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Exclusive: After winning Series Mania’s Best Actress Award for her turn opposite Cooper Raiff in Mubi’s Hal & Harper, Lili Reinhart has come aboard to star in and exec produce The Love Hypothesis, an adaptation of the New York Times bestseller by Ali Hazelwood, for Amazon MGM Studios and MRC.

In the romantic comedy, Olive Smith, a biology PhD candidate, and Dr. Adam Carlsen, a hotshot professor and well-known tyrant, enter into a fake relationship, seeing each of their carefully calculated theories on love get thrown into chaos.

Published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, Hazelwood’s novel spent 10 months on the New York Times bestseller list, breaking out internationally in 40 countries. Originally acquired for publication by editor Sarah Blumenstock at Berkley, the book was also named the Best Romance of the Year by Amazon. Hazelwood is also known for titles like Problematic Summer Romance, Deep End,...

Dakota Johnson’s 5 Best Performances Ranked (Photo Credit – Prime Video/Netflix)

Coming from a film background, Dakota Johnson has always been under the spotlight. However, when she made her debut in the industry at the age of 9 in 1999 in a small role alongside her mother, Melanie Griffith, in the lead role in the movie Crazy in Alabama, she didn’t go viral instantly.

In fact, she didn’t appear in any other projects until 2010. She slowly got the hang of how the industry works, and even took part in various projects, where she played small roles. Until she featured in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy alongside Jamie Dornan and broke the internet. Dakota got her biggest breakthrough with that and proved she has the quality to lead a movie.

But, now she is among one of the most seasoned actresses present in Hollywood. She is currently ruling the movie theatres with her latest project,...

There is a lot to learn about the film industry, and not all of it is taught at films schools. Festivals like Palm Springs Shortfest fill the gap, especially from the business side, with knowledge essential to all emerging filmmakers, on how ot navigate this complicated art form on both the creative and business side. The ShortFest Forum has some exicted panels and discussions to those attending, or who are thinking about attending. Details are below and on the festival website. The official juries have been announced as well, with some very creative and intelligent minds to weigh in on what the festival has to offer, including Caroline Lindy (Your Monster), Carolina Groppa and Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth). Taking...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Mubi is continuing to expand its business after picking up such projects as last year’s The Substance. According to Deadline, the company has now picked up the rights to the independently produced TV drama series Hal & Harper. The show comes from actor/filmmaker Cooper Raiff, whose resume includes Cha Cha Real Smooth. The business model for indie television is still testing the waters, but Mubi’s acquisition is a big win for the experimental process. The studio is set to stream the show in the U.S. and France, and it has earned good buzz after premiering at Sundance this year.

The series stars Raiff along with Lili Reinhart and Mark Ruffalo. Per Deadline, Hal & Harper “centers on two codependent siblings Hal (Raiff) and Harper (Reinhart), who are facing big life changes. The pair’s intimacy is built on a lifetime of inside jokes and shared pains,...

Sundance didn’t have the plethora of late night bidding wars we used to see in the good old days of the festival, but a number of buzziest titles are actually closing deals late into the spring and into the early summer. Over 60 films came into this year’s Sundance looking for homes, and slowly but surely a number of those are finding homes. As we previously reported, the hope was that even more distributors could get creative.

Below we’ll update all the acquisitions following the festival as they arrive.

“Hal & Harper”

Section: Indie Episodics

Buyer: Mubi

Director: Cooper Raiff

Buzz: The “Shithouse” and “Cha Cha Real Smooth” writer/director’s serialized debut follows two tight-knit siblings forced to face a past tragedy when their dad decides to sell their childhood home. It’s got a strong cast, including Raiff himself, Mark Ruffalo, Betty Gilpin, and Lili Reinhart,...

Exclusive: Mubi has acquired rights to Hal & Harper, the acclaimed indie TV series from actor-filmmaker Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth), for streaming in the U.S. and France, on the heels of its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The eight-episode family drama, co-starring Lili Reinhart and Mark Ruffalo, will premiere exclusively on the service this fall.

Lionsgate financed the series, handled the sale and distributes it worldwide.

This marks another win for independently produced television at a time when the business model is still being tested. Other recent examples of indie series that have gone on to significant streaming deals include Shane Gillis’ hit comedy Tires, which just returned for a second season, as well as Mark Duplass’ Penelope, both of which wound up at Netflix.

Hal & Harper marks the latest acquisition in a notable expansion into series this year for Mubi, following recent acquisitions...

