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With the 2024 presidential election rapidly approaching, Karlie Kloss and Phoebe Gates are using this time to amplify conversation about reproductive rights and abortion access with the In Bloom series Everybody’s Fight. Kloss and Gates serve as executive producers of the five-part series created in collaboration with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

The series features three documentaries and two short films about reproductive freedom. A synopsis for the newly-released features describes the project as “a compelling series of films that blends narrative stories with real-life accounts, highlighting both those most...

As Film Independent’s Global Media Makers (Gmm) program has broadened its scope to new countries and regions, a significant part of Gmm’s initiative has been to conduct worldwide film diplomacy outreach trips and international film workshops guided by U.S. industry mentors, often Film Independent Fellows.

Recent trips have included destinations such as Algeria, India, Morocco, Nepal and Tunisia. In 2022, Gmm started supporting filmmakers throughout the continent of Africa. Our first trip was to South Africa was with producer Avril Speaks, a veteran program mentor who has previously collaborated with two filmmakers from Johannesburg.

Avril was gracious enough to share her experience with Gmm in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria, as well as some background about her long-standing relationship with Film Independent. Here’s the conversation:

Avril Speaks Avril Speaks at the 2022 Gmm LA Residency’s Creative Producing Retreat

Can you tell us about your background? Where...

Sffilm has announced the 17 recipients for the 2023 Sffilm Rainin Grant, awarded in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, which includes $425,000 in funding and professional support for narrative projects at different stages of production. From the press release: The Sffilm Rainin Grant program is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the US, and supports films that address social justice issues—the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges—in a positive and meaningful way through plot, character, theme, or setting. Awards are made to multiple projects once a year, for screenwriting, development, and post-production. Recipients are offered […]

The post 2023 Sffilm Rainin Grant Recipients Include Lily Gladstone and Nijla Mu’min first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Sffilm has announced the 17 recipients for the 2023 Sffilm Rainin Grant, awarded in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, which includes $425,000 in funding and professional support for narrative projects at different stages of production. From the press release: The Sffilm Rainin Grant program is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the US, and supports films that address social justice issues—the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges—in a positive and meaningful way through plot, character, theme, or setting. Awards are made to multiple projects once a year, for screenwriting, development, and post-production. Recipients are offered […]

The post 2023 Sffilm Rainin Grant Recipients Include Lily Gladstone and Nijla Mu’min first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Editor’s note: Former IndieWire staffer and Shadow and Act founder Tambay Obenson is launching Akoroko, a new platform devoted to African film and television; we’re happy to give him our platform to make his case.

For a century, “cinema” has been most often used in reference to an industry that almost entirely excludes the African experience. I want to change that with Akoroko, a new platform that will bridge African film and television industries with the West with consistent, robust, and candid coverage that’s local yet globally accessible. It will include criticism, analysis, consultation, cataloging, curated film streaming, and education.

An October 2021 Unesco report noted that the African film industry generates 5 billion in annual revenue, with the potential for 20 billion. Global appetite for African film and television programming is unknown because the industry continues to be “structurally underfunded, underdeveloped, and undervalued.”

Meanwhile, on the continent with the world’s youngest population,...

Click here to read the full article.

In June 2019, the gender-parity industry coalition ReFrame unveiled Rise, its two-year program to support the continuation of mid-level female directors’ careers. After a slight pandemic-affected delay, ReFrame Rise has now returned with its second cohort, which expands to include cinematographers.

Each woman will be matched with a career coach and a team of industry professionals to sponsor them (a relationship that involves a more committed level of participation than mentorship).

“We have learned firsthand the value of the sponsorship opportunity for women artists and look forward to supporting this next group as they level up and find sustainability in their careers,” Sundance Institute founding senior director of Artist Programs and ReFrame Leadership Council member Michelle Satter said in a statement. (ReFrame is a collaboration between the institute and Women in Film.)

“The numbers of women cinematographers hired on our industry’s largest projects...

Blindspotting creators Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal joined writers Priscila García-Jacquier, Alanna Brown, Nijla Mumin and actor Benjamin Earl Turner on Saturday to talk about the unique challenges adapting a film for television.

The show is a spinoff of the 2018 film of the same name written and produced by Casal and Diggs. The half-hour dramedy premiered June 13 with new episodes 9Pm Est every Sunday.

The series centers on Ashley (Cephas Jones), who was nipping at the heels of a middle-class life in Oakland until Miles, her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she’s forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.

On adapting the movie to a series, the Hamilton co-star initially turned down the offer from Lionsgate only to realize Ashley’s character deserved more time on screen, motivating him to write more material for her.

Hulu released first look images for comedic murder-mystery series ‘Only Murders in the Building,” which premieres Aug. 31.

The show stars Steven Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as three strangers who are all obsessed with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one when a grisly death occurs inside their Upper West Side apartment building. Suspecting murder, the trio dive into an investigation of their own, documenting the case along the way via podcast. They unravel the complex secrets of the building, all the while telling lies of their own. Realizing a killer may live among them, they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.

“Only Murders in the Building” comes from writers John Hoffman and Martin, who serve as executive producers alongside Short, Gomez, Jamie Babbitt, Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal. The cast also includes Amy Ryan and Aaron Dominguez. See the first look images below.

