Don’t Miss Indies: What to Watch in October
Well folks, we have a truly intriguing situation for October’s independent film releases. In the peak of spooky season, our list features just one horror film. But here you’ll find plenty of pathos, adapting to the unknown, and personal stories of tragedy to rival the slashiest of slasher flicks. Dive in and make plans to join us at the theater!
BLUE HERON
When You Can Watch: September 29
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Director: Sophy Romvari
Cast: Eylul Guven, Edik Beddoes, Amy Zimmer
Why We’re Excited: Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker Sophy Romvari’s debut is an unusual coming-of-age story, trying to understand the past. In the 1990’s, eight-year-old Sasha (Eylul Guven) is the youngest of four kids growing up on Vancouver Island. The family recently immigrated from Hungary, but their fresh start is complicated by her eldest brother, Jeremy (Edik Beddoes), whose behavior is erratic – and sometimes dangerous. Exploring memory and perspective with innovative cinematography, Romvari imputes her childhood on Sasha, watching her parents agonize over Jeremy and their impossible choices for his future. When later the grown-up Sasha (Amy Zimmer, Problemista) begins to make a film re-visiting the people and institutions involved with that period of her life, she grapples with Jeremy’s story and how it shapes her own questions and concerns. Film Independent member Rafael Thomaseto is an Associate Producer and Neil Champagne is an Executive Producer.
THE SCOUT
When You Can Watch: October 6
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Writer/Director: Paula González-Nasser
Cast: Rutanya Alda, Matt Barats, Mimi Davila
Why We’re Excited: Paula González-Nasser has five Location Management credits to her name, and her directorial debut is an autobiographical ode to that role. As Sofia (Mimi Davila, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse) navigates New York City with a camera and a fire inside, we get a lyrical and cinematic peek into a day in her life. Even though her job is to find film locations for a TV pilot, Sofia’s work brings her into disinterested contact with people in their homes, businesses and private lives. It’s a series of human vignettes where the soundtrack is the city traffic and lots of voicemails from the people whose shops and apartments Sofia is on her way to shoot. This contemplative workplace drama builds quiet tension until things take a personal turn. Film Independent member Jaelyn Ellis is an Associate Producer.
TAKE ME HOME
When You Can Watch: October 14
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Writer/Director: Liz Sargent
Cast: Anna Sargent, Victor Slezak, Ali Ahn
Why We’re Excited: Korean-American Liz Sargent adapts her short film in this autobiographical debut feature about thriving in an uncertain future. Anna (Anna Sargent, the filmmaker’s sister) is a 38-year-old daughter of aging parents, and the three of them take care of each other in the Orlando summer heat. It’s a tricky balance between Anna’s physical strength paired with mental disability and her parents’ increasing physical weakness and – in the case of her father Bob (Victor Slezak, The Order) – cognitive decline. They maintain an affectionate but unsustainable trio of support, until a sudden tragic change introduces Emily (Ali Ahn, The Diplomat), Anna’s younger sister into the mix. Through it all, Anna must find a new way forward that works for her. Made with Film Independent members Apoorva Charan (Producer), Jonathan Hsu (Line Producer), Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi (Cinematographer).
YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING
When You Can Watch: October 16
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Directors: Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim
Cast: Billy Evans, Nathan Fielder, Elizabeth Holmes
Why We’re Excited: Surprised Telluride audiences got to premiere this secret documentary from Spirit Award alums Lance Oppenheim (Spirit nominated Ren Faire) and Nathan Fielder (Spirit winner, The Rehearsal). Their crew of eight was invited into the lives of Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and her husband, beginning shooting thirty-four days before Holmes went to prison. The couple wants us to see that they are just regular people, and what we do see is… not that. But also what do we actually see? Oppenheim told Variety, “Nathan and I couldn’t agree on what we actually captured every day. One of us would see something, and the other wouldn’t. I heard the same thing out of Telluride. People were arguing about specific moments. That is perfect. That is the only way.”
BREEDER
When You Can Watch: October 16
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Alex Goyette
Cast: Dot-Marie Jones, Paige McGarvin, Daniel Doheny
Why We’re Excited: Alex Goyette’s feature debut after many shorts and the Aliwood series is an absurd dark comedy/horror that preys on the dreams of a college student who just wants to save bees. Russell (Daniel Doheny, Alex Strangelove) is seeking funding for his research when a potential angel investor crosses his path. Patti (Dot-Marie Jones, Glee) promises to consider getting involved with Russell’s project if he will entertain a proposal of her own. What begins as a strange lark to make awkward conversation with an off-grid poodle breeder descends into an unsettling exploration of perfection and the survival of the fittest.
