Paweł Pawlikowski is back with another black-and-white stunner. His new film “Fatherland” premieres October 23 at Film Forum in New York, and it’s already racking up serious attention.

The film stars Sandra Hüller (fresh off “Anatomy of a Fall”) as Erika Mann, daughter of legendary author Thomas Mann, played by Hanns Zischler. Set in 1949, they’re driving through a bombed-out Germany after years of exile in the U.S. Mann’s returned as a Nobel Prize winner with celebrity status, but the country he knew is gone. Erika’s coordinating his trip while dealing with her own family trauma, trying to break through her father’s distant facade.

Pawlikowski won Best Director at Cannes for this one. It’s also Poland’s official Oscar submission for Best International Feature. If you know his work, the pedigree checks out. “Ida” won the Oscar in 2014, and “Cold War” scored three nominations including Best Director.

The reviews are glowing. Critics are calling it “a perfectly cut jewel” and praising cinematographer Łukasz Żal’s gorgeous monochrome work. At just 82 minutes, Pawlikowski keeps it lean and devastating.

For indie cinema lovers, this is the kind of restrained, visually striking filmmaking that reminds you why arthouse matters. Film Forum’s the place to see it first.

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Jordan Firstman is bringing his feature directorial debut to San Francisco before it hits theaters nationwide. SFFILM just announced a special 35mm screening of Club Kid at the Castro Theatre on November 2, with Firstman sticking around for a post-screening Q&A.

The film made waves at Cannes before A24 scooped it up. Firstman wrote, directed, and stars as Peter, a New York City club promoter whose party-heavy lifestyle gets flipped upside down when a 10-year-old son he didn’t know existed shows up at his door. The ensemble includes Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Reggie Absolom, and Colleen Camp.

“The anarchic humor, incredible ensemble, and unexpected tenderness make this a distinctive film,” said Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. She called out the needle drops as “thrillingly precise” to the characters and story.

SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai pointed out the fitting venue. “For decades, gathering to see movies at The Castro has been at the heart of San Francisco’s queer culture and history.”

Tickets go on sale to SFFILM members September 22 at 10 am, with general public access starting September 24. General admission is $35, members pay $30. Club Kid opens in select cities November 6.

A coming-of-age story set during a sweltering Toronto blackout just scored worldwide representation.

Serville Poblete’s feature debut Sunburn has been acquired by MoreThan Films following its world premiere in TIFF’s Centrepiece Program this week. The boutique sales agency will handle international distribution, while Gersh is repping domestic.

The film follows a group of kids in St. James Town, a high-rise Toronto neighborhood, as they wander through the city’s hottest day while phone networks crash and the power stays off. It’s a hangout movie about youth slipping away in real time.

Poblete, a Filipino-Canadian filmmaker, has been racking up festival wins lately. His short In the Morning Sun took the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW 2026 and is currently in Oscar consideration. His doc King’s Court earned a Canadian Screen Award nomination earlier this year.

“Making a movie about my neighbourhood with so many amazing collaborators felt like summer camp,” Poblete says. “I’m so excited to partner with MoreThan Films and Gersh to share this project with the world.”

The cast includes Joshua Obra, Dashawn Blackwood, Arianna Shannon, and Milan Deng. Nicole Dane produces, with Christian Bielz on cinematography and Juno-winning composer Aaron Paris scoring.

For indie filmmakers working hyper-local stories with universal themes, Sunburn is exactly the kind of breakout that still happens at festivals when the work connects.

Parlour Magic is pivoting hard. The NYC synth-pop project just announced “Japanese Bonus Track,” a disco-laced club anthem that ditches the guitar sound of its recent album The Embassy and leans into full electronic mode. It drops September 25.

Producer and composer Luc Bokor-Smith wrote the track with Bailey Kislak, bringing in Fab Dupont to mix and Brian Lucey to master. The result is lush strings, a massive singalong chorus, and a sound clearly aimed at the dancefloor.

The music video, directed by NYC filmmaker Lloyd Lenox, was shot over five nights across Tokyo, from Shimbashi to Nakano Broadway. Lenox pulled heavy inspiration from ’80s and ’90s Japanese variety TV, anime opening sequences, bold typography, and the chaotic energy of that era. The concept started as an attempt to recreate Human Tetris, then got weirder.

Lenox made a point to avoid the typical Western gaze when filming in Japan, steering clear of tourist traps and working with a local crew to keep things culturally grounded.

Parlour Magic has racked up over six million streams and grown from Bokor-Smith’s solo project into a full live band. The group plays a hometown show at Berlin in New York on September 25, then heads to Germany.

This one’s a bridge track, and a loud signal of what’s next.

A film about two friends hiking 330 miles through the Scottish Highlands is hitting theaters next month, and it was made the hard way.

Writer-director Bart Schrijver took his tiny crew onto Scotland’s West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail, carrying their own gear and sleeping outdoors. No lighting equipment. Fewer than six people on the trail at any time. They shot chronologically, with Schrijver rewriting scenes at night based on what they encountered that day.

