Though the COVID-19 pandemic makes independent filmmaking harder than ever, filmmaker Artel Great released his debut feature “Love Like Winter” despite the challenges. As the first part of the tetralogy “The Love Cycle,” “Love Like Winter” tells the story of two ex-lovers as they reconnect during a wintry evening in Chicago. Read more...

Photo: (Courtesy of Great Cinema)

This post was updated April 25 at 6:22 p.m. All streams lead to Los Angeles – and this water has a memory. By interweaving three stories around a singular California location with deep ties to water, UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television’s alumna Ann Kaneko directed, produced and co-edited “Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust.” Payahuunadü was the site of forced Indigenous removal and Japanese American incarceration, and it continues to supply much of Los Angeles’s water. Read more...

Photo: Alumna and director Ann Kaneko (left) speaks with Kathy Jefferson Bancroft (right) on the set of the film, “Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust,” documenting the history and legacy of the region. (Courtesy of Julio Martinez)

“Beast Beast” is not your typical coming-of-age cautionary tale. Directed by Danny Madden, the feature drama follows the lives of three teenagers, Krista (Shirley Chen), Nito (Jose Angeles) and Adam (Will Madden), whose journeys converge into an increasingly intricate storyline that changes their lives forever. Read more...

Photo: (Courtesy of Vanishing Angle)