Stan is adding another buzzy U.S. indie to its scripted slate with Hal & Harper, the relationship-driven dramedy from writer-director-actor Cooper Raiff, set to premiere Thursday, June 26, exclusively on the Australian streamer. Raiff stars opposite Lili Reinhart and Mark Ruffalo in the eight-episode series, which made its debut earlier this year at Sundance. Stan […]

‘Hal & Harper’: Cooper Raiff Dramedy With Lili Reinhart, Mark Ruffalo Lands June Premiere on Stan...

Dakota Johnson is reuniting with her Cha Cha Real Smooth co-star Vanessa Burghardt for a new movie. However, unlike the 2022 rom-com/drama movie, neither actor is currently expected to appear in front of the camera for the project.

According to Deadline, Johnson revealed at the Kering Women in Motion conversation event at Cannes that she plans on making her feature directorial debut with the untitled movie, the screenplay of which was written by Burghardt. "The girl that plays my daughter, Vanessa Burghardt, she is an autistic actress and musician and brilliant person, and we have been working with her on developing a script. She’s written a script, and it’s really special, and it’s about a young woman with autism," Johnson shared. "I feel very protective of her and her story in her mind, she’s just an unbelievable woman. I just don’t think I could allow anyone else to direct it.

Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things) and Tucker Pillsbury (aka Role Model) are set to star alongside Natalie Portman in Good Sex, writer-director Lena Dunham’s new romantic comedy for Netflix.

The film centers on pragmatic couples’ therapist Ally, who after spending a decade in a failed relationship, is turning 40 and reluctantly dipping her toe back into the New York dating scene. But she gets more than she bargained for when she meets two men — one in his twenties and one in his fifties — who show her there is no set formula for good sex.

Portman and Sophie Mas are producing for MountainA, alongside Dunham and Michael Cohen for Good Thing Going Productions. Tim Bevan and Michael Sledd are exec producing, along with Michaela Celella for MountainA.

Good Sex is one of two rom-com projects Dunham has coming to Netflix, the other being series Too Much, starring Will Sharpe and Megan Stalter,...

After working together on the Apple and Cooper Raiff helmed film “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” Dakota Johnson is looking to reunite with actress Vanessa Burghardt on an untitled project about a young woman with autism that was announced during the Cannes Film Festival.

However, as pointed out in the report from Deadline, their roles on that mysterious pic are going to be a little different, as Johnson is aiming to make her feature directorial debut, and Burghardt has penned the script.

Continue reading Dakota Johnson Making Feature Directorial Debut With Script Penned By ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ Co-Star Vanessa Burghardt [Cannes] at The Playlist.

Actress and producer Alysia Reiner has signed with Fusion Entertainment.

Reiner is best known for playing Natalie “Fig” Figueroa on Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” earning a SAG Award as part of the ensemble.

On screen, she also appeared in the Oscar-winning “Sideways” and most recently was featured in Joanna Arnow’s critically acclaimed “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed,” which premiered at Cannes and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Her television portfolio includes over 150 episodes and performances in series including five seasons of FX’s “Better Things,” two seasons of HBO’s “The Deuce,” “How to Get Away with Murder” opposite Viola Davis, two seasons of “Shining Vale” with Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear, and Netflix’s political thriller “The Diplomat,” now filming its third season. Reiner also played Agent Sadie Deever in Marvel’s “Ms. Marvel.”

“Alysia’s body of...

Odeya Rush has joined the cast of “Corporate Retreat.” The ensemble for the horror-thriller includes Simona Tabasco (“White Lotus”), Alan Ruck (“Succession”), Ashton Sanders (“Moonlight”), and Rosanna Arquette (“Pulp Fiction”). Principal photography on the film is set to begin in June.

Rush is known for her performances in several critically acclaimed projects, including Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” for which she shared a SAG Award nomination for outstanding cast, as well as Apple TV+’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” opposite Dakota Johnson and Cooper Raiff. Her additional credits include adaptations of two popular novels, “Goosebumps” and “The Giver, “as well as the Netflix feature “Let It Snow.”

“Corporate Retreat” follows a group of executives whose team-building getaway spirals into a violent struggle for survival when their retreat leader reveals a deadly agenda. Aaron Fisher (“Inside the Rain”) is directing the film. The script for “Corporate Retreat” was co-written by Fisher and Kerri Lee Romeo.

