2026 is finally here! And for all the problems the last 12 months posed, IFL can actually look back on its best year ever – in terms of both readership and events. That’s in no small part thanks to the filmmakers who continue to send their incredible work to us for review. As 2025 fades into memory, let’s revisit some of the best and brightest movies featured by our platform.
Thanks to a glut of remarkable films being submitted via FilmFreeway, 2025 saw Indy Film Library expand its cinematic programme once again. Our annual showcase in April once more proved our best attended event to date – and we built on that that momentum with our first ever in-theatre Halloween Horror Showcase. That is something we plan to repeat in 2026, while also expanding our main event. Stay tuned for that!
At the same time, IFL remains a hybrid organisation – and that saw more of the tremendous online showcases that we have curated for audiences over the years. 2025’s Student, Experimental and Saturday Matinees events each brought sharp spikes in traffic during the weeks they were hosted – as viewers looked to get a glimpse of the industry’s future, from some extremely talented, up-and-coming filmmakers.
With our latest season due to kick off later in January, we are thrilled with the opportunity the Saturday Matinees have presented us, to introduce viewers to radical and thought-provoking content from some of the overlooked corners of the cinematic community.
Meanwhile, readership of IFL’s written content has also continued to climb steadily, with the site garnering 37% more views than it received in 2024 – the highest rate of readership growth since 2020. To celebrate the start of 2025, it is only right to look back on the most popular films of the last 12 months, without whom IFL would not have enjoyed such an excellent seventh year.
Not all of them will have received the write-ups they were hoping for, but each one of them deserves commendation for the courage to be critiqued publicly, helping future filmmakers to learn from their efforts. With that being said, it should also be noted that the most-read review of 2025 clearly proved one of our notes wrong – as while our article suggested it was based on a meme that “unless you are terminally online“, you might not understand or take much interest in Brother, may I have some oats too?
The top 10 best-read film reviews on Indy Film Library were:
Brother, may I have some oats too?
Narcissus
The Last Goodbye
Le Sous Sol
Crèche & Burn
Old Heart
Otets
Threads of a Revolution
I Must Go On
De vlieger wacht niet
This year, however, IFL’s massive growth in readership also stemmed from an improved connection with the world’s wider community of film-lovers, with articles on the recently-added Who Critiques the Critics? segment proving a continued hit. Our best-read article of the year by some distance was on Red Letter Media’s various video-review series, with a particular focus on their re:view of Street Trash – which served as an ode to friendship, and to B-movie culture, as well as the movie itself.
2026 had also opened with an analysis of the brilliance of Movie Bitches – with the article The Importance of Being Campy also hitting our top-20 reads. The year closed on a sad note, however, as we also covered the tragic passing Movie Bitches co-host, and How Did This Get Made movie-picking producer Avaryl Halley.
In December, views spiked following our criticism of the creep of AI into seasonal advertising. Meanwhile, closer to home, our interview with Supermercator founder Judith also struck a chord with readers – taking a message of can-do positivity, and DIY determination into the new year.
The top 10 features on Indy Film Library in terms of readership were:
More than Street Trash
Remembering Avaryl Halley
Adapting a genocide: The Last of Us Season Two is built on an increasingly reactionary allegory
Remember you must love: 28 Years Later, and not a moment too soon
IFL focuses on bright future with 2025 Student Short Showcase selection
Supermercator founder Judith on the importance of space and collaboration in culture and events
Merry Slopmas
Indy box office shrinks by more than 17%
‘Ocean with David Attenborough’ doesn’t have all the answers, but it’s a start
The importance of being campy
At the end of a long, sometimes difficult year, IFL feels like it is finally living up to its billing as a project: giving a platform to independent filmmakers, but also championing the best and brightest critics, venues and producers who help to keep this under-appreciated segment of the industry running. Here’s to a happy, healthy 2026!