This is a list of notable American independent films (which are also known sometimes as "specialty", "alternative", "indie", and/or "quality") [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] that were made outside of the Hollywood studio system or traditional arthouse/independent filmmaking yet managed to be produced, financed and distributed by the two with varying degrees of success and/or failure. [8]
The films are often made for far less money than Hollywood films [9] [10] (some films like Robert Townsend's 1987 satire Hollywood Shuffle , Richard Linklater's 1991 countercultural piece Slacker and Kevin Smith's 1994 Gen X comedy Clerks were funded by using credit cards [11] [12] ) and each aspect of the filmmaking process has to undergo less scrutiny by committees. Additionally, within the Indiewood approach the filmmaker can take as long as they need in the post-production phase of their film - whereas in Hollywood they are contracted to finish the film in a specific period of time (usually 10 weeks). In Hollywood, the film then goes on to show in focus group screenings on the studio lot. In Indiewood, the filmmakers can determine the next steps of the film. They also bear striking similarities to as well as were influenced by the "proto-indies" of the 1960s such as Robert Downey Sr's still image film Chafed Elbows (1966), John Cassavetes's Academy Award-nominated Faces and Brian de Palma's Greetings (each from 1968) which in turn were influenced by the culture of the Beat Generation. [13] [14]
Many indie films were made by small companies that were created daily in the 80s and 90s to the point where most of them went bankrupt. [15]
Most Indiewood films are first shown at film festivals with the hopes of further distribution by being picked up (or purchased) by a larger film company or distributor in order to find broader audiences alongside awards consideration [16] [17] (e.g. 2009's A Single Man ). [18]
The American independent film, prior to the 1980s and first half of the 1990s, [19] [20] [11] was previously associated with race films, [21] Poverty Row b movies (e.g. Republic Pictures [22] ), exploitation films, avant-garde underground cinema (when it was known as the New American Cinema [23] ), social and political documentaries, experimental animated shorts (since the mid-1930s featuring works by pioneer animators Mary Ellen Bute and Oskar Fischinger) and social realist dramas. [24] [25] [26] [14] [27] [28] [29]
A notable scholar of indie cinema is Ray Carney, known for championing the works of Cassavetes and Mark Rappaport. [30]
Throughout the middle of the 1990s, the word "Indiewood" (a.k.a. "indie boom" or "indie film movement") [31] [32] [4] was invented to describe a component of the spectrum of American films in which distinctions exist, it seemed as if Hollywood and the independent sector had become blurred. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [4]
Indiewood divisions gain from expert experience of the niche industry by hiring leading independent personalities such as Harvey Weinstein [38] from the Disney fold after the exit of the Weinsteins, [39] [40] and James Schamus, former joint head of Good Machine alongside producer Ted Hope, at Focus Features. [41] [42]
[44] [2] [45] [31] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55]
[50] [132] [91] [81] [121] [92] ≈
[190] [79] [125] [126] [14] [50] [165] [160] ≈
[189] [190] [25] [79] [125] [126] [50] [160] [161]
[125] [25] [126] [165] [91] [121] [71] ≈
[6] [209] [190] [79] [91] [81]
[81] [219] [124] [14] [50] [91] ≈
[6] [209] [231] [190] [50] [91] [232] [92]
[202] [90] [6] [209] [236] [96] [91] [219]
[231] [190] [79] [125] [124] [50] ≈
[4] [230] [188] [47] [6] [79] [14] [50] [71] ≈
[190] [125] [50] [91] [218] [219]
[6] [236] [96] [50] [218] [219]
[127] [79] [96] [50] [91] [81]
[90] [79] [125] [124] [50] [91] [267]
[295] [231] [190] [270] [79] [124] [96] [50] [91] [267]
[19] [126] [14] [50] [165] [91] [81] [163]
[250] [49] [202] [90] [209] [190] [14] [91] [366]
[184] [49] [202] [189] [190] [19] [126] [165] [91]
[189] [126] [14] [91] [7] [81]
[49] [90] [212] [190] [124] [126] [50] [91]
[202] [90] [209] [190] [126] [14] [50] [81] [366]
[32] [178] [202] [90] [212] [189] [190] [248] [196] [14] [50]
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind reality. It is sometimes called observational cinema, if understood as pure direct cinema: mainly without a narrator's voice-over. There are subtle, yet important, differences between terms expressing similar concepts. Direct cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence: operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode", a fly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.
The term independent animation refers to animated shorts, web series, and feature films produced outside a major national animation industry.
Bill Plympton is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker best known for his 1987 Academy Award–nominated animated short Your Face and his series of shorts featuring a dog character starting with 2004's Guard Dog.
The New Hollywood, Hollywood Renaissance, American New Wave, or New American Cinema, was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of filmmakers came to prominence. They influenced the types of film produced, their production and marketing, and the way major studios approached filmmaking. In New Hollywood films, the film director, rather than the studio, took on a key authorial role.
Bruno Bozzetto is an Italian cartoon animator and film director, creator of many short pieces, mainly of a political or satirical nature. He created his first animated short "Tapum! the weapons' story" in 1958 at the age of 20. His most famous character, a hapless little man named "Signor Rossi", has been featured in many animated shorts as well as starring in three feature films: Mr. Rossi Looks for Happiness (1976), Mr. Rossi's Dreams (1977), and Mr. Rossi's Vacation (1977).
Postmodernist film is a classification for works that articulate the themes and ideas of postmodernism through the medium of cinema. Some of the goals of postmodernist film are to subvert the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization, and to test the audience's suspension of disbelief. Typically, such films also break down the cultural divide between high and low art and often upend typical portrayals of gender, race, class, genre, and time with the goal of creating something that does not abide by traditional narrative expression.
Indiewood films are made outside of the Hollywood studio system or traditional arthouse/independent filmmaking system yet managed to be produced, financed and distributed by the two with varying degrees of success and/or failure.
IndieWire is a film industry and film criticism website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "include all aspects of Hollywood and the expanding universes of TV and streaming". IndieWire is part of Penske Media Corporation.
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival takes place every January in Park City, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; and at Sundance Resort, and acts as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres. Many films premiering at Sundance have gone on to be nominated and win Oscars such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Don Hertzfeldt is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films It's Such a Beautiful Day, the World of Tomorrow series, ME, and Rejected. In 2014, his work appeared on The Simpsons. Eight of his short films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival record. He is also the only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice.
Vulgar auteurism is a movement that emerged in early 2010s cinephilia and film criticism associated with championing or reappraising filmmakers, mostly those working in the horror, sci-fi and action genres and whose work has otherwise received little attention or negative reception in the critical mainstream. It became a controversial topic in the cinephile community following the publication of an article in the Village Voice in 2013 and has been described as "a critical movement committed to assessing the 'unserious' artistry of popcorn cinema with absolute seriousness."
Jerry Beck is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer.
Sundae in New York is a 1983 American animated short film directed by Jimmy Picker and starring Scott Record.
Francis Peter "Frank" Mouris is an American animator. He is best known for his film Frank Film (1973), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Flee is a 2021 independent adult animated documentary film directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. An international co-production with Denmark, France, Norway, and Sweden, it follows the story of a man under the alias Amin Nawabi, who shares his hidden past of fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark for the first time. Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serve as executive producers and narrators for the English-language dub version.
Maximalist film or maximalist cinema is related to the art and philosophy of maximalism.
Minimalist cinema is related to the art and philosophy of minimalism.
Modernist film is related to the art and philosophy of modernism.
Arthouse animation is a combination of art film and animated film.
This is the list of the winners of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for dramatic features.