HeyJaredAnthony Kaufman’s Substack
Honest thoughts and analysis about films and documentaries, film distribution, film festivals, and the independent film industry from journalist, author, professor, and programmer Anthony Kaufman.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 21, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 14, 2026
Latest issues
“NAZA” (and “Musk”) Could Revive Theatrical Docs (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Just five weeks after announcing its existence and last-minute selection at the Venice Film Festival, “NAZA”—the latest nonfiction bombshell from two of the Oscar-winning directors of "No Other Land”—will hit theaters in the U.S. on Sept. 30, it was announced on Friday. (Shows are already selling out at its IFC Center theatrical premiere.) From no one knowing that the film even existed to a release in about a month? This may be one of the fastest mobilizations of independent film distribution ev
The Film Industry Needs an AI Rating System (opens the original)
Read excerpt
In 1968, at time of seismic upheaval in Hollywood and social change in the U.S. (not unlike our current moment), with the studios looking for ways to escape the Hays Code’s “odious smell of censorship,” as Jack Valenti called it, and connect with a new generation of moviegoers to save their asses, the MPAA’s film rating system was born, which eventually became the R, PG, G (and later PG-13 and NC-17) ratings that we still (mostly) use today. It was always a faulty system, with double standards g
Why Haven’t I Heard From You? (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Did I not get back to you? Did you not get back to me? It may be endemic to all businesses, but it’s certainly widespread in the film industry, and probably even more ubiquitous in the independent film world, where everyone is stretched thin, underpaid, overworked, and understaffed: People take a while to reply—if at all. And how long can you wait for that email, or call, or text back before you have to move on!?Whether it’s from a producer, an agent, a production executive, a financier, a film
What Film Festivals Are Still Good For (opens the original)
Read excerpt
I’m going to get to the headline in a few paragraphs, but first, I’ve been reading some of Cory Doctorow’s book “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It.” Ever since Doctorow’s neologism has become more widely adopted, I’ve been both entranced and repelled by it. As someone who is both an activist-minded and deeply cynical person (like Doctorow), I would have expected to be all-in on his notion of “enshittification”—that Big Tech (along with government deregul
Sundance Boulder: Winners and Losers (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Sundance is still five months away, but don’t think it isn’t on peoples’ minds. While everyone first has to survive the fall trifecta of Telluride, Venice, and Toronto, Sundance remains a point of focus on the not-so-distant horizon. Sundance 2027 is especially important for filmmakers (and their producers, sales agents, and teams) who didn’t make it into this fall’s festivals, or didn’t finish in time for their deadlines, or who have been targeting a 2027 launch all along (the official deadline
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.