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Mayer–Vietoris sequence

In mathematics, particularly algebraic topology and homology theory, the Mayer–Vietoris sequence is an algebraic tool to help compute algebraic invariants of topological spaces. The result is due to two Austrian mathematicians, Walther Mayer and Leopold Vietoris. The method consists of splitting a space into subspaces, for which the homology or cohomology groups may be easier to compute. The sequence relates the (co)homology groups of the space to the (co)homology groups of the subspaces. It is a natural long exact sequence, whose entries are the (co)homology groups of the whole space, the direct sum of the (co)homology groups of the subspaces, and the (co)homology groups of the intersection of the subspaces.

The Mayer–Vietoris sequence holds for a variety of cohomology and homology theories, including simplicial homology and singular cohomology. In general, the sequence holds for those theories satisfying the Eilenberg–Steenrod axioms, and it has variations for both reduced and relative (co)homology. Because the (co)homology of most spaces cannot be computed directly from their definitions, one uses tools such as the Mayer–Vietoris sequence in the hope of obtaining partial information. Many spaces encountered in topology are constructed by piecing together very simple patches. Carefully choosing the two covering subspaces so that, together with their intersection, they have simpler (co)homology than that of the whole space may allow a complete deduction of the (co)homology of the space. In that respect, the Mayer–Vietoris sequence is analogous to the Seifert–van Kampen theorem for the fundamental group, and a precise relation exists for homology of dimension one.

Background, motivation, and history

Similarly to the fundamental group or the higher homotopy groups of a space, homology groups are important topological invariants. Although some (co)homology theories are computable using tools of linear algebra, many other important (co)homology theories, especially singular (co)homology, are not computable directly from their definition for nontrivial spaces. For singular (co)homology, the singular (co)chains and (co)cycles groups are often too big to handle directly. More subtle and indirect approaches become necessary. The Mayer–Vietoris sequence is such an approach, giving partial information about the (co)homology groups of any space by relating it to the (co)homology groups of two of its subspaces and their intersection.

The most natural and convenient way to express the relation involves the algebraic concept of exact sequences: sequences of objects (in this case groups) and morphisms (in this case group homomorphisms) between them such that the image of one morphism equals the kernel of the next. In general, this does not allow (co)homology groups of a space to be completely computed. However, because many important spaces encountered in topology are topological manifolds, simplicial complexes, or CW complexes, which are constructed by piecing together very simple patches, a theorem such as that of Mayer and Vietoris is potentially of broad and deep applicability.

Mayer was introduced to topology by his colleague Vietoris when attending his lectures in 1926 and 1927 at a local university in Vienna. He was told about the conjectured result and a way to its solution, and solved the question for the Betti numbers in 1929. He applied his results to the torus considered as the union of two cylinders. Vietoris later proved the full result for the homology groups in 1930 but did not express it as an exact sequence. The concept of an exact sequence only appeared in print in the 1952 book Foundations of Algebraic Topology by Samuel Eilenberg and Norman Steenrod, where the results of Mayer and Vietoris were expressed in the modern form.

Basic versions for singular homology
Let X be a topological space and A, B be two subspaces whose interiors cover X. (The interiors of A and B need not be disjoint.) The Mayer–Vietoris sequence in singular homology for the triad (X, A, B) is a long exact sequence relating the singular homology groups (with coefficient group the integers Z) of the spaces X, A, B, and the intersection A∩B. There is an unreduced and a reduced version.

Unreduced version
For unreduced homology, the Mayer–Vietoris sequence states that the following sequence is exact:

 * $$\cdots\to H_{n+1}(X)\,\xrightarrow{\partial_*}\,H_{n}(A\cap B)\,\xrightarrow{\left(\begin{smallmatrix}i_* \\ j_* \end{smallmatrix}\right)}\,H_{n}(A)\oplus H_{n}(B) \, \xrightarrow{k_* - l_*}\, H_{n}(X)\, \xrightarrow{\partial_*}\, H_{n-1} (A\cap B)\to \cdots $$

\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad \cdots \to H_0(A)\oplus H_0(B)\,\xrightarrow{k_* - l_*}\,H_0(X)\to 0. $$

Here $$ i : A\cap B \hookrightarrow A, j : A\cap B \hookrightarrow B, k : A \hookrightarrow X$$, and $$ l : B \hookrightarrow X$$ are inclusion maps and $$\oplus$$ denotes the direct sum of abelian groups.

Boundary map

The boundary maps ∂∗ lowering the dimension may be defined as follows. An element in Hn(X) is the homology class of an n-cycle x which, by barycentric subdivision for example, can be written as the sum of two n-chains u and v whose images lie wholly in A and B, respectively. Thus ∂x = ∂(u + v) = ∂u + ∂v. Since x is a cycle, ∂x = 0, so ∂u = −∂v. This implies that the images of both these boundary (n − 1)-cycles are contained in the intersection A∩B. Then ∂∗([x]) can be defined to be the class of ∂u in Hn−1(A∩B). Choosing another decomposition x = u′ + v′ does not affect [∂u], since ∂u + ∂v = ∂x = ∂u′ + ∂v′, which implies ∂u − ∂u′ = ∂(v′ − v), and therefore ∂u and ∂u′ lie in the same homology class; nor does choosing a different representative x′, since then ∂x′ = ∂x = 0. Notice that the maps in the Mayer–Vietoris sequence depend on choosing an order for A and B. In particular, the boundary map changes sign if A and B are swapped.

Reduced version
For reduced homology there is also a Mayer–Vietoris sequence, under the assumption that A and B have non-empty intersection. The sequence is identical for positive dimensions and ends as:

 * $$\cdots\to\tilde{H}_0(A\cap B)\,\xrightarrow{(i_*,j_*)}\,\tilde{H}_0(A)\oplus\tilde{H}_0(B)\,\xrightarrow{k_* - l_*}\,\tilde{H}_0(X)\to 0.$$

Analogy with the Seifert–van Kampen theorem
There is an analogy between the Mayer–Vietoris sequence (especially for homology groups of dimension 1) and the Seifert–van Kampen theorem. Whenever $$A\cap B$$ is path-connected, the reduced Mayer–Vietoris sequence yields the isomorphism

 * $$H_1(X) \cong (H_1(A)\oplus H_1(B))/\text{Ker} (k_* - l_*)$$

where, by exactness,

 * $$\text{Ker} (k_* - l_*) \cong \text{Im} (i_*, j_*).$$

This is precisely the abelianized statement of the Seifert–van Kampen theorem. Compare with the fact that $$H_1(X)$$ is the abelianization of the fundamental group $$\pi_1(X)$$ when $$X$$ is path-connected.

k-sphere
To completely compute the homology of the k-sphere X = Sk, let A and B be two hemispheres of X with intersection homotopy equivalent to a (k − 1)-dimensional equatorial sphere. Since the k-dimensional hemispheres are homeomorphic to k-discs, which are contractible, the homology groups for A and B are trivial. The Mayer–Vietoris sequence for reduced homology groups then yields

\cdots \longrightarrow 0 \longrightarrow \tilde{H}_{n}\!\left(S^k\right)\, \xrightarrow{\overset{}{\partial_*}}\,\tilde{H}_{n-1}\!\left(S^{k-1}\right) \longrightarrow 0 \longrightarrow \cdots $$

Exactness immediately implies that the map ∂* is an isomorphism. Using the reduced homology of the 0-sphere (two points) as a base case, it follows

 * $$\tilde{H}_n\!\left(S^k\right)\cong\delta_{kn}\,\mathbb{Z}=

\begin{cases} \mathbb{Z} & \mbox{if } n=k,  \\ 0 & \mbox{if } n \ne k, \end{cases}$$

where δ is the Kronecker delta. Such a complete understanding of the homology groups for spheres is in stark contrast with current knowledge of homotopy groups of spheres, especially for the case n > k about which little is known.

Klein bottle
A slightly more difficult application of the Mayer–Vietoris sequence is the calculation of the homology groups of the Klein bottle X. One uses the decomposition of X as the union of two Möbius strips A and B glued along their boundary circle (see illustration on the right). Then A, B and their intersection A∩B are homotopy equivalent to circles, so the nontrivial part of the sequence yields

0 \rightarrow \tilde{H}_{2}(X) \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}\ \xrightarrow{\overset{}{\alpha}} \ \mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \, \tilde{H}_1(X) \rightarrow 0 $$

and the trivial part implies vanishing homology for dimensions greater than 2. The central map α sends 1 to (2, −2) since the boundary circle of a Möbius band wraps twice around the core circle. In particular α is injective so homology of dimension 2 also vanishes. Finally, choosing (1, 0) and (1, −1) as a basis for Z2, it follows

 * $$\tilde{H}_n\left(X\right)\cong\delta_{1n}\,(\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z}_2)=

\begin{cases} \mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z}_2 & \mbox{if } n=1,\\ 0 & \mbox{if } n\ne1. \end{cases} $$

Wedge sums
Let X be the wedge sum of two spaces K and L, and suppose furthermore that the identified basepoint is a deformation retract of open neighborhoods U ⊆ K and V ⊆ L. Letting A = K ∪ V and B = U ∪ L it follows that A ∪ B = X and A ∩ B = U ∪ V, which is contractible by construction. The reduced version of the sequence then yields (by exactness)
 * $$\tilde{H}_n(K\vee L)\cong \tilde{H}_n(K)\oplus\tilde{H}_n(L)$$

for all dimensions n. The illustration on the right shows X as the sum of two 2-spheres K and L. For this specific case, using the result from above for 2-spheres, one has
 * $$\tilde{H}_n\left(S^2\vee S^2\right)\cong\delta_{2n}\,(\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z})=\left\{\begin{matrix}

\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z} & \mbox{if } n=2,  \\ 0 & \mbox{if } n \ne 2. \end{matrix}\right.$$

Suspensions
If X is the suspension SY of a space Y, let A and B be the complements in X of the top and bottom 'vertices' of the double cone, respectively. Then X is the union A∪B, with A and B contractible. Also, the intersection A∩B is homotopy equivalent to Y. Hence the Mayer–Vietoris sequence yields, for all n,
 * $$\tilde{H}_n(SY)\cong \tilde{H}_{n-1}(Y).$$

The illustration on the right shows the 1-sphere X as the suspension of the 0-sphere Y. Noting in general that the k-sphere is the suspension of the (k − 1)-sphere, it is easy to derive the homology groups of the k-sphere by induction, as above.

