They strut, but don?t crave attention. They?re intelligent and intimidating, protective and powerful. And they have the whole film world watching them closely.

MANILA, Philippines?The connotation of the word ?independent? has changed a lot over the years, but one thing?s for certain?the term?s gotten a lot more flexible. The traditional notion of an independent film?a low-budget to no-budget arthouse flick with ramshackle distribution?is seriously out of date. Independent films can cost millions; they can be produced with the blessing of studios, and their traditional no-name casts may have all but been replaced with big time stars.

At the same time, in the age of digital, DIY distribution, an unknown director can make a film with no stars, no financing, and no press, and still create the kind of buzz Hollywood publicists dream about?some say now more than ever. What really defines a film as ?independent? to most moviegoers nowadays isn?t who paid for it but who made it?whose vision reached the screen.

In this page, Super features four originals who share a stubborn independence of vision and spirit. They run to risk, not from it. They take chances as a matter of course, and make films on their own terms?with non-pro actors and bonafide movie stars, with studios or without.
What makes them truly independent is their attitude.

Wes Anderson

Perhaps no one better represents the modern independent filmmaker than Wes Anderson.

After graduating from the University of Texas, Anderson and pal Owen Wilson made the short film ?Bottle Rocket? in 1994. His talent won over such high-powered fans as producer James L. Brooks and director Martin Scorsese?and with Brooks? help, ?Bottle Rocket? became a full length feature two years later.

Anderson adapted quickly to working within the Hollywood studio system, found more success with ?Rushmore? (1998), and was soon flourishing in a most unusual way?creating his own idiosyncratic works, each infused with a unique and utterly independent sensibility, for major motion picture studios.

Sometimes hailed as the works of a true auteur, Anderson?s films are instantly recognizable as much for their signature camera shots and revolving cast of regulars (Wilson and his brother Luke, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston) as for their often misguided, somewhat past-their-prime protagonists and obsessive soundtracks.

His films have brought a host of lovable scruffy, misunderstood misfits to the screen?the precocious Max Fischer in ?Rushmore,? the title character in ?The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,? and the entirely odd Tenenbaum family in ?The Royal Tenenbaums.?

With his soundtrack tastes leaning heavily toward the first wave of the British Invasion, he?s introduced a whole new generation of music and movie-lovers to the Small Faces.

His recent work is ?The Darjeeling Limited,? featuring Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman as three brothers who travel to India following the death of their father, shot on location in India. He?s also finishing the feature length stop motion animation of Roald Dahl?s story, ?Fantastic Mr. Fox,? featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett and George Clooney?look out for that in ?09.

Jim Jarmusch

If a film is a world unto itself with a language all its own, a Jim Jarmusch film is a self-contained universe, one rife with the filmmaker?s own idiosyncratic idiom.

Ever since he made ?Permanent Vacation? (1980) before dropping out of film school, that language?the long takes, the haunting atmospheric frames, the Beat-cool antiheroes?has been developing into a kind of shorthand for film fans and filmmakers. Jarmusch has a way of letting his characters do the talking, oftentimes without talking at all.

Uncompromising and instantly recognizable?like Jarmusch himself, with his shock of white hair?his films tend to linger on rather than push a story out of its characters. Often, they?re set on long journeys, searching for something to do (?Stranger Than Paradise?), or searching for someone (?Broken Flowers?).

Not a whole lot may happen in a Jarmusch movie, but it?s a memorable, thoughtful ?nothing? that stays with you long after the film?s finished, affecting the way you see your very own world the next time you look at it.

Perhaps that?s how Jarmusch, who has become such a godhead for young independent filmmakers, effortlessly maintains a devoted following over the course of nearly 30 years of filmmaking.

Jason Kohn

The violence, greed, and corruption that dominate Brazilian culture are the subject of Jason Kohn?s gripping documentary ?Manda Bala? (Send a Bullet). The stunning film, which took both the Grand Jury Documentary Prize as well as the Cinematography Award at Sundance, presents a portrait of modern Brazil in stark contrast to the exotic carnival image that typically exists in our minds.

No longer just the home of girls from Ipanema and baile funk boys, Brazil has become a haven for kidnappers, thieves both rich and poor, and their victims. New Yorker Kohn? whose family is Brazilian?tells the story artfully by turning his camera on everyone from a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of kidnap victims, to people involved with a money-laundering frog farm, and skillfully connects the dots between such seemingly disparate elements.

For a documentary filmmaker, there?s probably no better place to earn your chops than in the den of revered documentarian Errol Morris, whose highly entertaining, distinct, and stylized documentaries helped lay the groundwork for some of the most successful documentary films of the last 15 years.

First-time filmmaker Kohn worked for Morris for several years?and though this docu clearly owes some debt to his time with the senior filmmaker, Kohn?s confident direction and imaginative storytelling announce him as a talent in his own right.

John Reiss

John Reiss is no stranger to youth culture?the director first drew attention with his 1999 documentary film ?Better Living Through Circuitry,? which examined the burgeoning rave culture and the world of electronic music. He?s also an award-winning music video director, having made more than 30 of them from everyone from Slayer to Diamanda Galas.

In ?Bomb It,? Reiss turns his lens comfortably on another subculture: graffiti and guerrilla street artists worldwide. While ?Bomb It? certainly isn?t the first documentary to take a look at graffiti and street art culture, its global scope and historical depth put it in a class all by itself.

Today, graffiti and most every other aspect of hip-hop culture and iconography are regularly used to sell everything from deodorant to sandwiches. Yet despite the fact that their form of expression has been co-opted by Madison Avenue, young artists like those Reiss profiles in his documentary still face persecution?sometimes even prosecution?for the sake of their art.

With ?Bomb It,? which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Reiss examines the roots of the art form, offering a history lesson for those not already in the know, and a voyeuristic thrill for the converted, when he follows the writers on their covert art-ops. He also takes a look at its apostles?superstars like Shepard Fairey and Barcelona-based Sixe. Reiss has created a loving and thoughtful paean to the challenges of pursuing one?s art when the very making of it is outlawed?the very essence of independent artistry.