“I don’t fuck with Molly anymore.” Those are the first words said by Issa Dee, played by co-creator and star Issa Rae, in the beginning of Season 4 of HBO’s “Insecure.” She’s talking, of course, about her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji), one half of an inseparable pair that goes way back. If you’ve kept up with “Insecure” the last four seasons, then you know that for Issa to say “I don’t fuck with Molly anymore” means a tectonic shift is afoot.

Once the scene is revealed to be a flash-forward, this foreboding cold open sets the stage for a new season that is all about distance: the distance you put between yourself and feeling vulnerable again, the distance showing up between you and your best friend, and the distance between you and your ex, whose new girlfriend you’re getting to know.

More from IndieWire'Outlander'...

A perfect illustration of growing up today, French director Maïmouna Doucouré’s spirited debut “Cuties” assesses the transition from childhood to adolescence by pointing its lens at an 11-year-old girl at the crossroads of tradition and personal discovery. It’s the type of first feature that heralds an indelible directorial voice.

Echoes of Céline Sciamma’s “Girlhood,” Mati Diop’s “Atlantics,” or Nijla Mumin’s “Jinn” are strident, but the age gap separating the teens in those efforts and the young lead here strongly distinguishes this new film from its forebears. Although not breaking untraveled ground, “Cuties” is a necessary new entry among these idiosyncratic narratives centered on black girlhood going against the grain of the status quo, and no less noteworthy for that.

Exposed to loads of instantly reachable information, both detrimental and advantageous, kids raised on online gratification inevitably mature at a faster rate, or so at first...

In eight short years, Philadelphia’s BlackStar Film Festival has become a major celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora, as well as of global communities of color. With a lineup primarily composed of short films and feature-length debuts, it’s also a major window into emerging talent.

Founder Maori Karmael Holmes and her team have built a can’t-miss showcase and audiences are turning out. The festival sold close to 14,000 tickets for this year’s event, a marked increase from the roughly 1,500 during its first year. Dubbed by some members of its community as “the black Sundance,” the nickname speaks to its ambitions. But Holmes said they have a long way to go, speaking to the broader challenges facing black film culture in America.

“I understand why they’re calling us that, but I don’t really know what to do with it,” said Holmes about the label.

"I have finally found something that makes me happy, and you want to mock it? Instead of – maybe – learning something." Orion Classics has debuted the official trailer for the indie drama Jinn, arriving in limited theaters later this month. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival this year, and played at a bunch of other festivals including AFI Fest. From writer/director Nijla Mumin, the film is about a 17-year-old carefree black girl named Summer whose life is turned upside down when her mother converts to Islam and becomes a completely different person. "With this film, we are trying to create awareness, acceptance, understanding and form a conversation." Zoe Renee stars as Summer, with a full cast including Simone Missick, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Dorian Missick, Hisham Tawfiq, and Kelly Jenrette. This looks like a very powerful, beautiful, and resonant coming-of-age film that's worthy of being discovered. Watch below. Here's...

When Qasim Basir made his 2010 debut feature, “Mooz-lum,” the story of an American Muslim going to college in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Facebook changed the trajectory of his filmmaking career.

“It was a very difficult movie to get out,” said Basir. “It wasn’t about terrorism, [but] it still received a great amount of opposition and hate.” He turned to Facebook, writing individually to his followers and asking for help in building awareness. Sharing behind-the-scenes footage and telling his personal story, Basir quickly built a community around his “Mooz-lum” Facebook page.

“We went straight to the people and built a community of 100,000 from around the world, who were literally writing, ‘We want to see this movie in our city,'” said Basir. Running contests on the now-defunct Demandit, where followers’ interest dictated where the film screened, Basir worked with AMC Independent to create his own theatrical release in dozens of cities around the world.

Editor's Note: On the same day (today) that Dee Rees' feature film debut, "Pariah" becomes available to stream on Netflix, the Dp who shot the film, Bradford Young, was invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers (one of the highest honors a Dp can receive), in part because of his work on "Pariah" for which he won the Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival that year. So this seemingly random confluence of events makes it only logical that I repost our interview (handled by Nijla Mumin) with Bradford about "Pariah" specifically, published during the week in December 2011 when the film was set to open theatrically, courtesy of Focus...

If you’re in the Chicago area and can’t wait to see Gina Prince- Bythewood’s romantic musical drama 'Beyond the Lights,' especially after the rave review Nijla Mumin gave it yesterday (Here), you will have your first opportunity to see it, when it will be screened at next month’s 50th Chicago International Film Festival. The film will be shown on Friday Oct 10th at 7Pm as part of the Black Perspectives Gala. The screening will start with a reception with Ms. Prince-Bythewood and co-star Nate Parker, both present in person. And to make the evening even more special, starting at 9:30Pm, after the screening, there will be a cocktail reception for audience members and...