Relative form
A relative form of the Mayer–Vietoris sequence also exists. If Y ⊂ X and is the union of the interiors of C ⊂ A and D ⊂ B, then the exact sequence is:

 * $$\cdots\to H_{n}(A\cap B,C\cap D)\,\xrightarrow{(i_*,j_*)}\,H_{n}(A,C)\oplus H_{n}(B,D)\,\xrightarrow{k_* - l_*}\,H_{n}(X,Y)\, \xrightarrow{\partial_*} \,H_{n-1}(A\cap B,C\cap D)\to\cdots$$

Naturality
The homology groups are natural in the sense that if $$f:X_1 \to X_2$$ is a continuous map, then there is a canonical pushforward map of homology groups $$f_*: H_k(X_1) \to H_k(X_2)$$ such that the composition of pushforwards is the pushforward of a composition: that is, $$(g\circ h)_* = g_*\circ h_*.$$ The Mayer–Vietoris sequence is also natural in the sense that if

 * $$\begin{matrix} X_1 = A_1 \cup B_1 \\ X_2 = A_2 \cup B_2 \end{matrix} \qquad \text{and} \qquad \begin{matrix} f(A_1) \subset A_2 \\f(B_1) \subset B_2\end{matrix}$$,

then the connecting morphism of the Mayer–Vietoris sequence, $$\partial_*,$$ commutes with $$f_*$$. That is, the following diagram commutes (the horizontal maps are the usual ones):

 * $$\begin{matrix}

\cdots & H_{n+1}(X_1) & \longrightarrow & H_n(A_1\cap B_1) & \longrightarrow & H_n(A_1)\oplus H_n(B_1) & \longrightarrow & H_n(X_1) & \longrightarrow &H_{n-1}(A_1\cap B_1) & \longrightarrow & \cdots\\ & f_* \Bigg\downarrow & & f_* \Bigg\downarrow & & f_* \Bigg\downarrow & & f_* \Bigg\downarrow & & f_* \Bigg\downarrow\\ \cdots & H_{n+1}(X_2) & \longrightarrow & H_n(A_2\cap B_2) & \longrightarrow & H_n(A_2)\oplus H_n(B_2) & \longrightarrow & H_n(X_2) & \longrightarrow &H_{n-1}(A_2\cap B_2) & \longrightarrow & \cdots\\ \end{matrix}$$

Cohomological versions
The Mayer–Vietoris long exact sequence for singular cohomology groups with coefficient group G is dual to the homological version. It is the following:

 * $$\cdots\to H^{n}(X;G)\to H^{n}(A;G)\oplus H^{n}(B;G)\to H^{n}(A\cap B;G)\to H^{n+1}(X;G)\to\cdots$$

where the dimension preserving maps are restriction maps induced from inclusions, and the (co-)boundary maps are defined in a similar fashion to the homological version. There is also a relative formulation.

As an important special case when G is the group of real numbers R and the underlying topological space has the additional structure of a smooth manifold, the Mayer–Vietoris sequence for de Rham cohomology is

 * $$\cdots\to H^{n}(X)\,\xrightarrow{\rho}\,H^{n}(U)\oplus H^{n}(V)\,\xrightarrow{\Delta}\,H^{n}(U\cap V)\, \xrightarrow{d^*}\, H^{n+1}(X) \to \cdots$$

where $\{U, V\}$ is an open cover of $X, ρ$ denotes the restriction map, and $Δ$ is the difference. The map $$d^*$$ is defined similarly as the map $$\partial_*$$ from above. It can be briefly described as follows. For a cohomology class $[ω]$ represented by closed form $ω$ in $U∩V$, express $ω$ as a difference of forms $$\omega_U - \omega_V$$ via a partition of unity subordinate to the open cover $\{U, V\}$, for example. The exterior derivative $dω_{U}$ and $dω_{V}$ agree on $U∩V$ and therefore together define an $n + 1$ form $σ$ on $X$. One then has $d^{∗}([ω]) = [σ]$.

For de Rham cohomology with compact supports, there exists a "flipped" version of the above sequence:

$$\cdots\to H_{c}^{n}(U\cap V)\,\xrightarrow{\delta}\,H_{c}^{n}(U)\oplus H_{c}^{n}(V)\,\xrightarrow{\Sigma}\,H_{c}^{n}(X)\, \xrightarrow{d^*}\, H_{c}^{n+1}(U\cap V) \to \cdots$$

where $$U$$,$$V$$,$$X$$ are as above, $$\delta$$ is the signed inclusion map $$\delta : \omega \mapsto (i^U_*\omega,-i^V_*\omega)$$ where $$i^U$$ extends a form with compact support to a form on $$U$$ by zero, and $$\Sigma$$ is the sum.

Derivation
Consider the long exact sequence associated to the short exact sequences of chain groups (constituent groups of chain complexes)

 * $$0 \to C_n(A\cap B)\,\xrightarrow{\alpha}\,C_n(A) \oplus C_n(B)\,\xrightarrow{\beta}\,C_n(A+B) \to 0$$,

where α(x) = (x, −x), β(x, y) = x + y, and Cn(A + B) is the chain group consisting of sums of chains in A and chains in B. It is a fact that the singular n-simplices of X whose images are contained in either A or B generate all of the homology group Hn(X). In other words, Hn(A + B) is isomorphic to Hn(X). This gives the Mayer–Vietoris sequence for singular homology.

The same computation applied to the short exact sequences of vector spaces of differential forms

 * $$0\to\Omega^{n}(X)\to\Omega^{n}(U)\oplus\Omega^{n}(V)\to\Omega^{n}(U\cap V)\to 0 $$

yields the Mayer–Vietoris sequence for de Rham cohomology.

From a formal point of view, the Mayer–Vietoris sequence can be derived from the Eilenberg–Steenrod axioms for homology theories using the long exact sequence in homology.

Other homology theories
The derivation of the Mayer–Vietoris sequence from the Eilenberg–Steenrod axioms does not require the dimension axiom, so in addition to existing in ordinary cohomology theories, it holds in extraordinary cohomology theories (such as topological K-theory and cobordism).

Sheaf cohomology
From the point of view of sheaf cohomology, the Mayer–Vietoris sequence is related to Čech cohomology. Specifically, it arises from the degeneration of the spectral sequence that relates Čech cohomology to sheaf cohomology (sometimes called the Mayer–Vietoris spectral sequence) in the case where the open cover used to compute the Čech cohomology consists of two open sets. This spectral sequence exists in arbitrary topoi.

title: Mayer–Vietoris sequence


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User talk:Karkikailash

Hi Karkikailash :) I hope you like the place and choose to stay.

Some links that may be of use:
 * Welcome, newcomers
 * How to edit a page
 * Village pump - ask questions you may have here, or leave a message on my talk page

Thanks, and keep contributing :) Dysprosia 08:53, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)

You may want to sign by using 4 tildes like this ~ - doing this puts a proper link to your user page - Karkikailash is different from User:Karkikailash and so I redirected the first to the second for you. Thanks Dysprosia 09:04, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)

User categorisation
You were listed on the Wikipedians/Nepal page as living in or being associated with Nepal. As part of the User categorisation project, these lists are being replaced with user categories. If you would like to add yourself to the category that is replacing the page, please visit Category:Wikipedians in Nepal for instructions. -- Gurch 16:16, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Karkikailash


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Jim Anderton's Progressive Party

Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (formed in 27 July 2002 as the Progressive Party and renamed after its founder in 2005) was a New Zealand political party to the political left of its ally, the Labour Party.

The party was established when Jim Anderton and his supporters left the Alliance party. The Progressive Party held at least one seat in Parliament from 2002 to 2011 because of Anderton's victories in the electorate of Wigram. The party did not contest the 2011 general election, and was de-registered at its own request in 9 March 2012.

Policies
Economically, the party was left of centre, and placed particular attention on economic development. It had a particular focus on the creation of jobs, and said it was committed to achieving full employment. Among its other policy objectives were free education and free healthcare, four weeks of annual leave from work, an "anti-drugs" policy, and cutting the corporate tax rate to 30%. It also advocated an abolition of the Goods and Services Tax in favour of a broad-based financial transactions tax, and monetary policy reform. Its campaign slogan was "Get things done".

History
The Progressive Party was established by a faction of the Alliance, a left-wing party that does not presently hold seats in Parliament but was once the third-largest party there. Having won ten seats in the 1999 election, the Alliance went into coalition with Labour, forming a government with Anderton as deputy prime minister.

Towards the end of the parliamentary term, tensions between different factions of the party increased. In particular, the party's parliamentary leader, Anderton, and the party's organisational leader and president, Matt McCarten, became involved in a significant dispute. The causes of the problems are debated by the various actors, but a significant factor appears to be a claim by McCarten's faction that the Alliance was giving too much away to the Labour Party. In addition, McCarten's faction claimed that Anderton's leadership style was "autocratic", and that the parliamentary wing was failing to heed the concerns of the party's membership. Anderton rejected the latter charge, and he claimed that criticism of the Alliance's ties to Labour were "extremist" and would nullify the party's ability to influence government policy. The conflict gradually became more and more severe until Anderton eventually demanded the resignation of the party's governing council.

