Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Apichatpong has directed several features and dozens of short films. Friends and fans sometimes refer to him as "Joe".
Joseph Swanberg is an American independent filmmaker. Known for micro-budget films which make extensive use of improvisation, Swanberg is considered a major figure in the mumblecore film movement. His films often focus on relationships, sex, technology, and the filmmaking process. He is also known for his collaboration with Greta Gerwig.
The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival is known for its close relationship with John Waters, who is on the festival's board of directors and selects a favorite film to host within each year of the festival.
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,660 attending in 2016. The festival takes place every January in Park City, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; and at the Sundance Resort, and acts as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres. Many films premiering at Sundance have gone on to be nominated and win Oscars such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.
The Borscht Film Festival is a film festival organized by the Borscht Corporation held in Miami, Florida roughly every 18–24 months. The festival's mission is to tell Miami stories, forging the cinematic identity of the city. While most of the films screened are commissioned specifically for the festival by the Borscht Corporation, they also accept works where the subject matter or filmmaker has some tie to South Florida.
Putty Hill is a 2010 American independent drama film directed by Matthew Porterfield, and starring Sky Ferreira, Zoe Vance, and James Siebor. The plot focuses on friends and family who gather to remember a young man in the aftermath of his death and attempt to reconstruct his last days.
Kim Taylor is an American independent singer-songwriter who plays primarily folk and folk-rock music.
Hamilton is a 2006 independent drama film directed by Matthew Porterfield, set and shot in Baltimore, Maryland. The film was screened at several international film festivals, including the Maryland Film Festival. It was released on DVD by The Cinema Guild as part of a two-disc set with Porterfield's second feature, Putty Hill, on November 8, 2011.
I Used to Be Darker is a 2013 independent drama film set and shot in Maryland, the third feature film directed by Matthew Porterfield.
Trevor Anderson is a Canadian filmmaker and musician. His films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Hannah Gross is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Debbie Mitford in the Netflix drama Mindhunter.
Eliza Hittman is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer from New York City. She has won multiple awards for her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which include the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award—both for best screenplay.
McCaul Lombardi is an American actor. Born in Baltimore City, Maryland, he is known for his roles in American Honey, which won the Jury Prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival; and Patti Cake$ - which had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, was acquired by Fox Searchlight, and was the closing night film during Directors' Fortnight at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
Janicza Michelle Bravo Ford is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Her films include Gregory Go Boom, a winner of the short-film jury award at the Sundance Film Festival; Lemon, co-written with Brett Gelman; and Zola, co-written with playwright Jeremy O. Harris.
Nuotama Frances Bodomo is a Ghanaian filmmaker, writer and director.
Sollers Point is a 2017 American-French drama film written and directed by Matthew Porterfield. It stars McCaul Lombardi, Jim Belushi, Zazie Beetz, Tom Guiry and Marin Ireland.
Leilah Weinraub is an American filmmaker, conceptual artist, and the former chief executive officer of the fashion brand Hood By Air. In 2018, she was named a Sundance Institute Art of Nonfiction Fellow.
Deragh Campbell is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her acclaimed performances in independent Canadian cinema. Her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz—Never Eat Alone (2016), Veslemøy's Song (2018), MS Slavic 7 (2019), and Point and Line to Plane (2020)—have screened at film festivals internationally. Campbell has also starred in three of Kazik Radwanski's feature films; she played a small role in How Heavy This Hammer (2015), the lead role in Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), and opposite Matt Johnson in Matt and Mara (2024).
Lance Oppenheim is an American filmmaker, documentarian, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His work blends cinematic genres to explore the lives of people who create homes in unconventional spaces and places. His debut feature, Some Kind of Heaven (2020), was an Official Selection at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Dustin Guy Defa is an American independent filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing the feature films Bad Fever and Person to Person and writing the screenplay for The Mountain.
