Category Archives: Indie

Paolo Strippoli’s Folk-Horror Fable “The Holy Boy” Streams on Shudder November 27

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holy-boyPaolo Strippoli’s Italian folk-horror film “The Holy Boy” streams on Shudder starting November 27.

The film follows Sergio, a teacher haunted by his past, who transfers to Remis, a remote village known as Italy’s happiest town. He discovers the town’s dark secret: every week, villagers gather to hug Matteo, a fifteen-year-old whose embrace can erase pain and sorrow. When Sergio learns the village’s devotion to Matteo has a sinister side, his attempt to save the boy triggers the community’s wrath.

Strippoli co-wrote the script with Jacopo Del Giudice and Milo Tissone. The film stars Michele Riondino and Giulio Feltri.

“The Holy Boy” won the Audience Award and New Wave Best Director at Fantastic Fest, and screened at the Venice Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival. Variety’s Jessica Kiang called it “a clever, creepy Italian chiller” that “investigates the dangers of displaced grief.”

Strippoli previously directed the Netflix film “A Classic Horror Story” with Roberto De Feo. His fourth film, “The Spiral,” is also set for release this year.

Screenings are scheduled in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, and Nashville between November 20 and November 23.

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Mayumi Yoshida’s Akashi Opens in Theaters November 13

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A multigenerational love story shot across Vancouver and Tokyo is heading to theaters. Mayumi Yoshida’s debut feature Akashi opens November 13 at VIFF Centre in Vancouver, with Toronto screenings to follow later in the month.

The film follows Kana, a struggling artist in Vancouver who returns to Tokyo for her grandmother’s funeral after a decade away. She carries a secret shared only with her grandmother: her grandfather had another lover. Back in Tokyo, Kana reconnects with an old love, Hiro, while the film cuts between timelines to trace her grandfather’s decades-long affair. Kana confronts hidden family truths as she navigates love, sacrifice, and the choices between desire and duty.

Akashi won the Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and swept the Whistler Film Festival with five wins, including the Borsos prize for Best Canadian Feature.

Yoshida, born in Japan and raised across three continents, is a Vancouver-based director, actor, writer, and producer. She starred in The Man in the High Castle and was recently associate producer on the Apple TV+ series Sunny. In 2025, she was selected for JETRO and CAPE’s Beyond Japan Filmmakers Directing Program, where she was mentored by Hirokazu Koreeda.

The cast includes Yoshida, Hana Kino, Ryo Tajima, Chieko Matsubara, Kunio Murai, Shun Sugata, Bun Kimura, Sayaka Kunisada, Hiro Kanagawa, and Jess McLeod.

KinoSmith is releasing the film in Canada, and Rabbit House will handle the Japan release.

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Cheri Gaulke’s “Acting Like Women” Chronicles 1970s L.A. Feminist Performance Art Movement

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acting-like-womenA new documentary revisits The Woman’s Building, the Los Angeles feminist art space that became a proving ground for performance artists in the 1970s.

“Acting Like Women,” directed by feminist artist Cheri Gaulke, premieres at DOC NYC on November 18. The film is produced by Iambe Films, with Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner on board as executive producers.

Through interviews, archival footage, and her own story, Gaulke traces how a collective of women turned their bodies and voices into tools for activism. The documentary weaves personal history with the larger movement, following Gaulke’s path from daughter of a Midwestern Lutheran minister through the sexual revolution to her career as a performance artist, lesbian, educator, and mother of twins.

The film argues that California feminist performance art wasn’t a side story but central to the medium’s development. Interviews and footage of performances show what the era meant for women defining themselves then and now.

The premiere takes place November 18 at 6:45 PM at Village East by Angelika, 181-189 2nd Ave, New York.

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Larry Fessenden Brings Three Classic Monsters Together in “Trauma Or, Monsters All”

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Larry Fessenden is merging his takes on the vampire, Frankenstein’s monster, and the werewolf into one film. “Trauma Or, Monsters All” opens at IFC Center in New York November 4, followed by a Los Angeles screening at Lumiere Music Hall November 11 and a nationwide VOD release November 24.

The film brings together creatures from Fessenden’s previous work, Habit, Depraved, and Blackout, into a single story set in the upstate town of Talbot Falls. Visiting writer Cassandra (Laëtitia Hollard, who plays Nurse Emma Nolan on NBC’s The Pitt) arrives to research a book on George Washington Carver. After she publishes an article about the town’s past, buried secrets surface and the three monsters emerge, forcing the town to confront generations of fear and guilt.

