Tag: Indie Filmmakers

DWF New York 2026 Spotlights GLENDORA, a Feature Documentary Rooted in Community and Resilience

The documentary GLENDORA premieres at Dances With Films NY 2026, offering a powerful, community-made portrait of a Mississippi Delta town. Photo: EG PR, used with permission.

Dances With Films (DWF): NY 2026

World Premiere of GLENDORA

Dances With Films (DWF) is an annual independent film festival based in Los Angeles and New York. Founded by Leslee Scallon and Michael Trent, the festival is dedicated to showcasing true independent cinema, requiring that all films in competition have no known directors, writers, or producers attached. (Dances With Films, 2025)

DWF programs feature-length films, shorts, documentaries, and animations that highlight bold, original voices.

The 2026 New York edition of Dances With Films will take place January 15–18 at Regal Union Square in Manhattan. The feature documentary GLENDORA will have its world premiere at the festival. (EG PR, 2025)

GLENDORA

Feature Documentary | World Premiere
Runtime: 74 minutes

A film by:
Isabelle Armand & Glendora Collaborative

Official DWF: NY 2026 Screening

Friday, January 16 at 4:45 p.m.
Location: Regal Union Square
850 Broadway, New York, NY 10003

About the Film

In the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the village of Glendora may seem quiet and remote. Beneath its stillness, however, lies a vibrant, tightly knit African-American community whose strength, resilience, and creativity thrive despite chronic scarcity.

GLENDORA is the result of five years of close collaboration between filmmaker and townspeople, offering an intimate portrait of life where economic fragility meets profound cultural wealth. Told through the voices of multiple generations, the film weaves personal testimonies with daily rituals, birthdays, graduations, weddings, and funerals, capturing the rhythm of a town that continually rises above its circumstances.

As the Mississippi landscape shifts, so do the stories, revealing both the universality of human experience and the distinct textures of rural Southern life. More than a portrait of place, GLENDORA reflects a larger American history shaped by racial injustice, economic neglect, and structural inequality, while underscoring the community’s determination to remain connected and shape its future.

Made with and by the people who live there, GLENDORA amplifies voices too often unheard, offering a powerful story of culture, resilience, creativity, and collective memory from a town long overlooked, but not easily forgotten.

About the Filmmaker

Isabelle Armand

(Filmmaker, Cinematographer, Writer)

Isabelle Armand is a New York–based documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work interweaves photography, film, and oral testimony to explore the complex layers of people whose histories, lives, and potential have long been undervalued.

Her acclaimed book Levon and Kennedy: Mississippi Innocence Project (powerHouse Books, 2018), which documents the wrongful convictions of two men, has received wide recognition. Her work is held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Akron Art Museum, and Portland Museum of Art, and has been featured in The New York Times, Art in America, The Economist, The Daily Beast, and more.

GLENDORA is her first feature documentary. She is currently editing a photo book of the same title.

USA | Feature Documentary | 74 Minutes | Not Rated | 2025

‘Flesh of the Unforgiven’ Review: A Dark Descent into Fear and Damnation

Joe Hollow’s ‘Flesh of the Unforgiven.’ Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Flesh of the Unforgiven: Death Is Only the Beginning

Synopsis

In Flesh of the Unforgiven, novelist Jack Russo (Joe Hollow) is suffering from crippling writer’s block. In a last-ditch effort to revive his creativity, he retreats to a secluded cabin in the mountains of Quebec with his estranged wife, Sienna (Debbie Rochon). Under pressure from his agent to deliver a treatment for his next bestseller within 72 hours, Jack is sent a mysterious VHS tape—meant to spark inspiration.

It starts as mere curiosity and quickly devolves into obsession. The disturbing contents of the tape drag Jack into a spiral of paranoia, hallucination, and dread. As he teeters on the edge of madness, Sienna struggles to ground him in reality. But she harbors secrets of her own—ones that blur the lines between the living and the dead. As they’re pulled into the twisted realm of the Death Dealer and his legion of manipulative demons, both Jack and Sienna must confront terrifying truths—about themselves, and about the price of fear.

Written and directed by Joe Hollow, the cast includes Debbie Rochon as Sienna Russo, Joe Hollow as Jack Russo/Death Dealer, August Kyss as Vivienne, and Adriana Uchishiba as Livinia.

It is available for rent/purchase on Amazon Video.

Movie Review: Flesh of the Unforgiven

This independent psychological horror film is a brutal, dreamlike exploration of grief, guilt, and damnation, wrapped in a narrative that feels like a waking nightmare. As psychological unrest spirals into full-blown torment, reality becomes warped, and redemption feels increasingly out of reach.

