Independent
see all genres ›The whole notion of independence applies to films made outside major studios though, occasionally, the studios will distribute independently-produced films that they acquire at assorted film festivals. Independent films are often characterized as personal projects with low budgets and limited releases. Because of this, they usually feature a high degree of artistic investment and frequently explore unconventional subject material.
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Genres / Independent
SUB-GENRES · Documentary · Narrative
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The Cult of JT LeRoy
Ethically charged, controversial and confusing, JT's life and death sprang open a Pandora's box of powerful questions about literature and culture, identity and celebrity and the reality of the society we live in. Fraud? Art? Sociopathy? Complicity? THE CULT OF JT LEROY is a...Watch Movie
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Debra Paget, For Example
Debra Paget was a contract player for 20th-Century Fox, whom they groomed and coached for stardom. But she never quite caught on. Maybe the movies weren't interesting enough. Or maybe she didn’t stand out from the rest of the pack. Or the studio didn’t take enough care in...Watch Movie
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Heavy Metal Parking Lot
Hailed by Cameron Crowe as "one of the greatest rock movies ever made," HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT documents the parking lot tailgating at Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland, in the hours before (and the moments after) a Judas Priest concert in May 31, 1986 (the "JUN 23 1995"...Watch Movie
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A Shock to the System
A middle-aged advertising executive loses his long-awaited promotion to a younger man. In frustration, he accidentally pushes a panhandler in front of a subway train... and gets away with the death. Realizing that committing murder might be a little easier than he previously...Watch Movie
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Christmas, Again
For a fifth consecutive December, a heartbroken Noel returns to New York City to work the night shift at a sidewalk Christmas tree lot. Devoid of any holiday spirit, he struggles to stay awake during the long, chilly nights in his trailer, while the daytime traffic keeps him...Watch Movie
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Becoming Anita Ekberg
BECOMING ANITA EKBERG is an exploration of how the construct of "Anita Ekberg" became an internationally famous sex goddess as a result of the careful cultivation of her image in various movies, both in Hollywood, by Frank Tashlin, and in Europe, by Federico Fellini. It's an...Watch Movie
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Sex and Broadcasting
SEX AND BROADCASTING is a human and humorous look at New Jersey's WFMU, a radio station that refuses any programming boundaries. Most of its disc jockeys are unpaid volunteers, working for their love of surprising, spontaneous radio. They play everything from flat-out...Watch Movie
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Dark Star
In the mid twenty-first century, mankind has reached a point in its technological advances to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. DARK STAR is a futuristic scout ship traveling far in advance of colony ships. Armed with Exponential Thermosteller Bombs, it prowls the darkest...Watch Movie
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Natural Selection
Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW and nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Actress for Rachael Harris, NATURAL SELECTION is a wonderfully irreverent comedy about a devoted Texas housewife whose carefully ordered world is turned upside...Watch Movie
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Teknolust
Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton plays four roles in this award-winning science fiction film about Rosetta Stone and her three Self-Replicating Automatons which she clones from her own DNA. Though they look human, the SRA cyborgs were bred as intelligent machines and are immortal. In order to...Watch Movie
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Memory Box
A dreamlike drama about gender and power. A young mother works at a memory recreation facility (where actors recreate clients' memories). A client pushes her to break the rules, crossing lines and jeopardizing her job. She's forced to decide how far she's willing to go. Dreams and fantasy become...Watch Movie
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Female Pervert
Phoebe is seeking a true connection, unfortunately she doesn't relate to people like most in "normal society." She starts making changes, and as her road to self improvement unfolds, her more eccentric interests lead her down a darker path. She meets a few men, hoping to spark a love connection....Watch Movie
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The Vanity Tables of Douglas Sirk
A video essay exploring the frequency and meaning of that particular prop in a wide variety of Sirk movies. Is it a device that traps and keeps women in an artificial world with a limited point of view? Or is it a gateway to the past and the future, and a distorted but...Watch Movie
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The Woodmans
The tragic story of Francesca Woodman, a young photographer renowned for her extraordinary self-portraits, is also the story of her brilliantly artistic family. With THE WOODMANS, director C. Scott Willis shows how the struggle for fame in the high-stakes world of art resulted in tragedy and then...Watch Movie
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John Garfield
Mark Rappaport completed his concise portrait of the legendary John Garfield in 2002, comprised (like much of his filmed essays) from existing film footage of the actor. Exceptionally engaging, Rappaport's extraordinary short contains more insightful observations of its subject than many...Watch Movie
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The Circle Closes
An examination of four different films, which to varying degrees, center on a prop or an object or an item that crosses various characters lives and passes from hand to hand in THE CIRCLE CLOSES. The story in each film is, to a certain extent, told from the point of view of...Watch Movie
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Poison
The second feature directed by Todd Haynes, POISON is a groundbreaking American independent film and was the most fervently debated film of the 1990s as well as a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema. A work of immense visual invention, Haynes' spectacular follow-up to his legendary SUPERSTAR:...Watch Movie
