’26 MARKET MONDAY

THE NONDĒ WAY: FUN & DANGEROUS IDEAS TO DISRUPT WHAT ONCE WAS “INDIE” & TO SEPARATE FROM A BROKEN CORPORATE FILM INDUSTRY

Slamdance ‘26 / Market Monday – February 23, 2026

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Sponsored by Francis Ford Coppola’s All Movie Hotel

Working from the premise that both Hollywood and Indie are on their death rattles – if not yet quite a rotting corpse – what does an ecosystem that prioritizes the sustainability of the art, artist, audience and ecosystem look like. In collaboration with Slamdance, NonDē presents a rapid-fire feast of dangerous ideas delivered in 10 minute rants, sermons, and pleas…each to build this thing we love – cinema – better than before – and always along practical and positive lines. 

NonDē is predicated on the recognition that nothing needs to be this way or that way. Prioritizing sustainability, collaboration, transparency and innovation — a peaceful revolution is upon us and we know you’ll want to leap into the pool. Prepare to be drenched in what the corporate hierarchy considers dangerous, disruptive and mind blowing. Leave with the roadmap to escape our current hell hole!

Discussions will be on a wide range of subjects and approaches from those already deeply committed to the NonDē movement including, but not limited to Ami Vora, Jake S. Weisman, Jon Stahl, Dan Sickles, Annalisa Shoemaker, Avi Setton. Jon Reiss, Courtney Romano, Richard Rushfield, Franklin Leonard, Lela Meadow-Conner, Keith Ochwat, Ted Hope, and Donny Broussard.

Although the event is sold out, seats will become available throughout the day on a first come first serve basis.

Program Schedule

10-1PM – Morning sessions

  1. 10-10:05 AM Slamdance Exec Director Peter Baxter Welcomes all
  2. 10:05 AM – 10:20 AM – Ted Hope “Day’s Agenda”

The Shining Opportunity That The Broken System Provides

  1. 10:20 – 10:30 AM Ted Hope “Utopian Ideation, Leaderless Movements, and the benefits of a NonDependent Cinema Ecosystem”
  2. 10:30-10:45 AM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #1 (Franklin Leonard, Courtney Romano, Hope)
  3. 10:45-10:50 AM Audience Question #1

Cinema-making Mindset & Approach

  1. 10:50-11 AM Courtney Romano “The Radical Political Campaign of the NonDē Filmmaker”
  2. 11-11:10 AM Dan Mirvish “put your freak flag on”
  3. 11:10-11:20 AM Donny Broussard “Punk Rock Producing: Choosing Micro Micro over the Hollywood Machine”
  4. 11:20-11:30 AM Sara Mozersky “History Is Now: Build the Future You Want”
  5. 11:30-11:40 AM Jennifer Esposito “Be Dangerous — not just for your film, but for yourself”
  6. 11:40-11:55 AM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #2 (Leonard, Hope w above participants)
  7. 11:55-12 PM Audience Question #2

Better Approaches to Distribution

  1. 12-12:10 PM Jon Reiss “We’ve Been Here Before –But This Time We Can Escape”
  2. 12:10-12:20 PM Ami Vora “Building a system for the rest of us”
  3. 12:20-12:30 PM Annalisa Shoemaker “6 Things They Don’t Want You to know about Theatrical Distribution”
  4. 12:30-12:45 PM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #3 (Leonard, Romano, Hope w above participants)
  5. 12:45-12:50 PM Audience Question #3

LUNCH

  1. 12:50 PM – 1:50 PM – LUNCH 

There will be moderated breakout sessions during lunch. 

1:50PM –5PM – Afternoon Sessions

New views of Exhibition

  1. 1:50-2 PM Richard Rushfield: “Creating Scarcity”
  2. 2-2:10 PM Lela Meadow-Conner: “Don’t Get Played: Own Your Own Big Screen Energy (Theatrical Windows)”
  3. 2:10-2:20 PM Jake S. Weisman: “Terraforming Hollywood: changing the landscape of cinema, venue by venue ”
  4. 2:20-2:35 PM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #4 (Leonard, Romano, Hope w above participants)
  5. 2:35-2:40 PM Audience Question #4

The process of The New Distribution

  1. 2:40-2:50 PM Peter Broderick “Now Is The Time! Dynamic Distribution”
  2. 2:50 -3 PM Keith Ochwat “Pre-distribution”
  3. 3-3:15 PM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #5 (Leonard, Romano, Hope w above participants)
  4. 3:15-3:20 PM Audience Question #5

Time to rethink FKATelevision & The streaming Platforms

  1. 3:20-3:30 PM Tepper “7 SHIFTS filmmakers who are done waiting for permission can make today”
  2. 3:30-3:40 PM Jon Stahl: “You Are the Studio Now”
  3. 3:40-3:50 PM Dan Sickles “Time to innovate the platforms
  4. 3:50-4:05 PM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #6 (Leonard, Romano, Hope w above participants)
  5. 4:05-4:10 PM Audience Question #6

The System we are in – and how to change it

  1. 4:10-4:20 PM Alex Rivera “Towards a national film board”
  2. 4:20-4:30 PM Sanjay Sharma “Organizing to fight back”
  3. 4:30-4:45 PM Inquiring Minds Want To Know #7 (Leonard, Romano, Hope w above participants)
  4. 4:45-4:50 PM Audience Question #7

Summation & Takeaway

  1.  4:50-5PM Ted Closing

Party!!!

  1.  5 – 6:30 PM – Happy Hour 

“A non-dependent ecosystem predicated on the artists and their team accepting full responsibility for their work each step of the way, never looking for a rescue or a golden elevator, believing in collaboration over competition, mutual support over individual action, transparency over secrecy, sustainability over singular success is the promise of NonDē – and fuck if it is not time yet for you to join the movement.” Ted Hope, NonDē instigator

Photo by Emil Ravelo  / @emilravelo