Category Archives: Independent Films

Garden State Film Festival Marks 25 Years of Launching Indie Filmmakers

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Long before New Jersey had a film tax incentive, the Garden State Film Festival was already building the state’s indie film ecosystem. Now, as it approaches its 25th anniversary in March 2027, the nonprofit is pushing to raise $10,000 to keep that work going.

GSFF has screened Academy Award-winning documentaries like A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin and Freeheld. This year, two GSFF alumni films, Saverio and Lawyered Up, made it to the international stage at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival.

The festival runs March 18–21, 2027, across New Jersey venues, expecting about 20,000 attendees. Beyond the fest itself, GSFF operates year-round film clinics for students who’ve never picked up a camera.

“Every great film needs someone to believe in it first. For 25 years, that’s been our job,” the festival wrote in its DAF Day fundraising appeal. “For many New Jersey students, our year-round film clinics are the first place they pick up a camera and realize their stories matter.”

The goal: give independent voices a stage, especially voices that might otherwise go unheard. As production investment accelerates across New Jersey, GSFF connects that growing industry to filmmakers, audiences, and communities who helped build it from the ground up.

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All-Girl Metal Band Takes On Vampires and Werewolves in Horror Film ‘Devour’

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An all-girl heavy metal band fights for survival against vampires, cannibals, a werewolf, and a warlock in the supernatural horror film Devour, hitting select theaters October 9 and digital platforms October 13.

The film stars Heidi Shepherd, vocalist for metal band Butcher Babies, alongside KateLynn E. Newberry, Gus Langley, and Alex Lucchesi. After a disastrous gig leaves them stranded, the band encounters a woman in danger and gets trapped in a remote town controlled by a powerful warlock. To survive until morning, they’ll have to tap into dark powers of their own.

Director Scott B. Hansen, who previously made the festival favorite Bad Candy, went heavy on practical effects. The creatures were created by Wayne Anderson, whose credits include Stranger Things, IT: Chapter One, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Anderson and the OX FX team built the film’s vampires, werewolves, and cannibals using creature suits, prosthetics, makeup, and animatronics instead of relying on digital effects.

Devour has already racked up over a dozen festival selections and won Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Vampire Feature at the Freakshow Horror Film Festival. It also got a shoutout on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast.

Hansen, who’s directed music videos for Meshuggah, Willie Nelson, and Motionless in White, brings his music roots into the film, where the band’s identity and the supernatural horror are closely intertwined. For genre fans looking for practical creature work and metal energy, this one’s a bloody ride.

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Yûta Shimotsu’s Body Horror Satire NEW GROUP Hits Shudder Next Month

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A cult-like mentality spreads through a Japanese high school, turning gymnastics routines into a dance of death. That’s the premise of NEW GROUP, a body horror film from writer-director Yûta Shimotsu that streams on Shudder starting November 6th.

The film follows high school student Ai as people around her become mindless followers capable of transforming everyday exercises into something deadly. Shimotsu, who studied mechanical engineering before moving into filmmaking, co-wrote the script with Momoko Sahara. The cast includes Anna Yamada, Yuzu Aoki, and Pierre Taki.

Critics are calling it more than shock value. Rue Morgue praised its “underpinning of social commentary,” while Bloody Disgusting called it “an incredible, unpredictable body horror masterpiece that doubles as an indicting satire of Japan’s society.” MovieWeb noted its “daring and utterly confident trip into the pitfalls of societal norms.”

Shimotsu made his feature debut with BEST WISHES TO ALL in 2023 after years directing commercials and shorts. NEW GROUP screened at Fantasia International Film Festival and Sitges before landing on Shudder.

At just 82 minutes, it’s a lean slice of social horror for anyone tired of conformity.

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Dark Sky Films Drops Blood-Soaked Single-Night Thriller HUMAN This Month

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A woman home alone. A dating app mishap. And a whole lot of blood.

Dark Sky Films brings HUMAN to select theaters and VOD on October 23, following a West Coast premiere the night before at Laemmle Glendale. Director Matt Stuertz (Tonight She Comes, RWD) takes audiences through a claustrophobic nightmare that unfolds over one terrible evening.

The film follows Dani Ferris (Jackie Kelly), exhausted and alone, who just wanted a little late-night distraction before bed. Instead, she gets dragged into a supernatural horror show packed with bodily fluids and emotional chaos. Every relationship becomes a gamble. Every hour brings a new threat.