The party organisation expelled Anderton and his supporters, with Anderton announcing his intentions of establishing a new party. However, because of an electoral law, Anderton did not officially leave the Alliance's parliamentary wing, even if he had left the party itself – doing so would have required his resignation from parliament, a step he was unwilling to take. Anderton had supported this law as a result of the great instability caused by rampant party-switching in the previous Parliament. As such, Anderton and his supporters remained technically a part of the Alliance's parliamentary wing until the election, when they officially established their new party.

The Democrats, a component of the Alliance, broke away to join the new group which was to be the "Progressive Coalition", but shortly before the 2002 election, the official name was changed to "Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition", a measure Anderton says was intended to ensure that the new party was recognised. Later, after the Democrats had departed to re-establish themselves as an independent entity, the name "Progressive Party" was adopted.

The new party placed Anderton's supporters from the Alliance first on its party list. In the elections, it competed against both the Alliance (then led by Laila Harré, a supporter of McCarten) and Labour. It managed to gain 1.7% of the vote, and Jim Anderton was successful in retaining his electorate seat in. As such, the party gained entry to parliament with two seats, including deputy leader Matt Robson, who had been a member of Anderton's faction of the Alliance. The Alliance itself failed to win any seats. It received only 1.27% of the vote, and Laila Harré lost to Lynne Pillay in the electorate, meaning the Alliance won no electorate seats.

The Progressives took up the Alliance's old position as Labour's junior coalition partner. However, as the Progressives brought fewer seats to the coalition than the Alliance had, the new party's influence was not as great. Anderton retained his position as Minister of Economic Development but lost the role of deputy prime minister to Labour's Michael Cullen, the Minister of Finance and deputy leader of Labour. Robson, who had been Minister of Corrections, Minister for Courts, Minister for Land Information, and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs in the previous government, lost his cabinet posts.

Shortly before the 2005 election, the official name of the party was changed again, this time to "Jim Anderton's Progressive", to facilitate voter recognition on ballot papers. In those elections, the Progressives' vote tailed off slightly to 1.2 percent, but this decline was enough to keep Robson from returning to Parliament even though Anderton easily won his seat. The indication of the New Zealand First and United Future parties that they would support either National or Labour based on whichever received the most votes may have eroded the Progressives' potential share of the vote alongside other minor parties. As Labour was returned to power, however, Anderton was able to retain his place in government.

In the 2008 election the Progressive Party gained 0.91% of the vote. Anderton retained his electorate seat and remained in Parliament representing the party. In an unusual move, Anderton announced that he would remain in coalition with Labour in opposition.

Jim Anderton announced his retirement from Parliament from the 2011 general election. The party did not contest the election and is now no longer in Parliament. On 9 March 2012 the party was de-registered at its own request.

title: Jim Anderton's Progressive Party


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Progressive Coalition

Progressive Coalition may refer to the following political parties:

 * Jim Anderton's Progressive Party, in New Zealand, formerly Progressive Coalition and Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition
 * Vermont Progressive Party, in the United States, formerly the Progressive Coalition

title: Progressive Coalition


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Sylvano Bussotti

Sylvano Bussotti (1 October 1931 – 19 September 2021) was an Italian composer of contemporary classical music, also a painter, set and costume designer, opera director and manager, writer and academic teacher. His compositions employ graphic notation, which has often created special problems of interpretation. He was known as a composer for the stage. His first opera was La Passion selon Sade, premiered in Palermo in 1965. Later operas and ballets were premiered at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Teatro Lirico di Milano, Teatro Regio di Torino and Piccola Scala di Milano, among others. He was artistic director of La Fenice in Venice, the Puccini Festival and the music section of the Venice Biennale. He taught internationally, for a decade at the Fiesole School of Music. He is regarded as a leading composer of Italy's avantgarde, and a Renaissance man with many talents who combined the arts expressively.

Life and career
Born in Florence, Bussotti learned to play the violin beginning before the age of five with Margherita Castellani, becoming a prodigy. He was also introduced to painting, by his uncle Tono Zancanaro and his older brother Renzo. At the Florence Conservatory, he studied harmony and counterpoint with Roberto Lupi, and piano with Luigi Dallapiccola, but achieved no diploma due to World War II. He kept studying composition on his own. From 1956, he studied privately in Paris with Max Deutsch, and met Luigi Nono, Pierre Boulez and Heinz-Klaus Metzger who introduced him to the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. His first composition performed in public was Breve, played by Françoise Deslogères at a gallery in Düsseldorf in 1958, with John Cage in the audience. In Paris, Cathy Berberian sang his works, conducted by Boulez. Bussotti travelled to the U.S. in 1964 and 1965, visiting Buffalo and New York invited by the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1972, he visited Berlin, invited by German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for the Ford Foundation.

As a composer he was influenced by the twelve-tone music of Webern and later John Cage. Examples of his use of graphic notation in his pieces, often reflecting his personal life, included La Passion selon Sade and Lorenzaccio. He was a composer of the Florentine artistic current, that has been active since the end of World War II up to the present, including Giuseppe Chiari, Giancarlo Cardini, Albert Mayr, Marcello Aitiani, Sergio Maltagliati, Daniele Lombardi, and Pietro Grossi. These musicians experimented with the interaction between sound, sign, and vision, a synaesthetics of art derived from historical avant-gardes, from Kandinsky to futurism, to Scriabin and Schoenberg, all the way to Bauhaus.

Bussotti also pursued other disciplines including painting, graphic art, and journalism. He was a well-known film director, actor, and singer. He wrote most of the librettos for his operas. As a writer, his style was considered one of the most refined among the Italian poets and novelists of the 20th century. French culture fascinated him since he was a boy. His great friend Cathy Berberian (Luciano Berio's wife) was one of his most famous interpreters. He was well acquainted with writers and film directors Aldo Palazzeschi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Derek Jarman, Elsa Morante, Alberto Moravia, Aldo Braibanti, Mario Zanzotto, Fabio Casadei Turroni, Dacia Maraini, and Umberto Eco. Jarman was the director of his opera L'Ispirazione, first staged in Florence in 1988. Rara Film is his most celebrated underground film. The silent film, according to the author's instructions, should be performed, together with the score, played by seven to eleven players. The music of Rara Film is not a strict counterpoint of the film, flowing without any relation to the images.

Bussotti was the stage director of Mussorgsky's The Fair at Sorochyntsi for La Scala in Milan in 1981, followed two years later by Puccini's Il trittico, a televised production for which he designed the set of Gianni Schicchi. He served as the artistic director of La Fenice in Venice, directed the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, and was director of opera at La Scala. He was head of the music section of the Venice Biennale from 1987. He taught composition, analysis and the history of musical theatre at the Academy of Fine Arts in L'Aquila, at the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in Stuttgart, at the Royan Festival and from 1980 to 1991 at the Fiesole School of Music. As a personality, he was notoriously flamboyant and occasionally shocking. Openly gay, Bussotti expressed his sexuality in his music as early as 1958, when it was socially dangerous to do so. His partner and spouse was Rocco Quaglia, a ballet dancer and choreographer with whom he collaborated in many projects.

Bussotti died at a nursing home in Milan at age 89 after a long illness, shortly before his 90th birthday. Festivities planned in Florence for the event are held in his memory, titled 90 Bussotti, from 20 to 25 September, including performances by Fabbrica Europa, Florence Queer Festival, Fondazione Culturale Stensen, Maschietto Editore, and Tempo Reale, collaborating with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bussotti Opera Ballet and the Museo Marino Marini. In Germany, from September 29 to October 1, a scientific conference was held on Bussotti's work, in the course of which the Ensemble E-MEX played two commemorative concerts. This included the first complete performance of Bussotti's "Piêces de Chair II" (1960), sung, among others, by soprano Monica Benvenuti, who had long been closely associated with the composer.

Awards
Bussotti was awarded the ISCM Prize from the International Society for Contemporary Music in 1961, 1963 and 1965, then in 1967 the All'Amelia Prize at the Venice Biennale, in 1974 the Toscani d'Oggi Prize, and in 1979 the Psacaropulo Prize.

Music
Most of Bussotti's works were published by Casa Ricordi:

Stage works

 * La Passion selon Sade (mistero da camera), The Passion after Sade (chamber mystery) 1965

 * Lorenzaccio, premiered at La Fenice in 1972
 * Bergkristall (balletto, 1973)
 * Nottetempo (dramma lirico), 1976 with Oslavio Di Credico at the Teatro Lirico di Milano
 * Oggetto amato, ballet in one act (1976),at the Teatro Lirico di Milano with Cathy Berberian and Claudio Desderi
 * La rarità. Potente. premiered at the Teatro Regio di Torino in 1979

 * Le Racine (Pianobar pour Phèdre), chamber opera in a prologue, three acts and an intermezzo for voices, premiered at Piccola Scala in Milan in 1980

 * Fedra, tragedia lirica, 1988
 * L'ispirazione, melodramma in three acts, 1988

 * Silvano Sylvano. Rappresentazione della vita, chamber opera in one tempo on words (testi) di Sylvano Bussotti (2002–2007)

Other compositions

 * Due Voci, for soprano, Martenot waves, and orchestra (text: La Fontaine (1958))
 * Sette Fogli, for various solo and group ensembles (1959)
 * Piêces de Chair II, for piano, baritone, female voice and instruments (1960)
 * Pour Clavier (1961)
 * Memories, 5 scenes for mixed choir, soloists and orchestra (texts: Braibanti, Pasolini e.a. (1962))
 * La Passion selon Sade, chamber mystery play for voice, mime, actors and instruments (1965)
 * Marbre, for 11 strings and spinet (1967)
 * Rara Requiem, for soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone,mixed vocal sextet, choir and instrumental ensemble (1970)
 * I Semi di Gramsci, symphonic poem for string quartet and orchestra (1971) Score: Ricordi. World premiere: 22 April 1972 (Quartetto Italiano, ?, ?) dedicated to the Quartetto Italiano
 * Sadun, for 12-part choir (1975)
 * Amato object ('Bussottioperaballet' (1976))
 * Raragramma, for orchestra and violin and flute obbligato. (1980) I. Raragramma; II. L’enfant prodige; III. Paganini; IV. Calando symphony. Score: Ricordi. World premiere: 20 October 1979 (Fabbriciani, SWF Sinfonieorchester, Bour) second part of the cycle "Il catalogo e questo"; dedicated to Romano, Rocco and Luigi Pestalozza and Francesco Degrada
 * Modello, for violin and orchestra. (1998) World premiere: xx.04.2000 (Agazzini, ?, Tamayo) dedicated to S. Rocco

