About

Independent Film Week History

Formerly known as IFFM and IFP Market, Project Forum has had a prolific history in the independent community supporting both emerging and established independent filmmakers at critical stages in their development processes. The organization championed the early work of pioneering independent filmmakers Charles Burnett, Todd Haynes, Mira Nair, Michael Moore, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Kevin Smith, Todd Solondz, and Wayne Wang. Recently, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Debra Granik, (Down to the Bone) Miranda July (Me, You and Everyone We Know), and Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden (Half Nelson).

Recent Highlights

Emerging Narrative: Shaka King’s Newlyweeds, Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Erin Greenwell’s My Best Day, Susan Youssef’s Habbi, Ron Eyal & Eleanor Burke’s Stranger Things, Paola Mendoza’s Entre Nos, Matt Porterfield’s Putty Hill,  and Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River

No Borders Co-Production Market: David Lowery Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Olivia Silver’s Arcadia, Behn Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lance Edmands Bluebird,Ryan O’Nan’sThe Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, Rama Burshtein’s Fill The Void,Joshua Sanchez Four, Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Gun Hill Road,  Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Howl, Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies, Anais Barbeau-Lavalette’s Inch’Allah, Pia Marais’ Layla Fourie, Ry Russo-Young’s Nobody Walks, Todd Rohal’s Nature Calls, Sara Blecher Otello Burning, Jalmari Helander’s Rare Exports, Liza Johnson’s Return, So Young Kim’s Treeless Mountain.

Spotlight on Documentaries: Lauren Greenfield’s The Queen of Versailles; Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman’s If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front; Marie Losier’s The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye; Michael Collins’ Give Up Tomorrow; Laura Poitras’ The Oath, Jennifer Arnold’s A Small Act, Rebecca Richman Cohen’s War Don Don, Julia Bacha’s Budrus, Jennifer Redfearn’s Sun Come Up, Aaron Schock’s Circo, Rick Goldsmith and Judith Ehrlich’s The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, Aron Gaudet’s The Way We Get By, Kimberly Reed’s Prodigal Sons