The film’s atmosphere is suffocatingly dark, enhanced by haunting cinematography and a pulse-pounding score that echoes like a heartbeat from hell. The performances are raw and deeply emotional—especially as the Death Dealer toys with his victims, offering twisted salvation in exchange for them embracing their deepest fears.

While the story sometimes stumbles under the weight of its own symbolism, it never loses momentum. The creature design is grotesque and unforgettable, with each demon representing a unique form of psychological torment. It’s not just a horror movie—it’s a disturbing reflection on punishment, corrupted love, and the monsters that live within us.

⚠️ Content Warning

Flesh of the Unforgiven is not for the faint of heart. The film features graphic nudity, gore, and intense violence throughout, including an explicit opening scene, and as a whole, flirts with softcore horror-porn territory. It’s a bold and boundary-pushing film that won’t appeal to everyone—and it’s definitely not family-friendly.

That said, for fans of indie psychological and supernatural horror, this film offers a darkly imaginative take on fear, deals with the devil, and the unbearable weight of our inner demons. NSFW alert: proceed with caution—but horror lovers may find themselves morbidly transfixed.

“Don’t run from your fears, embrace them.
The words of an ancient evil called…the Death Dealer.
It is said that he exists within a realm that lies between life and death.
Searching for lost souls and using his legion of demons to guide them..
If you’re chosen, he’ll make you a deal.
Granting a new life beyond death.
In return…you must face your fears…and embrace them.
He owns your soul once the deal is made.
But the fate of the soul, depends on your will to survive.”

*Thank you to Joe Williamson for the screener link for review consideration. I have not been compensated for this review and all views and opinions are my own.

Debbie Rochon as Sienna Russo. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

FRIED: The Thrilling Must-Watch Web Series by Richard Goss

FRIED is a short series set in London; a psychological thriller with dark comedic elements. Photo: Richard Goss, used with permission.

A web series is a collection of scripted or unscripted episodes distributed online through streaming platforms, websites, or social media. Unlike traditional TV shows, web series are often shorter in length, with episodes ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. They offer greater creative freedom, catering to niche audiences and exploring diverse genres, from drama and comedy to thriller and documentary. Web series have gained massive popularity due to the accessibility of streaming platforms like YouTube. They provide a convenient, on-demand viewing experience, making them a favorite among modern audiences seeking flexibility and variety in entertainment.

I recently had the opportunity to watch FRIED, a fascinating web series by Richard Goss. It is made up of 4 episodes: Motivation, Placebo, The Trip From Hell, and Gone, with a total run time of a little over 34 minutes. This excellent series is short, to the point, and delivers a dose of reality, which is what makes it relatable to a wide audience. The two main characters struggle with the hardships of daily life, yet still manage to find the humor in even the darkest of situations. And that plot twist at the end – you won’t see it coming. See for yourself on YouTube.

As far as the production value goes, it is impressing, especially the bathroom scenes in the third episode, The Trip From Hell. With realistic dialogue, top notch acting, and raw emotion, it is a must-see. It is both entertaining and thought-provoking and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Highly recommended! Richard Goss is a talent to watch out for and I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Here’s some more information about FRIED.

FRIED is a nihilistic psychological thriller with dark comedic elements. A short series set in London, it explores themes of poverty, social class, mental illness, and addiction. (Richard Goss, 2024)

“A psychotic call centre worker and a depressed waiter struggle with minimum-wage life in London, sinking deep into despair and addiction, blurring the lines between reality and madness.”

Cast:
Robert Pearson – Richard Goss
Dave Turral – Jake McDaid
The Supervisor – Marcus Massey
The Therapist – Clifford Hume
The Preacher – Andrew Norman

After a successful festival run and winning 38 awards, it has received critical acclaim and has been watched over 45,000 times since its release in September 2024. As a result of its success, he was invited to talk with Europe’s largest casting site e-TALENTA, the UK’s Actors Pro Expo, and at Sony in Pinewoods Studios.

FRIED is influenced by cult films WITHNAIL & I, AMERICAN PSYCHO, FILTH and IN BRUGES, literary classics CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Dostoyevsky), DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON (Orwell) and Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT.

Created by Welsh actor Richard Goss, he financed the entire production with just £2.5k of savings from bar jobs between acting roles. Richard has acted in films for NETFLIX, LIONSGATE and WARNER BROS, alongside Sam Worthington (AVATAR), Liam Neeson (TAKEN), Rosamund Pike (GONE GIRL) and James Cosmo (GAME OF THRONES).

He recently worked with BAFTA-winner Stuart Brennan and Stanley Kubrick’s Emmy nominated cinematographer Doug Milsome (FULL METAL JACKET, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES).

Photo: Richard Goss, used with permission.