Estrenos muy diferentes para seriéfilos en Movistar Plus+, Disney+, Atresplayer, Netflix y Prime Video. ©Netflix, Atresplayer & Disney+ Hal & Harper (lunes 21 de abril en Movistar Plus+) © Movistar Plus+

La serie más indie de abril viene de un Sundance con gran acogida y con un reparto encabezado por Cooper Raiff (también dirigiendo y guionizando), Lili Reinhart y Mark Ruffalo. En este coming-of-age, dos hermanos veinteañeros parecen anclados en su infancia, sin superar la pérdida de su madre cuando eran apenas unos niños. Aunque criados con cariño por su padre (Mark Ruffalo), son vulnerables a los retos de la edad adulta, y ahora que él ha puesto en venta la casa familiar para empezar una nueva vida con su pareja Kate (Betty Gilpin), con la que espera un nuevo bebé, sienten como si un terremoto hubiera sacudido los débiles cimientos de sus vidas. ¿Se atreverán a volar solos?

Andor: Temporada 2 (miércoles 23 de abril...

Rhea Seehorn is set to receive SeriesFest’s “Excellence in Acting Award” during the festival’s 11th season on May 2, Variety can exclusively announce.

Seehorn will be recognized at the annual television festival’s Soirée event. The Emmy Award-nominated actress recently starred in and executive produced “Cooper’s Bar,” which began as an independent series before being picked up at AMC Networks. Prior to her Emmy-nominated work in “Cooper’s Bar,” she starred in “Better Call Saul” as Kim Wexler (which landed her two Emmy nominations), “Veep,” “Whitney” and the 2019 reboot of “The Twilight Zone” narrated by Jordan Peele.

“Rhea Seehorn exemplifies the spirit of the Excellence in Acting Award through fearless performances, artistic integrity and a commitment to authentic storytelling,” SeriesFest co-founders Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith said in a joint statement. “From her iconic role in ‘Better Call Saul’ to her incredible work on ‘Cooper’s Bar,’ she continues to champion...

The Tribeca Festival is looking uptown for a centerpiece TV premiere: Season 3 of fan-favorite series “The Gilded Age” will debut at the festival, along with a slew of other notable series.

The 2025 Tribeca Festival, presented by Okx, announced its lineup of television and original independent episodic series. The Festival will take place from June 4 to 15 in New York City, with the features already having been launched earlier this week.

Highlights of the TV program include the Season 3 premiere of Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” the season finale of “Godfather of Harlem,” and the world premiere of Apple TV+ drama “Smoke.” The Now section, which is dedicated to new independently created pilots and series, has Mandy Patinkin in “Seasoned,” as well as Lili Reinhart, Cooper Raiff, Betty Gilpin, and Mark Ruffalo in “Hal & Harper.” Lena Dunham is among the panelists as well, and will preview her Netflix series “Too Much...

A24 has boarded Jesse Eisenberg’s next film behind the camera — the untitled musical comedy, starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, on which we were first to report in November. Sources said this was a worldwide negative pickup, in the vein of the studio’s deal for Heretic, the horror hit from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

The film follows a shy woman (Moore) who is unexpectedly cast in a community theater musical production, going to extremes as she loses herself in the role. Production kicked off this month, with Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid), Havana Rose Liu (Lurker), and Bernadette Peters (Mozart in the Jungle) among the newcomers to the cast.

Fruit Tree’s Emma Stone, Dave McCary and Ali Herting will produce, with Topic Studios serving as executive producers. Eldar Isgandarov, Bonnie Milligan, Colton Ryan, Lilli Cooper, and Maulik Pancholy round out the cast.

The project continues Eisenberg...

Exclusive: Fusion Entertainment has signed actor and filmmaker Jack Haven (formerly known as Brigette Lundy-Paine) for management.

Haven recently garnered Gotham and Independent Spirit Award nominations for their role in Jane Schoenbrun’s feature, I Saw The TV Glow.

Best known for their breakout role as Casey Gardner in the hit Netflix series Atypical, Haven’s past credits also include Bombshell (2019), where they played Megyn Kelly’s anxious assistant, and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), portraying Billi Logan, Ted’s daughter, in the beloved sci-fi comedy franchise. They also appear in Gabriel Abrantes’ surrealist horror film, Amelia’s Children.

Haven recently completed their feature directorial debut, October Crow. They also serve as the creative director of art and fashion publication Waif Magazine.

“Jack Haven is an artist of remarkable depth and vision,” said Chris Evans, Co-Founder of Fusion Entertainment. “From their fearless performances to their innovative work as a filmmaker and creative director,...

Spanish marital drama Querer was awarded the International Competition grand prize at the 2025 Series Mania festival on Friday night (March 28) in Lille, France.

Created by Alauda Ruiz de Azua, Eduard Sola and Julia de Paz, the series is broadcast, co-produced and sold by Movistar Plus+ and centres on a family grappling with accusations of marital rape. The producers are Kowalski Films, Feelgood Media and Moviestar Plus+ and Arte is broadcasting in France.

The International Competition jury, presided over by US actress, screenwriter, producer and director Pamela Adlon, also gave its writing award to Moshe Zonder and Ronit Weiss Berkowitz for...

Spanish family drama Querer took top prize at this year’s Series Mania television festival in Lille, winning best series in the international competition.

The show from the Spanish pay-tv network Movistar Plus+ follows a woman who leaves her marriage after 30 years and makes criminal allegations against her husband, forcing their two adult sons to choose who they believe.

The international Series Mania jury, led by Pamela Adlon, gave the best actress honor to Lili Reinhart for the Cooper Raiff-directed dramedy Hal & Harper and the best actor prize to Luca Marinelli for his lead role in Joe Wright’s political biopic Mussolini: Son of the Century.

Moshe Zonder and Ronit Weiss Berkowitz took best writing for Lionsgate production The German. European political drama The Deal received a special mention from the international jury.

The audience award, voted on by festival attendees, went to Quebecois series Empathy.

In the French competition,...

Lille, France — Lili Reinhart scored best actress for “Hal & Harper” at France’s Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, as its attendance figures went through the roof.

Meanwhile, Spain’s Movistar Plus+ scored a historic double, winning the top Grand Prize in main competition for Alauda Ruiz de Azua’s “Querer” and best series for Diego San José’s “Celeste,” co-produced with The Mediapro Studio, in the fest’s major sidebar.

Further top honors in main competition recognised a second series from a major female talent, Quebec’s Florence Longpré whose “Empathy” won Series Mania’s prestigious Audience Award.

Presided by Pamela Adlon, the main competition jury recognized most of the competition favourites also prizing veteran Israeli writers Moshe Zonder and Ronit Weiss Berkowitz for the screenplay of “The German” and Luca Marinelli for his tearaway performance as Benito Mussolini Joe Wright’s “M: Son Of The Century.

Lili Reinhart has scooped the top acting prize at Series Mania for Hal & Harper, Cooper Raiff’s indie TV series in which she stars opposite Mark Ruffalo.

The Riverdale star won Best Actress, while Best Actor went to Italy’s Luca Marinelli, who plays Benito Mussolini in Sky’s Mussolini: Son of the Century. At a ceremony in Lille this evening, the Grand Prize was awarded to Spanish series Querer and Best Writing went to to Lionsgate and yes TV’s The German, which had its screening disrupted by protests earlier this week.

Reinhart is the second consecutive American woman to win the top Series Mania prize following Annette Bening, who took it home last year for Peacock’s Apples Never Fall. In Hal & Harper, she plays one of the titular characters opposite Raif, who try to preserve their childhood, even though their single father, played by Ruffalo,...

For Pamela Adlon, starting to watch a new show can be a treacherous thing.

“I have Ocd so if I start something, I’m screwed. I know I’ve got to see this through,” the multi-hyphenate explained, kicking off the jury press conference for this year’s Series Mania.

Adlon, a multiple-Emmy nominee for her writing and acting work on FX’s Better Things and Louie, has been binging on some the best in global TV as head of of the international jury at the international television festival, which runs through March 28 in Lille, France. She joined her fellow jurors — Downton Abbey and Better Call Saul director Minkie Spiro, award-winning French actress Karin Viard (The Bélier Family, Polisse), U.S.-Argentine actor Ignacio Serricchio (Bones, The Young and the Restless), and French musician and composer Victor Le Masne — to talk up the small screen highlights of this year’s competition.

Exclusive: Dark star Oliver Masucci didn’t know what he was getting in for when he signed up for The German, Lionsgate and Yes TV’s Israeli series about the hunt for Josef Mengele.

While filming on the show was distressing enough given its heavy subject matter, Masucci tells us he felt “co-traumatized” by the Israel-Hamas war that was raging around him as cameras rolled. On some days, as many as 40 to 60 rockets were dropped during production and the team were forced to spend lots of time in bomb shelters, Masucci explained.

“The inner movement and inner world of [The German’s main character] Uri, who is also a traumatized person, is conflicted because he wants to put everything away and move forward with his life,” said Masucci on the eve of The German’s Series Mania premiere. “But you get co-traumatized while you’re there and start acting like the Israelis. I tried to...

