American independent cinema

In 1959 an actor borrowed money from his friends to shoot a film without a script, with performers who improvise: Cassavetes opened a path on which one films people quarrelling, loving and falling apart, outside any studio. The formula was handed on: Jarmusch shot static black-and-white takes in which almost nothing happens, Spike Lee condensed a New York summer into one day of heatwave and riot, Van Sant followed two hustlers along the roads of Oregon. Festivals took the place of studios.

works 5

• CinemaA Woman Under the InfluenceJohn Cassavetes · 1974Financed by the director and by the actor Peter Falk, the film follows, from a fully written script, a working-class couple and those close to them.Cinema
• CinemaStranger than ParadiseJim Jarmusch · 1984A black-and-white film in three parts, it is built from scenes each held in a single shot.Cinema
• CinemaDo the Right ThingSpike Lee · 1989Shot on a single street in Brooklyn and compressed into one day, the film names neither hero nor villain among its characters.Cinema
• CinemaTrustHal Hartley · 1990Drama-comedy shot on Long Island with a troupe of actors whom its director brings back from film to film.Cinema
• CinemaMy Own Private IdahoGus Van Sant · 1991The story combines a street tale, set in Portland, with lines adapted from Shakespeare's history plays.Cinema