This is a list of notable American independent films (which are also known sometimes as "specialty", "alternative", "indie", and/or "quality") that were made outside of the Hollywood studio system or traditional arthouse/independent filmmaking yet managed to be produced, financed and distributed by the two with varying degrees of success and/or failure.
Differences from Hollywood The films are often made for far less money than Hollywood filmsHow Indiewood gatecrashed the Oscars|Financial Times (some films like Robert Townsend's 1987 satire Hollywood Shuffle, Richard Linklater's 1991 countercultural piece Slacker and Kevin Smith's 1994 Gen X comedy Clerks were funded by using credit cards) and each aspect of the filmmaking process has to undergo less scrutiny by committees. Additionally, within the Indiewood approach the filmmaker can take as long as they need in the post-production phase of their film - whereas in Hollywood they are contracted to finish the film in a specific period of time (usually 10 weeks). In Hollywood, the film then goes on to show in focus group screenings on the studio lot. In Indiewood, the filmmakers can determine the next steps of the film. They also bear striking similarities to as well as were influenced by the "proto-indies" of the 1960s such as Robert Downey Sr's still image film Chafed Elbows (1966), John Cassavetes's Academy Award-nominated Faces and Brian de Palma's Greetings (each from 1968) which in turn were influenced by the culture of the Beat Generation.Proto-Indie - A Companion to American Indie Film - Wiley Online Library
Many indie films were made by small companies that were created daily in the 80s and 90s to the point where most of them went bankrupt.‘We can’t afford to lose them’: the fight to bring missing movies back|Movies|The Guardian
Most Indiewood films are first shown at film festivals with the hopes of further distribution by being picked up (or purchased) by a larger film company or distributor in order to find broader audiences alongside awards considerationWhat's the Difference Between Indie Film and Indie TV? Mark Duplass Explains|Collider (e.g. 2009's A Single Man).Overcoming the Stigma: The Queer Denial of Indiewood on JSTOR
Background The American independent film, beginning in the 1910s but prior to the 1980s and first half of the 1990s,Louie Maple teams a young Susan Sarandon with an aging Burt Lancaster|The A.V. Club was previously associated with race films,Restored 'Race Films' Find New Audiences : Code Switch : NPR Poverty Row b movies (e.g. Republic Pictures),Why B-Movies never won Oscars|HOW TO SEE B_Movie with Dave Kehr - The Museum of Modern Art on official YouTube channelRepublic Pictures 75th exploitation films, avant-garde underground cinema (when it was known as the New American Cinema),Neverlands: David Brooks and the New American Cinema – Art & Trash social and political documentaries, experimental animated shorts (since the mid-1930s featuring works by pioneer animators Mary Ellen Bute and Oskar Fischinger) and social realist dramas.27 Of The Best Indie Movies Of All Time|EsquireEnchanted Drawings - Google Books (pgs.286-293)An Archive Restores and Resurrects Hollywood's Earliest Indie Films - HyperallergicHollywood Independents: The Postwar Talent Takeover - Google Books
Many post-WWII period independent filmmakers, like Francis Thompson, believed that cinema is an art form and a forum for discussing social issues.Nonfiction Film: A Critical History Revised and Expanded - Google Books (pg.290)
A notable scholar of indie cinema is Ray Carney, known for championing the works of Cassavetes and Mark Rappaport.The Strange and Sad Saga of How Filmmaker Mark Rappaport Lost His Movies (And What He Can Do To Get Them Back)|IndieWire
Throughout the mid-1990s, the word "Indiewood" (a.k.a. "indie boom" or "indie film movement") was invented to describe a component of the spectrum of American films in which distinctions exist, it seemed as if Hollywood and the independent sector had become blurred.Home video and Indiewood|Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction|Oxford Academic'Indie doc': documentary film and American 'independent', 'indie' and 'indiewood' filmmaking: Studies in Documentary Film Volume 10, 2016 - Issue 1The Cinema Book - Google Books (pg.59)
Divisions Indiewood divisions gain from expert experience of the niche industry by hiring leading independent personalities such as Harvey WeinsteinAmerican Indies, 1980-1989|MoMA from the Disney fold after the exit of the Weinsteins,Review: Indiewood, USA: Where Hollywood Meets Independent Cinema, by Geoff King|Film Quarterly|University of California PressChapter Eight. Maxed Out: Miramax and Indiewood in the New Millennium - De Gruyter and James Schamus, former joint head of Good Machine alongside producer Ted Hope, at Focus Features.
