The September event showcased significant and thought-provoking independent films by emerging filmmakers from and working in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela, Canada and the United States.

It kicked off with an opening reception where all-access pass holders enjoyed complimentary food from Pink’s Hot Dogs and specialty cocktails featuring handcrafted tequila and mezcal made in Oaxaca, Mexico, by The Lost Explorer.

The first film program of the day, InFocus: Latin & Hispanic Cinema I, presented coming-of-age narrative shorts. The films covered familial relationships, embracing one’s identity, and transcending time, space, and borders. In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, opening remarks were delivered by Miguel Santana, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation. 

The program continued with InFocus: Latin & Hispanic Cinema II, a collection of stories about contending with injustice, inequality, systemic failures and colonialism. It explored battles for justice, finding strength, deconstructing limiting beliefs and seeking a better future.

The night concluded with InFocus: Latin & Hispanic Cinema III, a program about the importance of connections. It featured stories of loss, love, and letting go.

NFMLA showcases films by filmmakers of all backgrounds throughout the year, across both our general and InFocus programming. All filmmakers are welcome and encouraged to submit their projects for consideration for upcoming NFMLA Festivals, regardless of the schedule for InFocus programming, which celebrates representation by spotlighting various communities of filmmakers as part of the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival. This project is made possible in part by grant support from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Here is more information about the NFMLA fillmmakers and their films, provided by NFMLA.

“Punta Salinas” directed by Maria del Mar Rosario

About Maria: María del Mar Rosario was born and lives in Puerto Rico. Her stories trigger a reflection on notions of the Caribbean under a decolonial lens, while stylistically exploring the perspective of the body. Her work has screened at Tribeca, SFFILM, HotDocs, IDFA, Metrograph NYC, and the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. With a BA in Creative Nonfiction and Film Studies from Columbia University, she later completed her postgraduate studies at the School of Film and Television in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV). Awarded with the LALIFF/NETFLIX Inclusion Fellowship to direct the narrative short, Punta Salinas; and the Firelight Media Fellowship 2024 for the documentary short Escambrón, Playa, currently streaming at PBS. 

About “Punta Salinas”: After having sex for the first time, Alba, a 16 year old, searches for a strength she had never exercised before.  

Watch the NFMLA interview with Maria del Mar Rosario, director of “Punta Salinas”:

“The Vote” directed by Sylvia Ray 

About Sylvia: Sylvia Ray is a Chicana/Korean-American director based in Los Angeles and a 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow. She is also a 2024 Latino Film Institute Inclusion Fellow, where she wrote and directed The Vote, winner of Best U.S. Short at the Post Alley Film Festival. Her feature script The Middle was a quarterfinalist at HollyShorts and the Atlanta Film Festival and selected for the 2024 FICMonterrey Pro-Meetings Program. The short was nominated for Best LatinX Film at HollyShorts and won Best in Festival at the 2025 Sundial Film Festival. Sylvia’s work explores grief, identity, and resilience in BIPOC communities.

About “Punta Salinas”: Siblings Jessica and Robbie face the heart-wrenching choice to keep their mother on life support or let her go, sparking a tense family vote. 

Watch the NFMLA interview with Sylvia Ray, director of “The Vote”:

“Ialu” directed by Sebastian Nazario-Colon

About Sebastian: Sebastian Nazario-Colon is a film director and Cannes-nominated editor based in New York. In 2025, he was an editor on "Fillos Do Vento: A RAPA," an immersive short documentary. The project was an official nomination for the Cannes Film Festival’s Immersive Experience Competition and premiered at Cannes in May 2025. In 2023, Nazario-Colon directed the award-winning short documentary, The Boricua’s Dilemma, exploring Puerto Rico’s political status debate. The short garnered over 14K views on YouTube during its one-week limited release. The film was presented at San Diego Latino Film Festival, NYLFF, Miami Int. Film Festival, and the Albany Film Festival.

About “Ialu”: A recluse with uncontrollable supernatural abilities meets a girl.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Sebastian Nazario-Colon, director of “Ialu”:

“Mean Goals” directed by Ahuatl Amaro

About Ahuatl: Ahuatl is an award-winning queer, Latinx-Indigenous director from Los Angeles. His film "Warehouse" received the festival favorite award at Cinema Diverse in Palm Springs and "Physical Therapy" was awarded the community filmmaker award at LA Shorts Fest. As a public relations practitioner, he’s published editorials in the LA Times, Dallas Morning News, and Miami Herald and has been interviewed on several social issues by CNN, PBS, NPR and more. He’s a 2024 Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today fellow and 2021 MACEF filmmaker scholarship awardee. He earned an MFA in Screenwriting from the AFI Conservatory and BA in English from Georgetown University.

About “Mean Goals”: An adorkable gay Latino joins an LGBTQ soccer team to bond with his father struggling with Alzheimer’s over their shared passion for the sport.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Ahuatl Amaro, director of “Mean Goals”:

“Piñata Prayers” directed by Daniel Larios

About Daniel: Daniel is a Salvadoran-American producer, director, writer, and cultural worker based in Los Angeles. His short films have been selected at festivals including True/False, Blackstar, Atlanta, ICARO, Bentonville, and Paraguay International. He won the 2022 Blackstar Doc Shorts Pitch, was a 2022 Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today Fellow, and was a 2023 Sundance Institute Latine Collab Scholarship recipient. Daniel is writing his first fiction feature, APOCALIPSIS, and filmed a proof-of-concept short in February 2025, which will be in festivals in 2026. He is also researching several ideas for his first nonfiction feature. 

About “Piñata Prayers”: Breaking down the colonial tradition of piñatas, this personal film probes into a loss of faith while retracing a family history.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Daniel Larios, director of “Piñata Prayers”:

“Lights in the Night Sky” directed by Octavio Daniel Carreño

About Octavio: Mexican screenwriter and filmmaker. Bachelor’s degree in film, UdeG. Beneficiary of the Young Creators Program of FONCA 2021. Particularly interested in addressing issues such as violence and the intricate construction of masculinity in Mexico. has worked as a screenwriter on HBO MAX and Amazon Music projects. The short film “Lights in the night sky" is his directorial debut.

About “Lights in the Night Sky”: Manu searches for his sister in the city and discovers why the two became estranged.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Octavio Daniel Carreño, director of “Lights in the Night Sky”:

“Beyond” directed Bettina Lopez 

About Bettina: Bettina is a Venezuelan screenwriter and filmmaker. Having spent her childhood moving across borders, first to Mexico then to the U.S., Bettina has always been fascinated by reality as a subjective construct. Her work often centers overlooked or forgotten characters who challenge the limits the world imposes on them. After graduating from USC, Bettina got her start working with director Michael Gracey on the musical hit "The Greatest Showman" (2017). She went on to co-write Netflix’s animated film "Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie" (2023), and showrun Audible’s Ambie Award-winning fiction podcast "PREVIA: A Tech Heist" (2023), which she also directed. Bettina's screen directorial debut, “Más Allá” (“Beyond”), was awarded Best U.S. Latino Live Action Short Film at LALIFF 2025, making it Academy Award eligible.

About “Beyond”:  A young girl, who’s given up her childhood to survive crossing the treacherous Darien Gap, discovers a portal to a magical world where she learns to be a kid again.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Bettina Lopez, director of “Beyond”:

“Lucia & Nicole” directed by Marlene Emilia Rios

About Marlene: Marlene Emilia Rios is a filmmaker and writer based in Los Angeles. Her work explores tenderness, identity, and longing through intimate, restrained storytelling. She holds an MA from the London Film School and a BFA from the University of New Mexico. Her previous short We Choose to Go screened at over 15 international festivals, was distributed by DUST, and received the UFVF/Kodak Excellence in Filmmaking Grant. Her latest short Lucia & Nicole, shot on 16mm, was recently awarded Best Short at WildSound and selected for Reeling Chicago, Mindfield Albuquerque, and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles.

About “Lucia & Nicole”: When Lucia discovers her childhood friend Nicole living on the streets, an invitation into the family home rekindles long-buried feelings — and quietly shifts the foundation of their world.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Marlene Emilia Rios, director of “Lucia & Nicole”:

“Sueño” directed by Raul Martin Romero

About Raul: Raul Martin Romero is a writer and playwright of grit, pain, laughter, and fabulousness. His stories are rooted in an obscure childhood north of Madrid where he wandered the ancient hallways of a 15th-century castle while his mother mopped the floors for the next day's tour groups. He worked on Vida (STARZ), Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick’s Colin in Black & White (Netflix), Generation (Max), and GREASE: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+), where he also wrote two episodes. He’s also written on XO, Kitty (Netflix) and two seasons of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC/AMC+). Raul is an OUTFEST Screenwriting Lab fellow and a semi-finalist at the Ojai Playwrights Conference 2025.

About “Sueño”: A man embarks on a journey to meet his mother, a legendary flamenco dancer whose fatal sleep disorder is deteriorating her mind and body to death.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Raul Martin Romero,  director of “Sueño”:

“The Almost Adults” directed by Rafaella Buzzi

About Rafaella: ​​Rafaella Buzzi is a Brazilian screenwriter and director. The witty and sensitive The Almost Adults is her debut fiction film. Rafaella directs mostly commercials and music videos and it’s represented by the production company Asteroide in São Paulo. Under the supervision of Mark Rosenthal (Mona Lisa’s Smile) she wrote her first feature film Large Land Crisis, yet to be produced. In her early career years, she worked as an assistant to the director Marcos Prado (executive producer of Elite Squad, the Brazilian film with the largest audience in the history of national cinema).

About “The Almost Adults”: When nine-year-old Sofia is mysteriously replaced by her adult self, her sister Charlotte helps her survive the adult world — where strange laws like "leave it alone," "do not look each other in the eyes," and "do not speak your mind" exist.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Rafaella Buzza, director of “The Almost Adults”:

“The Interpreter” directed by Sofia Rovaletti

About Sofia: Sofia Rovaletti is an Argentine filmmaker and executive who, after diverse roles in film production, documentaries, advertising, live events, and theater, found her niche in development. She studied filmmaking at the Eliseo Subiela Film School and the National University of the Arts in Argentina. Sofia participated in the production of notable films like "Operation Finale," directed by Chris Weitz, and the Argentine masterpiece "Zama," directed by Lucrecia Martel. In Argentina, she worked with production companies Rei Cine, Landia, Brava Cine, and Marlon, and was part of the production team for the Youth Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Buenos Aires 2018. Since her move to Los Angeles in 2019, Sofia has worked with sales agency Shoreline Entertainment and currently serves as the Director of Development at MoJo Global Arts, developing films, TV series, and docuseries with renowned talents. In 2024, she produced the feature film “Tender” starring Jesse Garcia (Flammin’ Hot), David Koechner (Anchorman), Shakira Barrera (Glow),  and Jess Weixler (Teeth). In 2025, she produced the short film "I F*cking Hate You", directed by Gabriela Paciel and part of the fellowship by The Latino Film Institute and Netflix.

About “The Interpreter”: Dedicated interpreter Maria helps bridge the language gap between doctors and non-English-speaking patients. As Maria attentively translates various conversations, she will face a particular call with a woman who went through a devastating situation that will feel familiar to her.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Sofia Rovaletti, director of “The Interpreter”:

“Reprogrammed” directed by Christopher Guerrero 

About Christopher: Christopher Guerrero is a Latinx writer/director from California’s Central Valley whose work fuses horror, comedy, and cultural commentary. A 2025 Stowe Story Labs Fellow and winner of the Ghetto Film School x Frieze LA Film Award, Christopher’s projects have been a part of Slamdance, Austin, HollyShorts, and Santa Barbara. He’s directed campaigns for Microsoft, Disney, GEICO, and Coca-Cola, and collaborated with talent including The Rock, Wayne Brady, and Jack Black. A directing professor at USC, Christopher tells bold, genre-driven stories that entertain, provoke, and spotlight underrepresented voices.

About “Reprogrammed”: In retro-future L.A., a lonely roboticist creates IRIS — an AI built to simulate connection.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Christopher Guerrero, director of “Reprogrammed”:

“Hour of Blood” directed by Marcella Ochoa

About Marcella: Marcella is an award-winning writer/director who was picked as a rising Latina director by the Alliance of Women Directors. She recently wrote and directed the horror short, "Hour of Blood," for which she received a Humanitas Prize nomination for Best Short Film. She wrote and directed the short thriller, "Worry Dolls," and received a Best Short Film IMAGEN Award Nomination. She also wrote and directed the award-winning short on the Americanization of Mexicans, "My Name Is Maria de Jesus," which premiered on HBO. She co-wrote a social justice thriller, "Madres," for Blumhouse. It premiered on Amazon and received an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Writing in a TV movie. She has written feature films for various studios including a horror for Paramount and thrillers for New Line. She’s currently writing a horror film for Universal being produced by Atomic Monster. 

About “Hour of Blood”: In 1915 Texas, ranchers mysteriously start going missing. A young girl must defend her family ranch against the dark threat. 

Watch the NFMLA with Marcella Ochoa, director of “Hour of Blood”:

“Mija” directed by Yashira Ponce 

About Yashira: Yashira Ponce is a Honduran-American writer/director. Her short films commonly explore a variety of social issues and feature a female Latinx protagonist. Her core themes are feminism, mental health, immigration, family, and bodily autonomy. Her short film, “The Stitch”, premiered at the Academy-Award-qualifying L.A Shorts International Film Festival in July 2023 and has been featured in several film festivals. Her most recent short, “Mija” premiered at the San Diego Latino Film Festival in May 2025. She currently works as a filmmaking mentor for Latino Film Institute. 

About “Mija”: When tragedy strikes a family in Honduras, a desperate mother grapples with how to protect her daughter from further harm.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Yashira Ponce the director of “Mija”:

“First Check” directed by Christian Mejía

About Christian: Christian Mejía is a Los Angeles-based writer and director raised by Mexican immigrant parents in Chicago. His stories feature working class characters searching for meaning and fulfillment in the mundanity of life.  He is an alumnus of the 2023 Writers’ Guild Foundation’s Writers Access Training Program, the winner of the 2023 Community Builders Grant for his latest short film, “First Check,” as well as multiple artist grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Puffin Foundation. His work has screened at the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, and the Chicano Hollywood Film Festival.

About “First Check”: A coming-of-age short film that follows Chava, a hopelessly plain 16-year-old, who chooses to get his first job instead of visiting his grandmother in Mexico, a yearly tradition he shares with his sister Michelle.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Christian Mejía, director of “First Check”:

“Bye Bye Barbarito” directed by Michelle Salcedo

About Michelle: A 2024 and 2025 Sundance Directing fellow, Michelle has over 20 years experience in the entertainment industry. Her films blend a commitment to authentic representation with a visually stunning cinematic style. Michelle recently directed the multimillion-dollar action feature, “Switch & Bait,” shot on location in Serbia, starring Otmara Marrero and Katie Clarkson Hill. Born in Miami, of Cuban and Ecuadorian descent, she graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in film studies. Michelle Salcedo‘s directorial debut, "Piel Canela," won eight festival jury prizes at Academy qualifying film festivals. She most recently directed, “Bye Bye Barbarito” for NALIP’s WOC incubator sponsored by Netflix. She’s currently a Rideback RISE fellow working on a third feature film as a writer/director.

About “Bye Bye Barbarito”: After losing her husband, a golden-aged beauty counts on her one true love,  her pet cockatiel, to celebrate her newly found freedom. But her beloved bird has escape plans of his own.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Michelle Salcedo, director of “Bye Bye Barbarito”:

Main image: "Bye Bye Barbarito," courtesy of NFMLA.

When it comes to rating festivals, we’re obsessed with numbers and details and apples-to-apples comparisons. Which is why every year we create a rigorous list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. When we’re compiling that list, we’re not at all cool. We’re detail-oriented and fussy and annoying to be around. So when it’s time to compile this list — our annual Coolest Film Festivals list — we hand over the reins. 

Because as uncool as we are, at least we’re cool enough to recognize cool people. We can tell how cool they are from their work, their confidence, and their ability to find things that the average square might not know. We handpicked this year’s Panel of Cool based on their artistry, their personal experiences with a wide range of festivals, and their taste. 

Sp we are grateful to the Panel of Cool for helping us assemble this list. And honored that the panel includes Ian and Katie Bignell, Heather Brawley, Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz, Ray Smiling, H. Nelson Tracey, the filmmaking duo Zhang & Night, and Milana Vayntrub. You can read about their awesome work here.

While our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee is a sentimentality-free affair focused on festivals we think will boost your film career, for this list we asked our Panel of Cool to just share the festivals they would recommend to a friend — places where they felt good and had a blast. Places that are cool.

So with that, here is our list of the Coolest Film Festivals in the world.

The Coolest Film Festivals in the World, 2025

AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL

Miami Beach, Florida / May 27-31 2026 / abff.com

Filmmaker Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz notes that festival co-founders Jeff and Nicole Friday — the CEO and president, respectively, of ABFF — “go all out to make this event feel as big as they come and still intimate.” Fernández-Ruiz adds: “You can walk down the street alone and by the time you get to where you’re going you’re in an entourage of 20 other people.” Since its start in 1997, the festival has cultivated a mix of professional opportunity and personal enrichment. “A lot of times filmmakers go to festivals and they’re about their business: ‘Who do I have to meet/know?’ But that dissipates at ABFF. It is, by far, the most fun festival I’ve ever attended,” Fernández-Ruiz adds. He also notes that “they handle their Q&As in a way that really spotlights each individual filmmaker before going on to celebrate the next. Plus there’s Caribbean energy in just about every direction.” It’s also one of several festivals on this list that is also one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

ANNAPOLIS FILM FESTIVAL

Annapolis, Maryland / March 26-29, 2026 / annapolisfilmfestival.com

Annapolis, which will celebrate its 14th edition next year, is “a total blast,” notes film producer and executive Heather Brawley, who says that the quaint seaside setting makes for “an awesome backdrop to the festival experience.” She also praises “insightful panels, a cool pitch competition (that comes with some great perks!), networking events, and parties spread throughout the cute town.” Brawley adds: “The programmers, staff, and locals are amazingly supportive and welcoming.” Another benefit is the close proximity to Washington and other locales, if you’re up for sightseeing sidetrips. But maybe just stay put? “Annapolis itself is full of cool attractions — from the Naval Academy to incredible coffee and vintage shops, to delicious waterfront restaurants,” Brawley notes. “From wandering the cobblestone streets between screenings to attending the unique Coffee Talks panel each morning, Annapolis blends small-town charm with awesome programming. I can’t wait to return.” The latest edition’’s films included the 2025 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short “I’m Not a Robot” and the crowd-pleasing new comedy Bad Shabbos, featuring another member of our Panel of Cool, Milana Vayntrub. 

ASPEN SHORTSFEST

Aspen, Colorado / April 7-11, 2026 / aspenfilm.org/our-festivals/shortsfest

“Reaching Aspen Shortsfest feels like undertaking a pilgrimage,” note filmmakers Linden Zhang and Hannah Knight, who release films under their Zhang & Knight banner. “The air is thin and the journey demanding, but that very effort infuses the festival with the feeling of something precious and rare. It seems miraculous that such an extraordinary gathering of short films could exist here, poised at the very roof of the world. The festival is intimate, with just the right scale to meet and genuinely connect with fellow filmmakers. Despite the challenge of getting there, the international turnout is impressively strong. A real highlight was getting to connect with and hang out with all the other directors and teams from around the world. The guest speakers we got to see were excellent, and the whole Aspen team are lovely and friendly. It is expensive to get to Aspen, but the festival very generously covers accommodation, as well as numerous events where you can stock up on delicious food and drinks. There is also a lounge with gourmet sandwiches, pizza and a constant supply of pastries. Aspen is both breathtaking and surreal: a ski resort playground for the ultra-wealthy, high in the snowy mountains, not exactly anyone’s everyday hangout. That strangeness heightens the magic of the festival, making the whole experience feel dreamlike. One of the festival’s greatest strengths is the purity of its focus. In this mountain ‘fishbowl,’ far from the distractions of reality, you’re immersed completely in the films. The curation is marvellous — intelligent, sharp and inspiring.”

CLERMONT-FERRAND INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

Clermont-Ferrand, France / January 30-February 7, 2026 / clermont-filmfest.org/en/global/home

“The hallowed Clermont-Ferrand places short films on a true pedestal, giving them a seriousness and visibility they rarely receive elsewhere,” say Zhang & Knight. “Only in France could such a vast stage be devoted to the short form. Every film screens daily across the city, from intimate cinemas to the vast main hall that seats more than a thousand. What sets Clermont apart is its public spirit. This is not an industry echo chamber, but a civic celebration of cinema. Thousands flock each year: pensioners meticulously filling notebooks with impressions, school groups and teenagers pouring off coaches to queue for screenings. Nowhere else in the world do short films command such an audience. For filmmakers, the experience is profoundly affirming. Your work is treated with respect, projected in impeccable quality, and discussed in multilingual Q&As where curators and audiences alike bring thoughtful, intelligent engagement. Clermont can be overwhelming in scale, but the festival is generous: accommodation is arranged for filmmakers, along with meal vouchers and public transport passes. There is such a focus on having filmmakers attend the festival, and they do everything possible to facilitate that.  The programming is unmatched: global in scope, carefully balanced, and adventurous enough to include a dedicated experimental section. If you’ve made a short, you’ll dream of it playing here. Clermont is the pinnacle.”

CREDO23

Los Angeles / March 27-29, 2026 / credo23filmfest.com

“We support creativity, not conformity,” Credo 23 announces on its website. With a team of programmers that includes Juliette Lewis, Matthew Weiner, and festival co-founder Justine Bateman, Credo 23 has staked out a niche as strongly anti-AI. But as filmmaker Ray Smiling notes, it “really it feels more like a pro human creativity fest.” Smiling praises the festival’s profit-sharing program and commitment to “pushing to curate films that could only be made by an active human mind. Not an algorithm, not a formula.” It’s entering its second year, but Smiling believes it has the “potential to absolutely be one of the best in the country.” The festival takes inspiration from Lars von Trier’s Dogme95 film movement, and asks that filmmakers seeking the Credo 23 stamp of approval not only avoid AI, but also limit CGI and VFX — and that they work with unions. Submissions are open until December 20.

DANCES WITH FILMS

New York City and Los Angeles / December 4-7 (NYC) and 2026 (L.A.) / danceswithfilms.com

Established in 1998, Dances With Films is based at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre and “lives up to the famous space it inhabits,” notes Heather Brawley. “The lobby is always bustling — you can always find a filmmaker or actor to talk to — and the film blocks never disappoint.” The festival is so good that she returns each year “even when I don’t have a film in the festival.” She also praises the “killer trailer” that plays throughout each edition of the festival, as well as the “effective, straightforward voting system.” But what stands out for her most is the “amazing” filmmaker lounge: “With panels, free drinks, and endless networking, it’s a place where I’ve made invaluable connections.” The festival’s success in Los Angeles led to its recent expansion to New York City. Winners of the recent Los Angeles edition included the fascinating documentary Never Get Busted, about a former cop who flipped to waging war on the war on the drugs. 

