Welcome to THE LABEL
the new thing in NonDē film
What is NonDē and why are we calling it that?
The first thing to realize is that movements start once the old systems have become exhausted. Movies are tired. Audiences are tired. Tired of driving only to be met with mediocrity, tired of paying for said mediocrity, and tired of expecting overused plot points rather than experiencing cinema. And this fatigue hasn’t just hit big studio movies, it has come for the smaller ones as well. Not just from the people who are watching the movies, but also the people who are making them.
We’re not calling it “independent film” anymore, because that name belongs to a system that’s collapsing under its own crushing weight: underfunded, over-leveraged, and barely surviving in the shadows of legacy distributors and streaming algorithms.
“Indie” has become a hollow title: one that still plays by the rules of a broken game.
Financing is stitched together from scraps, rights are surrendered for peanuts, and distribution often means disappearing into the void of platforms that don’t prioritize discovery or quality.
You know all this if you’ve tried making a film in the last five years: the grind is real and it’s getting worse.
NonDē is not a genre, not a budget level, not a vibe. It’s a rallying cry. A recognition that a rising tide could lift all boats, but right now, there is no tide. Just disconnected creators floating in open water, trying to stay seen, funded, and fed. And we haven’t even touched on California’s incentive gutting LA’s ecosystem, forcing more and more filmmakers to either flee or flounder in dead water.
So we’re building something new.
“NonDē” is short for non-dependent. It’s a bet on the sustainability of the artist and the infrastructure that surrounds them. Not just what gets made, but how, where, and by whom.
So let’s move forward together.
Indie is the old system; NonDē is the commitment to a new one. - Ted Hope
What’s Next for The Label
We’re building something that takes time: a new kind of film infrastructure. But it starts here—with a newsletter, a point of view, and a community.
Each week, you’ll get:
Editorials on What Film in this New Era Can Be
Interviews with Rising and Established Voices
Industry and Artist Spotlights: Curated Picks of Ones to Watch
The end goal is to become a trusted platform that not only supports conversation around great films, but helps get them made.
Our foundation is built on gaining trust, growing an audience, and sharpening our collective taste.
As the independent scene grows beyond A24 and Neon, there’s going to be a new wave of talent that needs a launchpad. The Label aims to be that.
The creator economy is creativity in single-player mode. A LABEL is creativity in multiplayer mode. — Yancey Strickler
Why create a single film when in creating a portfolio of them, we can better predict engagement across the whole enterprise? The label becomes a launchpad and amplifier. — Ted Hope
Curation is more than picking what’s cool. It’s about telling a story through other stories.
And soon our story will expand to:
In-person screenings and events to keep building our community
Original content and short films curated by The Label
Development and acquisition of bold new works that align with our aesthetic and vision
This isn’t about gatekeeping. It’s about gate opening.
So welcome to NonDē’s first official FILM LABEL.
it’s clear to us the future of cinema is being built on filmstack with every post, every question, every new idea brought forth. so we seek to amplify voices pushing the culture forward. as well as our own projects and progress in building this film label.
we hope to show you that the time for building that big dream is now and THE LABEL we’re building in “real time” and the newsletter is a fusion of inspiration, community engagement, and education for us all.
fashion “labels” got right what film failed to - they know how to tell a visual story that immediately pulls you in. the story you’re trying to tell does not stop on the last day of filming or even when the credits roll on a theater screen. the story is a world you’ve built and there has to be more than one way for you to invite people in.
so we’re inviting you into the world we’re building.
one post, one event, one film, one connection at a time.
if creatives didn’t pursue their vocations we’d mistake this world, as it stands today, for the only one that could exist. -
*teaser footage from julien stranger’s memory screen
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Let’s goooo!!
LFG !