The Popcorn List Releases Second Annual Survey of 19 Recommended Feature Films

The Popcorn List has launched its second annual survey of beneficial characteristic movies. From the press launch:

The Popcorn List (TPL), an annual survey of acclaimed characteristic movies returns for its second yr with 19 movie suggestions. TPL was based in 2024 as a discovery and visibility initiative to amplify unbiased movies that should be seen extra broadly, spotlight the invention nature of movie festivals and the craft of movie curation, and respect audiences’ need for story-driven motion pictures. The result’s an open-source database of acclaimed movies with out U.S. distribution (theatrical, VOD, self-distributed), as beneficial by competition programmers throughout the nation.

In addition to compiling the checklist, a element of the mission is monitoring and amplifying the movies’ distribution pathways. The inaugural checklist is up to date recurrently with VOD and theatrical availability and different distribution particulars. About 50% of the 2024 movies can be found now within the U.S., or coming quickly. Several have taken extra conventional distribution routes, whereas some are partaking in various viewers engagement methods. “It was inspiring to be a part of the inaugural cohort of The Popcorn List,” stated Egghead & Twinkie director Sarah Kambe Holland. “The road to distribution has been long and difficult, but the Popcorn List was a bright spot in that journey. We felt supported, seen, and heard. It felt like a vote of confidence and a reason to not give up.” The movie, which stays essentially the most beneficial in TPL historical past (by 4 totally different competition programmers) is coming to VOD April twenty ninth.

As distribution continues to be in flux, frustrations stay round getting gross sales brokers and distributors to look past market festivals, not to mention restricted or no minimal ensures (MGs), or touchdown a distribution companion who can really entice new audiences to the movie. Yet TPL has noticed many hopeful developments during the last yr.

“Indie filmmakers are rewriting the distribution narrative. There’s a pervasive permission in the air, encouraging us all to consider avenues beyond a film school textbook,” stated TPL Co-Founder Lela Meadow-Conner. “Despite what clickbait would like us to believe, people are still showing up to independent movie theaters and direct-to-audience platforms for movies like Hundreds of Beavers and No Other Land – two films that bucked tradition.” Both have been beneficial to TPL by competition programmers, in 2024 and 2025 respectively, however weren’t included due to resourceful direct-to-audience approaches. Said Meadow-Conner, “There’s never been a better time for filmmakers to take distribution into their own hands. Of this year’s recommendations, more than 50% of filmmakers are thinking about what that looks like.”

Though TPL is at the moment a volunteer-led initiative, its founders are energized by the curiosity, help and collaborations which have arisen over the previous yr. From visibility in Hope for Film’s Subsack, to a panel at The Gotham Week, a highlight on Portrait Creative Network, and a brand new sneak-preview screening sequence within the works with The Film Collaborative, the mission has been embraced by aligned organizations, and the unbiased filmmaking group. TPL is worked up to help its subsequent class, encouraging distributors to take a look at the checklist, cinemas to e book the movies and audiences to watchlist them.

In 2025, TPL reached out to 45 movie competition programmers, 30 of whom responded with suggestions. 28 movies have been beneficial in whole (2 movies have been beneficial twice by two separate programmers) and the ultimate checklist contains 19 movies (2 movies didn’t reply, 7 movies are Special Mentions not included on account of their distribution plans.)

Official Inclusions: Check out the Official List for full movie info, competition programmer assertion, competition premiere & awards, trailer, evaluations, and make contact with.

ASHIMA, Dir. Kenji Tsukamoto (Crystal Merrill, Festival Director, Mountainfilm)

Ashima is an intimate portrait of elite rock climber Ashima Shiraishi as she travels to South Africa to attempt to turn into the youngest individual on the earth to climb a V14 graded boulder drawback. Accompanying Ashima is Poppo, an eccentric, hermit-like, retired avant garde dancer, who additionally occurs to be her father. Emotional and rooted in character, Ashima is a love letter not solely to climbing, however to immigrant mother and father and the belief of the American Dream.

BROOKLYN, MINNESOTA, Dir. Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen (Meira Blaustein, Executive Director, Woodstock Film Festival)

When the grandfather she by no means knew dies abruptly, headstrong 14-year -old Maisie and her artist dad Kurt go away the confines of their Brooklyn bubble to return to Kurt’s Minnesotan childhood residence—the place Maisie will upend previous household patterns, fall in love, and power her household to confront one another and themselves.

CLOCKED, Dir. Noah Salzman (Jason Hoffman, Programmer, Indy Film Fest)

Adolfo Rivera is an 18-year-old boxer from a conservative Catholic household in Miami, who’s secretly saving their winnings for the largest combat of their life: self-acceptance of their need to transition into a girl. This journey for self-acceptance fortuitously results in mentorship from the native drag group, displaying Adolfo the significance of getting the best folks in your nook even exterior of the ring.

