After years of turbulence, venue shifts and pandemic-era gloom, the indie world’s biggest film market is back in fighting shape — with a packed slate of star-driven titles proving there’s still life (and buyers) in the business.
Published on November 7, 2025
Hot sales titles at AFM this year include the likes of Anthony Mackie, Adria Arjona, Daisy Edgar Jones, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Seth Rogen and Mia Goth
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The reports of the death of the American Film Market have been greatly exaggerated. After years of turbulence — from the double blow of the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes to a pair of ill-advised venue shifts, including last year’s misfire in Las Vegas — the world’s leading indie movie bazaar looks set for a surprising comeback. Relocated to the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles this year’s AFM arrives amid rising confidence that the independent business still has plenty of fight left in it.
“I thought no one would be coming to AFM but everyone’s coming,” says Jonathan Kier, co-CEO of production and international sales group Upgrade Production. “My schedule is packed — packed.”
“We’ve been surprised by the fact that during the pandemic and the strikes and the contraction of a large part of the industry, that most of the big independent distributors around the world have been doing just fine,” adds his Upgrade partner Matt Brodlie. “It’s not as dramatic as the U.S. industry, where everyone’s just trying to get by by the skin of their teeth.”
That resilience abroad has given sellers renewed confidence heading to the market’s new home in Century City, that AFM’s beating heart — the pre-sales business — still promises enough oxygen for the global indie ecosystem. THR‘s Hot List of the buzziest titles at AFM lacks the big-budget actioners of years past but makes up for it in variety, with high-concept genre plays, star-driven dramas, and prestige award-hopefuls offering up plenty for buyers big and small.
But the hard lessons of the past few years have taught indie execs to curb their optimism.
“This is a scary time,” notes IFTA and AFM chief Jean Prewitt, who is stepping down after this year’s market. “I don’t know any company that is coming into any market saying this one’s going to be easy. Everybody is coming in with the view that this is make or break.”
‘All Day & All Night’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Tommy Wirkola
STARS Josh Hartnett
BUZZ AFM buyers want genre fare that isn’t generic, and there’s nothing normal about this high-concept action thriller, from the director of Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Hartnett plays a reformed bank robber who pulls off one final heist to fund his daughter’s Harvard tuition, only to find himself on the set of a failing reality TV show.
SALES XYZ Films
‘Alone Together’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Ben Sharrock
STARS Callum Turner, Adria Arjona, Amir El-Masry
BUZZ Sharrock, who attracted attention with his Bafta-nominated Limbo (2020), scales up with this new drama, featuring Callum Turner and Adria Arjona as strangers who connect during a freak rainstorm in the Arabian desert. Buyers can be reassured by the credentials of the producers, which includes Oscar-winner Florian Zeller (The Father).
SALES HanWay Films
‘The Arrival’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Bijan Sheibani
STARS Kingsley Ben-Adir, Archie Madekwe, Joanna Scanlan, Alex Descas
BUZZ Actors Madekwe (Saltburn, Lurker) and Ben-Adir (Bob Marley: One Love) play brothers separated in childhood who reunite as adults in the debut feature from rising Brit talent Sheibani. Melodramas can be a tough genre to pre-sell but this one comes with a cast of top-notch character actors, including Scanlan (Notes on a Scandal) and Descas (35 Shots of Rum) as the brothers’ estranged parents, which should put nervous buyers at ease.
SALES Cornerstone
‘Babies’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Lauren Miller Rogen
STARS Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick
BUZZ Rogen and Kendrick play a couple struggling with the decision of whether or not to bring a child into the world who become instant co-parents when their a newly-divorced friend, and her 3-year-old, move in with them. A high-concept dramedy with enough star power to attract theatrical buyers, foreign and domestic.
SALES AGC Studios/CAA Media Finance
‘Bad Bridgets’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Rich Peppiatt
STARS Daisy Edgar-Jones, Emilia Jones
BUZZ Coda actress Emilia Jones and On Swift Horses star Daisy Edgar-Jones (no relation), play sisters in this period piece from Kneecap director Peppiatt about the Irish famine and the plight of women in the 19th century. A high-brow offering for upscale distributors.
