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Throughout the blockbuster-obsessed 1980s, there were rumblings of a fledgling independent cinema movement, and by the decade's end, a film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on its way to snagging an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay: Steven Soderbergh's "sex, lies, and videotape." Released in 1989, its critical and commercial success heralded the arrival of indie movies into the mainstream. It wasn't before long that upstart studios like Miramax started jockeying for theater space with the majors. Pretty soon, the big studios were competing with the independents for more than just the multiplexes: they were competing for the Oscars as well.

Independent features increasingly found their way into the Academy Award

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