By Sujewa Ekanayake
I was having an argument with the guy behind the counter at one of my local delis about wether it was possible and or useful to create a new indie film canon. Creating a list of films that are good examples of the unique art form that indie/non-Hollywood film has become over the past 30 (Dogme 95 starting around 1995) to 70 (Breathless screening at Cannes in 1960) or so years. The guy behind the counter at the deli did not think it was a good idea, but he did offer me free coffee in exchange for placing some of his favorite sci-fi horror movies on the list - if I made the list. Many of those movies involve zombie cheerleaders from outer space. I decided to pay for the coffee.
The films on this list are real indie/independent, largely non-Hollywood films. Made and often distributed without the financial backing or creative control of established, large, mainstream film studios or production companies and or distribution companies in the United States. The titles here are some of the best examples of indie films (more on that below). Watch these 50 films, get to know these filmmakers, and you will have a great understanding of modern independent/non-Hollywood film as an art form. Most of these films are arthouse dramas and or comedies. There is a lot of activity these days with other types of indie films also - such as horror films. Writers/bloggers who know about those films should make lists like this one so that more people can discover those movies. Also writers/film fans from under-represented communities and from various countries worldwide should create lists of their highly recommended movies - that will open new worlds to audiences.
A lot of the films selected for this list were made on digital video. I feel that digital video is the best production medium for independent films, as the lower cost of using digital video makes that medium more accessible to filmmakers. I also prefer the look of digital video projects - with some artificial film grain added when appropriate - over works made using old timey motion picture film.
Most filmmakers selected for this list have made 20 or more indie/non-Hollywood fiction features. Most - except 2 - are fiction feature filmmakers (Mekas and Everson are not). Varda has made both fiction and documentary films. The films and filmmakers were selected because I like the specific films listed and or the filmmakers/their other works, and the films and filmmakers are generally well regarded by critics, audiences, and film institutions such as arthouse theaters and film festivals.
The filmmakers were also selected for being prolific and skilled artists whose work new audiences may want to explore. The films are creative, rewarding, and entertaining (for the most part - not sure about Jeanne Dielman). And these filmmakers are potential sources of inspiration for future indie filmmakers. The innovative indie filmmaking work of Mekas and Everson - even though their works are mostly documentaries - can serve as powerful starting points for new indie fiction filmmakers.
Most, if not all, films on this list can be found on VOD - through Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, Mubi, Vimeo VOD, other outlets, and through indie distributors such as Cinema Guild and Kino Lorber. Many of these films also screen at arthouse theaters from time to time. Watch them at theaters whenever possible - for the full, cinematic, immersive experience with larger than life images and sounds. I tried to include 1 VOD link for each film - there may be many other viewing options available on the internet, do a search. Titles are linked to Letterboxd pages for each film, with a brief description or a part of the description from Letterboxd. Follow the links, explore the movies!
For each filmmaker there is a link to: a Letterboxd page for the filmmaker (when available), a Wikipedia page, and or other pages that have general information. For some filmmakers and films additional links - to interviews, articles - have been added so that readers will have a number of items available to learn about the films. Take a look - be amazed and inspired! Indie film is both the past and the future of high quality filmed art/entertainment.
Links are current and active as of January 4, 2024. That may not be the case in the future because we are looking at the indie film world - where great art is often hidden.
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The List:
1 - Hong Sang-soo
"An acclaimed and prolific filmmaker, Hong is known for his slow-paced films about love affairs and everyday dilemmas in contemporary South Korea." - WikipediaI once got into an illuminating discussion about Hong Sang-soo films with a woman who was dressed up as an ostrich - on the subway.
