A New Era for Independent Cinema?

Currently, we find ourselves locked within the rapture of global chaos without a clear end in sight. I think it's safe to say that those of us who have followed current events for years now have come to expect this bleak new existence creeping ever so closely and inevitably due to the harmful effect of negligent world powers, the cornucopia of corporations committing mass immoralities against citizens and the environment and the deceitful villainy of cake. But what none of us could've ever expected was how abruptly that change would come to hit. 2020 has been a rough year to put it lightly. In just a short span of several months, we have found ourselves unwillingly indoctrinated to a new reality. It seems almost daily that *something* manages to tug at the proverbial cloth more and more, creating further strain on our last fibers of sanity. Yet, through it all, we accept these regular disturbances with our heads afloat, braced for what tomorrow will bring. It's quite miraculous really. And as someone with defeatist tendencies, this sort of communal buoyancy is truly inspiring. Now, despite this somewhat positive outlook, I'm not going to end this short reflection off with some yucky, feel good schmaltz. That'd be selfish of me honestly. I'm as equally uncertain as you are about this predicament we find ourselves in. But at the very least, we must continue to be mensches to one another. That's how we'll (eventually) prevail.

As for our beloved pastime of film, 2020 has also proven especially difficult. The heralding of the death of the cinema has long been projected since the boom of television and the rise of alternative media platforms leading to more empty seats in theater spaces. Just like that of world affairs, this eventual fate would be met a lot sooner than expected due to the swift effects brought on by COVID-19. Overzealous financial ambitions made standard procedure in the last couple of decades amongst the studios have created further rifts in the self-sustainability of the medium in the United States. There is just way too much money being pumped into films that are then expected to sell fabulously to an audience with waning interest and declining disposable income. As a result, more inexpensive projects (comparatively) get sacked and the vicious cycle ravages on creating starker lucrative goals to make up for past failures. One could definitely view this as valid evidence leading to Hollywood's collapse. The event film has all but lost its purpose now that these productions have become depended upon. Now with theater spaces mainly closed and audiences en masse unable to keep feeding the cycle traditionally, American cinema finds itself in a rather strange place. It's unprecedented and history cannot possibly educate on a solution to follow. Hollywood, for the first time, finds itself in a purgatorial state.

What has been triumphant in the film world though is the semi-recently introduced "virtual screenings" model to help bolster independent cinema and its vast network of supporting entities. Through this initiative, independently owned theaters and distribution labels have managed to usher in a new form of exhibition. One that ingeniously fuses the allotment of profit from in person theatrical admission with the widespread availability and convenience of video on demand streaming. Crucial to the survival of the art of independent film are the exhibitors who choose to champion these more iconoclastic productions on the big screen. With this model, lovers of film from all over the country can now support the art form they cherish in a much more charitable fashion.

At the moment, virtual screenings continue due to the ongoing pandemic, but what happens afterwards? If the amount of support so far has said anything, it's that this model has proven especially helpful to audiences who wouldn't typically be able to see the films screened until the eventual home video release (which can be a lengthy wait), as well as aid the establishments who offer the movies in the first place as a bonus. My hope is to see the continuation of this operation even after participating theaters open up again. As many of us dedicated cinephiles know, living in a city or town with a specialized movie house is not only a great privilege, but vastly under numbered. For me specifically living in Las Vegas, it's straight up nonexistent here. So to now have the opportunity to financially support a film like Dan Sallitt's Fourteen (2019) in an establishment like New York City's Film at Lincoln Center or Columbus' Wexner Center among a myriad selection of other places of the like, from the comfort of home, is doubly gratifying. It's not only the films themselves that need our championing, but the institutions that help support the passionate, collective effort we know as independent cinema.

The world is still burning but indie film finds solace at this very moment. While I remain in the dark about larger affairs, I am consoled by the endless possibilities virtual screenings have opened up. What exciting new opportunities can this entail for the medium? With widespread support, can this possibly wave in a new era for independent cinema? For instance, I think about the Metrograph's expansion into distribution last year, giving greater purpose to what it means to be an exhibitor of film. Their output, made up of both contemporary and classic titles, including Claire Simon's wonderful expose of La Femis' cutthroat admission process in The Graduation (2016) and the restoration of David Hockney's portrait in A Bigger Splash (1973), offers film enthusiasts even more important work to be seen and appreciated. If celebrating independent cinema means giving rise to voices on the fringes ready to be heard, or in this case seen, so much good can only come from what this encompasses. More filmographies, careers, and lasting effects to culture just ready to blossom.

Only time will tell of course, but I remain hopeful about where this goes next. At the very least, it's something to cling on to in these freakish times.