EASTERN OREGON FILM FESTIVAL

LaGrande, Oregon / October 2026 / eofilmfest.com

“You might not expect a rural mountain town four hours east of Portland to be a haven for indie filmmakers with big dreams, but that’s exactly what you get when you attend the Eastern Oregon Film Festival,” says filmmaker H. Nelson Tracey, whose film Breakup Season is set in La Grande. The festival supports moviemaking, he notes, through “programs including Filmmaker Field Trips, Filmmaker Residency, and Fiscal Sponsorship.” Tracey credits the festival’s support of one of his early shorts with helping him make the leap to directing a feature. “Few festivals take such an active interest in cultivating future projects by their alumni,” Tracey adds. “Each night of the festival ends with live music from Pacific Northwest musicians, like the end credits to a day of screenings and filmmaker conversations. Trekking out to La Grande for Eastern Oregon is like entering a haven for indie film, and in my case as well as for many others, it can be a life-changing experience.”

FILMQUEST

Provo, Utah / October-November 2026 / filmquestfest.com

This year’s edition has likely just wrapped as you’re reading this, which means you’re either savoring the memories or wishing you were there. The festival includes 10 days of screenings at the festival’s wonderfully eccentric screening venue, the Velour Theater. An audience of mostly filmmakers turns out for “productive networking events, fun local excursions, incredible programming, and my personal favorite: the Midnight Madness lock-in,” says Heather Brawley, one of many who loves “watching wild films into the early hours.” Because almost everything is at Velour — or within a block of it — everyone can easily attend events without having to rush around or make tough decisions. Among the cool perks the festival offers is a portrait studio for all the filmmakers, so you may go home with a new headshot. And the festival’s artistry extends to its merch, including an array of shirts, jackets and hats with eye-catching Cthulhu-inspired designs. Charismatic founder Jonathan Martin leads a friendly, passionate team, united by a love of genre cool. And FilmQuest is also one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

INDY SHORTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AND HEARTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Indianapolis, Indiana / July 21-26 and October 2026 / heartlandfilm.org

Heartland and its short film spinoff, Indy Shorts, are both run by Heartland Film and are two of the friendliest, most uplifting festivals you’ll ever encounter, as well as among the best organized. Filmmaker Milana Vayntrub notes that she felt “spoiled” by the great experience of debuting her first short, “Pickled Herring,” at Indy Shorts. “The folks there put so much heart and thought into every detail, from the annual themes that keep the festival feeling playful and fun, to the daily emails that make navigating it a breeze,” Vayntrub notes. “They even make sure filmmakers have discounted hotel blocks and plenty of activities to connect with each other. And of course, the programming itself is top-notch. It always feels like such an honor to be in the company of great films here.” The festivals also have fun creative themes each year — the latest Indy Shorts was all about building and construction. Both Indy Shorts and Heartland are also regulars on our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

LOS ANGELES LATINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 

Los Angeles / 2026 / laliff.org

“Whether you’re Latino or not, I think LALIFF is one of LA’s secret powerhouse film festivals, with programmers who curate at major festivals and bring magic from all across LatAm,” says filmmaker Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz. “The programming is robust. The attendance is bananas. And every Latino ever is there celebrating at the historic Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. You really feel like you’re part of something big when you’re there, and you won’t ever stop laughing or dancing — I can promise you that.” This year’s edition, from May to June, included co-director Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson’s Serious People, which premiered at Sundance. The festival celebrates its 25th edition next year, so start planning now.

LOUISIANA FILM PRIZE

Shreveport, Louisiana / 2026 / prizefest.com

The Prize is unlike every other festival — all films must be shot in Louisiana. Out of 20 selected contenders, the winner receives $25,000, or $50,000 if the film was shot in Caddo Parish, where Shreveport is located, or in neighboring Bossier Parish. For one glorious, party-filled weekend, filmmakers share their shorts with audiences and each other, enjoying meals, toasts, music, comedy, and lively screenings of all the films. Then the winner — and some special additional prize recipients — are named at a raucous, celebratory brunch. “You get the sense that you’re walking into somebody else’s living room — good thing they’re welcoming,” says Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz. The requirement that films shoot in Louisiana means you have to be “rigorous if you’re from out of town like I was,” he adds. “We shot a film there in one day — I mean, it was break-neck speed.” Film Prize competitors tend to be close-knit and supportive, and you often find participants in the credits of one another’s films. “The community is down for the cause,” Fernández-Ruiz notes. “It really is a family affair. Go shoot something. See what the spirit of indie looks like when it’s the whole town in on it. It’ll restore your faith in the work when you’re feeling low.” The latest edition wrapped in October, so you have plenty of time to start scouting Louisiana locations for next year. It’s also one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

MAMMOTH LAKES FILM FESTIVAL

Mammoth Lakes, California / May 20-24, 2026 / mammothlakesfilmfestival.com

Filmmaker Ray Smiling describes this Sierra Nevada escape as a “filmmaker sleepaway camp” in a mountain town with a “very ’70s ski-lodge vibe.” He also appreciates the “really eclectic collection” of features and shorts, “all of ’em at least a lil weird.” We profiled festival director Shira Dubrovner last issue, and she noted that she and festival programming director Paul Sbrizzi very much seek out adventurous programming. The festival is also known for hospitality, and relaxation — filmmakers have the opportunity to take late-night trips to the local hot springs. And it is, again, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

MIDDLEBURY NEW FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL

Middlebury, Vermont / August 2026 / middfilmfest.org

Set in one of New England’s many gorgeous towns, Middlebury stands out with its emphasis on moviemakers who have made their first or second films. The idyllic setting also draws plenty of experienced hands, who in the past have included John Slattery, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Oliver Stone. Katie and Ian Bignell note that it “runs smoothly with the locals turning out in force,” and highlight the “laidback atmosphere with free drinks and food each night.” They also praise the festival as “one of the rare gems where the talent isn’t hidden in the green room — they’re hanging out, grabbing a coffee, and easy to approach.” The festival offers home stays and has a travel fund to help offset costs. And leave room in your luggage: The Bignells note that the packed swag bags have “previously included local maple syrup, a teddy bear (which is also the emblem of their coveted awards), festival merch,” and many more treats. And if that’s not enough local charm, you can buy festival-themed souvenirs from a local family-owned pewter business. 

NEWFILMMAKERS LOS ANGELES (NFMLA) 

Los Angeles, California / Monthly / newfilmmakersla.com

Another festival that focuses on rising filmmakers, and is known for opening doors. “I think NFMLA has done more for my career as an institution than any festival or organization in the industry,” says Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz, who in 2024 was named NFMLA’s Best New Filmmaker. NFMLA holds different festivals each month, often recognizing underrepresented demographics, and the frequency of its events cultivates a sense of community you can’t get by attending a festival every year or two. “You literally never know who you’re going to bump into,” notes Fernández-Ruiz. “NFMLA builds artists and connects us to other valuable institutions that further our work.” MovieMaker is also honored to share interviews with NFMLA filmmakers every month at moviemaker.com. It’s another festival on this list that is also one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

PROOF: PROOF OF CONCEPT FILM FESTIVAL 

Culver City, California / November 2026 / americancinematheque.com

Backed by the American Cinematheque, a non-profit that programs films at beloved Los Angeles-area movie houses the Los Feliz 3, Aero Theatre, and the Egyptian Theatre, PROOF is dedicated to presenting the best in proof-of-concept films as they develop into something more. It’s based out of the Culver Theater, which boasts Art Deco design and state-of-the-art technology. “I love Proof Film Festival. They take such care in helping filmmakers imagine how their work can grow, from short to series, or from concept to feature,” says Milana Vayntrub. “The guest speakers and panelists give their time generously, and the Q&As are both inspiring and practical. Meeting the people who run it makes everything feel personal, and the audience is filled with industry folks who are genuinely passionate about helping ideas take their next step.” The latest edition likely just took place as you’re reading this, so there’s plenty of time to plan for next year.

PÖFF SHORTS (BLACK NIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL)

Tallinn, Estonia / November 2026 / shorts.poff.ee/en

Another festival that has likely just taken place as you read this, this Baltic celebration of groundbreaking films is set during snow season in the Baltics, and “has to be one of the best organized festivals I’ve attended,” says Katie Bignell, who notes “bustling screenings and a high concentrate of attending filmmakers” and adds, “they really do look after you.” You’ll feel the festival’s presence all over town, thanks to the many displays of its distinctive wolf logo. Bignell notes that it’s “a safe picturesque space, and more than once I walked back from one of the nightly parties where I’d pass the flower market setting up for the next day in the small hours of the morning.” Among the unforgettable events: a “tram party” that delivers filmmakers to the awards ceremony. And what a ceremony. “It’s orchestrated as a live promenade performance with actors and the winners read out by the judges in set installation pieces,” says Bignell. The festival is BAFTA and Oscar qualifying, and there are great ways to unwind: “If you fancy it, there’s also some wild cold swimming followed by a sauna to get the blood flowing,” Bignell advises. 

PORT TOWNSEND FILM FESTIVAL
Port Townsend, Washington / September 2026 / ptfilm.org

“Imagine this: you’re walking around the picturesque town of Port Townsend, and all weekend, strangers are frequently coming up to you and saying “I saw your film last night and loved it!” says H. Nelson Tracey, who has had the pleasure of enjoying that very experience. “That’s Port Townsend for you. It’s the only festival I’ve attended that can boast having not one, but two sold-out shows for my film — it really delivers on the audience!” He also praises a “terrific homestay program that provides lodging to just about all the filmmakers,” and exceptional programming. “They have a strong affinity for non-fiction cinema but program a bit of everything. Panels from notable industry filmmakers and celebrity guests make you feel in great company among people to learn from and aspire to. But all is created equal during the festival’s signature event: a car parade down the street where all the filmmakers get to ride in classic cars and wave to passersby.”

SALUTE YOUR SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL

Los Angeles / August 2026 /saluteyourshortsfest.com

“I’m real big on novelty, in the good way,” notes Ray Smiling. “SYS is a fest that always manages to find something unexpected to program. There’s a real sense of community there as well, with some of the best conversations I’ve had at a fest.” Among the latest successful shorts to win at the festival were Smiling’s own daring “kamikaze,” which coolly draws on fashion photography, French New Wave and memes to interrogate the process of image-making. It won best experimental short and best cinematography. One driver of  the thoughtful conversations is festival co-founder and artistic director Erin Brown Thomas, a filmmaker who recently wrote for MovieMaker about how lessons learned from  programming the festival helped her get into Sundance. Watch her socials for insights into why SYS chooses the films it does, as well as cogent monologues on  her theories about filmmaking. But don’t let all this make you think the fest is pure intellectualism — it’s very unpretentious, as you may have gathered from its borrowing its name from an early ‘90s Nickelodeon show. And it’s on our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

SCAD SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL

Savannah, Georgia / October 2026 / filmfest.scad.edu

Founded by the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design, the SCAD Savannah film festival is quickly becoming one of the biggest draws for award-season A-listers. But in addition to promoting their films, they also share insights about their art with SCAD students, which adds a welcome educational component to the festivities. In addition to students eager to join the industry, the festival also draws smart, film-savvy locals who look forward to the event year after year. “Every screening is sought after, with tickets going like wildfire,” note Katie and Ian Bignell. “Every night there’s a party of some kind.” They note the picturesque rooftop views of the historic city, as well as the walkable landscapes. The event is so relaxed that you “often end up stumbling across filmmakers in a local watering hole,” they add, explaining: “Whilst it appears epic, it’s an easily approachable festival with an avid team behind the scenes making it deliver, but not be overwhelming nor exclusive. In a place where the cuisine is delicious, you grab what you can in between their jam-packed programming throughout the festival.” This is another festival, we’re sad to say, that has wrapped this year’s edition. But don’t worry — it’s great every year. It’s also on our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, and SCAD is a regular on our list of the Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada.

SLAMDANCE

Los Angeles / February 19-25 / slamdance.com

“Slamdance was born in defiance: a punk gesture from filmmakers who, rejected by Sundance, decided to carve out their own space. They wanted a festival that could take bolder, braver swings. Thirty years on, that founding spirit is very much alive!” note Zhang & Knight. “Nowhere is this more apparent than in the curation itself: the shorts we saw there weren’t polished to be ‘pretty’ in conventional terms. They were rough, daring, risk-taking; proof that powerful storytelling can emerge from the cheapest cameras. The curation itself has a punk charge, favoring boldness over sheen. Slamdance champions both features and shorts without hierarchy; neither is treated as secondary, both given equal space and attention. There’s also a striking sense of community. Filmmakers return year after year, not just to screen their work but to help organize, sustaining the festival with genuine love and devotion. It’s a mighty little festival, kept alive by the people who believe in it. When we attended, Slamdance was still in Park City, Utah. Being there meant sharing a tiny mountain town with the sprawling circus of Sundance: celebrities, financiers, influencers, and film obsessives flooding every street. It was exhilarating but overwhelming. Now relocated to Los Angeles, we suspect the festival breathes more easily, but that same independent spirit continues to burn.”

TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL

Telluride, Colorado / August-September 2026 / telluridefilmfestival.org

“Telluride is the highest watermark for what a film festival can be. It’s best known for being a launchpad for Oscar contenders,” notes H. Nelson Tracey. “But take a closer look and you realize the awards contenders are the tip of the iceberg of an unmatched celebration of cinema. Beneath the headliners is the ‘secret sauce’ of the festival — this includes recently restored silent movies with live musical accompaniments, guest programming by world-class auteurs, 35mm screenings of rare classics, boundary-pushing non-fiction that represents the cutting edge of cinema, and a host of programs for students, locals, and cinephiles. One of the venues requires a gondola ride.” Adds Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz: “It really feels like it’s in an exalted place — remarkable beauty surrounded by mountains and film lovers. Unlike most festivals, there’s no red carpet, there’s no press, it’s just cinephiles celebrating each other.” Fernández-Ruiz has additional praise for the City Lights Program, which welcomes high school juniors and seniors to immerse themselves in the festival — “cultivating in a very real sense tomorrow’s filmmakers.” Though it’s “not cheap,” he notes, it makes any filmmaker who attends feel like a true insider. “There’s this sense that you’re not just some indie kid. You’re right up there with the best of them,” Fernández-Ruiz says.

SEDONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Sedona, Arizona / February 21-March 1, 2026 / sedonafilmfestival.com

“Sedona treats all its filmmakers like movie stars,” says H. Nelson Tracey. “We were put up at a Zen mountain center, treated to delicious meals, and the parties get better every single night, building to the final Saturday night bash.” He adds that “sold-out crowds of enthusiastic snowbirds greet you at every single screening. You’ll be stopped on the street for wearing your filmmaker lanyard and treated like the next big A-lister. An impromptu conversation with a local led to my fellow filmmaker and me being invited on a horseback ride the next day! The mountain air is crisp and the crystal vortex is real: you simply won’t want to leave Sedona.” Also, you guessed it: Sedona is on our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

SXSW

Austin, Texas / March 12-18, 2026 / sxsw.com

One of the most prestigious of film festivals is also “just plain fun,” notes Milana Vayntrub, who has attended as an actor and speaker. “The energy is unmatched: parties, panels, and endless opportunities to meet fascinating people. Cinema lovers pour in from all over the world, and Austin itself is an incredible host city.” Taking the good times global, the festival has also expanded to a Sydney edition, held in the fall. Like the Austin festival, it’s a center of innovation and discovery, but also a flat-out good hang.

WACO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

Waco, Texas / July 2026 / wacoindie.com

H. Nelson Tracey notes that Waco includes “a fiercely competitive game night, a rowdy mechanical bull, and all-access to a water park.” It’s incredibly fun, but it’s not just fun: Waco takes care to promote film with its Made in Waco Production Grant, a $5,000 prize that goes to the winner of its short screenplay competition. The first short film to receive the prize, “The Heart of Texas,” was made by a team who had met at the festival in a prior year. The event features more than 100 filmmakers and four days of movies, parties, and imaginative get-togethers. Waco is also on our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

WALLA WALLA MOVIE CRUSH

Walla Walla, Washington / July 10-12, 2026 / themoviecrush.com

This crush won’t go unrequited: Ray Smiling praises Walla Walla for offering one of the best curated shorts collections he’s ever seen. “None of the entries feel like they were included to check a box or for filmmaking politics,” he adds. “Instead, it feels like every year is a true snapshot of the best work on the circuit.” He singles out Walla Walla Film Crush co-founder and artistic director Warren Etheredge and the whole Walla Walla family, who “really take care of everyone who attends.” The festival promotes itself as giving everyone a chance to tell a great story, promising, “America’s most intoxicating blend of short cinema, from vintage filmmakers as well as fresh upstarts.” The town also has a rich local history that merits exploring — it was one of the stops on the Lewis and Clark expedition. 

All photos courtesy of the Coolest Film Festivals in the World, except where otherwise noted. 

Their insights and experiences make this a list that we hope will be helpful to fellow filmmakers everywhere.

Below is more information on the Panel of Cool and their stellar work.

Katie and Ian Bignell

KATIE AND IAN BIGNELL run Festival Formula, with 20+ years experience behind it, providing strategy support to filmmakers worldwide. They are active members of the Short Film Conference and Film Festival Alliance, and are a key voice on festival issues, with coverage in The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily regarding fraudulent film festivals. Previous speaking engagements include HollyShorts, Heartland Film Festival, BFI Flare, Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Sundance, SXSW, and many more. Selected prior jury service includes Cleveland International, Heartland International, St. Louis International, PÖFF Shorts Film Festival, Palm Springs Shortsfest, Young Directors Awards, Raindance, Tallgrass Film Festival, Fantoche and more. They were the co-recipients of the Pioneering Spirit Award from Heartland Film (2024), and the company received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Film from the London Breeze Film Festival (2024) and the Impact Award from the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival (2025). Katie is the Festival Expert in the inaugural online education program launched by University of Exeter, in conjunction with David Putnam’s Atticus Education and Screen International.

Heather Brawley

HEATHER BRAWLEY, a Bay Area native, has spent the last 16 years at Archstone Entertainment in sales, acquisitions, and delivery, contributing to hundreds of films. She has also produced many award-winning shorts, with 70+ festival selections, while also co-producing feature films at Archstone, where she currently serves as VP of Marketing and Operations. Her experience with projects across a wide range of budgets enables her to scale and execute successful productions from development through delivery. You can read more here about one of the shorts she has produced, "Princeton's in the Mix."

Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz

GIANFRANCO FERNÁNDEZ-RUIZ is an award winning writer and director. His short film “When Big People Lie” had its World Premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival. It also screened in competition at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the American Pavilion at Cannes, and won Best Short Film Drama at NFMLA’s 13th Annual Awards. He is a recipient of the Latino Film Institute x Netflix Inclusion Fellowship and a finalist for the HBO Short Film Award and the Sony Future Filmmaker Award, and his work qualified for the 96th Academy Awards. Gianfranco earned a Masters from the AFI Conservatory in Directing. His seventh short, “Anemoia, Scenes From the Future” is currently in post-production and will be released in 2026.

Ray Smiling

RAY SMILING is a director whose work focuses on finding universal emotion presented in wild specificity. The stories he creates are naturalistic yet absurd, with a distinct visual flair. They feature people you feel like you already know, in situations both funny and emotionally rich. Basically, you can tell you’re watching something he made, if you’re feeling feelings, about a thing you never thought you’d feel feelings about. You can read more here about one of his films, "kamikaze."

H. Nelson Tracey

H. NELSON TRACEYis a director, producer, and editor based in Los Angeles. His feature debut Breakup Season played at 39 film festivals in 2024 (and he attended 22 of them) before being acquired for distribution. After an 18-city theatrical run last winter, Breakup Season is now available to stream on Amazon. He directed his first music video in August and is now developing his sophomore feature film.

Milana Vayntrub

MILANA VAYNTRUB is an Uzbekistan-born, American writer, performer and director. Most recently, Milana portrayed antagonistic prosecutor Pam Bozanich in Season 2 of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story for Netflix. She also starred in Bad Shabbos, which debuted at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. She directed and starred in the comedic short film “Pickled Herring,” which made its world premiere at Indy Shorts in 2023. She will soon appear alongside Ryan Gosling in Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Other credits include Werewolves Within, Die Hart, This Is Us, Silicon Valley, and House of Lies. Most notably, she released a documentary entitled Can’t Do Nothing: Refugees in Lesbos, focusing on the refugee crisis. The documentary has since turned into the #CantDoNothing movement and is responsible for building schools and medical centers in refugee camps worldwide. 

Zhang & Night

ZHANG & KNIGHT (Linden Zhang and Hannah Knight) are a London-based directing duo whose soulful films explore themes of cultural identity through folklore. They began their career in music videos and commercials, and their distinctively dreamy films and campaigns quickly gained recognition, with their work winning numerous awards. Their debut short film “A Bear Remembers” has won top prizes at Clermont-Ferrand and Aspen Shortsfest, and was selected for the Telluride Film Festival. They are currently developing their first feature-length project.

Photos provided by the Panel of Cool. Milana Vayntrub photo by Sela Shiloni

“I sat in rooms where people laughed at Netflix sending out DVDs, and then laughed at them when they started streaming. But what they didn't realize is that Netflix built a huge database of information about viewer behavior that they were able to then use to build a streaming business that revolutionized our industry,” Sherick noted last week at a State of the Industry panel at the Coronado Island Film Festival.

Sherick is the founder of Hollywood in Pixels, a foundation dedicated to digital marketing innovations. And she believes Hollywood is at another inflection point — this time in AI — and should embrace change instead of pretending, yet again, that it won’t happen.

She called for “thinking about what we need to be doing as stewards of this industry — so that we don't have somebody come in and completely upend us.”

Sherick was one of five panelists at the State of the Industry panel, which was moderated by MovieMaker. The main takeaway was this: Change is scary, but also brings new opportunities.

Sherick is so open to AI that she used ChatCPT to choose a new place to live when she decided to move from Los Angeles. She told the AI chatbot what she was looking for in a home, and it recommended she move to Gig Harbor, Washington, where she now lives.

But that’s only one potential use of AI. 

The Best Ways for Filmmakers to Leverage AI

Aaron David Roberts, CEO of the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex, noted that AI can be very useful for things like shot lists and writing pitches. And actor and filmmaker James Oliver, the founder of Blckbrd Films, noted that he’s used AI to do research on historical settings while writing scripts. 

Brian Walker sees it as an innovative way to make new contacts. He’s the CEO of Picture Motion, a Los Angeles-based social impact agency that creates socially conscious media and entertainment marketing campaigns. The company uses AI — backed by humans, of course — to find potential experts in a given field who can help promote projects connected to those fields.

For example, for the new film American Solitaire, about a soldier struggling with the complexities of gun violence, Picture Motion is reaching out to veterans’ groups.

Walker said Picture Motion can use AI to compile, in an hour or two, a list of up to 10,000 organizations — “from churches to community centers to schools” — that can help get the message out about a particular film. Picture Motion then narrows down the list.

That kind of work requires the right prompting — around audiences, geography, and other considerations. As Sherick noted, writing the correct prompts can feel like speaking a new language. 

What AI Should Never Do

One thing the panelists agreed on is that AI should not take over creative roles. Actor Joshua Close, who stars in American Solitaire, noted that some of his voice-actor friends are losing opportunities because of AI voices.

“There are certain things that I hope we can slap regulations on,” he noted, such as making sure AI “can’t manipulate performances too much.”

