The Nightingale

In 1825, Clare, a 21-year-old Irish convict, chases a British soldier through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. She enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.

The Nightingale, while directed by Jennifer Kent (who previously made the independent horror film The Babadook), was produced with a significant budget and wider studio distribution. Its strong independent sensibilities come from its themes and narrative style, but its financing and distribution through a major studio disqualify it from being a strictly independent film.