Novels and poems
Bussotti's writings included:
 * I miei teatri, Il Novecento edition, Palermo, 1982.
 * Letterati Ignoranti, poesie per musica, Quaderni di Barbablù, Siena, 1986.
 * Sylvano Bussotti, nudi ritratti e disegnini, sketches with poems by Romani Brizzi, Trucchi e Bussotti, Il polittico edition, Rome, 1991.
 * Non fare il minimo rumore, Girasole Edition, Ravenna, 1997.
 * Disordine alfabetico, Spirali Edition, Milan, 2002.
 * La calligrafia di un romanzo uno e due, novel in Peccati veniali, a cura di A. Veneziani, Coniglio editore, Rome, 2004.
 * L'acuto, in Angelo d'Edimburgo by Fabio Casadei Turroni, Le Mondine Edition, Molinella, 2006.
 * I Mozart vanno vanno, interludio in La notte delle dissonanze, by Sandro Cappelletto, EDT, Turin, 2007.

Discography
The path of more than fifty years of musical culture in Florence, since the end of the Second World War, is documented in these two audio CDs. This audio recording contains the meeting of composers and pianists who are the protagonists of the Music of Art in Florence, a significant phenomenon in the history of the second half of the twentieth century.
 * Suono, segno, gesto visione a Firenze (Sound, sign, gesture, vision in Florence)
 * (CD 1): Sylvano Bussotti, Giancarlo Cardini, Giuseppe Chiari, Daniele Lombardi
 * (CD 2): Pietro Grossi, Giuseppe Chiari, Giancarlo Cardini, Albert Mayr, Daniele Lombardi, Marcello Aitiani, Sergio Maltagliati (Atopos music 1999-2008).

Notes and references
Notes

References

title: Sylvano Bussotti


text:
BeauSoleil

BeauSoleil (French, beautiful sun) is a Cajun band from Louisiana, United States.

Band history
Founded in 1975, BeauSoleil (often billed as "BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet") released its first album in 1977 and became one of the most well-known bands performing traditional and original music rooted in the folk tunes of the Cajuns and Creoles of Louisiana. In early years they appeared at CODOFIL's annual "Tribute to Cajun Music" in Lafayette, Louisiana. They were part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1983.

BeauSoleil tours extensively in the U.S. and internationally. While its repertoire includes hundreds of traditional Cajun, Creole and zydeco songs, BeauSoleil has also pushed past constraints of purely traditional instrumentation, rhythm, and lyrics of Louisiana folk music, incorporating elements of rock and roll, jazz, blues, calypso, and other genres in original compositions and reworkings of traditional tunes. Lyrics on BeauSoleil recordings are sung in English or Cajun French (and sometimes both in one song).

According to the band's website, BeauSoleil's musicians "take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe." The band's name is a tribute to Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, an Acadian resistance leader who led many Acadians to Louisiana following their expulsion by the British.

BeauSoleil has appeared on soundtracks to films The Big Easy, Passion Fish and Belizaire the Cajun. The group plays at jazz and folk festivals and has appeared on numerous television shows, including CNN's Showbiz Today, Austin City Limits, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Emeril Live. BeauSoleil appeared regularly on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion radio show. Keillor has hailed the group as the "best Cajun band in the world". BeauSoleil has also performed in concert with Mary Chapin Carpenter and opened for the Grateful Dead. Carpenter featured them on her 1991 single "Down at the Twist and Shout", in which they are also mentioned by name.

Recognition
BeauSoleil is one of a few groups performing traditional Louisiana music to win a Grammy Award. L'Amour Ou La Folie (Love Or Folly), recorded in 1996 and released on Rhino Records, earned the 1997 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. In a review on Amazon.com, Richard Gehr wrote, "By now the sextet transcends the dancehall, possessing the ability to transform nearly any traditional Cajun, Creole, or French tune into high art while preserving a clear sonic bloodline back to its roots."

In 2005, BeauSoleil's Gitane Cajun, released on Vanguard Records, earned the group its tenth Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album. A reflection of its versatility is that BeauSoleil has also earned a Grammy nomination in the Contemporary Folk category, for the 1999 album Cajunization, with songs that effortlessly span Cajun, calypso, French ballad, blues and other musical styles.

In 2005, BeauSoleil won the Big Easy Entertainment Award for Best Cajun Band, the tenth time the band was honored in the 18-year history of the awards presented by the New Orleans music and entertainment publication Gambit Weekly.

In 2005, BeauSoleil founder Michael Doucet was one of 12 artists awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2008, BeauSoleil won another Grammy in the then newly created Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category for the album Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

BeauSoleil was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

The BeauSoleil Quartet was interviewed by Stephen Winick of the American Folklife Center to preserve their oral history on June 28, 2017.

Albums

 * 1976 La Nuit (Released only in France)
 * 1977 The Spirit of Cajun Music (Swallow)
 * 1984 Michael Doucet with BeauSoleil (Arhoolie)
 * 1984 Parlez-Nous a Boire (Arhoolie)
 * 1986 Allons a Lafayette (Arhoolie) with Canray Fontenot
 * 1986 Belizaire the Cajun (soundtrack) (Arhoolie)
 * 1987 Bayou Boogie (Rounder)
 * 1988 Hot Chili Mama (Arhoolie)
 * 1989 Bayou Cadillac (Rounder)
 * 1989 Zydeco Gris Gris (Swallow)
 * 1989 Live from the Left Coast (Rounder)
 * 1991 Cajun Conja (Rhino)
 * 1991 Déjá Vu (Swallow)
 * 1993 La Danse de la Vie (Forward)
 * 1994 Cajun & Creole Music (Music of the World)
 * 1994 L' Echo (Rhino/Forward)
 * 1995 Vintage Beausoleil (Music of the World)
 * 1997 L' Amour Ou la Folie (Rhino)
 * 1997 Arc de Triomphe Two-Step (Hemisphere) - recording of 1976
 * 2001 Looking Back Tomorrow: Beausoleil Live! (Rhino)
 * 2004 Gitane Cajun (Vanguard)
 * 2006 Live in Louisiana (Way Down in Louisiana)
 * 2008 Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival BeauSoleil & Michael Doucet (MunckMix)
 * 2009 Alligator Purse (Yep Roc)
 * 2013 From Bamako to Carencro (Compass)

Compilation albums

 * 1997 The Best of BeauSoleil (Arhoolie)
 * 1999 Cajunization (Rhino)
 * 2001 Best of Crawfish Years 1985 - 1991 (Rounder)
 * 2003 Their Swallow Years (Ace)
 * 2003 Encore, Encore!! The Best of BeauSoleil 1991 - 2001 (Rhino)

title: BeauSoleil


text:
Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (香港交易所, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it had 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is reported as the fastest growing stock exchange in Asia.

The stock exchange is owned (through its subsidiary Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited) by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), a holding company that it also lists (sehk: 388) and that in 2021 became the world's largest bourse operator in terms of market capitalization, surpassing Chicago-based CME. A 2021 poll reported that approximately 57% of Hong Kong adults had money invested in the stock market. The physical trading floor at Exchange Square was closed in October 2017.

History
The Hong Kong securities market can be traced back to 1866, but the stock market was formally set up in 1891, when the Association of Stockbrokers in Hong Kong was established. It was renamed as The Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1914.

By 1972, Hong Kong had four stock exchanges in operation. There were subsequent calls for the formation of a unified stock exchange. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited was incorporated in 1980 and trading on the exchange finally commenced on 2 April 1986. Since 1986, a number of major developments have taken place. The 1987 market crash revealed flaws in the market and led to calls for a complete reform of the Hong Kong securities industry. This led to significant regulatory changes and infrastructural developments. As a result, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) was set up in 1989 as the single statutory securities market regulator.

The market infrastructure was much improved with the introduction by the exchange of the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS) in June 1992 and the Automatic Order Matching and Execution System (AMS) in November 1993. Since then, the framework of market rules and regulations, both exchange-administered or otherwise, have been undergoing continuing review and revision to meet changing market needs while ensuring effective market regulation.

The Exchange Listing Rules have been made more comprehensive, and other existing regulations have been improved or new regulations introduced to enhance market development and investor protection. Enhancements were also made to the system infrastructure, including the launch of off-floor trading terminals in brokers' offices in January 1996. The third generation of the trading system, AMS/3, was launched in 2000. It provides enhanced functionality and a platform for a straight-through transaction process.

In respect of market and product development, there is the listing of the first derivative warrant in February 1988, the listing of the first China-incorporated enterprise (H share) in June 1993 (Tsingtao Brewery); and the introduction of regulated short selling in January 1994 and stock options in September 1995. Furthermore, the exchange introduced the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in November 1999 to provide fundraising opportunities for growth companies of all sizes from all industries, and to promote the development of technology industries in the region.

According to the reform plan announced in March 1999, the Exchange, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange and their clearinghouses merged into a new holding company, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.