Oliver, meanwhile, said he welcomes the challenge of creating stories in the age of AI.

“I'm wired for two things — optimism and battle,” he said. “And I just get excited when I see the robots coming with really bad scripts that are just boring and can't touch the human heart. … There’s great art to be made that a robot cannot touch.”

Coronado Island Film Festival State of the Industry Panelists on Distribution

The panelists also called for innovation in the way we view films.

Roberts noted that many theaters are sitting empty for lack of new films, which creates opportunities for independent filmmakers to rent out those theaters. 

“Your AMC is your art house,” he said. “They need content.” 

Walker, meanwhile, noted that many of the films Picture Motion works on use non-traditional distribution. 

“We’re using theaters, we're using churches, we're using libraries. We had a screening tour at natural history museums for a Nat Geo series. We’re looking at ways that you can leverage those spaces, as well as even create hybrid experiences.”

For example, he said, “I've seen people use video game platforms to host screenings.”

Oliver also recommended unique viewing experiences, like bringing in musicians to perform at screenings. 

“I've seen people who — even if they don't have names or international sales value attached their film, based on the people that are involved in it — they’re eventizing whenever they can, and bringing a lot of people together to see it,” he said. 

He believes audiences are still thirsty to watch movies together.

“Take advantage of the fact that people are really wanting to see each other and do more interesting, fun things,” he said.

You can click here, if you like, for more coverage of the Coronado Island Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

Main image: (L-R) Aaron David Roberts, CEO of the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex; actor Joshua Close; Brian Walker, CEO of Picture Motion; James Oliver, actor and founder of BLCKBRD Films; Bettina Sherick, CEO and founder of Hollywood in Pixels. Photo by Tony Amat for the Coronado Island Film Festival.

"We grew up on an aquaculture farm near the Californian-Mexican border," Austin Ray explains. "It’s an area often used as a film location because it resembles the deserts of the Middle East. As kids, an episode of The West Wing descended onto our backyard and transformed it with military vehicles and actors leading camels down our road. It gave us a front row seat to witness how adults could play pretend for a living. It was in that moment, I think, the filmmaking spark was born."

Their interest in film — and family — continues with their short "Spit It Out," playing this weekend at the Coronado Island Film Festival. It stars Eric Roberts as a father and excited grandfather-to-be who tries to learn more about his ancestry — and makes a discovery that could tear his family apart. 

The Ray Sisters' films and commercial work have won awards from the Directors Guild of America, Austin Film Festival, Savannah Film Festival, Telly Awards, and HBO. Austin Ray is also a composer whose scores have premiered at Telluride Film Festival and won a Student Academy Award. 

We talked with the Ray Sisters about making films in the San Diego area, trading family stories with Eric Roberts, and the calamities that can result from spitting in a tube.

The Ray Sisters on Making 'Spit It Out'

MovieMaker: How did you become filmmakers and decide to work together?

Westin Ray:  As sisters who are close friends, there was never one decision to start working together — it was a magnetic pull toward collaboration, strengthened by our shared aesthetics and a healthy twin-like dose of mind reading. We joke that we don’t advise working with a sibling... unless you’re already doing it naturally. While at Chapman University’s Dodge film school, co-directing was not allowed.

Our fellow alums, the Duffer Brothers — the creators of Stranger Things — shared with us that they had been in the same boat. So like them, we did not officially start co-directing, as the Ray Sisters, until after graduating. There are so many brother co-directing pairs in this industry — where are the sister duos with weird matching boys’ names?

MovieMaker: The situation in this film is so fraught and complicated — viewers often get a “what would I do” feeling, and are put in the shoes of many different characters. Where did the idea originate?

Westin Ray: As the screenwriter of "Spit It Out" and a history buff, I fell down my own rabbit hole of research during the pandemic that led back 12 generations on websites like Ancestry and 23 & Me. Austin gently reminded me that I should relate this time-consuming hobby back to our careers somehow, so I started writing a script. Within the same year, our circle of friends began sharing stories of unexpected discoveries made through DNA matching, and yet strangely, we hadn’t heard of any film or TV stories that specifically dealt with this topic.

I wrote a script with a broad range of character perspectives and reactions, because in real life, these stories affect each family member differently.

Austin Ray: Spitting in a vial is awkward — so is the juxtaposition of celebrating your past, while still concealing a lie. These juicy contradictions prompted us to create a story about family dynamics, preconceived notions, spit, and surprises. At our screening Q&A’s, we usually have multiple audience members who approach us afterwards to confess their own family secrets, revealed through these innocent DNA kits. 

MovieMaker: Why did you see Eric Roberts as the dad? Why do you think he wanted to take on the role?

Westin Ray: Eric plays charming, yet morally duplicitous very well. He has a history of portraying villains, but we hadn’t seen him embody a loving family man before. These contrasting qualities make for a riveting watch. Eric loved the script — he and his wife Eliza are similarly fascinated by this topic of DNA tests and have relatable stories of their own.

On set, during lunch, he and our whole cast & crew sat in camp chairs and traded stories about unusual family histories and heirlooms, like his dad’s treasured watch. Eric stayed very true to our script, but he improvised one line—which ironically I get complimented the most on—and have to fess up that I didn’t write it!

Austin Ray: On "Spit It Out," Eric rounds out an ensemble cast full of actors whom we’ve worked with before or wanted to work with. The lead actress Kate Sumpter, who has starred in the BBC’s The Little Drummer Girl with Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård, plays Eric’s daughter, and her inherent sense of right and wrong is an interesting foil to Eric's enigmatic character. 

MovieMaker: You have strong ties to the San Diego area — how does the Coronado Island Film Festival feed into them? 

Austin Ray: It’s actually thanks to MovieMaker that we discovered the Coronado Island Film Festival from the 2025 list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee and decided to apply in the nick of time on its Late Deadline submission. We went to high school in San Diego and have family here, so it’s extra sweet to be able to screen at the historic Hotel del Coronado and have our grandparents attend the screening.

The caliber of film programming, panelists, and filmmakers make this festival such a hidden gem. Shoutout to the CEO & Artistic Director Merridee Book for propelling this filmmakers' paradise to new heights. 

MovieMaker: Amen. And thanks for the kind words! What was your biggest challenge in making this and how did you overcome it?

Austin Ray: We didn’t have one big challenge, but more of a top three.

Westin Ray: Foremost, we shot during the SAG strikes under the exemption of the Short Film agreement. In order to meet those budget restraints, we had to move the production from the Catskills in New York to San Diego, where we had more resources and accommodations for a 25-person crew. Challenges can become blessings. It’s the first film we’ve shot in San Diego, and we’re so proud to have done it locally.

Austin Ray: The second challenge was shooting multi-cam. We usually shoot single-cam, but for "Spit It Out," our incredible DP Chris Koser suggested we shoot multi-cam with two Alexa Mini's. Shooting like this definitely added to the cine budget — and footage size on hard drives — but it was well worth it for the time that it saved in our schedule to capture everyone’s coverage and reactions to lines.

Because of our film's premise of a family gathering, the script includes a mammoth 10-page scene with six characters. Good thing we're co-directors and have double the eyeballs, because it was multi-tasking on steroids to give notes to so many actors’ performances simultaneously.

Westin Ray: Thirdly, in the midst of rehearsals the day before set, a honey bee flew inside my nostril and stung me. Luckily, the stinger was swiftly extracted by my sister. Go teamwork! Later in post production, while Austin was working on the music score for the film, she was stung in the foot by a sting ray — so this film was made with lots of venom pulsing in our director veins. Still waiting for our superpowers to appear.

"Spit It Out" plays Sunday at the Coronado Film Festival as part of the Ties That Bind program. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: "Spit It Out," courtesy of the Ray Sisters.

Then he talked about giving away his baby — that baby being Dead Man's Wire.

Kolodney wrote the film after seeing archival footage of the real events it portrays. Bill Skarsgård plays Tony Kiritsis, who in 1977 entered a mortgage business and attached a shotgun to the throat of the son of business's owner, accusing the father of ripping him off in a land deal. Al Pacino plays that father, and Dacre Montgomery plays his son.

After the film opened the festival at Coronado Island's beautifully restored, art deco-style Village Theater, Kolodney sat down for a Q&A with the festival host and honorary lead juror, film historian Leonard Maltin. Among Maltin's questions was this one:

"When you're a screenwriter, you nurture your baby, you try to make it as good as you can, and then you have to let go, and you have to give it to someone else to actually realize the film. This is your first time doing this. What does that feel like?"

Kolodney replied: "Hard."

The screenwriter, who directed for SyFy and Funny or Die, among other work, before scripting Dead Man's Wire, noted that it's never easy for creatives to relinquish control.

"I did not let go easily," he laughed. "Our producers could tell you I was a thorn in their side throughout much of this journey. I actually never gave the final draft file to anyone.

"To really tell you how the sausage is made, I optioned this script. I didn't sell it... I didn't get paid till the last day of filming on this, and I used that as leverage. I was like, 'Well, you haven't bought the script yet.'"

He believes that leverage gave him added control as the various parties involved in making the film went through the creative give-and-take typical of most productions.

"I think it worked, because I know enough about production to make concessions," Kolodney said.

"I didn't give up control very easily, and I think I learned from that. I think I should be better about it. I think I was a little stubborn," he told Maltin.

Al Pacino's Smart Addition to Dead Man's Wire

One concession happened right away. The film takes place in Indianapolis, but shot in Louisville, and Kolodney said that as soon as he landed in the Kentucky city, he was informed that one scene would need to be cut and replaced.

Still, Kolodney very much appreciated many parts of the collaboration process: For example, it was a dream of his to work with the film's director, Gus Van Sant.

Kolodney said he was very loyal to Van Sant's vision for the film, and always made changes the director wanted. He said he also sometimes served as Van Sant's "bad cop" when they needed to push back on requests. Kolodney said he was willing to be the one to break the news.

"I made the changes that I needed to, but then fought for the ones that I'm proud that I fought for," Kolodney told Maltin.

Pacino also made crucial contributions. Both Kolodney and Van Sant embraced the actor's idea to add a pivotal, tense phone call to the film. Kolodney wasn't sure the scene was factual, but had to concede it helped the movie.

"Even Gus Van Sant, who was steering the ship, was like, "Yeah, we should do what Al Pacino says," Kolodney laughed. "And it was a good note."

Dead Man's Wire arrives in theaters on January 9 from Row K Entertainment.

You can click here to read more of our coverage of the Coronado Island Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

Main image: Dacre Montgomery and Bill Skarsgård in Dead Man's Wire. Row K Entertainment.

One lives up to the eager beaver stereotype, and the other definitely doesn't.

"Since beavers are known for being such hard workers, I thought they’d make the perfect subjects for a workplace mockumentary," Hill, who graduated from SCAD this year, told MovieMaker. "I chose to put them in a post office thinking it offered a lot of opportunities for comedic situations, and it was a setting I hadn’t seen before in a mockumentary."

We talked with Hill about her influences for "God Dam," why AI will never replace humans, and the many benefits of keeping things short.

MovieMaker: How did your time at SCAD help you as a filmmaker?

Abigail Hill: Being a SCAD student allowed me to try new things and explore my style as a filmmaker. I started at SCAD as an animation major focusing on storyboarding and concept art, with no idea I would end up doing stop-motion. I joined the SCAD stop-motion club, where I discovered my interest in the medium. I fell in love with the stop-motion classes I took, as I loved making things with my hands and the collaborative nature of the studio environment.

During my senior year I was the co-president of the Stop-Motion Club and by then I knew I had found what I wanted to do. While at SCAD I was able to take cinematography classes in the film department, which further expanded my knowledge and love of film.

The tight-knit group of students that comprised the stop-motion community at SCAD was a highlight of the program. With stop-motion being such a niche community, everyone gets to work together, share ideas, and we are all incredibly supportive of one another. By my senior year, I had met and worked with many talented and creative individuals that I knew would make great collaborators for this film. 

I would have never found this niche of filmmaking without the plethora of clubs and classes at SCAD, and the flexibility SCAD granted me to try new things. I graduated in May with a BFA in Animation, after four years of amazing creative experiences. I feel lucky to leave SCAD having explored new artistic outlets and formed relationships that have prepared me for my career in filmmaking.

MovieMaker: How hard was it to make "God Dam"? Was it done by hand, frame by frame, or can you attain the stop-motion effect with modern technology?

Abigail Hill: "God Dam" is a frame-by-frame stop-motion film, which required a lot of time and effort, but it was a labor of love made by me and five other students at SCAD. Everything you see on screen is made by hand, from each and every package in the mail room to the beavers themselves. The beavers are silicone puppets with a wire armature covered in fur and dressed in fabric clothing. The sets are made out of a variety of materials including wood, fabric, and casted plastic pieces. 

Once we had the puppets and sets built, the assets needed for each shot were set up in front of a camera and lights in one of our shoot hoods. These are spaces with an animation table and computer in a pitch-black room separated by black curtains. Before animating, we filmed live-action reference video of the shot’s action and animated blocking passes on a lower frame rate to get a feel for the shot. It was important to practice the shot before going for the final, as final animation, done at 12 frames-per-second, could take hours or days depending on the difficulty of the shot. 

Although much of the film was created practically, we did use computer technology to add the hand-held camera effects and to remove the rigging that was used to support the puppets during animation. Although modern technology was a useful tool in this production, there is no way to use it to fully make a film that looks like this. There is something inimitable about the texture and look of things that are real, that no computer can recreate successfully. While attempts have been made to create a stop-motion film with computer technology, it's obvious to me that they are not authentic.

You can see the extra level of detail and care that is required when making characters, sets, and props by hand. Because of the medium’s time demands, every animated movement is done with purpose. This is also why I’m not threatened by the idea that CG can totally replace stop-motion, or even that AI can replace artists; I think there will always be a demand for stop-motion, as people appreciate a handmade craft that takes time and effort. 

MovieMaker: I love the feel of "God Dam" — it makes me think of The Office crossed with The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the comedy is so dry and never calls attention to itself. What inspired you to make it?

Abigail Hill: I’m glad to hear that as that’s exactly how I describe the film: The Office meets Fantastic Mr. Fox! I have always loved nature, hiking, and everything outdoors, which has led to me centering animals in most of my work. I am also a huge lover of sitcom mockumentaries like The Office and Parks and Rec — of which I’ve watched hours and hours on repeat. 

In order to direct a capstone film for animation at SCAD, ideas are pitched the spring of junior year and voted on by the animation students. Around the time that I was ideating my capstone pitch, I had just finished a slapstick storyboarding project about beavers, and found myself learning more about how incredible of a species they are.

MovieMaker: A funny three-minute short is such a godsend for festival programmers. Did you make this so tight with that in mind? Or because animation is so time-consuming?

Abigail Hill: My vision for this film was always for it to be short and achievable as this was my first time directing a stop-motion project. In order to fully realize a stop-motion film with a small team of six students in a nine-month school year, I knew I wanted to tell a quick, comedic story with high-quality fabrication and animation.

From there, I went through what felt like a million versions of the animatic with all sorts of bits and jokes. Then, I edited it until I thought it contained just the funniest, tightest jokes while still telling a story. Editing for animation is so important in the pre-production phase as you don’t have the time to animate more than you need.

We had a 30-week production schedule, so the resulting length of the film was to make sure it would be completed in a timely manner. 

Although I do see "God Dam" as a finished product that can exist on its own, I could totally see the beavers as the focus of a longer, episodic mockumentary if time allowed (or if the opportunity arises in the future). There is so much to explore in the world of these beavers, especially what their forest is like and who they deliver mail to. There are still a lot of funny situations I imagine writing them into. 

"God Dam" plays Saturday at the Coronado Island Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: "God Dam," courtesy of the Coronado Island Film Festival.

Before he recognized this year's honorees — who included Beau Bridges, Delroy Lindo, and more — Maltin was presented with a Hubbell, the festival award named for sculptor James Hubbell. The awards extend the long connection between Hollywood and Coronado, a sunny, idyllic island across the bay from San Diego.

Coronado has been a location for such classic films as Some Like It Hot and Top Gun, as the festival's sidewalk placards reminded guests Wednesday night as they arrived for the festivities at the 137-year-old Hotel del Coronado. "Marilyn Monroe was here," noted one. "Tony Curtis was here," said another.

Each year, the Coronado Island Film Festival adds to the list, thanks in no small part to Maltin.

Coronado Island Film Festival CEO and artistic director Merridee Book celebrated Maltin's contributions to the festival by noting that he "epitomizes the passion and love of cinema" and has "devoted his life to capturing, holding and sharing the history of cinema."

As he took the stage, Maltin intoned, "I'll come for another 10 years if you'll have me."

This year's honorees — who were recognized in the Crown Room of the historic hotel, which recently underwent a $500 million renovation — reflected Maltin and the festival's interest in every aspect of moviemaking.

Beau Bridges and Delroy Lindo may have been the biggest names, but the other honorees stood for some of the behind-the-scenes professions that make movies possible: music editor Adam Smalley, stunt performer Heidi Moneymaker, screenwriter Austin Kolodney, and costume designer Deborah L. Scott.

"I just need to appreciate that you are honoring screenwriters, stunts, music editors, and costume designers, and actors," Lindo said, noting that he had been "the direct recipient of their work in my career."

One highlight of the evening was getting to watch Maltin sit down for a few minutes with each of the honorees to ask them about their careers. Below are some excerpts from what they told him.

Adam Smalley, Music Editor and Recipient of the Coronado Island Film Festival's Transcendent Award

Adam Smalley has worked on an impressive range of projects, including The Lion King, Gladiator, The Morning Show, The Twilight Saga, Kung-Fu Panda, and Mission: Impossible II. His responsibilities range from assuaging worried composers to working as a liaison between the musical team and studio to overseeing mixes to creating temp scores.

Sometimes, the composer and music editor don't really go to work until the film has been shot, often in the last months of the process. But that wasn't the case, Smalley said, when the great director Terrence Malick asked him to work on The Thin Red Line, which was released in 1998 — two decades after Malick's previous film, Days of Heaven.

"He had sort of disappeared for about 20 years," Smalley told Maltin. "And my phone rang, and it was Terrence Malick."

The director had a proposal for Smalley and his longtime collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer.

"Terrence Malick wanted the score to be written before he began shooting the film. So Hans and I produced and wrote and created and mixed about four hours of music that he played on the set. And then I took those pieces of music and created the soundtrack that you hear now," Smalley recalled.

Heidi Moneymaker, Stunt Performer and Recipient of the Coronado Island Film Festival's Trailblazer Award

Heidi Moneymaker's remarkable feats have included doubling for Scarlett Johansson's character, the Black Widow, in several Avengers films. She has also doubled for Drew Barrymore and Brie Larson, among others, and worked in franchises including Mission: Impossible, Fast & Furious, and Spider-Man.

It all started with jumping off her bed.

"To be honest, I became a gymnast because I was a young child doing stunts in my own home," she told Maltin. "I jumped off my top bunk so many times and hit my head that I think my parents were a little concerned."

She was so successful at gymnastics that she became a UCLA gymnast and NCAA champion, which led eventually to stunt work. From there, she has gone on to become a stunt coordinator and second-unit director.

One of her career highlights was working with Steven Spielberg: "You want to give everything you have, because he's doing the same," she said.

Maltin asked: "Have you ever had a stunt that you refused to do?"

Moneymaker thought about it for a few seconds, then explained that she'd never refused a stunt that was well-planned out in advance. "I kind of have a rule that if there's anything I'm afraid to do, it's because it's either unsafe or we haven't prepared properly," she said.

Then she wryly added: "One time I got called to do a car hit from a Range Rover on roller blades, so I'd roller-blade down the street and get hit by this car. And I decided that I didn't want to do that."

Austin Kolodney, Screenwriter and Recipient of the Coronado Island Film Festival's Screencraft Award

Fast-rising screenwriter Austin Kolodney has directed for SyFy and Funny or Die, among others, and made waves with his short film "Two Chairs, Not One," which premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2022.

He started writing his latest film, Dead Man's Wire, during Covid lockdowns, after watching a documentary about a 1977 incident in which a man,  Tony Kiritsis, took a mortgager hostage and demanded money and an apology after he felt ripped off.

Watching Kiritsis crack jokes during a long standoff, Kolodney wondered: "How has this not been made into a movie?," he told Maltin.

Maltin noted that Kolodney had written the film on spec, with no guarantee that anyone would make it. But now it's a film directed by Gus Van Sant, with a cast that includes Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, Myha'la, Cary Elwes, and Al Pacino.

Kolodney is still taking it all in, and Wednesday's award added to his sense of wonder.

"I'm very honored to be here, next to you," he said. "Sitting with Leonard Maltin is such a dream come true for a young filmmaker."

Deborah L. Scott, Costume Designer and Recipient of the Coronado Island Film Festival's Artistry in Film Award

Deborah L. Scott's astonishing list of credits includes E.T., Back to the Future, Heat, Minority Report, and the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash. Her collaborations with the latter film's director, James Cameron, includes winning the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on his 1997 Titanic.

She told Maltin that her interest in film goes back to her father. He was "a huge, huge movie buff" who would take her to drive-in movies where she watched "I can't even say how many Westerns," she recalled.

She has worked on films where she was solely in charge of costumes, and on films where she had as many as 150 people working for her. She took part of her time on stage to shine a light on them.

"I love that my work can be a big part of the visual narrative of any film," she said. "Mostly I'm grateful for all the costume crews around the world that I've had the opportunity to work alongside. I would not be here if it wasn't for them — the set costumers, costume house people, costume supervisors, shoppers, assistant designers, PAs, illustrators, and maybe the most important — the makers: seamstresses, tailors, readers, cutter/fitters. All the crafts peoples, artists and artisans who still work with their hands."

Delroy Lindo, Actor and Recipient of the Coronado Island Film Festival's Leonard Maltin Award

Delroy Lindo's extensive list of credits includes Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Harder They Fall and The Good Fight, as well as the Spike Lee films Clockers, Crooklyn, Malcolm X, and Da 5 Bloods. This year he's in awards contention for his role as bluesman Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler's simmering historical horror hit Sinners.

But on Wednesday evening, he recalled a night in the 1970s, when he and a fellow student at the American Conservatory Theater talked about the future.

"Many years ago, as an acting student, in San Francisco, I stood on a street corner with one of my classmates and we were talking about our aspirations and our hopes for our futures for our careers and we talked about hoping that there would be space for us — that it would not be a competition... that we would each make a space for ourselves, however our careers unfolded," Lindo recalled.

"That classmate that I stood on a street corner with in San Francisco in the 1970s — his name was Denzel Washington. And as we witness the trajectory of Denzel's career, and the trajectory of my career, albeit that Denzel's trajectory is a little bit different from my own, the point is the definition of success that we attained is something that I cherish."

He says that when he thinks of his success, "evenings like this evening are an extraordinary icing on the cake."

Maltin told Lindo during their talk: "When I saw Da 5 Bloods — I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable in any way — but I think it's one of the greatest performances I've ever seen in a movie."

The audience applauded in agreement.

Though he was often discussed as a potential Oscar winner for his work in the film, Lindo ultimately wasn't nominated. He said that one takeaway from the experience was realizing that no matter "the awards that one gets or does not get... film is forever. Film lasts forever."

The audience applauded again.

