My mother worked in the old Minsky's troupe, which toured the country in the golden age of burlesque theatre.
Independent film is film that has thought in it. There's no independent thought in studio films. It's collective thought.
With independent film, simply because they don't have the money to make a big-budget film, they're forced to make a story that's important to them, that they would like to see on film, a personal story that people can relate to, about people, where you can see the love of the characters.