Film 1 - Walk Up - "A middle-aged film director and the daughter he hasn’t seen in years visit a building owned by an interior designer." - Letterboxd
- at Google Play
Film 2 - In Another Country - "There are three women named Anne, and each woman consecutively visits the seaside town of Mohang." - Letterboxd
- at Kino Now
Film 3 - The Day He Arrives - "A film director who no longer makes films, Seongjun arrives in Seoul to meet a close friend." - Letterboxd
- at Google Play
Film 4 - Tale of Cinema - "In Seoul, a suicidal student meets a young woman who decides to join him in his fatal gesture." - Letterboxd
- at Amazon
Film 5 - The Day After - "On her first day at work, Areum replaces a woman who broke up with the boss." - Letterboxd
- at Google Play
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2 - Jean-Luc Godard
"He was arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era. According to AllMovie, his work "revolutionized the motion picture form" through its experimentation with narrative, continuity, sound, and camerawork." - Wikipedia*
3 - Agnès Varda
"Director Martin Scorsese described Varda as "one of the Gods of Cinema". Among several other accolades, Varda received an Honorary Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first woman to win the award, a Golden Lion for Vagabond at the 1985 Venice Film Festival, an Academy Honorary Award, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Faces Places, becoming the oldest person to be nominated for a competitive Oscar. In 2017, she became the first female director to win an honorary Oscar. - Wikipedia"Film 1 - Cléo from 5 to 7 - "Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 2 - The Gleaners and I - "Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 3 - Vagabond - "Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort,..." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 4 - Le Bonheur - "Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse, young husband and father François finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 5 - The Beaches of Agnès - "Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
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4 - Chantal Akerman
"According to multiple critics and film scholars, Akerman's influence on feminist and avant-garde cinema is substantial, with at least one scholar calling her "one of the most significant directors of our times." - Wikipedia- at Criterion Channel
Film 2 - News From Home - "Filmed images of the City are accompanied by the texts of Chantal Akerman’s loving mother back home in Brussels." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 3 - The Meetings of Anna - "On a trip across Western Europe to promote her newest release, filmmaker Anna encounters several individuals—familiar and otherwise—and attends to their discontents." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 4 - Almayer’s Folly - "A tale of an occidental merchant, Kaspar Almayer, whose dreams of riches for his beloved daughter, Nina, collapse under the weight of his own greed and prejudice." - Letterboxd
- at Amazon
Film 5 - Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles - "A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet." - Letterboxd
- at Amazon
This movie is not like any of the other movies on this list. It is the slowest of slow cinema, and is not filmed entertainment as most people know it. However, many critics champion it and they found it to be the one of the most important films of all times - the "greatest film of all time" in their opinion - at this BFI list. So, perhaps a film that should be studied by future indie filmmakers. Perhaps the form of the film can be used as a source of inspiration for other types of stories/content.
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5 - Lav Diaz
"He is frequently known as one of the key members of the slow cinema movement, and has made several of the longest narrative films on record. Diaz is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary Filipino filmmakers." - WikipediaIn Sri Lanka I once saw a large, old tree with thousands of bats - the flying animal. Science has so far been unable to figure out if bats are birds or some other kind of animal. I wonder if they have giant bats in the Philippines. We may never know, as information like that is often hidden by governments.
Film 1 - Norte, The End of History - "A man is wrongly jailed for murder while the real killer roams free." - Letterboxd
- at Google Play
Film 2 - From What Is Before - "The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest,..." - Letterboxd
- at Mubi
Film 3 - The Woman Who Left - "For Horacia Somorostro, living has become a veritable reclusion perpetua, an imprisonment." - Letterboxd
- at Amazon
Film 4 - Evolution of a Filipino Family - "An intimate epic made with uncompromising and austere seriousness that patiently and methodically observes the collapse and hopeful revival of a poor farming clan, meant to symbolize a nation’s history spanning 1971 to 1987." - Letterboxd
- at Mubi
Film 5 - West Side Avenue /Batang West Side- "A Filipino teenager is shot to death on the sidewalk of New Jersey, USA. An investigation starts into his death. His family members and friends are interviewed." - Letterboxd
- at Trigon-Film, the DVD
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6 - Rick Schmidt
"Rick Schmidt has been creating films since the seventies and "Sticky Wicket" is his 26th feature. His films have been screened in film festivals around the world, including Sundance's Dramatic Competition (Grand Jury Prize nomination), Slamdance, Rotterdam, Berlin International, New Directors/New Films, the Museum of Modern Art (NY), and has received critical praise from top film critics." - Letterboxd- Mubi (did not see a Wikipedia page for this filmmaker)
Many of Schmidt's films are produced and co-directed by him and several other filmmakers, using a filmmaking workshop format/method of organizing and creating the projects. But because all or most of the films are similar in form, Schmidt has a strong creative voice in the movies and can be considered the primary author of the works.
Film 1 - Chetzemoka's Curse - Dogme #10 - "ONLY THE SECOND AMERICAN DOGME 95 MOVIE - Chetzemoka’s Curse is about a young, twenty-something woman, Maya (Maya Berthoud), who is haunted by the memory of her first love and her subsequent betrayal."
