Independent Films

Filmmaker Magazine

• The Passion of Amir Naderi February 23, 2026
  Amir Naderi is on the move. I connected with the Iranian filmmaker over WhatsApp on a chilly February morning, or at least morning where I am. He’s calling me from Rome, which is the second stop on his tour through Europe teaching classes on filmmaking. In every country he visits, he tells me, he shapes […]
  Nick Kouhi
• Review: The New Nikon ZR Shoots RED RAW Footage on a Budget February 19, 2026
  One year after camera giants Nikon and RED Digital Cinema merged, their first collaboration comes with the release of the Nikon ZR full-frame digital cinema camera. The ZR differentiates itself from its mirrorless competitors—whether Panasonic’s LUMIX line, Sony’s FX line or Blackmagic cinema cameras—with its unique ability to record 12-bit REDCODE RAW (R3D NE), internally […]
  Caleb Hammond
• “I Really Wanted to Create a Chekhovian World”: Kornél Mundruczó on the Amy Adams-starring Berlinale Competition Film At the Sea February 19, 2026
  Drumroll: Amy Adams stares at you. It’s intense—not haunting, but certainly not inviting. The camera pulls away, and it’s her character Laura who’s playing the drums. It’s daytime, there’s unremarkable company around. Music, no dance. Soon, she will leave the facility. Soon, she will return to her Cape Cod home, to her devoted yet frustrated […]
  Ritesh Mehta
• “The Underbelly of Lagos”: Olive Nwosu on Lady February 18, 2026
  Lady, the titular lead of Olive Nwosu’s neo-noir feature debut about a taxi driver’s gradual solidarity with a group of Lagosian sex workers, possesses a piercing gaze. She’s not scanning you as much as she is preemptively fending you off. In her red taxi she stalks the nocturnal streets of the largest city in Nigeria, […]
  Ritesh Mehta
• “What Does a Thing Provide You With?”: Amanda Kramer on the Props and Interiors in By Design February 18, 2026
  “I have never seen the problem with fetishizing objects and fetishizing people as though they were objects,” director Amanda Kramer tells me in a conversation ahead of the release of her latest film, By Design. “It doesn’t mean we don’t also see the person for their soul…They elicit romance. They elicit seduction. There’s something drawing […]
  Chris Cassingham
• The Indie Spirits Flip the Oscar Script February 17, 2026
  In a big studio-backed awards season, it’s rare to see much overlap between the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Oscars. A west coast cousin of sorts to the Gotham Awards, the Indie Spirits often celebrate the movies that the Academy skipped over with its nominations. The ceremony itself is also more fun (there’s some […]
  Tyler Coates
• “I Feel Like It’s Very Sacred, What Happens Between the Camera and You”: Samantha Smart, Back To One, Episode 380 February 17, 2026
  Samantha Smart is the lead actress, writer and producer of Charliebird, the feature debut of director Libby Ewing, which won the top prize at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, calling it “a deeply affecting portrait featuring grounded and complex performances.” On this episode, Smart describes the process of writing it, getting to a crisis point of wondering […]
  Peter Rinaldi
• Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie’s Matt Johnson Shares His Secret to a Good Life February 13, 2026
  Matt Johnson is the center of attention wherever he goes. He’s especially popular in his hometown of Toronto, where his advocacy for young Canadian filmmakers and warm, self-referential humor have made him one of the city’s most favored sons. Mayor Olivia Chow was in attendance when Johnson and his co-star/co-writer Jay McCarrol brought their film […]
  Katie Rife
• “Trying to Make a Psychotic Opera”: Gore Verbinski on Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die February 12, 2026
  It’s been nearly a decade since Gore Verbinski’s last feature film A Cure for Wellness hit theaters, but the director best known for creating the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise hasn’t been slacking. “I’ve worked every day of those years,” the Oscar-winner behind Rango tells Filmmaker over Zoom. “We developed an animated musical. We recorded […]
  Esther Zuckerman
• True Story: I Used My Jeopardy! Winnings to Finance My First Feature February 11, 2026
  “What is MAGIC TOWN?” For me, the clues that prompted this response took my whole life to uncover. Film, trivia, and magic have always been triple passions of mine. At 12 years old, my first paying job was as a magician, putting together an act with my best friend and playing at birthday parties. The […]
  Peter Johnston