According to Empire Magazine (Uk) - voted by english critics

50 - El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez, 1992)
49 - Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998 )
48 - Cube (Vincenzo Natali, 1997)
47 - Blood Feast (Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1963)
46 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
45 - Mad Max (George Miller, 1979)
44 - Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000)
43 - Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959)
42 - Swingers (Doug Liman, 1996)
41 - Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
40 - The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)
39 - The Passion Of The Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004)
38 - Grosse Point Blank (George Armitage, 1997)
37 - Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999)
36 - Buffalo'66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998 )
35 - THX-1138 (George Lucas, 1971)
34 - The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, 1999)
33 - Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle, 1994)
32 - Two Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
31 - Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)
30 - Sweet Sweetback Baadassss' Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971)
29 - Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992)
28 - In The Company Of Men (Neil LaBute, 1997)
27 - Dark Star (John Carpenter, 1974)
26 - Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
25 - Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989)
24 - Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998 )
23 - The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)
22 - Nosferatu, A Symphony Of Terror (F.W. Murnau, 1922)
21 - Roger And Me (Roger And Me (1989), 1989)
20 - Slacker (Richard Linklater, 1991)
19 - Lone Star (John Sayles, 1996)
18 - Withnail And I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
17 - City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002)
16 - She's Gotta Have It (Spike Lee, 1986)
15 - Blood Simple (Coen Brothers, 1984)
14 - Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
13 - Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
12 - Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)
11 - Bad Taste (Peter Jackson, 1987)
10 - Mean Streets (Martin Scorcese, 1973)
9 - Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
8 - The Usual Suspects (Christopher McQuarrie, 1995)
7 - Sex, Lies, And Videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989)
6 - Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968 )
5 - Monty Python's Life Of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)
4 - Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994)
3 - The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)
2 - Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal, 2001)
1 - Reservoir Dogs (Quentim Tarantino, 1992)

I know these best film "lists" suck but is always nice to laugh a bit .

1. Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

50 Best Independent Films You Won't Have Any Trouble Finding in Your Local Video Store

And how!

Why is City of God independent? And Amores Perros? Just because they are 'foreign' doesn't mean they weren't funded by a 'foreign' studio...

City of god was bought by miramax for 6 million in sundance.
My boss worked with Fernando meirelles. He said he is a very nice man - simple and very tallented.
You dont have studio system in brazil.The government policy finances film and art.
Dunno about amorres perros.

whoa whoa...Pink Flamingos is ****. its not even funny how bad of a film this is. the only good part was when they are sexing it up with a chicken and he kills it when they are doing it. but its not even worth finding to see.

Jim Jarmusch claims to be the only American filmmaker besides Woody Allen to own all (excluding Crazy Horse, which is Neil Young's) of his film negatives. Anyone know how true this is?

quote:

You dont have studio system in brazil.The government policy finances film and art.

And the former Miramax was independent? Haha...

Without checking, I can guess that it was BP Petrobras behind Cidade de deus. I said 'studio' merely because my post referred to two films, one of which was somewhat less likely to be state-funded. I'm not extremely familiar with the production mechanisms in Mexico.

Anyway, state-funded productions aren't independent either, so my point stands. It seems patently absurd to determine 'independent' films based on their acquisition in one country... it should be determined by the production status in the country of origin, or the major investment in the case of coproductions...

Independent films refers to films produced independently of the Hollywood Studio system if we want to get into semantics. These are independent films by Empire's definition of the word Independent. Your definition Evan really has no bearing on this thread but feel free to start a thread on "what constitutes an 'independent' film?"

These seem to be a mix of quality and influence. The Terminator is not a great film per se but it is TREMENDOUSLY influential. Same with Night of the Living Dead.

quote:

Independent films refers to films produced independently of the Hollywood Studio system if we want to get into semantics.

Sorry, that's totally wrong. If Toho makes a film in Japan, is that independent? It's 'outside of the Hollywood studio system.' Just because something is made outside of the US does not automatically make it independent... I can't believe I have to explain this here.

quote:

Originally posted by Evan Kubota:
I can't believe I have to explain this here.

Believe it.

theres always been two deffinitions for the term "independent" theres the new day "brand name" term of course, the miramax term, where if its not a major studio, people somehow believe that what money is used somehow comes without the same limitations and strings that hollywood has. even if kevin smith makes clerks for $23,000 when miramax buys it he has to put a nice fat marketable soundtrack on it, ive seen the commercial for it all over the old vhs copy id rent. Some people say Pulp Fictiona nd the English Patient are independent, despite their 8-30+ million budgets, ad and oscar campaigns and links to miramax/disney. same goes for THX, made by American Zoetrope who got the money from Warner Bros. who of course forcefully edited 5 minutes out of it against Lucas' wishes. Stranger Than Paradise was started with short ends from a Wim Wenders film, later financed based on that by som German who basically gave Jarmushc all the control he wanted under the limited budget. thats the "money and where it comes from version." the second version of "independent is more difficult to pin down of course and refers to "independent thinking." this could be any film really if you want to consider what u like to be this, whether its films on this site made on spare change and daddy's camcorder or a Hollywood blockbuster that manages to have something artistic to say, though however unlikely. Thats why I immediately listed Empire Strikes Back, completely, or independently financed by Lucas, maybe with all of his New Hope money and a loan, with sole possession and freedom away from the studio. but things shouldn't be judged on money and which major studio is involved and when. basically when people call Cassavetes the Father of Independent film, and people talk about the independent film Brick, its like talking about the gay cowboy movie brokeback mountain, and the gay old time of the flintstones (though barney and fred did seem to get along quite well). Obviously Evan and Daniel are going by different deffinitions, and we probably all do.

"Oh, I've always felt like I was on the margins. Once upon a time that's what independent used to mean."
- John Sayles

Of course everyone's definition varies, but I think any that includes 'foreign' films that may be made with full state funding as 'independent' is patently false.