SALES FilmNation, WME Independent
‘Desert Warrior’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Rupert Wyatt
STARS Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
BUZZ Long in the making, this $150 million 7th Century Saudi war epic arrives at AFM with considerable baggage, but the blockbuster scope and bankable global stars — including Captain America‘s Mackie — should be enough to convince global buyers to saddle up.
SALES AGC International
‘Everybody Wants to F*ck Me’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Jonathan Schey
STARS Taron Egerton, Jessica Henwick
BUZZ Buyers looking for a solid mid-budget theatrical release could swipe right on this tasty offering from StudioCanal: A London-set rom-com thriller about modern dating, which promises two hot leads and some subversive subtext.
SALES StudioCanal
‘Heather of the Valley’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Sheri Elwood
STARS Michelle Buteau, Zooey Deschanel
BUZZ This time travel comedy transports a burnt-out suburban mom and her upbeat high-school friend to 18th century Scotland, a world where they both have yearned to go to and find romance and adventure. When they are magically transported there, they find that time period to be less “romance” and more mud, violence and body odor.
SALES Upgrade, Elevation Pictures
‘Hey Bear’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Jonathan Krisel
STARS Mia Goth, Zach Galifianakis, Dan Stevens
BUZZ Comedies are always a tough sell internationally, but the debut feature from Portlandia creator Krisel has major cult potential. The revenge comedy has Goth playing a wife determined to hunt down the bear (Mr. Cranky) who ate her husband (Stevens). Galifianakis is the socially awkward park ranger who joins her in her quest for ursine vengeance.
SALES HanWay Films/WME Independent/UTA Independent Film Group
‘I Is Another’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Felix Randau
STARS Claes Bang, Valerie Pachner
BUZZ The Square and Bad Sisters star Bang plays the massage therapist of Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler. After the war, he claims to have been a hero, helping thousands of concentration camp prisoners escape. But a dogged journalist thinks she sees holes in his story. An unbelievable true tale with a period sheen to appeal to prestige buyers.
SALES Beta Cinema
‘Ink’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Danny Boyle
STARS Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy
BUZZ Boyle, fresh off his bounce from the success of 28 Years Later, takes on the Rupert Murdoch origin story, with Pearce as the Aussie media mogul. The appeal of a top drawer real-life drama with serious awards potential should make this biopic stand out.
SALES Studiocanal
‘The Julia Set’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Niki Byrne
STARS Chase Infiniti, Christopher Briney, Nina Hoss, Chloe Bailey
BUZZ Billed as a female-led Good Will Hunting, this prestige play, targeting arthouse buyers, features One Battle After Another breakout Infiniti playing a talented mathematician conscripted to face off in the world’s top math competition.
SALES HanWay
‘King Snake’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Jeff Nichols
STARS Margaret Qualley, Drew Starkey, Michael Shannon
BUZZ After taking on period (The Bikeriders), melodrama (Loving) and sci-fi (Midnight Special), director Nichols is trying his hand at Southern Gothic horror with this twisted tale of a young couple (Qualley and Starkey) who inherit a farm in rural Arkansas and must conquer the demons, both physical and metaphysical, that haunt it. A high-end scary movie that screams theatrical release.
SALES FilmNation Entertainment
‘Kockroach’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Matt Ross
STARS Channing Tatum, Taron Egerton, Zazie Beetz
BUZZ Kafka meets Scarface in this New York crime story, adapted from William Lashner’s novel, about a mysterious stranger who transforms himself into a larger-than-life mob boss. A-list cast plus genre hook should add up to strong interest, particularly from global theatrical buyers.
SALES Black Bear, CAA Media Finance, Range Select
‘Love Language’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Joey Power
STARS Chloë Grace Moretz, Manny Jacinto, Isabel May, Anthony Ramos
BUZZ Moretz plays an unlucky single lady with a talent for writing other people’s wedding vows who gets asked to pen the I-do’s for a women marrying her old college flame in this rom-com targeting theatrical buyers and global streamers.
