Wes Anderson and Independent Cinema

At the turn of the 21st Century, major Hollywood studios established subsidiaries to finance cutting-edge films, formerly the realm of independent directors. This move led to a shift in the ways independent films are produced, creating a distinction between those financed by Hollywood’s subsidiaries and those produced by truly independent studios. This raises the question: is an independent film defined by its budget or, rather, by a certain “spirit”? This course will attempt to answer this question through the analysis of the work of “independent” filmmaker Wes Anderson, whose alternative and relatively low-budget films launched his career.