A former Sundance award-winning filmmaker, now cancelled by social media, is forced to direct online porn films for a sleazy producer.
Score: 6.5/10
Director / Writer:Mark Schwab
Starring:James Duval, Silas Kade, Fernando, Jason Caceres, Diogo Hausen
Genre:comedy, psychological thriller, lgbtq+
Runtime:89
Release:2025
Excerpt
There’s self sabotage, and then there’s Mark Schwab’s Cutaways (2025), a queer drama that could easily be touted as a “psychological thriller”. From start to finish Cutaways raises a variety of red flags that you just can’t look away from.
Running Through My Head
Is Andy trying to seduce Evan Quick? For Cutaways
There’s self sabotage, and then there’s Mark Schwab’s Cutaways (2025), a queer drama that could easily be touted as a “psychological thriller”. We follow director Evan Quick’s (Silas Kade) fall from favor as he lands in the cradle of sin that is the valley porn industry. The disgraced filmmaker was “canceled” due to allegations of misconduct and forced to direct porn films to keep on the lights. He’s not even doing a great job at that, but he has secured himself a 3 picture deal from local self-made man Sammy (the incomparable James Duvall). From start to finish Cutaways raises a variety of red flags that you just can’t look away from.
My Gender Is Black is an experimental documentary exploring how Blackness shapes, complicates, and expands gender identity through masculinity, sexuality, embodiment, performance, vulnerability, and self-definition.
Score: 6/10
Director / Writer:Terry Blade
Starring:Cristian Julian Chigbolu, Ujah Ogbole, Big Sexy, Jay Hill, Syd Tillman, James Baldwin
Genre:documentary, short film, experimental
Runtime:20
Release:2026
Excerpt
The first step towards living in your intersectionalities is being seen, and acknowledging that the things that make us different, also make us human. Terry Blade’s "My Gender is Black (2026)" is an artful reckoning that invites the viewer to figure out where they belong.
Limitless
Intersectionality is an interesting concept that discusses when a person has multiple social identities. A woman may have the same needs as other women, but a Black woman might require specialized care. Whether an Asian queer man, a transgender biracial woman, intersectionalities provide contact to how we interact in this world and how we’re perceived. There are so many ways we can define ourselves! On a clear day, these intersections have working lights that manage the traffic smoothly. But other times – more often than not it seems – you end up with a big ole wreck. However, the first step towards living in your intersectionalities is being seen, and acknowledging that the things that make us different, also make us human. Terry Blade’s My Gender is Black (2026) is an artful reckoning that invites the viewer to figure out where they belong.
Two strangers in their 50s, both going through pivotal moments in their lives, meet on a hike in Sedona and share a deep connection as they talk about life, love, legacy, and the betterment of humankind.
Score: 8/10
Director / Writer:Monique Sorgen
Starring:Alysia Reiner, Wallace Langham
Genre:romance, drama
Runtime:90 min
Release:2026
Excerpt
These sorts of passion projects can lend themselves to being overly pretentious or preachy, but Sorgen has created a near perfect balance that gives the viewer lots to love and think about.
One Day in Heaven
Wallace Langham and Alysia Reiner in One Day in Sedona
I’ve ranted at length about films that sermonize – the proclivity to make a film touting your beliefs and thoughts on everything whether it’s relevant to the plot and setting or not. It’s very hard to accomplish without being cloying and even harder to do so successfully. So imagine my surprise when Monique Sorgen’s One Day in Sedona graced my screen. It’s a simple film made simply and features two main characters who walk and talk for 90 minutes. And it’s glorious.
We follow Julie (Alysia Reiner) as she weaves through Sedona’s baffling traffic grid, appearing to write a eulogy for her father. She’s thinking about legacy and heads to a local hike spot to clear her mind. She parks next to a motorcyclist that has shown up spontaneously and completely unprepared. Will (Wallace Langham) suddenly found himself with a lot of free time and many more intrusive thoughts. Unfortunately he doesn’t have nearly enough water and Julie graciously offers her tumblr to him. She’s packed a 3 litre pouch in her backpack – another thing Will doesn’t have.
After an E.R. doctor treats an injured boy, he is pulled into the world of gangs and street violence in the underbelly of Los Angeles.
Score: 5/10
Director / Writer:Attila Korosi
Starring:Attila Korosi, Michael Flores, Ishaan Bahri, Daniel Hovey, Angel Hovey, Robert LaSardo
Genre:crime drama, indie, experimental
Runtime:83 min
Release:2023
Excerpt
As long as the story is solid, the pacing is well managed and everything makes sense, it’s easy to rate an independent film. Unfortunately, this film failed to deliver on most of these metrics, but… I still liked it?
Follow the Leader
l-r: Adriana Guerrero, Sara Hovey, Angel Hovey, and Daniel Hovey. Cast who are also members of Alberto Guerrero’s immediate family. Live and Die in East LA is dedocated tp Alberto in memoriam.
Joining a gang seems like a lot of effort for little reward; still, many are still drawn to the allure of comraderie and illegal group activity andLive and Die in East LA is poised to act as both an homage and a deterrent. I love the renegade style of indie film and I’m happy to give a lot of grace to productions that can’t always deliver award winning performances or stellar special effects. As long as the story is solid, the pacing is well managed and everything makes sense, it’s easy to rate an independent film. Unfortunately, this film failed to deliver on most of these metrics, but… I still liked it?