With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.

Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.

Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or...

With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.

Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.

Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or...

Drama fans and industry execs descending upon the northern French city of Lille for Series Mania this year can expect stars, politics and premieres. Christina Hendricks will walk the purple carpet, while the spine of the shows in the International Competition skews political this time.

With scores of new series premiering, talent coming to town, and a sizeable industry component, the event will set the stage for the year ahead in scripted TV.

“When I created Series Mania, I was saying that series can reflect our world and Series Mania is where you put them in the light,” founder and General Director Laurence Herszberg tells Deadline, just weeks before the festival commences.

Surveying the International Competition line-up, she addresses the political themes in several series. If it’s a 2025 drama trend, the Series Mania chief is fine with that.

“I studied and am really interested in politics, and Series Mania is a place for artists,...

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival turned out to be a low-key affair, but it got off to a rousing start with a $15 million world rights sale of Together, the body horror film acquired by Neon. Starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, it gives Neon a chance to follow up the rousing genre success of Longlegs last year.

Together, which also has landed a berth at SXSW, is written/directed by Michael Shanks. Franco and Brie are a couple that moves to the countryside and a supernatural encounter begins an extreme transformation of their love, their lives, and their flesh. It was a real crowd pleaser to the Midnight Madness audience.

The film was produced and financed by Picturestart, marking the latest in a string of notable deals put together by the company formed by Erik Feig after a run at Summit and Lionsgate that included The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games,...

Director Cooper Raiff has only been in the business for a few years, but he has ascended to indie darling status rather quickly, with his upcoming series Hal & Harperreceiving rave reviews at Sundance this year. With just two feature-length films and now Hal & Harper, Raiff has honed a distinct tone that blends humor and earnestness. His first project, Shithouse is a sweet and unflinching look at college dating that is guaranteed to take viewers back through their own memories in a visceral way. But the honesty in this film is also a result of Raiff's being college-aged when he made it, and drawing directly from his own experience of the unique and often awkward social experiment that is college.

Amanda Seyfried and Happy Valley alums James Norton and Sally Wainwright will be adding a dose of star power to this year’s Series Mania, while Pamela Adlon is to head up the jury.

Seyfried will attend promoting her Peacock series Long Bright River, which is having its French premiere in the international competition. In Long Bright River, which is based on the Liz Moore novel, Seyfried plays a Philadelphian police officer who works in a neighborhood with high drug use where a series of murders take place.

Long Bright River is in the international competition alongside the likes of Cooper Raiff’s Hal & Harper, with Raiff set to attend, Joe Wright’s Mussolini: Son Of The Century and Israel-America’s The German from Yes Studios.

The jury for these shows will be led by Emmy winner and Better Things star Pamela Adlon. The jury will consist of Victor Le Masne...

Urban loneliness is strange. Despite being surrounded by people who could potentially make our empty lives whole, most of us are stuck dining alone. We are so incredibly awkward about our need for people that when we get a glimmer of hope in finding someone, we cannot refocus our gaze on anything else. In James Sweeney’s “Twinless,” two men bond with each other after meeting at a bereavement group that is catered to people who have lost their twins – both of them craving for the oneness in someone who is an exact copy of them – someone who understands the DNA that propels them to be who they are.

Dylan O’Brien plays the first set of twins Rocky and Roman. The narrative is focused on Roman – a big-old softy who is intellectually challenged and gets on the edge when pushed to see just how transparent his personality is. Rocky’s...

Cooper Raiff returns to Sundance with “Hal & Harper” (season 1), a moving drama that follows almost a decade of a family’s life. It brings Raiff’s distinctive slice-of-life narration style that revolves around some of the nicest people you can imagine. Despite their apparent ‘niceness,’ they are just as flawed and multi-faceted as you would ideally want your characters to be. Raiff adds something peculiar in all his heartening dramas that makes it impossible not to be moved by their emotional struggles. So, even the acts of basic human empathy in his films can make you bawl your eyes out.

Much like his debut, “Shithouse” or his sophomore feature, “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” the premise is fairly simple in “Hal & Harper.” This 8-episode-long season mainly follows the titular characters of a brother and a sister, and their messy, but endearing relationship with each other, and with their father.

Exclusive: Here’s a novel package that should generate some heat in the cold of Berlin’s EFM next week.

