Josh Penn is expanding his indie film empire with Serenade, a fresh production company that lets him call the shots on both documentaries and narrative features. The move positions him as a major player in independent cinema's next chapter.
Insiders note Penn spent ten years building The Department of Motion Pictures before this pivot — questions are already swirling about why he left and whether there was tension behind the scenes at his previous company.
Serenade launches with 12+ films in development across fiction and documentary. Penn earned a Peabody Award, Sundance Producers Award, and PGA Outstanding Producer nomination during his decade at The Department of Motion Pictures.
Penn's track record speaks for itself — but launching a new company means starting from scratch on relationships and credibility. Whether Serenade can replicate the success he built over ten years remains to be seen.
Josh Penn, the Academy Award-nominated producer behind "Beasts of the Southern Wild," has officially launched Serenade — a new production company dedicated to both documentary and narrative films, Variety reports. The move comes after Penn spent the past decade as co-founder and CEO of The Department of Motion Pictures, where he produced or executive produced more than 20 films. His work there earned him serious industry credentials: a Peabody Award, the Sundance Producers Award, an Outstanding Producer of the Year nomination from the Producers Guild of America, and credits at virtually every major festival including Sundance, Telluride, and Cannes.
Serenade's debut project is already generating buzz. "The Oldest Person in the World," directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green, premiered at Sundance 2026 to enthusiastic critical reception. But that's just the beginning — Penn has stacked Serenade's slate with more than a dozen films currently in various stages of development, production, and post-production.
On the fiction side, projects include "Dave, Dave, Ruth & Dave" from director Alex Fischer (behind horror film "Wicker") and Rachel Wolther; "Here for the Weekend," the directorial debut of Jane Casey Modderno; and "Edge City," a hybrid Western from the Ross Brothers. The documentary roster is equally ambitious: two-time Sundance Best Director winner Natalia Almada's new feature "Captions Will be Needed"; "Assata," a feature documentary about political activist Assata Shakur directed by Giselle and Stephen Bailey; and "Blue Sweater With a Yellow Hole" from Ukrainian director Tetiana Khodakivska, which received development support from Cannes, the Sundance Institute, and Berlinale.
Perhaps most ambitious is Sam Green's live documentary "Trees," a large-scale work combining live performance, symphony orchestras, and cinema with a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. The project just announced its world premiere at London's Barbican Centre and will also be released as a traditional theatrical and streaming film. Beyond producing, Penn and Serenade are launching a consulting services wing targeting filmmakers, financiers, and organizations across the independent film ecosystem.
Their consulting work has already supported films that premiered at Sundance and Cannes and earned Academy Award shortlist nominations. Penn has consulted for leading institutions including the Sundance Institute's Narrative and Documentary Creative Producing Labs, Sundance Catalyst, Film Independent, Impact Partners, and the Skoll World Forum. Distribution deals during his career have included Netflix, Neon, Searchlight, and Paramount — relationships that will likely prove valuable as Serenade ramps up production. Since 2012, Penn has premiered over a dozen films at Sundance alone, with those projects collectively earning six awards from the festival.
