Our main focus on the site is indie games, but let’s take a look around to appreciate the other triumphs in the indie world.
“Best” is highly subjective, but we’ve picked out 3 titles that are surely worthy of mention. We can appreciate how successful they are financially as well as strong pieces of independent film making.
Blair Witch Project
Ok, so maybe it isn’t the best ever film but it was a revolutionary effort of marketing. This movie had an extremely small budget and yet they managed to pack audiences into movie theatres with essentially the first viral marketing campaign. After the movie opened they posted an ad in Variety magazine saying blairwitch.com 21,222,589 hits to date. And of course, people flocked to the web to find a budget looking community site. With images from the movie and newspaper clippings the lines between reality and myth were blurred. And so the advent of guerilla movie marketing was born.
Blair Witch Hype
You may remember hearing that the movie was so terrifying somebody had starting sobbing in the theatre or that someone had a heart attack. The hype was there and the whole premise that this might be a real documentary shot by real people in this very shaky, first person camera style drew in the crowds. Was this real, found footage? Was there really a witch? For a movie with a budget of $25,000 to make $250 million is remarkable. An indie success!
Parasite
This South Korean movie from 2019 was well received by critics. Parasite is a black comedy thriller directed by Bong Joon-Ho. The story follows the Kim family, a poor, lower class family in Korea. They get an in with a wealthy family when Ki-woo takes over from his friend Min-hyuk in the role of art tutor for Park Da-hye. Slowly, the other members of the family manage to get jobs working for the Park family. The father takes the role of driver and the mother becomes housekeeper. The film is funny and the story is poignantly told with excellent performances from the cast.
The film highlights the issue of inequality. It also throws light onto the economic relationship between the poor and the wealthy. Whilst the poor families depend on the wealthy families for money, the wealthy families depend on the poorer families for all the work undertaken that completes their lives. Parasite pulls these two families into extremely close confines and illustrates that both are parasitic.
Lost In Translation
This is a highly regarded indie movie from 2003. The film was written and directed by Sofia Coppola and stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. The theme of the movie is alienation and disconnection. We get a strong sense of these feelings from the juxtaposition of American and Japanese culture. What makes the film so relatable is the feeling that everyone is just looking for those moments of connection in life. The budget for the movie was $4 million and it took $118 million at the box office. Lost In Translation was awarded multiple accolades including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay.