ABSTRACT
Organized around close readings and contextual studies of individual films that exemplify but also examine, challenge, and expand our understanding of what "independence" is and how it is manifested and articulated in American cinema, each chapter is written to be accessible to a wide range of interested readers and students. Put simply, the collection provides a significant number of new case studies, demonstrating a wide range of approaches to studying American independent cinema. Reading the chapters and viewing the films from this collection will help readers understand more fully what is intended when filmmakers, audiences, critics, and scholars apply the label "independent" but also discern the ways that both independent films and the circumstances and contexts of independent filmmaking have changed over time.