Maybe it’s the potential and maybe it’s the collaboration with Homeboy Industries and GRYD (Gang Reduction & Youth Development) – two organizations looking to end gang violence in Los Angeles. Maybe it’s the authentic ex-gang members who are being so vulnerable and open with their stories, or maybe it’s the inventive animated interstitials that condemn selfishness and backstabbing through the metaphorical tale of an ambitious caterpillar (animated by the talented Mio Yamanaka)?
For filmmaker Freddy Long, limited resources are merely a challenge to get creative. A music producer turned composer, writer/director and producers, Long brought his feature, Feel the Burn to life with only $20,000. Being able to create a film by balancing genre ambition with the practival realities of independed production. I sat with him and talked about his beginnings, providing opportunities for his colleagues and why Black filmmakers should feel free to explore different kinds of stories.
Stacey Yvonne: Where are you from, and how did you first get into filmmaking?
Freddy Long: I was born and raised in Miami. I lived in different neighborhoods, but where I became who I am was Carol City.
In this exclusive video interview, I sit down with filmmaker Freddy Long to discuss his beginnings, his filmmaking and what’s next.
How do you bring an espionage film to life on a $20,000 budget? Writer and director Freddy Long joins Stacey Yvonne to discuss his independent film Feel the Burn, his journey from music production to filmmaking, and the creativity it takes to make every dollar count.
We explore writing complex female characters, bringing Black cultural authenticity to genre storytelling, and adapting ambitious scenes to real-world limitations. Long also shares his filmmaking influences and his interest in tackling sci-fi horror next.
Sabrina’s work happens through a screen. Then a patient starts crossing boundaries. As compassion becomes a source of danger, the distance between her sessions and her private life begins to disappear.
Score: 7/10
Director / Writer:Sean O. McGuiness w. Joe Verrastro
She Listens Alone (2026) is a heady psychological thriller that will leave the audience considering which barriers to keep around ourselves and which to tear down.
Your Therapist’s Therapist
Alivia Levie as “Sabrina” for She Lives Alone
For a while I read the title of this film as “She Lives Alone” and it was apropos as a story about a young therapist whose practice and life have both become fairly isolated. I also rearranged the words of the title calling it “She Alone Listens” which is also fitting as we watch her intake information from her clients while never being able to deposit her own. She Listens Alone (2026) is a heady psychological thriller that will leave the audience considering which barriers to keep around ourselves and which to tear down.
A musician on a tropical vacation with his family meets an ancient mythical creature who falls in love with him and demands his love in return, or else he faces deadly consequences.
Score: 4/10
Director / Writer:Frank Merle
Starring:Jamie Kennedy, Ash Tsai, Jason Markoff
Genre:horror, indie
Runtime:92 min
Release:2026
Excerpt
I’m not against a movie being made to facilitate a vacation, but the final story should justify the trip. Frank Merle’s Namaka (2026) is a thriller with a lot of potential but sometimes loses track of its own plot.
Namaka’s Siren Song
Ash Tsai as Namaka
I’m not against a movie being made to facilitate a vacation, but the final story should justify the trip. Frank Merle’s Namaka (2026) is a thriller with a lot of potential but sometimes loses track of its own plot. Set on one of the picturesque Hawaiian islands, Namaka serves as a cautionary tale though the underlying message is a bit unclear.
In the ruins of a burned-out church, a defeated and depressed musician debates existence with two irreverent puppet companions, while reliving the betrayal, artistic rejection, and failed romance that pushed him toward nihilism.
Score: 4/10
Director / Writer:Walter Santucci
Starring:Jack Grisham, Evelyn Vazquez, Tony Nittoli
Genre:experimental, short, indie, alternative
Runtime:66
Release:2026
Excerpt
I’m not sure that the viewer is supposed to see it as a metaphor of how depression can mess with memory and perspective. If I’m supposed to acknowledge the blinders Human has put around the situation, or am I supposed to believe him completely and be on his side. For a film so multilayered and unique production-wise, it feels like the same amount of care wasn’t paid to the story – if that’s what this actually is.
I Hate Myself and Want To Die
Human waxes
Puppeteering multihyphenate Walter Sanducci’s new film I’d Rather Be Turned Into Cat Food (2026) vacillates wildly between performance art, biopic, fever dream, therapy session and propaganda film. It’s unequal parts pleasure and pain wherein the pleasure of the film is the amazing soundtrack composed by Santucci, and artful editing, and the pain is… well first, let’s define pain. Sometimes sharp, sometimes dull, sometimes quick and other times lingering, pain is a universal feeling whose intensity and tolerance lies in the body of the beholder. This film is full of pain only it’s mistaken for self-awareness and introspection and the film may suffer because of it.
After receiving a devastating diagnosis, a severely depressed veteran who hides his pain through self-isolation and alcohol must accept the help of his famous cousin or risk becoming just another statistic.
Score: 6.5/10
Director / Writer:Ammie Masterson, Kevin Machate, Todd Rodgers
Starring:Kevin Machate, Beth Shea, Ammie Masterson, Barry Corbin, Gayland Williams
Genre:drama
Runtime:23
Release:2026
Excerpt
In a world plagued by social injustice, medical inequity and community initiatives that are less and less about actual community, movie watchers are learning towards escapism. So why is that Kevin Machate’s moody drama Worst Enemy (2026) works so well in a moment that’s made to resist it?
I’m a Hazard to Myself
Kevin Machate as “Shane” in Worst Enemy
In a world plagued by social injustice, medical inequity and community initiatives that are less and less about actual community, movie watchers are learning towards escapism. Many would rather ignore the harsh truths of life to settle into the blessed freedom of fantasy. So why is that Kevin Machate’s moody drama Worst Enemy (2026) works so well in a moment that’s made to resist it?
