Independent Film News

Paste Magazine Names Powerhouses in Indie Film

Like the independent film version of People's Most Beautiful, Paste Magazine has put together their own list of Who's Who in filmmaking, the Art House Powerhouse 2006. The difference being that the folks on these lists, most of whom you'll recognize if you're at all familiar with independent film, are actually impacting the movie industry through their work, not just looking pretty on screen.

The independent magazine found it fitting to list out 2006's most influential and looked at actors, directors, studios and film festivals, all of which played a role in making the year a banner one. It's the second year the mag has made the list, and there are some shake-ups since 2005.

This year, Philip Seymour Hoffman's named as the most influential actor in the biz, owing in no small part to the four (!) projects he's been working on this year. He jumped from number 3, knocking Bill Murray off the top spot. Murray doesn't even make a showing; instead, Gael Garcia Bernal, Forest Whitaker, Juliette Binoche and Aaron Eckhart round out the top five respectively.

It-boy director Richard Linklater sits atop a list of directors; his A Scanner Darkly was both innovative and well-received this year. The helmers just behind him include Michel Gondry, Ang Lee, Christopher Guest and Alejandro González Iñárritu; Darren Aronofsky and Sofia Coppola barely make it into the top 20.

Where studios and film festivals are concerned, the two at the head of the class are Sony Pictures Classics and Cannes. No surprises there, as both are giants within the independent film scene, oxymorons be damned. THINKFilm and IFC Films are there in the top 10, and I'd expect their ranks to rise by 2007.

Paste's list is only the first of many to pop up as 2006 wraps; their picks are slightly predicatble, yet I find myself wishing I had more than just a computer screen with which to discuss them. Not far behind these lists, of course, is awards season, when the newest stars born of the independent film world will really come out.

The Paste issue with the complete list is now on stands.

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Posted by on November 28, 2006 6:37 PM
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