Editor's Note: After a successful film festival run, and a limited theatrical release, the acclaimed documentary finally makes its broadcast TV debut Tonight, on PBS' documentary series Independent Lens, which means many more of you will now be able to see it. It airs at 10Pm, but you're encouraged to check your local listings for the most up-to-date broadcast information. Below is our interview with the director of the film, Roger Ross Williams, handled by Nijla Mumin, reposted ahead of tonight's TV debut, for those who missed it, or who would like to revisit.“We're being attacked,” says one of the young American missionaries as they drive a van...

On the heels of its rousing Laff last week, The Weinstein Company has released 3 new clips from Ryan Coogler's multiple award-winning feature film debut, Fruitvale Station, which is based on the 2009 murder of 22-year old Oscar Grant (played by Michael B. Jordan), and which co-stars Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand and Melonie Diaz, with Forest Whitaker producing.  The film is set for a July 12 theatrical release in the USA. I expect an initial major-market roll-out before a gradual, broader screen expansion. Zeba Blay and Nijla Mumin both reviewed Fruitvale Station for...

The Los Angeles Film Festival (headed by producer Stephanie Allain) begins tomorrow, Thursday, June 13, and will run through Sunday, June 23, presented by Film Independent, with a diverse slate of nearly 200 feature films, shorts and music videos, representing more than 40 countries. Nijla Mumin will be covering the festival for S&A, so look out for her reviews. Ahead of tomorrow's opening, I thought I'd highlight 5 feature-length films that tell stories about people of African descent, that those of you who'll be attending the festival, should probably have on your "to-see" lists, if they aren't already. Without further ado... 1 - Ryan...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. We're revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. There are two filmmakers named Larry Clark, and this is Not about the Larry Clark whose ephebophiliac imagination has given us films like Kids, Bully, and Wassup Rockers! Just so we’re clear, this Larry Clark is Black, a Cleveland native who went to UCLA along with Charles...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. We're revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. In Alile Sharon Larkin’s 1982 film A Different Image, main character Alana, played by Margot Saxton-Federella says to her male friend Vincent as she motions to her breasts and butt: “All they see is this and this. The rest is invisible.” Of all of the films...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. We're revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. Black cowboys aren’t often portrayed in American film, even though they played an integral role in the development of the Western frontier. This is one of the reasons I decided to see Larry Clark’s Cutting Horse (2002) on Sunday night, screened as part of the UCLA L.A....

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. When I asked Jerri Hayes how it felt to revisit her star turn in Jamaa Fanaka’s second feature Emma Mae (1976) after a recent screening, she answered without hesitation. “You know, it’s so different; I was sitting there relating to Emma...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. Ashes & Embers is agitprop. It does not seek to entertain. It does not want you to sit down, settle in, shut off your brain and have fun. Haile Gerima’s film announces its contempt for such fanciful Hollywood confection in its first...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. Saturday's screening of Billy Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts, couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. Set in the decaying urban centers of Los Angeles in the early 1980’s, the film is a rare glimpse into a working...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. To Sleep With Anger was released with a small bit of fanfare in 1990. Charles Burnett had already acquired a reputation as one of our most important homegrown auteurs even if most of the audience, black and white alike, were unfamiliar with his work. ...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. Sankofa is an Akan word meaning roughly, “We must go back and reclaim our past in order to move forward.” Haile Gerima’s cinematic rendering of this is perhaps one of his greatest filmmaking achievements. Screened this weekend as part of...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles a year ago... here's another. In Julie Dash’s film Illusions, Mignon Dupree, played by Lonette Mckee says, “People make films about themselves.” Though she is referring to the exclusionary practices of the Hollywood studio system, her statement also applies to the films screened this weekend as part of UCLA’s La Rebellion Film Series. There was a unique “self” in each film; a...

Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles a year ago... starting with this one. In two weekends time, the L.A. Rebellion retrospective at the at the Hammer Museum, hosted by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, is shaping up to be the year’s most important series. Sadly, the competition is weak these days (what with the New Beverly devoted to grindhouse spanophilia, American Cinematheque having lost all of its...

10 days left for filmmaker Nijla Mumin to reach the funding campaign goal for her project, Deluge, which we first alerted you to at the end of April. June 14th is the deadline, so make a contribution if you can. Recapping... Deluge is a short film the examines African American's relationships to water. After witnessing the mass drowning of her friends and struggling with the decision not to jump in, 14-year old Tiana must decide if she will join the order of black mermaids that protect the oil-drenched waters of Lake Pontchartrain where her friends rest. The film is inspired by the 2010 mass drowning of six black teens in a Shreveport,...

And even more from my inbox…

Soon to be in production is a feature film titled Salaam, by Nijla Mumin, a San Francisco bay area-based writer and filmmaker. Salaam is described as “is the coming of age story of Sabaa, a junior high school student who loves math. Set in 1999, the film follows the often awkward, rich development of a black girl navigating the worlds of her Muslim mother, non-religious father, judgmental friends, and the pop-culture obsessed society around her. How she deals with, and ultimately confronts this pressure is as riveting as it is daring.”

The filmmaker, Mumin, says that Salaam is a personal story, loosely based on her own experiences.

If interested in learning more, visit the production’s website here: http://www.salaamthemovie.com/.

In the mean time, below is a preview trailer that the production team are circulating in an effort to raise awareness of the film.