How often is the Independent Film Blog newsletter published?

The newsletter goes out every week, with 25 or more original reviews, filmmaker interviews, and festival dispatches in each issue.

Is the newsletter free?

Yes. The weekly newsletter is free to subscribers and is supported by the publication's independent editorial operation.

Who writes the newsletter?

The newsletter is written by Independent Film Blog's 11 staff critics and a wider network of contributing writers, three of whom serve on international festival juries.

Which festivals does the newsletter cover?

The team reports from 22 international film festivals each year, including Sundance, TIFF, Cannes, SXSW, Berlinale, and Rotterdam.

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The Indie Film Newsletter — Weekly Reviews & Festival Dispatches

ISSUE №612

Thursday, 12 September 2024

The TIFF Issue — Twenty-two reviews from a festival that refused to behave.

REVIEWDaniel MerrittThe Brutalist, or: how a three-and-a-half-hour immigrant epic stole the platform prize.
DISPATCHYuki Tanaka, from the Scotiabank TheatreSix notes from the press line: what the programmers told me on day three.
INTERVIEWMara LevinMike Leigh on the seven pages of dialogue he cut, and why the film got better.
COLUMNEditorWhy TIFF still matters for a cinema that is quietly being priced out of its own premieres.

ISSUE №608

Thursday, 15 August 2024

Locarno dispatch — quiet films, loud arguments, and a jury that almost broke in half.

REVIEWSven HolmA second look at the Pardo d'Oro winner — and the case against it.
DISPATCHSven Holm, from Piazza GrandeThree nights at the open-air screening: how Locarno audiences still clap in time.
INTERVIEWAmelia CrossThe director who shot her entire film on a Nokia 3310 — yes, really.
ROUNDTABLEFive staff criticsWas this the strongest Locarno in a decade? The desk argues for an hour.

ISSUE №601

Thursday, 27 June 2024

The half-year omnibus — twenty-five films you missed, and the five that will define the fall.

COLUMNEditorThe state of the indie theatrical release, in seven uncomfortable charts.
REVIEWPriya BhattacharyaA quiet Indian rural drama that out-Cuenca'd Cuenca this year.
INTERVIEWDaniel MerrittA filmmaker you have not heard of yet. You will by November.
DATABASEEditorialThree hundred new titles added to the indie film index this quarter.

It's the only Thursday-morning read that reliably tells me which small film to chase down before my acquisitions meeting. The critics there do the homework I no longer have time to do.

Programmer Major U.S. film festival, on the record but not by name

I read it before I read my own studio notes. That's not a compliment I hand out lightly.

A working director Independent feature, festival circuit 2024

I've been a subscriber since issue eleven, back when it was a one-person listserve. Fourteen years later it's still the most rigorous indie review site on the web — and the newsletter is the best part.

Long-time subscriber Reader since 2011, Brooklyn

Other publications cover indie film when it trends. This one covers indie film because that is its job. The newsletter is the purest expression of that.

Distributor Specialised U.S. arthouse label

AN EDITORIAL PROMISE

If a film matters in indie cinema, we covered it first. We have been saying that out loud, every Thursday, since 2011 — and we have not been wrong often enough to apologize for it.

— Daniel Merritt, Editor-in-Chief, in the inaugural issue of The Newsletter, March 2011.

The week's indie cinema, hand-delivered by working critics.

Four things, every week, that you will not find anywhere else.

Twenty-five original pieces, weekly

On-the-ground festival reporting

Written by working critics, not algorithms

Access to the 6,200-film database

Three editions, opened for you.

The TIFF Issue — Twenty-two reviews from a festival that refused to behave.

Locarno dispatch — quiet films, loud arguments, and a jury that almost broke in half.

The half-year omnibus — twenty-five films you missed, and the five that will define the fall.

From the people who actually rely on it.

One free email, every Thursday morning.