From almost the beginning of American narrative film, there have been subversive rumblings and marginal murmurs.
Cinema is the most technically and financially greedy of arts.
Today independent companies produce the lion's share of all commercial film in America. The new Hollywood, despite its fragmentation, is intellectual and ethical kin to the old. Filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Allison Anders, John Sayles and Hal Hartley are changing the kinds of films we see, and in the process refreshing the American cinematic air. All film showings will be in class, Mondays. Many of the films we will be watching are obscure, and unlikely to be available at the local Blockbuster.