SALES Protagonist, CAA Media Finance
‘Moral Capacity’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Brad Anderson
STARS Dacre Montgomery, Sofia Boutella, Tim Robbins, Diane Lane
BUZZ The new feature from Transsiberian and The Machinist director Brad Anderson sounds like a welcome throwback to ’90s erotic thrillers, a genre enjoying a comeback at the moment. Stranger Things star Montgomery is a married man having an affair with a married woman (Boutella) who gets caught up in a game of blackmail and manipulation when her husband (Robbins) discovers their deception.
SALES Highland Film Group/CAA Media Finance
‘Reenactment’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Grant Singer
STARS Benicio del Toro, Cameron Diaz
BUZZ Plot details for this feature are being kept under wraps, but the re-teaming of Del Toro with Reptile director Singer, hot off the actor’s award-buzzy performance in One Battle After Another, should be enough to draw buyers in.
SALES 193
‘The Resurrection of the Christ (Part I & II)’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Mel Gibson
STARS Jaakko Ohtonen, Mariela Garriga, Riccardo Scamarcio, Rupert Everett
BUZZ Gibson’s two-part follow-up to his 2004 biblical blockbuster The Passion of the Christ looks to be the biggest title at AFM this year, with the two features coming in at a combined budget of $200 million-plus. The script is still under wraps, but expect buyers to take a leap of faith that Gibson (working again with Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace) can deliver indie salvation.
SALES Lionsgate
‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Jane Schoenbrun
STARS Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson
BUZZ This meta-slasher reboot, about a horror-obsessed filmmaker and the “final girl” who inspired her, should draw in genre-savvy buyers looking for a more festival-friendly arthouse horror, which comes with some indie cache and a big dose of humor.
SALES The Match Factory
‘That Time We Met’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Nick Liberman
STARS Pete Davidson, Ella Purnell
BUZZ Global buyers are often cold on U.S. comedies, but this new project from Theater Camp co-director Liberman, in addition to the A-list casting, comes with a sharp high-concept twist: Davidson and Purnell play a new couple who discover their future unborn child is destined to save humanity. The only problem is, they’ve just had their first date and they hate each other.
SALES WME Independent
‘Tombs’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Marie Clements
STARS Amber Midthunder, Cara Jade Myers, Alyssa Wapanatâhk
BUZZ A multigenerational tale of heartbreak, trauma and hope that follows three Indigenous sisters and their mother, uprooted by a 1950s relocation scheme from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, who forge a home in L.A.’s cemented riverways. An ensemble drama with top-tier indigenous talent and awards-friendly crossover appeal.
SALES Myriad
‘Tumor’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Will Bridges
STARS Sam Rockwell, Maisy Stella
BUZZ Rockwell plays a low-end L.A. private eye battling the symptoms of a late-stage brain tumor trying to track down the daughter of a wealthy politico in this adaptation of Joshua Hale Fialkov’s acclaimed graphic novel. An upscale film noir for discerning speciality buyers or streamers.
SALES AGC International/ UTA Independent Film Group/ WME Independent
‘The Turning Door’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Nicholas Ashe Bateman
STARS (voice cast): Alicia Vikander, Jamie Dornan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bill Nighy
BUZZ Feature animation remains a solid business, theatrically and in home entertainment, and this title, about a girl who finds a wooden box that transports her to a magical world called The Turning, is being closely watched by family-friendly distributors.
SALES Mister Smith Entertainment, 2AM
‘Ultra’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Victoria Negri
STARS Shailene Woodley, Garrett Hedlund
BUZZ Woodley plays an ultramarathon runner forced to confront past trauma during a 135-mile race across Death Valley in this sporting feature with Wild vibes that could appeal to indie buyers looking for a cross-over drama.
SALES Mister Smith Entertainment, WME Independent
‘The Young People’
Image Credit: Getty Images
DIRECTOR Osgood Perkins
STARS Lola Tung, Nico Parker, Brendan Hines, Cush Jumbo, Heather Graham, Johnny Knoxville, Lexi Minetree, Lily Collias, Tatiana Maslany
BUZZ Perkins’ follow-up to Longlegs and The Monkey promises more high-end horror to feed his growing global fan base. The plot for The Young People is still under wraps, but the cast and the Perkins brand should be sufficient to sell out.
SALES Neon
A version of this story appeared in the Nov. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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