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Rooftop Films has announced the recipients of their 2023 Filmmakers Fund grants. A total of 21 cash and service grants will be awarded to a variety of independent filmmakers to support the production of their next short or feature film. Four Rooftop Films Water Tower Feature Film cash grants will be exclusively awarded with support from the Laurence W. Levine Foundation.

Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grants are made accessible to Rooftop Films alumni directors who have had their work screened during the annual Sumer Series in New York City. This years grantees include a demographic of over 60% women, 30% people of color and 10% people a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

“We’re unbelievably excited about the projects we’ve had the privilege of helping to fund this year! Every single one of these filmmakers approach their subjects in ways that are wholly unique to their style and vision, and we can’t wait to see the finished works,...

As one of the early event cancellations in the deluge of unprecedented closures caused by the coronavirus, it’s easy to forget that SXSW would still be running right now. The Austin-based film, TV, and music festival was scheduled to be hosting screenings through March 22, and its Episodic Pilot lineup — a showcase of TV and web pilots aimed to help filmmakers find production opportunities, completion funds, or a release platform — would’ve aired all its entries before St. Patrick’s Day.

Using the SXSW Press platform provided for would-be attendees, IndieWire watched this year’s batch and picked out the most notable entries below. Among the 14 submissions split into two screening groups, there are the typical handful of “pilots” that aren’t really pilots — they’re proofs of concept or short films. But unlike the film side, many indie TV shows that screen at festivals aren’t looking to be...

Cult variety TV show “The Eyeslicer” is gearing up for its second season, one that will move the streaming series into the terrestrial world with a brand new mini film festival, taking place in Brooklyn from September 14 to 17. The brainchild of creators Dan Schoenbrun and Vanessa McDonnell, the episodic series invites some of independent film’s most exciting directors to embrace their weird and experimental side in making a variety of short content, which is then weaved into thematic episodes.

The 13-episode Season 2 of “The Eyeslicer” will feature work from over 70 filmmakers, offerings that the co-creators describe as “a deep-dive into the strange, dark heart of our contemporary American hellscape, while also being an optimistic celebration of independent art-making within said hellscape.”

Starting with this new season, the internet will no longer be the series’ principal platform, but it will instead use a unique, zine-inspired mini-festival in Brooklyn and the...

In the golden age of television, the New York Television Festival is quickly becoming the place to find the next crown jewel. Now in its 12th year, the festival continues to grow each year both in scope and prestige, boasting a record number of submissions, artists, and industry participation.

“It’s taken us a couple of years to get to this point, but we’re hitting our stride at a time where there is great creativity in TV and digital,” said Nytvf Founder and Executive Director Terence Gray, surveying the room bustling with pitch meetings on plush couches. “It’s fun, you see these incredibly talented people that are being given a shot to sit down with agents and managers and executives.”

Read More: ‘Arrested Development’ Creator Mitch Hurwitz’s Pitching Secret: Make ‘Em Laugh

Grey founded Nytvf twelve years ago, shrewdly filling an opening for a Sundance-like festival for independent television creators.