COLOR BOOK, Dir. David Fortune (Matthew Campbell, Artistic Director, Denver Film Festival & tt stern-enzi, Artistic Director, Over-the-Rhine Film Festival)

Following the passing of his spouse, a faithful father learns to lift his son with Down syndrome as a single father or mother. While adjusting to their new actuality, the 2 embark on a journey by way of Metro Atlanta to attend their first baseball recreation.

EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS YOURS, Dir. Tatyana Tenenbaum (Dan Brawley, Executive Director, Cucalorus)

NYC-based choreographer Hadar Ahuvia interrogates the roots of the Israeli people dances she grew up dancing together with her mom within the U.S. Confronting romanticized tales about her grandparents, settlers in Nineteen Thirties Palestine, Ahuvia embarks on a private journey to reckon with the founding mythologies and transgressions of Zionism.

FANTASY A GETS A MATTRESS, Dir. Noah Zoltan Sofian & David Norman Lewis (Barak Epstein, Co-Founder, Oak Cliff Film Festival)

Amusing-a-minute, surrealistic neorealist darkish comedy filmed in Seattle starring real-life rapper with autism, Fantasy A, as himself, the story follows Fantasy A after he’s kicked out of his group residence for disabled adults. Along the best way, he faces off in opposition to seedy membership homeowners, hiphop vampires, scummy dojo losers, and a slew of different wack Seattleites who hope to cease Fantasy A in his tracks and crush his desires of fame, fortune, and a secure place to catch some Zs.

GLORIA!, Dir. Margherita Vicario (Beth Barrett, Artistic Director, SIFF)

Set in a women’ institute in Venice on the finish of the 1700s, Gloria! tells the story of Teresa, a younger girl with a visionary expertise, who, along with a small group of extraordinary musicians, crosses centuries and challenges the dusty catafalques of the Ancien Régime by inventing rebellious, mild and trendy music. Pop!

HANAMI, Dir. Denise Fernandes (Mimi Plauché, Artistic Director, Chicago International Film Festival)

On a distant volcanic island – a spot everybody needs to go away – Nana has discovered to remain. Her mom Nia, who suffers from a mysterious sickness, left quickly after her beginning. When Nana comes down with a excessive fever, she is shipped to the foot of a volcano for therapy. There, she encounters a world suspended between desires and actuality. Years later, when Nana is a teen, Nia returns.

IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON’T SING, Dir. Sadie Bones (Judith Laster, Founder/Director, Woods Hole Film Festival)

After being brutally dumped, 17-year-old Sydnie discovers she is pregnant. Seeing this as a chance to get her ex again and provides her life course, she decides to maintain the child. She quickly realizes that this received’t be the fast repair she had hoped for and finds herself caught in a sophisticated love triangle and completely misplaced.

IT WAS ALL A DREAM, Dir. dream hampton (Faridah Gbadamosi, Senior Programmer, Tribeca & Karen McMullen, Festival Director, Urban World)

An NYU movie pupil when she started capturing in 1993, dream hampton was already a provocative music journalist and critic with entry to rap’s rising superstars together with her neighbor The Notorious BIG, Snoop, Mobb Deep and Method Man from Wu-Tang. The movie takes viewers contained in the studio for the making of landmark albums by rap’s biggest voices. This archive sat in storage for 3 many years and is a largely vérité journey. hampton’s narration, added 30 years later, is definitely textual content from articles printed within the early 90s.

JOIN THE CLUB, Dir. Chris O’Connell, Kip Andersen (Jim Farmer, Festival Director, Out on Film)

When the AIDS epidemic sweeps by way of his group, Dennis Peron, San Francisco’s greatest pot seller, realizes that marijuana is greater than time—it’s medication. In the wake of his lover’s dying, he opens the Cannabis Buyers’ Club, a five-story dispensary full with rainbow murals, drag exhibits, and docs onsite. Law enforcement launch a multimillion greenback investigation into the membership, however Peron has even bigger aspirations, writing a landmark political initiative and main the combat for change. Join the Club uncovers the Queer historical past of marijuana legalization in America.

MALU, Dir. Pedro Freire (Heidi Zwicker, Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival)

Malu, a mercurial, unemployed actress residing together with her conservative mom in a precarious home in a Rio de Janeiro slum, tries to cope with her strained relationship together with her grownup daughter whereas surviving on recollections of her wonderful inventive previous.

