One of the best and worst things that could happen to me is being born in El Paso.

My downfall is being an indie movie aficionado in a city that won’t indulge my tastes. I cannot even begin to count the times that I have waited months after a film festival to be able to watch a movie online. I have had to resort to scouring the web in hopes of finding them and then having to watch them online on my laptop. These movies are meant to be seen on the big screen, but they rarely get played in theaters locally.

Having Alamo Drafthouse open up recently has been great. They play a wider variety of movies, not just hit blockbusters.

However, it doesn’t cater to all of my indie film needs. They play the widely acclaimed films and pick and choose what they want to play. Take “Landline” for example-an indie film staring Jenny Slate, which first premiered at the Sundance Film festival in January of this year. It’s a pretty big indie film as far as recognition goes, yet it’s not being shown at Drafthouse.

Does indie refer to a specific style? It’s hard to tell, but there is one thing we can classify as indie–its budget. Low budget doesn’t necessarily mean low quality. Even though their budget limits them, there seems to be more creative room and thought with indie films.

Franchises such as the “Fast and Furious” produce movies for the sake of making money, as producers know they’re a safe bet for revenue. Approaching movies with that focus takes away from the story and the dialogue. Indie films have done the most for cinema’s history, always pushing boundaries and creating stories that don’t follow a linear plot. Recently we’ve seen a resurgence in indie films as big-name actors have gladly been filling roles in these smaller films.

Indie films have been great for paving a creative path toward bigger films. Standout directors such as Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”) and Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) have opened the doors for different cinematic approaches to movies. They have made it possible for lesser-known directors to get backed by bigger production houses to create their movies.

Overall, indie movies stand out above major blockbusters, but don’t get the release and attention they deserve. They truly resonate as films made with more heart, dedication and thought.