{{Short description|Film industry and review website}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Italic title}} {{Infobox website | name = ''IndieWire'' | logo = IndieWire_Logo.svg | logo_caption = Logo used since 2016 | screenshot = IndieWire website screenshot (2024-12-16).webp | screenshot_alt = Screenshot of IndieWire website showing headlines, latest news, and the Best of 2024 section | caption = Screenshot of the website in December 2024 | editor = Dana Harris-Bridson | url = {{URL|indiewire.com}} | type = Independent filmmaking news | registration = Optional | language = English | content_license = All rights reserved. Use permitted with copyright notice intact. | owner = Penske Media Corporation | author = | launch_date = Newsletter: {{Start date and age|1996|7|15}}<br/>Website: {{Start date and age|1998|1|12|df=no}} | revenue = | current_status = Online | footnotes = }}
'''''IndieWire''''' is a film industry and film criticism website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "include all aspects of Hollywood and the expanding universes of TV and streaming".<ref name="About Us">{{cite web|url= https://www.indiewire.com/about-us/|title= About Us|access-date= July 7, 2022|website= IndieWire|date= May 25, 2016|archive-date= August 16, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220816024934/https://www.indiewire.com/about-us/|url-status= live}}</ref> ''IndieWire'' is part of Penske Media Corporation.
==History== thumb|Former logo used until 2016 The original ''IndieWire'' newsletter launched on July 15, 1996, billing itself as "the daily news service for independent film". Following in the footsteps of various web- and AOL-based editorial ventures, IndieWire was launched as a free daily email publication in the summer of 1996 by New York- and Los Angeles-based filmmakers and writers Eugene Hernandez, Mark Rabinowitz, Cheri Barner, Roberto A. Quezada, and Mark L. Feinsod.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/first_person_indiewire_10_and_counting/ |title=Indiewire at 10 and Counting |date=July 15, 2006 |access-date=February 10, 2010 |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604191518/http://www.indiewire.com/article/first_person_indiewire_10_and_counting/ |url-status=live }} (Press release)</ref>
Initially distributed to a few hundred subscribers, the readership grew rapidly, passing 6,000 in late 1997.<ref name="Wired97">{{cite news |first= Janelle |last= Brown |title= Indie Film News Service No Longer Free |date= December 22, 1997 |newspaper= Wired |url= https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1997/12/9312 |access-date= May 22, 2011 |archive-date= October 24, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121024073648/http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1997/12/9312 |url-status= live }}</ref>
In January 1997, ''IndieWire'' made its first appearance at the Sundance Film Festival to begin their coverage of film festivals; it offered ''indieWIRE: On The Scene'' print dailies in addition to online coverage. Printed on site, in low-tech black-and-white style, the publication was able to scoop traditional Hollywood trade dailies ''Variety'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter'' due to the delay these latter publications had for being printed in Los Angeles.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}}
The site was acquired by Snagfilms in July 2008.<ref>{{cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Gregg |title=SnagFilms acquires IndieWire |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snagfilms-acquires-indiewire-115818 |access-date=December 11, 2019 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=July 16, 2008 |archive-date=December 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211134412/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snagfilms-acquires-indiewire-115818 |url-status=live }}</ref> On January 8, 2009, ''IndieWire'' editor Eugene Hernandez announced that the site was going through a re-launch that has been "entirely re-imagined".
Penske Media acquired ''IndieWire'' on January 19, 2016. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.<ref name=Variety>{{cite web|work=Variety|date=January 19, 2016|title=Penske Media Acquires Indiewire|url=https://variety.com/2016/biz/news/penske-media-indiewire-1201682719/|access-date=December 11, 2017|archive-date=December 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219093011/https://variety.com/2016/biz/news/penske-media-indiewire-1201682719/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Description== The focus of ''IndieWire'' initially was independent film, but has grown to encompass mainstream film, television, and streaming media.<ref>{{cite web |title=About IndieWire |url=https://www.indiewire.com/about-us/ |website=indiewire.com |date=May 25, 2016 |publisher=Penske Media Corporation |access-date=December 11, 2019 |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206061908/https://www.indiewire.com/about-us/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="About Us"/> ''IndieWire'' is part of Penske Media.
