As the definition of an independent film has shifted with the ever-expanding budget divide in American filmmaking — particularly Hollywood cutting back on its mid-range projects — when it comes time for awards season, it’s often only the highest profile of “indie films” that get recognized. While we do our best to recognize the films that often get unfortunately, a new awards has launched that honors the best of truly independent American cinema, featuring films all under a $1 million budget.
Aptly titled the American Independent Film Awards (aka AIFAs), they were voted on by international film festival programmers, U.S. based film festival programmers, and North American film critics (including yours truly.) “First and foremost, we would like to thank all film producers and distribution companies who helped us identify qualifying films and outline the categories. We’d also like to thank the international and American based film festival programmers, and...
Aptly titled the American Independent Film Awards (aka AIFAs), they were voted on by international film festival programmers, U.S. based film festival programmers, and North American film critics (including yours truly.) “First and foremost, we would like to thank all film producers and distribution companies who helped us identify qualifying films and outline the categories. We’d also like to thank the international and American based film festival programmers, and...
- 2/20/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Every week, the CriticWire Survey asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday morning. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?” can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question: What was the best film of summer 2016?
Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse), Rolling Stone
Gosh, where to start! It’s been a banner summer if, like me, you enjoy submerging yourself in vast unending ocean of incomprehensible bullshit at the movies. There was “Suicide Squad,” which is to plot structure what the Elephant Man is to facial bone structure. Loved me some “X-Men: Apocalypse,” an epic battle between an uncomfortable-looking ensemble of interesting-to-talented actors and a script intent on turning them all into cardboard cutouts. “The Shallows” was fun in the way that completing the maze on the back of a cereal box is fun,...
This week’s question: What was the best film of summer 2016?
Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse), Rolling Stone
Gosh, where to start! It’s been a banner summer if, like me, you enjoy submerging yourself in vast unending ocean of incomprehensible bullshit at the movies. There was “Suicide Squad,” which is to plot structure what the Elephant Man is to facial bone structure. Loved me some “X-Men: Apocalypse,” an epic battle between an uncomfortable-looking ensemble of interesting-to-talented actors and a script intent on turning them all into cardboard cutouts. “The Shallows” was fun in the way that completing the maze on the back of a cereal box is fun,...
- 8/22/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Well over a year ago, Vadim Rizov visited the set of Argentinian director Matías Piñeiro’s latest, Hermia & Helena, now premiering in competition in Locarno. He noted that Piñeiro’s first three features have all "started from a Shakespearean source text: As You Like It for Rosalinda, Twelfth Night for Viola, Love’s Labour’s Lost in The Princess of France." The key text this time around is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Not only has Piñeiro set much of the film in New York for the first time, he's added a slew of newcomers to his cast of regulars: Agustina Muñoz, María Villar, Pablo Sigal, Kyle Molzan, Ryan Miyake, Oscar Williams, Mati Diop, Julian Larquier, Keith Poulson, Dan Sallitt, Laura Paredes, Dustin Guy Defa, Gabi Saidón and Romina Paula. We're collecting reviews and interviews. » - David Hudson...
- 8/9/2016
- Keyframe
Well over a year ago, Vadim Rizov visited the set of Argentinian director Matías Piñeiro’s latest, Hermia & Helena, now premiering in competition in Locarno. He noted that Piñeiro’s first three features have all "started from a Shakespearean source text: As You Like It for Rosalinda, Twelfth Night for Viola, Love’s Labour’s Lost in The Princess of France." The key text this time around is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Not only has Piñeiro set much of the film in New York for the first time, he's added a slew of newcomers to his cast of regulars: Agustina Muñoz, María Villar, Pablo Sigal, Kyle Molzan, Ryan Miyake, Oscar Williams, Mati Diop, Julian Larquier, Keith Poulson, Dan Sallitt, Laura Paredes, Dustin Guy Defa, Gabi Saidón and Romina Paula. We're collecting reviews and interviews. » - David Hudson...
- 8/9/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
As an anxious, post-youth New York City cinephile with a dismaying penchant for missing out, I found For the Plasma, Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan’s debut feature, an intimidatingly hep first watch. The tone, somewhere between goofy and morbid, between airless and chaotic. The horror-red title font. The surprisingly fun synth score. The high-waisted jean shorts. The blondeness. After I saw it at its sold-out premiere screening at BAMcinemaFest, way back in the spring of 2014, I scrambled to get ahead of the young, well-spoken directors’ influences, hoping to solve their self-proclaimed “digital-pastoral” puzzle the way I thought I knew […]...
