In May, New York–based independent press Ig Publishing will launch Auteur, a series of books that combines film criticism and personal narrative. In the vein of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3, each title in the new line will examine a single movie through a critical and historical lens while also exploring the author’s creative and emotional connection to the film. Auteur is an apt companion to Ig’s Bookmarked series—launched in 2016 and also inspired by 33 1/3—for which authors reflect on one book that influenced their desire to become writers.

The press plans to publish two trade paperback titles in the series per year, though Ig editor-in-chief Robert Lasner said that number “will expand if the series does well.” The inaugural Auteur titles are slated to publish this spring, with Ben Tanzer’s After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema (May 6) and Maia Wyman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Love, Loss and the Fade to White (June 3). Ryan Bradley, who conceived of the line and serves as series editor, acquired both books, describing them as “meditations on grief through the lens of cinema.” A third book in the series, by NewYork Times–bestselling author Steve Almond on the 1980 film Ordinary People, is set to publish in 2026. Almond also previously contributed to the Ig’s Bookmarked series.

The series got its start rather serendipitously after Bradley, an author and marketing manager for Jackson County Library Services in Medford, Ore., posted on Facebook about his idea for a series of books that blended movies and memoir. “We thought it was a good idea and got in touch with him,” Lasner said. Soon enough, plans to bring the series to life were in motion.

“Our goal,” said Bradley, “is to develop a thoughtful catalog of diverse authors writing about diverse films in a way that shares our passion for movies with our fellow devotees of cinema at large.” Lasner noted that going forward the series will likely hold an open call for submissions, a la 33 1/3, combined with targeted acquisitions. But for now, he said, “we are taking it slow.”