The Changemaker Awards are back! Now in their second year, the Changemaker Awards spotlight outstanding Film Independent Fellows whose contributions have significantly impacted the entertainment industry and their communities. This year the award will be presented to Linda Yvette Chávez (Project Involve 2010, Screenwriting Lab 2015), Tze Chun (Project Involve 2008, Fast Track 2010), and Grace Lee (Documentary Lab 2012). Linda...

The post Presenting the 2024 Film Independent Changemakers appeared first on Film Independent.

When the news reports on a story, it sticks to cold, hard facts; this law was struck down, this medical trial didn’t get funding, this border closed. The facts are key to know how to ground ourselves, and to know what happened. The reality is though, that these decisions are newsworthy because they have huge effects on people’s lives, and people...

The post Fiscal Spotlight: Big Decisions, Short Films appeared first on Film Independent.

Regardless of its importance to the storytelling process, film music is too often an afterthought. There are a variety of theories that composers have as to why, and they’re mostly related to a lack of education. So I’ve decided to take an active stance in educating filmmakers about the role of music in film and the process of how a film...

The post The Fi Hall of Fame: A Brief History of Film Music appeared first on Film Independent.

From Olivia Colman’s fraught sojourn to the Greek Isles in The Lost Daughter to Jessie Buckley’s terrifying trip up the M5 to the English countryside in Men and M. Night’s bummer beaches in Old, taking a little “me time” away from home is often the single biggest mistake any movie character could possibly make. Horror, psychological drama, comedy, mystery, rom-com. The...

The post The Must-List: Seven Films About Summer Vacations Gone Off the Rails appeared first on Film Independent.

For those of us who have been here for a decade or two, it’s remarkable to consider both how much and how little the city of Los Angeles has changed over the years. There are still plenty of the old landmarks—the Hollywood Sign, Pink’s Hot Dogs, that dude who rollerblades around is white robes and plays guitar on the Venice boardwalk—while other, seemingly...

The post The Must-List: Ten Classic Indies About Messy Lives in Sunny Los Angeles appeared first on Film Independent.

Sure, irradiated zombies and bloodthirsty apocalypse bikers can be pretty scary. Draculas and Frankensteins? Scary. Cthulhus… Mothmen… Graboids? The absolute worst. But for indie content creators, no boogeyman or cryptid is quite as hair-raising as the many great and monstrous leviathans ritualistically summoned by the occult and alchemical ritual known as filmmaking. Look: there’s Shaky Financing dragging itself out of the...

The post Horror Under Construction: Five Docs about the Making of Our Halloween Favorites appeared first on Film Independent.

In Part One of our conversation with Dune costume designers Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan, they shared the logistical challenges of producing some 2,000+ costumes for the ambitious sci-fi blockbuster, as well as the influences that went into bringing Lady Jessica Atreides (the great Rebecca Ferguson) to life. Today, we continue the discussion on what inspired the Atreides military uniforms and...

The post How Medieval Times and Spanish Romanticism Inspired the Sartorial Visuals of ‘Dune’ (Part Two) appeared first on Film Independent.

In order to deliver the 2,000 costumes – including approximately 400 specialty costumes and bespoke “stillsuits”– for Denis Villeneuve’s visually captivating and masterfully adapted sci-fi epic Dune, the director enlisted the help of costume designers Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan, whose work on the film is currently nominated at the upcoming Oscars. With her background in art history, former fashion designer...

The post How Medieval Times and Spanish Romanticism Inspired the Sartorial Visuals of ‘Dune’ (Part One) appeared first on Film Independent.

In this series of special guest posts, we’re asking first-time filmmakers of every discipline (writers, producer, directors, whatever) to share what they’ve learned from their debut outings in feature work. This month: musician Randall Taylor on creating his first feature-length film score, for horror film Delicate Arch, premiering Friday, June 28 at Dances With Films in Los Angeles. *** I play with cassette tapes...

The post My First Movie: Debut Feature Film Composer Randall Taylor Cuts Through the Red Tape appeared first on Film Independent.

Of all the unofficial holidays derived from an apocryphal bit police code, 4/20 is by far the most enduring. And just as “420” has gradually become entrenched as stoner shorthand for marijuana, the date April 20 has become an opportunity not just for college kids looking to indulge in a little extralegal fun, but also for drug law reformers and other...

The post High There! Five of Our Favorite Marijuana-Themed Indie Features appeared first on Film Independent.