Other "mini-major" subdivisions/indie distributors Fox Searchlight Pictures Fine Line Features (established by New Line Cinema) Lionsgate NEON A24 Netflix Summit Entertainment Samuel Goldwyn Films Warner Independent Picturehouse Orion Pictures Cannon Films Blumhouse Sony Pictures Classics IFC Films Shudder Magnolia Pictures Janus Films Kino Lorber Roadside Attractions Bleecker Street MUBI Amazon MGM Studios Paramount Vantage Oscilloscope American International Pictures Allied Artists Sources:Somewhere Only We Know on Notebook|MUBINew Yorkers Films, an Independent Distributor, Will Close After 44 Years - The New York TimesHow Bleecker Street Survived a Decade in the Indie Film Business - VarietyThe indie film outlook for 2024 - AV ClubMGM - Google Books (pg.1980)The Battle of the Bs: 1950s Hollywood and the Rebirth of Low-Budget Cinema on JSTORIndie insights from Hollywood's past - The Hollywood ReporterOpinion: Why the Time Is Now for a Bold Indie Renaissance - Yahoo EntertainmentThe Rise & Fall of Hollywood's Avant-Garde Cinema|TheCollectorThe Horror Films That Define NEON Studios|HNN
List of notable American independent films
1920s Within Our Gates (1920) By Right of Birth (1921; now a lost film)What was the first-ever independent movie?|Far Out Magazine Safety Last (1923) Body and Soul (1925) The Gold Rush (1925) The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra (1927)THIRTY YEARS OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA ON EXHIBITION (1979) on MoMA.org The Scar of Shame (1927) The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
1930s Mamba (1930) Damaged Lives (1933) The Sin of Nora Moran (1933) The Vampire Bat (1933) Maniac (1934)The Lessons Are Lost, but Not the Laughs - Los Angeles Times The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)Paul Strand - Leo Hurwitz Reefer Madness (1936)Reefer Madness: an undeserved classic movie - Hall - 2021 - Addiction - Wiley Online Library As the Earth Turns (1938)
1940s The Blood of Jesus (1941)The Blood of Jesus with Hellbound Train - Academy Museum Native Land (1942)Native Land + The Forgotten Village - Film at Lincoln Center Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)The 50 Most Important Independent Films - Filmmaker Magazine - Fall 1996 Hell-Bent for Election (1944)An Election-Year Campaign Video That’s Kind of Nasty - Macleans.caAnimated cartoon sponsored by union played role in reelecting Roosevelt - California Labor Federation Brotherhood of Man (1945) Detour (1945)Screening American Independent Film - Google BooksIndependent Filmmaking in the Studio Era: The Poverty Row Studios (1930–50s)|American Independent Cinema: An Introduction|Edinburgh Scholarship OnlineURI film professor picks five essential American indie films - Rhody Today Mom and Dad (1945)film essay for "Mom and Dad" - loc.govThe amazing story of Mom and Dad|Wexner Center for the Arts The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Duel in the Sun (1946) Fireworks (1947)Watch: How New Hollywood Created the American Indie - No Film School Motion Painting No. 1 (1947)Oskar Fischinger, Motion Painting no. 1, 1947|MoMA Louisiana Story (1948) The Quiet One (1948) I Shot Jesse James (1949)
