Independent and Art House Cinema

Catalog description

This introduction to independent, underground, and art house cinema covers a range of visual and narrative alternatives to the films produced by the studio system. By examining cinema as a mode of visual storytelling and personal expression, these films open up the possibility of an alternative authorship that includes the visions and stories of those operating outside the mainstream or beyond storytelling traditions that are limited by genre conventions and economic expectations. From independent cinema and the avant-garde to underground film movements, midnight movies, cult cinema, and film festival favorites, these films raise questions of what cinema is or can be, highlights cinema's relationship to other art forms, and points to the changing dynamics between the industry and independents in both film history and contemporary filmmaking practices.