It has a staff of 26 people, including publisher James Israel, editor-in-chief Dana Harris-Bridson, editorial director Kate Erbland, digital director Christian Blauvelt, executive editor Ryan Lattanzio, and editor-at-large Anne Thompson.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 10, 2024 |title=IndieWire Masthead |url=https://www.indiewire.com/team/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309143116/https://www.indiewire.com/team/ |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |access-date=February 28, 2021 |website=IndieWire}}</ref>
==Reception== In ''Wired'', in 1997, Janelle Brown wrote: "Currently, IndieWire has little to no competition: trades like ''The Hollywood Reporter'' and ''Variety'' may cover independent film, but from a Hollywood perspective, hidden by a huge amount of mainstream news. As filmmaker Doug Wolens points out, IndieWire is one of the few places where filmmakers can consistently and reliably keep on top of often-ignored small film festivals, which films are opening and what other filmmakers are thinking."<ref name="Wired97"/>
In 2002, ''Forbes'' magazine recognized ''IndieWire'', along with seven other entrants, in the "Cinema Appreciation" category, as a "Best of the Web Pick", describing its best feature as "boards teeming with filmmakers" and its worst as "glacial search engine".<ref>{{cite news |title= Forbes Best of the Web – IndieWire |work= Forbes |date= March 25, 2002 |access-date=May 21, 2010 |url=https://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=6296|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217131631/https://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=6296|archive-date=February 17, 2012}}</ref> ''IndieWire'' has been praised by Roger Ebert.<ref name="Ebert">{{cite journal| title= Rule of Thumb: Best Indie Crossroads| first= Roger |last=Ebert| author-link=Roger Ebert| journal= Yahoo Internet Life – Summer Movies Guide| publisher= ZDNet| volume= 5 |issue= 6| date= June 1999| url= http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9906/ebert7.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19991113073103/http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9906/ebert7.html| archive-date= November 13, 1999 |url-status=dead | access-date=May 22, 2011}}</ref>
In 2012, ''IndieWire'' won the Webby Award in the Movie and Film category.<ref>{{cite web |title=Webby Awards 2012 |url=https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2012/web/general-website/movie-film/indiewire-website/ |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116004520/https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2012/web/general-website/movie-film/indiewire-website/ |archive-date=January 16, 2018 |access-date=January 15, 2018}}</ref>
In 2022, ''IndieWire''<nowiki/>'s entire staff was honored as the Best Website, Traditional News Organization by the Los Angeles Press Club at its annual Southern California Journalism Awards, with judges noting that the site is "full of analysis of entertainment issues, not to mention the depth of most of the pieces that immediately pop up on the site. Quite compelling and thought-provoking."<ref>{{cite web |title=WINNERS : 64th SoCal Journalism Awards Contest |url=https://lapressclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SOCAL-2022-WINNERS-REVISED-12022023.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627132355/https://secureservercdn.net/45.40.150.136/549.9fe.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SOCAL-2022-WINNERS.pdf |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |access-date=July 16, 2022 |website=Secureservercdn.net}}</ref>
== IndieWire honors == ''IndieWire Honors'' is annually hosted in Los Angeles and is a flagship gathering from IndieWire that spotlights and awards top achievements in innovative filmmaking and television, honoring artists and cinema professionals and their new works every year. The December 2023 ceremony paid tribute to standout figures in movies and series, from distinctive directors like Greta Gerwig for ''Barbie'', Todd Haynes with ''May December'', and Chad Stahelski on ''John Wick: Chapter 4'', to emerging talents redefining narratives, including Lee Sung Jin behind ''Beef'' and Nathan Fielder alongside Benny Safdie for ''The Curse''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lattanzio |first=Ryan |date=December 7, 2023 |title=Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie Get Uncomfortable, 'The Curse'-Style, at IndieWire Honors |url=https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/nathan-fielder-benny-safdie-indiewire-honors-1234932856/ |access-date=November 25, 2025 |website=IndieWire |language=en-US}}</ref>
In June 2024, IndieWire launched its first spring ''Honors'' awards ceremony event focused exclusively on television. The ceremony featured among its most notable recipients Quinta Brunson, who received the ''Visionary Award'' for her work on Abbott Elementary, and Carol Burnett, honored with the ''Vanguard Award'' for her decades-long career, including recent appearances in projects such as Palm Royale. Separate ''IndieWire Honors'' events have also recognized film talent. At one such ceremony, Nathan Fielder accepted the ''Wavelength Award'' with the remark: “I find it hard to get on anyone’s wavelength. Now I’m getting an award for being the best at it.” Lily Gladstone used her ''Performance Award'' speech to call for the release of her Sundance film Fancy Dance, which later secured distribution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Welk |first=Brian |date=July 28, 2023 |title=Lily Gladstone, with a Waiver in Hand, Says Studios Wouldn't Have Touched 'The Unknown Country' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/lily-gladstone-morrisa-maltz-interview-the-unknown-country-sag-aftra-waiver-1234889210/ |access-date=November 25, 2025 |website=IndieWire |language=en-US}}</ref>
The December 2024 film-focused awards recognized Selena Gomez, Pamela Anderson, Jennifer Lopez, RaMell Ross, Denis Villeneuve, and additional luminaries in its most recent iteration.In June 2025, a fresh group of television standouts—including Kathy Bates, Ben Stiller, Natasha Lyonne, Mara Brock Akil, Colin Farrell, and others—were feted at the latest small-screen edition.
==Critics poll== {{main|IndieWire Critics Poll}} The ''IndieWire'' Critic's Poll is an annual poll by ''IndieWire'' that recognizes the best in American and international films in a ranking of 10 films on 15 different categories. The winners are chosen by the votes of the critics from ''IndieWire'' and other invited critics from around the world.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website|http://www.indiewire.com}}
{{Penske Media Corporation}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indiewire}} Category:Internet properties established in 1998 Category:American film websites Category:American entertainment news websites Category:1996 establishments in the United States Category:Publications established in 1996 Category:News agencies based in the United States Category:Penske Media Corporation Category:Independent films