Indie Filmmakers & Their Influence on Filmmaking: Part 1 - The Good

The world of filmmaking is a complex one in that it may be tough to get in but its tougher to stay in and remain in with some semblance of what it was that got you in in the first place. There have been many filmmakers that start off in the bowels of "indie-land" but then gravitate to the status of Hollywood never to return to their "indie" roots. There are few that manage to weave in and out of the film culture doing both mainstream and indie films while at the same time influencing independent filmmaking for the better. With the growing appreciation of digital technology it is becoming easier for filmmakers to explore other avenues of storytelling outside mainstream Hollywood. By exploring some of these filmmakers we might better understand the nature of independent filmmaking today.

In 1970 director Michael Apted would inherit one of the most profound documentary series in history with his 7 Plus Seven (aka 14 Up), a continuation of director Paul Almond's Seven Up! (1964), which chronicled the lives of several people at the age of seven. 7 Plus Seven would see this same group at age 14 and every seven years Apted would interview the subjects of the film again and again up until the most recent edition 49 Up (2005). This is all while Apted continued to do mainstream films such as Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), Gorky Park (1983), Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988), Thunderheart (1992), and The World Is Not Enough (1999), among others. Even amongst his mainstream films Apted manages to explore un-Hollywood-like stories like Gorillas in the Mist, Enigma (2001), Married in America (2002), Amazing Grace (2006), or Me & Isaac Newton (1999), while at the same time balancing the latest Bond film (The World In Not Enough) and his duties to big budget films like Enough (2002), Nell (1994), or Blink (1994). Apted has proven that it is possible to maneuver back and forth while continuing to do films about the things that interest you the most. As a indie documentarian he has proven that even the most obscure of subjects can find an audience and can continue to do so.