Lindo added that for anyone working in a creative field, "whether or not one gets an award, the work in itself stands and speaks for itself."

Beau Bridges, Actor and Recipient of the Coronado Island Film Festival's Legacy Award

Beau Bridges, who has been in films since his work as a child actor in the 1940s and has appeared in projects from Norma Rae to The Fabulous Baker Boys to Jerry Maguire to The Descendants to the new Matlock, brought the evening full circle when he recalled shooting a film on the hotel grounds more than four decades ago.

He recalled that he once took a trip to San Diego with his mother and father, actor Lloyd Bridges, while preparing to play Richard Nixon in the 1995 film Kissinger and Nixon. He realized that they would be passing the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda on the way home to Los Angeles.

"I said, 'Mom and dad, do you mind if we stop off at the Nixon library to just check out some stuff? And please — don't tell them anything about the fact that I'm portraying Nixon. I just want to go in there and look at this stuff,'" Bridges recalled.

"And then we went in, and as soon as my dad goes through the door, he goes, 'My son is playing Richard Nixon!'"

The audience laughed again.

"He's a dad," noted Maltin. "He can't help it."

You can read more coverage of the Coronado Island Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, here.

Main image: (L-R) Heidi Moneymaker, Beau Bridges, Delroy Lindo, Adam Smalley, Leonard Maltin, Deborah L. Scott, Austin Kolodney, Coronado Island Film Festival founder and chairman Doug St. Denis, CIFF CEO and Artistic Director Merridee Book. Photo by Joel Ortiz for CIFF.

The 1960s-set short details the story of the narrator's mother, who trades in a failing marriage with an unhappy husband for a European romance with a woman the narrator simply calls Aunt Cindy. The lovers trek along the seaside in a golden Ford Mustang they call The Alchemist, ignoring the occasional stares of locals surprised to see two contented women so openly in love with each other.

Then there's a twist that comes as a total shock, but also makes complete sense. It feels strikingly modern, yet sensible. We won't reveal it here, to avoid spoiling the film.

The Coronado Island Film Festival would be an ideal place to see "Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist, not just because it's one of our 50 Film Festival Worth the Entry Fee, but also because its set in a sun-kissed, sand-slung locale as breezy and photogenic as the seaside escapes in the film.

But whether you can make it or not, please be advised that we're about to get into spoilers about Scott's process that may change your understanding of his work — or perhaps deepen your appreciation of it.

Devin Scott on Making 'Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist'

Scott, a San Diego native, came from a family of storytellers and realized he wanted to make films himself when he visited Universal Studios as a child in the 1970s and "saw a giant telephone prop that was used in several movies and TV shows," he recalls.

"I was so entranced by this moment of make believe that the course of my life turned toward that direction, and it's been magic and make-believe ever since," he adds.

He graduated from San Diego State's Department of Film and Television, and later partnered with his producer, Jeanne Scott, in the San Diego production company American Dream Cinema, which is just across San Diego Bay from Coronado Island and has counted Hewlett Packard, Fox Sports, ABC Sports, Kaiser Permanente and many more among its clients.

In addition to their corporate work, Jeanne and Devin Scott create films by watching hours and hours of other people's home movies, usually without knowing anything about them. Then they'll discuss their interpretations of the footage, and Devin Scott will write stories based on those interpretations.

The story he wrote for "Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist" is so convincing that some trusting viewers — like your humble correspondent — initially took it to be true. But Scott is forthright in explaining that his film is, in fact, a work of fiction.

"My producer and I will watch probably 18 to 20 hours of home movies to put these stories together," Scott tells MovieMaker. "Usually there is one image that will spark a conversation while the movies are rolling, I'll then record the audio of these viewing sessions so I can go back and listen to the most interesting conversations paired with the footage, and the story is born from there.

"I have to write the script immediately because the footage and where to find it is fresh in my mind," adds Scott. "The story follows the footage, not the usual other way around so, I need to edit it right away too before I forget where the shots are. It's a unique process but a great exercise in film making."

Though the process is experimental, the emotions behind it are pure.

"Everyone deserves the right to be happy," he says. "Love is love and looks the same from every angle. I think that's why this film resonates with audiences. Most people have some sort of 'Aunt Cindy' in their lives, whom they love dearly."

The image of the golden Ford Mustang stood out so strongly that Devin Scott considered calling the car the El Dorado, after the legendary city of gold. Then his producer reminded him that there's already a car called the El Dorado.

"So I thought about what other metaphor I could incorporate into the film, and then Alchemy seemed appropriate," he says. "Turning something into gold is what we all want to achieve in life. All of our found footage films have a universal truth to them that audiences can spot and measure with their own life experiences."

"Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist" is playing Thursday morning as part of the No Place Like Home: Local Shorts program at the Coronado Island Film Festival.

Main image: "Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist."

As the co-founder and artistic director of the Salute Your Shorts Film Festival — and a filmmaker myself — I’ve spent the past nine years learning exactly what gets a film noticed by programmers, and applying it to my own work. 

That paid off when Chasers, a 31-minute “oner” that SYSFF executive director Elle Shaw produced and I directed, made history this year by being the first narrative project accepted into both Sundance and Slamdance.

While breaking the rules can lead to success, I’ve also picked up a few insights in the process of whittling down thousands of films that apply to Salute Your Shorts to our final lineup of 50 shorts.

Film Festival Trends to Avoid

Each year, strange trends emerge in the Zeitgeist — like a wave of squirrel films a few years ago. (We programmed one, and it won our audience award). It’s tough for filmmakers to predict when their “original” idea might compete against something similar, but it’s good to be aware of trends so you can understand the competition.

Also Read: 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee 2025 — Including Salute Your Shorts

My friend and fellow film festival programmer Jesse Knight (Palm Springs International Shortest, Seattle International Film Festival) has joked with me about circulating a “bingo card” to festival curators, gamifying our experience of encountering tropes. At the top of his list? Alzheimer’s, an actor auditioning, evil A.I., interpretive dance, karaoke, call centers, a “fishperson.” (We programmed two fishperson movies at SYSFF last year). Sometimes it’s less the topic and more the execution — a character staring down the camera in a final shot, or casting Eric Roberts. (Look at his IMDb credits). 

But if you cast Eric as “Guppy” in your fourth-wall-breaking take on A.I.’s dangers, don’t be scared: Rules are meant to be broken. I only know about Jesse’s list because it includes “single-shot-take,” and he teased me about it when I told him about our single-shot Chasers.

You can breathe new life into any trope, but filmmakers need to watch plenty of shorts to put a fresh spin on old ideas.

Every Film Festival Has a Different Audience

At SYSFF, our mantra is “films with aftertaste.” Our audience is primarily filmmakers, so we program films that push forward the conversation around filmmaking. While we may be younger and not as widely known as Sundance or SXSW, we share a deep commitment to championing innovative, boundary-pushing films.

Occasionally, a solid film doesn’t fit our festival, but I’ll pass it along to a colleague who programs for an Oscar-qualifying festival in a retiree town known for great filmmaker hospitality. Chasers, as successful as it has been, may not appeal to as many regional community festivals as my previous film, “[subtext],” which won numerous audience awards and played at over 50 festivals, many on MovieMaker’s lists.

Filmmakers should read up on a festival’s mission and understand its programming. Take time to learn what types of films the festival champions — including prioritizing specific demographics or themes.

At Salute, I program films that linger, challenge, and engage — films that invite conversation rather than simply deliver an answer.

More of This, Please

Personally, I want to see more films that embrace complexity and nuance rather than push a predetermined message. I’m less interested in films that feel like PSAs, didactic agendas, or simply retelling a “sad thing that happened.” I look for films with a distinct point of view, where the filmmaker is wrestling with something personal, presenting tensions and dilemmas rather than easy conclusions.

If a film covers bullying, I’m less interested in a “bullying is bad” narrative — something everyone already agrees on. I’d rather see a film that explores the social dynamics behind bullying, the complicity of bystanders, or even the perspective of the bully in a way that doesn’t excuse, but interrogates. The best films challenge us, not by telling us what to think, but by making us feel the weight of a situation in all its complexity.

I’m less interested in political films unless they add something to the conversation—rehashing an opinion I already agree with isn’t engaging. I’m more interested in films that deepen, expand, or thoughtfully challenge perspectives. Films that acknowledge nuance, avoid straw-man arguments, and explore opposing viewpoints in good faith are far more compelling.

I’m also more interested in form than content. Just because the topic is “important” doesn’t mean I want to program it. I once heard Thunder Road and The Beta Test filmmaker Jim Cummings answer the question, “How do you make the audience care about your characters?” He replied, “Assume they don’t.  Make them care with craft.” A good filmmaker can heighten the stakes of any situation. A trope recounted in a straightforward way is a cliche. A trope explored through curiosity and good craft is “revisionist,” an “homage,” or “offers a twist.”

I value craft, but I recognize that resources vary, and sometimes a lack of polish can be exciting if it reveals an emerging voice. Festivals love discovering filmmakers early, like finding a band before they break big. We want a mix of established indie filmmakers and fresh talent, and we pay attention not just to the film itself, but also to the filmmaker’s overall trajectory. 

Short Films Should Be Short

It might seem hypocritical for me, the filmmaker with the 31-minute project, to wax lyrical about runtime, but I need to.  My project was programmed as an episodic series at Sundance — a strategic decision I made to increase its chances of inclusion.

Thirty-one minutes is, generally speaking, a stupid runtime for a short. I don’t generally recommend it. A film should earn every minute of its length. Many films feel too long simply because filmmakers aren’t ruthless enough in the edit. Cutting a project down, even slightly, almost always improves its chances.  Theaters are expensive to rent, and there’s a reality of programming space. To a programmer, time is currency.

Your Credits Are Killing You

Your credits count towards your runtime. My rule is three seconds per minute for comedies and five seconds per minute for dramas.  Chasers (drama) has 68 seconds of credits.  

I’ve seen a six-minute film add three minutes of credits in our submissions — and I just about cried, because the film was awesome except for those dang credits!  It is exponentially easier to find six minutes of programming time for a film than it is to find nine. Rounding off, we think of it as 5 minutes vs. 10. 

Correspondence Matters

Poor correspondence can hurt your chances. One rejected filmmaker repeatedly emailed me, listing every Oscar-qualifying screening they’d secured. Another sent me a picture of a bird sitting on their lap — but the photo was designed to look… let’s just say “not like a bird.” 

These approaches didn’t endear me to the thought of selecting their future films. Real people are on the other side of your submission. We care about our festival the way you care about your film. Please keep that in mind when you reach out. 

"Chasers" plays Saturday as part of the "Sliding Doors" program at the Coronado Island Film Festival, which is one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. So is Erin Brown Thomas' Salute Your Shorts Film Fest.

The prevailing wisdom is this: don’t do it. 

“It’s insane,” they’ll say.  

“A waste of money and time and resources,” they’ll whisper. 

Don’t make that short film. Don’t go to film festivals. Don’t pour your heart and soul into a bite sized piece of cinema when you could do anything else.

It is, admittedly, in all estimation, a very bad idea.

But when faced with all the reasons not to make a short, and there are many, I did the damn thing anyway — and my journey, taking a small idea scribbled on a scrap of paper in my bedroom, to screens all over the world, from Beloit to Bulgaria, might have been the best decision of my career. Little did I think that this little-movie-that-could would land on the Oscar long-list and end up being considered for the Academy Award. 

In the spring of last year I flew my cast and some crew to Waco, Texas to film “The Heart of Texas,” a 15-minute live action short film about Janie May, an aspiring singer-songwriter stuck in the paycheck-to-paycheck grind who has a life-changing encounter on her way to a career-making opportunity that forces her to examine the cost of her American dream at the expense of another’s. If that seems a bit vague, it is, as there is a central twist that I would hate to spoil here. 

Production was a challenge, from the blazing Texas sun, to the classic not-enough-time-not-enoung-money scenario, to a myriad of other challenges. But we pulled it together and got it in the can in three quick days. Battered, burnt, bruised, and broke I flew home wondering if I had made a huge mistake. Maybe they were right, maybe you shouldn’t make short films. 

I’ll admit, there is a strong case against it. In this day and age you’re up against shortening attention spans, indifferent executives, and the whims of the almighty algorithm. You can’t really sell a short film. Sure, maybe you’ll get it onto a streamer, or onto an airline headrest playlist, but you’re not going to make your money back, not really.

It’s expensive to make and market a short film, and even more time and money goes into sharing it at festivals. Once you factor in travel, hotels, food, car rentals, printing postcards, and posters, festivals can add up quickly, not to mention the opportunity cost of missing out on other work. Shorts can often disappoint or fall short (apologies for the pun) in other ways for emerging filmmakers. 

More often than not, shorts don’t become the features they were hoping to incubate into or they don’t move the needle of a budding filmmaker's career, even with prestigious film festival laurels pinned to the poster. Heck, sometimes it’s even a challenge to get your friends and family to drive out to a screening, so much so SNL did a great sketch about it, or to sit still long enough at their computer to get to the good part (we have the Vimeo receipts, we know when you digitally duck out early), which is, perfectly understandable. Your audience owes you nothing. I believe if you’re going to ask someone for 15 minutes of their time, you better earn it, buster. 

So why do it? Why put yourself through the pain, peril, stress, and strain of making a short, especially if, with today’s tools, you could have just made a feature? Honestly, I don’t know. All I can say is that my journey has opened the door to a relentless bloom of opportunity, discovery, friendship, and wonder I never would have experienced had I not said yes. 

So, I humbly submit to you, dear reader, my flawed and subjective: Six Reasons to Make a Short Film

Short Films are Do-able

Maybe you don’t have the time, budget, or resources to bite off a feature film. Maybe you only have a weekend, a two-person crew, or 1 location. Make the short. It’s better to have a completed short film than a non-existent feature film.  And yes, you can make micro-budget features, but those inevitably take time to shoot and edit. A short can be done, it’s doable, so do it. 

Short Films Build Muscle

Filmmaking is a sport. You need to have the strength and stamina to do it. Shorts help you get there. When filming a short you have to do all, or most, of the things you would have to do on a feature, but on a smaller scale. You might learn how to pull a permit, or use a new piece of gear. You get to be on set working with actors and crew members. You have to problem solve, make creative compromises, and manage resources. Making shorts is like going to the gym for filmmakers. No pain, no gain. 

You Get To Go to Film Festivals

This is a big one. Going to festivals is a massive opportunity for emerging and established filmmakers.

First, there are people you’ll meet: fellow filmmakers, audiences, producers, writers, cinematographers, people who own cameras or work at rental houses, people who want to work on your film, people who don't owe you anything and will give you real feedback.

I met several collaborators at film festivals that I continue to work with today. The people who travel to festivals to screen their film are your people: the true, dyed-in-the-wool filmmakers. 

Also Read: ‘Rat King’ Reflects a Chilliwack, BC Film Scene That Takes Young Filmmakers Seriously

There are also the films: You get to the good, bad, ugly, inspiring. Festivals are the place to see what your peers are making, what’s winning, what’s not working. You’ll discover actors you want to work with, shots you want to emulate, music you want to Spotify later. This is the place where you will see something new and different, sitting in the dark, cell phone off, with an audience that has no idea what’s coming up on the screen next. 

Then, there’s the unforeseen opportunities: you’ll be touring and learning about different locations all over the world. There are contests, grants, trophies, prizes, gift bags. You might walk home with some funding for your next movie, or a tote bag you can use everyday for grocery shopping that starts a conversation with another filmmaker while you’re picking out avocados, and boom — you’re off to the races. There is no telling what unknown benefit will find you between the screenings. Which leads us to…

Short Films Build Your Reputation 

All the greats started making short films: Scorsese with "The Big Shave," Spielberg with "Amblin"... heck, some still make shorts. Wes Anderson just won his first Oscar for a short film this year. Yorgos Lanthimos put out a short film called "Nimic" in 2019. Shorts are an extension of your brand — a visual business card. As you share your short you will learn how to talk about it to audiences, colleagues, the press, and fellow filmmakers. Your shorts become breadcrumbs that people can follow to see where you are headed as an artist and where you’ve been. 

Short Films Set The Groundwork for Future Projects

Shorts are a proving ground for a future feature, sure, but more than that they are a place to figure out what works, both in terms of your creative voice and your creative team. By making your own shorts, and (listen up) working on other peoples shorts, you will meet the people that will eventually help you make that next thing.

Every good thing I’ve achieved in my career started with making something. By making something you build the foundation for what's next. 

Short Films Are Fun as Hell

If nothing else, shorts are fun to make, they are allowed to be fun to make. They are not a commercial product built to make back their investment. The creative stakes can be high, but the financial stakes can be low. Making something creative with your friends or family can teach you something about your voice, what you want to say and how you want to say it. You may learn you never want to make a movie again, and that’s valuable too. In the end we are all going to die, so why not spend some time making art. 

There you have it. A short list of reasons to make that short film. There are many, many more reasons why you should do it, but I’ll leave those for you to discover and share on your own. 

Making 'The Heart of Texas'

And look, my film "The Heart of Texas," is living proof. The film was written in a moment of inspiration and then sat idle in a drawer until I made a different short called “How to End a Conversation.” That film was shot in one day during the pandemic with very little resources and a couple friends. We did it because it was do-able. We had to book locations, adhere to covid safety protocols, and have a tight production plan.

When it came to post, we cut and re-cut the picture, we re-wrote the film with a new voiceover, and composed an original score — in other words, we built the muscle. Then we got to go to film festivals, like the Waco Independent Film Festival, where I met Lauren Noll — a writer, director, and actress with a fantastic short called “Honor.” I loved her short, she loved mine. We were both there building our reputation and our network in the film community.

We got to talking, and together we pulled out the script for "The Heart of Texas," re-wrote it together, sent it in to the Waco Indie Film Fest Screenplay Competition, and won a grant — an unforeseen opportunity that we made the most of. We assembled a cast and crew of friends, professionals, and many local talents in Texas. We shot the film and started building the groundwork for a feature film version of the short.

And the cycle continues. Now we are wrapping up our festival run after playing at Hollyshorts, In The Palace, Sidewalk, Mammoth, Lighthouse, Beverly Hills, and many others. And we were in consideration for Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Academy Awards. While I’m hard at work on the feature version of "The Heart of Texas," I’ll tell you this, I’m already working on my next short as well.

So sure, novels sell, poems don’t, but the world needs poetry and poems are worth writing. Go write the script, get the crew together, make the short. I promise you won’t regret it… too much. 

"The Heart of Texas" plays Friday as part of the Coronado Island Film's Creative Crossroads program. The festival is one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

Main Image: Lauren Noll in "The Heart of Texas." Courtesy of the film.

InFocus: International Animation featured a slate of animated films and stories from Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, France, Korea, Poland, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom. It began with a special presentation of the past 10 years of finalists from the 24 HOURS Animation Contest for Students run by Legends Animated, a 501(c)3 worker self-directed nonprofit animation company that promotes the awareness and appreciation of animation as a medium by providing collaborative opportunities to create engaging and impactful work. 

The August event's programming continued with Made In California, a selection of films shot throughout the state. Stories in this block dealt with horror, drama, complicated family dynamics, and perseverance. A Made in Los Angeles block explored ambition, dissociation, interpersonal dynamics, growing up, grief, abuse, seeking justice and the rich history of LA’s communities. 

NFMLA showcases films by filmmakers of all backgrounds throughout the year, across both our general and InFocus programming. All filmmakers are welcome and encouraged to submit their projects for consideration for upcoming NFMLA Festivals, regardless of the schedule for InFocus programming, which celebrates representation by spotlighting various communities of filmmakers as part of the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival. This project is made possible in part by grant support from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Here are interviews with the filmmakers and details about them and their films.

“Gale,” directed by Sean Kim

About Sean: Sean Kim is a Portuguese-Korean filmmaker, animator, and artist based in Toronto with a keen interest in the fantastical and the macabre. Inspired by the intersection between the supernatural and the personal, Sean seeks to create compelling stories and memorable images through atmospheric and genre-led design. For his thesis year, Sean wrote and directed the animated short "Gale." Now graduated, he continues to write and has begun work in the Toronto animation and indie scenes as a production designer, storyboard artist, and animation supervisor.

About “Gale”: When her village is inadvertently destroyed by an ever-earnest gentle giant, Gran, the lonesome town matriarch, will have to let her guard down if she ever hopes to befriend the hulking construct and rebuild what has been lost.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Sean Kim, the director of “Gale”:

“Chasers,” directed by Erin Brown Thomas 

About Erin: Erin Brown Thomas is a writer, director, and producer known for her genre-blending "traumadies" that mix comedy and drama to explore authenticity and performance. Her latest project, "Chasers," — a 31-minute single-continuous-shot pilot — world premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and made its Los Angeles premiere at Slamdance, becoming the first narrative project accepted into both festivals. A Nicholl Fellowship Semifinalist, Erin makes films that critique ambition, social imbalance, and industrialized Christianity. While not on set, she champions the work of emerging filmmakers as the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Salute Your Shorts Film Festival in Los Angeles.

About “Chasers”: At a Los Angeles house party, an aspiring musician pursues her crush through a crowd of hopeful dreamers chasing empty promises.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Erin Brown Thomas, the director of “Chasers”:

“Marvelous Gift,” directed by Danna Galeano

About Danna: Danna Galeano is a Colombian animation director and writer driven by a love for storytelling with a twist of dark comedy. She wrote and directed her first animated short at 17, winning a national award that launched her career. Since then, she’s worked with major companies including Webtoon, Sony Music, and Netflix, bringing bold creative vision to every project. Her original work has been recognized at top festivals, including a selection at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and a win at Pixelatl. Danna is currently directing her second animated short and developing a new series for Adult Swim.

About “Marvelous Gift”: In a world where no one can die, a haunting journey unfolds to uncover what it truly means to live.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Danna Geleano, the director of “Marvelous Gift”:

“Finding Jamia's Spirit,” directed by Candace Patrick 

About Candace: Candace D. Patrick is an award-winning filmmaker who has earned several award nominations for her short “The 5th Room.”  In 2023, she was a Reel Sisters Micro Budget Fellow for her script “Finding JaMia's Spirit,” which went on to win “Best Short” at the 2025 Believe Psychology Film Festival.  Candace earned her  BA in Screenwriting from Loyola Marymount University, where she developed her voice focusing on stories that authentically depict human journeys. Identifying as a queer, neurodivergent, matcha latte enthusiast, Candace makes projects that explore grief, healing, friendships, and finding joy. 

About “Finding Jamia's Spirit”: After an inquisitive young girl is told that her recently deceased dad is now an ancestor spirit that she can feel whenever she needs, she tries to find his spirit before her first day of kindergarten.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Candace Patrick, the director of “Finding Jamia’s Spirit”:

“Wight,” directed by Jonathan Chen 

About Jonathan: Jonathan Chen is a writer-director, born and raised in San Jose, California and based in Los Angeles. He holds an MFA in Film Directing from UCLA. He has directed several short films during his time at film school, and is a recipient of the Motion Picture Association of America Award and the Delia Salvi Memorial Award for excellence in directing actors. His filmmaking style focuses on a sense of place and grapples with identity, particularly the tension and conflict that arises from straddling the line between two different worlds, which is informed by his Chinese-American background. His work also examines and deconstructs film genres and history, by taking traditional narratives and viewing them through a lens that empowers underrepresented voices. He prides himself on building a culture of respect and collaboration on set, where the safety of the cast and crew is considered integral to the artistic creation.

