#indie-cinema

#indie-cinema

It's been 40 years since Richard Linklater founded the Austin Film Society, beginning his crusade to make scrappy, personal, romantic and boisterous cinema. It's fitting for a director who first broke out in the 1990s "Indiewood" boom that his latest film, Nouvelle Vague, is an origin story of cinema's enfant terrible par excellence, Jean-Luc Godard, mounting his iconic debut film Breathless. As Linklater's first non-English film, Nouvelle Vague feels like a film fanatic has staged and animated decades' worth of behind-the-scenes anecdotes - genuine and apocryphal alike - to show a turning point for cinema as the Texan director imagines it: lively and collaborative, tetchy and confounding, an amusing slew of rules broken and manifesto points declared.

While Sundance is traditionally focused on the importance of looking to the future of American film, a lineup filled with more first-timers than any other major festival, this year has been all about looking back. There are misty eyes over the loss of founder Robert Redford along with host state Utah and also for the many films that have premiered here over the years. Alongside more retrospective screenings than one usually expects, even the new films have a touch of old Sundance to them.

In recent years, there's one word you hear again and again from movie distributors and pundits: event. Making a great movie is nice. But creating a culture-shaking event is what's required in the current boom-bust film landscape. It's something everyone has known for a long time, but in 2026 it seems like studios are really beginning to grasp what it actually means. From Tom Cruise in an auteur-driven comedy to the sequels to Devil Wears Prada and The Social Network

In the fictional part of the film, Carrie's father has died; he was a quack doctor who attempted to market an alternative healing machine as part of a pyramid-selling scam, but who also had many friends and followers who were bowled over by his charm. The lawyer executing his will tells Carrie there won't be any money left after all her dad's debts are paid,

That'd be a lot for any actor, but it's especially noteworthy for a musical artist whose acting roles were previously limited to voice parts in the Angry Birds and UglyDolls movies. Charli is a pop star, nightlife queen, and certified cool girl, but in the past year, she's made it clear she's also a cinephile who's very interested in making it onto the big screen.

For this week's special double issue, Alex Barasch reports on the rise and the indie dominance of A24, which since its founding, in 2012, has built an ardent following with movies such as "Moonlight," "The Brutalist," "Everything Everywhere All at Once," and many more, including some first-rate horror films. In addition, A24 does brisk sales in merch (sweatshirts, dog leashes), and hosts a fan club with roughly a hundred thousand paying members. Some acolytes have even gotten tattoos of the studio's logo.

Eva Victor's feature debut, Sorry, Baby, addresses trauma through the lens of a queer friendship, portraying how bonds can nurture and heal.

"I really wanted to start the film with the joy of friendship. I wanted to be very clear that we're allowed to laugh, that we're allowed to feel safe."