Stuertz keeps the tension cranked as Dani rides out a night of friends, lovers, enemies, guns, and things far beyond natural. The single-night structure keeps things tight. The practical effects keep things gross. Critics at Fright Fest and Obscura Film Fest have already called it relentless, vibrant, and stomach-turning in the best way.

The cast includes Brock Russell, Cecily Dowd, Jeffrey Decker, and Mia Sydney. David Neiss wrote the script.

For indie horror fans craving something unstable and hallucinatory, this one’s landing just in time for Halloween season.

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BOT LOVE Documentary Asks If AI Intimacy Can Replace Human Connection

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A new documentary wants to know: if artificial intimacy feels real, does it matter that it isn’t?

BOT LOVE, from director Tyler Funk, premieres October 21 on CBC and CBC Gem. The film follows real people navigating relationships with AI companions, each for different reasons.

Nick, a young man on the autism spectrum, finds relief in an AI that offers consistency and patience where human relationships require exhausting effort. Denise turns to AI after painful experiences left her struggling to trust people. For both, this isn’t escapism. It’s survival.

The doc also tracks the developers building the systems that make this possible. Eugenia Kuyda created one of the world’s most popular AI companions. Anthony and Bryan Mitchell are fusing gaming, porn, and AI into an interactive sexual experience. Justin Harrison uses AI to reconstruct the dead so relationships can continue after loss.

“I never thought I’d see another technology transform our lives as quickly as the internet did,” Funk says. “AI has arrived with astonishing speed.” One developer told him AI could be “either the biggest existential threat or the most beautiful technology.” That tension runs through every frame.

Funk’s previous film, ANYTHING FOR FAME, premiered on Paramount+ and Showtime in 2024. This one feels more urgent. Millions of people are already using AI as a companion, advisor, or lover. BOT LOVE doesn’t judge them for it. It just asks what happens next.

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Clark Duke’s Crime Thriller STRANGLEHOLD Hits Digital This Friday

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Clark Duke returns to his Arkansas roots with STRANGLEHOLD, a gritty crime thriller about desperation and bad decisions hitting digital platforms and VOD this Friday.

Ashley Benson stars as Bailey, a small-town Arkansas stripper tired of scraping by. With Christmas approaching and an infant daughter to think about, she hatches a plan to rob the club where she works. Her accomplice? Ex-military husband Tim, played by Jake Lacy. It’s a scheme fueled by Instagram envy and the desire to give their kid something better than barely getting by.

Duke, who made his directorial debut with the Vince Vaughn crime drama Arkansas, co-wrote STRANGLEHOLD with Chandler Duke and Billington Garrett. The cast includes Justin Long, Ron Perlman, Elle King, David Arquette, Brian Posehn, and Chris Redd.

For Duke, this marks his second feature behind the camera. Before directing, he built a career as an actor in projects like The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Kick-Ass. He’s already prepping his third feature, an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel You Don’t Love Me Yet.

STRANGLEHOLD arrives at a moment when stories about economic struggle and morally messy characters feel especially urgent. Duke knows this territory, he’s from Arkansas, and he’s not afraid to show the ugly side of chasing the American dream.

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Sundance Hands Out Over $1 Million to 19 Doc Projects as Program Nears 25 Years

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Sundance Institute just dropped over $1 million across 19 documentary projects from 14 countries. The grants support filmmakers at every stage, from early development through final edits.

The Documentary Film Program turns 25 next year. Since launching in 2002, it’s become a lifeline for nonfiction storytellers navigating everything from funding gaps to censorship threats. This year’s slate spans topics from Indigenous activism to internet preservation,gorilla communication to undocumented queer poets.

Nearly 65% of proposals came from outside the U.S. Projects have roots in Canada, Denmark, France, India, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Romania, Tunisia, the U.K., the U.S., and South Korea.

Several familiar names landed grants. Julian Brave NoiseCat, whose Sugarcane became the first Indigenous-directed doc nominated for an Oscar, returns with Alcatraz is an Idea about the 1969 occupation. Emmy winner Drew Xanthopoulos got support for My Friend the Bear. David Alvarado’s All Shall Be Saved follows his Luis Valdez doc that won the Library of Congress prize earlier this year.

The mix includes first-timers too. Thirty-seven percent of grantees are directing their first feature doc.