About “Wight”: Marion, a young Chinese-American woman, returns to her childhood home in a cramped San Francisco Chinatown apartment after her grandmother is hospitalized under mysterious circumstances. 

Watch the NFMLA interview with Jonathan Chen, the director of “Wight”:

“Big Yikes,” directed by Ibrahim Rana

About Ibrahim: Ibrahim Rana is a director, writer, and actor from Pakistan and a recent MFA graduate in Directing from UCLA. His work spans film and theater, often exploring themes of identity, cultural displacement, and community. In 2023, he was awarded the Tasveer Film Fund in the LGBTQ+ category, supported by Netflix. With a background in theater-making and a focus on personal, character-driven narratives, Ibrahim brings an intimate and nuanced perspective to his storytelling. He is committed to centering underrepresented voices and using film as a space for reflection, empathy, and conversations around belonging and difference.

About “Big Yikes”: After a regretful night, Yassin seeks his cousin Ayesha’s help to retrieve his nonconsensual video.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Ibrahim Rana, the director of “Big Yikes”:

“Little Bird,” directed by Oanh-Nhi Nguyen

About Oanh-Nhi: Oanh-Nhi Nguyen is an award-winning filmmaker whose decade-long commitment to gender and racial justice drives her storytelling. Through her lens, she amplifies Asian women and girls, weaving narratives that explore diaspora, immigrant identity, and the complex bonds between generations. An AFI Conservatory MFA graduate, Oanh-Nhi has directed ten narrative shorts and documentary episodes that have reached audiences from the Smithsonian American Art Museum to festival circuits nationwide. Her acclaimed short "Little Bird" captured the Jury Award for Best Student Short at Cinequest 2025 and earned a Remi Award at WorldFest Houston. Her work has also been showcased at CAAM Fest, Boston Asian American Film Festival, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, and Viet Film Fest. Recognition from industry leaders includes her selection for Tribeca's 2024 Creators Market, where she pitched to top professionals, alongside acceptance of her comedy pilot "Unacceptable" into the Athena's Writers Lab and her docuseries debut "Taking Root" into the 2023 Tribeca Festival. As one of just ten filmmakers chosen for Hillman Grad and Indeed's Rising Voices program, Oanh-Nhi directed and co-wrote "The Stand," which premiered at Tribeca Festival in June 2025.

About “Little Bird”: In 1980s Los Angeles, Linh Tran, a disheartened Vietnamese woman tasked with evictions, uncovers the harsh reality of displacing fellow Vietnamese refugees. She struggles with the choice to keep her job or stand in solidarity with those she's meant to uproot, and her moral dilemma deepens as she befriends a little Vietnamese girl caught in the midst of it all.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Oanh-Nhi Nguyen, the director of “Little Bird”:

“From A Son,” directed by Gilbert Trejo

About Gilbert: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Gilbert Trejo was exposed to the creative expression of film at a young age. After struggling with addiction for the better part of his youth, he found that expression in himself through independent music video production, often working with punk bands in an entirely DIY style.

About “From A Son”: The Orphic tale of a father unable to save his son from the hell of addiction.

Watch the NFMLA interview with Gilbert Trejo, the director of “From A Son”:

“Go,” directed by Dusan Brown

About Dusan: Dusan Brown is an award-winning writer, director, and lifelong actor. An AFI and NAACP Image Award winner, Brown is a recent Chapman University Dodge College of Film & Media Arts graduate, 2024 Academy Gold Rising Fellow, and 2023 Student Oscar Semi-Finalist. Brown’s written four features, directed approximately 20 shorts, and worked on an additional 20+ productions as crew. His latest film, "Go," executive produced by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, premiered at the Academy Qualifying LA Shorts, and screened at NFMLA, XL Fest, and SABIFF. Brown’s storytelling explores moral complexity and emotional pressure through anti-heroic characters.

About “Go”: When a perfectionist collegiate wrestler finds himself stumbling through the stages of grief after the tragic death of his parents, a security guard with a similar past secretly coaches him to grow into a champion. 

Watch the NFMLA interview with Dusan Brown, the director of “Go”:

Main image: “Marvelous Gift," courtesy of NFMLA

The event will be held Wednesday, and is part of the 10th anniversary celebration for the San Diego-area festival. It will be held at the Hotel del Coronado, a historic Hollywood escape.

Hosted by Maltin, the festival’s longtime head juror and gala host, the gala will serves as the centerpiece of the five-day festival running November 5–9, 2025.

The Coronado Island Film Festival is one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

“This year’s honorees embody what CIFF stands for—vision, innovation, and a commitment to storytelling that connects us all,” said Merridee Book, CEO and Artistic Director of the Coronado Island Film Festival.

“Reaching our tenth year is more than a milestone. It's a reflection of the passion and creativity that keep cinema alive. We are beyond humbled to gather once again to celebrate the enduring magic of movies and the artists who give them life at this year’s Leonard Maltin Industry Tribute Awards Gala.” 

Bridges will receive the Legacy Award for a long career that includes roles in CBS's Matlock and the films The Descendants The Fabulous Baker Boys, Dreamin’ Wild, The Hotel New Hampshire, Heart Like a Wheel, Jerry Maguire, among many more.

Lindo will receive the Leonard Maltin Award in recognition of his performance in this year's vampire hit Sinners, directed by  Ryan Coogler.

Kolodny wrote Gus Van Sant's Dead Man’s Wire, the festivals opening film.

Moneymaker, whose films include Avengers, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War and Star Trek, will receive the Trailblazer Award. 

Scott will receive the Artistry in Film Award in recognition of her work on the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash. 

And Smalley, whose credits include Gladiator and The Lion King, will receive the Transcendent Award 

Main image: Part of the Coronado Island Film Festival's 10th anniversary poster. Courtesy of the Coronado Island Film Festival.

As a field producer on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, I was tasked with the improbable. Every week I’d wait for scripts to come in, often on Thursday or Friday, and would then have 48 to 72 hours to produce, shoot, and edit segments to be ready for air on Sunday. When you successfully work in that environment, it creates a false sense of security. That anything you want to make is achievable. 

So when I set out to write and direct " The Traveler," a Victorian ghost story shot in New York City with over 60 VFX shots, pyrotechnics, and a shoestring budget, I had no idea what I was in for — and how far HBO’s money had helped me make miracles.

Location is Everything (That Went Wrong)

Set in the late 1800s, The Traveler follows a widow who is haunted by a supernatural presence while grieving in her remote farmhouse. Not only did the film require period-accurate exteriors and rural backdrop, but also a living room with a functioning fireplace, an office, a kitchen, and the ability to connect all three in a "oner."

To make matters worse, we couldn’t afford to lodge the cast and crew, which meant keeping our location within a 90-minute radius of New York City.

Like all screenwriters writing creative checks your production can’t cash, I never considered finding this location would pose such a problem. Growing up in New England, I knew lots of people with old houses, so naturally, our first approach was to film at the homes of friends and family.

Immediately that became an issue. No sane person lives in an unrenovated colonial home equipped with brick ovens, untreated floorboards, and zero electrical wiring. Wall plugs can be concealed, but my aunt's tacky Moroccan backsplash is much harder for VFX to paint out (sorry, Deb).

History Nerds Are Tough Landlords

Our next brilliant idea was to film at historic houses around New York, as they’d maintain their period aesthetic with the added bonus of being fully furnished. Given our budget, we couldn’t afford to dress an entire space, so leaning on existing furnishing and props became essential.

I contacted the film commissions for Nassau County, the Hudson Valley, and New Jersey for recommendations, while scouring Google for options outside their radar. At first, it seemed promising, with several locations excited at the prospect of filming a movie… until they learned what that actually meant.

See, historic houses are run by people who love history in a deeply passionate, almost obsessive way. While scouting one property, a curator told me the house contained a 300-year-old Bible that could not be moved, touched, or even looked at. He canceled the rest of the scout right then and there.

Museums are all about preservation and control, while film sets are unpredictable. Dozens of bodies, working in small spaces, and operating heavy equipment on fast timelines can create chaos, which can be a tough gap to bridge. For five years, we struck out with every historic site between Freehold, New Jersey, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The Staten Island Miracle

Out of options, and a fast approaching our shooting window, I pleaded with a location manager friend (shout out to Brad Reichel) for help. He mentioned a place he’d visited with his kids: Historic Richmond Town on Staten Island.

As luck would have it, they were looking to re-enter the film world to generate new revenue, and decided a self-funded short film was the perfect place to start.

The layout wasn’t what I’d written. The house sat just 32 feet from one of Staten Island’s busiest streets, with more than a thousand cars passing every hour. Worse, the fireplace, the heart of the story, wasn’t functional.

But we had to make it work. 

The Fire That Wasn’t There

Our production designer, Amber Unkle, loved the space. Our DP, Fletcher Wolfe, was less enthused about the stream of light from cars whipping past the windows — about 17 a minute. To solve the problem, we rented a 30-foot stage backdrop and placed it outside the house. It doubled as quick tenting for night shoots, and during day interiors, we softened and slightly overexposed the window light to disguise the abstract pattern on the fabric.

But the biggest challenge was the inoperable fireplace. Our lead character sits by the fire for most of the film — lighting it, tending it, and ultimately burning her belongings in it.

As production neared, everyone wanted to know how we’d handle it. I put on my producer hat and did what any good producer would: I lied. I said we’d build a replica fireplace later, deciding those were problems for another day.

Amber and our VFX supervisor, Chris King, scanned the fireplace and took detailed camera notes. Unfortunately, once we wrapped, we’d burned through our budget, and our SFX coordinator had moved on.

So I took it home — literally. I pitched my stepfather, a retired firefighter, on the idea of building the fireplace in his work shed. Ever the craftsman, he agreed.

Four months later, on Easter weekend, I went with Fletcher and producers Meghan-Michele German and Matt Ruscio to my mother’s house in New Hampshire, where we rebuilt the fireplace and shot all the fire inserts. Those shots cut seamlessly into The Traveler, and the producer's lie turned into truth!

The Lesson

Naivety is one of the greatest strengths we have as indie filmmakers. It shields us from doubt and gives us the courage to chase the impossible. You won’t always know how you’ll pull something off — and that’s okay.

Just stay creative, stay stubborn, and when in doubt, put your producer hat on and say: “Those are problems for another day.”

"The Traveler" plays Sunday at FilmQuest, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

Main image: Actress Natalie Knepp, who plays Hannah in "The Traveler." Courtesy of the filmmakers.

Eva Thomas, who co-wrote and directed Nika and Madison, received a $60,000 Panavision camera package, $30,000 Light Iron post-production package, and a $1,000 cash prize from the festival as part of the Best Narrative Feature Jury Award. Her film follows two Native women who flee after one's defense of the other results in a violent attack on a police officer.

Thomas said she made the film in response to poor representation of fellow Indigenous people onscreen.

"I started in this industry as an actress and I was really frustrated at the time with the kind of roles that were available to us. In L.A., we called them the 'feather and the leather' gigs. They wanted to put me on a horse and put feathers in my hair," Thomas said.

The experience motivated her to learn screenwriting, producing and directing. She started at Santa Fe's Institute for American Indian Arts.

"To have this kind of reception is unbelievably wonderful, and especially to have it here in Santa Fe is especially meaningful to me because I learned to write in Santa Fe," she said.

She also noted all the Indigenous faces in the audience, and shared that when she was a student at AIA she met actor Gary Farmer, who helped establish the festival and previously served as its chair.

"He probably doesn't remember it, but I do," she said. "And over the years to have somebody like that kind of secretly cheering you on, like, 'You can do it, go girl, you're good!' really means a lot."

Sitting a few feet away, Farmer had tears on his cheeks.

Free Leonard Peltier directed by Jesse Short Bull and David France, won the Best Documentary Feature Jury Award. It tells the story of a member of the American Indian Movement convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975. After years of protests that the evidence against him was badly flawed, he had his sentence commuted by President Biden in January.

The Academy Award-qualifying Best Documentary Short Jury Award went to Joshua Seftel's "All the Empty Rooms."

Accepting the award on Seftel's behalf, producer James Costa explained that the film profiles parents of children who have lost their children to school shootings, and kept their rooms exactly as they left them.

"I would give up every award if there wasn't another kid killed by gun violence in school," Costa said. "Treasure life, treasure your children, treasure every moment you have, because you never know when it will be the last time."

The Academy Award-qualifying Best Narrative Short Jury Award, presented by Panavision, went to "Nightfaces," directed by Martin Winter and Stefan Langthaler.

The festival offered more than $100,000 in total prizes.

Santa Fe International Film Festival Winners 2025

Here is the full list of additional winners, with details provided by the festival.

Special Jury Award Documentary Feature

Steal This Story, Please! directed by Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Recognized by the jury for its fierce commitment to independent journalism, a biography of journalist Amy Goodman and her TV show “Democracy Now,” at a time when America’s first amendment and freedom of the press are being challenged like never before.

Special Jury Award Documentary Feature

The Stringer directed by Bao Minh Nguyen

Recognized by the jury for its rigorous investigation to reveal the true author of the Pulitzer prize winning photograph of the “napalm girl” that came to symbolize the horrors of the war in Vietnam, 55 years ago.

Academy Award® Qualifying Best Animated Short Jury Award

Snow Bear directed by Aaron Blaise

Best Experimental Short Jury Award

Dieter directed by Rolf Broennimann

Best New Mexico Documentary Feature Jury Award

Dream Touch Believe directed by Jenna Naranjo Winters

Best New Mexico Narrative Feature Jury Award

In Our Blood directed by Pedro Kos

Best New Mexico Short Jury Award

Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough directed by Sabrina Saleha

Best Indigenous Short Film Jury Award 

Tiger directed by Loren Waters

Audience Choice Best Narrative Feature

The President’s Cake by Hasan Hadi

Audience Choice Best Documentary Feature

Steal This Story, Please! directed by Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Audience Choice Best Narrative Short

My Kind of People by Joe Picozzi 

Audience Award Best Documentary Short 

What the River Knows by Diego Riley, Will Buckley

Audience Award Best Animated Short 

Forevergreen by Nathan Engelhardt, Jeremy Spears 

The Santa Fe International Film Festival is one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Nika and Madison. Courtesy of SFIFF.

The film, playing at the Micheaux Film Festival this weekend, depicts a mother who breaks into her ex's house to retrieve her son. Smith, out of love for both of his parents, refuses to point fingers or say which parent is right or wrong — both love their child, and do what they think is best. The film escalates with an unrelenting tension that keeps audiences deeply invested in the fates of the father, mother and son.

"The easy way to tell this story would have been to create heroes and villains: my dad the villain, my mom the hero. And there was indeed a draft of the script where that was the case, but that portrayal was not only uninteresting, it lacked nuance, complexity and truth," Smith tells MovieMaker.

"My goal with the story was never to simplify the characters or paint them as black and white, but it was always to create characters that were flawed, desperate and unwavering in their pursuit of what they considered  to be 'the right thing.'"

In addition to being a filmmaker known for unflinching storytelling, Smith is a film professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was also the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Moody College of Communication. His films, which include the short "Katrina's Son," the feature Wolf and the documentary Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom, have played and won awards at more than 150 film festivals.

We talked with Ya'Ke Smith about gray areas, teaching the next genration of filmmakers, and the aspects of a film that can never be compromised.

Ya'Ke Smith on 'The Ohio, Texas Remix'

MovieMaker: How did you become a filmmaker?

Ya'Ke Smith: I was an artist before I was anything else. I sang in the choir. Played in the band. Acted in church and local plays. And watched tons of movies. The connective tissue between all of these mediums was my love for telling stories and my desire to use those stories to impact people in meaningful and long-lasting ways.

Although all of these artistic forms could arrest people and expand their world views in unique and interesting ways, film for me felt like the singular way to reach the most people because more people participate in the communal act of watching cinema than any other creative medium. To that end, I saw Boyz N The Hood when I was 11 years old and it totally blew my mind. It was a revelation — seeing a story about a community and individuals I recognized portrayed with such humanity, empathy, and depth.

Tre, Ricky and Doughboy were my friends, cousins and God brothers. John Singleton saw them in ways that other filmmakers hadn't. That was the moment I knew I would be a filmmaker, and was also the moment I set out to learn all I could about the craft. I made my first film when I was 15 and have been making films ever since.  

MovieMaker: Can you talk about the true story behind "The Ohio, Texas Remix"?

Ya'Ke Smith: The first memory I have of my dad is him coming to Texas to pick my sister and I up for what was to be a summer, but turned into two years. What I didn’t realize at the time — I was seven or eight — was that my parents were still married and that my mom and dad were in the middle of a bitter custody battle.
Because they were still married they both had parental rights, so no attorney would take my mom's case or help her fight to get us back.

One attorney in particular had some off the record advice for her: Drive to Ohio, kidnap your children, bring them back to Texas. And once she did that, he could begin divorce proceedings. Although my mom didn’t have to do it (we eventually ended up being sent back) this story is a reinterpretation of that period in my life.

The story always felt like it was torn from the headlines, and so I wanted to exhume the true story, but sprinkle in genre elements to really make the experience resonate with audiences. It’s tragic, funny, suspenseful and ultimately a love letter to both of my parents. 

MovieMaker: You do a beautiful job of making everyone in the film sympathetic — our allegiances shift a few times, but we ultimately end up wishing everyone could find a way through this painful situation. How did you make sure everyone’s perspective was reflected and respected?

Ya'ke Smith: As a child you’re only privy to the side of the story that you get from your parents, but as you become an adult yourself, your realize that truth is relative, that your parents aren’t perfect and that even at their worst times they did the best they knew how to do with what they had at any given season of their life.

Neither of my parents were “right” in this situation, and there’s a part of me deep down inside that feels like neither of them were “wrong.” My goal was to color between the lines and create not black and white characters, but characters that existed in the gray areas, because that’s where most of us exist; and most of the time, that’s where the truth exists. This gray, murky, messed up place is where the heart of human existence lies and it’s in this place that we must come to terms with whatever decisions we make. It was with this ethos that I rendered my characters. 

MovieMaker: How did you cast your excellent actors?

Ya'Ke Smith: I always tell my students that audiences can forgive many things, but bad acting and heartless storytelling are two of the things that they can’t contend with. When thinking about the casting for this film, I knew that I needed performers who could color between the lines and find the humanity in their characters without judgement or surface level analysis.

I’d directed both Veronika Bozeman, who plays Cheryl, and Sean Nelson, who plays Dante, on television shows before, and really enjoyed the experience of working with both of them. I called them up to see if they’d be willing to come to Texas for a few days and work on the film, and they both graciously agreed. 

The other actors are from Texas, some of whom I’d worked with before — like my wife, Mikala Gibson, who played the gun-toting best friend — while others were cast from local talent agencies and backstage. Each cast member brought something unique to the project, and the film wouldn’t be the same without their valuable contributions. 

MovieMaker: You also do a really good job of ratcheting up the tension. How did you and your team keep making this more and more intense?

Ya'Ke Smith: When I pitched the film to my creative collaborators, I said it was the love child of Set It Off and Kramer vs Kramer, two films that I appreciate for very different reasons. Although those two movies  couldn’t be more different, the thread that I kept pulling at when thinking through how I wanted to render the story of "The Ohio, Texas Remix" both visually and thematically, was the tension of desire versus reality.

In Set It Off, all the characters are looking for a better life, but their reality (and greed at times) keeps pulling them back into a world they so desperately want to escape. In Kramer vs Kramer, both parents selfishly want full custody of their son, but after battling it out in court, they realize that they may need to relinquish custody in order for their son to have a stable and uncomplicated life.

By harnessing the tension of both films and using them as my guiding light, I knew I had to find a way to marry the heist/thriller elements of Set It Off, and remix them in the family drama world of Kramer vs Kramer. In order to pull that off, my team and I talked a lot about how to keep the stakes constantly rising, yet grounded in reality.

One thing we decided is that the film’s visual language would not only put us in the emotional headspace of the main character, but that we would also use the camera as a tool of disorientation. We also discussed at length how critical it was that all the elements — visual and aural — kept the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the film, and how the pacing of the film should quite literally make us question everything we thought was true just moments before.

I have to give a lot of credit to the crew — mostly students by the way — for taking my vision and pushing it even further. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cHCoyJXwxA

MovieMaker: What’s the biggest obstacle you had to overcome or problem you had to solve to make this film?

Ya'Ke Smith: Time and budget constraints were a major challenge for us. We filmed the project in just 2.5 days, and our budget was only half of what we really needed to make it happen. This called for some inventive problem-solving, long hours, and a crew that was incredibly dedicated and hardworking. 

One story that highlights this is when I received a call on the second day of filming informing me that the young man responsible for watching over our location had to leave due to a family emergency. With $100,000 worth of equipment in the house, leaving it unsupervised wasn’t an option. Since I was across town handling other shoot-related issues, I called my producer, who was running on just a few hours of sleep, and asked him to rush over. He stepped up without hesitation. 

Then there was the situation with our craft services person, who had her car broken into and needed to leave to deal with it. While she was gone, the rest of us jumped in to make sure everyone had what they needed to keep going. Overnight shoots can be grueling, so we made sure to keep the caffeine flowing. Surprisingly, she returned because she really valued the camaraderie we had built on set.

Of course, there were some disagreements along the way, but we worked through those and truly came together as a team to bring the project to life. 

MovieMaker: Finally, you teach film at UT Austin — can you talk about how that’s helped you as a filmmaker? (I know this could be a book, apologies.) Has it been a drawback at all in terms of the time commitment of teaching?

Ya'Ke Smith: Teaching is both one of the most rewarding and demanding professions you can pursue. It not only consumes a significant amount of your time, but also requires immense energy to nurture the talents of emerging artists. But that challenge is also what makes it so fulfilling.

As I assist someone in figuring out their story problems, I often end up discovering things about my own work, too. Some of my students are incredibly sharp and have a natural talent for understanding story structure. When I share film cuts in class, their feedback often helps me break through creative blocks. The reciprocal nature of teaching in a creative field is like no other, because creativity is like an electrical current. As a professor I turn on the light, which in turn ignites the creative life force of my students.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, my students play an integral part in my creative work because they fill a lot of the crew roles in my films. So as challenging as it might be, being a professor is an occupation that has allowed me to create a steady catalogue of film work. 

"The Ohio, Texas Remix" plays Saturday at the Micheaux Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Main image: "The Ohio, Texas Remix." Courtesy of Ya'Ke Smith.

In addition, Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot earned the $5,000 Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award for his film The Eyes of Ghana, about 93-year-old documentarian Chris Hesse. The festival, which ran for 11 days and ended Sunday, gave out more than $60,000 in cash prizes.

The Overall Narrative Audience Choice Award Winner was James Vanderbilt's Nuremberg, about the trials of Nazi war criminals. The film, an awards-season contender, stars Michael Shannon, Rami Malek, and Russell Crowe.

The Overall Documentary Audience Choice Award Winner was Ben Knight and Berne Broudy's Best Day Ever, which follows two adaptive mountain bikers, Greg Durso and Allie Bianchi, as they navigate their disabilities and find support, friendship and joy in their rural Vermont riding community.

