Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American independent film production and distribution arm of The Walt Disney Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Entertainment division. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures for 20th Century Fox, the studio focuses primarily on producing, distributing, and acquiring specialty films.
Waitress is a 2007 American comedy drama film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, starring Keri Russell as a young woman trapped in a small town and an abusive marriage, who faces an unwanted pregnancy while working as a waitress. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 2, 2007, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Shelly's supporting role is her final film appearance before her death. In 2015, Waitress was adapted into a Tony-nominated musical of the same name.
Brooklyn is a 2015 romantic period drama film directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Hornby, based on the 2009 novel by Colm Tóibín. A co-production between the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, it stars Saoirse Ronan in the lead role, with Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, and Julie Walters in supporting roles. The plot follows Eilis Lacey, a young Irishwoman who immigrates to Brooklyn in the early 1950s to find employment. After building a life there, she is drawn back to her home town of Enniscorthy and has to choose where she wants to forge her future. Principal photography began in April 2014 with three weeks of filming in Ireland, which were followed by four weeks in Montreal, Quebec; only two days of filming took place in Brooklyn, one of which was spent at the beach in Coney Island.
Tyler Gillett is an American film director, cinematographer, actor, writer, and producer. A co-creator of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence, Gillett co-directed, with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, the horror films Devil's Due (2014), Ready or Not (2019), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023) and Abigail (2024). He was also featured in a popular 2020 episode of the podcast Reply All.
Heather Young is a Canadian filmmaker based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Wilson is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed by Craig Johnson and written by Daniel Clowes, based on Clowes' graphic novel Wilson. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Isabella Amara, Judy Greer, and Cheryl Hines.
Battle of the Sexes is a 2017 sports comedy-drama film directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton and written by Simon Beaufoy. The plot is loosely based on the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. The film stars Emma Stone and Steve Carell as King and Riggs, leading an ensemble cast including Andrea Riseborough, Elisabeth Shue, Austin Stowell, Bill Pullman, Natalie Morales, Eric Christian Olsen, and Sarah Silverman in supporting roles. The film marks the second collaboration between Carell and Stone after Crazy, Stupid, Love and the second collaboration between Riseborough and Stone after Birdman.
Jackie is a 2016 historical drama directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Noah Oppenheim. The film stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy. Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, and John Hurt also star; it was Hurt's final film released in his lifetime before his death in January 2017. It is the first film in Larraín’s trilogy of iconic women, succeeded by Spencer and Maria. The film follows Kennedy in the days when she was First Lady in the White House and her life immediately following the assassination of her husband, United States President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. It is partly based on Theodore H. White's Life magazine interview with the widow at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in November 1963.
The Old Man & the Gun is a 2018 American biographical crime film written and directed by David Lowery, about Forrest Tucker, a career criminal and prison escape artist. The script is loosely based on David Grann's 2003 article in The New Yorker titled "The Old Man and the Gun", which was later collected in Grann's 2010 book The Devil and Sherlock Holmes. The film stars Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Danny Glover, Tika Sumpter, Tom Waits and Sissy Spacek. Redford, then 82 years old, announced his intent to retire from acting after completion of the film.
Lucy in the Sky is a 2019 American psychological drama film loosely inspired by the life of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak, who is portrayed by Natalie Portman. The film was directed, co-produced, and co-written by Noah Hawley in his feature directorial debut. In addition to Portman, the film stars Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens, Colman Domingo, and Ellen Burstyn.
Jasmin Mozaffari is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her debut feature film Firecrackers.
Nomadland is a 2020 American drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Chloé Zhao. Based on the 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, it stars Frances McDormand as a widow who leaves her life in Nevada to travel around the United States in her van as a nomad. A number of real-life nomads appear as fictionalized versions of themselves, including Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells. David Strathairn also stars in a supporting role.
Skin is a 2018 American short drama film, directed by Israeli-born filmmaker Guy Nattiv. Co written with Sharon Maymon, the film won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 91st Academy Awards, marking distributor Fox Searchlight Pictures' first win in the category.
Harry Wootliff is an English film and television director and screenwriter.
The Neighbors' Window is a 2019 American short film written and directed by Marshall Curry. It won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2020. The film was inspired by a true story by Diane Weipert, which she recounted on the podcast Love and Radio.
Maha Al-Saati is a Saudi Arabian female filmmaker, university assistant professor and graduate of Simon Fraser University who has taught both in Vancouver, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Her academic research covers the representation of architectural spaces, education through the use of film, and the influence of religion and culture on media. She is also an alum of the TIFF filmmaker lab 2020, TIFF Writers Studio 2021, and recipient of the TIFF Share Her Journey award 2020. She is of mixed Arab and Uzbek heritage.
Matthew Puccini is an American filmmaker. He is known for his short films that deal with LGBT-related subject matters. These include The Mess He Made (2017), Marquise (2018), Dirty (2020) and Lavender (2019). His films have played at several festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Aspen Shortsfest, Palm Springs ShortsFest, and Outfest Los Angeles. His work has also been featured on Topic and The Huffington Post.
Madeleine Sims-Fewer is a British-Canadian independent filmmaker and actress.
A. V. Rockwell is an American film director. In 2023, she made her directorial feature film debut with the film A Thousand and One, which gave her a Gotham Award, a Black Reel Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a Director's Guild nomination, and nominations at the NAACP Image Awards.