Brief chronology

 * On 2 April 1986, a new trading hall opened. At that time, a total of 249 companies were listed on the Exchange, total market capitalisation was HK$245 billion.
 * 6 October 1986: Stock Exchange grand opening.
 * October 1987: The Stock Exchange is closed for four days in an attempt to stop losses during Black Monday global equities market crash
 * May 1988: The Ian Hay Davison Report, commissioned to investigate practices on the exchange in the lead-up to its closure, is released, resulting in significant market reforms - although many took years to finally implement
 * On 24 June 1992, the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS) is introduced
 * On 15 July 1993, in the Tsingtao Brewery became the first Chinese enterprise to list its H shares on the exchange.
 * On 1 November 1993, a new "Automatic Order Matching and Execution System", AMS/1, was introduced on the exchange; later, in January 1996, the second phase AMS/2 was introduced, becoming the basis of off-floor trading.
 * On 12 November 1999, the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong, created by government intervention during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, had its introduction on the exchange.
 * On 25 November 1999, two companies were jointly listed on the newly created Growth Enterprise Market (GEM).
 * On 6 March 2000, The Stock Exchange, Futures Exchange, and Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company all became wholly owned subsidiaries of HKEx, which was in turn listed on 27 June 2000.
 * On 23 October 2000, AMS/3 was implemented on the exchange.
 * On 27 October 2017, the floor trading lobby was closed due to the shift towards electronic trading. By 2014, the venue accounted for less than 1% of trade volume. The trading hall was renamed to Hong Kong Connect Hall and will be redeveloped as a museum, conference, and exhibition space to showcase Hong Kong's financial markets.
 * On 19 July 2023, the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)-Renminbi (RMB) Dual Counter Model was launched with both counters having the same rights, entitlement, status and par value if applicable. Investors are now able to trade their shares on the RMB counter using their offshore RMB. Shares are fully interchangeable between the 2 counters. The model was introduced to provide liquidity to the RMB counter and minimize discrepancies between the 2 counters.

source: HK Ex

Trading hours
The trading day consists of: The closing price is reported as the median of five price snapshots taken from 3:59 to 4:00 pm every 15 seconds. In May 2008, the exchange also implemented a closing auction session to run from 4:00 pm to 4:10 pm, with a similar pricing mechanism as the opening auction; however, this resulted in significant fluctuations in the closing prices of stocks and suspicions of market manipulation. Initially, the exchange proposed limiting price fluctuations in the auction sessions to 2%; in the end, they removed the closing session entirely in March 2009.
 * A pre-opening auction session from 9:00 am to 9:30 am. The opening price of a security is reported shortly after 9:20 am.
 * A morning continuous trading session from 09:30 am to 12:00 pm.
 * An extended morning session from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm, also referred to as the lunch break. Continuous trading proceeds in specifically designated securities (currently two ETFs, 4362 and 4363). Trading in other securities is not possible. However, previously placed orders in any securities can be cancelled from 1:00 pm onwards.
 * An afternoon continuous trading session from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Up until 2011, trading hours comprised a pre-opening auction from 9:30 am to 9:50 am, followed by continuous trading from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. The two-hour lunch break between the morning and afternoon sessions was the longest among the world's 20 major stock exchanges. A 2003 proposal to shorten the lunch break failed due to opposition from brokers. Another plan to shorten the lunch break to one hour was floated by the exchange in 2010; the morning session would then start earlier, run from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm, and the afternoon session from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, leaving the closing time the same as before. Justifications included bringing hours into line with China. Reactions from both brokers and the restaurant industry were mixed.

On 7 March 2011, the exchange extended its hours in the first of two phases. The morning session now ran from 9:30 am to 12:00 noon, followed by a ninety-minute lunch break, and an afternoon session from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Index futures and options now began trading at 9:15 am, thirty minutes earlier than before, and closed at the same time as before, 4:15 pm. On 5 March 2012, the lunch break was cut to sixty minutes, with the afternoon session running from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Electronic trading
The exchange first introduced a computer-assisted trading system on 2 April 1986. In 1993 the exchange launched the "Automatic Order Matching and Execution System" (AMS), which was replaced by the third generation system (AMS/3) in October 2000.

Regulatory role
David Webb, independent non-executive director of the Exchange since 2003, has been arguing for a super regulatory authority to assume that role as regulator, as there is an inherent conflict between its commercial and regulatory roles. In the meantime, he argues for improved investor representation on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In 2007, the uproar by smaller local stockbrokers over the decision by board of directors to cut minimum trading spreads for equities and warrants trading at between 25 HK cents and HK$2 caused the new board to vote to reverse the decision. The reforms were to be implemented in the first quarter, but was put back on the table following protests by brokers. Webb criticised the board for caving in to vested interests.

Twenty largest stocks by market capitalisation
Source: HKEX, in billions of Hong Kong dollars, Data updated on 14 February 2018

 * 1) Tencent Holdings: $4,118.93
 * 2) Industrial and Commercial Bank of China: $2,877.98
 * 3) China Construction Bank: $2,167.39
 * 4) Bank of China: $1,803.12
 * 5) PetroChina: $1,715.53
 * 6) Agricultural Bank of China: $1,641.43
 * 7) HSBC Holdings: $1,629.79
 * 8) Ping An Insurance: $1,547.81
 * 9) China Mobile: $1,509.04
 * 10) China Merchants Bank: $991.75
 * 11) Bank of Communications: $985.55
 * 12) China Life Insurance Company: $844.57
 * 13) Postal Savings Bank of China: $676.41
 * 14) China National Offshore Oil Corporation: $492.91
 * 15) China Minsheng Bank: $420.11
 * 16) BOC Hong Kong (Holdings): $412.34
 * 17) China Pacific Insurance Company: $404.37
 * 18) CK Hutchison Holdings: $377.47
 * 19) CITIC Bank International: $367.82

title: Hong Kong Stock Exchange


text:
Independent film

An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in some cases, distributed by major companies). Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and how the filmmakers' artistic vision is realized. Sometimes, independent films are made with considerably lower budgets than major studio films.

It is not unusual for well-known actors who are cast in independent features to take substantial pay cuts for a variety of reasons: if they truly believe in the message of the film, they feel indebted to a filmmaker for a career break; their career is otherwise stalled, or they feel unable to manage a more significant commitment to a studio film; the film offers an opportunity to showcase a talent that has not gained traction in the studio system; or simply because they want to work with a particular director that they admire. Many examples of the latter include John Travolta and Bruce Willis taking less pay to work with Quentin Tarantino on Pulp Fiction.

Generally, the marketing of independent films is characterized by limited release, often at independent movie theaters, but they can also have major marketing campaigns and a wide release. Independent films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals before distribution (theatrical or retail release). An independent film production can rival a mainstream film production if it has the necessary funding and distribution.

Edison Trust
In 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company or "Edison Trust" was formed as a trust. The Trust was a cartel that held a monopoly on film production and distribution comprising all the major film companies of the time (Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Essanay, Selig, Lubin, Kalem, American Star, American Pathé), the leading distributor (George Kleine) and the biggest supplier of raw film, Eastman Kodak. A number of filmmakers declined or were refused membership to the trust and came to be described as "independent".

At the time of the formation of the MPPC, Thomas Edison owned most of the major patents relating to motion pictures, including that for raw film. The MPPC vigorously enforced its patents, constantly bringing suits and receiving injunctions against independent filmmakers. Because of this, a number of filmmakers responded by building their own cameras and moving their operations to Hollywood, California, where the distance from Edison's home base of New Jersey made it more difficult for the MPPC to enforce its patents.

The Edison Trust was soon ended by two decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States: one in 1912, which canceled the patent on raw film, and a second in 1915, which cancelled all MPPC patents. Though these decisions succeeded at legalizing independent film, they would do little to remedy the de facto ban on small productions; the independent filmmakers who had fled to Southern California during the enforcement of the trust had already laid the groundwork for the studio system of classical Hollywood cinema.

Studio system
In early 1910, director D.W. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troupe, consisting of performers Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and others. They began filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood, a little village that was friendly and positive about the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood, In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about California in the 1800s, while it belonged to Mexico. Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York.

During the Edison era of the early 1900s, many Jewish immigrants had found jobs in the U.S. film industry. Under the Edison Trust, they were able to make their mark in a brand-new business: the exhibition of films in storefront theaters called nickelodeons. Within a few years, ambitious men like Samuel Goldwyn, Carl Laemmle, Adolph Zukor, Louis B. Mayer, and the Warner Brothers (Harry, Albert, Samuel, and Jack) had switched to the production side of the business. After hearing about Biograph's success in Hollywood, in 1913 many such would-be movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Edison. Soon they were the heads of a new kind of enterprise: the movie studio.

By establishing a new system of production, distribution, and exhibition which was independent of The Edison Trust in New York, these studios opened up new horizons for cinema in the United States. The Hollywood oligopoly replaced the Edison monopoly. Within this new system, a pecking order was soon established which left little room for any newcomers. By the mid-1930s, at the top were the five major studios, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures, and Warner Bros. Then came three smaller companies, Columbia Pictures, United Artists, and Universal Studios. Finally there was "Poverty Row", a catch-all term used to encompass any other smaller studio that managed to fight their way up into the increasingly exclusive movie business.

While the small studios that made up Poverty Row could be characterized as existing "independently" of any major studio, they utilized the same kind of vertically and horizontally integrated systems of business as the larger players in the game. Though the eventual breakup of the studio system and its restrictive chain-theater distribution network would leave independent movie houses eager for the kind of populist, seat-filling product of the Poverty Row studios, that same paradigm shift would also lead to the decline and ultimate disappearance of "Poverty Row" as a Hollywood phenomenon. While the kinds of films produced by Poverty Row studios only grew in popularity, they would eventually become increasingly available both from major production companies and from independent producers who no longer needed to rely on a studio's ability to package and release their work.

This table lists the companies active in late 1935 illustrates the categories commonly used to characterize the Hollywood system.