Heartland's jurors called Happy Birthday, which won the Narrative Feature Grand Prize, "a beautifully crafted film that grips you from the very first frame and leaves you breathless by the end. The sorrow achieved in the final shot lingered with the jury long after the credits rolled. The jury would like to also give special recognition to Doha Ramadan, whose breakout performance as young Toha was truly remarkable, and we look forward to seeing her future work."

Jurors said of Jimmy & the Demons, which won the Documentary Feature Grand Prize: "As filmmakers ourselves, we were particularly captivated by a story that beautifully illuminates the process of creating art and the profound ways dedication to one’s craft shapes a lifetime. The remarkable skill, relationships and love portrayed in this film felt transcendent and infused with courage, challenges and hope—messages that resonate deeply within our community and inspire all of us to be the best versions of ourselves."

The Heartland International Film Festival is one of MovieMaker's 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee and 25 Coolest Film Festivals.

Heartland International Film Festival 2025 Winners

Other winners, as described by Heartland, include:

Humor & Humanity Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)

"Tight & Nerdy," directed by Jeff Nucera & Jonathan Ruane (USA)

This award honors a film that best combines comedy and empathy to inspire filmmakers and audiences through the transformative power of cinema. 

"Tight & Nerdy" is a hilarious and unexpectedly moving portrait of the fearless women behind the world’s first (and only) burlesque tribute to “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Richard D. Propes Narrative Social Impact Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)

"Shakti" directed by Nani Sahra Walker (USA & Nepal)

A single mother enrolls her nine-year-old daughter in painting lessons in Kathmandu until her child suddenly catches a mysterious illness. When doctors are unable to pin down a diagnosis, her strong-willed mother turns to a local shaman who reveals shared trauma that leads mother and daughter down a path of redemption.

Richard D. Propes Documentary Social Impact Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)

"Comparsa," directed by Vickie Curtis & Doug Anderson (Guatemala, USA)

"Comparsa" immerses audiences in the intensity of Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, where sisters Lesli and Lupe use art to heal deep wounds. They face extreme rates of femicide, and after 41 girls are killed in a State-run facility, they decide to act. They overcome histories of abuse with a joyful festival.

Best Narrative Premiere Award ($2,500 Cash Prize)

"Shakti," directed by Nani Sahara Walker (USA & Nepal)

A single mother enrolls her nine-year-old daughter in painting lessons in Kathmandu until her child suddenly catches a mysterious illness. When doctors are unable to pin down a diagnosis, her strong-willed mother turns to a local shaman who reveals shared trauma that leads mother and daughter down a path of redemption.

Best Documentary Premiere Award ($2,500 Cash Prize)

"À demain sur la Lune" directed by Thomas Balmès (France) 

Amandine is 39 when she is diagnosed with incurable cancer and given just a few months left to live. She is admitted to the palliative care unit of Calais Hospital, in northern France, where she meets an unexpected companion: Peyo, a horse with the unique ability to sense when death is near. With his trainer Hassen, he visits the most fragile patients to soothe them in their final days.

Hoodox Indiana Spotlight Documentary Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)

"The Tenderness Tour," directed by Andie Redwine (USA)

In his hardest physical challenge to date, the complex, dedicated and irreverent activist Richard Propes fights for the very tour that saved his own life. Can Richard raise a million dollars to offset $155 million in medical debt when he's never raised more than $20,000?

Narrative Special Presentation Audience Choice Award

"Rental Family," directed by HIKARI (Japan, USA)

Set against modern-day Tokyo, "Rental Family" follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.

Special presentation of Searchlight Pictures.

Documentary Special Presentation Audience Choice Award

"John Candy: I Like Me," directed by Colin Hanks (USA)

The film explores the life and legacy of the iconic funnyman Candy, who died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43.

Special presentation of Prime Video.

Narrative Official Selection Audience Choice Award

"A Simple Machine," directed by Mark Alan Hoffman (USA)

"A Simple Machine" is a story of self-reliance, the ingenuity of simple tech, and the conflict between individual freedom and consumer culture. It was shot in Portland, Oregon, by the award-winning cinematographer Kevin Fletcher and scored by Mark Orton ("The Holdovers", "Nebraska") and stars Richard Blackmon in a breakout lead role.

Documentary Official Selection Audience Choice Award

"Tight & Nerdy," directed by Jeff Nucera and Jonathan Ruane (USA)

"Tight & Nerdy" is a hilarious and unexpectedly moving portrait of the fearless women behind the world’s first (and only) burlesque tribute to “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Indiana Spotlight Audience Choice Award

"The Tenderness Tour," directed by Andie Redwine (USA)

In his hardest physical challenge to date, the complex, dedicated, and irreverent activist Richard Propes fights for the very tour that saved his own life. Can Richard raise a million dollars to offset $155 million in medical debt when he's never raised more than $20,000?

Horror Audience Choice Award

"Queens of the Dead," directed by Tina Romero (USA)

Drag queens and club kids battle zombies craving brains during a zombie outbreak at their drag show in Brooklyn, putting personal conflicts aside to utilize their distinct abilities against the undead threat.

Indiana Film Journalists Association Award

"Blue Moon," directed by Richard Linklater (USA, Ireland)

On the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical “Oklahoma!”.

Special presentation of Sony Pictures Classics.

Main image: Happy Birthday, directed by Sarah Goher, winner of the Heartland International Film Festival's Narrative Feature Grand Prize. Courtesy of Heartland.

Editor's Note: Corrects "Jimmy & the Demons" title.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe have been known in recent years for drawing big investments from heavy-hitters like Netflix and NBCUniversal. But Arndt represents a scrappy, inventive DIY scene — he made "Breakups Suck" as part of his graduate project from the University of New Mexico.

"Breakups Suck" played the Santa Fe International Film Festival Saturday and plays again Tuesday. It follows a young man named Luca (Jack McLaughlin) who wants to breakup with his girlfriend, Ruby (Willow Glenn.) The problem is, she's a vampire, and tends to think in forever terms.

We talked with Arndt about the influences for his entertaining short, starting a film career in Albuquerque, and seeing every Godzilla movie.

Ben Arndt on Making 'Breakups Suck'

MovieMaker: The look of this is so cool and unique — you nod to Nosferatu, but the low-fi black and white also reminds me of Clerks. The mix of scary and slacker is really disorienting and fun, because you never know where the movie will go. How did you land on the look of the film?

Ben Arndt: The aesthetic of the film came from a couple of different places, one of them being A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. The 2014 Iranian black-and-white vampire film was heavily influential on both the visuals of this film, and its approach to depicting vampires as mythological beings in urban and contemporary settings.

I also have a background in primarily black and white films — my previous work "The Box at the End of the World" was in black and white as well. It was shot by the same cinematographer as "Breakups Suck," Chance Holmes-Snowden. Something about black and white has always stuck with me as a filmmaker, and I find the lack of color often forces me to be more mindful of my framing and blocking. It also helps that Chance is incredibly talented at utilizing minimalist lighting to get amazing contrasting shots.

MovieMaker: I'm a sucker, no pun intended, for a splash of color in the midst of black and white. You very effectively include a single blood red envelope. How did you achieve that effect in 2025? I'm guessing differently than Spielberg did in Schindler's List?

Ben Arndt: The red coloring effect is thanks to my incredibly talented colleague Noah Tucker, who is a local colorist who specializes in post production. He used Davinci Resolve, which can actually track the motion of certain objects, and using a color wheel, can isolate certain shades. This process took a lot of trial and error, and often involved us framing out certain parts by hand. It was a labor of love for sure! I have a hunch it was likely a different process from Spielberg's.

MovieMaker: How do you like the Albuquerque film scene, and living in ABQ in general? Did you grow up with Breaking Bad, and did it influence your desire to work in film? 

Ben Arndt: I am a recent graduate from the University of New Mexico, and have been an ABQ local my whole life. While Albuquerque isn't always pretty on the outside, there is something about its people and culture that truly makes it stand out. While there is a large studio industry presence in this city, I'd argue there is an even larger indie filmmaker scene here.

So many people have untapped creative potential and energy who have a burning desire to create and express themselves. It results in several pockets of filmmakers who come together and pool resources to create art that you wouldn't find anywhere else. 

MovieMaker: What are you general influences?

Ben Arndt: My biggest general influence is definitely the Godzilla franchise. Every week growing up, my dad and I would bike to the local Hastings and we'd rent one of the Godzilla films to watch together (there are 38 films in total, god bless his patience).

The original Godzilla, also known as Gojira, always stood out to me because of how it was able to take a larger than life mythological character and concept, and interweave it into a heartfelt and emotional core. Bringings this back to Breakups Suck, It was important to try and ground the  mythological concept of vampires in something emotionally resonant, like a break-up. Some other directors that inspire me are Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Denis Villenueve.

MovieMaker: How did you assemble your cast and crew?

Ben Arndt: My cast and team is made up of classmates and friends I've made while pursuing filmmaking. I try not to pick crew or cast based on portfolios or clout, but rather based on who I feel I have the most chemistry with and who pushes me as an artist. I love developing organic relationships and friendships with the people I work with because not only does it help us work together more seamlessly, but it also tends to make my sets more comfortable as well.

A quote that my dad told me once that stuck with me was: "Leadership isn't about always having the right ideas, but rather creating an environment in which the best ideas can be had." As for my principal cast, Jack Mclaughlin is a UNM-based actor whose work had gotten my attention in the past, and Willow Glenn was someone I had a history of collaborating with, whose talent consistently blew me away.

Both of my leads are so incredibly talented and from the moment I watched them seamlessly improve 10 different versions of the breakup in rehearsals, I knew I had found my Luca and Ruby. 

"Breakups Suck" screens in Albuquerque Sunday as part of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Willow Glenn in "Breakups Suck." Courtesy of the film.

Accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award Saturday from the Santa Fe International Film Festival, the American Me, Stand and Deliver and Battlestar Galactica icon asked that the lights of the stately Lensic Theatre be lowered so he could walk to the edge of the stage and see his audience.

It included, in the second row, his longtime friend Wes Studi.

"Wes has ever acted a day in his life," Olmos said, before offering a distinction: "He experiences life and he puts it through. That doesn't mean he doesn't build character, OK? He's a great character actor. I'm a good character actor."

Then he delivered a mini-lesson on the difference between personality actors and character actors: "John Wayne, James Stewart: great actors, but they're personality."

He noted that he and Studi, as well as his American Me co-star, Pepe Serna, who was also on-hand Saturday night, were character actors.

"Wes and myself and Pepe, we're characters," he explained. "It's funny sometimes what we get away with. Integrity is a sense of balance of understanding your truths and really holding on to them in your persona."

He added that he doesn't audition, requires creative input on his characters, and takes roles because he believes in them — "not for fame and fortune."

"I've turned down more than I've ever taken on as far as financially and the kind of movies that I've made," he said.

For example, when Olmos was in high demand after starring in 1979's Broadway production of Zoot Suit and its 1981 big screen adaptation, playing the leading role in 1982's The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, and playing a crucial part in Blade Runner, Michael Mann approached him about a role in Miami Vice.

Olmos said he initially passed — first because he couldn't be locked down to a seven-year exclusive contract, and second because he needed "creative control on my character."

"To me, creative control and a non-exclusive contract were not done to get my ego up. It was not done to try to move, you know, into a position. No: It was about creating, we were creating a story together."

Olmos ultimately got his way, and became essential to the show.

His commitment to shaping his Blade Runner character, Gaff, paid off for the overall film. Olmos studied at Berlitz to bring together 10 languages into the "Cityspeak" he uses in the film. Olmos said he also ad-libbed perhaps the film's most memorable line: "It's too bad she won't live. But then again, who does?"

Edward James Olmos on Stand and Deliver

Olmos' commitment to shaping characters also paid off in 1987's Stand and Deliver, the mostly true story of Garfield High School teacher Jaime Escalante. The Bolivian-born educator gained national attention for his success in helping Latino students from working-class Los Angeles families achieve success on the Advanced Placement Calculus exam, which opened the doors to top colleges.

The film was written by director Ramón Menéndez and producer Tom Musca, but Olmos used his cache to push hard to get the film made, and helped re-write his character. He performed many scenes with Escalante watching in the wings, Olmos recalled Saturday. The teacher would look at him with his head down, then give a quick thumbs up.

Olmos received an Oscar nomination for the role — but wishes more Mexican-Americans had received the same honor.

"You're looking at the only Mexican American in the history of this country and in this industry to ever be nominated for the Best Actor Award," he said. "Being the only one? That's crazy."

Olmos went on to direct and star in 1992's American Me and lead the hit 2000s television series Battlestar Galactica. The latter earned him an invitation to the United Nations, where he took issue with the frequent references to different races, telling the UN audience, "there is only one race — the human race."

Olmos' dedication to film and activism continued right up to the award ceremony Saturday: In the morning, he took part in a No Kings Rally in Santa Fe, then watched short films playing at the festival.

He said he was heartened by the vast turnout at No Kings rallies nationwide: "I was marching here... and putting my voice out there, because to me, this is it, guys, if we don't unite ourselves."

He also said his purpose has been to speak up for those who don't have a platform.

"To me, the essence of what I've done with my life has been nothing more than to bring a voice to those that don't have one," he said.

You can read more of our Santa Fe Film Festival coverage here.

Main image: Edward James Olmos at the Sante Fe International Film Festival. Moviemaker.

The film, making its world premiere this weekend at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, features the renowned cellist playing "Amazing Grace" as buffalo storm majestically across the Blackfeet Nation, the federally recognized tribal land bordering Glacier National Park in Montana.

For a few brief moments you're transported by images and music, to a timeless, dreamlike place. But the film's purpose isn't just to transport you: "Blackfoot Buffalo Yo Yo Ma" was commissioned by Indigenous Led, a Native-led nonprofit that has worked for years to try to restore buffalo to their ancestral homelands.

"For around 150 years, buffalo haven’t existed on this land, nearly driven to extinction by genocide and the colonization of Turtle Island, also known as the United States of America," says Hunter Robert Baker, who co-directed the film with Elias Gallegos.

We talked to Baker about the film's mission, creating a cinematic dream, and the stunning moment Yo-Yo Ma touches a buffalo.

MovieMaker: Can you talk about how Yo-Yo Ma came to be involved in this project?

Hunter Robert Baker: Yo-Yo Ma has been an advocate of this restoration effort for years, wanting to honor the power of relationship with these sacred buffalo relatives, called “iinnii” in the Blackfoot language.

In May, Yo-Yo Ma traveled to Blackfeet Nation to add his artistry to the chorus that calls to the sacred buffalo relatives. Yo-Yo performed “Amazing Grace,” a medley that provides hope and unity during divided times.

The film culminates in three parts - IINNIIWA: The Blackfeet Buffalo Story, Act I, Act II, and Act III. Act II is a documentary that will premiere in New York City and in Montana on Blackfeet Nation. Santa Fe audiences will see Act I during Santa Fe International Film Festival.

MovieMaker: How did you and the other filmmakers get involved?

Hunter Robert Baker: We were honored to have Chris Eyre [Smoke Signals, Dark Winds] as our Executive Producer, serving a crucial role for the film. He had a vision of these sacred relatives on their journey back home. In a dream moment, Yo-Yo shows a sign of respect and honor by touching forehead to forehead, a connection that unites heart and soul. This scene is meant to evoke a time when people and animals lived in close relation with one another.

My dual role as cinematographer allowed me to observe, respect, and honor these iinnii buffalo. The collaboration between Elias and me meant a closer lens on the vital nature of this story. 

Hunter Robert Baker on 'Blackfeet Buffalo Yo-Yo Ma'

MovieMaker: The visuals in this film are so stunning — were all the buffalo real? Were any VFX used to capture so many of them running together?

Hunter Robert Baker: I can say with immense gratitude that all of the scenes of buffalo running through the landscape were filmed in-camera. This is a tremendous thanks to the Blackfeet Buffalo Program and fantastic wrangler team who raise and care for the Buffalo as they are guided towards their rewilding release. 

The Blackfeet Buffalo Program has been at the forefront of returning buffalo to the Blackfeet territory for more than two decades. In June 2023, the Program made history by returning 49 iinnii to their homelands at the base of Nínaiistáko, or Chief Mountain—a site sacred to all Blackfeet. The homecoming was a moment of fruition for the long-time partnerships between the Blackfoot Buffalo Program, Blackfeet Fish & Wildlife, Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks, and the Native-led nonprofit Indigenous Led.

MovieMaker: Is the scene when Yo-Yo Ma touches the buffalo real? How did you accomplish it?

Hunter Robert Baker: Yo-Yo Ma is a wonderful human radiating positivity in every direction. Of course, safety was a big concern for the shoot. As producers, we don’t encourage anyone to ever touch buffalo. They should always be observed and respected from a safe distance. This scene is a dream and meant to represent a time when people and animals lived in close relation with one another. The film does have some movie magic to capture this scene safely.

As we filmed Yo-Yo’s performance, it actually evoked a real reaction from the iinnii buffalo nearby and they made their way closer and closer to Yo-Yo. It shows that music has the power to unite.

MovieMaker: Can you detail the Santa Fe connection to the film?

Hunter Robert Baker: Chris, Elias and I are based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We have a wonderful filmmaking community here that supports and respects Indigenous stories. I have been working in the Southwest for 13 years, spending extensive time on Navajo Nation. After a decade, I came to Santa Fe and discovered for myself the passionate community of art supporters. 

MovieMaker: Can you tell me a little more about Indigenous Led?

Hunter Robert Baker: Indigenous Led is a native-led nonprofit organization whose work is focused on science, youth and the rematriation of buffalo on Indigenous lands. Their work is extensive across the country. They support and believe art and film have the unique ability to unite, heal, and evoke a conversation around meaningful change.

The best part of this project was really learning about the youth of Blackfeet Nation. For around 150 years, buffalo have been gone from these lands. Multiple generations grew up, lived and passed on without ever seeing their sacred iinnii relatives, an animal that is directly tied to their Blackfoot language and origin story. Now, thanks to these wonderful organizations, the youth are growing up with buffalo around them, on their lands, and in their ceremonies. The return of buffalo is giving the youth a way to connect with their origin story, their Blackfoot language, and their ancestry. This effort begins a process of healing generations of destruction and looks toward a brighter future.

"Blackfeet Buffalo Yo-Yo Ma" plays Sunday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

All photos courtesy of the film.

The Australian-born Oliphant has mercilessly and incisively caricatured every president since Lyndon B. Johnson in a career that spanned 60 years and included winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1966. After working for The Washington Star, he began syndicating his work to a vast audience through Universal Press Syndicate, finally retiring in 2015 — though Oliphant, now 90, has still managed a few astute mockeries of President Trump since then.

The film goes back several centuries to track the history of political cartoons — when they were lithographs and engravings – and makes the case that they were the first memes. It also explains why they're endangered as print media loses influence, and the Trump Administration moves with a heavy hand to silence critics.

A Savage Art makes the case that cartoonists are often the most effective and direct critics of politicians, which often makes them targets for censorship. Everyone from presidents to religious leaders and their many defenders took issue with Oliphant's cartoons as he bludgeoned hypocrisy in all forms, by the left and right alike.

The film plays Saturday at the Santa Fe International Festival, and marks a strikingly detailed and thoughtful debut by Banowsky, who until now has had a wide range of high-level roles in the film business that fueled his desire to direct. We talked with him about meeting Oliphant, calling out corruption, and why AI can never replace a great pen-and-ink drawing.

Director Bill Banowsky on Making A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant

MovieMaker: Pat Oliphant, like you, is a longtime Santa Fe resident. Is that how you came to meet him? 

Bill Banowsky:  My wife Susan Banowsky and I moved to Santa Fe from Austin 10 years ago.  Our first Christmas Eve in Santa Fe was a beautiful snowy evening, and we went around the neighborhood with some new Santa Fe friends to various houses that were hosting parties. The first place we landed was the Oliphant home.  

For years the Oliphants had had a big Christmas Eve party every year. We walked into the house. It was full of music and people and fun. I looked to my right and saw this guy sitting in the corner with white hair wearing a white puffy jacket and a red scarf. It was David Byrne. Then I saw Terry and Jo Harvey Allen. And the Ambassador to the U.S. from Australia. There were so many interesting people in that house that evening. We lived just around the corner from the Oliphants and became fast friends. 

MovieMaker: Were you a fan of his work before? What draws you to it?

Bill Banowsky: I had heard of Pat Oliphant, but was not well aware of his work.  I knew he was a celebrated, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, but I didn’t fully appreciate his career until I started interviewing him for this film, which we began in the summer of 2018, seven years ago.

MovieMaker: You're a film producer, founded Magnolia Pictures, served as CEO of Landmark Theaters, launched Violet Crown Cinemas, and have been general counsel to multiple media companies. But this is your first time directing. How did your past experiences help you as a director?

Bill Banowksy: My experiences helped me understand what to look for in a documentary film that could potentially appeal to a theatrical audience. I’ve seen what had worked and what had not. And I’ve dabbled in documentary filmmaking in the past 20 years. Fifteen years ago I served as Executive Producer for an Alex Gibney film called Casino Jack and the United States of Money. I had gotten to know Alex when we worked together releasing his film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

I pitched him on a story about Tom DeLay, this pre-MAGA corrupt congressman from Texas.  He liked the idea.  At that time he had become interested in what was going on with a DeLay adjacent character, the super lobbyist Jack Abramoff, another corrupt guy in politics. Alex and I decided to make that film. My role was to help Alex raise the money. I really had no hand at all in making it.

Then, a few years later, while living in Austin, I became interested in another story about political corruption involving Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and his efforts, working with conservative think tanks and the like, to transform the two elite public research universities in Texas, the University of Texas and Texas A&M, into something that looked more like trade schools.  Their goals were to get control of these places by firing university presidents and stacking the boards of regents.  

That led to me hiring a director to help me make a documentary about the systemic defunding of public higher education.  That film is called Starving the Beast: We covered six elite public research universities across the country. James Carville was a star of our film, as he was very focused on what was going on with the defunding of public higher education in Louisiana.  

The film was prophetic, I think, when you look at what is going on now with the attacks on higher education by the Trump administration. I was the Producer of the film and was very involved in making it, conducting interviews, raising the money, helping create the storyline. That experience inspired me to want to make my own film, a film that I had complete editorial control of.

MovieMaker: What did you learn from directing that you didn't know about film from your past experience?

Bill Banowsky: They say documentary film making is all about the editing. I think that’s largely true.  We had four different editors work on this film over the seven years we spent making it.  The last editor was Michael Linn, an incredibly talented filmmaker and editor I had met through a mutual friend, Chris Eyre.  

Michael and I spent a week in Chris’s house in Santa Fe while Chris was away working on Dark Winds.  I then spent another week living with Michael and his family in South Dakota, spending all day and much of the night in the editing room with Michael. That’s when the final film started to come into focus. I loved working with Michael.  He is a superb editor who listened to what I wanted to see on screen, and he made it happen. Learning deeply about the process of editing is what I most appreciate about the experience of making this film.

That, and working with my producing partner Paul O’Bryan, my longest friend in the world.  We grew up together in L.A. in the 70’s. Paul is an accomplished editor and filmmaker who has worked in the film industry his entire career. This film doesn’t happen without Paul coming on board three years ago.