MICRO BUDGET, Dir. Morgan Evans (Tom Hall, Artistic Director, Montclair Film)

When Terry discovers he’s about to be a father, he does what every other sane individual would do: he strikes himself and his nine-months-pregnant spouse from Iowa to Los Angeles to shoot a low-budget indie film and promote it to a streamer for a“fuck-ton of money.” Documented by his cousin Devin’s behind-the-scenes digital camera crew, Terry abruptly finds that his beliefs about variety, the #MeToo motion, and what technically qualifies as a correctly financed movie manufacturing put him at odds with, effectively, each single one who meets him.

NEW WAVE, Dir. Elizabeth Ai (Sky Sitney, Co-Founder, Festival Director, DC/DOX)

Mile-high hair. Synthesized sounds. Teenage riot. Elizabeth Ai was on a mission to excavate an untold story of rebellious punks within the chaotic world of 80s Vietnamese new wave till she uncovered a hidden previous. What begins as an exploration of the riot and freedom inside this subculture evolves right into a profound narrative of id, loss, and therapeutic.

OKTHANKSBYE, Dir. Nicole van Kilsdonk (Isaac Zablocki, Director/Co-Founder, ReelAbilities)

Shy, deaf Jamie (12) strikes to the boarding faculty for the deaf to begin her new faculty. She is reluctant to make new buddies. When she is abruptly unable to go residence on the weekend, an surprising plan develops together with her daring classmate Imane (13). Together they set off on a street journey to Paris, however quickly issues don’t go as deliberate and the journey takes an adventurous flip. Jamie is compelled to return out of her shell. The journey stuffed with obstacles and particular encounters turns into a journey to recollect.

PAPER FLOWERS, Dir. Mahesh Pailoor (Shailaja Rao, Associate Director, Tasveer Film Festival)

After graduating from USC, Shalin Shah units off for Peru with the Peace Corps, abandoning his tight-knit household and highschool sweetheart. But his desires of adjusting the world are shattered when a routine check-up reveals a devastating analysis: a uncommon and aggressive most cancers. Forced to return residence, Shalin leans on his family members for help as he grapples along with his mortality. Through their unwavering love, he discovers that the true that means of life isn’t measured in time, however within the richness of every second. With a renewed zest for all times, Shalin pens a viral manifesto, spreading past him and provoking the world to seek out magnificence in each sundown. Based on a real story.

REAS, Dir. Lola Arias (Nick McCarthy, Director of Programming, NewFest)

Yoseli has a tattoo of the Eiffel Tower on her again and has at all times wished to journey, however she was arrested on the airport for drug trafficking. Nacho is a trans man who was arrested for swindling and began a rock band in jail. Gentle or tough, blonde or shaved, cis or trans, long-term inmates or newly admitted: on this hybrid musical, all of them re-enact their lives in a Buenos Aires jail.

THE EVERYTHING POT, Dir. Sherise Dorf (Paul Sloop, Director of Programming, Cordillera International Film Festival)

A comedy of errors ensues when empty nester Rachel unexpectedly sends a present to Charlie, a former colleague, upon receiving his wedding ceremony invitation. The younger couple’s wedding ceremony will get Rachel out of her perpetual state of ennui in her personal marriage and brings surprising pleasure that inadvertently causes hypothesis of infidelity. As one domino falls after one other, cracks start to indicate of their respective relationships particularly whereas Rachel’s husband Adam turns into obsessive about getting again their wedding ceremony present: The Everything Pot.

TO KILL A WOLF, Dir. Kelsey Taylor (Andre Seward, Programming Director, Tallgrass Film Festival)

On the fringes of the Oregon wilderness, two strangers with troubled pasts are introduced collectively when a reclusive Woodsman discovers a teenage runaway, Dani, hypothermic and barely acutely aware within the woods. After saving Dani from the weather, The Woodsman begrudgingly agrees to take the teenager to her grandmother and the 2 turn into unlikely journey companions. As they make their manner throughout the state, they forge an surprising bond and check their talents to belief each other. Ultimately, with one another’s assist, they arrive to face the demons that hang-out them and uncover a technique to begin their lives anew.

Special Mentions:

A STORY OF BONES, Dir. Joseph Curran, Dominic Aubrey De Vere (Lisa Simmons, Allison Simmons-Uvin, Roxbury International Film Festival)
BRANDO WITH A GLASS EYE, Dir. Antonis Tsonis (Paul Sbrizzi, Slamdance)
DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES, Dir. Shatara Michelle Ford (Nehad Khedar, Blackstar)
FRAGMENTS OF A LIFE LOVED, Dir. Chloe Barreau (Allegra Madsen, Frameline)
NO OTHER LAND, Dir. Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor (Sean Flynn, Camden International Film Festival)
TIM TRAVERS AND THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX, Dir. Stimson Snead (Paris Burris, deadCenter)
WE CAN BE HEROES, Dir. Carina Mia Wong, Alex Simmons (Cara Ogburn, Milwaukee Film)