Dark Sky Films is releasing the film, continuing a partnership with Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix that stretches back nearly two decades and includes Ti West’s The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers, along with Stake Land, Hypothermia, Late Phases, and Blackout.

The cast includes Aitana Doyle, Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Alex Breaux, John Speredakos, Marc Senter, Micheál Neeson, Joshua Leonard, Barbara Crampton, and James Le Gros.

“I’ve spent my career reimagining classic monsters because they reveal something deeply human about us,” Fessenden said. “TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL brings those stories together into one film about memory, identity, and the wounds we carry.”

The New York opening coincides with IFC Center’s ongoing OPTIC NERVE: A Tribute to Glass Eye Pix, marking the 40th anniversary of Fessenden’s production company.

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Animated Series Monkey King Adventures Hits 1 Million Views on GJW+

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Monkey King Adventures, the first original animated series from streaming service GJW+, has surpassed 1 million combined views across its first six episodes, theme song, teasers, and trailers since its October 2 premiere.

The series adapts Journey to the West, the 16th century Chinese classic considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Season 1 follows Sun Wukong, a monkey born from a magical stone, on his rise to become the Monkey King. New episodes arrive weekly, with Episode 7 dropping November 6.

The milestone comes as Gan Jing Kids launched Kids Mode, a simplified viewing space where children can watch shows including Monkey King Adventures on their own. Kids Mode removes extra menus, notifications, and comment sections, using large picture-based icons to help young viewers navigate.

“With Monkey King Adventures on GJW+, we are going to great lengths to preserve the novel’s spiritual core and strive to give audiences a true version of this beloved classic finally restored to its rightful glory for new generations,” said Terry Wu, producer of the series.

Early viewer reactions have been positive. One viewer who watched the first two episodes with children from an after-school program wrote, “They were completely captivated, and so was I. The animation is stunning and beautiful, the story is gripping, and it carries positive messages.”

The 12-episode first season streams on GJW+ and Gan Jing Kids. The first two episodes are free to watch.

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“General Hospital” Alumni Lead Film Noir “Love Loaded,” Arriving on Digital November 13

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A crime shatters the smoky world of Club Figaro in “Love Loaded,” a new film noir whodunnit set in 1958 Los Angeles. Buffalo 8 releases the film on TVOD and digital platforms November 13.

Director Jan Miller Corran (“Snapshots,” “Along Came Wanda”) centers the story on torch singer Didi Scanlon, whose voice and presence draw a crowd of admirers and enemies to the late-night club. When violence breaks the club’s illusion of elegance, lovers, rivals, detectives, and desperate souls all become suspects.

“LOVE LOADED is a mystery where every character has something to hide,” Corran said. “It’s a story about longing, ambition, betrayal, and the dangerous choices people make when love and power collide.”

The cast includes several “General Hospital” alumni: Adam Huss (“Power,” “The Bay”), Erin Chambers (“Scandal,” “Shameless”), and Monica Young (“Days of Our Lives,” “Criminal Minds”). Max Adler (“Glee,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7”), Rich Ceraulo Ko (“The Walking Dead,” “Tenet”), Emily Goss (“The House on Pine Street”), and Adam Bucci (“Eastsiders,” “Halt and Catch Fire”) round out the ensemble.

The film uses period sets and cinematography to recreate the neon lights, shadowy bars, and smoke-filled stages of late-1950s Los Angeles. Corran put complex female characters at the center of the mystery rather than in supporting roles.

“Love Loaded” won awards for best feature film, best film noir, best actor/actress, best original song, and best ensemble cast. It premiered at Cinema Diverse Palm Springs and screens November 14 at the St. Louis International Film Festival.

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Ellie Gravitte Directs Her Real-Life Family in Musical Feature “Get Happy” at Connecticut Home

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A Connecticut family is shooting a musical feature film in their own house. Production is underway on “Get Happy”, the debut feature from writer/director Ellie Gravitte. The film stars her mother, Tony Award-winning actress Debbie Gravitte, her father Beau Gravitte, and other family members. Filming runs through November 9 in Redding, CT.

“I’d been waiting a long time for a ‘yes’ from big-name talent and financiers who were hesitant to take a chance on a first-time filmmaker,” Gravitte says. “This summer, I decided to stop waiting. So I wrote a film for my entire family to star in, and we’re shooting it in our house.”

The film follows the Williams family over a single day. When three adult children bring their significant others home for an annual gathering, musical performances, botched meals, and interpersonal dramas pile up.