MovieMaker: The film focuses on pressures on political cartoonists to tone down their political criticisms. How do you think those compare to the pressures today on late-night hosts, including Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel?

Bill Banowsky: We didn’t intend to take seven years to make the film, but it’s actually a good thing that we did. The timing for this film is right now. A Savage Art speaks to the importance of satire and free speech and journalism, things that are directly under attack today in our current MAGA experience, more so than ever in our lifetime. Nixon had an enemies list, but he didn’t act on it the way that Trump does.

Two-time Putlizer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes was with The Washington Post when we interviewed her for the film; she is no longer there. She quit when her editors refused to publish a cartoon she made making fun of Jeff Bezos  — bending the knee (and delivering the cash) to Trump.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Adam Zygllis, also in our film, is currently dealing with death threats against him and his family on account of a cartoon he published after the Texas floods making fun of the MAGA Republicans. That cartoon drew ugly comments from the White House, which led to the death threats. As we point out in the film, this work can be dangerous.

MovieMaker: A Savage Art makes the intriguing point that political cartoons were the first memes. How do you think AI videos that mock political opponents, like those often posted by President Trump, fit into that history? Are they continuing the tradition of political cartoons, or breaking from it?

Bill Banowksy: Maureen Dowd, who is magnificent in our film, recently lamented about the rise of memes amid the decline of editorial cartooning. Maureen’s point was that memes cannot replace political cartoons. I could not agree more. Memes are not art. I could go online this morning and buy a meme-maker program and publish a meme this afternoon.  I could not create a political cartoon.  

Memes and AI generations are not art, nor are they original works.  Political cartoons are original works of art, combined with satire.  Memes are other people’s work combined with satire. A meme is half a political cartoon.

MovieMaker: What does Pat Oliphant think of the film?

Bill Banowsky:  You would need to ask him that question. He is an amazingly funny and smart guy.  I recently asked him if he liked the film and he said "it’s for s---.”  And then a sly grin came over his face.  I think he likes it, but who knows.

A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant plays Saturday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

The host of the Ricki Lake daytime talk show, documentarian and veteran of four John Waters classics spoke at the Santa Fe International Film Festival to raise awareness of David Goldblum's documentary, which is playing at the festival.

Lake and her husband, Ross Burningham, said she moved to New York City after the fires in January destroyed the dream home where they were married in 2022. She said she is torn about whether to return.

Among the things she lost in the fire, she said, was the script for the film in which she made her acting debut, Waters' 1988 Hairspray.

"I left books behind that we could have gotten out... my Hairspray script signed by every actor when I was 18, and my dress and all my photo albums, my grandparents' photo albums, my yearbooks, my clothing, all my amazing clothes I collected for years," she said. "It's things — I know it's things — but I'm always on the verge of tears when I say it out loud."

Still, she's grateful to have the means to relocate to New York, and repeatedly expressed gratitude for all that she still has, despite losing the home.

"We're lucky," she said. "We had insurance. We didn't have children in the house that are school age. ... We are the lucky ones. But it's still a real loss."

Lake previously lost a Malibu rental home to fire.

"I rented a house in Malibu in 2010 and I accidentally started the fire, " she said. "it was like a decorative candle thing... it was not my fault, but I lit what ended up catching on fire."

That fire was bad — "my two boys, who were little, we ran out of the house with the clothes on our back, and it was really scary," she noted.

But the January fire was worse. Lake had spent more than seven years navigating the permitting and building process to create what she thought would be her and her new husband's long-term home.

"We moved in on Valentine's Day of 2021, we almost had four years there, got married there, got engaged there," she recalled.

The intimate talk at the charming Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse turned into a sharing session during the audience Q&A, when many in attendance shared their own stories of fleeing the Los Angeles fires, or helping friends and relatives who had.

The Palisades Fire that raged through the Santa Monica Mountains killed 12 people, and destroyed nearly 7,000 structures. It was one of several major fires that raged simultaneously in Southern California in January, including the Eaton Fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 buildings as it tore through communities including Altadena.

Ricki Lake on Signing on to Big Rock Burning

Ricki Lake's home was one canyon over from Big Rock, the neighborhood that is the subject of Big Rock Burning, directed by David Goldblum. He lost his own home in the fire, and interviewed his neighbors about their losses.

One goal of the film, Goldblum told MovieMaker, is to figure out what went wrong in January, to prevent the next major wildfire. In addition to playing at Santa Fe, it is available on Vimeo.

Lake said she joined the documentary as an executive producer thanks to Big Rock Burning producer James Costa, who thought she could help raise the documentary's profile.

"This project was really near and dear to my heart. And it's a beautiful film. It's a powerful film. And, you know, we in Malibu, we knew we were vulnerable, but we never thought this level of devastation would happen and if it happened to us it could happen anywhere. So I'm thrilled to offer my name and my story to
this project."

Big Rock Burning played Thursday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Ricki Lake at the Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse as part of the Santa Fe International Film Festival. MovieMaker.

"I thought of the parallels between trying to reach out to other species, and the times in our lives when our families can feel completely alien to us," he tells MovieMaker. "I believe each person contains a universe of their own emotions, thoughts, and experiences, and finding someone who understands us can at times feel like trying to find life on other worlds."

The comedy stars Chloe Bennet (Interior Chinatown) as Minnie, a journalist seeking access to Area 51, and Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso) as Rex, her cousin and a punk-rock guitarist fresh from rehab. Jennifer Beals also stars.

Hello Out There takes advantage of a vast range of New Mexico locations, which makes its screening Friday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival a kind of homecoming.

We talked with Blum — who has worked on Broadway, film, TV and video games — about why aliens are so much in the zeitgeist, and shooting a story where so much depends on the actors.

Otis Blum on Hello Out There

MovieMaker: What message did you want to convey with the film? Why include the alien aspect?

Otis Blum: I wanted to explore the idea of connection. Is it possible to connect with other beings, and if so how? During the depths of the pandemic, I noticed an uptick in stories about aliens in traditional publications like The New York Times, New Yorker, and The Economist. It made sense to me — at a time when we were and still are desperate for connection, of course we would look up and wonder if something was looking back.

MovieMaker: You're based in Los Angeles — how did you find filming in New Mexico? What drew you there, and where did you shoot specifically?

Otis Blum: I love New Mexico so much. I've been visiting the state since I was a child, and I have family that lives out there. I wrote this script with the purpose of telling a story in New Mexico and highlighting the beauty and wonderful peculiarity of this enchanting state. Filming in New Mexico was wonderful.

With all the production that happens in the states, there are many talented and experienced crew people that were vital to the making of this film. We were able to shoot on location in Roswell, White Sands National Park, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, with the unique look and feel of each place elevating the look and feel of the movie.

MovieMaker: At one point your characters are at the gates of Area 51 — are those the real gates of Area 51? I thought it was impossible to get that close, so I was very intrigued.

Otis Blum: I'm glad you were intrigued! Those are not the real gates of Area 51. We studied lots of photographs and a producer visited the location, getting as close as legally possible, so we worked hard to authentically recreate it. That scene was shot at a private airport outside of Albuquerque. The real Area 51 is in Nevada, and I'm proud to say we shot every scene in New Mexico!

MovieMaker: How did you enlist your very good actors?

Otis Blum: I sent them the script and they wanted to be a part of it! When pitching to them I emphasized that the movie rests entirely on the performance of the actors. I admire each and everyone of them as naturalistic performers - Chloe, Phil, and Jennifer don't perform characters, they create real people. We started off by casting Minnie, and then finding the Rex that had the right chemistry.

Chloe and Phil had tremendous rapport from the very start. We did a lot of character work and rehearsal before we started shooting. In the process we discussed the themes of the story, and each actor had some form of personal connection to both their character and the larger story.

We couldn't find the right Judith for some time, and Jennifer Beals came on to the project a week or two before we started shooting, and I'm so grateful she did. I was so grateful to have such experienced talent on my first feature. 

MovieMaker: What was the biggest obstacle you faced in making this film, and how did you overcome it?

Otis Blum: There were two really big obstacles. One was the logistical headache of shooting in a lot of locations across the state. I have to thank my production team for playing jenga with schedules and transportation to make sure we got all the locations we needed.

The second obstacle was New Mexico weather. We shoot a lot of this movie outdoors, and New Mexico weather can be very fickle in the summer. ... I would wake up in the middle of night checking the weather app on my phone. We were incredibly fortunate that the weather never caused us to miss a day. We only had one thunderstorm delay. There were some brutally hot days, but we had a dedicated team who was watching out for our health and safety making sure we were hydrated, shaded, and safe.

Hello Out There plays Friday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Hello Out There. Courtesy of the filmmakers.

Not only did it become the title of her feature directorial debut, but Singh stars in and produces the dramedy, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival and plays this weekend at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

Pinch revolves around an aspiring travel blogger named Maitri (Singh) who travels with her mother and their neighbors to the annual Hindu festival Navratri. On the way, she is groped by a respected man in the community. Later, she gets retribution by pinching a woman in the crowd and blaming him. What follows is a darkly comedic story about the female experience, mother-daughter relationships, grief and trauma.

“My job is done,” Singh tells MovieMaker. “I was trying to tell the story I wanted to tell and people can take what they want from it. For some people it’s healing. For some, it enrages them. For me, life is absurd and I like to find the absurdity in it. You can have pain and joy co-exist and uncomfortable humor is my own way of dealing with trauma.”

Initially planned as a short, Pinch became a full feature after the film’s cinematographer and co-writer Adam Linzey hopped on board.

We talked with Singh at Tribeca in June about the importance of community in making the film, the power dynamics of assault, and balancing comedy with trauma. 

Uttera Singh on Balancing Comedy and Pain in Pinch

Amber Dowling: You wrote the script in English and then translated it to Hindi. Did you have difficulty with some of the nuances?

Uttera Singh: Those nuances don’t always translate and I found that out the hard way when I sent the first version to one of the actors I really wanted to play my mother’s friend. At first she refused to do it because she said it was bad. That it was really bad, because the Hindi didn’t flow. I was so hurt at first, but then I reread it and she was right. It needed two more passes to get the right flow and have it make sense. I had given up hope on her when she said she didn’t like the script, but when it was ready, I resent it and she agreed to do it. 

Amber Dowling: The movie seems to normalize healing from abuse and the collective trauma that women go through — was that the intention?

Uttera Singh: Yes, and one more thing was that I also wanted to talk about how we sometimes leave men out of the conversation. Men also go through abuse. Women come together and talk about it and heal together, but men don’t necessarily get that. This isn’t to diminish what women go through. That can still exist while including men in the conversation. I read this incredible book called Invisible Women, where Caroline Criado Perez talks about how assault isn’t a gender issue, it’s a power issue. That’s such a powerful statement. 

Amber Dowling: How did you want to treat the comedy of it all, given the dark subject matter?

Uttera Singh: I had to hold myself back and not treat the assault part in a funny way, because I wanted to be sure we were being sensitive and careful about treating that with care and realism. But the rest? I just see life as very absurd. I always got in trouble for laughing at the wrong moment. I lean more into that side of myself now and accept that it’s okay. 

Amber Dowling: The film has a budget of less than a million. How did you piece that financing together and make what you needed to happen?

Uttera Singh: The best thing that happened was I went back to my hometown in India and made it there. My whole community showed up, and there were privately raised funds, but also a lot of beg, borrow and steal. 

One of my favorite examples was that we needed a red refrigerator for the apartment. My cousin called a neighbor, who swapped fridges so that we could use hers for like a month. Other people lent us their living room furniture. It was just so sweet. It makes me emotional to think of where people were just showing up. This was made with a lot of community love. 

Amber Dowling: Did that community also factor in for the big crowd shot, where the title pinch happens?

Uttera Singh: Yes, that was extremely challenging and we only had the jib for two hours — that’s what we could afford. People traveled to bring all of the equipment up and that was something we only had for two hours. We were fighting the sun and we had 150 people from my parents’ villages who showed up. People were just standing there. It was hot but we needed the shot. At one point one woman held my hand and said, “It’s okay. Get your shot. We’re standing. We’re here.” I get so emotional, because that’s how the movie got made. By other people showing up. 

Amber Dowling: The music threads the narrative together in a really compelling way. What was your inspiration for it?

Uttera Singh: The one thing I kept telling my composer, Raashi Kulkarni, was that I wanted it to feel like an anxiety attack, like a panic attack. I wanted it to feel like Maitri’s heart. Even when I was writing this, I would put on really aggressive music with drums and percussion. Raashi did an incredible job. 

Amber Dowling: What other notable challenges did you face in making Pinch?

Uttera Singh: There were so many things, as with any indie film. We were just trying to take boulders up the hill, and we were like, “One more step. One more step.” Sadly, one of the big things that wasn’t a challenge but just a sad thing, is that Nitesh Pandey, who plays the assaulter, passed away a couple of months after the movie. So we never got to show him the film. Not that that’s the most important thing, but he was the nicest and so supportive of the movie. 

Pinch plays Saturday and Sunday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Pinch, courtesy of Pinch. 

"Shelly's Leg" tells a story that sounds made up: In 1970, an eccentric young stripper named Shelly Baumann lost her leg in a freak parade canon accident, and used settlement money to open Shelly's Leg — one of the nation's first openly gay gathering places.

Watching "Shelly's Leg," by filmmaker Wes Hurley, you sometimes get the sense that this might all be a fun put-on — because the talking heads in his short documentary are so sweetly wide-eyed, the shots so beautifully composed, the footage as pretty as too-good-to-be-true AI.

But "Shelly's Leg" is totally true, And the people in it are very real. The film, now playing at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, has a striking beauty and out-of-time quality thanks to Hurley's clever approach to re-enactments. He enlisted modern-day actors in period garb to read interviews with real life collaborators and witnesses to Shelly's tale, then aged his footage to make it seem decades-old.

Hurley was born in Vladivostok, in the Soviet Union, and attended the University of Washington after immigrating to the U.S. with his mother. He has written, directed and produced dozens of award-winning shorts, three feature films and two seasons of Capitol Hill, a series he created for Huffington Post. His documentary short "Little Potato" won a Jury Prize at SXSW, and his autobiographical comedy Potato Dreams of America premiered at SXSW 2021 in the Narrative Feature Competition, then won Best Screenplay at Outfest that year.

We talked with Hurley about turning tragedy into fun, recruiting Kathleen Turner for "Shelly's Leg," and decidedly not using AI.

Shelly's Leg Director Wes Hurley on a Unique Approach to Documentary Re-Enactments

MovieMaker: How did you become a filmmaker?

Wes Hurley: I majored in painting and theater, but always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker.  I bought my first used camera after graduating from college and started by filming theater, music and burlesque live shows.  After getting to know a lot of Seattle performers and I began to cast them in short films and it grew from there.  I made my first two features guerilla-style with no crew but big very casts.  Over the years I've assembled a creative family of collaborators in Seattle that I always work with.

MovieMaker: How did you first learn of Shelly's Leg, and why did you want to tell this story? 

Wes Hurley: A few years ago I read the book Gay Seattle by professor Gary Atkins.  It's a local history book but it's written so well — it reads like a thriller. One of the stories in the book was about Shelly's Leg. I instantly knew I wanted to make a film about it after finishing my feature. As in my biographical feature Potato Dreams of America, I'm drawn to wild true stories that are stranger than fiction.  I love how tragedy and comedy can overlap in real life, just as in art. Shelly's Leg story is sad but also very funny and it's ultimately about what we choose to do with the cards we're dealt.

MovieMaker: I was sure at a certain point the film was all AI, and I even wondered if Shelly's Leg was a real place. (It is, of course.) The reason I thought it was AI is because the aged footage looked a little too good and pretty. Can you tell me about the historical re-enactment process you used?

Wes Hurley: I haven't heard anyone compare it to AI before, but I was definitely concerned that it would happen while making the film, considering that I worked so hard to make the footage seem authentically vintage and that is very rarely successful in films.  The conversations about AI were really starting to ramp up around that time and people were telling me about all the things that AI can already do. 

I find all of that extremely disturbing and it was important for me to specify that I'm not participating in that technology in any way, shape or form. In terms of making it look 70s, it was a really fun challenge. Not working with a big budget, it was about curating everything that goes on camera very very carefully — finding the right actors for the roles, finding little corners of the city that could pass for another era and working with our brilliant costume designer Ronald Leamon. 

I overlaid actual film grain over the final footage to get the right look, along with color correction and other effects. For sound, I worked with Paul Miller at Bad Animals to create scratchy older sounding recordings for all the interviews. I do all of my own color but I don't know how to do sound mixing. Paul really captured the quality I wanted in our mix. I think he did an amazing job.  

MovieMaker: I assumed other people must have thought this was AI as well, given your disclaimer at the end.  

Wes Hurley: An even bigger concern for me was that people wouldn't believe that it's a true story and that all the interviews are actual things real people said. So I put the disclaimer about all the interviews being verbatim, left by people most of whom are not around anymore. I'm heartened when people don't realize the interview footage was recreated. 

That aspect of the film was most exciting for me creatively but also stressful as I wasn't sure what audiences and festivals would make of it.  I called a few folks deep in the documentary world and explained my process, and they all told me I can still call the film a documentary even though the interviews themselves are re-enacted.  I've never seen it done before in a doc, though I'm sure I didn't invent it and there are other films like this out there.

MovieMaker: The voice I wish I'd heard more was Shelly's — I assume she never sat for a lengthy interview? 

Wes Hurley: Yes, sadly Shelly did not give any in-depth interviews. And she passed away before I learned of her story. I've read through a thousand pages of legal documents pertaining to her post-accident lawsuit — those had some of her testimony but nothing much of substance or interest there.  Except for the quote I use in the film where she wonders to her lawyers whether the whole cannon accident was a hallucination.  I thought it's so fitting for her entire life story and the story of her club and human condition in general.  I also thought it was very funny - her attorneys must have not liked it.

MovieMaker: How did you cast your amazing actors? 

Wes Hurley: I tried to find actors who look as much as their real counterparts as possible.  For guys that was trickier since these men in the film are all hippies and have longer hair and wigs look fake. The one exception was "Mike" — I could not find any images of him or any description. I ended up finding an actor that I really liked but he had a British accent. I decided, what the hell, this guy is great and so natural, and no one seems to remember this man sadly.  So in the movie he's British. I keep expecting someone to come up to me after a screening and ask why "Mike" is British.

MovieMaker: How did Kathleen Turner get involved?

Wes Hurley: I really wanted a recognizable voice that also served as a kind of unofficial spirit of Shelly.  When my producer Eliza Flug and I learned that Kathleen Turner was interested, it was one of the happiest days of my life. I grew up watching Kathleen, she's my favorite actress from that era and her voice brings so much specificity and character to the film. Working with her was a blast.  I have a feeling Shelly is thrilled about Kathleen narrating her story too, wherever she is now.

"Shelly's Leg" plays Thursday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival. one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: "Shelly's Leg," courtesy of Wes Hurley.

"A person who mediates emotionally messy conversations between people who can’t face each other? I’d hire one in a second," Anderson tells MovieMaker. "Maybe I need to start my own agency. The idea came from wondering what would happen if someone literally outsourced their most difficult relationship — the kind of conversation that feels impossible to have without a buffer."

The film, which plays Saturday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, where Anderson will also take part in a post-screening Q&A, also stars Daniel Portman as Chris, the man who needs a mediator, and Mia Tomlinson as Olivia, his long-suffering sister.

Anderson is a British writer‑director who focuses on emotionally grounded, character‑driven films, including 2020's "My Time With Joe" and 2016's "Class 15." We talked with him about emotionally stilted characters, structure, and whether the mediator of "The Mediator" is who she seems to be.

MovieMaker: How did you become a filmmaker? 

Dean Leon Anderson: I’ve always loved films, but for a long time I had no idea how to actually become a filmmaker. It felt like this far-off, mysterious world, growing up in South London. Things really started when a friend received some funding from BBC Films to make a short, and I asked if I could help. I ended up assisting his producer and just absorbed everything I could on his set. That experience lit the fire. I went off and started writing my own scripts right after.

I didn’t have access to funding at first, so I cobbled things together — self-funding, borrowing kit, convincing friends and family to get involved. It was very DIY, but I learned a lot from doing it that way. After a few shorts, I started getting proper support for my work, and things grew from there. It’s been a gradual process, built on momentum and a lot of persistence.

MovieMaker: Can you talk about finding your excellent actors?

Dean Leon Anderson: I was lucky enough to work with Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Dune, Sex Education) on my previous short, "Class 15." I thought I’d written a solid script, but she brought so much depth to her character that it completely raised the bar for how I approached casting "The Mediator." The characters in this film are complex, and I knew I needed two strong leads who wouldn’t just play what was on the page, but would bring their own instincts and challenge the material in the best way.

I met casting director Zyrenka Cox through a BAFTA film scheme, and it was perfect timing. I’d originally pictured older actors in the roles, but her suggestions completely reshaped my thinking, in a good way. She put forward Daniel Portman [Game of Thrones], Mia Tomlinson [The Beast Must Die], and Cat White [Ten Percent], and I immediately saw the potential.

I already knew Daniel’s work, and after talking it through with Zyrenka, I knew he was right for Chris. I auditioned a few actors for Mary, but Cat stood out from the start. I’d seen Gina Bramhill in The Flatshare and was drawn to her subtlety, and Ian Burfield [EastEnders, The Selfish Giant] has a voice that instantly grounded his character. I was very lucky when they all came on board.

Dean Leon Anderson on the Untold Backstory of 'The Mediator'

MovieMaker: Why did you want to tell this story?

Dean Leon Anderson: After making "Class 15," which was set in a classroom during a parents' evening, I became really interested in creating stories within intimate, contained spaces. "Class 15" started off polite and civil, and gradually descended into chaos. With "The Mediator," I wanted to flip that structure — to start in a place of real hostility, with two people who are completely shut off emotionally from one another, and see if they could find a way to something more human.

I’m drawn to characters who are emotionally stuck, and to situations where communication has broken down. There’s something interesting in seeing what happens when you force people into a room, or even a phone call and they have no choice but to face what’s gone unsaid.

MovieMaker: Can you talk about your use of elegant cuts to black to show the passage of time? 

Dean Leon Anderson: Originally, the script had a chapter structure. Each shift in time came with a title and time of day, to mark how long the characters had been in the space together. I’d been inspired by Joachim Trier, whose films often play with structure in inventive ways. I wanted to experiment with something similar, especially since the story plays out over a 24-hour period.

But during post production, once we’d cleared all the graphics for color grading and I got the final graded files back, I realized the clean cuts to black were doing all the work I needed. Paired with the lighting changes and shifts in mood, it still clearly showed the passage of time — and actually gave the film a more restrained, mature feel. So I ended up using my instincts and keeping it simple. Sometimes less really is more.

MovieMaker: [Spoiler warning] Why does the mediator seem to develop such warm feelings for this surly man? To me, the film seems to leave open the question of whether she's actually a mediator, or if the sister has just enlisted her to try to break her brother from his cycle of self-pity.

Dean Leon Anderson: That’s such an interesting observation — and you’re not the first to float that theory! I’ve actually been asked a few times whether I’d consider expanding this world, and if I did, I think it would begin with Mary’s backstory.

