, Film Independent Episodic Lab as well as Film Independent Project Involve. Van has a feature film titled BLACKOUT on Netflix. Most recently, Van served as a writer for three seasons on CBS’s BLUE BLOODS. Van continues to develop film and TV projects, exploring characters and perspectives we rarely get to see on screen. Her experience and knowledge on set, paired with her passion for storytelling, make her a valuable asset. Subscribe and follow her journey on Substack here.

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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With all the great films the Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program supports, we can’t help to brag about all the awesome work in the program from time to time. That’s exactly what we do in our Fiscal Sponsorship Update columns.

This month, we’re featuring a trio of films that have leveled up in one way or another. We have a feature that got an announcement in Variety, one that will have its world premiere at this year’s Slamdance, and one that nabbed a nomination at this year’s NAACP Image awards. Congrats to all the filmmakers! Read more to see what all the excitement is about!

ZUGZWANG

Project Type: Fiction Feature

Project Status: Development

Filmmaker: Bridget Stokes

Synopsis: A private detective takes a job, hoping for redemption, and finds herself in the midst of an ever-expanding world of corruption.

Update: Christina Elmore (Insecure) is attached to star and the film was announced in Variety, which said “Stokes, Owens and Levenfeld will also visit Park City to meet with potential distributors and partners as “Zugzwang” moves into its next phase of development.”

Project Page

CIRILO, A LEGACY UNTOLD

Project Type: Nonfiction Short

Project Status: Complete

Filmmaker: Justin O. Cooper

Synopsis: Born into poverty in Panama, Cirilo McSween defies the systemic racism of Jim Crow America to pursue the American Dream. As an entrepreneur and civil rights activist, he battles prejudice and inequality to become a transformative figure in the histories of Panama and Chicago, inspiring generations across the Americas.

Update:  Now complete, Cirilo, A Legacy Untold has had a successful festival run including winning Best Documentary Short at the San Antonio Black International Film Festival. Recently the film was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Short Form Documentary (Film). You can watch a trailer for the film here:

Project Page

THREE COLORS: PAN-AFRICAN

Project Type: Fiction Feature

Project Status: Complete

Filmmaker: Elijah Davis, Allison A. Waite, Tyler Ocasio Holmes

Synopsis: An anthology feature film that uses the Pan-African flag as its thematic reference point, featuring three chapters correlated to the colors of the flag: In RED, collegiate football star Ahmari Rose scrambles to save his career after a devastating injury fractures his sense of self worth. In BLACK, a Ghanaian single mother, Joana Mensa, faces deportation after being fired from her job, prompting an unlikely group of heroes to rally around her. In GREEN, Jontavious “John” Rodgers, the up-and-coming star of a struggling Black sitcom, questions his role as the network forces the show into an unexpected direction to boost ratings.

Update: Three Colors: Pan-African will make its world premiere at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival

Project Page

Through Fiscal Sponsorship, independent filmmakers and media artists gain access to nonprofit funding, helping bring their unique visions to life. These projects embrace diversity, push creative boundaries, and showcase the power of independent storytelling. Want to explore the full lineup of sponsored projects? Head over to our Sponsored Projects page and take a look!

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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