Authors: Chris Holmlund, Justin Wyatt, Justin Wyatt
ISBN-13: 9780415254878, ISBN-10: 0415254876
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
Date Published: November 2004
Edition: 1st Edition
Since the explosion in low-budget filmmaking in the 1960s, the "independent" film scene has produced some of the most innovative and successful films of recent years, such as Easy Rider and The Blair Witch Project. But how independent is independent cinema today? And what are the artistic and economic concerns that separate it from Hollywood?
Contemporary American Independent Film is a comprehensive examination of the independent film scene. Exploring the uneasy relationship between independent films and the major studios, contributors trace the changing ideas and definitions of independent cinema, and the diversity of independent film practices. They consider the ways in which indie films are marketed and distributed, and how new technologies such as video, cable and the internet have offered new opportunities for filmmakers to produce and market independent films.
Turning to the work of key auteurs such as John Sayles and Haile Gerima, contributors ask wheth
1 | Introduction : from the margins to the mainstream | 1 |
2 | Introduction to 'critical formations' | 23 |
3 | Ordinary people, European-style : or how to spot an independent feature | 27 |
4 | Independence for independents | 35 |
5 | Dimension pictures : portrait of a 1970s' independent | 41 |
6 | End of the indies : death of the Sayles men | 53 |
7 | Alternative cinemas | 59 |
8 | 'Queen of the indies' : Parker Posey's niche stardom and the taste cultures of independent film | 71 |
9 | Dark, disturbing, intelligent, provocative, and quirky : avant-garde cinema of the 1980s and 1990s | 89 |
10 | Communitarianism, film entrepreneurism, and the crusade of Troma Entertainment | 107 |
11 | John Sayles, independent filmmaker : 'Bet on yourself' | 125 |
12 | Haile Gerima : 'sacred shield of culture' | 141 |
13 | Seminal fantasies : Wakefield Poole, pornography, independent cinema and the avant-garde | 155 |
14 | Generation Q's ABCs : queer kids and 1990s' independent films | 177 |
15 | Just another girl outside the nco-indie | 193 |
16 | Guests at The Wedding Banquet : the cinema of the Chinese diaspora and the rise of the American independents | 211 |
17 | Revisiting 1970s' independent distribution and marketing strategies | 229 |
18 | Digital deployment(s) | 245 |
19 | The IFC and sundance : channeling independence | 265 |