Category Archives: Independent Films

Pinnacle Peak Pictures has acquired North Am theatrical rights to sci-fi dramedy Matter of Time

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matter-of-timePinnacle Peak Pictures has acquired North American theatrical rights to Matter of Time, a sci-fi dramedy from filmmaker Jeremy Snead, with an exclusive theatrical release set for February 27, 2026.

The film follows Charlie Fleck, a 29-year-old aspiring video game designer who stumbles upon a device that can stop time, giving him the chance to chase the ambitions he has always put off. What starts as a dream scenario slowly turns more complicated, as the ability to pause life forces Charlie to confront the cost of control, ambition, and the people caught in between.

Matter of Time stars Myles Erlick alongside Sean Astin, with Ali Astin and Jamie Alexander appearing in supporting roles. The film marks a rare on-screen reunion for Sean Astin and his daughter Ali Astin, their first shared appearance since The Lord of the Rings era. Directed by Snead, the film blends emotional character drama with genre-forward sci-fi elements, pulling from themes of creativity, grief, friendship, and gaming culture.

The film premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival in 2025 and later screened internationally at SCI-FI-LONDON. Pinnacle Peak Pictures plans a targeted theatrical rollout in partnership with IGN Entertainment, aiming to connect the film directly with audiences drawn to narrative-driven games, science fiction, and creator-led storytelling.

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One Battle After Another Leads Online Film Critics Society Awards

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onebattle-after-anotherPaul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another emerged as a major winner at the 2025 Online Film Critics Society Awards, taking Best Picture and Best Director among five total wins. The film’s strong showing places it firmly among the most critically embraced releases of the year.

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners ultimately led the awards overall, collecting 10 wins across major categories including acting, writing, cinematography, score, and multiple technical honors. With more than 38 films recognized across 22 categories, this year’s OFCS awards reflected an unusually broad spread of genres, from studio releases to international and independent titles.

One notable takeaway from this year’s results is how concentrated the wins were at the top: just two films accounted for nearly half of all awards handed out, underscoring a rare level of consensus among the Society’s nearly 300 voting critics worldwide.

The organization also presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Colleen Atwood, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Vittorio Storaro, and Walter Murch, alongside Special Achievement Awards recognizing sustainability efforts in filmmaking and advocacy within the industry.

Here’s the complete list of Online Film Critics Society Award winners and nominations for 2025.

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Broken English Brings Marianne Faithfull Tribute to Sundance Spotlight Premiere

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Broken English co-directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard

Broken English co-directors Iain Forsyth and Jane PollardBroken English made its Sundance Film Festival debut on Sunday, January 25, with a Spotlight screening at Eccles Theatre in Park City. The North American premiere was preceded by a red carpet press line, where filmmakers, producers, and performers gathered ahead of the evening’s screening.

Directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Broken English is a documentary portrait of singer, songwriter, and cultural icon Marianne Faithfull. The film blends archival material, staged sequences, and performance, presenting Faithfull’s life and career through a stylized and unconventional lens rather than a traditional retrospective format.

Forsyth and Pollard attended the red carpet alongside producer Beth Earl and executive producers Victoria Steventon, Julia Xu, Julia Stier, and Miranda Bailey. Performers Norah Jones and Rufus Wainwright were also present ahead of their post-screening tribute performances, which followed the film’s premiere and added a live element to the evening’s celebration.

The Sundance appearance follows the film’s earlier world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. At Sundance, Broken English screened as part of the festival’s Spotlight section and was presented in person only, drawing a full house and a noticeably attentive crowd.

The night felt less like a standard documentary premiere and more like a shared moment of remembrance, fitting for a film centered on legacy, memory, and artistic refusal to conform.

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Sundance Producers Celebration Honors Apoorva Guru Charan and Dawne Langford

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sundanceThe 2026 Sundance Film Festival Producers Celebration took place January 25 in Park City, bringing together filmmakers and industry guests to recognize producing excellence across this year’s festival lineup. Presented in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, the event was held at The Park and centered on the Sundance Institute Producers Awards.

Two producers were honored with $10,000 grants during the ceremony. Apoorva Guru Charan received the Fiction Producers Award for Take Me Home, premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, while Dawne Langford was awarded the Nonfiction Producers Award for Who Killed Alex Odeh?, debuting in the U.S. Documentary Competition. Both films are part of the 2026 Sundance program.

The celebration also featured a keynote from producer Shane Boris, whose recent work includes Navalny and Fire of Love. Boris spoke about collaboration, uncertainty, and the often unseen role producers play in sustaining creative work. The event highlighted producers as connective forces within independent filmmaking, emphasizing long-term relationships and shared risk rather than outcomes or accolades.

The Producers Celebration is an annual Sundance tradition, offering a moment to pause amid premieres and screenings to spotlight the behind-the-scenes work that brings films to the festival.

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Big Girls Don’t Cry Premieres at Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition

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Big Girls Don’t Cry premiered Saturday, January 24, at the Sundance Film Festival, screening at The Ray Theatre in Park City as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The afternoon screening was preceded by a red carpet press line, where the film’s creative team gathered for photos and interviews ahead of the first public showing.

In attendance were writer-director Paloma Schneideman, lead cast members Ani Palmer, Rain Spencer, and Noah Taylor, along with producers and executive producers connected to the project. The atmosphere reflected the film’s debut status, with the team marking its introduction to festival audiences following its New Zealand production.

