Star Wars versus Spiderman. With the latest Star Wars epic getting its European sneak preview here on the heels of the astonishing domestic performance of Spider-Man, the battle of the fantasy film is in high gear. With both films expected to dominate both the US and international box office for weeks to come, it makes it all the more pressing to ponder the role of staying independent in a Spider-Man Star Wars world.

Cannes, after all, is, with a few exceptions, not a Hollywood launching pad but is supported by and supportive of the wide spectrum of independent cinema. However, in a market of diminished returns and lowering prices in major territories, even the best packaged independent projects are facing a hard road. Mark Damon, who is offering films with such notable talent as Michael Jackson, Nicole Kidman and director Gus Van Sant under his MDP Worldwide banner, was quoted in Screen International as saying "that the crisis in television will be used as a reason for the buyers to tell us why they cannot afford our asking prices."

Even the most successful independents have realized that they need the guarantee of domestic distribution to minimize their risk and expand their international sales opportunities. In fact, some are choosing to hook up directly with the majors to become that strange animal, "a Hollywood independent".

The community has been buzzing since last week's announcement that Good Machine, one of the flagship production and sales companies that defined the independent spirit of the past ten years with idiosyncratic product and innovative take-no-prisoners marketing, has been absorbed by Universal Pictures. The company will be combined with indie distributor USA Films to produce a brand new entity, Fusion International, to be run by Good Machine principals David Linde and James Schamus.

The deal makes perfect sense for Universal (and by extension Vivendi) as a move to out-Miramax Miramax. Linde and Schamus have announced that they will be handling everything from low budget Sundance sleepers to big budget films with huge international potential (including the upcoming Ang Lee adaptation of comic book hero The Hulk). What it provides for the former Good Machine is a guaranteed US distribution deal for its productions and a deep pocket corporate parent to add almost unlimited resources for aggressive production and acquisitions.

But it is still an open question how the Good Machine aesthetic, which has included producing such hot potato projects as Todd Solondz' Happiness and Storytelling and such intellectual, esoteric gems as Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and Todd Field's In The Bedroom, will fare as part of a studio system that is strict in its bottom line concerns. In short, will the independence of vision flower with a more secure cash flow, or will it be compromised?

This is an argument that has been going for decades and which remains rather unanswerable. With such films as Spike Jonze's Adaptation, Pedro Almodovar's Hable Con Ella and Zhang Yimou's Hero on its current slate, it is clear that Focus International (nee Good Machine) will be fighting the good fight for some time to come. It will be interesting to see how they fare with the corporate Big Brother looking over their shoulders. After all, there is a reason that one chooses to be independent….more of a lifestyle choice for many of us than a business decision, after all.

Perhaps it is time to think of the independent world in a broader sense, one that encompasses a wide spectrum of input, that is not immune to a system of hierarchy. That spectrum embraces everything from the passionate, credit card-indebted filmmakers who need to be independent from the concerns of overanxious producers to what news service IndieWire has dubbed "Indiewood", that genetically engineered hybrid that combines independent daring with Hollywood muscle.

As Chairman Mao once declared, "let a million flowers bloom".

Sandy Mandelberger

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