Lincoln Motion Picture Company, United Artists and resistance to the studio system
The studio system quickly became so powerful that some filmmakers once again sought independence. On May 24, 1916, the Lincoln Motion Picture Company was formed, the first movie studio owned and controlled by independent filmmakers. In 1919, four of the leading figures in American silent cinema (Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith) formed United Artists. Each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier as they were traveling around the U.S. selling Liberty bonds to help the World War I effort. Already veterans of Hollywood, the four film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. They were spurred on by the actions of established Hollywood producers and distributors, who were making moves to tighten their control over their stars' salaries and creative license. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before things had formalized. When he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, "The inmates are taking over the asylum."

The four partners, with advice from McAdoo (son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson), formed their distribution company, with Hiram Abrams as its first managing director. The original terms called for Pickford, Fairbanks, Griffith, and Chaplin to independently produce five pictures each year, but by the time the company got underway in 1920–1921, feature films were becoming more expensive and more polished, and running times had settled at around ninety minutes (or eight reels). It was believed that no one, no matter how popular, could produce and star in five quality feature films a year. By 1924, Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis: either bring in others to help support a costly distribution system or concede defeat. The veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. Not only had he been producing pictures for a decade, but he brought along commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge, his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge, and his brother-in-law, Buster Keaton. Contracts were signed with a number of independent producers, especially Samuel Goldwyn, Howard Hughes and later Alexander Korda. Schenck also formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name.

Still, even with a broadening of the company, UA struggled. The coming of sound ended the careers of Pickford and Fairbanks. Chaplin, rich enough to do what he pleased, worked only occasionally. Schenck resigned in 1933 to organize a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck, Twentieth Century Pictures, which soon provided four pictures a year to UA's schedule. He was replaced as president by sales manager Al Lichtman who himself resigned after only a few months. Pickford produced a few films, and at various times Goldwyn, Korda, Walt Disney, Walter Wanger, and David O. Selznick were made "producing partners" (i.e., sharing in the profits), but ownership still rested with the founders. As the years passed and the dynamics of the business changed, these "producing partners" drifted away. Goldwyn and Disney left for RKO, Wanger for Universal Pictures, Selznick and Korda for retirement. By the late 1940s, United Artists had virtually ceased to exist as either a producer or distributor.

Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers
In 1941, Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Walt Disney, Orson Welles, Samuel Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, Alexander Korda, and Walter Wanger—many of the same people who were members of United Artists—founded the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. Later members included William Cagney, Sol Lesser, and Hal Roach. The Society aimed to preserve the rights of independent producers in an industry overwhelmingly controlled by the studio system. SIMPP fought to end monopolistic practices by the five major Hollywood studios which controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of films. In 1942, the SIMPP filed an antitrust suit against Paramount's United Detroit Theatres. The complaint accused Paramount of conspiracy to control first-run and subsequent-run theaters in Detroit. It was the first antitrust suit brought by producers against exhibitors alleging monopoly and restraint of trade. In 1948, the United States Supreme Court Paramount Decision ordered the Hollywood movie studios to sell their theater chains and to eliminate certain anti-competitive practices. This effectively brought an end to the studio system of Hollywood's Golden Age. By 1958, many of the reasons for creating the SIMPP had been corrected and SIMPP closed its offices.

Low-budget films
The efforts of the SIMPP and the advent of inexpensive portable cameras during World War II effectively made it possible for any person in America with an interest in making films to write, produce, and direct one without the aid of any major film studio. These circumstances soon resulted in a number of critically acclaimed and highly influential works, including Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon in 1943, Kenneth Anger's Fireworks in 1947, and Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin and Ray Abrashkin's Little Fugitive in 1953. Filmmakers such as Ken Jacobs with little or no formal training began to experiment with new ways of making and shooting films.

Little Fugitive became the first independent film to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the American Academy Awards. It also received Silver Lion at Venice. Both Engel and Anger's films won acclaim overseas from the burgeoning French New Wave, with Fireworks inspiring praise and an invitation to study under him in Europe from Jean Cocteau, and François Truffaut citing Little Fugitive as an essential inspiration to his seminal work, The 400 Blows. As the 1950s progressed, the new low-budget paradigm of filmmaking gained increased recognition internationally, with films such as Satyajit Ray's critically acclaimed  Apu Trilogy (1955–1959).

Unlike the films made within the studio system, these new low-budget films could afford to take risks and explore new artistic territory outside the classical Hollywood narrative. Maya Deren was soon joined in New York by a crowd of like-minded avant-garde filmmakers who were interested in creating films as works of art rather than entertainment. Based upon a common belief that the "official cinema" was "running out of breath" and had become "morally corrupt, aesthetically obsolete, thematically superficial, [and] temperamentally boring", this new crop of independents formed The Film-Makers' Cooperative, an artist-run, non-profit organization which they would use to distribute their films through a centralized archive. Founded in 1962 by Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, Shirley Clarke, Gregory Markopoulos, and others, the Cooperative provided an important outlet for many of cinema's creative luminaries in the 1960s, including Jack Smith and Andy Warhol. When he returned to America, Ken Anger would debut many of his most important works there. Mekas and Brakhage would go on to found the Anthology Film Archives in 1970, which would likewise prove essential to the development and preservation of independent films, even to this day.

Exploitation boom and the MPAA rating system
Not all low-budget films existed as non-commercial art ventures. The success of films like Little Fugitive, which had been made with low (or sometimes non-existent) budgets encouraged a huge boom in popularity for non-studio films. Low-budget film making promised exponentially greater returns (in terms of percentages) if the film could have a successful run in the theaters. During this time, independent producer/director Roger Corman began a sweeping body of work that would become legendary for its frugality and grueling shooting schedule. Until his so-called "retirement" as a director in 1971 (he continued to produce films even after this date) he would produce up to seven movies a year, matching and often exceeding the five-per-year schedule that the executives at United Artists had once thought impossible.

Like those of the avant-garde, the films of Roger Corman took advantage of the fact that unlike the studio system, independent films had never been bound by its self-imposed production code. Corman's example (and that of others like him) would help start a boom in independent B-movies in the 1960s, the principal aim of which was to bring in the youth market which the major studios had lost touch with. By promising sex, wanton violence, drug use, and nudity, these films hoped to draw audiences to independent theaters by offering to show them what the major studios could not. Horror and science fiction films experienced a period of tremendous growth during this time. As these tiny producers, theaters, and distributors continued to attempt to undercut one another, the B-grade shlock film soon fell to the level of the Z movie, a niche category of films with production values so low that they became a spectacle in their own right. The cult audiences these pictures attracted soon made them ideal candidates for midnight movie screenings revolving around audience participation and cosplay.

In 1968, a young filmmaker named George A. Romero shocked audiences with Night of the Living Dead, a new kind of intense and unforgiving independent horror film. This film was released just after the abandonment of the production code, but before the adoption of the MPAA rating system. As such, it was the first and last film of its kind to enjoy a completely unrestricted screening, in which young children were able to witness Romero's new brand of highly realistic gore. This film would help to set the climate of independent horror for decades to come, as films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) continued to push the envelope.

With the production code abandoned and violent and disturbing films like Romero's gaining popularity, Hollywood opted to placate the uneasy filmgoing public with the MPAA ratings system, which would place restrictions on ticket sales to young people. Unlike the production code, this rating system posed a threat to independent films in that it would affect the number of tickets they could sell and cut into the grindhouse cinema's share of the youth market. This change would further widen the divide between commercial and non-commercial films.

However, having a film audience-classified is strictly voluntary for independents and there's no legal impediment to releasing movies on an unrated basis. However, unrated movies face obstacles in marketing because media outlets such as TV channels, newspapers and websites often place their own restrictions on movies that do not come with a built-in national rating in order to avoid presenting movies to inappropriately young audiences.

New Hollywood and independent filmmaking
Following the advent of television and the Paramount Case, the major studios attempted to lure audiences with spectacle. Widescreen processes and technical improvements, such as Cinemascope, stereo sound, 3-D and others, were developed in an attempt to retain the dwindling audience by giving them a larger-than-life experience. The 1950s and early 1960s saw a Hollywood dominated by musicals, historical epics, and other films which benefited from these advances. This proved commercially viable during most of the 1950s. However, by the late 1960s, audience share was dwindling at an alarming rate. Several costly flops, including Cleopatra (1963) and Hello, Dolly! (1969) put severe strain on the studios. Meanwhile, in 1951, lawyers-turned-producers Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin had made a deal with the remaining stockholders of United Artists which would allow them to make an attempt to revive the company and, if the attempt was successful, buy it after five years.

The attempt was a success, and in 1955 United Artists became the first "studio" without an actual studio. UA leased space at the Pickford/Fairbanks Studio, but did not own a studio lot as such. Because of this, many of their films would be shot on location. Primarily acting as bankers, they offered money to independent producers. Thus UA did not have the overhead, the maintenance or the expensive production staff which ran up costs at other studios. UA went public in 1956, and as the other mainstream studios fell into decline, UA prospered, adding relationships with the Mirisch brothers, Billy Wilder, Joseph E. Levine and others.

By the late 1950s, RKO had ceased film production, and the remaining four of the big five had recognized that they did not know how to reach the youth audience. In an attempt to capture this audience, the Studios hired a host of young filmmakers (many of whom were mentored by Roger Corman) and allowed them to make their films with relatively little studio control. Warner Brothers offered first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the gross on his film Bonnie and Clyde (1967) instead of a minimal fee. The movie had grossed over $70 million worldwide by 1973. These initial successes paved the way for the studio to relinquish almost complete control to the film school generation and began what the media dubbed "New Hollywood."

