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Classic American Indie
Celebrating the outsiders and mavericks whose independent methods rewrote the rulebook for American cinema.
This collection features both landmark features from, and illuminating documentaries about, some of the movement’s key practitioners, including Kenneth Anger, John Cassavetes, Gregg Araki and John Waters. Told together their stories are testimony to a movement that changed the way Hollywood operates and revitalised American cinema.
Anger MeAnger Me
Animation & Artists Moving Image200671 minsDirector: Elio Gelmini
Like all good magicians, the life and work of Kenneth Anger, the Magus of underground film, is crowded with mystery and myth.
BirthrightBirthright
Drama193874 minsSilentDirector: Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux directs the story of a Harvard graduate whose attempts to establish a rural school runs into opposition from both races.
Blood of JesusBlood of Jesus
Drama194156 minsDirector: Spencer Williams
Spencer Williams feverish melodrama about a woman’s flirtation with Satan was independently produced out of Texas with an amateur cast and a budget of $5,000.
The ExilesThe Exiles
Drama196173 minsDirector: Kent Mackenzie
Kent Mackenzie's gritty, vérité depiction of the lives of marginalized Native Americans living in Los Angeles draws comparisons to the work of John Cassavetes and Vittorio de Sica.
FacesFaces
Drama1968130 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
Richard and his wife Maria seek solace from their disintegrating marriage in the arms of other lovers in John Cassavetes's powerful 1968 feature.
I Am DivineI Am Divine
Documentary201390 minsDirector: Jeffrey Schwarz
A unique documentary about a unique person – follow Divine’s life from humble Baltimore beginnings to superstar status as the Queen of Cult.
Interior. Leather Bar.Interior. Leather Bar.
201360 minsDirector: James Franco and Travis Mathews
James Franco and Travis Mathews recreate explicit footage cut, rumoured to be lost, from one of the most notorious gay features ever made.
The Killing of a Chinese BookieThe Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Gangster1976109 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes’s uncompromising character study of a gangster, with Ben Gazzara as the small-time club owner whose life begins to spin out of control.
North of VortexNorth of Vortex
Road movie199255 minsDirector: Constantine Giannaris
A gay poet, a bisexual sailor and a straight waitress embark on a trip through an American desert landscape in this languid, woozy road movie.
Opening NightOpening Night
Drama1977144 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes’s emotionally charged film stands as one of the great American movies about theatre and the art of performance.
Pink NarcissusPink Narcissus
Fantasy197165 minsDirector: James Bidgood
With its highly charged hallucinogenic quality, its atmosphere of lush decadence, and its explicit erotic power, Pink Narcissus is a landmark of gay cinema.
ShadowsShadows
Drama195982 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes' directorial debut follows the relationship between a mixed-race woman and a white man.
Short Term 12Short Term 12
Drama201397 minsDirector: Destin Daniel Cretton
A care-worker is confronted by a troubled teen whose case history provokes an unwelcome reminder of her own concealed and traumatic past.
Totally F***Ed UpTotally F***Ed Up
Drama199376 minsDirector: Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki's typically excessive and eccentric portrait of the lives of a group of six gay and lesbian teenagers in Los Angeles.
VaporsVapors
Drama196532 minsDirector: Andy Milligan
Set in a New York bathhouse, this gritty but sensitive portrayal of pre-Stonewall gay life, chronicles an awkward encounter between two equally inexperienced strangers.
Within Our GatesWithin Our Gates
Drama191974 minsSilentDirector: Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux’s startling silent classic – the earliest surviving feature from an African-American director – presents a fascinating black counterpoint to Griffith’s Birth of a Nation.
A Woman Under the InfluenceA Woman Under the Influence
Drama1974146 minsDirector: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes' powerful drama stars Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as a blue-collar couple struggling to cope with the wife's slide into mental illness.