- 7/29/2016
- by John Magary
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It’s not every day that an avant-garde/experimental picture both makes its way to theaters and also has a relatively modest marketing push behind it. Released by Factory 25, and eyeing both a Blu-ray release for the feature itself as well as a vinyl release for its great Keiichi Suzuki score, For The Plasma is just that rare type of art comedy that will hopefully go from the festival world (it played festivals like BAMcinemaFest as well as IndieLisboa) to find an audience in general release.
The debut feature from Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan, For The Plasma introduces us to Helen (Rosalie Lowe), a woman living in a remote cabin in Maine forest whose job it is to keep an eye on potential forest fires. However, while looking at numerous monitors all day, she has uncovered something highly profitable within these feeds. When her friend Charlie (Anabelle LeMieux) arrives,...
The debut feature from Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan, For The Plasma introduces us to Helen (Rosalie Lowe), a woman living in a remote cabin in Maine forest whose job it is to keep an eye on potential forest fires. However, while looking at numerous monitors all day, she has uncovered something highly profitable within these feeds. When her friend Charlie (Anabelle LeMieux) arrives,...
- 7/29/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
To help sift through the increasing number of new releases (independent or otherwise), the Weekly Film Guide is here! Below you’ll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.
For July, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for July 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, July 22. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Ice Age: Collision Course
Director: Galen T. Chu, Mike Thermeier
Cast: Adam DeVine, Jennifer Lopez, Melissa Rauch
Synopsis: Scrat’s epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet.
For July, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for July 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, July 22. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Ice Age: Collision Course
Director: Galen T. Chu, Mike Thermeier
Cast: Adam DeVine, Jennifer Lopez, Melissa Rauch
Synopsis: Scrat’s epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet.
- 7/21/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Kyle Molzan: "If you ever meet Jerry Lewis, send him our movie!" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Georges Simenon, Charles Laughton in Burgess Meredith's The Man On The Eiffel Tower, Cédric Kahn's Red Lights (Feux Rouges) with Carole Bouquet and Jean-Pierre Darroussin, The Day The Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's In A Year With 13 Moons (In Einem Jahr Mit 13 Monden), Christian Petzold's Phoenix, John Cassavetes' A Woman Under The Influence, Kurt Weill, Brian Wilson and Moonriders were unearthed in my For the Plasma conversation with co-director Kyle Molzan.
Helen (Rosalie Lowe) having a meal
Keiichi Suzuki's score informs how we meander through the landscapes filmed dream-like by Christopher Messina (Dear Renzo). Charlie (Anabelle LeMieux) arrives at a house in Maine where a pal from the past, Helen (Rosalie Lowe), has a job monitoring forest fires and where she also miraculously predicts shifts in global finance.
Georges Simenon, Charles Laughton in Burgess Meredith's The Man On The Eiffel Tower, Cédric Kahn's Red Lights (Feux Rouges) with Carole Bouquet and Jean-Pierre Darroussin, The Day The Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's In A Year With 13 Moons (In Einem Jahr Mit 13 Monden), Christian Petzold's Phoenix, John Cassavetes' A Woman Under The Influence, Kurt Weill, Brian Wilson and Moonriders were unearthed in my For the Plasma conversation with co-director Kyle Molzan.
Helen (Rosalie Lowe) having a meal
Keiichi Suzuki's score informs how we meander through the landscapes filmed dream-like by Christopher Messina (Dear Renzo). Charlie (Anabelle LeMieux) arrives at a house in Maine where a pal from the past, Helen (Rosalie Lowe), has a job monitoring forest fires and where she also miraculously predicts shifts in global finance.
- 7/20/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Bingham Bryant: "The intimations of ghosts - that was a strange self-fulfilling prophecy." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Matías Piñeiro, Jean-Luc Godard, Shakespeare, Hermia & Helena, Kobo Abe, Edgar Allan Poe, Marcel Proust, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, the Brothers Grimm, plus Jake Perlin, Andrew Adair, and Tyler Brodie of the Cinema Conservancy haunted my conversation with For The Plasma writer/co-director Bingham Bryant.
Helen (Rosalie Lowe) monitors forest fires while living in a house in Maine and invites her acquaintance Charlie (Anabelle LeMieux) to keep her company and be her assistant. Deadpan Mainer lighthouse keeper Herbert (Tom Lloyd), a dead bat, four living crabs, a couple of Japanese businessmen (Ryohei Hoshi and James Han), and a few phone calls pop up to structure the narrative flow in Bryant and Kyle Molzan's Poe-tic For The Plasma.
"It is very tale-like because it creates just a suspension because of the loop.
