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When Torsten Neumann launched the Oldenburg Film Festival back in 1994, setting up the event as Germany’s answer to Sundance, it was near the peak of the ’90s indie film boom, when the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez were starting to hit the mainstream.

31 years later and indie cinema is living through what feels like a permanent crisis, with the gap between the mainstream and underground growing larger by the day. “Back in the ’90s indie cinema still had some contact with mainstream cinema, the budgets were bigger, and the indie films were screened in cinemas,” says Neumann. “I don’t think that exists anymore. Where are the distribution channels for small films like this?”

But Oldenburg is still giving them a platform. Its 2024 lineup features an ecclectic mix of U.S. and international indies, many of the feature debuts and “no-budget” passion projects.

Cannes competition title Loveless wins best international film.

Films by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Pedro Pinho and Tom Lass were among the winners at the 35th Filmfest München which came to a close on Saturday evening with a gala awards ceremony before the German premiere of Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest with actor Bill Nighy and producer Stephen Woolley in attendance.

The €50,000 Arri/Osram award for the best international film in the CineMasters sidebar went to Zvyagintsev’s Cannes competition film Loveless which opened in Russian cinemas through Wdssr on June 1 and will be released in Germany by Wild Bunch.

Producers Alexander Rodnyansky and Serguey Melkumov accepted the award in Munich from the hands of the international jury comprising German director Valeska Grisebach (whose latest feature Western premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in May), producer Markus Zimmer, and actress Nastassja Kinski.

This is the second time Zvyagintsev received the Munich award after his previous feature Leviathan had won...

The 2nd annual South Texas Underground Film Festival, running Oct. 3-6 in Corpus Christi, Texas, is a massive celebration of international alternative cinema, including plenty from Texas filmmakers, of course.

The fest opened on the 3rd with the drop-dead hilarious comedy Pictures of Superheroes by Austin filmmaker Don Swaynos.

But, there’s still plenty more to see throughout the jam-packed weekend wherein films screen from morning until, well, early into the next morning.

The film that’s absolutely not to be missed is the screening on the 6th at 10:30 a.m. of Savage Witches, the amazing celebration of the art of filmmaking by British directors Daniel Fawcett & Clara Pais. A colorful spectacle of multiple filmmaking styles, Savage Witches is a real joy to experience.

Also to be on the lookout for are on the 5th at 11:00 a.m. is the new rockin’ documentary Mondo Fuzz: Twilight of the...