FilmStack Monthly Challenge #10 Round Up
Review fellow FilmStackers films.....
For FilmStack Monthly Challenge #10 Jon Stahl passed the curatorial baton to Kelli McNeil-Yellen of KLA Media Group.
Kelli picked a wonderfully community building prompt, simply put it was:
FilmStack Monthly Challenge #10
Watch, Review, & Recommend Other FilmStacker’s Movies This Month and all Through 2026
If you all remember the Round Up for FilmStack Monthly Challenge #9, we thought being funny was difficult, apparently watching and writing about others films is even more difficult!
Perhaps no one has enough time in between working, raising families, feeling the dread of reading the news daily, and writing their own lengthy FilmStack articles? Perhaps, it’s just the start of the year and things will pick up more on this end later? Or perhaps people are losing their motivation to keep up with the FilmStack Monthly Challenges?
Though small in number, the responses we did receive were mighty in content….
Alan McIntyre of WTF-Stop Camera Club watched 5 films/series and all were female directed, go Alan. He was inspired by the act of doing this prompt, as he states:
Thank you to KLA Media Group for inspiring us with this Monthly Challenge to look within and uplift our fellow FilmStackers for our next reviews. There are so many cool-looking projects on the docket, it was tough to decide where to begin. Here is my first of many to come.
Charlotte Simmons of The Treatment takes this Challenge to a whole other level, upping her game and offering to review NonDē films on a regular basis.
And so when I asked myself “What doesn’t feel right about what I’m doing here on The Treatment,” I quickly corrected myself by asking “What could be more right?”…
…and immediately landed on “Well, I could absolutely, positively be using my writing to directly contribute to this community more often. Everything valuable about my writing can flourish just as richly3 in talking about NonDē films as it can about major, studio-backed releases, and that participation with the community — this network — is infinitely healthier for me, the NonDē ecosystem, and my writing journey at large than pulling engagement that placates me more than anything.”
Which is why, from now on — courtesy of the spreadsheet that Kelli has created for this challenge — reviews on NonDē films are going to be the status quo on The Treatment.
What a win for our community. Thank you, Charlotte!
I, Amanda Sweikow, got my responses in rather late, but hey better late than never, right?!
Watching these films felt like a way of getting to know these FilmStackers better. I enjoyed every moment of it and look forward to watching more.
https://open.substack.com/pub/amandasweikow/p/filmstack-monthly-challenge-10?r=6g23o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Since we were short on actual responses I took the liberty of digging up some posts that were reviews of FilmStackers films. I want to share them here even if they weren’t written for this Challenge specifically.
Taylor Lewis discussing Fresh Kills by Jennifer Esposito:
This film community or think tank in real time also happens to be uplifting and building a new system - one where a work of cinema like Fresh Kills can be cultivated and championed right alongside Jennifer herself.
Courtney Daniels for a FilmStack Daily Inspirations post, wrote about Jake S. Weisman’s film, Scrapers: A Comedy for Romantic Stoners:
Watch it when you want to be reminded of what’s possible when you’re feeling like making a film is impossible.
Charlotte Simmons takes on two FilmStacker reviews:
Anyway, today’s reviews belong to Clown-N-Out in Valley Village, a crime drama spearheaded by Mark Hensley and which I had the pleasure of catching back in October via the Filmstack Discord screening rooms; and Guacamole Yesterdays, a sci-fi rom-com that comes to us from writer-producer Hudson Phillips over at Mirror Box Films, who also happen to be the minds behind Gargantuan, an upcoming, nondie “A24-meets-Power-Rangers” joint that I would love to be joined in backing.
Donny Broussard of Punk Rock Producing offers us his first Case Study on a fellow FilmStackers film:
So, starting today I am going to be posting micro-budget case studies on films that you may or may not have heard of and share everything that I’ve learned about said films. I’m starting with Mirror Box Film’s Guacamole Yesterdays. Most of the information I’m using for this case study comes from their wonderful and informative Substack, and a Q&A Hudson Phillips did with my film class.
Ethan J. Connor of Dispatches from the Cinema treks out of his way to go see a fellow FilmStackers film premeire:
Being a FilmStack critic in search of opportunities to bring this movement into “real life,” it could not have been more my pleasure. I messaged Adam with an offer to review Lost Cause, and he invited me to its East Coast premiere, which happened, as luck would have it, to be located at a former mausoleum store exactly one train ride and one spooky fifteen-minute walk from my place of residence.
I thank all of you who have contributed to spreading the word of others projects and I encourage everyone else to do as as well. The same people you review today, could be the ones to review you tomorrow.
The power that reviewing a film can have can be invaluable, as jake S. weisman of filmjourn points out in this article where he calls for the community to step up and write about our films, NonDē films:
You’ve lent your time, critical brain power, and film romance to massive talent and major productions: Bugonia, Marty Supreme, Sinners, Heated Rivalry, and so, so much more. They’ve earned your respect and the right to be written about, no doubt. I simply ask, you offer the opportunity to non-dependent filmmakers and productions as well. In a world of bricks (niche expertise, filmmakers, exhibitors, platform creators, etc), I genuinely believe it’s the critics, the reviewers, and cinephiles – film lovers for the sake of loving film – that will be the most effective mortar for our longer-lasting structure.
Though FilmStack Monthly Challenge #10 may be over, the challenge of supporting your fellow FilmStack filmmakers remains. I hope you all will meet it one day!
xo
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Love this. I’ve been watching more Filmstackers’ films and will write short reviews of them soon.
Loved Ethan’s review of my new movie, “Lost Cause”. Excited for more filmstackers to see it on the big screen over the next eighteen months. Next screening in April; announcement coming soon! Thanks for the shout-out, and for the work you are doing :)))