LA BOLA NEGRA
When You Can Watch: October 20
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Directors: Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Miguel Bernardeau
Why We’re Excited: Spanish directing team Los Javis (Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, Holy Camp!) concoct a lavish musical exploration of the Spanish Civil War and the untold stories of three gay men. Tied together by a mysterious thread that reveals itself throughout the film, Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente, Bitter Christmas), Carlos (Milo Quifes) and Alberto (Carlos González, A una isla de ti) live in three different time periods before, during and long after the war. 1937 is the central timeline, with Sebastián’s conscription into the fascist army and initial encounter with the beautiful prisoner of war, Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau, Zorro). As Sebastián begins to realize his true nature, he also knows that the regime he’s fighting for is on a mission to eradicate it.
ROSE
When You Can Watch: October 22
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Director: Markus Schleinzer
Cast: Sandra Hüller, Caro Braun, Marisa Growaldt
Why We’re Excited: The story Austrian filmmaker Markus Schleinzer (Angelo) tells is not based on one life, but it does compile many historical accounts of women dressing as men to change their circumstances. In black and white simplicity, Sandra Hüller (Spirit Award winner Toni Erdmann) portrays Rose – already disguised as a man when we meet her, tramping through the German forest in uniform to take possession of a farm she’s inherited. Earning favor with the small town by restoring the property to its former glory, she is inevitably presented with a bride. Taking the dowry and creatively circumventing the obligations of marriage, Rose is then surprised to learn she will be a father. Though the blossoming joys of family life and agrarian success can’t last, even as fate catches up to Rose she is still the master of her story.
THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK
When You Can Watch: October 23
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Noah Segan
Cast: John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Karina Arroyave
Why We’re Excited: Spirit Award nominated John Turturro (Box of Moonlight) plays Harry, a native New Yorker and a pickpocket. He’s smooth and experienced, tough and confident. But even old school hustlers have to change with the times, and Harry’s lifestyle of fast cash yields diminishing returns as digital currency replaces dollar bills and easily pawnable items. Harry struggles to make ends meet while looking after his wife, Rosie (Karina Arroyave, The Blacklist) who requires constant care. Surrounded by relics of technology past, Harry is suddenly plunged into 21st century hot water when he lifts a trackable USB stick with cryptocurrency credentials and mob connections. As a career criminal, Harry has a natural relationship with an NYPD detective (Giancarlo Esposito, Spirit Award nominated Fresh) and ultimately it’s his deep human connections that will see him through this bewildering technological landscape.
FATHERLAND
When You Can Watch: October 26
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents
Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
Cast: Sandra Hüller, Hanns Zischler, August Diehl
Why We’re Excited: Polish filmmaker and Spirit Award winner Paweł Pawlikowski (Ida) takes us to 1949 Germany, as German novelist and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler, Munich) returns from his California exile. On a road trip through the war-torn country with his daughter, Erika (Sandra Hüller, Spirit Award winner Toni Erdmann) Mann faces his countrymen after a 16-year absence, speaking to assemblies from Frankfurt to Weimar. Meanwhile his son Klaus (August Diehl, Inglourious Basterds) is not coping well in America, struggling with depression and drugs. Mann seems to keep aloof from the fixed ideologies of America and Europe’s east and west, avoidant of partisanship. But the political landscape – and Mann’s attitude towards it – mirrors the changes in his family, as Erika suffers the separation from her brother.
PROGRAMMER’S PICK: WICKER
When You Can Watch: October 23
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Directors: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Debicki
Why We’re Excited: From Film Independent Lead Programmer Jenn Wilson–
Wicker, the second feature by Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and is definitely worth all the buzzy hype it’s been getting. Olivia Colman plays a local fisherwoman who is mainly an outcast in her small village. Fed up with being lonely, she asks the local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) if he can weave her a companion. Sure enough, one month later, a husband (Alexander Skarsgård) made of wicker (!) shows up to marry her and they find themselves in a passionate and devoted marriage. All is well between them until the couple attends a wedding and it soon becomes obvious to all the townsfolk (especially the women) that the new Wicker Man is a better husband to the fisherwoman than the husbands they all have at home, sewing jealousy into the hearts of them all and bringing trouble for the happy couple. Filled with lots of bawdy and horny humor, incredibly witty writing, and spectacular performances. Wicker is sure to be one of your favorite movies of the Fall season. Film Independent member Justin Lothrop is a Producer and Jennifer Westin is an 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 Festival Winner or Nominee
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Header Image: La Bola Negra courtesy of Goodfellas