$100K, New Foundation & Real Opportunity for Storytellers After six years away, Tropfest is coming back to Sydney. The world’s largest short-film festival will take place on 22 February 2026 at Centennial Park. For Jeffrey Ikahn and all indie filmmakers, this return is big. It signals renewed energy, real funding, and fresh chances. Here’s what […]
Grassroots Filmmaking
Norwich Film Festival: A Launchpad for Indie Shorts
The UK’s Norwich Film Festival is gearing up for its 16th edition this fall, running November 3–16, 2025. Known as one of the most filmmaker-friendly events in Europe, the festival has become a proving ground for indie shorts with ambitions of breaking into the mainstream. What sets Norwich apart is its BAFTA and BIFA-qualifying status. […]
San Francisco Teens Premiere Indie Dark Comedy “JAR”
Seventy-one teenagers in San Francisco have pulled off what many seasoned filmmakers struggle to achieve—conceiving, producing, and premiering an original film in a matter of weeks. The result is “JAR”, a surreal dark comedy packed with jailbreaks, glitter bombs, and shrink rays. Guided by filmmaker Joe Talbot and his summer program 48 Hills, 24 Frames, […]
Utah Indie Documentaries Face Major Setback Amid $1.1B Federal Cuts
Utah’s independent storytellers are navigating a new crisis. Congress passed a federal rescission package that pulls back $1.1 billion in funding for public media, hitting Utah’s CPB‑funded systems like NPR, PBS Utah, KUER and PBS Utah stations hard. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded ITVS, a key supporter of independent documentaries. With CPB money gone, […]
Grassroots Film Festival Season 2025: Spring Screenings
Spring is in the air and grassroots films are on the screen! Jeffrey Ikahn, American Filmmaker and Director of Candy Flip, features the top film festivals screening grassroots films and other innovative projects in California this spring, April 2025: Nothing says ‘spring’ quite like film festival season — at least, not for Los Angeles native […]