Black Bear is launching Bad Boy, a new breed of genre film that charts a young woman’s fight to escape a deadly serial killer through the eyes of man’s best friend, his faithful dog. There have been plenty of kids films and some dramas told from an animal’s perspective, but not many horror films.

From the producer of Longlegs, Dave Caplan, and M3gan, Divide/Conquer’s Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath, the film is set to star Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Lili Reinhart (Hustlers). Genre director Jacob Chase will direct Travis Braun’s Black List-topping script. Dave Caplan’s company C2 will also fully finance. Filming is due to start in August in Canada.

Filmmaker Cooper Raiff is a low-key indie darling, thanks to his charming leading and directing films like the SXSW Film Festival award winner "S#!thouse" and "Cha Cha Real Smooth," the latter of which won the Audience Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. If you haven't seen either of those movies, they're both worth your time, if only because both films feature Raiff as such a likable, lost twenty-something stuck in arrested development.

At the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Raiff is staying in similar, familiar territory as one-half of the titular duo in "Hal & Harper," but he enters a new arena by writing and directing this project as an eight-episode TV series that he spent six years writing before getting it financed and shooting the 300-page project in just 50 days. The labor of love comes with all the hearty laughs and heartstring-pulling emotions that made Raiff previous cinematic entries such wonderful experiences.

The Sundance Film Festival offers an exciting in-person experience for all of their films, but to access the demand from people with busy schedules or those unable to make it to Utah for the festival, they’ve recently put their films online. Bunnylovr is the exact type of movie that fits into this new change. It’s a contemplative film about modern digital sex work that feels as aimless as its main character.

Bunnylovr Sundance Review

Zhu stars in her directorial debut as Rebecca, a Chinese-American camgirl with no idea of her future. She has a modest following on a live-streaming pornographic site but has no prospects outside of that. Her dad is dying, and her friend doesn’t seem to like her much at all. This, naturally, leads her into a dark corner of her life after she becomes entranced by a fan who showers her with money, played...

If there’s one word to describe indie filmmaker Cooper Raiff, it’s “phenom.” After winning the SXSW Grand Jury Prize for his feature debut, Shithouse, Raiff’s second feature, Cha Cha Real Smooth, won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2022. His latest project, Hal & Harper, is an eight-episode independent television show — produced in full — and is his most ambitious project yet.

The show follows a brother and sister (Raiff and Lili Reinhart) and their dad (Mark Ruffalo) over a span of several years as they try to navigate their co-dependent relationship with one another. What makes Hal & Harper so bracingly unique is that Raiff and Reinhart play both the adult versions and child versions of themselves. However, those familiar with Raiff’s work know that this is no mere gimmick.

We at FandomWire had the opportunity to speak with Raiff ahead of the show’s Sundance premiere,...

At its heart, Sundance is about discovery. Some of our brightest, biggest filmmaking stars — we’re talking Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Ava DuVernay, Paul Thomas Anderson, Lulu Wang, Ryan Coogler, Aubrey Plaza, Catherine Hardwicke, Todd Haynes, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Eggers, the Duplass brothers, Michael B. Jordan, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Olsen, Brie Larson, Lakeith Stanfield, Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, and many, many more — first rose to acclaim by bringing their work to Sundance.

In 2025, a year that was long-heralded as one all about new discoveries, that tradition only continued. While this year’s lineup included a number of returning names, like Ira Sachs, Amy Berg, Andrew Ahn, Justin Lin, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Cooper Raiff, Kahlil Joseph, Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, David France, Jesse Short Bull, Ryan White, Sophie Hyde, Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine, Meera Menon, and Clint Bentley, there were also a hefty number of newbies joining those filmmaking ranks.

Cooper Raiff’s latest work, “Hal & Harper,” delves into the intricate emotional world of two siblings. The story tracks Hal (Raiff) and Harper (Lili Reinhart), whose lives remain deeply impacted by their mother’s death. Raiff, serving as writer, director, and lead actor, examines their complex relationship with nuanced storytelling.

The eight-episode series probes the siblings’ interconnected experiences after their mother’s passing. Their father (Mark Ruffalo) retreats into emotional isolation, leaving Hal and Harper to wrestle with their shared grief during early adulthood. Each scene explores how personal loss can profoundly shape individual paths and familial connections.

The narrative moves between moments of lightness and profound sadness, revealing the complicated spectrum of human emotions. By presenting raw, unfiltered interactions, the series creates a deeply personal portrait of two individuals struggling to understand themselves through their collective pain.

Threads of Codependency: An Exploration of Hal & Harper’s Characters

“Hal...

