100 American Independent Films

American Independent films have to many observers provided the only experimental and distinctive voices in recent US cinema.

Now an increasingly pervasive influence on contemporary European cinema and mainstream Hollywood, a whole generation of innovative and idiosyncratic American film-makers including Steven Soderbergh, Todd Haynes, Hal Hartley and Jim Jarmusch emerged during the critical and commercial renaissance of the late 1980s and 1990s. Jason Wood's guide defines and outlines a personal but representative selection of a hundred recommended American independent films.

Listing titles such as 'sex, lies and videotape', 'Blood Simple', 'Pulp Fiction', right up to 'Donnie Darko' each entry includes a plot synopsis, a commentary on the film's significance, production and exhibition history and cross-references to other films. Jason Wood's expert but concise selection, part of the new BFI Screen Guides Series, is an informative map to one of the most vital areas in the contemporary film-making scene.