This short term intensive course looks at the genesis and rapid growth of American independent film in the 1980s, focusing on the varying artistic, political and industrial concerns during these formative years for filmmakers working outside the Hollywood system. Key filmmakers, movements, and films will include Jim Jarmusch (Stranger than Paradise) and No Wave Cinema, Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) and the L.A. Rebellion, Lizzie Borden (Working Girls) and feminist films, and breakthrough auteurs Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies and videotape) and Spike Lee (She's Gotta Have It).