From the lowest-budget, most formally audacious or politically radical to the quirky, the offbeat, the cultish and the more conventional, the independent sector has thrived in American cinema in the past two decades, producing a body of work that stands out from the dominant Hollywood mainstream and that includes many of the most distinctive films to have appeared in the USA in recent years. It represents a challenge to Hollywood, although also one that has been embraced by the commercial mainstream to a substantial extent. Major formerly independent distributors such as Miramax and New Line are attached to Hollywood studios.
