American Indie

A young librarian with a thing for Modernist architecture expands her horizons when a Korean lawyer (John Cho) comes to town, in this impeccable debut from acclaimed video artist kogonada.

Stunningly shot drama following a closeted advertising executive who tries to reconnect with his family during the first wave of the AIDS crisis.

Unravelling the aftermath of a police killing of a black man - and how it affects the lives of three separate individuals. With John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman).

David Lowery's haunting exploration of love and loss, with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck is a high-point of recent independent American cinema.

The hilarious, breakout indie comedy about a Pakistan-born comedian and his culture-clash relationship with an American grad student.

Woody Harrelson, Brie Larson and Naomi Watts play members of an anarchic family that refuses society's norms, in this moving and offbeat drama from the director of Short Term 12.

Andrea Arnold dazzles with a sun-soaked and tune-filled epic about door-to-door teenage magazine sellers (led by Shia LeBeouf) traversing the American highways.

Winner of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture (eventually!), Barry Jenkins’ intoxicating drama follows the furtive life of a gay black boy through 80s Miami.

Chloé Zhao's luminous and enthralling study of a young South Dakotan cowboy’s struggle following a rodeo injury.

A timid Long Island skater-girl befriends an all-girl, New York City-based skateboarding crew.

While on probation, a man begins to re-evaluate his relationship with his volatile best friend, in this electrifying Sundance hit.

Ira Sachs’s refined Manhattan-set drama sees Alfred Molina’s Ben and John Lithgow’s George in the latter days of a tender, loving 39-year relationship.

Kelly Fremon Craig’s coming-of-age comedy eschews quirkiness for genuine warmth, while boasting a hilarious supporting turn from Woody Harrelson.

This smart, sophisticated, Sundance-nominated romance follows the first date of a couple who would go on to change the world – Barack and Michelle Obama.

Viggo Mortensen plays the father-gone-primitive in this wonderful award-winning comedy about an off-grid family.

A punk band becomes besieged in the backstage hideaway of a hideous neo-Nazi club, in this gloriously tense shocker from the director of Blue Ruin.

Brie Larson’s Oscar-winning performance is the beating heart of Lenny Abrahamson’s extraordinarily moving drama.

A gang of wild college jocks enjoy three days of freewheeling fun before school starts, in Richard Linklater’s ‘spiritual sequel’ to Boyhood and Dazed and Confused.

Toni, an eleven year-old tomboy, finds a new purpose when an epidemic of seizures strikes her dance class, in this riveting and psychological character portrait from filmmaker Anna Rose Holmer.

A teenage sociopath comes face to face with an evil force in this chilling and darkly humorous adaptation of Dan Wells’ acclaimed cult novel.

Julianne Moore won an Oscar for her extraordinary performance as a linguistics professor diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Michael Moore is on a mission from the Pentagon: to invade friendly countries and steal their best ideas on behalf of the United States.

Terrence Malick presents this haunting and visually arresting documentary about the cycle of violent drug culture on a remote Native American reservation.

Andrea Riseborough is extraordinary in this disquieting drama about a woman convinced that she was kidnapped as a child and might have found her real parents.

Harry Dean Stanton gives the performance of a lifetime as an irascible nonagenarian maverick grappling with his mortality.

Adam Driver excels in this effortlessly charming tale of a bus driver poet in New Jersey, filmed with typically groovy elan by Jim Jarmusch.

Annette Bening shines as the hipster mum who enlists two young friends (Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning) to help her son navigate adolescence in this Oscar nominated comedy-drama.

This story of a widower's struggle to reclaim his child is both a funny, moving drama and an insight into the world of New York's Yiddish-speaking Hasidic community.

The US indie hit tells the bold, bawdy and hilarious story of a teenager's sexual awakening after she sleeps with her mother’s boyfriend.

Paul Dano and a flatulent corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) excel in this bizarre, yet surprisingly moving surreal comedy.

Kristen Wiig plays a woman trying to start a family with a gay couple, in this biting black comedy set among a diverse Brooklyn community.

Writer-director Philipp Garner also stars in this refreshing gay drama, a portrait of a couple trying to make it work in the film world of Los Angeles.

In one desperate night, four disparate gay men cruise Philadelphia in pursuit of ever-elusive human connection.

Jesse Eisenberg, Isabelle Huppert and Gabriel Byrne star in Joachim Trier’s astute and deftly realised family drama.

Julianne Moore plays the cancer-stricken police officer who must fight on a second front to secure the transfer of her pension to her partner (Ellen Page).

Mark Duplass stars in the indie time-travel comedy that won a major prize at Sundance and set director Colin Trevorrow on the road to Jurassic World.

An American tourist in Italy falls for a stunning local woman with a dangerous secret, in this startling horror-romance.

Two young poets with bipolar begin a highly passionate, volatile relationship that threatens both their futures.

In Maryland, 1985, teenager Rad is forced to face down the bullies in a table tennis tournament, with only his best friend and the expertise of his mysterious Mr Miyagi-esque neighbour for guidance.

Set in a Deep South delta, Zeitlin’s feature debut takes a child’s eye view of poverty, adult apathy and ecological crisis. Hallucinatory fare

A filmmaker escapes the pain of a break-up through casual sex and meets a closeted lawyer in this deeply personal work from Ira Sachs.

Shailene Woodley and Eva Green star in Gregg Araki’s lyrical and impressionistic adaptation of Laura Kasischke’s novel.

Venerable character actor Steve Buscemi steps behind the camera in this profound character study on a lonely, alcoholic, and unemployed mechanic.

Three high-school girls wage war to win the latest must-have social accessory - a Gay Best Friend.

Darren Aronofsky’s magisterial monochrome mystery concerns a mathematician whose discovery of a powerful number leads to the dark side.

Quentin Tarantino’s crackling crime classic still retains its swagger as one of the great American films of recent decades.

Quentin Tarantino explodes onto the screen with his debut feature following a jewellery heist gone horribly, violently wrong.

Landmark film from 'zombie godfather' Romero, whose makeshift heroes fight for their lives against a new and terrifying enemy.

With precision and pertinence, Ramin Bahrani’s drama reveals the human cost of the 21st-century economic crisis.

Reality bites for a hedonistic young New Yorker who suddenly has to grow up quickly, in a brilliantly acted drama from the team behind Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Spike Lee’s pacy, punchy, provocative fable chronicles a sweltering, fateful day in Brooklyn.

Elliot Page became an indie sensation as the teenage vigilante trying to trap a predatory older man, in David Slade's smart psychological thriller.

Brady Corbet’s brilliantly ominous study of evolving evil follows a small boy as he grows into a fascist despot.

Ira Sachs’ poignant drama about how money affects relationships follows an artistic family’s attempts to attune to a new Brooklyn neighbourhood.

Milo isn't your usual introverted, strange teenager; he also believes he's a vampire. Michael O'Shea's dark drama presents a transgressive twist on the teen vampire tale.

Samuel L. Jackson stars in this seething slice of Southern Gothic, about the travails of a Louisiana family bedevilled by infidelity, incest and witchcraft.

Marc Meyers' adaptation of Derf Backderf’s revered graphic novel is an unnerving teen horror-drama about the makings of a murderer.

The captivating Zosia Mamet (Girls) takes centre-stage in this smart and sassy Manhattan-set relationship drama which channels the spirit of Nora Ephron.