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I don’t know if it’s the place of an independent film site to wade into the successes and failings of a nation. So I’ll just say, here’s to another 250 years, and the hope that we can indeed learn from the past and make it a brighter future. We’ll be back on Monday, with our…
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When Christopher Johnson started working on a five-part series on The Frugal Gourmet, an influential PBS cooking show hosted by Jeff Smith, it seemed like an easy sell for doc series-hungry streamer. But it wasn’t to be, and so Chris Johnson has turned to self-distribution for his thorough look at rise and fall of the…
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In recent weeks, there’s been increased chatter around the moment independent film is having. Sure, this isn’t the first time it looked like the indies would inherit the (film) earth. Back in the 1990s, there was a renaissance of independent films from small studios like Miramax and Sony Picture Classics, with movies like Slackers, Reservoir Dogs, and…
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Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer of Sinners, takes her craft very seriously. She studies lens design, formats, and cameras to bring just the right look to every project. Through her career, she has become comfortable shooting with a wide variety of formats, from 16mm all the way up to 65mm IMAX in Sinners.…
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Graphic designers are key to bringing life to the set of a film. While we might not always have the resources to hire a professional graphic designer, their contribution can make the worlds created on screen legendary. In this video from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (You know, the Academy), graphic designer…
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When the citizens of Canton, North Carolina, found out in March 2023 that the paper mill that was the heartbeat of the town for more than a century was closing before the end of May, they were left scrambling to figure out what was next. They weren’t the only ones who started to scramble. Documentarian…
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This week, the 15th annual Tri-Co Film Festival took place in Bryn Mawr, PA, just outside of Philadelphia. The Tri-Co Festival (actually a screening) showcases student projects from Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore colleges. The three colleges (hence Tri-Co) are next door to one another, with Villanova University located just down the street, making for…
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(In our ongoing effort to connect with younger viewers, we’ve decided that 2026 is the perfect time to start a book club. Each month we’ll be highlighting a book, new or old, that celebrates film, provides important insight, or maybe just a fun take on the world of filmmaking.) The Hays Code, implemented in 1934,…
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For many filmmakers, making the film is the “easy” part. (Those quotation marks are doing a lot of work.) What doesn’t come as naturally is the discussion of distribution. If you’re trying to self-distribute, or just want to be able to nod knowingly when terms are thrown around by your chosen distributor, then you’ll need…
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What does a location manager do during pre-production? What about during production? Where do their duties begin and end, and what do producers get wrong about the role of location managers in a production? We’re discussing all of that with Kiran Rhe Kestenbaum, a Baltimore/DC-area location manager. Kiran started her career in filmmaking as an…