This course aims to introduce students to a selection of independent, usually low-budget American feature films which tend to be overlooked by the dominant histories of American cinema. (It should be noted that here ‘American’ is used as a synecdoche to refer to films made in the United States of America, rather than in the continent of America). The films selected are chosen from a diverse range of American filmmakers from the 1960s to the present and the course therefore provides an account of American film which reaches beyond the Hollywood model. We will discuss the ways in which American independent filmmaking can be seen to avoid the ideological trappings of industrially produced ‘culture’ – or not, as the case may be. 

 To this end we will watch a range of films made by ‘marginal’ and diverse American filmmakers.  For example: African American, Native American, female and queer filmmakers. We will also think about films which are considered marginal not in terms of identity, but owing to other economic, stylistic and thematic factors. The course will therefore explore links between Hollywood filmmaking and European ‘arthouse’ filmmaking and national cinemas, offering a nuanced picture of American film. 

In addition, the course will demonstrate the ways in which young filmmakers have been able to produce feature films on very low budgets and suggest how current students might be able to emulate their methods and successes.