At this year's Sundance Film Festival, writer, director, and actor Cooper Raiff(Cha Cha Real Smooth) returned to Park City for the World Premiere of his drama series Hal & Harper. Joined by his castmates, the group sat down with Collider's Perri Nemiroff to discuss the inspiration behind the decades-spanning show that took Raiff six years to pen (landing him with a 300-page script) and only 50 days to shoot Season 1.

“Hal and Harper” was an enormous undertaking for the TV series’ writer/director/star Cooper Raiff, who also self-financed the eight-episode show through his Small Ideas production banner. While stopping by the IndieWire Studio, presented by Dropbox, with his “Hal and Harper” cast, Raiff talked about how much of himself he poured into “Hal and Harper” during the six years it took to make it — having dedicated his whole being to the project in a way he said he’ll never do again.

“[‘Hal and Harper’] has a lot to do with the feelings and the relationships in my childhood, and in my present,” said Raiff. “But it just was this story that wouldn’t let up, it’s the thing that is biggest inside of me, and I do feel like I’m also letting it go, and it feels really emotional.”

For Raiff, self-financing the series and shooting...

Sometimes, the first interaction between two characters tells you everything you need to know about their dynamic. When Hal (Cooper Raiff) clambers in through his sister Harper’s (Lili Reinhart) bedroom window at 3 a.m. so that they can go to McDonald’s, it’s clear that this isn’t your average sibling relationship. They have almost no boundaries, they talk constantly, and are more or less the center of each other’s lives. It’s endearing and obviously unhealthy, and Hal & Harper—which Raiff also created, wrote, and directed—spends eight funny, fraught episodes exploring how they ended up this way, and where they go from here.

The story picks up as Hal is fumbling his way through a college course that he doesn’t really care about while Harper is stuck in a soulless office job and a long-term relationship that she’s no longer fully invested in but...

Exclusive: Corbin Bernsen (Clipped) has wrapped production on Woodstockers, an indie TV pilot for which he wrote the original draft, in which he stars opposite Stephen Tobolowsky (Nobody Wants This).

The original logline for the dark generational comedy teased the story of “two guys who went to Woodstock in ’69 and never left,” with Bernsen and Tobolowsky respectively playing friends Lenny Baker and Cal Reddick. But per Bernsen, who relocated to the Hudson Vally six years ago, “Early on I had the good fortune to connect with Michael Lang, one of the original organizers of Woodstock, and quickly discovered a deeper story about the 60’s and a generation who espoused ‘Love and Peace,’ but failed in their early attempts to ‘change the world.’ At the same time, I witnessed a new generation dusting off the “hippie” mantra and giving it their own spin.”

Woodstockers‘ cast also includes Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey...

In a few short years, Cooper Raiff has established himself as one of the most interesting young filmmakers working today. His debut, the acclaimed “Shithouse,” caught everyone off guard in the best way possible. His next film, “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” showed that he is able to handle a film with a bigger budget. But even though Raiff has established himself in Hollywood, that doesn’t mean he’s able to secure financing, as he explained recently.

Continue reading ‘The Trashers’: Cooper Raiff’s Feature Is Not Moving Forward Due To Lack Of Financing at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Andrew Ahn started in indie cinema before moving into studio comedies with Fire Island and now a remake of the seminal queer film The Wedding Banquet. However, despite telling relatively straightforward stories, Ahn makes his movies from a place of uncommon honesty and great representation. That is the case with The Wedding Banquet — a conventional film elevated by its cast and authenticity.

The Wedding Banquet Review

Inspired by the 1993 classic directed by Ang Lee, the movie follows two friends — one gay and the other lesbian — who make an unusual deal: they enter into a sham heterosexual marriage so that both of them can reap the benefits they need. While the original film was a clever reinvention of the romantic comedy genre, this remake coming out 30 years later feels much less original and unique.

Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, Han Gi-Chan, Bowen Yang appear in The Wedding Banquet by Andrew Ahn,...

Finding ways to take creative risks in the tricky environment of corporate studio financing was a major talking point at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

As a mixed Indigenous woman, Kali Reis, who’s featured in the drama “Rebuilding” alongside Josh O’Connor, often reflects on her own values before signing onto a role or agreeing to a new project.

“I look like a lot of misrepresented and underrepresented communities and if they see me speaking up and staying true to myself, that means more to me than getting cast in a major project,” Reis explained.

