Cindependent Spotlight:
A Curated Showcase of Bold & Brilliant Cinema
Each September, Cindependent is proud to shine a spotlight on undiscovered and rising talent from across the country and the globe.
As a festival, we're especially proud to celebrate the brilliant independent filmmakers who live and work in the greater Cincinnati area. The Cindependent Spotlight series will carry that celebratory spirit across the calendar year, with 9 handpicked repertory film screenings and 4 special programs running from March to December in the black box theater at the Contemporary Arts Center.
The repertory lineup features the debut films from auteur directors, Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball), Tim Burton (Pee Wee's Big Adventure), Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides), Anna Rose Holmer (The Fits), and Brad Bird (The Iron Giant), alongside some true star making turns by the Queen City herself in films by John Huston (The Asphalt Jungle), John Sayles (Eight Men Out), Larry Yust (Homebodies), and William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives). The special programs include a first of its kind Dance Film program curated by local filmmaker and Cindependent alum, Cat Rider, in August, and a Cindependent 2025 Best of Fest program in October.
Cindependent Spotlight events will feature community partners, special guests, and unlimited opportunities to learn from and connect with industry professionals and film enthusiasts.
Cindependent is set apart by our dedication to recognizing and elevating the freshest new voices in independent filmmaking and by our commitment to uplifting the Cincinnati film community. We are excited to share this stirring program of breakthrough film as we continue to build together as a community.
- Jonny Shenk Curation Director of Cindependent Film Festival
Upcoming Screeings
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October 25th
6:00 PM
Contemporary Arts Center
Homebodies (1974)
Cincinnati senior citizens (Peter Brocco, Frances Fuller, William Hansen) stall urban renewal by killing anyone who tries to make them move.
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November 8th
12:00 PM
Contemporary Arts Center
The Iron Giant (1999)
Debut film of legendary Pixar animator and live-action filmmaker, Brad Bird.
In this animated adaptation of Ted Hughes' Cold War fable, a giant alien robot (Vin Diesel) crash-lands near the small town of Rockwell, Maine, in 1957. Exploring the area, a local 9-year-old boy, Hogarth, discovers the robot, and soon forms an unlikely friendship with him. When a paranoid government agent, Kent Mansley, becomes determined to destroy the robot, Hogarth and beatnik Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.) must do what they can to save the misunderstood machine.
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December 7th
12:00 PM
Contemporary Arts Center
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Partially filmed and set in Cincinnati, William Wyler’s post-war, middle American epic won 7 Oscars at the 1947 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Fred, Al and Homer are three World War II veterans facing difficulties as they re-enter civilian life. Fred (Dana Andrews) is a war hero who, unable to compete with more highly skilled workers, has to return to his low-wage soda jerk job. Bank executive Al (Fredric March) gets into trouble for offering favorable loans to veterans. After losing both hands in the war, Homer (Harold Russell) returns to his loving fiancée, but must struggle to adjust.