Narrative
see all genres ›Independence from mainstream production avenues is sometimes more necessity than choice for filmmakers. But it's long permitted them greater freedom in investigating characters, stories and environs well outside the confines of commercial formula.
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Genres / Independent / Narrative
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River of Grass
Kelly Reichardt's darkly funny debut feature, RIVER OF GRASS brought the writer/director back to the setting of her adolescence, the suburban landscape of southern Florida, where she grew up with her detective father and narcotics agent mother. Shot on 16mm, the story follows the misadventures of...Watch Movie
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A Shock to the System
A middle-aged advertising executive loses his long-awaited promotion to a younger man. In frustration, he accidentally pushes a panhandler in front of a subway train... and gets away with the death. Realizing that committing murder might be a little easier than he previously...Watch Movie
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Christmas, Again
For a fifth consecutive December, a heartbroken Noel returns to New York City to work the night shift at a sidewalk Christmas tree lot. Devoid of any holiday spirit, he struggles to stay awake during the long, chilly nights in his trailer, while the daytime traffic keeps him...Watch Movie
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Natural Selection
Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW and nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Actress for Rachael Harris, NATURAL SELECTION is a wonderfully irreverent comedy about a devoted Texas housewife whose carefully ordered world is turned upside...Watch Movie
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Dark Star
In the mid twenty-first century, mankind has reached a point in its technological advances to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. DARK STAR is a futuristic scout ship traveling far in advance of colony ships. Armed with Exponential Thermosteller Bombs, it prowls the darkest...Watch Movie
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Wendy and Lucy
Named to over sixty "Best of 2008" lists (and even many "Best of the Decade" lists), WENDY AND LUCY solidified filmmaker Kelly Reichardt's reputation for films that are (according to the New York Times) "a touchstone of the new realism in American cinema." Drifting upwards to Alaska like a 21st...Watch Movie
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Homemakers
Part-time punk singer Irene McCabey moonlights as full-time harbinger of chaos (and her life in Austin is crumbling as a result). When her ex-girlfriend moves to kick her out of their band, Irene receives big news: an estranged grandfather has bequeathed to her a dilapidated house across the...Watch Movie
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Teknolust
Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton plays four roles in this award-winning science fiction film about Rosetta Stone and her three Self-Replicating Automatons which she clones from her own DNA. Though they look human, the SRA cyborgs were bred as intelligent machines and are immortal. In order to...Watch Movie
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Memory Box
A dreamlike drama about gender and power. A young mother works at a memory recreation facility (where actors recreate clients' memories). A client pushes her to break the rules, crossing lines and jeopardizing her job. She's forced to decide how far she's willing to go. Dreams and fantasy become...Watch Movie
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Female Pervert
Phoebe is seeking a true connection, unfortunately she doesn't relate to people like most in "normal society." She starts making changes, and as her road to self improvement unfolds, her more eccentric interests lead her down a darker path. She meets a few men, hoping to spark a love connection....Watch Movie
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Discontinuity
Tabitha and Stephen have been in each other's lives for a long time but because of their jobs they must periodically live apart. When Tabitha returns "home" after their longest separation, what they've been missing becomes opaquely clear and who they're becoming makes it hard for them to see each...Watch Movie
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Meek's Cutoff
Three 1840s' pioneer families become dangerously lost amidst the dust of the Oregon desert in Kelly Reichardt's sensory update of the Western genre, focusing not on typical fare like gun battles, card sharks or dramatic rescues but instead on the long, arduous journey westward. Having hired the...Watch Movie
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Poison
The second feature directed by Todd Haynes, POISON is a groundbreaking American independent film and was the most fervently debated film of the 1990s as well as a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema. A work of immense visual invention, Haynes' spectacular follow-up to his legendary SUPERSTAR:...Watch Movie
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Carnival of Souls
Mary Henry struggles to put her life back in order after emerging the lone survivor of a gruesome car accident. She takes a job as a church organist in Utah, alienating neighbors and fellow roomers with an icy detachment; unbeknownst to them all, Mary is sinking into one...Watch Movie
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Sleeping with Frank
A slice of a morning in Queens, New York is shown in SLEEPING WITH FRANK, as a couple readies for the day: wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast is shown in SLEEPING WITH FRANK. The tableaus are familiar: cozy, rote, intimate and distant. Dance and choreographed gestures reveal...Watch Movie
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Sun Don't Shine
Written and directed by actress/filmmaker Amy Seimetz , SUN DON'T SHINE follows Crystal (Kate Lyn Sheil) and her boyfriend Leo (Kentucker Audley) on a tense and mysterious road trip through the desolate yet hauntingly beautiful landscape of central Florida. From the outset, the purpose of their...Watch Movie
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Dottie Gets Spanked
Another dazzling suburban phantasm from writer/director Todd Haynes, DOTTIE GETS SPANKED (made post-POISON and pre-SAFE) is a stylized, bittersweet nod to his childhood fascination with I LOVE LUCY. Deep in the heart of pre-hippie 1960s America, young artistically-inclined...Watch Movie