Havana Rose Liu, Logan Lerman, Cooper Raiff and Sophie Nélisse joined Reis at the “Risk Takers” panel moderated by Matt Donnelly, Variety‘s Senior Entertainment and Media Writer. The panel was presented by Variety & Acura Cocktails and Conversations at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

“Yellowjackets” star Nélisse, who was at Sundance this year...

After winning the Oscar for Best Documentary for his feature debut, Summer of Soul, Amir “Questlove” Thompson is returning to filmmaking with his sophomore feature, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius). While the concept behind his second film might seem like a more straightforward biography, Questlove brings such a refreshingly deep approach to his subject that the result is utterly fantastic.

Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) Review

Sly Lives! tells the story of Sly and the Family Stone — one of the most influential groups of all time in Black music history and music history as a whole. Questlove already got a taste of Sly and the Family Stone’s story in Summer of Soul, ending his first film with their performance at the Harlem Cultural Festival, but in this film, he dives deep into the group and its frontman’s story and legacy.

Related Oscars...

Sophie Hyde’s last film, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, made a big splash when it premiered at Sundance in 2022. The Australian filmmaker returns to the festival with Jimpa, a semi-autobiographical dramedy that could not be coming at a better time. Despite its flaws, there’s an undeniably lovable quality to Jimpa that is only accentuated by its timeliness.

Jimpa Review

Jimpa follows a filmmaker who is forced to confront her past after her nonbinary teenager expresses a desire to live with their gay grandfather in Amsterdam. It’s part family drama, part coming-of-age film, and part gay rights historical drama, and the result is a film that feels like an amalgamation of the tropes of a few different genres.

Related Hal & Harper Sundance Review — Cooper Raiff’s Miniseries Is His Most Ambitious Work Yet

Considering that it is based on its writer-director’s own experiences with her father,...

When it comes to festival midnight films, sometimes it’s best to go in blind and with a lack of anticipation. Rabbit Trap, the directorial debut of Bryn Chieny, stars Dev Patel (Monkey Man) and is produced by Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), which was enough of a hook for this writer. Unfortunately, even with minimal expectations, Rabbit Trap was massively disappointing.

Rabbit Trap Review

Rabbit Trap follows a married musician couple who move to a remote cabin in Wales, where they record a mysterious (and perhaps mystical) sound and meet a strange child who may be harboring a dark secret. Considering that spooky sounds and mysticism are two of the most eerie things there are, this film should work, but it just completely falls apart.

Related By Design Sundance Review — A Bizarre and Utterly Unique Feminist Genre Picture

The concept behind Rabbit Trap is pretty fascinating. It’s...

In a year that we’re set to get a solo directorial effort from each of the Safdie brothers, we’re also seeing a Safdie-esque film from a decidedly feminist perspective. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is certain to be divisive, as it will earn many fans for its unusual tone and bluntly honest approach to its themes, but some may find it difficult to connect with for the same reasons.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Review

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You follows a woman whose world is both literally and figuratively crashing down around her, as she struggles to deal with home damage, her daughter’s mysterious illness, and her own mental health struggles. The word to describe this film is “relentless” because, after about five minutes, the film is just a non-stop barrage of cruelty to its protagonist.

Related By...

Cooper Raiff is back at Sundance and joined the Variety Studio presented by Audible to talk about his big return to the Park City festival. The director is world premiering his first television series “Hal & Harper” at Sundance. The project was made independently, which surprised some considering his last movie, “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” became one of the biggest breakouts of the 2022 fest with a huge $15 million sale to Apple. So what does a deal of that size actually lead to?

“It makes you too confident,” Cooper told Variety‘s Angelique Jackson. “Because of that deal, I thought, ‘Let’s just do it with television.’ That’s what I told everyone. We’re really braving the storm with the series. ‘Cha Cha’ was sold on the backs of so many indie movies. With this, we’re trying to sell this show…so it has to be this undeniable thing...

With just two films, writer, director, and actor Cooper Raiff has found a very specific voice that manages to be honest, relatable, and extremely earnest in equal measure. With his 2020 debut Shithouse, he created an almost Richard Linklater-esque romance that showed a completely unique take on loneliness and frustration with college life. In his 2022 film, Cha Cha Real Smooth, Raiff turned what could’ve been a simple rom-com into a story about finding yourself, knowing when to break away from a relationship, and gaining the maturity to become an adult. With his latest project, Hal & Harper, Raiff tries his hand at television with an eight-episode series created independently that reconfirms him as one of the most exciting up-and-coming entertainment creators working today, while telling a story that’s his most mature and intricate yet.