Set in rural New Zealand in 2006, Big Girls Don’t Cry follows 14-year-old Sid Bookman over the course of a formative summer as she navigates early desire, shifting friendships, and the influence of the early internet. The film centers on observation rather than spectacle, placing its young protagonist in everyday situations that quietly shape her sense of identity and belonging.

The premiere screening in Park City was the film’s first stop at the festival, with additional in-person and online screenings scheduled as Sundance continues through the end of January.

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Independent Film Company and Shudder Acquire Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine Ahead of Sundance Premiere

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SaccharineIndependent Film Company and Shudder have acquired North American and UK rights to Saccharine, the latest feature from filmmaker Natalie Erika James, ahead of its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Written and directed by James, Saccharine is described as a supernatural body horror film and marks her third feature following Relic and Apartment 7A. The film stars Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, and Madeleine Madden. It is slated for a theatrical release before streaming on Shudder later in 2026.

The story follows Hana, a medical student whose involvement in an extreme weight-loss trend leads to increasingly disturbing consequences after she consumes human ashes. The film continues James’ interest in horror rooted in psychological and physical transformation.

Saccharine was produced by James alongside Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw, with financing from Screen Australia in partnership with XYZ Films, IPR.VC, Stan, and VicScreen. XYZ Films handled the sale, which was finalized ahead of the film’s Sundance debut.

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Filipiñana Debuts at Sundance with Red Carpet Screening in Park City

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Writer director Rafael Manuel

Rafael Manuel’s feature debut Filipiñana premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, screening at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah.

The screening was preceded by a red carpet event, where the filmmakers paused for photos and interviews ahead of the film’s first public showing.

The film stars Isabel Sicat and centers on a teenage girl working at an elite country club who becomes drawn to its powerful president, only to uncover a darker history beneath the institution’s polished surface. Set across multiple languages including Filipino, English, and Ilokano, Filipiñana explores class tension, identity, and inherited power through a stylized and unsettling lens.

In attendance at the premiere were writer-director Rafael Manuel, supporting cast member Isabel Sicat, producers Jeremy Chua and Alex Polunin, and executive producer Farhana Bhula. Filipiñana continues its Sundance run in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, with in-person and online screenings scheduled through the festival.

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Hot Water Premieres at Sundance 2026 With Red Carpet Debut in Park City

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Hot Water writer-director Ramzi Bashour

Ramzi Bashour’s feature debut Hot Water premiered Friday, January 23, in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, screening at Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah. The premiere was accompanied by a red carpet appearance from the filmmaker and members of the creative team, marking the film’s first public unveiling.

Starring Lubna Azabal (Incendies) and Daniel Zolghadri (Funny Pages, Lurker), Hot Water centers on a Lebanese mother and her American teenage son who set out on a cross-country drive after the boy is expelled from high school. What begins as a reluctant journey gradually opens into a series of encounters that test their relationship and challenge their sense of home. Dale Dickey appears in a supporting role.

Shot across multiple states, the production moved through new locations week by week before wrapping in California. Around the Sundance premiere, members of the creative team spoke about the intensity of the schedule and the collaborative effort behind making a first feature under lean conditions, with the emphasis throughout remaining on the script rather than any assumptions about where the film might land.

Hot Water marks Bashour’s debut as a writer-director and unfolds as a restrained road comedy, using everyday spaces, highways, motels, diners, to explore family tension, cultural distance, and uneasy connection. The film moves between English, Arabic, and French, reflecting the layered identities at the center of the story.

The film continues its Sundance run as part of the festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition lineup.

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Blood Barn Brings Campy ’80s Horror Energy in New Trailer

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blood-barnA new trailer has dropped for Blood Barn, a throwback horror-comedy that leans hard into summer-camp chaos, practical effects, and unapologetic camp.

Set in the summer of 1985, the film follows Josie, a camp counselor who gathers her closest friends for one last weekend together at her family’s remote barn before everyone heads off to college. It’s meant to be nostalgic. It isn’t. The barn has a past, the vibes are off almost immediately, and things unravel fast once curiosity turns into something darker.

Starring Chloe Cherry alongside Lena Redford, Bambina, and Sam Lanier, Blood Barn doesn’t shy away from excess. It plays like a love letter to ’80s slashers and low-budget horror comedies, complete with wild energy, bad decisions, and a body count that escalates quickly once whatever’s lurking in the barn wakes up.

Written and directed by Gabriel Bernini (with co-writer Alexandra Jade), the film embraces practical effects and group-watch chaos over polish. At just over 75 minutes, Blood Barn looks built for midnight screenings, festival crowds, and horror fans who like their scares mixed with laughs.

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Returns to NYC in New 4K Restoration: Can She Bake a Cherry Pie

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can-she-bakeHenry Jaglom’s quietly offbeat 1983 film Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? is getting a new 4K restoration and a theatrical run at Metrograph beginning February 20.

Shot entirely on the Upper West Side, the film stars Karen Black as a woman navigating love and loneliness in Jaglom’s loose, conversational style. The movie favors lived-in moments over plot, letting scenes wander in ways that feel more like real life than scripted drama.

The film has picked up cult status over the years, helped by an unusual supporting cast that includes Orson Welles, Frances Fisher, and a pre-Seinfeld Larry David. The new restoration, sourced from a 4K scan of the original 35mm materials, preserves the film’s rough, intimate feel while giving it new clarity on the big screen.

For fans of New York–set cinema and indie films that play by their own rules, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? is a welcome return.

 

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