Sundance Institute Names 10 Projects for Inaugural Filmmakers Fund Backed by Chase Sapphire Reserve

2025-Sundance-Recipients-AnnouncedThe Sundance Institute has announced the recipients of the inaugural 2025 Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund, a $120,000 grant program sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Ten projects were selected across feature film, documentary, Indigenous, Catalyst, Artist Accelerator, and Ignite programs.

Grantees include Roni Jo Draper and Marissa Lila Kongao with the documentary We Arrive With Fire | Ne-Kah Nuue’m Mehl Mech, Cris Gris with Forward, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs with High Steel, Masami Kawai with Valley of the Tall Grass, and Khaula Haider Malik with Alien Nation. Other funded works are from Mackie Mallison (Everything Must Go), Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig (Jaripeo), Steve Pargett (Blacked Out Dreams), Huda Razzak (Home of the Birds), and Walter Thompson-Hernández (If I Go Will They Miss Me).

“This partnership allows us to provide artists with critical support, empowering them to take bold creative risks and bring their powerful stories to life,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Director of the Artist Accelerator Program and Women at Sundance.

The Filmmakers Fund is part of the Institute’s Artist Accelerator Program, which provides fellowships, funding, and year-round artist support to filmmakers from diverse backgrounds.

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Bushwick Film Festival Returns Oct. 1 to 5 With Nearly 100 Films, Including 10 World Premieres

Bushwick-Film-FestivalThe 18th Annual Bushwick Film Festival will take place October 1 to 5 across Brooklyn, showcasing nearly 100 films from emerging indie voices in New York and around the world.

This year’s lineup features 10 world premieres, 11 East Coast premieres, and 24 New York premieres. Highlights include Chilean thriller Todos Somos Justos, among other international and local selections.

Founded in 2007, the festival has become a platform for independent cinema with a focus on underrepresented voices. The 2025 edition carries the theme “Meet Us at the Movies,” encouraging audiences to gather in person to experience films together.

Program details and ticket information are available at bushwickfilmfestival.com

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Film Forum to Host 36-Film Tribute to Kevin Brownlow Featuring ‘Napoleon,’ ‘The Wind,’ ‘Unknown Chaplin’

Kevin-BrownlowFilm Forum will present a 36-film retrospective honoring filmmaker, historian, and preservationist Kevin Brownlow from October 24 to November 6 in New York.

The two-week series will feature works Brownlow directed, films he helped restore, and silent classics that influenced him. Highlights include the first New York screening since 1981 of Abel Gance’s 1927 epic Napoleon in its full 5½-hour version, Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s WWII drama It Happened Here (1964), Winstanley (1975), and the documentary Unknown Chaplin (1983). Screenings of silent landmarks such as The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Intolerance (1916), Safety Last (1923), and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) will feature scores by the late composer Carl Davis, with select titles accompanied live on piano by Steve Sterner.

The retrospective will also include Victor Sjöström’s The Wind (1928) in a restored 35mm print, opening night introductions from filmmakers and authors including Diane Baker and Daniel Kehlmann, and a special daylong presentation of Napoleon.

Brownlow, who received an Academy Honorary Award in 2010 and TCM’s Robert Osborne Award in 2019, is recognized as one of the most influential voices in film history and preservation. His books, including The Parade’s Gone By, and documentaries such as Hollywood and Cinema Europe have been credited with reshaping the way silent cinema is viewed and valued.

Film Forum’s tribute is supported by the Robert Jolin Osborne Trust and the Ira M. Resnick Foundation.

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Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Kadir Nelson Join Jessica Alba for Lucas Museum Panel at L.A. Comic Con

Rendering of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art offered fans an early look at its 2026 opening during a panel at Los Angeles Comic Con, where filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, comic creator Frank Miller, and painter-illustrator Kadir Nelson joined moderator Jessica Alba for a discussion on the power of visual storytelling.

The conversation explored the impact of comics, cinema, and illustration as forms of “narrative art,” a term the museum’s founders George Lucas and Mellody Hobson use to describe popular visual storytelling across cultures and eras. A preview video showcased renderings of the museum, selections from its collection, and a recorded message from the founders.

Set to open in Los Angeles in 2026, the Lucas Museum will be the first institution dedicated to narrative art, presenting works ranging from ancient cave drawings to comic books, magazine illustrations, and digital media.

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‘Akashi’ and ‘The Art of Adventure’ to World Premiere at Vancouver International Film Festival

viff-org-2025

Pender PR has announced its fall festival roster, led by two world premieres at the Vancouver International Film Festival on October 5: Akashi, directed by Mayumi Yoshida, and Alison Reid’s documentary The Art of Adventure.

