The 2004 Sundance Film Festival marked a huge year for independent film. It was a year that saw the premieres of Saw, Garden State, Super-Size Me, Napoleon Dynamite, among other notable titles. And yet, the winner that year came out from nowhere. A film with a budget of $7,000 about two amateur scientists who accidently invent time travel, which 80% of takes place in a garage, was the film that took the top prize. It was awarded to a 30ish year old former software engineer, Shane Carruth, who later admitted that he didn’t even plan on attending the closing ceremony that year. It was a year that began to show the increasing accessibility to resources young filmmakers now had, and Primer was the film that celebrated the true spirit of independent film. You can only imagine how giddy they were upon accepting the award.
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Where are you, Shane Carruth?
