Contemporary American Independent Film: From the Margins to the Mainstream

Edited by Chris Holmlund and Justin Wyatt
London and New York: Routledge, 2005

From Easy Rider to The Blair Witch Project, Contemporary American Independent Film is a comprehensive examination of the independent film scene consisting of seventeen essays from numerous film studies professors through out the country. Exploring the uneasy relationship between independent films and the major studios, the 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, 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 whether independent filmmakers can also be stars, and consider how indie features like Boys Don't Cry and Shopping for Fangs address issues of gender, sexuality and ethnicity normally avoided by Hollywood.

The collection of essays offers an unprecedented look at the scope of indie options and the field of indie controversies. Though each author is different in their approach, they seem to all feel passionately that how indies are defined, made, and shown makes a difference. They show great interest in the interface of economics, technology, aesthetics and ideology. The contributors, as well as the editor, Chris Holmlund, recognize that in a world dominated by Hollywood products, independents are necessarily in positions of dependence. Yet still, they write how creative imagination, determination and courage among filmmakers continue to be present.

Several of the contributors measure contemporary American indie features in light of indie traditions of early American features, experimental shorts, documentaries and foreign films. Several explore emerging new media or marketing. Others look at more mainstream work, although they mostly avoid analysis of films produced and released by mini-major studios. A number of the essays examine audiences, distinguishing them by gender, generation, sexual preference, ethnicity and race. Always concerned with audiences, as well as attitudes, all of the contributors weave together reflections on history with assessments of the present and speculations of the future.