Amateur Cinema Movement manifesto at Genius Bastard Film Arts

From Brandon Wilson's site Genius Bastard Film Arts:

"Manifesto of the American Amateur Cinema Movement

When the word "independent" can be applied to both non-studio features that have budgets in the seven figures and a cast full of major movie stars as well as digital features done for four figures with all unknowns, the term "indie" begins to lose all meaning. Looking at the fare at most "independent" festivals has become a dispiriting experience. "Indie" movies have foolishly lost touch with the best tradition of world arts cinema, they have instead chosen to become the stepchild of the Hollywood Studios.

So it is time for some of us to reject the term "independent" altogether. Let that term be affixed to non-studio features with "A-list" studio talent attached detailing the quirky-yet-life-affirming-coming-of-age of yet another sensitive young white male with the ethnic sidekick.

Let us take up the word "amateur." Not in the sense of unprofessional, but in the sense of the root of the word- one who does something out of love rather than vocation."

Read the rest at Genius Bastard Film Arts, under Manifesto tab.

- Sujewa