Page 206 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Independent C nema: The Myth and Necess ty of D st nct on | 1

opposition to the mainstream. This is how we may need to approach the distinc-
tion: mainstream cinema is the largest force on the field, and independent cin-
ema gets the attention because of the inventiveness of its movements.

indePendent CineMa: a tiMeline

1909—Formation of the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPCC), founding the indus-
trial organization of standardized film production.
1909—Carl Laemmle starts the Independent Motion Picture (IMP) Company and lures
Florence Lawrence and later Mary Pickford to become his stars, “IMP girls.”
1912—MPPC patent infringement lawsuit against IMP fails; Hollywood becomes Ameri-
ca’s main film production center.
1913—D. W. Griffith leaves for Hollywood.
1909–18—Installation of Hollywood’s major studios, with strong connections to exhibition
and distribution.
1919—Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene) and the start of the European
avant-garde.
1928—Un chien andalou (Luis Buñuel) ignites surrealist cinema.
1930–33—The golden age of exploitation cinema in pre–Hays Code Hollywood.
1934—Installation of the Hays Code of self-censorship in Hollywood.
1945—Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini), the start of Italian neo-realism.
1946—Launch of the Cannes Film Festival.
1948—The “Paramount” decision, declaring illegal vertical integration of studios.
1949—Start of Cinema 16, New York’s prime film society.
1958–59—Introduction of cheap lightweight cameras (Éclair Cameflex, new Arriflex 16).
1959—Independent cinema and the new wave: A bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard), Les
400 coups (François Truffaut), Les cousins (Claude Chabrol), and Hiroshima Mon Amour
(Alain Resnais) set off the French new wave.
1959—High points of independent exploitation cinema: A Bucket of Blood (Roger Cor-
man), Plan Nine from Outer Space (Ed Wood).
1960—Start of campus film societies throughout the United States.
1963—Breakthrough of the American underground: Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger),
Flaming Creatures (Jack Smith), Blow Job (Andy Warhol).
1967–69—The influence of Roger Corman: Wild Angels, The Trip, Bonnie and Clyde
(Arthur Penn), Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda), Who’s That Knocking at
My Door? (Martin Scorsese), Targets (Peter Bogdanovich).
1972—Porn chic: Deep Throat (Gerard Damiano), Emmanuelle (Just Jaeckin), Heat (Paul
Morrissey), Score (Radley Metzger).
1975–76—High point of the midnight movies circuit: El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky),
Hooper), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman), Salo (Pier Paolo Pasolini),
Eraserhead (David Lynch), Shivers (David Cronenberg).
1976—Tax laws in several countries hit independent cinema exhibition.