{"id":7855001,"date":"2025-09-30T19:36:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T02:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7855001"},"modified":"2025-10-03T09:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:43:16","slug":"state-of-indie-film-panel-thegrill-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/state-of-indie-film-panel-thegrill-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmakers Unpack the State of Indie Film and Shifting Value of Festivals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Indie films might not be what they once were. But they\u2019re not dead yet. And a big part of the state of independent film is still festivals, despite the financial and content struggles facing places like Sundance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m optimistic about it. Nothing will ever beat that experience of having a film premiere at Sundance and that night, no one’s going to sleep because they’re racing to buy from each other. Plus the high altitude! That makes people probably overspend too, which is great,” Sev Ohanian, founder of Proximity Media, said on Tuesday at TheWrap’s “State of Indie Film” panel presented by City National Bank at TheGrill conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Sundance experience has changed, as Topic Studios vice president Jasmine Daghighian pointed out when moderator Sharon Waxman, TheWrap’s founder and editor in chief, asked about the challenging landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that Sundance putting their programming online has affected the way people feel about the movies because instead of having to be in Park City and see the movies immediately in the first weekend, you can go home and watch it on Tuesday,\u201d Daghighian said. \u201cThat\u2019s one tiny thing, but I think it has negatively impacted [the experience].\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that Sundance is the only festival that can generate buzz. Daghighian said that Cannes \u2014 where Topic’s “Splitsville”<\/a> premiered earlier this year to positive reviews \u2014 feels \u201clike a better market in some ways, for awards-y movies,\u201d because of the increase of international members of the Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jonathan\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
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\u201cI feel like there\u2019s a sense of splashiness and prestige,\u201d Daghighian said. She pointed to buyers like Neon, who \u201cbought six movies at Cannes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that things are exceptionally cheery. Tommy Oliver, CEO of Confluential Films, brought up the Lily Gladstone film he produced, \u201cFancy Dance,\u201d which took a year to sell after premiering at Sundance to positive reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a movie that nobody wanted to finance,\u201d Oliver said. And it was an amazing script, Native American director, co-writer, Native American lead. We came in. We did 90% of it. Everybody loved the movie and everybody talked about the importance of supporting Indigenous cinema and doing all these things, except for when it came to buy or put up any money.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest offer they got in the first 11 months the movie was up for sale was $40,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c$40,000 doesn\u2019t cover the paper deliverables on the movie,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cWe said no, because we knew what the movie was. And part of the issue was that the people hadn’t seen her in that way.\u201d Gladstone had yet to make their Academy Award-nominated debut in Martin Scorsese\u2019s \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver said that Gladstone spoke about the movie at a big event, which was attended by Scorsese and DiCaprio and other studio bigwigs, ostensibly to promote “Killers of the Flower Moon” but also to use the platform to call out the fact that no one would buy “Fancy Dance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey sat in their power in that moment,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cWe never would have done that deal with Apple had it not been for Lily, taking them to task.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the full The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n