Akashi stars Yoshida alongside Bun Kimura (Rental Family), Hana Kino (Faceless), Chieko Matsubara (Tokyo Drifter), Kunio Murai (Godzilla vs. Gigan), Hiro Kanagawa (Shōgun), and Ryo Tajima (Avalanche). Reid’s sophomore feature centers Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman and environmentalist Bristol Foster.

Other Canadian titles in the slate include Ava Maria Safai’s horror Foreigner, Omorose Osagie’s Lost Wax, Jon Chiang’s Spring After Spring, and Luke Gleeson’s documentary Wədzįh Nəne’ | Caribou Country, among others set to premiere at VIFF, Sitges, Brooklyn Horror, Whistler, ReelWorld, and additional festivals this fall.

Ticket information for Akashi, The Art of Adventure, and other VIFF screenings is available at viff.org
.

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Emile Hirsch, Inbar Lavi Lead Holocaust Drama “Bau, Artist at War”

bau-artist-at-warSean McNamara’s Holocaust drama Bau, Artist at War will open in theaters across the United States and Canada on September 26 through ShowBiz Direct and Republic Pictures.

Based on the memoir of Joseph Bau, the film follows the true story of a Holocaust survivor and artist who used his skills as a forger to help fellow prisoners endure life in Nazi concentration camps while finding love with fellow prisoner Rebecca.

The film stars Emile Hirsch as Bau and Inbar Lavi as Rebecca, alongside Yan Tual (Outlander), Adam Tsekhman (Legends of Tomorrow), and Josh Zuckerman (School Spirits), with Edward Foy, Chris Cope, Josh Blacker, Eugene Lipinski, Dalias Blake, Pam Kearns, and Tori Griffith rounding out the cast.

McNamara, known for Soul Surfer and Reagan, directed from a script by Deborah Smerecnik, Ron Bass, and Sonia Kifferstein. Producers include McNamara, Smerecnik, David Brookwell, Marc Griffith, and Michelle P. Griffith.

Bau, Artist at War had its world premiere on September 21 at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, where cast, crew, and special guests including Jon Voight were in attendance.

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“She Loved Blossoms More”: Yannis Veslemes Blends Sci-Fi, Horror and Dark Comedy in Surreal Tale of Grief

She-Loved-Blossoms-MoreDark Sky Films and Yellow Veil Pictures will release Yannis Veslemes’ She Loved Blossoms More on VOD and digital platforms October 3.

The film, which premiered at Tribeca, follows three brothers who construct a time machine to bring their late mother back to life. Their efforts spiral out of control when their unstable father reappears, sending them into a surreal blend of past and present.

Described as a mix of science fiction, body horror, and dark comedy, the film stars Panos Papadopoulos, Julio Giorgos Katsis, Aris Balis, and Dominique Pinon.

Veslemes co-wrote the script with Dimitris Emmanouilidis and directed.

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Jade Announces That’s Showbiz Baby! The Tour With North American and European Headlining Dates

Jade-tourJade will headline That’s Showbiz Baby! The Tour in 2025 with dates across the United States, Canada, and Europe, promoted by Live Nation. The trek begins February 2 and includes shows in Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Toronto, Amsterdam, Paris, and Berlin.

The tour follows the release of Jade’s debut solo album That’s Showbiz Baby!, which debuted at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and features singles “Angel of My Dreams,” “Fantasy,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “IT Girl,” “FUFN,” and “Plastic Box.”

Jade has earned over 215 million streams as a solo artist, won a BRIT Award for Pop Act, and performed at Glastonbury, All Points East, and Radio 1’s Big Weekend. Full ticketing information for North America and Europe is available at jadeofficial.com/live.

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Mo Gilligan Announces The Mo You Know World Tour for 2026

Mo-Gilligan-tourTriple BAFTA-winning comedian Mo Gilligan will embark on his biggest tour yet with The Mo You Know World Tour in 2026.

Promoted by Live Nation, the extensive tour will visit the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, UAE, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Portugal, and the UK. North American dates start April 9 in Somerville, MA and conclude May 13 in San Diego, CA.

Gilligan’s debut tour was a complete sell-out and spawned his first Netflix Original Momentum. His follow-up, There’s Mo to Life, also sold out across multiple venues, including a 10-night run at London’s Eventim Apollo and a headline show at the O2 Arena.

Tickets for North America go on sale beginning September 26 at livenation.com.

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Upcoming Action Series Wrestle Heist Arrives This December From Image Comics

wrestle-heistEisner Award-nominated cartoonist Kyle Starks (Peacemaker Tries Hard, Sexcastle, I Hate This Place) and colorist Vladimir Popov (Where Monsters Lie, Fearscape) team up for Wrestle Heist, a five-issue Image Comics miniseries debuting in December.

The series follows a former pro wrestler who survives a brush with death at the hands of a crooked promoter and assembles a team of wrestlers he has wronged to steal from him during the year’s biggest wrestling event.

Wrestle Heist #1 will be released at comic book shops on December 17.

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