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 2 - American Orpheus - ""The inconceivable seems possible." – ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL - "Intended as a tribute to Jean Cocteau's classic ORPHÉE, Rick Schmidt gives the Orpheus legend a very contemporary twist." - Vimeo VOD
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 3 - Prospects - "The old west is certainly dead, but Colorado pack burro racers don’t know it yet. Everett Winfield - played by five-time world champion burro racer Curtis Imrie - runs and breeds his own stock. But all is not well at the ranch." - Letterboxd
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 4 - Morgan's Cake - “MORGAN’S CAKE is the story of a young man (Morgan Schmidt-Feng) about to turn 18, and all the problems that are set to befall him. His girlfriend is pregnant, he’s just lost his job, his mother is deserting him for a career move to New York City, and his divorced dad (Willie Boy Walker) can barely afford the small office space in which they live. Morgan’s most pressing problem is whether or not to register for the draft..." - Letterboxd
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 5 - Bear Dance - "BEAR DANCE, shot in Portugal during the 2002 Figueira da Foz International Film Festival, discusses the sanity and insanity of daily life, cultures colliding, young and old meshing in a common stew of modern humanity in new-millennium turmoil." - Vimeo VOD
- at Vimeo VOD
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7 - Joe Swanberg
"His films often focus on relationships, sex, technology, and the filmmaking process, and include V/H/S (2012), Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), Win It All (2017), Digging For Fire (2015), and Nights and Weekends (2008)" - LetterboxdI saw one of Swanberg's earliest films - did not connect with it. Then later on I did connect with films such as All the Light in the Sky, Silver Bullets. Swanberg once boxed a film critic.
Film 1 - All the Light in the Sky - "An insomniac actress is facing the waning days of her career, when her niece pays a visit to her Malibu house." - Letterboxd
- at Amazon/Fandor (not certain that the film is still available there)
Film 2 - Silver Bullets - "An actress and her filmmaker boyfriend experience turbulence in their relationship when she accepts a role in a werewolf film." - Letterboxd
- at Amazon/Fandor (not certain that the film is still available there)
Film 3 - Digging for Fire - "Tim and Lee are married with a young child. The chance to stay at a fancy home in the Hollywood Hills is complicated by Tim’s discovery of a bone and a rusty old gun in the yard." - Letterboxd
- at Google Play
Film 4 - Uncle Kent - "A pothead kid’s show cartoonist in Los Angeles spends a weekend trying to sleep with his visiting house guest - a woman from New York who he met on Chatroulette." - Letterboxd
- at Google Play
Film 5 - Win It All - "A gambling addict faces a conflict when entrusted with keeping a bunch of money that isn’t his." - Letterboxd
- at Netflix
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8 - Haile Gerima
"Haile Gerima (born March 4, 1946) is an Ethiopian filmmaker who lives and works in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. Since 1975, Haile has been a film professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He is best known for Sankofa (1993), which won two awards." - WikipediaFilm 1 - Sankofa - "On a photo shoot in Ghana, an American model slips back in time, becomes enslaved on a plantation and bears witness to the agony of her ancestral past." - Letterboxd
- at Netflix
Film 2 - Adwa - "In 1896, Ethiopia, an African nation, largely armed with spears and knives, defeats a well-equipped and organized Italian military bent on colonization." - Letterboxd
- on DVD through Amazon
Film 3 - Harvest: 3000 Years - "In this meditative film the everyday lives of poor Ethiopian peasants are shown using documentary as well as storytelling techniques, with its drama arising out of the timeless yet persistent issues of their lives." - Letterboxd
- possibly soon on DVD from Cinema Paradiso
- clips, perhaps the entire movie may be available at various free sites, for academic/research purposes - look around
Film 4 - Ashes and Embers - "Ashes and Embers is an original screenplay by Haile Gerima, about a Vietnam veteran, who, several years after the war, is struggling to come to terms with his role in the war, and his role as a Black person in America." - Letterboxd
- may eventually become available on DVD from Amazon
Film 5 - Teza - "The Ethiopian intellectual Anberber returns to his native country during the repressive totalitarian regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu and the recognition of his own displacement and powerlessness at the dissolution of his people’s humanity and social values." - Letterboxd
- on DVD at Amazon
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9 - Jonas Mekas
"Mekas' film The Brig was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include Walden (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), Lost Lost Lost (1975), Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990), Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992), As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), Letter from Greenpoint (2005), Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) and Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man. In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day..." - LetterboxdFilm 1 - Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man - "A motion picture composed of brief diaristic scenes not used in completed films from the years 1960-2000; and self-referential video footage taped during the editing. Brief glimpses of family, friends, girl-friends, the City, seasons of the year, travels." - Letterboxd
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 2 - Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania - "A 1971–72 documentary film by Jonas Mekas. It revolves around Mekas’ trip back to Semeniškiai, the village of his birth." - Letterboxd
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 3 - Diaries, Notes, and Sketches/Walden - "An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s."
