Ted Hope has written a wonderfully honest and pertinent article on the independent film scene, why it needs to remain vital, and the unifying force behind what it means to produce outside of the mainstream system. An excerpt:
I have always felt the HIV scandal—the government’s complete indifference to everyone’s health and life—was a great stimulus to indie film production. Whether you were gay or straight, the message was clear in the Reagan-Bush era: The government not only didn’t care about anyone who was different from the old boys, but actively wanted the “outsiders” removed. Recognizing this neglect as an act of aggression encouraged all to embrace new aesthetics, new subjects, new methods, and new technology. The threat of extinction upped the urgency. You were either on the bus or a complete roadblock.
Yet I have not felt a similar effect from the equally reprehensible policies of today, be it the invasion of Iraq, the blatant lies to the public, the inequitable redistribution of wealth, the hypocritical morality of the “values” coalition, the invasion of our privacy and reduction of our civil rights, the continued neglect of Africa, the rise of American “empire,” etc. I certainly felt the New York film community engaged in politics far more last year than ever before—John Cameron Mitchell and Tony Kushner’s ACLU and MoveOn benefits, the various filmmakers who made spots for MoveOn, the huge number of craftspeople who regularly sent e-mail mobilizations. But will this direct political action lead to a new burst of artistic output and experimentation?
The indie production surge of the late ’80s and early ’90s was driven not only by a reaction to the Reagan-Bush agenda but also by the embrace of Gordon Gekko-esque greed. There is no denying that the indie scene of the ’90s was overrun by narcissistic “I want to get mine and get it now” types as much as it was populated by visionary artists. “Indie” was as much about filmmakers who only saw the indie sphere as a stepping stone to further riches, who were only interested in making it cheap and selling it high.
Read the entire article.