She’s such a unique presence. To me, she’s like this quiet knight in shining armor, someone who steps into people’s emotional chaos to help clean it up. I even took her name from Mary Poppins, who famously arrives in the Banks’ lives to sort things out when everything else seems broken. But underneath Mary’s calm, there’s a lot of baggage.

I think part of why she connects with Chris is that, in staying longer than she probably intended, he ends up being one of the few people who actually listens to her. They’re very different people, with very different issues, but in that moment, there’s a kind of mutual recognition, two stuck people seeing something human in each other. I won’t say much more for those who haven’t seen the film yet, but I really like your take. That ambiguity is kind of the point.

MovieMaker: Finally, what's the biggest obstacle you faced in making this film, and how did you overcome it?

Dean Leon Anderson: The biggest obstacle was definitely the lack of external funding. "The Mediator" was entirely self‑funded, which limits what you can do, but it also sharpens your focus. With no script development schemes or external partners involved, every decision had to be intentional and achievable with the resources I had.

At the same time, I was in early‑stage development of my debut feature with the BFI Network, so "The Mediator" became a kind of creative reset, something I could fully own and make on my own terms in the middle of a much longer, more complex process.

Taking on multiple roles, writing, directing, producing, and editing was both freeing and exhausting. I did this because it was important to me that the film felt authentic and intimate, and that nothing got overworked or diluted. I surrounded myself with amazing and experienced collaborators I really trusted, and they made all the difference. Though it was a challenge, it reminded me of why I started making films in the first place: just telling stories in the purest way I can.

"The Mediator" screens Saturday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Daniel Portman and Cat White in "The Mediator." Courtesy of Dean Leon Anderson.

"My home was gone, and my community was nearly burned to the ground. Picking up a camera so soon after the devastation was cathartic and healing — then, in the moment, and especially now as we share the film with fire survivors and neighboring communities," Goldblum tells MovieMaker.

A writer, director and producer, Goldblum is the founder of Conscious Contact Entertainment, a studio that focuses on telling story that create impact on a global scale. But when the Palisades Fire struck in January 2025, he was suddenly in the center of the story.

The Palisades Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains killed 12 people, and destroyed nearly 7,000 structures. It was one of several major fires that raged simultaneously in Southern California in January, including the Eaton Fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 buildings as it tore through communities including Altadena.

Goldblum hopes that watching Big Rock Burning, which plays Thursday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival and is now available on Vimeo, can help people take stock and think about what's next.

"We had our first screening at Malibu City Hall in late August and most of the sold-out crowd were residents who had lost their homes in either the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, or a previous one. To be able to give them a voice was a true honor and a privilege. The overwhelming response from everyone involved in the film was gratitude for me making this, but I should really be grateful for them for allowing me into their most intimate moments during such a vulnerable time," he says.

The film's executive producers include Ricki Lake, whose home was lost in the fires, and Mark Hamill and his wife Marilou, whose home survived.

We talked with Goldblum about making Big Rock Burning, the recovery process, and the interviews he didn't get.

MovieMaker: What was your personal experience with the fire? 

David Goldblum: I was in my home office and looked out the window and saw the fire cloud barreling toward my mountain community. I jumped in my car and raced off the mountain as the fire got closer and closer, leaving everything I owned behind. I think if I left my mountain an hour or two later I might not have survived. I went into action so quickly after the fires and I still haven't really grappled with the fact that so many of us literally battled or escaped the flames. It was surreal.

David Goldblum on the Roles of Mark Hamill, Ricki Lake and More in Making Big Rock Burning

MovieMaker: How did Mark Hamill and Ricki Lake get involved?

David Goldblum: One of our producers, James Costa, had worked with Ricki before. Ricki also lost her home in Malibu and when James sent her the film, she was immediately on board. Although she didn't live on Big Rock, this was Ricki's story too — her and her husband literally fought off the flames with everything they could.

I had reached out to Mark and his wonderful wife Marilou while I was filming and asked if they would be involved, knowing that having someone like Mark on the team would really give us credibility and visibility. Once they saw the film, they also came on board and offered their support. I can't thank all of them enough. 

MovieMaker: Many are under the general impression that insurance or the state and/or federal government will eventually help everyone rebuild. Is that the case?

David Goldblum: To date, there's been three permits given in Malibu since the fires. Three. Seven-hundred-and-twenty homes in Malibu were destroyed. That is not an OK ratio. Insurance companies are not helping the way they should either. 

MovieMaker: Who issues the permits?

David Goldblum: The City of Malibu. Our rebuild ambassador just quit as well.

MovieMaker: People in the film are very critical of Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, accusing her of failing to adequately prepare for the fires; former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, for hiring private firefighters to defend his shopping complex; and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, accusing it of acquiring lots of land but not adequately clearing and otherwise maintaining it. Why did you choose not to interview them from the movie, so we could hear their side?

David Goldblum: My goal with Big Rock Burning was to make a film that was a love letter to my community. To do that I wanted to give a microphone to those who felt they didn't have a voice. Through that process, we did hear criticism aimed at various players in Los Angeles for not properly preparing for the fires — from the empty reservoir, lack of firefighter support, no water in the hydrants, budget cuts to the fire department, lack of land management and more. Not to mention we just found out the Palisades Fire was started by an arsonist. I did try to reach out to folks on the other side to get their points of view, but many were not interested in being in the film. 

MovieMaker: Any reaction to the news that a suspect was arrested in the Palisades fire?

David Goldblum: I'm grateful he was finally arrested. It's heartbreaking that somebody would do this intentionally to destroy a city. Hopefully it's the beginning of closure for all the communities that suffered losses in the Palisades Fire. 

Big Rock Burning plays Thursday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.

Main image: Big Rock Burning. Courtesy of David Goldblum

But the film, which plays at the Santa Fe International Film Festival on Thursday, builds to the kind of twist that would — if included in a real documentary — upend the entire world.

The film follows Emily Wyland (The White Lotus' Brittany O’Grady) and cinematographer Danny (The Old Man's E. J. Bonilla) as they bootstrap their way through a very personal doc about reuniting with Emily’s mother Sam (Euphoria's Alanna Ubach), who was addicted to drugs during much of Emily's life.

They learn about Sam's life in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where addiction and a drug cartel called Los Carcineros ("the butchers") have a strong hold on the locals. Homelessness and apparent mental illness bedevil Sam's circle, and Emily and Danny's efforts to learn more about her mom are met with bloody opposition. Some people are easily forgotten, and others want them to stay forgotten.

But Emily and Danny, though complex motivations that include making a film that will boost their careers, want to document the lives of the lost. In Our Blood unfolds through Emily and Danny's footage, and they luckily have a habit of lying about when their camera is on.

The film, based on a story by the film's producer, Aaron Kogan, and written by Chucky and Fear the Walking Dead veteran Mallory Westfall, drops clues but assiduously avoids giving away too much, until the packed final minutes.

Kos' Netflix documentary short "Lead Me Home" (co-directed with Jon Shenk) premiered at Telluride in 2021 and was nominated for an Academy Award. His most recent feature, the documentary Rebel Hearts, premiered at Sundance in 2021 and is currently streaming on Max.

He was previously a writer and producer on Netflix’s Emmy-nominated documentary feature, The Great Hack, and editor on Jehane Noujaim's Academy Award-nominated The Square, for which Kos won an Emmy Award.

In some ways, In Our Blood brings Kos, a Rio de Janeiro native, back to his days at Yale University, when his focus was on Theater Directing. We talked with him over email about using the tools of documentary to make a narrative film, taking advantage of the film's transfixing Las Cruces setting, and holding back details.

We talked to him when the film premiered last year at the Fantasia Film Festival.

MovieMaker: What was the origin of In Our Blood?

Pedro Kos: The first spark of the idea for In Our Blood came from my dear friend, collaborator, producer and manager, Aaron Kogan. He actually had this idea way back in college, when we were making our very first film together, but he never told me about it.

A few years later, he started developing it with our other amazing producer, Steven Klein, who actually plays Isaac in the film. Aaron, Steven and Clay Tweel continued to develop the story, and then they brought in this genius young screenwriter, Mallory Westfall, who wrote a draft of the film. 

That’s how the project first came to me — Aaron brought me the draft and pitched it to me as my first fiction film. I remember that my initial response to him was that I didn’t think I was the right person for it because this was far outside my wheelhouse.

I had been working on documentaries for many years and even though I was a big fan of genre films, they were very formative in my upbringing, I didn’t feel confident in my ability to tell this kind of story. But then Aaron said “That’s exactly why you’re the right person to make this film.”

So I sat down with Mallory’s screenplay and I had this moment where I suddenly saw the extraordinary potential of this film to explore all of the themes and ideas that I had already been exploring in documentaries, but in this supercharged way.

It was an opportunity to examine and question our world, and its tendency to push the most vulnerable to the margins, but through a very different lens.

MovieMaker: Given that your B.A. is in theater directing, does this feel like a departure from your speciality — docs — or does it feel like a return to what you always wanted to do?

Pedro Kos: Yes, I loved doing theater in college and this was definitely a return to something that I really loved and missed. Working with the actors was such a joy every day. I asked for rehearsals because I wanted to workshop the scenes and make the film feel as organic and lived-in as possible. 

I felt passionate about giving our extraordinary cast, especially Brittany O’Grady and EJ Bonilla, the space for them to take the material and really make this their own, and also to really ground the performances to the reality of our world today.

It’s funny because, even though this was my first fiction film, it didn’t feel like a departure from my documentary work that much because I approached In Our Blood in a very similar way that I would a documentary film. I see this film as very much a story about our world, depicting the issues that we are struggling with as a society today. 

MovieMaker: How did you get to know the Las Cruces-El Paso region where this takes place? How did you use the location to bring the film to life? How long did you film there, and can you talk about any advantages or challenges to shooting in the area?

Pedro Kos: It was imperative to me to approach In Our Blood not only as fiction but also as a documentary. So that meant doing a lot of research and really getting to know the place itself, because Las Cruces is a real character in the film.

I went there months earlier and really tried to absorb the city and get to know the people there. And that meant going to different organizations —rehabilitation clinics that were working with people experiencing homelessness, food banks, et cetera.

Las Cruces is located right on the US-Mexico border, and as an immigrant myself I wanted to ground this story on the frontlines of all the issues that we’re dealing with as a society, from the housing crisis, to the opioid crisis, to the waves of migrants coming to the U.S. seeking a better life.

It was really important for me to humanize these issues with real people and have us, the audience, look at our world from an outsiders' perspective and not just depict a world of faceless dehumanized victims which we’ve grown so accustomed to nowadays.

So the interviews that you see in the film are real interviews with real people from Las Cruces. It was so important to us to include those. The clinic that you see in the film is an actual organization called Community of Hope. And everything we hear Ana explain to Emily about what they do there actually comes from the real interviews we did with the people who work in rehabilitation services in Las Cruces.

The encampment that you see in the film is a real encampment called Camp Hope, and the people that you meet were, at the time, the real residents there. It was important to us to represent real life and real people, because this is not about some heightened world; this is about Las Cruces and America today.

In Our Blood Director Pedro Kos on Creating a Sense That 'Something Is Wrong Here'

MovieMaker: This is a genre film, but that doesn't become apparent until the last 20 minutes or so. Did you get any pushback from anyone who said you had to be more clear about the genre, for the sake of promoting the film? Or for artistic reasons? How did you balance the need to foreshadow what's coming with the need to preserve the surprise?

Pedro Kos: From the very beginning of the creative process through the writing, the prep and the production of the movie, a lot of effort went into putting together the pieces for this subtle, slow burn of a movie. We were very careful to conceal and withhold where it was ultimately going, without it being too much of a curveball.

We got to a certain point in post-production where we thought we would be better served by pulling back some things and really honing in on moments where we could give little nods and indications that the movie was heading towards a direction of genre.

And so if you actually pay attention and you go back to rewatch the film, and I hope people will, there are a lot of Easter eggs that are layered throughout the film from the very beginning, but you have to pay close attention.

And beyond that, I think the other thing we focused on was playing with tone and making the audience feel that something is wrong here. Something is wrong in this place and in this society. And that feeling of dread that grows throughout signals genre, but doesn’t give away the twists and turns of the story.

MovieMaker: Can you talk about how you blended documentary approaches and traditional narrative? Are you comfortable calling this a found footage film? Who, in the logic of the film, assembles the found footage? Or is that too much of a spoiler?

Pedro Kos: What I can comfortably say is that In Our Blood definitely falls into the category of a found footage film, but we are also trying to push the boundaries of what has been done in that subgenre by experimenting with the concept of perspective and who’s telling the story.

And regarding the blending of the documentary approach with the traditional narrative, beyond whatever I already mentioned in terms of using actual real interviews of people in Las Cruces, the way we approached the cinematic language was very much in the vein of raw documentary footage, which I am very familiar with having been a documentary filmmaker and editor for so many years.

So a lot of the techniques that you see in the film — i.e. zooming into interview subjects during questions, the dialogue that happens with the camera person off screen, the little chit chat that happens when you’re shooting B-roll — all these little details are things that happen on documentary shoots, and usually that footage is not heard or seen.

But we get little glimpses of that in the film, these lived in moments that feel very real and very grounded.

In Our Blood screens Thursday and again Monday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

Main image: Brittany O'Grady in In Our Blood. Courtesy of the film.

But attitudes changed. She remembers a night when the neighbors gathered around her family’s TV set, the only one in their alley, to watch a documentary about a woman from the country who made a man from the city take responsibility for their child. The city people ended up cheering for the woman.

“Everyone started clapping, and I just remember that I had goose bumps all over my body — I understood the power of emotional storytelling,” Feng recalls. “If a film can challenge my own biases and stereotypes, then there’s a way to challenge the audience as well.”

She became a journalist and then filmmaker, driven by her empathy for outsiders. She brings that empathy to The Dating Game, a fascinating documentary that premiered at Sundance and plays Wednesday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

The documentary elegantly explains broad societal movements in China — including migration from the countryside to the cities, and the fallout from the country’s one-child policy — through the most relatable of problems: Getting a date.  

The Dating Game — no relation to the old American game show — follows three struggling bachelors, Zhou, Li, and Wu, as they seek the guidance of flashy, confident dating coach Hao. 

He has his work cut out for him. Men in China outnumber women by 30 million, because of the one-child policy that lasted from 1979 to 2015. Sons were so preferred over daughters that many girls were put up for adoption or simply abandoned. In the film’s darkest moment, one bachelor recalls seeing baby girls left out to die. 

Additionally, many parents went to work in cities, leaving their children in the poor countryside to be raised by grandparents. As one person in the film laments: “This whole generation grew up without love.”

Given that grim backdrop, it’s remarkable that The Dating Game can find any room for laughter. And yet somehow humor abounds, from the very first scene, in which Hao dresses up his clients like K-Pop stars in the first of many maneuvers he hopes will help them find wives. Later he will have them pose like they’re golfing, or with immaculate dogs, to seem cool and prosperous. 

Hao endorses goofy dating tactics including “push-pull” and abruptly withdrawing from text conversations in hopes of appearing mysterious. 

His main credential is the fact that though he himself came from the countryside and modest means, he has married a highly educated, sophisticated woman, Wen. In a fabulous reveal, we learn that she is also a dating coach — one who explains that she fell for Hao in spite of his “greasy” tactics, not because of them. 

In the presence of  Feng’s cameras, she sees her opportunity to talk frankly with her husband about what’s missing from their marriage, and to ask that he prioritize sincerity over flash.

People of almost any background will recognize the universal humor of singles playing misguided games in the hope of impressing prospective mates: It turns out people are pulling the same moves in China that they are in the United States. 

“Humor is one of the basic foundations for us to all agree to some sort of fundamentals in our values and understandings,” notes Feng. “And through that, hopefully, people can have a transformative experience of asking themselves questions.”

But Feng, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and adjunct professor at Columbia University, took care to make sure her subjects are never the butt of a joke. 

She started out by making sure the bachelors in her film were completely comfortable telling their stories on camera, screening them from a huge pool of applicants. Then she set up a special dating camp just for the film, between Hao and the three chosen bachelors. She made sure the film included context about the historic patterns and societal problems that keep many Chinese men from finding partners.

China’s birthrate is falling, as are birthrates in many other countries. That won’t change unless more men and women connect. But, as the film illustrates, it’s easier than ever for people to seek comfort in A.I. companions and other substitutes for real love.

Feng wanted to be sure The Dating Game made clear that the bachelors’ dating problems are actually problems for the entire country — and perhaps the entire world.

“People are very judgmental,” Feng says. “I was actually really nervous when I noticed that there’s a lot of humor in the film, because the last thing I want is for people to laugh at them. So that was the reason that I had a responsibility to contextualize their stories, for people to really understand where they come from. The more that I can contextualize it, and people understand it, the less people will laugh at them.” 

Feng has a history of empathetic, nuanced filmmaking that helps her gain trust from her subjects. Her best-known film in the United States is 2022’s Hidden Letters, which follows women who use a secret language to commiserate about patriarchy. It premiered at Tribeca and aired on PBS’s Independent Lens. 

She creates her films with both Western and Chinese audiences in mind, in the hopes that Chinese audiences will recognize themselves, and that Westerners will both understand China better and relate to Chinese people through universal truths.

But with The Dating Game, she is considering not distributing the film in China. She wants to be sure her subjects aren’t subjected to mockery at home. 

“I’ve come to a place where I felt like even though they’re comfortable, I may not be comfortable, given how extreme the social media comments of people can be — they can be really harsh and brutal and mean, and I don’t want that to happen to them,” she says.

But the film has had a positive impact on at least two of its subjects: Hao and Wen. Wen’s onscreen openness led Hao to make serious changes.

“They’re in a much better place,” Feng says. “I think this process really made Hao make more effort to change and talk less trash.”

And Wen?

“She’s pregnant with their second child.”

The Dating Game plays Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

Main image: Dating coach Hao and bachelors Wu, Li, Zhou go shopping in The Dating Game. Photo courtesy of Wei Gao.

Start with a clear festival calendar and selection criteria: whether it’s a documentary or indie focus, audience fit, and USA/Europe/world reach. That way, every dollar spent on submission fees, promotion, and travel drives real exposure and future opportunities. This article shares practical ways to budget, travel, and promote wisely through festival season without breaking the bank.

Festival Season Planning: How do Film Festivals Work?

The first step to smart spending is to understand how exactly do film festivals work within the industry. Key events such as Sundance, Berlinale, and others are run on rigid calendars. So submissions, acceptance notices, and travel arrangements are all done on very tight schedules. Any step can cost hundreds of dollars to overlook.

Create a master festival calendar using resources such as CMS Productions' Ultimate List of Film Festivals and The Ticket Fairy's festival budgeting guide. Organize festivals by relevance: is it a documentary showcase, an indie launchpad, or a regional niche? Then match the theme of your film to the audience. In the case of many indie filmmakers, a more focused and smaller festival can provide better press and networking than going after the larger names.

Travel and Accommodation for Movie Festivals

The most changeable elements of any festival budget are travel and lodging. Although your movie may have several selections, it is not always important to be in the theater during every screening. You can ask these questions:

• Does physical attendance have distribution, networking, or marketing benefits?
• Can a co-producer or PR rep represent the film?
• Do virtual panels or online Q&As reduce the need for travel?

For cost control:

• Book refundable or changeable fares only after you receive the festival’s official acceptance or confirmation email
• Choose budget lodging close to venues to reduce transit time and overall transport costs
• Coordinate shared accommodation or local transport with other filmmakers to split expenses

A well-planned travel strategy can significantly cut festival costs—sometimes by as much as 40%—allowing funds to be redirected to DCPs and advertising.

DCPs and Screening Formats: Prepare Early, Save Big

Most festivals require a DCP (Digital Cinema Package), which is the standard for professional screenings. Emergency mastering or express delivery will ruin your budget. Plan for this early:

• Master one high-quality DCP with subtitles and aspect ratios ready for both US and European screenings.
• Avoid rush services and schedule your final render at least four weeks before submission deadlines.
• Store copies securely on cloud drives and physical backups to avoid duplication costs.

Platforms like IndieWire often publish case studies on technical prep and cost-saving workflows for indie creators. Learning from peers can save you hundreds per screening.

Publicity and Promotion That Works

Festival exposure depends more on timing and promotion than on production budget. A slick press package, media outreach, and internet presence can make your film shine, but without huge budgets:

• Press kit (logline, director's statement, cast bios, 3-5 stills, trailer).
• Custom festival poster (digital + printable).
• Email list for media and partners.

Use online submission platforms like FilmFreeway and social media tools to automate reminders and updates. Reference No Film School or Raindance for tested PR strategies from filmmakers who've navigated festival circuits on small budgets.

Low-cost publicity tactics to boost attendance and awareness:

• Pitch community news outlets and niche film blogs that cover festival lineups.
• Publish short behind-the-scenes videos in the run-up to your screening date.
• Coordinate the team to publish synchronized posts on premiere day.

Add QR codes to posters and social posts linking to tickets to boost attendance with minimal ad spend.

Manage the Budget Triage During Festival Season

Budget triage refers to determining necessary and unnecessary costs. Here's a quick hierarchy:

1. Submission & entry fees—non-refundable, so choose wisely.
2. Screening materials (DCP, subtitles, quality control).
3. Travel or remote presence (only where ROI is clear).
4. Publicity & marketing (press, posters, digital ads).
5. Contingency/emergency funds (10-15% of total budget).

Keep clear spreadsheets to monitor outflow. The free online tools, such as Google Sheets or Wave Apps, are ideal for managing the various festival cycles.

Hidden and Unexpected Expenses During Festival Season

Even the most organized filmmakers can be blindsided by hidden costs once the festival season begins. After months of budgeting for travel, submission fees, and DCP mastering, many forget the smaller yet cumulative expenses that pile up fast. Consider what’s often left out of early spreadsheets—shipping promotional materials, last-minute film poster reprints, emergency tech rentals, and festival passes for your crew. These items might seem minor individually, but together can stretch your budget thin.

In such cases, having an emergency budget or quick financial backup becomes more than convenience—it’s survival. Building a safety net through emergency funds for filmmakers can help cover those unavoidable, time-sensitive costs that pop up when you least expect them. Whether it’s an extra night at an overpriced hotel due to a changed screening schedule or replacing damaged hard drives with your movie, a flexible fund lets you keep your focus on the creative rather than the financial fallout.

Cost Benchmarks for Festivals

In order to put figures into perspective:

• Submission fees: $40–$120 per festival (average).
• DCP mastering: $250–$800 per version.
• Travel & lodging: $1,000–$2,500 for popular U.S. movie festivals; more for overseas events.
• Promo & posters: $150–$500.

Based on Filmmaker Magazine's reporting, an average indie feature spends around $5,000–$8,000 across a year of festival submissions, travel, and promotion. Knowing these ranges lets you spot overspending early.

Final Takeaway: Keep Creativity High and Costs Under Control

Festivals are fun to attend, but costly in terms of finances. Indie filmmakers can concentrate on what is really important, namely, presenting their movie to the world, by learning how to conduct cash-flow triage. Budget your plans and not your wish list. Make DCP, travel, and promo costs predictable, and keep a lean emergency fund for unexpected obstacles.

Film festivals do not necessarily need to wreck your budget when approached in the right way. One screening at a time can build a career that’s both creatively rewarding and financially sustainable.