Past Sundance Doc Fund projects include All That Breathes, Crip Camp, No Other Land, Sugarcane, and The Territory. The program is backed by Open Society Foundations, John Templeton Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Free People.

For indie filmmakers working outside the system, this kind of unrestricted funding can mean the difference between finishing a film and abandoning it halfway through.

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Sundance Institute Grants Over $1 Million to 19 Documentary Projects

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Nineteen documentary filmmakers from 14 countries are getting some serious financial backing from Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund. The organization just announced over $1 million in unrestricted grants for nonfiction projects at every stage of production.

The timing matters. The Documentary Film Program turns 25 next year. Since 2002, it’s been a lifeline for indie doc makers, offering money, creative support, and industry connections without the usual strings attached.

This year’s slate spans from development to post-production. Four projects are still in early stages, 12 are actively shooting, and three are in post. The geographic spread is impressive. Almost 65% of proposals came from outside the U.S., with funded projects rooted in Canada, Denmark, France, India, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Romania, Tunisia, the U.K., the U.S., and South Korea.

The themes cut deep. Memory, archives, borders, environmental collapse, generational trauma. Several filmmakers are using science to blur the lines between human and nature.

Notable names include Julian Brave NoiseCat, whose Sugarcane made history as the first Oscar-nominated documentary feature directed by a North American Indigenous filmmaker. Emmy-nominated director Drew Xanthopoulos returns with My Friend the Bear after his Emmy-winning Fathom. David Alvarado’s All Shall Be Saved follows his 2025 Library of Congress prize winner American Pachuco.

Paola Mottura and Kristin Feeley, who run the Documentary Film Program, say the group reflects “the inventive and varied nonfiction work that continues to push the form forward.”

For indie doc makers fighting to get their stories seen, that million bucks isn’t just funding. It’s validation.

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New Doc Digs Into the Spectacular Failure of Exorcist II

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After Point Blank and Deliverance made him a bankable name, John Boorman got the gig of a lifetime: directing the sequel to The Exorcist for Warner Brothers. What followed became one of Hollywood’s most legendary disasters, a bomb so complete it nearly killed his career and changed how studios greenlit projects.

Now there’s a documentary about it. Boorman and the Devil, directed by David Kittredge, pulls Boorman himself out of retirement to talk about what went wrong, along with Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher, and filmmakers like Karyn Kusama, Mike Flanagan, and Joe Dante. The film digs into the wreckage, but it’s not a hit piece. It’s about ambition, risk-taking, and what happens when artists swing for the fences and miss.

Critics are calling it riveting, funny, and surprisingly poignant. IndieWire said it’s “magical” and “dazzling.” The Wall Street Journal called it “altogether fascinating.” Even Time Out weighed in: this doc “exorcises the demons of cinema’s biggest film failures.”

It’s available now on Prime, Apple, Google Play, and Fandango. For indie filmmakers, it’s a reminder that failure’s part of the deal, and sometimes the most interesting stories come from the biggest crashes.

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Blind Paralympian Attempts 3,600-Mile Solo Bike Ride in New Doc ‘Blind AF’

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A blind Army veteran is about to do something nobody thought possible.

Shawn Cheshire, a 13-time U.S. National Champion in paracycling, rode a single, non-tandem bicycle 3,600 miles across America in 60 straight days. Completely blind. New documentary Blind AF chronicles the entire journey.

Directed by Gina LeVay Goldstein, the film follows Cheshire’s historic cross-country ride, but it’s really a story about trauma and healing. Cheshire lost her sight in 2009 after a brain injury while working as a paramedic. She was 36, an Army vet, a single mom of two. Depression hit hard. Treatment at a VA hospital, including adaptive sports and therapy for Complex PTSD, helped her rebuild.

By 2016, she was competing at the Rio Paralympics. She went on to set a world record as the first blind person to cross the Grand Canyon without a sighted guide.

“This film goes beyond the epic athletic achievement,” Goldstein says. “It’s a story about healing, transformation, and the power of vulnerability.”

The doc mixes vérité footage, journal entries, and immersive sound design to put you inside Cheshire’s world. Executive produced by five-time Emmy winner Jeff Zimbalist, Blind AF premiered at Geena Davis’s Bentonville Film Festival and won Best of Fest at the 2025 Sedona International Film Festival.

It drops October 28 on Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Tubi, Roku, YouTube, and Documentary+. For indie filmmakers tackling real stories, this is what it looks like when grit meets craft.

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