Following the American indie cinema boom of the 1990s and the creation
of "specialty" divisions by several Hollywood studios, many predicted an
end to both the indie sector's viability and the making of films with
ambitions beyond the commercial mainstream. Yet, as Geoff King
demonstrates, plenty of distinct indie productions continue to thrive,
even in the face of difficult economic circumstances.
Recasting the term "indie" to denote a particular form of independent
feature production that has risen to prominence in the twenty-first
century, King identifies and discusses the new opportunities available
to indie filmmakers. These new options and techniques include low-cost
digital video and a range of Internet and social-media ventures
providing funding, distribution, promotion, and sales. He also covers
the ultra-low-budget "mumblecore" movement; the social realism of such
filmmakers as Kelly Reichardt and Ramin Bahrani; the "digital desktop"
aesthetics of Jonathan Caouette's Tarnation (2003) and Arin Crumley
and Susan Buice's Four Eyed Monsters (2005); and the affect of certain
dominant discourses, such as the articulation of notions of "true" indie
film and its opposition to what some see as the quirky contrivances of
crossover hits such as Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Juno (2007).
King ultimately locates a strong vein of continuity in indie practice,
both industrially and in the textual qualities that define individual
features.