Matías Piñeiro, Jean-Luc Godard, Shakespeare, Hermia & Helena, Kobo Abe, Edgar Allan Poe, Marcel Proust, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, the Brothers Grimm, plus Jake Perlin, Andrew Adair, and Tyler Brodie of the Cinema Conservancy haunted my conversation with For The Plasma writer/co-director Bingham Bryant.
Helen (Rosalie Lowe) monitors forest fires while living in a house in Maine and invites her acquaintance Charlie (Anabelle LeMieux) to keep her company and be her assistant. Deadpan Mainer lighthouse keeper Herbert (Tom Lloyd), a dead bat, four living crabs, a couple of Japanese businessmen (Ryohei Hoshi and James Han), and a few phone calls pop up to structure the narrative flow in Bryant and Kyle Molzan's Poe-tic For The Plasma.
"It is very tale-like because it creates just a suspension because of the loop.
- 7/19/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Independent filmmakers who strive to make challenging, idiosyncratic, blatantly uncommercial features should be applauded and encouraged, no matter how abysmally they fail. Three cheers, then, for Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan, whose joint first effort, For The Plasma, ranks among the year’s most singular movies, even as it also ranks among the year’s most painful movies to endure. From its off-putting title (never really explained, though it’s spoken as a line of dialogue) to its robotic performances and cryptic-verging-on-absent narrative, this shoestring production, shot mostly in a single location on 16mm, couldn’t possibly be less career-driven; it’s a movie destined from conception to be seen by almost nobody. That it actually should be seen by almost nobody is a bummer, but at least they tried to create something more original than the typical Sundance-aspiring ensemble wankfest. A minuscule cult following no doubt awaits.
The first...
The first...
- 7/19/2016
- by Mike D'Angelo
- avclub.com
Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.
– Kino Lorber has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Keith Maitland’s animated documentary, “Tower.” The film explores the tragic story of America’s first mass school shooting, where a lone gunman climbed a clock tower at the University of Texas in 1966, shooting 49 people and killing 17. The film had its world premiere at SXSW 2016, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for best documentary feature.
The film has also picked up awards at numerous other festivals, including Dallas International, Montclair, RiverRun, and DeadCenter Film Festival. Kino Lorber will release “Tower” theatrically on October 12 at New York’s Film Forum, to be followed by a national rollout, marking the 50th anniversary of the shooting.
– Kino Lorber has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Keith Maitland’s animated documentary, “Tower.” The film explores the tragic story of America’s first mass school shooting, where a lone gunman climbed a clock tower at the University of Texas in 1966, shooting 49 people and killing 17. The film had its world premiere at SXSW 2016, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for best documentary feature.
The film has also picked up awards at numerous other festivals, including Dallas International, Montclair, RiverRun, and DeadCenter Film Festival. Kino Lorber will release “Tower” theatrically on October 12 at New York’s Film Forum, to be followed by a national rollout, marking the 50th anniversary of the shooting.
- 6/24/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Following a list of some of the best recent American independent films, Girish Shambu offers notes on the work of Josephine Decker, Gina Telaroli, Khalik Allah, Jenni Olson, Amanda Rose Wilder, Joanna Arnow, Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan, Joe Swanberg, Kentucker Audley, Stephen Cone and Nathan Silver. Also in today's roundup: Jim Hemphill on Joe Dante's The Second Civil War, Jonathan Rosenbaum on Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild and Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day, an interview with Steven Soderbergh, Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward on All the President's Men, Simon Callow on Orson Welles and a podcast featuring Dennis Hauck (Too Late), Joachim Trier (Louder Than Bombs) and Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull). » - David Hudson...
- 4/9/2016
- Keyframe
Following a list of some of the best recent American independent films, Girish Shambu offers notes on the work of Josephine Decker, Gina Telaroli, Khalik Allah, Jenni Olson, Amanda Rose Wilder, Joanna Arnow, Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan, Joe Swanberg, Kentucker Audley, Stephen Cone and Nathan Silver. Also in today's roundup: Jim Hemphill on Joe Dante's The Second Civil War, Jonathan Rosenbaum on Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild and Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day, an interview with Steven Soderbergh, Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward on All the President's Men, Simon Callow on Orson Welles and a podcast featuring Dennis Hauck (Too Late), Joachim Trier (Louder Than Bombs) and Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull). » - David Hudson...
- 4/9/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Held earlier this month on May 13-17, the epic 22nd annual Chicago Underground Film Festival gave out eight awards and six honorable mentions.
The big winner was Jennifer Reeder who took home this year’s Best of the Fest award for Blood Below the Skin, a 38-minute short film about three teenage girls who forge a special bond in the wake of an unanticipated incident. This marks back-to-back wins for Reeder who won the Best Short Award last year at Cuff for her previous film A Million Miles Away.
