Ed. Note: When I first started at Film Independent, I met with Josh Welsh, he said one thing he wanted to do was to reach out to people beyond the LA and New York film-scenes, because there were film lovers everywhere. He asked me for ways the blog could highlight all the great work that independent film lovers are doing across... The post Disk Jockeys: How Beyond Video Opened a New Video Store in the Age of Streaming appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

With Fiscal Sponsorship, independent films and their creators can accept sponsorship as if they were a non-profit through Film Independent. The program supports an inclusive variety of projects, narrative and nonfiction, shorts and features, as well as the occasional new media project, special event or advocacy initiative. Our monthly Fiscal Spotlight column  introduces new fiscally-sponsored projects worth supporting. Naturally, we want to see... The post FiSpo Updates: Row of Life, Chasers, The Ice Cream Man & She Cried That Day appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

The hits keep on coming. 2025 has been a difficult year so far, and now the independent film community mourns the loss of one of its patron saints, Independent Spirit Special Distinction Award winner David Lynch. He was 78. Born a year after the end of World War II, the man behind Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, and others... The post An Independent Icon: David Lynch, 1946-2025 appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

Countless ink has been spilled and millions of feet have been shot about living in Los Angeles, and how it feels like you’re always on the precipice of apocalypse. With what we’ve seen and lived through, this past week that feeling was all too real. Almost everyone in LA knows someone who’s lost everything in the wildfires that cut through the... The post WE HEART LA: Ten Classic Indies About Living in Los Angeles appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

Editor’s Note: Since its World Premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, winning a special jury prize for craft, Nocturnes has gone on to several accolades, including becoming a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Film Independent connected Indian filmmakers and Global Media Makers Fellows Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta for a conversation with Emmy Award-winning composer Vivek Maddala. *** For most of us, an inevitable question arises whenever we consider... The post A Conversation on ‘Nocturnes’: Part 1 appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

On Saturday, the Spirit Awards returned to the beach. Casa Del Mar Hotel Santa Monica hosted our annual Spirit Awards Nominees Brunch to celebrate all the 2025 nominees and their films. The ultimate power brunch. Yes, there was fashion, yes there was shmoozing, yes there was eggs benedict, but more importantly there were the FilmIndependent Spirit Award Emerging Filmmaker Awards. These... The post 2025 Emerging Filmmaker Award Winners Announced at Brunch; Board Chair Brenda Robinson Delivers Special Remarks appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

It’s officially Spirit Award season here at Film Independent. We had our annual Awards Brunch last weekend, and we’re getting prepped for the big show on February 22 (2pm Pacific, 5pm Eastern on the Film Independent and iMDB YouTube channels!). While that means late nights of making seating charts, sending out invites, and hiring photographers for us (an award show has... The post Don’t-Miss Indies: What to Watch in January appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

You can find Part One of our Incomplete History of Film Independent here. *** In filmmaker Alexander Payne’s acclaimed 2004 wine snob dramedy Sideways–a 4x Film Independent Spirit Award winner–vino-loving schlemiel Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) spends a lost weekend in Southern California wine country gradually coming apart at the emotional seams. At one point, dismayed by some bad news regarding the... The post An Incomplete History of Film Independent, Part Two: The Next 20 Years (2005-2024) appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of our dear President, Josh Welsh, who died peacefully at home on December 31, 2024, surrounded by his wife and daughter after a courageous five-year battle with colon cancer. Josh’s loss is deeply felt across the entire Film Independent family. We have lost not only an extraordinary leader but also... The post Film Independent Mourns the Loss of President Josh Welsh appeared first on Film Independent ..read more

We continue to look back at all of our favorite blog posts from each month this year. In Part 1, we already took a look at a few of the highlights of what the organization has been up to, as well as look at the first half of the year with the blog. So let’s not waste any time and get... The post Year In Review: The Best Blogs of 2024 Pt. 2 appeared first on Film Independent ..read more