An auteur is a DIY director

Hollywood is the center of production only for the studios. Its not the capital of filmmaking. But it is the distribution capital for America. We have to destroy this old psychology of Hollywood as a disgusting, corrupt, artificial place. It needs to reflect better of the world's best films. Hollywood theaters are always packed with agents and producers looking for the next trend or talent. For years they watched the more exotic films like exploitation, foreign, animation, ethnic, genre, etc. But now they've appropriated their own corporatized version of what were the indies' territory.

If Hollywood isn't going to support indie filmmakers (and there will always be many) then indie film must start investing in other cities, countries and communities to bring cinema to the people in the audience. 2017 was one of the poorest years ever for new films. Everything across the spectrum of the mainstream is homogenized, neutered and stale creatively. Its a revolutionary period for digital effects, art directed cinematography & crossover with existing intellectual properties and popular non-cinema. But much of it is mediocre or frankly harmful to the genre. Because we are in a recession still and profit is the underline for most producers who resist risk and experimentation or idealism.

But the indie artists, new or already established, must return independence to audiences. It doesn't matter if its streaming or downloaded or shown for free at a local cafe. Cinema is cinema. Thats something the audience has learned in the 2010s. TV, news media, video games, our dreams and wishes for the future are all essentially cinema because cinema is more than a technology or artistic practice or an aesthetic judgment. Cinema is the soul's ability to see the unseen and make it real. Its pure magic and the only physical evidence of it. You can project an abstract original idea from your mind's eye and years later it is being seen by someone you will never meet and they can feel everything you felt but see it from their own perspective. We should be embracing this gift of art to save our bring back peace & positive social standing. Cinema has done it many times before and will only become more powerful with time & innovation from fans.