Dennis Hopper, the American actor, made his writing and directing debut with Easy Rider (1969). Along with his producer/co-star/co-writer Peter Fonda, Hopper was responsible for one of the first completely independent films of New Hollywood. Easy Rider debuted at Cannes and garnered the "First Film Award" (Prix de la premiere oeuvre) after which it received two Oscar nominations, one for best original screenplay and one for Corman-alum Jack Nicholson's breakthrough performance in the supporting role of George Hanson, an alcoholic lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. Following on the heels of Easy Rider shortly afterward was the revived United Artists' Midnight Cowboy (also 1969), which, like Easy Rider, took numerous cues from Kenneth Anger and his influences in the French New Wave. It became the first and only X rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture. Midnight Cowboy also held the distinction of featuring cameo roles by many of the top Warhol superstars, who had already become symbols of the militantly anti-Hollywood climate of NYC's independent film community.

Within a month, another young Corman trainee, Francis Ford Coppola, made his debut in Spain at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival with The Rain People (1969), a film he had produced through his own company, American Zoetrope. Though The Rain People was largely overlooked by American audiences, Zoetrope would become a powerful force in New Hollywood. Through Zoetrope, Coppola formed a distribution agreement with studio giant Warner Bros., which he would exploit to achieve wide releases for his films without making himself subject to their control. These three films provided the major Hollywood studios with both an example to follow and a new crop of talent to draw from. Zoetrope co-founder George Lucas made his feature film debut with THX 1138 (1971), also released by Zoetrope through their deal with Warner Bros., announcing himself as another major talent of New Hollywood. By the following year, two New Hollywood directors had become sufficiently established for Coppola to be offered oversight of Paramount's The Godfather (1972) and Lucas had obtained studio funding for American Graffiti (1973) from Universal. In the mid-1970s, the major Hollywood studios continued to tap these new filmmakers for both ideas and personnel, producing films such as Paper Moon (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), all of which met with critical and commercial success. These successes by the members of New Hollywood led each of them, in turn, to make more and more extravagant demands, both on the studio and eventually on the audience.

While most members of the New Hollywood generation were, or started out as, independent filmmakers, a number of their projects were produced and released by major studios. The New Hollywood generation soon became firmly entrenched in a revived incarnation of the studio system, which financed the development, production and distribution of their films. Very few of these filmmakers ever independently financed or independently released a film of their own, or ever worked on an independently financed production during the height of the generation's influence. Seemingly independent films such as Taxi Driver, The Last Picture Show and others were studio films: the scripts were based on studio pitches and subsequently paid for by the studios, the production financing was from the studio, and the marketing and distribution of the films were designed and controlled by the studio's advertising agency. Though Coppola made considerable efforts to resist the influence of the studios, opting to finance his risky 1979 film Apocalypse Now himself rather than compromise with skeptical studio executives, he, and filmmakers like him, had saved the old studios from financial ruin by providing them with a new formula for success.

Indeed, it was during this period that the very definition of an independent film became blurred. Though Midnight Cowboy was financed by United Artists, the company was certainly a studio. Likewise, Zoetrope was another "independent studio" which worked within the system to make a space for independent directors who needed funding. George Lucas would leave Zoetrope in 1971 to create his own independent studio, Lucasfilm, which would produce the blockbuster Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. In fact, the only two movies of the movement which can be described as uncompromisingly independent are Easy Rider at the beginning, and Peter Bogdanovich's They All Laughed, at the end. Peter Bogdanovich bought back the rights from the studio to his 1980 film and paid for its distribution out of his own pocket, convinced that the picture was better than what the studio believed — he eventually went bankrupt because of this.

In retrospect, it can be seen that Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) marked the beginning of the end for the New Hollywood. With their unprecedented box-office successes, these movies jump-started Hollywood's blockbuster mentality, giving studios a new paradigm as to how to make money in this changing commercial landscape. The focus on high-concept premises, with greater concentration on tie-in merchandise (such as toys), spin-offs into other media (such as soundtracks), and the use of sequels (which had been made more respectable by Coppola's The Godfather Part II), all showed the studios how to make money in the new environment.

On realizing how much money could potentially be made in films, major corporations started buying up the remaining Hollywood studios, saving them from the oblivion which befell RKO in the 50s. Eventually, even RKO was revived, the corporate mentality these companies brought to the filmmaking business would slowly squeeze out the more idiosyncratic of these young filmmakers, while ensconcing the more malleable and commercially successful of them.

Film critic Manohla Dargis described this era as the "halcyon age" of the decade's filmmaking that "was less revolution than business as usual, with rebel hype". She also pointed out in her New York Times article that enthusiasts insisted this era was "when American movies grew up (or at least starred underdressed actresses); when directors did what they wanted (or at least were transformed into brands); when creativity ruled (or at least ran gloriously amok, albeit often on the studio's dime)."

Outside Hollywood
During the 1970s, shifts in thematic depictions of sexuality and violence occurred in American cinema, prominently featuring heightened depictions of realistic sex and violence. Directors who wished to reach mainstream audiences of Old Hollywood quickly learned to stylize these themes to make their films appealing and attractive rather than repulsive or obscene. However, at the same time that the maverick film students of the American New Wave were developing the skills they would use to take over Hollywood, many of their peers had begun to develop their style of filmmaking in a different direction. Influenced by foreign and art house directors such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini, exploitation shockers (i.e. Joseph P. Mawra, Michael Findlay, and Henri Pachard) and avant-garde cinema, (Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren and Bruce Conner ) a number of young film makers began to experiment with transgression not as a box-office draw, but as an artistic act. Directors such as John Waters and David Lynch would make a name for themselves by the early 1970s for the bizarre and often disturbing imagery which characterized their films.

When Lynch's first feature film, Eraserhead (1977), brought Lynch to the attention of producer Mel Brooks, he soon found himself in charge of the $5 million film The Elephant Man (1980) for Paramount. Though Eraserhead was strictly an out-of-pocket, low-budget, independent film, Lynch made the transition with unprecedented grace. The film was a huge commercial success, and earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods for Lynch. It also established his place as a commercially viable, if somewhat dark and unconventional, Hollywood director. Seeing Lynch as a fellow studio convert, George Lucas, a fan of Eraserhead and now the darling of the studios, offered Lynch the opportunity to direct his next Star Wars sequel, Return of the Jedi (1983). However, Lynch had seen what had happened to Lucas and his comrades in arms after their failed attempt to do away with the studio system. He refused the opportunity, stating that he would rather work on his own projects.

Lynch instead chose to direct a big budget adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune for Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis's De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, on the condition that the company release a second Lynch project, over which the director would have complete creative control. Although De Laurentiis hoped it would be the next Star Wars, Lynch's Dune (1984) was a critical and commercial flop, grossing a mere $27.4 million domestically against a $45 million budget. De Laurentiis, furious that the film had been a commercial disaster, was then forced to produce any film Lynch desired. He offered Lynch only $6 million in order to minimize the risk if the film had failed to recoup its costs; however, the film, Blue Velvet (1986), was a resounding success, earning him another Academy Award for Best Director nod. Lynch subsequently returned to independent filmmaking, and did not work with another major studio for over a decade.

Unlike the former, John Waters released most of his films during his early life through his own production company, Dreamland Productions. In the early 1980s, New Line Cinema agreed to work with him on Polyester (1981). During the 1980s, Waters would become a pillar of the New York–based independent film movement known as the "Cinema of Transgression", a term coined by Nick Zedd in 1985 to describe a loose-knit group of like-minded New York artists using shock value and humor in their Super 8 mm films and video art. Other key players in this movement included Kembra Pfahler, Casandra Stark, Beth B, Tommy Turner, Richard Kern and Lydia Lunch. Rallying around such institutions as the Film-Makers' Cooperative and Anthology Film Archives, this new generation of independents devoted themselves to the defiance of the now-establishment New Hollywood, proposing that "all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again."

Independent Cinema movement
In 1978, Sterling Van Wagenen and Charles Gary Allison, with Chairperson Robert Redford, (veteran of New Hollywood and star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) founded the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah and showcase what the potential of independent film could be. At the time, the main focus of the event was to present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions; however it also included a small program of new independent films. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood Gale Dunn, Katherine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr., Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert. In 1981, the same year that United Artists, bought out by MGM after the financial failure of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980), ceased to exist as a venue for independent filmmakers, Sterling Van Wagenen left the film festival to help found the Sundance Institute with Robert Redford. In 1985, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival, which was experiencing financial difficulties. Gary Beer and Sterling Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural Sundance Film Festival which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby.

In 1991, the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redford's famous role as The Sundance Kid. Through this festival the Independent Cinema movement was launched. Such notable figures as Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, James Wan, Hal Hartley, Joel and Ethan Coen and Jim Jarmusch garnered resounding critical acclaim and unprecedented box office sales. The significance of the Sundance Film Festival is documented in the work of Professor Emanuel Levy Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film, (NYU Press, 1999; 2001).

In 2005, about 15% of the U.S. domestic box office revenue was from independent studios.

Co-optation
The 1990s saw the rise and success of independent films not only through the film festival circuit but at the box office as well while established actors, such as Bruce Willis, John Travolta, and Tim Robbins, found success themselves both in independent films and Hollywood studio films. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 from New Line Cinema grossed over $100 million in the United States making it the most successful indie film in box-office history to that point. Miramax Films had a string of hits with Sex, Lies, and Videotape, My Left Foot, and Clerks, putting Miramax and New Line Cinema in the sights of big companies looking to cash in on the success of independent studios. In 1993, Disney bought Miramax for $60 million. Turner Broadcasting, in a billion-dollar deal, acquired New Line Cinema, Fine Line Features, and Castle Rock Entertainment in 1994. The acquisitions proved to be a good move for Turner Broadcasting as New Line released The Mask and Dumb & Dumber, Castle Rock released The Shawshank Redemption, and Miramax released Pulp Fiction, all in 1994.

