Indie film fans ahoy! Sundance London is back at The O2 this weekend with more screens, higher ticket prices an even bigger line-up of films, including (for the first time) a selection of homegrown British produce.

A great new platform for indie filmmakers, last year’s festival helped secure UK distribution for eight out of its 14 films – and all eight were properly excellent stuff. We have high hopes, then, for the 2013 crop.

Here are our top seven films to see at Sundance London 2013.

There aren’t many men that I unashamedly, flat-out love. Clive Owen. Benedict Cumberbatch. Pete Sampras. That’s about it. What do you mean, why Pete Sampras? Have you seen him play tennis? He has really good ground strokes.

But one man who recently joined my exclusive group of man-crushes is Ricardo Darin. Ever since The Secret in Their Eyes, I’ve been a huge fan of Ricardo's work.  Carancho; Chinese Takeaway; and now the very good White Elephant, out in cinemas this weekend. He’s just consistently, reliably, wonderfully awesome.

Why? Because he sometimes looks like Alan Rickman? Because he manages to be grumpy and twinkly-eyed at the same time? Because his grizzled charisma is the perfect front for director Pablo Trapero’s raw, gritty social dramas?

It’s all of those, but it’s more than that - and somehow less than that as well. I’ve decided that Ricardo Darin’s power actually boils down to one thing: his beard.

Whether it’s grey, black, stubbly or long, Ricardo Darin’s facial hair can make him look happy, sad, angry, sexy, old, young or kind-of-in-the-middle. It’s a furry conduit for every human emotion ever conceived. It probably even improves his ground strokes.

“Nonsense!” you cry. “A beard can't do these things, no matter how great, big and/or bushy it is!”

But allow me to prove just how powerful Ricardo’s chin-fuzz is – by removing it completely.

What would Ricardo Darin look like without a beard? Read on to find out...

Pierce Brosnan is in Love Is All You Need, which is out in UK cinemas today. It's a charming little film, full of emotional honesty, laughs and pathos, but one thing it doesn't shy away from is this: Pierce Brosnan is old. If he started to look a little grey around the temples in Die Another Day, The Bronhom is borderline Roger Moore now. But someone he's just as charming and sexy as ever. Despite turning 60 next month.

To put that almighty feat into perspective, here are six things that are as old as Pierce Brosnan.

The Argentine Film Festival London returns for a second year this Wednesday – and I’m rather excited about it. I think you should be too. As the Cannes Film Festival starts to wind up its media machine, Argentine Film Festival London may not get as many column inches, but it’s lovely to see a young festival continue on the back of sheer audience demand – almost all of the festival’s screenings sold out last year.

In fact, it’s not just returning - it’s actually gotten bigger. In 2012, the festival was based in the sexy Ritzy Brixton. Now, it’s expanded to include the equally attractive Hackney Picturehouse and the always-glamorous Cineworld Haymarket. And, judging by last year’s programme, which contained some real gems, Festival Director Sofía Serbin de Skalon (helped by London Film Festival’s regular Programme Advisor Maria Delgado) should pack out all three venues with the kind of stuff that makes Latin American cinema some of the more interesting in the world today.

They may not have serial killers like Sweden or graphic violence like Hong Kong, but Argentina’s films have a character, social relevance and humour that can make them provocative, charming or often both. Here are six films I’m hoping to see at the second Argentine Film Festival London:

Who shot first? It’s been a debate for decades among Star Wars fans, who found their love of Han Solo’s roguish ways challenged by George Lucas’ insistence upon presenting him as a noble hero when the director inserted an extra shot years after the original release.

Viewers of The Place Beyond the Pines will face a similar dilemma.

How do you get your indie movie on iTunes? It helps if you're Gary King. The director of How Do You Write a Schermann Song?, which hit iTunes worldwide yesterday, has the enthusiasm to back up his talent - and, it turns out, the contacts too. He explains in this interview with Film Courage how he got digital distribution in an age where theatrical releases are harder and harder to come by.

"Some other people to validate it helps," he says. "There's a fine balance. You have to believe in it... but it is that type of world where that validation is needed from someone else, whether it is a friend, or a festival or a critic. If you have some kind of write-up about it, that helps..."

You can read our review of How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song? here. We first saw it at last year's Raindance Film Festival. Naturally, I take full credit for giving Gary's film the positive write-up it needed. Except for the part where he says he already had iTunes on board at that point.

"It was a good feeling to go around and not have that look of desperation..." he adds.

I won't tell him about his facial expression if you won't.

How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song? is out now on iTunes. Watch it here. It's fantastic.

10 days ago, Rob Thomas broke the internet – and potentially the movie industry – with his Veronica Mars Movie Project on Kickstarter. Could a crowd-funding campaign really raise enough money to resurrect the cancelled TV show?

$3.8 million later and the answer is more of a collective “SQUEEEEEEE!” than a “Yes”. Fans around the world are overjoyed their favourite series is getting a big-screen outing. But that’s nothing compared to the squeeing that must be going on at Warner Bros.

Veronica Mars broke several firsts when it passed its $2 million target. It’s the first old TV show to be rejuvenated by crowd-funding, the first Kickstarter film to ask for over $1m (only 87 successful film projects have ever asked for over $100k), and – most importantly – it’s the first studio-backed movie to crowd-source money.

At the time, everyone turned straight to Joss Whedon, hoping it would kick-start some kind of Firefly resurrection.

One week on, the dust has settled. What’s changed?