Independent films (a.k.a. indie films or just independent movies) are typically produced with little or no financial support from a major Hollywood studio. In recent years, Independent films have grown in popularity, especially among movie fans looking for something different from the mass marketed movies made of mainstream consumption. The movies showcased in this collection were selected by our staff from the iArtHouse catalog, which is almost all independent films. Read more about independent films and movies.
"Left home at the age of seven/one year later I'm carryin' an AK-47." For hip hop artist Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier in Sudan's brutal civil war, these lyrics are hardly empty posturing. They are the bitter reality of a young man who wa more...
Brilliantly acted and sung by the internationally acclaimed South African theater company Dimpho Di Kopane (DDK), U-Carmen is a stunning adaptation of perhaps the world's best-loved opera, Carmen. Re-imagined in the modern world of South African pool hall more...
Jean-Pierre Léaud stars as Jacques Laurent, a former pornographic filmmaker who returns to the industry in this controversial and explicit drama from director Bertrand Bonello. more...
Shot over an entire year in 2004, THE BRIDGE is a startling documentary about San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the people who go there to end their lives. Director Eric Steel and his crew managed to dissuade some of the tortured souls who peered more...
This audacious contemporary classic dramatizes a fascinating experiment with the question "What would Jesus do?" The film put a welcoming spotlight on boyish Quebec actor Lothaire Bluteau and firmly cemented Denys Arcand (Decline of the America more...
The Tiger and the Snow is about a Roman poet and lecturer named Attilio (Benigni) who feels compelled to head to Baghdad when he discovers that the woman he loves, Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi) has been seriously injured during a bomb explosion. more...
Described as "kinky material trapped in a cage of Victorian propriety" (The New York Times), Psychopathia Sexualis is a dreamlike depiction of turn-of-the-century sexual deviance. more...
Based on the true story and a bestselling novel, this powerful epic captures the incredible journey of German soldier Clemens Forell in his dramatic escape from a Siberian labor camp after World War II. Through bitter cold winters, desolate landscapes, more...
Described as "kinky material trapped in a cage of Victorian propriety" (The New York Times), Psychopathia Sexualis is a dreamlike depiction of turn-of-the-century sexual deviance. more...
In the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the Outback, Charlie Burns is presented with an impossible proposition by local law enforcer Captain Stanley: the only way to save younger brother Mikey from the gallows is to track down and kill Arthur, his more...
A Cannes Film Festival award winner from the filmmakers who brought us CITY OF GOD and THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, comes this sexy Brazilian drama chronicling a love triangle between two best friends, Deco and Naldinho (CARANDIRU's Lazaro Ramos and Wagner Mou more...
This is a story, told in flashback, of a virtuous young law student whose eyes are opened to real life when he is seduced by a ravishingly beautiful girl. Her behavior is governed by primitive urges and she tries to possess men using sex as her weapon, more...
More than just a documentary dispatch from the illegal immigration frontlines, Mark Becker's Romántico evolves from a verite view of undocumented alien subculture. more...
A suicidal, obsessive-compulsive Japanese librarian is forced to hide out with a pot-smoking Thai woman at her shabby beachside home. more...
Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) the daughter of a classical singer Pandit Darbar (Vikram Gokhale) loves his student, Sameer (Salman Khan). However, Vanraj (Ajay Devgan) sends his proposal to her father. Sameer and Nandini are caught romancing with each other and more...
Brazil is known for its beautiful beaches, lush rain forests, and vibrant culture. However, in recent years, the country has developed more of a reputation for corrupt politicians, kidnapping, and plastic surgery. Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) artfully more...
When the plane carrying Charlie Halliday, a maverick bush pilot and a sick, young, Inuit woman, Kanaalaq, crashes hundreds of miles from civilization, they are at the mercy of nature's worst. While search parties try to find the downed plane Charlie more...
Rodney Bingenheimer, The Mayor of the Sunset Strip, is perhaps the least-known celebrity in Hollywood, though somehow every celebrity seems to know him. From DAVY JONES' stunt double to KROQ DJ with a talent scout's vision, "Rodney on the ROQ" more...
Based on a true story, Asoka is the spectacular epic adventure of one man's transformation through the power of love. As the Emperor of one of India's great dynasties in the third century B.C., Asoka is a brutal and unmerciful warrior monarch whose life more...
As big business takes hold of the rail industry, the gang at the local depot is forced to adapt to new rules and wrestle with middle management's double-talk. As the new Managing Director wipes the slate clean, reliable workers are sent to pasture, and more...
Isabelle Huppert gives a stellar performance in Claude Chabrol's thriller inspired by the Elf Affair, a true story of high-level corporate corruption. Jeanne Charmant Killman (Huppert), a tenacious magistrate known as "the piranha," pursues more...
Starring Chinese superstar Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero), this film by Director Lou Ye allies a swooning, lyrical romanticism with tones of Western film noir mixing into a monumental, Leone-esque narrative sweep into an epic tale of more...
Jealousy and obsession overwhelm a photographer during the final 16 hours of his love affair with a dancer. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. more...
An illegal immigrant working in a Chinese restaurant hopes to marry an American to obtain a green card, but is surprised by his growing feelings for his new wife. A gritty and warm glimpse of American life through Chinese eyes. more...
Directed by Rob Nilsson, winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, "Winter Oranges" is about a man who is about to become a father ponders the notion of leaving his wife behind in this drama. more...
Directed by Rob Nilsson, winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, "Samt" is about a young Jordanian woman from a traditional family seeks greater personal freedom. She gets permission from her father to attend a more...
"Getting away from it all" takes on a new spin as Corinne finds herself isolated in the wilds of Costa Rica in a prolonged, deadly struggle. Betrayal turns this search for paradise into a quest for survival, climaxing with a chilling end-game in the more...
