By Jackie Shannon
“American independent cinema has constantly responded to changing moods, politics, and technology, and it continues to create some of the most vital, vibrant and influential cinema today,” says Richard Sowada, the artistic director of Essential Independents: American Cinema, Now. “It’s been an enormously enjoyable, and challenging, programme to curate. It’s given me the opportunity to utterly immerse myself in the current movements and great traditions of American independent cinema. My hope is that the Essential Independents programme is just as personal to audiences around the country.”
Fourteen films will have their Australian premiere as part of the brand new Essential Independents: American Cinema, Now festival at Palace Cinemas in May. The two-week festival will showcase the past, present and future of independent cinema from the United States. A diverse, first-class programme of 32 films, Essential Independents celebrates new narrative feature and documentaries, and includes a retrospective on first films from now major international filmmaking talents. Alongside classic (though not exactly, ahem, independent) masterpieces like Midnight Cowboy, The French Connection, and The Warriors, there will be new films like the Sarah Silverman starrer, I Smile Back (pictured above); Gavin O’Connor’s western, Jane Got A Gun; Oren Moverman’s Time Out Of Mind, boasting an against-type turn from Richard Gere; and the John Hawkes-starring neo-noir, Too Late. There’s also a fistful of fascinating pop culture docos (Les Blank’s The Blues According To Lightnin’ Hopkins; the haunting reminiscence, We’re Still Here: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited; James Franco and Travis Mathews’ Interior. Leather bar; and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures), and a newly restored print of Kelly Reichardt’s first feature, River Of Grass.
“Each film holds hands with the next and so there’s a real sense of cohesiveness and a feeling of discovery. What’s so exciting to watch is the sense of energy, urgency and honesty – even in the older films right back to Shadows from John Cassavetes – there’s no holding back and there’s no compromise,” he said. “From the feature films that run the gamut of romantic dramas to big-screen blue-sky westerns, and documentaries of the highest cinematic order, to extraordinary hybrid experiments, to rarely seen first films from ground-breaking filmmakers, together they represent a tactile and fascinating journey through this vibrant creative world,” says Richard Sowada.
For full programme information, dates, tickets, venues, and sessions, head here.
