Features

Three women in white dresses wrapped closely to each other under an umbrella on the beach

I Watch The Independent Staff Picks: Black History Month

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In honor of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, I had The Independent staff recommend three movies written and directed by Black women. As someone new to independent film, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Read on to hear my thought’s on the staff picks. “Eve’s Bayou” (1997)  The film opens at a house… Read more »

60th New York Film Festival, September 30 to October 16, 2022

New York Film Festival, Sept.30-Oct.16

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Above is Nan Goldin’s photo that’s become the poster for this 60th NYFF.  Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words. It celebrates movies as they once were in the 1960s (and long before), when Irving Shulman’s 1947 The Amboy Dukes was the coming-of-age novel for NYC bonehead teens and wayward young adults. Youths… Read more »

The Demise of Mid-Budget Cinema

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Trying to get a movie financed in 2022? Good luck unless you can produce the next blockbuster fantasy flick or adventure saga. Bonus points if the protagonist comes from a famous franchise or you can remake a classic, then the chances of getting money increase.  In our current film landscape, superhero blockbusters get pumped out… Read more »

5 Films that Paved the Way for ‘Bros’

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The gay rom-com “Bros” came out Sept. 30, 2022 as the first-ever major studio film starring and written by an openly gay man, Billy Eichner. It is also the first film of its kind to have a full LGBTQ+ principal cast. While films like this getting picked up by major studios is proof of progress,… Read more »

Pride Month Starter Pack: Ten New Queer Films to Catch This Year

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Every year when LGBTQ+ Pride Month rolls around, we revisit some of our queer classics: “Pricilla, Queen of the Desert,” “The Birdcage,” “To Wong Foo.” These movies revolutionized queer representation in film and shaped audiences’ understanding of the queer experience. However, though these films jumpstarted a new age of gay cinema, they also depict a… Read more »

“Clean” is a modern homage to “Taxi Driver”.

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At a first glance, the “Clean” trailer was everything you could want from an independent action film. Adrien Brody stars as a hitman-turned-garbageman who goes from stacking trash to stacking bodies after a run-in with the mafia puts a target on his back and innocent people in danger. Brody, who co-wrote the film, said in… Read more »

“Bulletproof”: Changing The Narrative Around Gun Violence

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Gun violence has been a prevalent issue in the United States for many years, with 34 school shooting incidents occurring in 2021, according to Education Week. However, despite this continuous issue, there has not been much change when it comes to gun violence prevention protocols in schools. “Bulletproof,” directed by Todd Chandler, is an informative… Read more »