The result is “The North,” which follows Chris (Bart Harder) and Lluis (Carles Pulido), two thirtysomethings who reunite after a decade apart to tackle the grueling trek. It’s a reunion story set against lush, unpredictable terrain, filled with rain, wildlife, and fellow hikers on their own journeys.

There’s no musical score. The sound design relies entirely on wind, rain, footsteps, and ambient noise from the trail.

Picturehouse is releasing the film theatrically on October 9 in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver. But first, it gets a sneak preview on October 5 at over 100 Dolby Cinema locations, where dual 4K laser projection and Dolby Atmos sound will amplify the film’s immersive quality.

The film has already been shortlisted for the European Film Awards. For indie filmmakers trying to capture the raw feeling of being outdoors, this is one to watch.

A new teaser trailer just dropped for “Littermates,” an 88-minute absurdist horror film making its world premiere at Fantastic Fest this week before hitting theaters November 6 as a Drafthouse exclusive.

The feature debut from co-directors Scott Tinkham and Michael Woloson follows two disoriented survivors, Liam and Mel, who wash up bloodied and speechless at an isolated English cottage during a mysterious war. Their caretaker Chester takes them in, teaching them to speak again and rewarding good behavior with “nifties,” tokens they can trade for karaoke sessions, hot tub time, and dance parties.

But while Liam settles into Chester’s carefully controlled world, Mel grows restless. She’s drawn to the woods beyond the locked gate, to the larger world Chester insists is too dangerous. When her curiosity pushes past his rules, their fragile makeshift family starts to crack.

Tinkham, a Minnesota native whose short film “24 Hours After Reading Tuesdays with Morrie” premiered at SXSW 2025, co-directs with Woloson, a Las Vegas-born cinematographer based in LA. The film stars Joey Bader, Oliver Woolf, and Kaylee McGregor.

“Littermates” screens Sunday, September 20 at 2pm at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar in Austin. For indie filmmakers chasing festival buzz and theatrical deals, this one’s worth watching.

A feature debut is headed to one of the world’s most prestigious genre festivals.

Astrolatry, David Gordon’s first feature as director, will premiere at the 59th Sitges Film Festival in Catalonia this October. The film stars Ethan Daniel Corbett as Elliot, an obsessive outcast whose fixation on a beauty cream model spirals into violent delusion.

Gordon wrote, directed, shot, and edited the psychologically driven satire, which blends character study and horror to examine toxic masculinity and the “nice guy” trope. Cole Paxton co-produced.

For Corbett, it’s a career moment. “I had always dreamed of attending Sitges at some point in my career,” he says. “Playing Elliot was surprisingly healing for me, having people close to me who struggle with mental health.”

The film previously made waves at Cannes, where it was selected from a record 124 submissions for the Frontières Buyers Showcase in May.

Sitges, founded in 1968, has launched careers for Tarantino, Raimi, and del Toro. This year runs October 8-18, with Robert Eggers receiving the festival’s Time Machine Award.

Corbett, raised in Santa Clarita with family ties to Warner Bros., has built momentum on the festival circuit with roles in FACES and OUTtv’s Laid Bare. He recently launched vertical western West of My Heart under his production banner Upright Pictures.

Why it matters: Independent genre filmmakers still break through at festivals like Sitges, where bold storytelling finds its audience.

A killer’s back on campus. Lionsgate Limited is bringing the 2009 slasher Sorority Row to 4K for the first time, available now in a limited-edition steelbook.

The film follows the sisters of Theta Pi at Rosman University, haunted by a prank gone wrong. When graduation arrives, someone starts picking them off one by one. The cast is stacked with mid-2000s talent: Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, Audrina Patridge, and the late Carrie Fisher.

Director Steward Hendler’s horror mystery gets a proper upgrade with Dolby Atmos audio and a 2.40:1 presentation. The release includes fresh retrospective featurettes like “Reconsidering Sorority Row” and “The Making of a Queen B***h with Leah Pipes,” plus legacy extras from the original release, including director and cast commentary, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes footage.

Lionsgate Limited continues its mission of giving cult favorites the collector’s treatment. For fans of early 2000s horror who grew up with this era of slashers, this is the definitive way to revisit Theta Pi’s bloodiest night.

When Meriem Sakrouhi’s father died, she didn’t stop calling him.

The Moroccan filmmaker had called her dad every day since moving to the US. He was her invisible passenger, listening to wild dreams and silly complaints during routine commutes. When he passed, the urge to share didn’t go away. So one day, she hit record instead of dial.

“Mon Taxi” is the 8½-minute documentary that came from those voice notes. Eleven calls recorded over 18 months, visualized on screen. It’s a love letter to conversations that refuse to end, even when death draws the line.

The short premiered at Tribeca and has been racking up festival wins ever since. Grand Jury at RIFF for experimental documentary, sold out screenings at HollyShorts, honorable mention at SaluteYourShorts. It screens next at Edmonton International on September 25, Calgary International on September 27, and makes its European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 13 and 17.

Sakrouhi, an architect turned filmmaker, directed, edited, and produced the film herself. Her debut, “Inner Selves,” won awards. This one feels more personal, grief rendered through the small ritual of a phone call that goes nowhere but still needs to happen.

Because sometimes love just refuses to let the conversation end.