Skip to main content

Time to replace Independent Films label with something like Interesting, Unsual Films

Due to the success of the independent filmmaking movement, & the web, & the digital revolution, Independent Film, at this point in time, is largely a meaningless label.  Because at this point Independent Film does not represent one set of ideas, or one particular political stance - it's just temporarily-outside-of-Hollywood filmmaking - covering genres from horror to coming of age romantic comedies - so almost anything can be called Independent now - even multi-million dollar movies featuring Hollywood stars.  Also, no content - critical voices, just plain bizarre scenes, characters, dialogue, etc - are outside of the mainstream anymore - everything is readily available from one source or another, nothing is forbidden.  So, Independent Film is largely an art/entertainment making movement of the very recent past.  So, what's new - what do we have now?

We have all kinds of interesting filmed art & entertainment happening - on movie screens, on regular TV, on cable TV, on the internet, on DVDs, on cell phones.  As a content creator or filmmaker - find out what you would like to make & find out the best available way to make it right now - maybe fully self financed on a budget of $100 or financed by investors on a budget of $100,000, or a TV series produced by a major studio - whatever works.  As an audience member, seek out what excites you through all the available avenues.  Indie recommendations, indie theaters, even indie film focused blogs, are no longer very relevant - as what is being considered officially indie has become very uninteresting (for example - Miranda July's The Future, pretty much most of the Mumblecore movies, etc) and very interesting things are starting to pop up from unexpected sources (Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris being better/more enjoyable than most indie movies by younger filmmakers that I've seen recently, also Star Trek: Enterprise coming up with some very interesting & entertaining episodes on Netflix - available for streaming).

So, thanks Independent Film, you changed the world, enjoy your retirement.  If the media making & distribution & consumption landscape radically changes for the worse, I am sure you'll be brought back to action - like an old timey superhero.

In the meantime, hello interesting & unusual & enjoyable movies - regardless of the way you were made, how much or little money went into making you, who stars, etc.

All in all I think this post-indie film present-near future situation is an improvement on things.  Lets see if we end up with better movies, more enjoyable movies, & more useful movies under this system than we did with the old indie vs. hollywood or indie & hollywood system.

- S
::
::
::
::
::
ADVERTISING

New blogs for projects by NYC artist Katheryn McGaffigan:
 
Blog 1
http://katherynmcgaffigan.blogspot.com/

Blog 2
http://katherynmcgaffigan2.blogspot.com/

Blog 3
http://katherynmcgaffigan3.blogspot.com/

Blog 4
http://katherynmcgaffigan4.blogspot.com/

Blog 5
http://katherynmcgaffigan5.blogspot.com/

Blog 6
http://katherynmcgaffigan6.blogspot.com/

Blog 7
http://katherynmcgaffigan7.blogspot.com/

Blog 8
http://katherynmcgaffigan8.blogspot.com/

Blog 10 (no blog 9, numbered wrong)
http://katherynmcgaffigan10.blogspot.com/

Blog 11
http://katherynmcgaffigan11.blogspot.com/

Blog 12
http://katherynmcgaffigan12.blogspot.com/

Blog 13
http://katherynmcgaffigan13.blogspot.com/

Blog 14
http://katherynmcgaffigan14.blogspot.com/

Blog 15
http://katherynmcgaffigan15.blogspot.com/

Blog 16
http://katherynmcgaffigan16.blogspot.com/

::

 ADVERTISEMENT

Al Maiorino - Italian Genealogy, Public Strategy Group, & more!

 http://almaiorino.blogspot.com/2011/12/al-maiorino-welcome-to-blog.html

Italian Genealogy blog

::

Full Movie - SNEAK PREVIEW - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene And The Mystery Of Immortal Time Travelers

NEW - COSMIC DISCO DETECTIVE RENE (2023) - TRAILER!

The Secret Society For Slow Romance (2022) - available to rent as a new release starting January 1

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher at Vimeo VOD

Popular Posts

Godard's GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE - watch and commentary live - off of Metrograph At Home copy of film

This is no way to write a movie review

Cynthia Rockwell's "review" of Hannah Takes The Stairs is depressing not because she didn't like the movie but because after reading the entire thing, 6 small to medium sized paragraphs, I can't figure out the following: the plot of the movie or the situation or roughly what happens for 70 - 90 minutes, the main characters & any significant minor characters, who plays the characters, ideas that may have been expressed in the movie, similar ideas and situations that may have been explored in other movies or other art/entertainment and how those compare with the film being reviewed, the reviewer's opinion of the technical craftsmanship of the movie, how real life compares to the world being depicted in the movie. At the very least I would like to learn a few of those things about a movie from a review. (and yes, Rockwell does consider her post re: Hannah a review, as noted here , not just a blog entry reflecting on the lack of female participation in indie

Let's take a closer look at Mike Tully's negative review of IFBRT & see if we can clarify some things

Mike Tully (presently inactive filmmaker who is not a fan of shooting on DV, who is now running things - as far as I know - at the review site Hammer to Nail, who also blogs at indieWIRE, & who wrote a brief & positive review of Date Number One in '06, & a fellow Marylander who generally seems like a cool dude) attended the World Premiere of Indie Film Blogger Road Trip and wrote a review of the doc . There are several items in that review that I'd like to comment on. So here we go: "At its best, Sujewa Ekanayake’s Indie Film Blogger Road Trip is certain to go down as one of the more bizarre time capsules of life on early-21st Century Earth." Cool - life on Earth in early 21st century - right now - is pretty bizarre, so a film dealing with a new, early-21st Century thing like film blogging/a film blogging community, should reflect that reality. The doc, however, is very simple & conventional in its form & content (shots of people talking). It is i

Reading Material

Indie Film Blogger Road Trip