- at Vimeo VOD for some regions
Film 4 - Sleepless Nights Stories - "Director Jonas Mekas travels through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. Encountering old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters." - Letterboxd
- at Vimeo VOD
Film 5 - A Letter from Greenpoint - "In February 2004, after 30 years of my life in SoHo, I made a decision to leave SoHo and move to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This video is about what it feels like to leave a place in which one has spent more time than any other place, and which was also the place of my family life." - Letterboxd
- info on the movie at Mubi, may become available to view there in the future
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10 - Kevin Jerome Everson
"Kevin Jerome Everson is an artist and maker of numerous short films and features about the lives and myths of the working-class black Americans. In 2006, Everson was voted one of the 25 most important new faces in independent cinema by Filmmaker Magazine." - LetterboxdVideo - Claire Denis, Joachim Trier, and Kevin Jerome Everson | Film Comment Live: Filmmakers Chat | NYFF55
Film 1 - BZV - "A film about the result of labor. A couple uses their hard earned wages in search of furniture, citizens’ leisurely water skiing and fishing. BZV was shot in and around Brazzaville, The Republic of Congo." - Letterboxd
- at Video Data Bank
Film 2 - Ears, Nose, and Throat - "In Kevin Jerome Everson’s deeply affecting Ears, Nose and Throat, a woman’s testimonial faculties are confirmed through medical examinations before she recites a tragic story, whose horrors we don’t see, hear, or smell, but can imagine far too easily." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 3 - Tonsler Park - "Tonsler Park observes, in black and white 16mm, the democratic process in action, at Charlottesville, Virginia voting precincts, over the course of Election Day, November 8, 2016." - Letterboxd
- may become available to watch from Mubi in the future, site has trailer
Film 4 - Erie - "Erie consists of a series of single take vignettes in and around communities near Lake Erie that relate to Black migration in the USA, contemporary conditions, folks concentrating on the task at hand, theater and famous art objects." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
Film 5 - Black Bus Stop - "Students reclaim a popular gathering spot on the campus of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville." - Letterboxd
- at Criterion Channel
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Related Special Mentions/List 2: There are 1000s of other indie-related filmmakers who make excellent work that should be explored. Many have not yet made 10-20 indie fiction features. Some have made 1 or more indie fiction features and moved on to working with large budgets and well known Hollywood actors. Some are unique film world institutions - working in-between the indie world and the Hollywood level mainstream film world - directors such as Jarmusch or Lynch. Several directors to explore (not in any order): Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, John Cassavetes, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Satyajit Ray, Whit Stillman, Bela Tarr, Kelly Reichardt, Hal Hartley, Wayne Wang, Ingrid Veninger, Carlos Reygadas, Mira Nair, Nadav Lapid, Dan Mirvish, Miranda July, Jon Moritsugu, Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Duplass brothers, Aaron Katz and other Mumblecore filmmakers, Dogme 95 filmmakers, InDigEnt filmmakers, French New Wave filmmakers and filmmakers from around the world who were inspired by the New Wave. And there are many more that are not mentioned here - but you can start with the filmmaker names and film titles on this list and read, watch, dive into the indie related film world. Established critics such as Richard Brody, Matt Zoller Seitz, Stephanie Zacharek, and newcomers such as Bill Arceneaux, Jamie Toth, and the long running publication Film Threat often write about interesting indie and or arthouse filmmakers. Arthouse theaters such as Film Forum in NYC, Facets in Chicago, and Laemmle Glendale in LA often show new and established indie/arthouse filmmakers - take a look at their offerings. Also look at news articles and posts about film festivals and DIY screenings (Cine-file in Chicago and other similar sites have info) to see which new indie filmmakers are releasing work.
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The End
Death - the end title of all end titles - comes for most of us eventually, so I hear. Until then we have films. And some of those films should be amazing real indie/non-Hollywood films. Our ancient ancestors hunting giant bison, fighting off saber tooth tigers, and creating shadow plays of their great exploits on cave walls probably would have wanted it that way. Stories from this infinite and eternal universe look great on digital video, when told by non-Hollywood filmmakers. Hollywood films are limited - by budgets, by box office demands, by famous, attractive young actors, and by traditions as to what kind of stories they can tell and how they can tell those stories. Indie films have a lot more freedom. They are a gateway to more interesting worlds. They often have more jazz, more disco, more poetry, and are sometimes like the man who practiced that one kick 10,000 times in that one Bruce Lee quote.*
Copyright 2024 Sujewa Ekanayake
