Film Independent Selects 15 Projects For 22nd Fast Track Film Finance Market

EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent has named the 37 filmmakers and 15 projects selected for the 22nd edition of its Fast Track Film Finance Market, which kicked off in-person November 12 and wraps up today.

Through the program, creatives working on both fictional projects and documentaries are connected with established financiers, production companies, agents, managers and other film industry professionals who can move their projects forward.

Industry participants this year included 3Pas Studios, Independent Artist Group, Bankside Films, Bleecker Street, Bright West, CAA, Chrystie Street Casting, Cinetic Media, Dead Duck Films, First Gen, Giant Leap Media, Giant Pictures, Heidi Levitt Casting, IDA, Impact Partners, Kas Kas Productions, Kindred Spirit, Ley Line Entertainment, Linden Entertainment, Los Angeles Media Fund, Mandalay Pictures, Media Res, Motto Pictures, National Geographic, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Park Pictures, Pastel, Perspective Fund, Pinky Promise, Plan B, Redefine Entertainment, Rhino Films, Rideback Rise, River Road Entertainment, Roadside Attractions, SFFILM, Searchlight Pictures, ShivHans Pictures, Sons of Rigor, Sony Pictures Classics, Sundance Institute, T-Street, Topic Studios, Tribeca Studios, Unapologetic Projects, Universal Pictures Content Group, Unnecessary Pictures, Untitled Entertainment, UTA, Visit Films, Wavelength, Winter Coat Films, Working Films, and XYZ Films.

Get the scoop on who all is involved this year below.

Today, Film Independent also announced that the $20,000 Sloan Fast Track Grant, supporting the production of a project that explores science and technology themes or characters in engaging and innovative ways, is being awarded to director Gillies MacKinnon and producers Suri Ellerton and Sarit Ben Yair for their project May Savidge Moves Her House.

Stated Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs, “This year’s Fast Track lineup features a dynamic mix of fiction and nonfiction projects that push creative boundaries and highlight the diverse voices shaping today’s film landscape.”

Daniel Cardone, Manager of Nonfiction Programs, added, “We’re thrilled to connect these visionary filmmakers with key industry players at the finance market, helping them find the resources to bring their unique stories to life.”

Burning Well

Writer/Director: MG Evangelista

Producer(s): Simone Ling, Lucas Ford

Logline: In a re-imagining of the Prodigal Son story, on receiving news of his mother’s illness, a young trans man returns home to mend complicated relationships and rediscover what love and family really mean.

Chalino

Writer/Director: Jesus Celaya

Producer(s): Diego Nájera, Harris Kauffman

Logline: The story of Chalino Sanchez, who immigrated from Sinaloa to Los Angeles in the late 1980s and triggered a musical revolution by immortalizing the lives of Mexican outlaws through song.

Tell Me A Secret

Writer/Director: Montana Mann

Producer: Steven Snyder

Logline: Thirty-three-year-old Iranian-American, Azi Rahimi, is forced to confront a secret from her adolescence when she receives an update in a long-closed missing persons case.

The Ballad of Tita and the Machines

Writer/Director: Miguel Angel Caballero

Writer/Producer: Luis Antonio Aldana

Producer: Helena Sardinha

Logline: In the near future, Tita, an aging strawberry picker and recent widow, wages a quiet rebellion against the new AI humanoids at work that threaten her livelihood.

Work

Writer/Director: April Maxey

Producer(s): Skylar Andrews, Alexander Stegmaier

Logline: A struggling photographer seeking independence is drawn back to sex work, igniting an intoxicating affair that could unravel her life.

My NDA

Directors: Juliane Dressner, Miriam Shor

Producers: Juliane Dressner, Miriam Shor, Elizabeth Woodward, Hanna Gray Organschi

Logline: My NDA follows three people as they decide to break their NDAs and, at extreme personal risk, go public with their stories. Through them, we see how a simple intellectual property contract has become a weapon used by those in power to silence, manipulate and control.

Nine

Directors: Jeremy Levine, Rachael DeCruz

Producers: Rajal Pitroda, Rachael DeCruz

Logline: After being sent to prison for life at 18, Gerald—also known as “Nine”—met Henry, who raised him into the man he is today. Using the lessons Henry taught him, Gerald organized his way out of prison. Now, Gerald is on a mission to bring his 83-year-old “Pops” home while there’s still time.

Strip, Strike, Unite!

Director/Producers: Kristina Goolsby, Sarah Skibitzke

Logline: Can a small group of North Hollywood strippers protesting dangerous conditions achieve the unthinkable — transform their workplace into the only unionized strip club in America?

Stallions

Director/Producer: Rita Baghdadi

Producer: Sahar Yousefi

Logline: A crew of stallion riders make dreams come true on the coast of Morocco.