The story
A group of independent producers established the American Film Market and the AFM's parent, the non-profit American Film Marketing Association, in 1980 to expand the independent film business. In 2004, the organization changed its name and expanded its scope to include television with the formation of the Independent Film & Television Alliance.
Collectively, independents produce the largest number of motion picture industry jobs, films and, over the past quarter century, Academy Award-winning movies. IFTA members have produced and distributed such Best Picture Oscar winners as Gandhi (1982); Amadeus (1984); Platoon (1986); The Last Emperor (1987); Driving Miss Daisy (1989); Dances with Wolves (1990); The Silence of the Lambs (1991); Braveheart (1995); The English Patient (1996); Shakespeare in Love (1998); Chicago (2002); The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003); Million Dollar Baby (2004); Crash (2004); The Departed (2006); No Country for Old Men (2007) Slumdog Millionaire (2008), The Hurt Locker, (2009); The King's Speech (2010); and The Artist (2011).
Most recently, some of the world's most prominent films were produced, distributed and financed by IFTA Members: Milk (2008); The Reader (2008); The Wrestler (2008); Doubt (2008); Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008); W (2008); Twilight (2008); Defiance (2008); I've Loved You So Long (2008); Burn After Reading (2008); Inglourious Basterds (2009); Taken (2009); Paranormal Activity (2010); Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010); Insidious (2011); The Lincoln Lawyer (2011); The Hunger Games (2012); Now You See Me (2013).
IFTA members, as well as the entire independent film industry, benefit from the American Film Market (AFM), which has grown into one of the world's largest film markets, as well as the organization's standard form contracts and publications. Acting as an arbitration tribunal, IFTA resolves distribution-related disputes between parties.
From Wikipedia’s article on Independent Film & Television Alliance, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3