The Best Independent Films on Streaming Right Now

Independent film has always been defined less by budget than by point of view. The films on this list exist because a filmmaker had something specific to say and found a way to say it outside the studio system, on their own terms. That original perspective is why these films tend to stay with you longer than most of what dominates mainstream platforms.

This guide covers some of the best independent films currently available on streaming, organized around what makes each one worth your time. Catalog availability changes, so it's worth searching current listings if a title has moved. We’re sure you’ll find something moving or thought-provoking on this list. 

Best Independent Documentary Films on Streaming

Documentary is where independent film has consistently done some of its most important work. Without studio financing to satisfy or IP to protect, documentary filmmakers can take on subjects, perspectives, and formal approaches that don't fit elsewhere, and tell stories that genuinely only have a home on platforms like The Reelist. 

The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game (2024, dir. Michael Husain) is a documentary available exclusively on The Reelist that chronicles one of the most important but least-told stories in American sports history: the fight of ABA players for justice following the 1976 NBA-ABA merger. 

When the merger dissolved the ABA, four franchises were absorbed into the NBA while hundreds of remaining players were effectively left without a league to play in, subject to restrictions that severely limited their ability to negotiate fair contracts or find teams. The film follows the players who refused to accept that outcome and took legal action against the NBA in a fight about labor rights, player compensation, and the economics of professional sport that remains relevant decades later. It's the kind of story mainstream sports documentaries rarely tackle, because it isn't about a championship or a dynasty - it’s about the people the official history left out.

Available exclusively on The Reelist. Start your two-month free trial here.

Citizenfour

Citizenfour (2014, dir. Laura Poitras) follows Edward Snowden, one of the most famous whistleblowers in American history. The documentary follows him in a Hong Kong hotel room as he anonymously hands over documents revealing illegal mass surveillance programs by the NSA, and the aftermath as he’s revealed as the source.

Poitras was already filming before Snowden contacted her - she had been under surveillance herself - which gives the film an unusual quality: it isn't reconstructed after the fact but recorded as the events unfolded. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and holds up as a model of how documentary can function as both journalism and cinema simultaneously. Available to stream for free on Youtube. 

Honeyland

Honeyland (2019, dir. Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov) follows Hatidze Muratova, the last wild beekeeper in Europe, living in an isolated village in North Macedonia with her elderly mother. The filmmakers spent three years with their subjects before the film was assembled, and the result has the unhurried quality of time genuinely spent rather than observation compressed. The documentary’s core themes focus on conservationism and how consumerism and resource depletion are linked to climate change and biodiversity loss. 

It was nominated for both Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards - the first film ever to receive both nominations simultaneously. Available to stream for free on Tubi.

The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing (2012, dir. Joshua Oppenheimer) follows perpetrators of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66 as they are invited to dramatize and reenact their own atrocities in whatever cinematic style they choose - gangster film, musical, Western. What emerges is not only one of the best indie films on streaming, but one of the most genuinely unsettling documentaries ever made - not because of what the filmmakers impose, but because of what the subjects reveal about themselves in the process of performing their own history. It changed how documentary practitioners think about testimony, performance, and complicity. Available to stream for free on Roku.

Flee

Flee (2021, dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen) tells the story of Amin Nawabi, an Afghan man who reveals his refugee journey for the first time, a story he has kept hidden for decades, including from his partner. The film uses animation to reconstruct a past that Nawabi couldn't otherwise show, and the formal choice is not a stylistic flourish but a necessity: some of what he describes was never filmed.

It was nominated for Academy Awards in three separate categories - Best Documentary Feature, Best International Feature Film, and Best Animated Feature - a distinction no film had achieved before. Available on Hulu and Prime Video.

Landmark American Independent Films on Streaming

Moonlight

Moonlight (2016, dir. Barry Jenkins) remains one of the most significant American films of the past decade. Structured in three chapters following a young Black man in Miami across different stages of his life - childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood - the film explores themes of sexuality, masculinity, and identity.

It won the Academy Award for Best Picture and announced Jenkins as one of the defining American filmmakers of his generation. The performances, Nicholas Britell's score, and James Laxton's cinematography work together with an unusual coherence. Available for streaming on multiple platforms. 

The Florida Project

The Florida Project (2017, dir. Sean Baker) follows a six-year-old girl living with her mother in a budget motel in the shadow of Walt Disney World. Shot in vivid purples and pinks that make the location feel simultaneously magical and precarious, it's one of the most empathetic films made about American poverty.

Willem Dafoe's performance as the motel manager earned an Oscar nomination plus nods for other precursors, but co-stars Bria Vinaite and Brooklynn Prince also received widespread critical acclaim. Available on multiple platforms including Hulu, subscription-only.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, dir. Benh Zeitlin) announced itself at Sundance and Cannes before reaching wider audiences. Set in a Louisiana bayou community called the Bathtub, it follows a young girl named Hushpuppy facing the flooding of her world from rising sea levels. Shot in a way that makes the whole film feel mythic without losing its grounding in a specific, real place. 

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, and at age 9, star Quvenzhane Wallis’ Best Actress nod made her the youngest nominee in history, Available on Youtube with subscription only.

Top International Independent Films

A Fantastic Woman 

A Fantastic Woman (2017, dir. Sebastián Lelio) is a Chilean film following Marina, a young transgender woman navigating grief and hostility after the death of her older partner.

It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, anchored by a magnetic performance by Daniela Vega, who shaped her character with what she called “dignity, rebelliousness, and resilience”. Available for purchase on Youtube, Apple TV, and other platforms.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, dir. Céline Sciamma) is a French period film about a painter commissioned to produce a secret wedding portrait of a woman who hasn't consented to sit for one. Set almost entirely on a remote Breton island, it's a film about looking and being looked at, about what it means to make art of another person.

Nominated for a host of awards including the Palme d’Or, the film won the Cannes Queer Palm as well as the Cannes award for Best Screenplay. It has been considered one of the best international films of the 21st century. Available with subscription on HBO MAX, Hulu, and other platforms.

Tangerine 

Tangerine (2015, dir. Sean Baker) was shot entirely on the iPhone 5S and follows a transgender sex worker in Los Angeles as she navigates her friendships, relationships, and identity. Neither lead actress had major acting experience and were selected by Baker and fellow writer Chris Bergoch at the Los Angeles LGBT center - both brought a raw, authentic quality to the film.

Tangerine has received critical acclaim for its writing, direction, performances, and portrayal of transgender life and life with both seriousness and levity. The low budget and technical constraints produced something that feels genuinely different from how most films look - immediate, restless, alive. Available to stream for free on Tubi.

Where to Stream Our Favorite Independent Films 

Independent films move between platforms more frequently than studio releases. The most reliable approach is a quick browse on your platform of choice, or a Google to see where a film is currently available. We also suggest browsing a catalog of a platform with high-quality, pre-vetted content, like our curated collection at The Reelist or Criterion Channel.

If you haven’t signed up already, get two months of The Reelist here for free to check out The Waiting Game and more of our indie favorites.

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