1950s The Baron of Arizona (1950)Eclipse Series 5: The First Films of Samuel Fuller|The Criterion Collection Outrage (1950) Five (1951)Five - Trailers From Hell The Steel Helmet (1951) Kansas City Confidential (1952) Othello (1952) Park Row (1952)'Emotion' filmmaker Fuller gets his due - SFGATE Rancho Notorious (1952) Fear and Desire (1953)The Criterion Channel's July 2023 Lineup|Current|The Criterion CollectionKiller's Kiss (1955)|The Criterion Collection The Hitch-Hiker (1953) Invaders from Mars (1953)25 Films Named to National Film Registry for Preservation|Library of CongressInvaders From Mars: The Sci-Fi Classic That Inspired The Spielberg Generation|Den of Geek Little Fugitive (1953)The 52 most important American independent movies|The A.V. Club Robot Monster (1953)Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: ROBOT MONSTER (1953) aka ROBOT MONSTER 3D - CinemaStance Dot Com Johnny Guitar (1954)Dietrich Icon - Google Books (pg.261) Salt of the Earth (1954)Great U.S. Indie Films: 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' to 'Pulp Fiction' - Rolling Stone Bride of the Monster (1955)Bride of the Monster - Trailers From Hell Dementia (1955)Dementia: Myth and Nocturne – Art & Trash Killer's Kiss (1955) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) 3rd Ave. El (1955) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) The Adventures of an * (1957) Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) Forty Guns (1957) I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) A Man and His Dog Out for Air (1957)Animation - Google Books (ch.4 "Independent Animators and the Artisanal Mode 1947-1989") On the Bowery (1957) 12 Angry Men (1957)The Top 10 Indie Movies of All Time | A Cinefix Movie List - IGN Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) The Blob (1958)The Blob - Trailers From Hell I Want to Live! (1958) Missile to the Moon (1958)Savant Review: Missile to the Moon - DVD Talk The Screaming Skull (1958) Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)Underrated Horror Movies of the 1950s, Ranked - MovieWeb A Bucket of Blood (1959)American New Wave Cinema, A History (Part One) The Cry of Jazz (1959) Moonbird (1959)When Indie Animation Won Its First Oscar|Animation ObsessiveA Film That Live Forever|Animation Obsessive Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) Science Friction (1959)"MoMA | An Auteurist History of Film: Independent Animation, 1947–60". www.moma.org. Skyscraper (1959) Pull My Daisy (1959) Shadows (1959) The Violinist (1959)
1960s The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) The Flower Thief (1960) The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) Munro (1960)American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era: A Study of Social Commentary in Films and Television Programs, 1961-1973 - Google Books (pg.197) Psycho (1960)More Movies You Probably Forgot Were Indies - SAGIndie The Savage Eye (1960) Allures (1961) The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) Blast of Silence (1961)REEL BROOKLYN: BLAST OF SILENCE, EAST NEW YORK - Brooklyn MagazineBLAST OF SILENCE - American CinemathequeBLAST OF SILENCE Blu-Ray Review: A Cult Late Noir Gem Remastered - ScreenAnarchy The Connection (1961) The Exiles (1961) Night Tide (1961)Night Tide - VarietyNight Tide - Cinema - Queensland Art Gallery|Gallary of Modern Art Something Wild (1961)Something Wild - Harvard Film ArchiveTribeca Festival : Review / The Wild One, A Magnificent Documentary Where Life And Craft Resound Social Justice Consciousness- Cinema Daily US The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)The Brain That Wouldn't Die – Turner Classic Movies Carnival of Souls (1962)INDIE HORROR MEETS WORLD CINEMA IN THE CULT 'CARNIVAL OF SOULS'|PopMattersHow Obscure Horror Film 'Carnival of Souls' Influenced Everything You've Ever Seen - No Film School'Carnival of Souls' Proves the Shocking Allure of Indie Horror - Hollywood in TotoCarnival of Souls - Trailers From Hell Eegah (1962) The Hole (1962) Wild Guitar (1962)Arch Hall, Jr.: Inside the Wild Guitar - Off Beat Magazine Beach Party (1963) Blood Feast (1963) The Cool World (1963) The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1963) Mothlight (1963)