Other winners include Iva Radivojevic’s rumination on asylum seekers in Cyprus, Evaporating Borders, which won Best Feature; while David McMurry’s meditation on the world’s first nuclear town, Arco, Idaho, Atomic City, won Best Documentary. Also, ethnographic documentarian Ben Russell won the Poseidon’s Trident Award for Experimental Mythologies for Atlantis; and Laura Harrison’s animated The Lingerie Show...
The big winner was Jennifer Reeder who took home this year’s Best of the Fest award for Blood Below the Skin, a 38-minute short film about three teenage girls who forge a special bond in the wake of an unanticipated incident. This marks back-to-back wins for Reeder who won the Best Short Award last year at Cuff for her previous film A Million Miles Away.
Other winners include Iva Radivojevic’s rumination on asylum seekers in Cyprus, Evaporating Borders, which won Best Feature; while David McMurry’s meditation on the world’s first nuclear town, Arco, Idaho, Atomic City, won Best Documentary. Also, ethnographic documentarian Ben Russell won the Poseidon’s Trident Award for Experimental Mythologies for Atlantis; and Laura Harrison’s animated The Lingerie Show...
- 5/26/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Chicago – One of the funkiest and offbeat film festivals is taking place in Chicago through Sunday, May 17th, 2015. The 22nd Chicago Underground Film Festival (Cuff) showcases independent, experimental and documentary films from around the world. This year’s festival takes place all at the Logan Theatre – 2646 North Milwaukee, Chicago – and the films are augmented by nightly parties and concerts.
Official Cuff Poster
Photo credit: Chicago Underground Film Festival
Founded in 1993, The Chicago Underground Film Festival is a year-round organization dedicated to the work of film and video makers with defiantly independent visions. The full weekend schedule for Cuff is mapped out below. Prime time features and documentaries are highlighted for each of the remaining days of the festival. and you can click here for full film descriptions (including all the short films in each compilation) and for ticket purchasing information.
Friday, May 15th
”Shorts #2: Humanity I Love You”
Five short films in this program.
Official Cuff Poster
Photo credit: Chicago Underground Film Festival
Founded in 1993, The Chicago Underground Film Festival is a year-round organization dedicated to the work of film and video makers with defiantly independent visions. The full weekend schedule for Cuff is mapped out below. Prime time features and documentaries are highlighted for each of the remaining days of the festival. and you can click here for full film descriptions (including all the short films in each compilation) and for ticket purchasing information.
Friday, May 15th
”Shorts #2: Humanity I Love You”
Five short films in this program.
- 5/15/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The 22nd annual Chicago Underground Film Festival presents five days of devastating celluloid provocations on May 13-17 at the Logan Theatre.
The fest kicks off on May 13 with the incredibly haunting short film Echoes by Jaimz Asmundson and the Filipino romantic crime drama Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal and a Whore by the single-named director Khavn.
Highlights of the fest include the new slacker-ific comedy by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, L for Leisure; the Spanish socio-political documentary Speculation Nation by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat; the pastoral friendship drama For the Plasma by Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan; and the joyful pop doc Living Stars by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
There are also loads of un-missable short films, such as the gritty modern film noir Bite Radius by Spencer Parsons; and amazing new films by Jennifer Reeder (Blood Below the Skin), Zachary Epcar (Under the Heat Lamp...
The fest kicks off on May 13 with the incredibly haunting short film Echoes by Jaimz Asmundson and the Filipino romantic crime drama Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal and a Whore by the single-named director Khavn.
Highlights of the fest include the new slacker-ific comedy by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, L for Leisure; the Spanish socio-political documentary Speculation Nation by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat; the pastoral friendship drama For the Plasma by Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan; and the joyful pop doc Living Stars by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
There are also loads of un-missable short films, such as the gritty modern film noir Bite Radius by Spencer Parsons; and amazing new films by Jennifer Reeder (Blood Below the Skin), Zachary Epcar (Under the Heat Lamp...
- 5/11/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2014?
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
- 1/5/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
"You're unlikely to see a more peculiar debut than co-directors Bingham Bryan and Kyle Molzan's sneakily cryptic For the Plasma, the only world premiere at BAMcinemaFest this year," writes Indiewire's Eric Kohn. "Set in a solitary lakeside cabin in Maine and its surrounding forests, this strange, muted science fiction story suggests Jacques Rivette's Celine and Julie Go Boating by way of David Lynch." And more reviews have come in from the New Yorker, Artforum and the Atlantic. » - David Hudson...
- 6/19/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
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