Wikipedia defines Mumblecore as “an independent filmmaking movement characterized by ultra-low budget production, focus on personal relationships between twenty-somethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors.” With lengthy articles appearing in both the New York Times and the Village Voice (as well as countless blogs), I describe it as the unavoidable next big thing (whether the filmmakers themselves like it or not).

The term was first coined by at a bar during South by South West in 2005, the same festival that gave birth to the movement by championing their films, thus forging friendships between the filmmakers. Says Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair) in an article from Filmmaker Magazine, “It was Joe Swanberg’s first festival ever, I think, with Kissing on the Mouth, and (Andrew) Bujalski was there with Funny Ha Ha, and us and the Four Eyed Monsters crew. Then we spent the whole year on the festival circuit, which meant [Mark and I] never saw our actual friends, but we were hanging out with Joe and Andrew and everyone else every single weekend at a different festival.” From then on, the filmmakers worked together on numerous projects, creating a web so intricate it makes the Ben Stiller and Judd Apatow filmmaking clubs look puny.

Are these films providing an unabashed look at the intricacies of our generation’s relationships or is it another load of hipster B.S.? Find out for yourself at “An Evening with Generation DIY”, a moderated discussion at NYC’s SoHo Apple store on Thursday 8/23 from 7PM-8PM. Then head over to the IFC Center’s film series “The New Talkies: Generation DIY” which runs from this Wednesday through September 4^th. I’ll see you there.

The almost-definitive pictoral representation of Mumblecore courtesy Aaron Hillis' fantastic blog.