The acquisitions of the smaller studios by conglomerate Hollywood was a plan in part to take over the independent film industry and at the same time start "independent" studios of their own. The following are all "indie" studios owned by conglomerate Hollywood:
 * Sony Pictures Classics (1992–present)
 * Searchlight Pictures (1994–present)
 * Paramount Vantage (1998–2013)
 * Miramax (1979–present)
 * Focus Features (2002–present)
 * Warner Independent Pictures (2003–2008)
 * Castle Rock Entertainment (1987–present)
 * Marvel Studios (1993–present)

By the early 2000s, Hollywood was producing three different classes of films: 1) big-budget blockbusters, 2) art films, specialty films and niche-market films produced by the conglomerate-owned "indies" and 3) genre and specialty films coming from true indie studios and producers. The third category comprised over half the features released in the United States and usually cost between $5 and $10 million to produce.

Hollywood was producing these three different classes of feature films by means of three different types of producers. The superior products were the large, budget blockbusters and high-cost star vehicles marketed by the six major studio producer-distributors. Budgets on the major studios' pictures averaged $100 million, with approximately one-third of it spent on marketing because of the large release campaigns. Another class of Hollywood feature film included art films, specialty films, and other niche-market fare controlled by the conglomerates' indie subsidiaries. Budgets on these indie films averaged $40 million per release in the early 2000s, with $10 million to $15 million spent on marketing (MPA, 2006:12). The final class of film consisted of genre and specialty films whose release campaigns were administered by independent producer-distributors with only a few dozen or possibly a few hundred screens in select urban markets. Films like these usually cost less than $10 million, but frequently less than $5 million, with small marketing budgets that escalate if and when a particular film performs.

Internationally
The independent film industry exists globally. Many of the most prestigious film festivals are hosted in various cities around the world. The Berlin International Film Festival attracts over 130 countries, making it the largest film festival in the world. Other large events include the Toronto International Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Panafrican Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou.

The European Union, specifically through the European Cinema and VOD Initiative (ECVI), has established programs that attempt to adapt the film industry to an increasing digital demand for film on video on demand services, outside of theatrical screenings. With this program, VOD offerings are paired with traditional movie screenings. There is also more of a push from EU National governments to fund all aspects of the arts, including film. The European Commission for Culture has an Audiovisual sector, for example, whose role is most notably to help distribute and promote films and festivals across Europe. Additionally, the Commission organizes policymaking, research, and reporting on "media literacy" and "digital distribution."

Technology and democratization
As with other media, the availability of new technologies has fueled the democratization of filmmaking and the growth of independent film. In the late forties and fifties, new inexpensive portable cameras made it easier for independent filmmakers to produce content without studio backing. The emergence of camcorders in the eighties broadened the pool of filmmakers experimenting with the newly available technology. More recently, the switch from film to digital cameras, inexpensive non-linear editing and the move to distribution via the internet have led to more people being able to make and exhibit movies of their own, including young people and individuals from marginalized communities. These people may have little to no formal technical or academic training, but instead are autodidactic filmmakers, using online sources to learn the craft. Aspiring filmmakers can range from those simply with access to a smartphone or digital camera, to those who write "spec" scripts (to pitch to studios), actively network, and use crowdsourcing and other financing to get their films professionally produced. Oftentimes, aspiring filmmakers have other day-jobs to support themselves financially while they pitch their scripts and ideas to independent film production companies, talent agents, and wealthy investors. This recent technology-fueled renaissance has helped fuel other supporting industries such as the "prosumer" camera segment and film schools for those who are less autodidactic. Film programs in universities such as NYU in New York and USC in Los Angeles have benefited from this transitional growth.

Crowdsourced funding
The economic side of filmmaking is also less of an obstacle than before, because the backing of a major studio is no longer needed to access necessary movie funding. Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter, Pozible, and Tubestart have helped people raise thousands of dollars; enough to fund their own, low-budget productions. As a result of the falling cost of technology to make, edit and digitally distribute films, filmmaking is more widely accessible than ever before.

Full-length films are often showcased at film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, South by Southwest Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Palm Springs Film Festival. Award winners from these exhibitions are more likely to get picked up for distribution by major film distributors. Film festivals and screenings like these are just one of the options in which movies can be independently produced/released.

Analog to digital
The development of independent film in the 1990s and 21st century has been stimulated by a range of technical innovations, including the development of affordable digital cinematography cameras that can exceed the quality of film and easy-to-use computer editing software. Until digital alternatives became available, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was a major obstacle to independent filmmakers who wanted to make their own films. Successful films such as The Blair Witch Project (which grossed over US$248.6 million while only spending US$60,000) have emerged from this new accessibility to filmmaking tools. In 2002, the cost of 35 mm film stock went up 23%, according to Variety. The advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of digital video in the early 1990s, lowered the technology barrier to movie production. The personal computer and non-linear editing system have taken away the use of editing stands such as the KEM, dramatically reducing the costs of post-production, while technologies such as DVD, Blu-ray Disc and online video services have simplified distribution; video streaming services have made it possible to distribute a digital version of a film to an entire country or even the world, without involving shipping or warehousing of physical DVDs or film reels. 3-D technology is available to low-budget, independent filmmakers. By the second decade of the 21st century high-quality cellphone cameras allowed people to make, edit and distribute films on a single inexpensive device.

One of the examples of such a new indie approach to filmmaking is the 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary film Genghis Blues that was shot by the Belic brothers on two Hi8 consumer camcorders and won that year's Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary. At the time, distribution was still film-based so the movie had to be "filmed out" from interlaced digital video format to film running at traditional 24-frame per second rate, so interlacing artefacts are noticeable at times. In 2004 Panasonic released the DVX100 camcorder, which featured film-like 24-frame per second shooting rate. This gave independent filmmakers the ability to shoot video at a frame rate considered standard for movies at the time and opened the possibility of clean digital frame to film frame conversion. Several acclaimed films were made with this camera, for example Iraq in Fragments. More recent devices allow "filming" at very high frame rates to facilitate distribution into a number of frame rates without artifacts.

Even though new cinema cameras such as the Arri Alexa, RED Epic, and the many new DSLRs cost thousands of dollars to purchase, independent films are still cheaper than ever, creating footage that looks like 35 mm film without the same high cost. These cameras also perform better than traditional film because of its ability to perform in extremely dark/low light situations relative to film. In 2008 Nikon released the first DSLR camera that could also shoot video, the Nikon D90. With the sensor larger than on a traditional camcorder, these DSLRs allow for a greater control over depth of field, great low-light capabilities, and a large variety of exchangeable lenses, including lenses from old film cameras – things which independent filmmakers have been longing for years. With the creation of new, light-weight and accessible cinema cameras, documentaries have also benefitted greatly. It was previously impossible to capture the extreme wild of mother nature because of the lack of maneuverability with film cameras; however, with the creation of DSLRs, documentary filmmakers were able to reach hard-to-get places in order to capture what they couldn't have with film cameras. Cameras have even been attached to animals to allow them to help film never-before-seen scenes.

New technologies have also allowed the development of new cinematic techniques originating in independent films, such as the development of the zoom lens in the early 20th century. The use of the (controversial) hand-held shot made popular in the groundbreaking The Blair Witch Project also led to an entirely new subgenre: the found-footage film.

Independent filmmaking has also benefited from the new editing software. Instead of needing a post-house to do the editing, independent film makers use a personal computer or even just a cellphone with editing software to edit their films. Editing software available include Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, (Color Grading Software) DaVinci Resolve, and many more. There are also many free tutorials and courses available online to teach different post production skills needed to use these programs. These new technologies allow independent film makers to create films that are comparable to high-budget films. Computer-generated imaging (CGI) has also become more accessible, transitioning from a highly specialized process done by post-production companies into a task that can be performed by independent artists.

Francis Ford Coppola, long an advocate of new technologies like non-linear editing and digital cameras, said in 2007 that "cinema is escaping being controlled by the financier, and that's a wonderful thing. You don't have to go hat-in-hand to some film distributor and say, 'Please will you let me make a movie?'"

Camera phone filmmaking
Nowadays, high pixel Camera phones are widely using also for mainstream film cinematography. New Love Meetings, a documentary film shot on Nokia N90, directed by Barbara Seghezzi and Marcello Mencarini in 2005 from Italy, Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan, a docufiction film shot on Samsung, directed by Cyrus Frisch in 2007 from Netherlands, SMS Sugar Man, a narrative film shot on Sony Ericsson W900i, directed by Aryan Kaganof in 2008 from South Africa, Veenavaadanam a documentary film shot on Nokia N70, directed by Sathish Kalathil in 2008 from India, Jalachhayam a narrative film shot on Nokia N95, directed by Sathish Kalathil in 2010 from India are the first noted experimental works with the first generation Camera phones.

Hooked Up, To Jennifer, Tangerine, 9 Rides, Unsane, High Flying Bird, Ghost, Pondicherry I WeirDo, Banger are some examples shot on iPhones.

title: Independent film


text:
Greco Pizza Restaurant

Greco Pizza Restaurant is a franchise restaurant chain consisting of over 100 outlets in Eastern Canada. The restaurants also deliver pizza. Greco bills itself as the largest pizza chain in Atlantic Canada.

History
The first Greco Pizza restaurant opened in 1977 in Moncton, New Brunswick, as Greco Donair...and Pizza. In 1981, the franchise rights were sold to Grinner's Food Systems Ltd. of Truro, Nova Scotia.

Many Greco locations in rural areas are known as "Greco Express" outlets; they are typically associated with a motel, convenience store, or other existing establishment. In some locations, the Greco franchise is associated with a Captain Submarine franchise, another of Grinner's properties.

Marketing
Since 1995, Greco has marketed itself using the telephone number 310-30-30 with an associated jingle. From 1995 to the early 2000s, this number was pronounced in the official jingle as "three one oh, three oh, three oh". In the early 2000s, this was changed to "three ten, thirty thirty".

title: Greco Pizza Restaurant