A cop on the run crosses into Uruguay and accidentally finds a new life. That’s the premise of A Loose End, Daniel Hendler’s Venice-selected thriller-comedy that just landed Uruguay’s official submission slot for Best International Feature at the 99th Academy Awards.

The film follows Santiago, an Argentine cop fleeing his own department. He slips across the border and starts piecing together an unexpected existence, relying on strangers and his own instincts. Along the way, he meets Rocío, a woman who might just be worth staying for. What begins as pure survival twists into something stranger and softer.

Hendler blends road movie, western, and crime film into a story about reinvention and fragile belonging. Sergio Prina anchors it with a magnetic lead performance, joined by Pilar Gamboa. The film premiered in Venice Spotlight and won the WIP LATAM Industry Award at San Sebastián.

Hendler is known for acting (he won a Silver Bear at Berlin) and directing sharp, human stories like The Candidate and Norberto’s Deadline. A Loose End continues that streak, offering indie filmmakers a model for genre-bending character work on a border where identity is negotiable and second chances come with no guarantees.

The boutique fitness craze looked like enlightenment from the outside. Inside, it was ambition, betrayal, and a whole lot of sweat.

Philip Byron’s documentary “Spin Wars” traces the cutthroat origins of the indoor cycling boom that turned SoulCycle, Flywheel, and Peloton into household names and billion-dollar companies. The film premiered at Tribeca Festival and releases this December.

Byron, who also wrote the film with James Thayer, pulls back the curtain on the “mind, body, soul” culture that promised transformation but delivered something darker. The doc features interviews with Katie Couric, comedians Heather McMahan and Mary Beth Barone, writer Jill Kargman, and performers Anna Roisman and Brandon Kyle Goodman.

Jillian A. Goldstein produced alongside Byron.

For indie filmmakers tackling stories about massive corporate empires, “Spin Wars” shows how personal testimonies and cultural commentary can expose the contradictions behind wellness brands. The film arrives as audiences continue questioning what companies sell versus what they actually deliver, especially when billion-dollar valuations are on the line.

Nicolas Cage is back in action mode, and this time he’s playing a character literally named “The S.O.B.”

IFC Films is releasing BEST PANCAKES IN THE COUNTY on November 20th in select theaters and on VOD. The film stars Cage alongside Justin Long and Shelley Hennig in a shoot-’em-up thriller set entirely in a small-town diner.

The story unfolds over one night as an ordinary diner becomes ground zero for a deadly standoff. Cage plays an eccentric criminal caught between rogue federal agents, a con man with a sketchy past (Long), and a waitress hiding her own secrets (Hennig). Survival comes down to who can outsmart and outshoot everyone else.

Director Ken Sanzel reunites with Cage after their 2019 collaboration on Kill Chain. The cast also includes Lauren German, Ravi Patel, Brandon Mychal Smith, Kelly Greyson, Jaylen Moore, and Michael Sirow.

Shot in Arkansas, the film is backed by Beno Films and CaliWood Pictures, with Fortitude International handling international sales.

IFC Films has been championing independent cinema for 25 years, releasing everything from THE BABADOOK and BOYHOOD to recent hits like LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL and IN A VIOLENT NATURE. This one looks like pure pulp fun with Cage doing what he does best.

A documentary about stolen Disney World props and a half-million-dollar animatronic is going global.

BayView Entertainment picked up international rights to Stolen Kingdom, Joshua Bailey’s debut feature that digs into the seedy underworld of Disney theme park theft. The film centers on the 2018 heist of “Buzzy,” an animatronic swiped from Epcot and valued at nearly $500,000.

Bailey co-wrote the doc with Matthew Serrano of Defunctland. It traces the history of mischief and scandal at Walt Disney World, exposing a surprisingly lucrative black market for stolen props.

The film’s had a strong festival run with sold-out screenings at Big Sky, Slamdance, IFF Boston, and Florida Film Festival. Sidewalk Film Festival picked it as opening night. It hit #1 on Apple TV for new documentaries in the U.S. and screened theatrically over 150 times across the U.S. and Canada.

BayView is shopping it to international buyers at MIPCOM this month. The company’s Craig Sussman and Selena Paskalidis called it a “passion project about mischief and misdeeds” they’re eager to bring to global audiences.

Producers include Slater Wayne (Jackass Forever), Brandon Pickering, Colin Alexander, and Sam Fraser. Antenna Releasing handles North America.

For indie docs chasing niche audiences, this one found two massive ones: Disney fans and true-crime junkies.