The film features eight songs captured live on camera, including standards like “Get Happy” and “Fascinating Rhythm”, plus an original song, “No One Has It Worse”, written by Gravitte and Carlo Ladd.

The cast has more than a dozen Broadway credits between them. Debbie Gravitte won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Grammy for “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway”. She’s currently on Broadway in “Just in Time”. Beau Gravitte spent a year in the national tour of “The Notebook” and has Broadway credits including “The Light in the Piazza”. Sam Gravitte made his Broadway debut in “Wicked” and later starred as Fiyero.

The production is raising funds through a Kickstarter campaign that ends November 20. Producers are Lavinia Jones Wright and Lindsey Formes of I Play Different Productions.

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Tahoe Live 2026 Splits Into Three Days With Chris Lake, GRiZ, and Knock2

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Tahoe Live is programming its 2026 edition around three separate musical identities, with each day built around a different headliner and sound. Single-day tickets go on sale November 5 at 10 AM PT.

Chris Lake headlines Friday, December 11, leading the festival’s biggest move into house music. He’s coming off two sold-out shows at Los Angeles State Historic Park that moved roughly 40,000 tickets combined. Walker & Royce, Noizu, Devault, NALA, Cole Knight, and Zaddy B round out the day.

GRiZ headlines Saturday, December 12, making his first Northern California headlining return since two sold-out Cow Palace shows in November 2025. He’s joined by TEDDY PAIN, T-Pain’s electronic music project, plus YDG, Mary Droppinz, HERSHE, KHØDA LEON, and DJ Unni.

Knock2 closes the weekend Sunday, December 13, bringing a lineup connected to the Niteharts universe. Madeon and Control Freak, both Niteharts 2026 performers, join him, along with Daniel Allan, WINK x nikko, Klo, and BUNS.

The festival runs December 11-13 at Palisades Tahoe in Olympic Valley, California, at 6,200 feet in the Sierra Nevada. It’s a single-stage setup with no set conflicts. Last year’s edition expanded to three days and sold out, with fans traveling from 48 states.

Tickets and details at tahoelive.net.

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Lindsay Lou Releases Final Episode of Bluegrass Women Docuseries Celebrating Female Songwriters

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Lindsay Lou just dropped the fourth and final episode of her docuseries documenting Bluegrass Women, her acclaimed project shining a light on female songwriters who’ve been quietly shaping bluegrass for decades.

The album itself brings together heavy hitters like Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, and Laurie Lewis to perform ten songs written by women, many of whom never got the credit they deserved. Ola Belle Reed’s “I’ve Endured” was popularized by Del McCoury. Ma Rainey first recorded “C.C. Rider,” but Elvis made it famous. Ricky Skaggs’ “All I Ever Loved Was You”? Written by his mother, Dorothy Skaggs.

The docuseries captures the energy behind the sessions, the camaraderie of women navigating a male-dominated genre, cross-generational connections, and even Lou and producer Shani Gandhi preparing for motherhood. It’s less about the technical details and more about the human side of creating something rare.

“Just like having pickers like Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull out there showing little girls that there is a place for them now in bluegrass, I want to show where there always has been,” Lou says.

The New York Times called it “an all-star album,” and Billboard noted it’s giving “a long-overdue spotlight” to older generations of women songwriters. Lou just wrapped performances at CaveFest and heads to the IBMA conference in Chattanooga next for a live eTown radio taping.

This is what it looks like when a community decides to remember its own history.

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HAAi Drops DIGITiSE, Her Big Rave Follow-Up to HUMANiSE

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London-based, Australian-born DJ and producer HAAi just released DIGITiSE, a dancefloor-focused album that picks up right where 2025’s HUMANiSE left off. She calls it the “bigger, ravey sibling” of that critically acclaimed record.

“DIGITiSE holds the hand of HUMANiSE and walks it to the club,” HAAi says. “I’ve spent so many hours in clubs, on the dance floor and in the booth, and I really wanted to put that into this new album.”

The record features collaborators including Skybreak and Cantoalegre, a children’s choir from Medellín, Colombia. The standout track ‘Talking Walls’ brings together HAAi, Skybreak, and the choir for what HAAi describes as “one to hug your mates to at the festival.”

HAAi has been testing the tracks in her DJ sets, refining breakdowns and grooves based on real-time crowd reactions. She’s got a packed tour schedule ahead, including a 10-hour open-to-close marathon at Refuge in New York on October 18, an all-night Halloween set at EartH in London, and an Australian tour with The Avalanches in March 2027.

The album continues exploring what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world, gathering people on the dancefloor to feel community and unity.

DIGITiSE is out now on Mute.

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