Vanishing Angle is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2010 by Matt Miller and Erich Lochner.
The company produces independent narrative features, short films, documentaries, and digital series, and has self-distributed several of its releases. Its productions include the comedy-drama Thunder Road (2018), the comedy Greener Grass (2019), the horror comedy The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020), the documentary It Ain't Over (2022), and the horror comedy Queens of the Dead (2025).
History Vanishing Angle was founded in 2010 by Matt Miller and Erich Lochner. Miller, who had worked as an assistant director and production assistant on both low-budget and studio films, built the company around a model that combined commercial and branded content work with independent feature development.
The company has produced short films as proofs of concept before expanding them into features, as it did with Thunder Road. It has also maintained ongoing working relationships with several directors, including Jim Cummings and Danny Madden, across multiple projects. Vanishing Angle also self-distributed several early releases, including Too Late (2015) and Thunder Road (2018), the latter with support from the Sundance Institute's Creative Distribution Initiative.
Natalie Metzger joined the company after meeting Miller at a film event in 2016 and later became a lead producer. In 2019, the company promoted three producers to executive roles: Metzger as Vice President of Development and Production, Benjamin Wiessner as Vice President of Sales and Acquisitions, and Jim Cummings as Vice President of Creative Initiatives. Matt Miller is the company's president.
Wiessner co-founded the company's Short to Feature Lab, a weeklong workshop in Malibu for developing short films into features, which he runs with Jim Cummings. In 2020, the company launched the Vanishing Angle Post Grant, awarding post-production services to short filmmakers in partnership with the post-production house DryDock.
Filmography
Feature films Year Title Director Notes 2015 Too Late Dennis Hauck Self-distributed; shot on 35 mm in single-take scenes 2015 The Grief of Others Patrick Wang Premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival 2015 Amira & Sam Sean Mullin 2015 The Dramatics: A Comedy Scott Rodgers 2017 American Folk David Heinz Premiered at the 2017 Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2018 Thunder Road Jim Cummings Won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW 2018 2018 A Bread Factory Patrick Wang 2018 We the Coyotes Hanna Ladoul, Marco La Via Selected for the ACID sidebar at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival; also released as Anywhere With You 2019 Greener Grass Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe Premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival; released by IFC Films 2020 Beast Beast Danny Madden Premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival 2020 The Wolf of Snow Hollow Jim Cummings Released by Orion Classics 2020 In a Silent Way Collin Levin 2021 Werewolves Within Josh Ruben Premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Festival; released by IFC Films 2021 The Beta Test Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe Premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Festival; released by IFC Films 2022 It Ain't Over Sean Mullin Documentary on Yogi Berra; released by Sony Pictures Classics 2022 Disfluency Anna Baumgarten Directorial debut of Anna Baumgarten 2022 See You Then Mari Walker 2022 Spoonful of Sugar Mercedes Bryce Morgan Released as a Shudder original 2023 The Secret Art of Human Flight H.P. Mendoza Premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival; released by Level 33 Entertainment 2024 Cold Wallet Cutter Hodierne Premiered at SXSW 2024; released by Well Go USA 2025 Under the Lights Miles Levin Directorial debut of Miles Levin 2025 Queens of the Dead Tina Romero Premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film; released by Independent Film Company and Shudder 2025 California King Eli Stern Feature directorial debut of Eli Stern 2025 Snake Oil Song Micah Van Hove Executive-produced by Vanishing Angle's Jim Cummings and Benjamin Wiessner; New York premiere at the 2026 Brooklyn Film Festival 2026 Downbeat Danny Madden Premiered at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival 2026 Kill Me Peter Warren Co-production with Dark Horse Entertainment and Rabbits Black; premiered at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival TBA The Edge of Normal Carlota Pereda Co-production with XYZ Films (lead producer and financier)
Television and digital series Year Title Notes 2016 MatPat's Game Lab Digital series; won a Streamy Award in 2016 2018 Stargate Origins Ten-episode digital series for MGM's Stargate Command; Vanishing Angle served as co-producer. Later re-cut as the feature Stargate Origins: Catherine 2021 The Park Dystopian drama series set up at Topic 2024 From the Top: Where Music Lives Short-form video series produced in partnership with the NPR-distributed classical-music program From the Top
Selected short films Year Title Director Notes Minutes Six-short comedy anthology produced for Fullscreen following the Thunder Road short's 2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize win Still Life Three-short series produced for Topic following the Thunder Road short's 2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize win 2023 POOF Margaret Miller Official Selection, 2023 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Competition; nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or 2023 Shadow Brother Sunday Alden Ehrenreich Directorial debut of Ehrenreich; premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival
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